Chinese Food

I went out for Chinese food yesterday with my friend Gayle, and it was fun. I ate too much egg fu yung, and it was yummy. I got to bring a little home to enjoy for breakfast this morning, and it was good as a leftover, too.

Guess what, though? The server boxed it up, placed it in a paper bag, and put that bag in a PLASTIC BAG. THAT I DIDN'T NOTICE UNTIL I GOT HOME. Oh, my first plastic shopping bag of the year. Darn it!

This makes me more determined than ever to pay attention to the things I bring home. I would have done fine with just the paper bag, or even the nice little Chinese box without any bag. What a waste, and how irritating.

How about all of you? How are your goals for the new year going?

The Forgotten Goal

I neglected to include my goal of not having any library fines this year. So far I have had a fifty cent fine (paid!), for books checked out for others. Let's see if I can reach this one--it's probably the most difficult of all.

Goals for the New Year

I usually have a big planning pow wow with myself about yearly goals, but I don't feel like doing so much this year. I have about 4 goals:

1. Live in the moment. Don't fixate on the past and don't get all wrapped up in worrying about the future. I'm pretty good about this, but could improve. This goal is not measurable, so I will just have to make a point of doing it when I find myself not in the present. My quality of life will improve as I do this.

2. No plastic shopping bags. This was a goal last year, too. I have improved, but not as much as I had hoped. This is measurable: No (more) plastic bags in the broom closet.

3. This 3rd goal is too personal to share, but it's measurable and I should be able to accomplish it.

4. Keep doing all the good things I am doing, including spiritual-mental-physical-health and helping-other-people activities.

Do you set goals or have New Years Resolutions? What will you be working on this year?

Accomplishing Goals

Colleen, Anne, and Agnes on the perch together.

Thrill of thrills, Aggie came down and joined her sisters after the big wind storm the other day. Is it because I isolated her outside that entire day? I like to think that had something to do with it, but it may not have. As they say in the statistics world, "Correlation is not cause." But, I am glad she is out of the nest, eating weeds and pecking away at all sorts of things.

Speaking of food, Annie ate some tomato pieces right out of my hand! Actually, I don't think she really ate them--she just took them out of my hand. Colleen then came and swiped them out of her mouth (beak?), and she came and got more. It was funny! I saw a photo once of a chicken eating out of her owner's hand and thought it looked cool.

Finally, I accomplished a goal this morning: I ran 3 miles without stopping. I have not done this since early college, when I ran with our dog, Juno. That was a long time ago!!! And it's hilly here, not like in the home of my youth. This was the last stop goal before I run a 5 k this summer, hopefully in August. If I keep this up, anyway

Stepping Away from Sugar

I knew I was in trouble. I could think of nothing but treats! I was at Costco with my friend, Margaret, and needed to purchase Halloween candy for the Trunk or Treat. I grabbed the candy I love best, gooey and chocolatey and oh-so-satisfying. And I knew that if I made the mistake of opening that bag before I gave it to Allan I would be truly sorry--and so would he.

So I made a decision. It was time to stop eating candy and cookies and cake and doughnuts and pie and ice cream and anything else that would feed my addiction to sugar. I have done this in the past around the Christmas holidays, but never as early as this. But it's something that I have needed to do to get my eating back in control.

I haven't missed the junk that much. I have had a few difficult times, including manning the desserts (cake, cheesecake, brownies, shortcake cookies, etc.) at a funeral luncheon. I have withstood it all, and had the wonderful added benefit of daily nasty headaches and sinus problems disappearing. What a testimony of staying away from all that sugar and junk! So far I have gone 9 days without treats, and I am doing just fine, thanks to sugar-free Swiss Miss.

So, come January, when the holidays are over, and the last of the wonderful fudge and See's candy and peanut brittle and shortbread cookies and caramel corn and toffee are eaten up, maybe I will slip back into my old habits. Or maybe, hopefully, I will have found joy in the people I am with and the wholesome food that actually nourishes my body.

It could happen.