Day Fifty-Seven: The Ties That Bind

I talk to my mom every weekend. We are not terribly alike, but I look forward to these phone calls. I have a lot of relatives, but not a lot of family, ifyougetwhatimsayin'. Mom is always there for me in the proverbial sense. I can make her laugh, and she can make me feel like I can do anything.

She arrives here in late September for a visit, right during my Day 90 completion of the PCP (a little more than a month away ~ woot!). She lives in the South these days, so distance and money keep visits far and few between. Like three years in between. As you can imagine, we are excited for her visit to Colorado for one week. I was asking her on the phone what groceries I need to buy to keep her happy at my homestead and she said something to the effect of "nothing weird ... none of that healthy stuff."

At least that's what I heard. See I was raised on Tuna Helper, Campbell's Tomato soup (milk recipe), Tang and the occasional block of orange government cheese. Mom was never an adventurous eater, either; and to top that off, she was a yo-yo dieter. And she bakes. A lot. She's very good at it. Ruh-roh ...

I'd like to end the PCP on a good note, but Mom is already asking for burger-and-shake places. Hmmm. I love Mom, but this is an inheritance I wish to avoid.

Day Forty-Four: O-Face

(what did you think i was going to write about? sheesh, people)

My MO during this kind of week is utter exhaustion. It reared its ugly head after work, though the yawning started early afternoon. Listless and bored, I got home and climbed into bed for "just a bit" but woke up two hours later. It was dark. Crickets. Coyotes. Bed felt so good I considered just staying until the morning. But I didn't. I got out of bed telling myself I would just do the jump ropes. But then I fell into my usual PCP routine and wa-LAH! I was done and only suffered two mosquito bites. Reminded me of this:

You never regret working out; you always regret when you don't.

Day Fourteen: Just Say No

Scene: after work.

I picked up the kid from preschool; it was someone's birthday and they brought cupcakes. The kid, who doesn't like chocolate, offered me the lady bug motif chocolate cupcake. I pawned it off on someone else.

I went to Costco tonight to score mass quantities of protein. I avoided the people offering samples, which included hot dogs, chocolate ice cream bar, taquitos and cookies.

I had a blueberry Nutrigrain bar in the car, a commuter snack from my former life. I put it on my purse instead of my mouth, even though my stomach growled the entire ride home.

I came home, jumped 800 and prepared myself a garlicky dish of whole wheat angel hair, Bird's Eye Snap Pea Stir Fry medley (adding extra mushrooms) and lemon pepper salmon.