I’m trying not to let the annoying irritations in life cause stress in my body. It is hard. This has been a frustrating week. We are trying to convert and merge our database in our two stores and it has turned into a bigger nightmare than I care to elaborate upon. Every time I try to talk about it, I get more and more tense. Monday and Tuesday each seemed like a week long. But, today I took a break from stress. Had a private session at the Pilates studio, and we worked on a lot of things, like form and working out some lazy habits that I have fallen in to.

Later in the afternoon I had a hot-rock massage. A hot-rock massage is like heaven. My massage person always plays Mozart for me, instead of the New Age stuff that is supposed to be soothing and relaxing. That kind of music puts me on edge for some reason. So, I’m feeling pretty good right now. I’ll try to keep it going for as long as I can.

This hasn’t been a relaxing Sunday at all! After a hefty session in the exercise room, I have been cleaning house all afternoon. I’m ready to collapse now, but there are a few piles of laundry to wash, dry, hang and fold yet. I spent the last two days having fun, so I do deserve a day of work. Played golf both Friday and Saturday mornings. It is very unusual for me to get up for a 9:00 am tee time, but they were ladies tournaments and they always start early. On Friday we invited ladies from other clubs to come play, so I met some new people. And Saturday was our regular monthly tournament day. I can’t say as I played all that well, but my legs are slowly getting in shape to manage the uneven terrain of the course. I do have a chiropractor appointment Tuesday to get the kinks taken out of my lower back and shoulder.

Food has been difficult. I haven’t eaten many meals at home for the past few days. And even though I have tried to choose compliant foods, I know there have been some avoids creeping in. We were invited for cocktails last night at a friend’s house. I ate some shrimp tempura that was an avoid. I also ingested some wheat. There were dark circles under my eyes this morning from the indiscretions. But today I’ve had eggs and pineapple juice and a handful of nuts, so far. Hubby is making a turkey sausage casserole for dinner. All the ingredients are beneficial or neutral for me. I do seem to have a problem with some of the spices in the turkey sausage, but for some reason he never hears me when I tell him that I react badly to it. And he tries so hard to cook for me! So, I will try to eat around the sausage. There will be mozzarella cheese in it for protein.

Someone commented that being a B, my cholesterol problems are more likely to be from stress than from food. That could be encouraging. I have had much less stress these past few months. I am working less, so probably any real stresses I have are from my own imagination. It just reminds me that I must get back to convincing myself to learn meditation. I have tried to do it on my own, but lose interest fast. I will have to keep on the lookout for a class. Does yoga count as meditation? I’ve never studied yoga. What do you think?

It’s been really difficult to find time to sit and blog this week. I don’t like to let so many days pass. But I’m here now, so will get on with things.

I’ve done something that makes me very nervous. I made an appointment with my naturopath. It is time for me to see her for a six-month follow-up visit. She started me on red yeast rice in December for my cholesterol, and she also wanted me to cut out some of the saturated fats I was eating. I have made the appointment for Thursday May 27th. And I have to take the blood tests no later than May 21st. That gives me just about a week to get my blood levels perfect. See why I’m nervous? I’m so afraid I haven’t been eating perfectly enough to get my levels where they should be. I have cut my egg consumption from two every day, down to the LYFYT recommended portions of 5-6 per week. Instead of half&half in my morning cup of java, I am using 1% milk. I judiciously cut every visible piece of fat off of my beef and lamb. And I remove the skin from turkey. We use very little butter in our cooking, so I don’t think that has ever been a problem. Will this be enough? I would like to think so and will keep my fingers crossed.

My glucose level was a tad over 100 at my visit in December, but we couldn’t really determine from my food diary what was causing this. A1C level was just fine. The only suggestion was to cut down on my alcohol intake. I haven’t done very well with that. I’m also three pounds heavier now than I was at the December visit. That is a result of my love of “good times”. Avoidance foods and lots of any kind of food always seem to turn up at “good times”. I also was tasked at that time to rev up my aerobic exercise. That has been hit and miss, too.

Okay, I ‘ve voiced my fears. And I know what I should have been doing. I’m afraid I haven’t done enough. At least going to see the good Dr. will give me another push toward better compliance and better health.

It has not been the best week for BTD here. To begin with, on Tuesday, I took my daughter to lunch. I don’t normally eat lunch in a restaurant. I usually just eat a yogurt or some low-fat cottage cheese in the afternoons. So, it was a bigger meal than usual. A salmon, rice and vegetable bowl. I’m afraid there was quite a bit of sesame oil in the dressing, and that is a big avoid for me. Then, Tuesday evening the chorus had its annual Installation Dinner. It was a buffet, and for some reason I decided I wanted to taste things like potato salad, macaroni salad and garlic bread. They weren’t even that tasty. I really should have had more will power. So, that gave me two big meals in one day. Way too many calories along with too many avoids.

On Thursday, we got impulsive and took a road trip to visit a college my daughter is interested in. The college is located on the opposite side of the state. It took a little over five hours to drive there. After looking around for a couple of hours, we drove all the way back on the same day. It was really exhausting! For food…..well, I really don’t hang around fast food places, but we stopped at an Arby’s and had one of their low-carb wraps. I guess the only neutral foods in it were the turkey and vegetables. I can’t say I enjoyed it very much. But it was food. It was after 9:00 PM when we hit town, and we went to a local restaurant that was still serving. Ack! Had a martini, Calamari (neutral, but high in cholesterol) and an Italian sausage salad. I’m not sure of the ingredients in all that, but I was too tired to care. So, needless to say, the three pounds I lost while feeling ill have attached themselves back to my midsection.

Tonight won’t be much better. We have been invited up to my niece’s in Seattle for her 30th birthday. My sister and husband are visiting, and it will be a good family time. I will eat what is served. So, beginning SUNDAY, I will reach down into my gut and pull myself out of the bad eating and no aerobics rut I’ve gotten myself in to, and I will GET WITH THE PROGRAM!!

Well, Friday’s golf game wasn’t anything to write home about. I was still feeling a little punk from the cold, so only walked the first half, and hitched a ride with one of my playing partners for the second nine holes. Still, made it through without making a complete fool of myself. Managed to eat compliantly all day, too. As long as I bring plenty of backup Boomibars, I don’t get tempted to stray into Avoidland. Even if I only eat one bar along the way, as long as I have a bunch with me, I feel safe.

Had to get up early Saturday. Our Small Chorus (just twelve of us from the big chorus) had a sing-out in the morning. We earn money for the chorus by getting hired out to sing. So, we went to the director’s house early to rehearse. The rehearsals are always longer than the actual performance, of course. Then we had to drive about 35 minutes to the church where we were singing. We did a great job, if I say so myself. We hadn’t sung as a group since the Holidays, so it was a surprise we hung together as well as we did.

I was home by 1:00 PM, and was wiped out already! Ate a couple of eggs, and went in to the store to check on how the day was going over there. Then hubby took me for a motorcycle ride. The afternoon was so gorgeous we had to get out and enjoy it. It was a leisurely Saturday evening at home. Lamb steak and broccoli for dinner. Norman didn’t rear his ugly head all day long!

Today, I feel like I’ve been trying to slog through quicksand all day. The energy level feels like it’s at about 30 percent. After reading the Sunday papers, Hubby and I went out to the golf course to play nine holes. I just couldn’t hold anything together out there. Swinging the driver was like trying to maneuver a sledgehammer. It was pretty darn ugly. I’m ready to forget about it now. Looks like fresh salmon and salad for dinner tonight. Norman was slinking around the freshly crafted breads at the grocery store, but I ignored him.

I’m going to have to look up some kind of Spring Tonic in my juicing book. I’m tired of dragging myself around. I know I’m still recovering from the virus. But, I’ve let the juicing fall by the wayside AGAIN. I must get back to it. It always makes me feel better.