Now that the yearbook is finished, my next professional job is getting graduation pictures delivered. I make the pictures I take at kindergarten and senior graduation available to parents. To make a long story short the photo labs I normally use both had equipment failures. I wound up driving across town today and waiting three hours for a new lab to print a sample of their work.

The day was hot, it was lunch time, and I hadn't packed either food or water in the car. There was a shopping mall nearby. I thought I'd run errands while I waited and get a bite to eat. Strike one - I couldn't find anything I wanted at the mall, and there was nothing to eat that wasn't loaded with avoids. (Pretzels, fried chicken, ham sandwiches, and pizza, were plentiful. But there wasn't even a plain hamburger much less anything fresh.) I had heard of a Farmer's Market in the area. I thought I'd see what fresh vegetables were for sale and buy a cool fruit juice. Strike two- The day was so hot that all the vendors had closed up early.

I was close to a shopping center with a health food market. There I hit a home run. My bread machine had burned out last week. I found a sturdy one on sale for 1/3 off. Now I needed spelt and rice flour. Walnuts were on sale, and I bought two bags. Best of all the deli had roast beef with no avoids. I bought 1/3 pound of roast beef and a bottle of water. That quelled my frantic hunger and thirst.

What I learned today: First, when I leave home, even if I plan to be back soon, I need to take food and water. I leave myself vulnerable to snatching an easy avoid when I am frantically hungry. Second, it was better to deal with hunger pangs than compromise. A pretzel at the mall would have tasted good in my mouth, but gone sour in my stomach. Third, a deli is a good place for a Type O to find relief. I could buy beef by the pound with no tempting bread or chips. Definitely, the roast beef was worth waiting for - and so was the photo lab.

One of my daughter's friends spent the night with us last night. She is a delightful girl and a loyal friend, but her eating habits are as extreme on one end of the scale as mine are on the other. She saw something called the "Slaughterhouse Video." (If you know what it is I would love to hear a synopsis, but I have no desire to see it) The video convinced her to be a vegetarian. However she doesn't like many fruits or vegetables, so she is not a vegetarian in my understanding of the word. She eats typical teenage fare like cheese, pizza, chips, sodas and cookies. She doesn't eat hamburgers or pepperoni on her pizza. That is her definition of a vegetarian, and it seems to make perfect sense to the other teenage girls.

As my daughter and I discussed dinner plans, I found myself identifying with our approaching guest. In the past year I have been in some awkward situations at other people's homes. It's much nicer when friends are accepting about what I choose to eat, rather than making me feel like I've hurt their feelings by not eating everything they prepared. It was important to me that my daughter's friend felt welcome in our home.

We decided to have spaghetti and salad. I had romaine lettuce, spinach, and carrots in large bowls so everyone could make their own salad. I had ground turkey, ground beef, spaghetti noodles, and spaghetti sauce in separate bowls. Everyone also assembled their own plate of spaghetti. I fixed rolls that were ok for the As, but not for me. My daughter's friend and I laughed when we saw each other's plates. I had salad topped with lots of ground beef and a little spaghetti sauce. She had noodles topped with sauce only.

If you are in a mixed O and A family, and you are wondering how I made my spaghetti sauce, I may as well confess. My husband and daughter are not willing to give up tomatoes (yet). They've given up beef and started drinking soy milk. They have made lots of other changes. But they are not ready to let go of the tomatoes. I made homemade Type O spaghetti sauce - no sweeteners like the commercial brands have and lots of spices.

For breakfast this morning I made the pineapple muffins from RECIbase. My daughter's friend had never eaten a muffin. She tried it, and liked it.

The yearbook is in the hands of the Federal Express man!!

Tonight I was catching up on personal and BTD mail. I had received a note from an 8th grader who wants to do a Science Fair Project on the Blood Type Diet. She wanted to know what I thought about the diet and how it had worked for me. After I answered her, I realized that I had just typed a pretty good blog. Some of it repeats a little bit of earlier blogs, but some I have never shared here before. Here is what I wrote :

I love science fair projects. Our whole family gets involved. Here's my Blood Type Diet story.

I started having indigestion - pain in the upper part of my stomach combined with a lot of burping. I did all the things the self help books said to do and I got worse! I went to the doctor. Because my mother had also had problems with indigestion that caused her to have surgery, my doctor was concerned. He put me on prescription medicine for two months. The prescription helped a little. Then he sent me in for a lot of tests. The tests showed that I didn't have any of the physical problems that usually cause indigestion. My stomach was inflamed, and he didn't know why. The nurse said, "It's diet and stress."

At first that made me mad. Why couldn't the doctor tell me what was wrong with me? Then I prayed, and as I prayed I thought, maybe the nurse is right. Maybe I missed something. So I went to my favorite Health Food Store and started looking up indigestion in the indexes of their books.

When I got to the Blood Type Diet, it said that Type Os were more likely to have indigestion than any other blood type. I was a Type O. It said that wheat and milk were two of the biggest causes of indigestion for Type Os. I ate wheat and yogurt every single morning for breakfast. No wonder I had indigestion!

I started the Blood Type Diet immediately. I didn't start slowly. I went all out, all at once. My family thought I had gone crazy. No more bread? No more pizza? No more ice cream?

I felt better the very next day. Before the end of the first week I was only taking the prescription every other day. Before the end of the second week I stopped the prescription and have not ever needed it again.

I have been on the Blood Type diet almost a year. No more indigestion. No more joint pain, I have lost 15 pounds without even trying. My muscles are getting stronger because I have energy to exercise more and I am eating more protein.

If I eat wheat or milk products, I can tell that I don't feel as good. Sometimes my stomach rumbles and churns. Sometimes I get real sleepy. Sometimes I get a headache.

I will eat according to the Blood Type Diet forever. The alternative is to feel bad and take medicine every day. That's not the way I want to live!

Let me know how your science project turns out.

Last winter and spring I swam one day a week at an indoor pool owned by our school district. Its primary use is for high school swim teams, but they are open for lap swim at mid-day and late at night. Though it is a heated pool, the water was always cold. I asked why, and was told that competitive swimmers like the water cold because it improves their times. I didn't understand, and I didn't like it that my toes were numb for the first 200 meters I swam.

Our outdoor neighborhood pool opened over the weekend. Last night I succeeded in finishing my yearbook work in time to join my husband for lap swim. Yesterday was the second day of record-breaking heat, and the water in the pool was very warm. I started my laps and I felt like I was trying to swim through pudding. Suddenly I understood why racers like cold water. I would say to myself, the next lap I'm going to sprint, but my arms and legs were barely moving through the water.

Normally I have plenty of time to swim 1200 meters. Last night when they blew the whistle to close the pool, I had 2 laps to go. Note to self: next winter when my toes are numb, appreciate the fact that I'm swimming faster.

Today I'm typing this blog again from my school computer. Lunch is the last of the lamb with turnip greens and black beans. I have carrots and sesame butter for a snack, but I'm hoping to finish the last three pages before my stomach says it's snack time.

This week is the final deadline for the yearbook. I was at school most of the day Saturday and all day on Memorial Day. I've been here since 9:00 this morning, and I hope to finish before 7:00 tonight so I can join my family for a swim. I'm typing a quick blog while I eat my lunch. I packed lamb, parsnips, and butternut squash. The other teachers are across the hall at an in service meeting. If most of them could see what I choose for lunch instead of joining them at a nearby restaurant, they would be astonished. The kindergarten teacher is a Type O and follows the Blood Type Diet. I saw her with the book last fall, and we've had a couple of good conversations. Both librarians are Type As. They naturally tend toward vegetarianism, and when they read the Type A Food and Beverage guides they felt affirmed.

I never get enough sleep during deadlines, and I always feel guilty about the things that go undone at home. But I have felt really energetic during all three deadlines this year, and I know it is because of the BTD. I pack lots of beneficial food, and stop for frequent snacks. On Saturday I found a major mistake on one of the pages. I felt panic set in, and I wanted something to eat - NOW! I grabbed a bag of walnuts and raisins, and started munching as I pulled out the picture files and started to rework the page. One nice thing about walnuts is that they don't smudge pictures! By the time the walnuts were gone, the crisis was resolved.