Please bear with me. I am sleep deprived, and sleep deprived people should not be blogging at this hour. Especially when they are very upset about the fact that in North Carolina people voted and won the ban on gay marriage. Apparently justice isn't for y'all.
Secondly I am upset that Emily is seriously considering staying up north for the summer. While I understand that it will be difficult to leave her father, her best friend and her new job, my heart is just a little bit broken. I wisely remember that I when I set out to live my adult life, I really didn't want to live at home with my parents. I came back for visits, and my parents rejoiced, then stood together and waved to me from the middle of the driveway. That was sad. And now I fully understand what that feels like.
Anyway, back to my shiny new idea. Because when it's all over, I know what made me satisfied in life. It was the time I payed attention to living the way I like to live. This month I'm on a serious fitness kick. In seven days I've run over 55 miles and the scale is indeed starting to budge. I feel so much better and have a great deal more energy. On the other hand, I don't have much interest in keeping the house extraordinarily clean or cooking huge complicated meals. I'm trying to find hours in my heavily loaded schedule for adding in more miles. It can get rather consuming.
Because of this new push to get fit is so involving, I've naturally started paying attention to portion control.
And that's where the new idea came about. After enjoying a single scoop of lactose free ice cream (thank you Bryers!) I realized that it was just the perfect amount. You see, I am a normally small person. It's bragging to say that I'm five two. Actually, I'm five one. And I've been eating on standardized dinner dishes for years. Plates that are perfect for people who are a foot taller and almost 80 lbs heavier than me.
I'm not quite a "little person" but I am naturally small. When I stand in a group of elementary students, the fifth graders are at least as tall or taller. I was once mistaken for a student by a teacher when in a crowd at my daughter's elementary school. I'm a teeny tiny woman, currently not so teeny due to some extra pounds.
So I was thinking that I need to have my own dishes that fit the portion sizes that are right for me.
Like little ice cream dishes that hold a single scoop. Plates that I wouldn't feel terrible for "cleaning" every last bite from. Bowls that hold a cup of something.
So I want to learn pottery. The multipotentialite's dilemma part two is this question: how do people with these terrible impulses for learning manage to navigate all their various interests and still stay sane?
Maybe the inner prompt to learn pottery is just another awesome gift from God. A way to heal my summer without her.
And an easier way out of over-eating. I would call my line of little dishes "The Teeny Tiny Woman." And they would not look childish...these would be designed for adults in bright colors and with lots of style. This idea is an objection to the concept of super-size me. I want to miniature-size me.
So this is how I go forward. One new idea at a time.
But I also go forward with the help of friends. Today I especially want to thank Sush for the comfort she gave to me while I'm learning to let go of my daughter.
I'm going to close with this quote:
The God of All Comfort
Praise
be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our
troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort
we ourselves have received from God.
Oh Jenny...you gave me so much more. I remember my Mom telling me what she missed most was being needed. I reminded her I still needed her even though I was in my fifties. She smiled and said yes, I know but I mean the day to day needing help. As my adult children are reaching the age of not needing me each day, it was a comfort to me when you reached out.
ReplyDeleteI love your new idea! I actually use the 8 1/2 in paper plates when I'm using those items. (I know it's not a 'green' thing but they are smaller than my regular dinner plates, lol. So I'd love to have the minimalist plates to help me reach a mini me status again! Hope they have classes available soon!
On a side note my Aunt had a line of enamelware she was the creator of and sold years ago. I still have a few sets and we used them for the BBQ when all the kids came to meet Grace!
Here's to a sun shiny day in your heart even when skies are gray!
Loves~Loves~Loves~
For anyone reading this today who ever wonders why people blog, this is the reason. To have found a friend like Sush makes my life deeply inspiring, comforting and happy.
DeleteI couldn't agree with you more Jenny!
DeleteAnd Diane, I include you in this.
DeleteSush, I'm going to be smiling all day because of you. Loves Loves Loves right back to you!
ReplyDeleteSush brought sunshine into my life today with her lovely comment on my blog and her own incredible picture post. I am so glad that you and she are friends, Jenny. Sush is a keeper and so are you!
ReplyDeleteI always wondered why my mother hugged me so tightly and became so emotional every time I left to drive back to my apartment at college or, later on, back home with my wife. Now I know. Now I understand.
Every time I see an ad for a jumbo, super-sized sugary drink or a triple decker burger with the works or a grand-slam fat and sodium loaded breakfast or heart attack on a plate steak dinner, I don't salivate. I have myself programmed to feel only revulsion. Same thing with alcohol, tobacco and drugs. It is easy to turn away. There is no will power required or struggling involved when you simply flip the switch in your brain.
Downsizing portions is easier when you downsize the plates you put them on. I believe you're on the right track with your plan.
Isn't life grand when you have so many new ideas that you feel like your head could burst?
Jenny, I can full well understand the heartache when a grown child wants to set off on their own. I can remember silently grieving for too long about it. You are wise, though, in letting her start to make her own decisions. She'll come to appreciate that so much later on.
ReplyDeleteI think your idea for the pottery is absolute genius. Really. I would be one of your first customers. I hope you can get into a class quickly and learn it, because I think there would be a great market for it out there.
I rejoiced when I read the post Jessica did on their homecoming today- I have so prayed for this day for such a long time. Now, it's finally coming!
You are doing great with your running. You are really committed to it and that's where the most satisfying change comes, I think, not so much in budging the scale, but in the joy of mastering of your flesh and submitting it to a consitent discipline.
I hope you get some rest today!
I think it's great that you want to learn pottery and I certainly believe it's very possibly a prompt from God to get you inspired and get your mind off your worries. I'm also prone to overeating, especially in times of stress and/or sadness and I have found that when I'm inspired and doing something creative, my worries fly away and food also becomes an afterthought. I have to remind myself to eat and then I make better food choices. Smaller dishes sounds like a perfect idea for portion control! I've starting substituting those 100% juice popscicles for ice cream in the summer months because ice cream is my downfall. I try not to keep it in the house at all anymore. I wish I had more willpower.
ReplyDeleteThat quote you closed with is wonderful. Thank you for sharing it. :)
Oh Jenny, I'm so sorry to hear about Emily staying up north. Does this mean that you won't be doing the trip that you were so looking forward to, after all?? :( It IS hard to let go of our children, but I guess we must be proud that they are confident enough to do their own thing. I'm glad that Sush was such a comfort to you at this time. We really have gained SO much from our bloggy friendships, haven't we? That sounds like such a good idea about the teeny weeny plates for women. I must be exactly the same height as you, and am quite small! I'm a good weight (well 8 stone), but this has really made me thing. They do say that people don't really need to diet, as it's all about portion control. I am going to get myself some smaller plates. You could be onto a winner here Jenny! Sending hugs your way, and I really do admire how you are always thinking of creative things to do!
ReplyDeleteDear Diane, Thank you so much for your encouraging words today. It's a rough day to know that my plans will be changing. But I have a heart like a trampoline. You can jump up and down on it and I bounce right back.
DeleteI have two things to say: 1. When I look back on the times I unintentionally shredded my parents' hearts with my actions or words, I could die. I wish I could take it back, do it over. Your daughter will reach that point too. You are handling this well, and I know it's hard.
ReplyDelete2. I love your idea! It's fun, it's whimsical, and it's just the thing to make eating less more fun. You go, girl!