Fun Gift to Myself

Last year or the year before, when I was at my mother's for a family reunion my mother offered me a Franciscan platter that had belonged to my grandmother. I love dishes, and the platter was beautiful; it reminds me of a seashell. It's round, which is different than most of my other serving plates, and I thought it would look lovely in Grandma's china cabinet--like it must have years ago at her house.

I have used the platter many times since I received it and as I wash it carefully by hand I remember my Grandma Mary washing dishes at her sink in the Oakhurst house when I was a small girl. 

Tina, Gayle, Lorraine June 8, 2015
Washington, Utah

Fast forward to now. This seems unrelated, but it isn't. In late May I joined a 12-step group that revolves around food addiction, and I have changed many things around how I handle eating and even how I feed my family. One of the things that has been altered is the number of (sets of) dishes I actually need and use; it's not many! Another thing that is different is how I eat: 3 weighed and measured meals a day with nothing in between. For a lifelong grazer, that's quite a feat. 

For my program, as it is called, I eat an 8 ounce salad (not counting dressing) every night with my dinner. Eight ounces is actually quite large, especially when using home-grown greens that are not necessarily that heavy. I have been needing a new, larger bowl, one that doesn't interfere with the bowl Allan usually uses for his cereal or large salads--there's only 1 of those bowls in our house. 

Lorraine today

Add all this to the endless de-junking I am continually working at, and it's kind of difficult to justify a new bowl. Until, that is, I set foot in my local St. Vincent de Paul thrift store not long ago. You see, as a food addict (kind of like a drug addict), I would use food as some people use drugs. Some people learn new addictive behaviors, like shopping, but with the constant struggle to downsize my possessions I generally feel that even thrifting is dangerous territory for me. But I have dropped a couple of dress sizes and need a very few new-to-me pieces of clothing that actually fit, so I was at St. Vinny's looking through the racks, to no avail. Somewhat despondent, I sauntered over to the (danger! danger!) dishes. Gasp!! A serving bowl that matched Grandma's Franciscan platter!! For $3.50!!

[Though, when I think about it, does it say something about me and my way of coping with food that even as an admitted food addict I eat part of 2 of my meals every day out of a serving bowl?? This is a topic for another post, I'm afraid.]

And here I am, 30 pounds lighter, with tools (including a right-sized salad bowl) to help me not be crazy around my food problem!