Liquid Gold

I'm an addict.

I don't smoke or do drugs and I don't drink very often, but I wake up needing Diet Coke.  I need to feel the burn in my throat.  Oh, it burns so good.

I used to be addicted to coffee until I got old and had heartburn every morning after drinking it.  Diet Coke doesn't betray my body like coffee did.

Because I realize I need to lay off the DC, I've tried to find other things to pep me up in the morning.  I stumbled upon this stuff

(Like, really, I'm too old to learn how to rotate a picture, obviously.)

Anyway, I love both carrots and mango separately, but this is just not the same as the sickeningly-sweet-with-a-bitter-aftertaste therapy that I need.

Back in the day when I was a successful calorie counter, I chugged diet sodas like a champ and still lost weight every week.  I know it can't be healthy, but when you're in your 20s and losing weight, things like artificial sweeteners don't bother you.  At least they didn't bother me.  I guess this is a sign of maturity, right?  When we actually care about our overall health and not just weight.

We've done well about not eating out lately, except for my husband's birthday but that was a legit special occasion so I'm not stressing.

I'm getting excited about possible cooler weather soon (for Savannah, that means 89 instead of 90, am I right?).  I'm ready to take long walks outside and to breathe in some fresh air.  Oh, to be able to open the windows and feel a breeze in the house. Isn't that the best?

Oh!  And I've made serious headway on paying down my debt.  I dream of the day when I can spend a whole paycheck on something other than debt. Wouldn't that be amazing?

There are always challenges

This has been a trying month .  Just when I thought I had a handle on my eating, we had a family emergency and the only way I've ever dealt with stress is with food.  

My father-in-law passed away Saturday August 6th.  When we got the call that Friday before that we needed to GET UP THERE RIGHT NOW, my husband and I left work in a hurry and took the 5ish hour drive to his parents' house.  Approximately six hours after we got up there, my father-in-law passed away.  I'm glad my husband was able to get up there and say his good byes and was even at bedside with his mother and siblings when he died.

We stayed up there for several days and had food brought in by friend after friend.  It was so nice to see how many lives he touched and how many people loved him.  He really was a good soul.

So I drowned my sorrows the only way I know how, in pineapple cake, homemade chicken pot pie, honey baked ham, sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese, etc.

I hate to admit this, but all of that delicious food really did make the pain go away for a few minutes at a time.  In hindsight, it's probably just because I was concentrating on eating and not the loss of a loved one.

My husband says that his dad wouldn't want anybody sitting around weeping over him, and I believe that's true.  He was the type of guy who didn't want to be the center of attention. He would want us to all move on and be happy in our lives.

I'm glad to be back home and in my little routine, now I just need to make sure the routine includes exercise.  I did cut the grass before 8 o'clock this morning since I live in the part of the world that is miserable outside after about 8:30 a.m.  I came inside at just a few minutes after 8 and was covered in sweat.  The kind of sweat that makes it hard to take off your clothes because they're just stuck to your body.