I went to yoga this morning. It was a good session. Lots of stretching and a few balancing things that I’m slowly getting better at. It was a beautiful sunny morning, though a bit nippy. After the final relaxation, we sat and chanted our ohm’s. As soon as the last ohm silenced, a horrendous downpour started down on the metal roof of the studio. It was like the vibrations of our voices had called down all that rain. Of course, I am aware that it was purely coincidental……but in the back of my mind it was kind of freaky.

Hubby and I attended a Halloween party last night. We dressed up as Tacky Tourists. Must have done all right, because we won the couples costume contest. There was a great local blues band playing. Hubby will dance if he is in costume, otherwise no way. Maybe he thinks no one can recognize him. Anyway, the food was totally noncompliant. The main course was chicken. They also had bratwurst and sauer kraut. So, I had a sausage and kraut and a very bad piece of cheese bread. I didn’t have any expectations of good food, so I wasn’t disappointed. We had fun. We haven’t been too social lately, and it was good to get out and see people.

I joined E-diets today to see what the buzz is. I’ll look around it for awhile before I say anything.

Trick or Treat!

Hah! I knew I could get you to read this blog with a title like Chocolate Cake! Actually, this really is about chocolate cake.

I made hubby’s annual birthday cake this weekend. It is a rather time consuming recipe from the Joy of Cooking that is his favorite. So, he gets it once a year for his birthday. And I do not substitute anything healthy, beneficial or neutral for any of the ingredients. It is a wholly unadulterated luscious and evil thing. The only redeeming ingredients are the organic eggs in the batter, and the chopped walnuts that go into the frosting (chocolate, of course).

I really surprised myself. I’ve been away from chocolate for so long that I wasn’t able to eat very much of the cake. I just took a small taste each day for the three days that it lasted. It was actually more than I wanted. But some habits are hard to break. If there is a special food hanging around my house, I just have to have some. I don’t think the tastes did me much harm.

On another note, I’ve been swigging hard on my Proberry-3 Syrup bottle the past couple of weeks or so. I started some sort of cold in my right eye. It lasted throughout my trip back east, and is still bothering me. Yesterday I woke up and it seemed settled in my right sinus below the eye. I broke down and sprayed some Afrin into the right nostril last night to try to ease some of the pressure. I at least slept well. I hope it clears up soon. I feel like I’ve been on the brink of catching a cold for the last three weeks. I feel like if I let up one little bit on supplements and eating right, I might succumb to something long and dreadful. Maybe I shouldn't have tasted the chocolate cake.

I think I’ll have another swig o' the Proberry-3.

While I was visiting family at home last week, I had a startling revelation. Most of the folks on my mother’s side of the family have suffered from dementia and/or memory loss.

I’ve been watching my mother gradually lose her ability to remember what she is going to do ‘today’. She wanders back and forth to her calendar several times a day just to try to orient herself. She still lives alone and does very well at feeding herself. She is meticulous about her medications. She has checklists for those and sets them out to take at certain times of the day. So far she is okay and my brother and sister live nearby to keep an eye on things. She just turned 89. But she seems so lost at times. Like me, she is a B blood type.

Her older sister will be turning 97 next month. She has always been the woman I looked up to most and tried to emulate. She taught me Latin and English in junior high school. Now, when we visit, she doesn’t seem to even recognize my mother. There just doesn’t seem to be any spark remaining of who this woman used to be.

I hear that my mother’s other sister who lives in Denver (she’s 86) is also having problems remembering much. She doesn’t recognize her grandchildren and spends most of her days sleeping.

Another sister comitted suicide in her mid-50's. I don't know the whole story there.

My grandfather had a violent dementia as he aged. He eventually had to be cared for in a 24 hour facility as he was too combative to be cared for at home.

I didn’t realize till last week that there probably is some heredity working here. I don't know what blood type these people are/were, but I imagine a few were B's. I don’t want to end up confused and in the dark like the older folks in my family. I ask myself if it is inevitable. It’s a bit scary to think I might have to face a similar future. I’m hoping by following the BTD lifestyle that I can avoid this future.

One can always hope.

Okay, I’m back from the other side of the world. It was a much-needed visit to family. I’m glad I went, but am also glad to be back home. There is so much to catch up on, and I was only gone five days.

It was BTD disaster! I did well on the plane ride going. Ate eggs and fresh fruit. But what did I meet as a home cooked meal when I arrived at my mother’s house? My sister-in-law had lovingly prepared a chicken dish. I dutifully downed it. I did refuse the ice cream for dessert. During the days it was easy to stay compliant. My stomach was on West Coast time and I didn’t even get hungry till early afternoon. So, I’d make an egg or eat an energy bar. My sister made a lovely lamb roast on the second evening. I ate a lot of that. She also served fresh mashed potatoes, of which I took a small portion. The green beans and salad were okay to eat. I refused the wheat roll and the dessert.

The hardest day was Saturday. I took Mom to a Women’s Club luncheon. They served chicken salad sandwiches. And the dessert tray was amazing! I had to eat a sandwich, and then picked at some of the desserts. That evening was a church banquet. They served a huge shrimp cocktail and some sort of provolone and filling thing as appetizers. I did eat those. The salad was okay. The entrée was salmon and roast beef with sides of mashed potatoes and a cheesy broccoli dish. I mainly ate the protein parts, and maybe a third of a roll. The dessert was a huge chocolate tira misu. That was something I couldn’t pass up! Luckily (?) I could only finish about a third of it.

Sunday, was the trip back home. I was pretty well bloated from the previous day’s indiscretions. They served a roast beef sandwich. Not tasty, but I ate half of it anyway. I also had a couple bloody mary’s on the plane. My reading light was burned out, and I couldn’t read. I decided to have a couple drinks and try to sleep. It was a 5-½ hour flight, so I needed to try something.

So, now I’m trying to detox from all that. I made a big batch of carrot, celery, beet and apple juice yesterday and am sipping on that. I figure it will be Thursday or Friday before I feel close to normal again. Some day I’m going to learn to JUST SAY NO!!

M-m-m-m! Hubby outdid himself last night. He made a casserole called Lamb and Eggplant Pastistio. I just submitted the recipe into Recibase, so hopefully it will show up in a couple of days. From what I can figure, it is a good recipe for B-nonnies, O secretors and all AB’s. It was probably one of the best dishes I have ever eaten. The big guy is cooking a pork roast tonight, so I get to have what is leftover from the Lamb casserole. Yahoo!

I’ve been feeling frustrated by not being able to get much aerobic exercise in. The weather hasn’t been good enough for golf, besides the fact that I haven’t had much time to fit it in. And, I’m still having troubles with the S-I joint. My chiropractor ordered an S-I belt for me to try. It is to be worn during exercise to keep the joint stable. I haven’t had a chance to try it yet. I have been very faithful with my Pilates and yoga sessions, but I really need the old heart rate raised once in awhile.

I may not be able to get another blog in before Wednesday morning when I leave for the east coast (Philly) to visit family. My mother’s house is so old that the phone jacks aren’t compatible with my laptop or something. I can’t dial out of the house from the computer. So, I’ll be out of commission for awhile. See ya.

I’ve been feeling a bit bloated and gassy the past couple of days. I’ve had a little digression in the wheat department. Also, hubby made a horrific soup on Monday. It was with black beans and ham hocks. Both big avoids. I swear I didn’t eat even a half cup of the soup (it tasted terrible). But, somewhere between the wheat and the soup something is doing a number on my gut. I’ve upped the Polyflora dose and have eaten yogurt every day. Maybe a nice yoga session this evening will help smooth things out. I’m looking forward to it.

Woo-hoo! I got my BTD health library books from Amazon yesterday. I was going to get the Cardiovascular and the Diabetes books, but with just those two, I was only three cents away from getting free shipping on the order. So, I blew caution to the wind and ordered the Cancer book, too. Haven’t had a chance to delve into them much, but I’m enjoying the anticipation.

I’ve had a couple of intense days. Work was hectic yesterday. Being the first of the month and a Friday, we were pretty well slammed all day long. In the middle of the day I had my ‘annual’ voice lesson from our chorus coach that comes up from California a few times each year. Since I switched voice parts this summer, she coached me on how to sound more like a baritone (new part) than a lead (old part). It was really cool. There’s lots of stuff to work on.

Then today the chorus had an all day workshop with said same coach. It was great how she just ripped in to everything we were doing and changed things for the better. Very inspiring and exhilarating. It was a long day, and my brain is a little numb from all the mental and sensory stimulation.

My feet are a little tired, too.

Of course, along with the all day workshop came the potluck lunch. I took compliant vegetable and fruit trays. I tasted some of the homemade casseroles and other dishes, and splurged on a cookie. My throat reacted by closing up a bit and getting too phlegmy. I shoulda’ known better! I did know better. I just couldn’t resist.