Perspective

Nothing was noticeably different today, all the same players were here from Sunday & Monday; it's still February, work is still busy, I am still sad. But today I was back. The me I think of as being real. The me that can say no to cookies. Where I've been the last two days is anyone's guess. At one time in my life I thought I was pretty manic depressive, with big swings of depression broken by small periods of mania when I was ready to diet, exercise and conquer the world. Those little spikes into the sunlight were usually brief, and illuminating, because I never realized how down I was until I was up. Perspective is everything, some would say.

Maybe these past two days were just a small dip back into depression, and this strength of purpose I have been feeling for the past few months is actually the new normal. One can hope, and focus on the positive.

(b) Triscuits, cream cheese
(l)  Baked beans, mixed veggies, banana
(d) Meatball, peas, green salad with lots of mushrooms

I only have one meatball left. It's been great having a batch in the freezer and taking out a few at a time to defrost. I should say mini-meatloaves they are so big, each one weighing between 4-5oz. They are so full of green peppers and onions I don't give a second thought to the actual weight of the meat. 

I have probably mentioned several times before that I am not meticulous about weighing. I tend to rebel if too fanatical, and for me it is not a boon to my mental health to obsess about exactness. For instance my cream cheese. Or more usually Neufchâtel. I get an 8oz package, and I know it is four servings. I use it to make four breakfasts and know that over the course of four days I have had exactly four servings. No need to have exactly 2oz each day - that would make me crazy.  

The same with a batch of soup. I usually cook in batches that will have 4-6 servings of protein. If it's beans, legumes, or ground meat I don't worry about how much is in each serving. I just make sure there are tons of veggies and then divide it into 4 or 6 dishes and call it a day. Erring on the side of too many vegetables can't really be a bad thing, IMHO.

When cooking ala carte I do weigh the components because it's too easy to eat too many starchy vegetables and not enough cruciferous raw veggies. Like tonight. I weighed 6oz of peas into a bowl, added my 4.2 oz meatball, and heated it all up together. Then I made my salad in my beautiful wooden bowl, adding veggies until I hit 8oz. Easy Peasy.

I will never take a scale to the table. I will use the one plate method and my god given common sense. Of course that's easy to say when I rarely sit down at the table to eat.

The sheltie on the Westminster Dog Show has caught my attention; time to go rest my mind, my back, and everything else that aches.