Ahhh Yes... Sodium

 

“Sir Humphrey Davy
Detested gravy
He lived in the odium
Of having invented sodium.” 

~Edmund Bentley 

 

Ahhh yes... sodium. I enjoyed sodium filled products my whole life. Chinese food. Italian food. HAMBURGERS. Buffalo wings. You name it, I was a sodium fiend. Let me stress, I was a sodium fiend. Ugh. Age makes us alter our thinking about food, and now that I am 106 years old, well, it's just a matter not wanting to fall over dead, while picking out Blood oranges at Trader Joe's. I just hate the thought of dying in public, don't you? Having to look at total strangers staring down at you, speculating on everything from why I was wearing a mask in public, to whether or not I had a next of kin in the car, while you see the white light of a thousand or more fluffy angels come flying to your side. Your last thoughts could be, wait... did I put underwear on this morning? Or perhaps, why the HELL did I have that salt platter of death last night? If I had just listened to my doctor, I might have at least made it to my car before I dropped dead. Sigh.

 

The delight you see in this post is from Panera. It's the absolutely perfect, Cranberry Orange Muffin. Worth the calories. Worth the sodium. Worth every naughty crumble, especially if you just do a little planning for it. Figure out what you want to spend your calories, fat, sodium and all the rest of it on, and give yourself a free day once a month! It will work for weight loss, I guarantee it, and it will work with cutting back other nutritional concerns as well. I tried it just after I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes back in 2007, and honestly it was one of the easiest things I have ever attempted. I gave up restaurants. I ate all the foods I loved, but they were homemade, and once a month I fed the culinary cravings, which I think made me less likely to drop the modified diet, because I knew there was a day waiting for me to enjoy each month. It works. So, that's what I plan to do now, all these years later. Salt in moderation. Salt measured. Not only am I lacking for nothing, I might just live to reach the car, the day I go tits up!

Well done, future me!

Yep, Still Alive, But...

"Politicians are people who,

 when they see the light at the end of the tunnel,

 they go out and buy more tunnel."

~John Quinton

Donald Trump For President? Huh? Last summer when I heard he was ready to run for president, I was kind of shocked, then I laughed, rolled my eyes and said... "Yes! Finally something is going right! This should be highly entertaining! At the time, I was in a crappy hotel room in Turlock, California, which isn't terribly surprising, because Turlock, California, is one big crap heap! If you visit there, the three sights you will see most often are, rednecks, and their tank topped significant others, cockroaches, and cows. Occasionally you might also encounter hairy spiders the size of a redneck's fist, but I am told that is somewhat of a rarity. The day I encountered one, I was told that the particular type of spider I encountered mostly live in trees. Great... a tree dwelling spider. Fun. I wondered if it could fly, and then for the next couple weeks always wore a hat when venturing out of the hotel room.LOL. Like Donald Trump's run for the presidency, after the initial shock and fear wore off, it eventually became funny. I can laugh now, but at the time it was high drama!

Fast forward to the present. I have a fun memory I can relive and share here on Ellipsis, and that makes me happy. I like having a blog. I like to share things with you. I like it when you leave your opinions on things I talk about. I really do. I must because as of next August, I will have been blogging 13 years! We are in an election year, a national election year, which is exciting to me because I am a hopeless political nerd! I love reading about politics, studying it's history, and I even enjoy reading about politicians biographies. I like finding out why things happen, not that there is always an answer, but sometimes if I can just get a little insight I feel better about things. You know what I mean?

Well, I have spent a lot of time doing just that! So much so that I have caused myself some nerve damage in my right hand from Carpal Tunnel syndrome. The doctor says I need to spend less time obsessing on Sarah Palin and more time resting my hand or the damage will a permanent condition. My right hand is numb most of the time now, and when it isn't it has pain shooting up to my shoulder, and I did it to myself. But jeeze... how am I supposed to NOT make fun of that snowbeast Sarah Palin? Since she hit the national political stage she has made me cringe, and when I take it too seriously, I have to let it out! And now, after Donald Trump promised her a position in his administration, should he win, I am less amused with her, and more frightened that it might actually happen! Yikes. She is amusing, but more than anything, she is dangerous and it really isn't funny, so I need to talk about it, even if no one agrees with me, or visits my blog.

So, I have to take some real time off from online activities, when I hand tries to heal yet again. I am taking my doctors advice and giving the blogging a rest. I am going to take my pal Jeff's idea and look into Dragon speech software. And I have decided to post to my blog twice a month, when I am online anyway to pay bills. I will check in, let you know I am okay, and update you on my hand's progress. I don't want to have long term damage, so I have to listen to the doctor. My future blogging schedule will be as follows...

February 14th

February 27th

March 15th

March 17th

March 18th

March 27th

April 15th

April 29

May 15th

May 29th

Back full time in June.

The month of June is my goal. It's also when California holds its primary. I can't miss that! And let's face it, this summer is going to be amazing! Election season, and all the amazing things to go and do and see! But really... nothing invigorates me like a good political fight! I am still a bit on the fence about my candidate. Hillary is someone I trust completely to handle women's issues, but Bernie has a proven track record also. I would like to have a woman lead, because let's face it, woman approach things completely different then men do. I think having her elected might just change the way women are treated in the workplace, and maybe, just maybe, women will finally make what men do for doing the same job! It's time for a woman! But Bernie really appeals to the progressive inside me. It's a touch decision. One thing I do know... I won't be ordering any campaign merchandise until after the primary! In the past, every time I did... my candidate imploded into a big ball of gone. Just ask John Edwards, the day after I ordered that cute little refrigerator magnet!

:)

See you February 14th!

Mood: Hopeful

 

Photograph: "Lunch At Panera On A Winter Day"

~Me :)