Fifteen Percent

I've been having trouble with diet and weight lately.  The weight "problem" isn't so much a problem as a weight correction I need to work on.  The real problem lies in the food choices I'm making.

When I say food choices, the problem is two-fold.  First, I'm going to the store and purchasing things that are poor choices and then second, I'm eating those poor choices in large quantities.  My biggest current problem is sugar.   That problem started online when I went in search of the real, traditional, these-are-the-ones-from-my-childhood, spice drops.

Spice drops are gumdrops with interesting flavors.   I love interesting or different food.  Traditional spice drops include flavors you might expect, including cinnamon, spearmint, and wintergreen.   The other three traditional flavors that many people don't realize are clove, anise, and sassafras.

I went online to hunt down the real deal in spice drops.  I found them and discovered when I was checking out I was going to have to pay a hefty chunk in shipping.   I could circumvent the shipping charge by changing the quantity to the ten-pound bag of spice drops.   And I love spice drops.   Can you take a guess what I've been eating a lot of lately?

Eating a lot of sugar makes you crave lots of sugar.   And while I haven't exhausted the bin of spice drops (thank goodness) I'm trying to reset my eating habits some.  The situation was compounded food-wise when I bought extra things in case we were asked to stay at home due to the COVID-29 coronavirus.

All of these things combined, and I'm not managing my weight well.   My husband has similar issues. He told me he felt fifteen percent of the weight he had gained was my fault because of the things I've bought.  I told him I thought that was more than fair, generous perhaps, and I would take the blame.

Back to the spice drops—I had plans for them.   It wasn't my intention to just eat them.  I ordered some gumdrop trees and have, for the last two weeks, had a little tree at the top of the steps coming up from the basement, covered in spice drops.   The children walk by and eat one from time to time.   I would potentially tell them they had to as permission, but given the quantity of spice drops I have and the concern I have for my own eating problem with them, I've let it slide.

There is a recipe of cookies with spice drops I was going to make with my daughter for her class business project in which they each have their own business and sell something.  Only that got canceled along with school.   I could still make the cookies, only that seems like adding insult to injury when it comes to eating healthier.

The Big Boy Update:  My son had a Google Hangout meeting today with his class.  They created a pass-along story.   The first person, Luna, started the story with, "There was a girl named Luna.   She was the most beautiful girl."  As the story went on, Luna had adventures, including having multiple boyfriends.  Then, Luna kissed a girl.   The story ended happily ever after with gumdrops (my son brought the gumdrop tree down to show people.).   The thing I liked about the story was this:  Luna is transgendered and "was the most beautiful girl" she said.  The fact that Luna thinks she is beautiful is truly a wonderful thing.   The students (who are first through third grade) are supportive of everyone's life choices and to them, having a transgendered classmate is just like any other student who has something special about them like glasses or a peanut allergy.  I liked that Luna had both boyfriends and was kissing a girl.   I was watching Luna's face on the screen, she was smiling and was happy.  No one was teasing her.  She is accepted by her peers.   It made my day.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  I sent my braille instructor an email asking if I could have an extension on my homework given our situation.  In the email, I sent a link to the blog post from a few days ago of the homework my daughter created for me.   My instructor wrote back how impressed she was with both her language and particularly about the grid lines she did for the math problems.   She said this is something that's hard to get the hang of and my daughter has learned it easily at a young age.