Food Diary: Day 14

Foods I almost ate today:

1. Jack's homemade tortilla chips (saturated in oil and drenched in yumminess)
2. Grilled cheese crusts (buttery and crunchy)
3. Tater tots (self-explanatory)

This craving for something GREASY really chipped at my resolve today. Am thankful I made it through the weekend, but am thinking the second half of this month is definitely going to be tougher than the first.

Food Diary: Day 9

5:00 a.m. Wake up from dream about restaurants refusing to serve me food. Get angry that I can't even DREAM about eating fun food anymore. 

5:10 a.m. Coffee & Bible time. Come across this passage in 2 Corinthians on giving: "You show your gratitude through your generous offerings to your needy brothers and sisters, and really toward everyone." 

5:30 a.m. Start thinking about how we could really use some chairs in our living room and immediately surf Ikea website. 

5:40 a.m. Realize the irony of the situation and force myself to reread Bible passage. 

6:50 a.m. Fried egg for breakfast. Yum. 

11:20 a.m. Red beans & rice for lunch, plus a bag of carrots. Double yum. 

4:00 p.m. Finish off red beans & rice for dinner. 

4:30 p.m. Hit balls with Jack. Have new energy on these 7 foods and am excited about maybe FINALLY taking up golf as a hobby (I've only had my unused clubs in the garage for 11 YEARS!!). 

6:00 p.m. Yoga. Namaste. 

7:30 p.m. Giant Honey Crisp apple. 

8:30 p.m. Looking forward to a good sleep and (if I'm lucky) food-filled dreams. 

Food Diary: Day 7

If I make it through today, I will have made it through a week on my 7 foods! All I can think about right now is...why have I not lost more weight? This is the healthiest I have EVER eaten, and I expected to have dropped about 10 lbs. by now. 

Vanity aside, I feel good. Am clear-headed, have lots of energy, and I just feel cleaner with fewer processed foods in me. 

Current craving: cheese. And a glass of wine wouldn't be half bad, either. 

Guilty

Today I found myself in line at the municipal courthouse. I was there to contest a ticket I received while talking on my phone in a school zone. Wait, you say. Aren't you a teacher? Why yes, I am. Then how, you might ask, did you get a ticket in your very own school zone? Well, I'm an idiot. Now that we cleared that up, may I continue? 

When you're waiting in line to see the municipal clerk, and  again in a courtroom to see the judge (where they won't even let you read your KINDLE), and again in another line to pay your fines, you have a lot of time to think. And that's what I did. I thought about how scared I was to see the judge, and I wondered what he would be like. How vindictive would he be? What sort of mood was he in? How could I convince him to dismiss my ticket? 

Then I thought about what the line to see God will be like. And how I'll be with all sorts of different people. Some will have no criminal record (like moi) and some will have violations a mile long (like the polite gang member boy sitting next to me), but each of us is guilty. I'm thankful that I don't have to stand before God alone and try to convince him I should be forgiven. Jesus will be there acting as my defense attorney, declaring me innocent because I'm his. 

I pled guilty today, but the kind judge deferred my ticket and will dismiss it as long as I don't commit any other violations for 90 days. Start prayin' for me, y'all. You know how I am behind the wheel!  

Food Diary: Day 1

6:30 a.m. Look in my pantry and find only 2 foods I can eat: rice and beans. Choose to skip breakfast and pack them for my lunch. 

11:20 a.m. Heat up my rice and beans. They're pretty bland, but I'm still on a high from doing this experiment, so it's okay. 

1:06 p.m. Dave texts me an angry apple picture. These Honey Crisp apples (the only kind ALWAYS crunchy enough for me) cost him $25 and he's not happy. Am thinking maybe I should do my own shopping next time. 

1:30 p.m. Am off my high, HUNGRY, and begging Dave to bring me some apples and carrots. He refuses to bring the precious apples (out of principle) but promises some carrots in about an hour.  

2:45 p.m. CARROTS!!! 

4:15 p.m. APPLE!!! Yes, I ate the whole monstrous thing, so it wasn't a waste of money. Okay, honey? :) 

5:45 p.m. Find my new mantra while reading Wisdom Meets Passion: Live Simply so others can Simply Live. Love, love, love this. 

8:00 p.m. Whip up a delightful meal of sautéed chicken and avocados. I even say a prayer of thanks before eating it, which I think might be the point of this little experiment.

An Austin Easter

It was so great catching up with Papaw & Carol today! As a girl, every time we visited P & C we had to take pictures in their front yard before we left, and I was more than happy to force everyone to carry on that tradition this morning. 

Jackson was less than pleased with me.  

Boy vs. Food

Following in the footsteps of his food hero, Adam Richman (of Man vs. Food fame) Jackson savored  ribs at Salt Lick on Saturday, and then attempted to eat the largest donut EVER at Round Rock Donuts this morning. He was one happy foodie.

I'm Baaaack!

So, I've been reading again. And as usual, that can be dangerous. Especially when you read authors like David Platt, Jen Hatmaker and Shane Claiborne, who mess with your head. Right now I'm struggling with this issue: why do I have so much when so many around the world have so little? How much is too much? So I'm starting Jen Hatmaker's experiment in a mutiny against excess, based on her book 7. My trusty pal Sunny is doing it with me, even though we both have serious doubts about this experiment (and our sanity). This is a 7 month project. The first month we are choosing 7 foods to eat. For the WHOLE month. I've chosen chicken, rice, beans, avocados, eggs, carrots and apples. I'm cheating a bit and allowing myself to have coffee, cream & sugar every morning because otherwise I will likely start killing people with my bare hands. So, that's it. I'm starting tomorrow. I'm hoping that this experiment will not just make me more grumpy, but will empty me of me and make more room for Jesus in my life. I hope to hear from him more as I stuff myself less. And I hope to catch a vision for who he wants me to be, as I start a new chapter of my life entitled Stay-at-Home-Mom, Part II.