Bayou City

No offense to the rest of Texas, but I LIKE Houston. Granted I am here before the mosquitos, deer flies and stifling heat -- and it did pour rain on us for an hour of our 2-hour hike -- but it is like totally neat. See, less than 24 hours with my dear friend Cathy, whom I've known since the early 80s, and I'm already dropping 80s terms like "like totally!" So far, we've yet to see anything "grody."

Yesterday, we soaked up a beautiful afternoon in a park behind Cathy's house. You can see here that the lady we asked to take our picture did not take too kindly to having her workout interrupted.

Then we ate some great Mediterranean food for dinner. The busboy was most gracious -- Cathy's not shy about asking people to take our picture.

Then, in true Gen X (or is it Y or Z?) fashion, we curled up on her sofa with our tea and laptops and Mocha at our feet and surfed the 'net.

Today we did a two-hour hike in Hermann Park, got totally soaked, had take-out pasta for lunch, watched The Gods Must Be Crazy, and are now getting ready to head to Blue Nile Ethiopian Restaurant for dinner with some of Cathy's friends.

Oh my, I just got some very good news. In addition to the fact that my bro and Amy are having a BOY. Yay, boys. More on that and my Houston trip later. Doro wat calls.

7 hours to go...or not

When I embarked on my sweets fast, I struggled with being ravenous all the time. It wasn't as much hunger as an endless stream of wants. Now, 6 days into it, my cravings have diminished in a weird and wonderful way. I mean, for the past two mornings I forgot to eat breakfast. Typically, I wake up thinking about breakfast. Now I think about breakfast about the time I used to start thinking about lunch. I think I've just revealed my life revolves around my next meal. Or at least it used to.

What's up with that? Could my daily sugarfest have been making me eat more? I know the answer is probably out there in Googleland, but instead of looking it up I'm considering extending my fast -- or at least scaling back the sugar -- for a bit longer and see what happens.

BUT -- and these are two big buts that could have detrimental effects on my ... ability to fit in my jeans --I'm having a dinner party tonight and two of my guests' daughter is sending some scrumptious desserts. I have no idea what, but she's an amazing cook so I know they'll be to die for. My plan was to hide back a portion for my Sunday feast day. Also, I have a baby shower to attend next week. That means cake. Or better yet, petit fours. I live for cake. Or better yet, icing.

I think I'll strive for a happy medium -- planned sweets, yes. Sweets with reckless abandon, no.

I accidently ate a fortune cookie

I didn't even realize it (I mean I realized I ate it; I didn't realize I ate a forbidden food) until I was on my way out of the restaurant and reached for a mint. Which I didn't take.

Technically, I screwed up. But realistically, a fortune cookie can hardly be considered a sweet. It barely ranks as a food. And this one was burned so, again, waste of calories. I'm just so programmed to not waste food, once it was opened, eating it seemed like the thing to do.

Oops! Please forgive. I promise I didn't enjoy it. And it did not relieve my craving for Peeps.

Lead me not...

Why does Kroger devote two whole aisles to Easter candy? Why do they place the Little Debbies right next to the bread? Why does Trader Joe's have chocolate-covered pomegranate seeds displayed at the checkout? Why does my mom keep a bowl of Kisses on her living room end table?

Tell me why.

Giving up Peeps

My niece Jordan did this one year. I'm not a fan of Peeps. I think they're a waste of good calories. But I have a feeling by this time next week, those sugary little chicks in my pantry (courtesy of Nana for her "grands") will be looking pretty good. Not to mention the strawberry sheet cake that Caroline won in the cake walk last night at the Dodson Branch Fish Fry. But I feel certain that it won't be around by the time I need it to be gone -- for two reasons:

1. Every time I walk past it, I cut a little bite -- in preparation for my sweets fast that begins tomorrow.

2. I leave tomorrow morning for Nashville and won't be home til Wednesday night. That's more than enough time for Spence to make history of it. He's also quick good at polishing off the ice cream while I'm gone.

As far as Wed-Sat next week, I've made sure there are no other confections lingering in our kitchen, and I'm stocking up on fruit and healthy sweets substitutes like yogurt.

I can't seem to finish this post for two interruptions, so I'll just leave it at that...

No epiphanies

This week didn't bring any great insights other than the realization that I already don't indulge in a lot of luxury purchases. Hopefully, the fact that I didn't feel denied means I'm on the right track with everyday living. Even though not buying wasn't terribly hard, I was still careful to make sure every purchase fit the parameter of "necessity." I hope I can continue making only thoughtful purchases, and I hope I can instill that quality in my children.

Caroline has only an inkling of what money is for, and she watches so little commercial TV that she's not yet influenced by advertising. Santa brought Spence Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace Jr. but we quickly realized Caroline's not ready for it. She has to understand money and want to buy things before we can start applying the principles of spending/saving/giving. Maybe in a few months.

Easy breezy

Week one: Resolve to spend nothing on yourself but what is absolutely necessary.

So far -- um, one day -- my Lent journey has been easy. I'm not one to buy a lot of extras anyway. But I've even managed to resist some of the indulgences that already exist -- like the box of Jelly Bellies at my office.

Because I'm in Nashville Monday through Wednesday and have virtually no food in my frig, I still eat lunch out, but I'm choosing places where I can have half for lunch, the other half for dinner.

Hopefully I'll have more interesting thoughts to post in the coming days. For now, I'll end with a snippet of scripture from my Lenten reading: Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

Amen to that!