We were recently "on vacation," in quotes because we're probably the first couple in NJ to have never gone away for any vacation in our 31 years of marriage, except for our 5 days in the Poconos for our honeymoon. Instead of going away we spend our money on such "luxuries" as a few extra goodies in the weekly grocery basket, or replacing broken or worn out/outdated items with more modern ones. This vacation we bought a few CD's (on sale) to replace those that was still had on vinyl (most from the 1960's) but were so worn and scratched we didn't dare play them any more for fear of ruining our 32 year old diamond needle on the turntable. We replaced the broken digital camera (only 2 years old) with a better Canon Powershot and broken Singer serger sewing machine (24 years old) with a newer Singer model.
We bought 7th Heaven season one on DVD to replace the home-taped VHS version I had (the remaining seasons are in my Amazon shopping cart for future splurges). Now we can use those old tapes for the upcoming summer season of tv.And we bought books, which brings me to the topic of this post. When the Amazon package arrived my husband had a good laugh at my expense. Included in the order was Kate Harding and Marianne Kirby's size-acceptance book Lessons from the Fat-O-Sphere along with Kip Esselstyn's Engine 2 Diet which pushes the same very low fat, high starch strict vegetarian food plan as his parents and Dr. McDougall. Yeah, at first thought they are extreme opposites, but if you look back on this blog you'll see that the times I felt my best, physically and mentally, were the times I was following the vegan food plan and avoiding all dairy. My husband unpacked the box and just shook his head when he saw the titles and said "We're in for another bumpy ride, aren't we?"
During vacation we ate a lot of crap - fatty meats, bakery goodies nearly every day, as well as almost every lunch from a fast food restaurant, then a chocolate cream pie with three inches of whipped cream on top for the finale on Mother's day. My son and husband really don't like chocolate pudding so the pie was all mine, and I devoured the entire thing in 2 days. Yesterday was my first non-goodies day in a week and a half, and I was in agony! I could barely sleep, my snoring and snorting, as well as hip pains, kept waking me up every hour or so. My head was ready to split open, and when I described the pain to my son he said it sounded like his typical migraine headache. It was the worst headache of my life and didn't go away, even with three doses of extra strength Tylenol. Usually one regular strength tablet taken only once gets rid of any headache I get, but this one was a killer, and the first time I ever had eye pain to go along with it. I never want to go through that kind of pain ever again!
So, with that in mind, yesterday was day 1 of no sweets or any other crap foods. I know the dairy in those things is causing the sinus problems, and I know yesterday's headache was probably a sugar hangover. I'm now going to make a strong effort to avoid all things dairy, have only a little bit of sugar (In iced tea or lemonaide), and continue to make dinners the whole family enjoys, which will save not only my sanity but a few bucks at the grocery store, too. Most meals will be low fat vegan, but not all. I already made one of the soups in the Engine 2 book and see a lot more recipes I'll be trying, just as I'll be making a lot more McDougall recipes, but not only very low fat vegan ones. In fact, yesterday Isa's newest book, Vegan Brunch, went on sale and I ordered it.
Plans for today include hitting the park with my new camera, and finally opening the box with the serger. All my fabric is washed and ready to go, and I've got a lot of sewing to catch up on. Once this headache is gone and I catch up on housework, the first thing to get made is a new Lazy Girls purse. I've had the patterns and fabric for over a year now and really should get started on them again. After that I have a few aprons to make up (Again, the fabric has been waiting about a year), and last week I bought more fabric for summer caftan shirts. I'm so glad I found her directions again after she moved them. I've been using them for almost 10 years now and just LOVE how those shirts feel and fit. I even wear them during the cold wintry days, layered with other shirts. They're best in the wildest fabric designs possible. For this year's batch I have a tropical print (Parrots!), ladybugs, multi-colored sprinkles (known as "jimmies" to some parts of the country), subdued beige butterflies, and my favorite (and the most expensive piece), Japanese fans. My apron and purse fabrics are wilder than these, so I really can't wait to get started. Hopefully now that I'm away from dairy again my arthritis and neck neuritis won't act up as much and allow me to work at the machines for more than a few minutes at a time without pain.
Expect photos. :)
