My World With Words

Merry Christmas to you and yours! Walter, Mimi and I all hope you’re having a blessed day.

Today is more than just the Christmas holiday for me. It marks seven years that I’ve been blogging. I’ve learned a lot about myself in these past seven years through this blog and the more than 500 posts I’ve written. While I used to be much more consistent about writing regularly–two or three times a week, generally–I’m still growing with the help of my pen and ink (okay, computer).

Many of you have been blogging buddies for years and I appreciate your friendship. Some of you are more recent followers and I’m grateful for you, as well–make new friends and keep the old, right? Blogging is a gift for all of us.

If you’re alone this Christmas day, take heart. So am I and so are millions of others. If you’re with family, I hope your time together is gracious and kind, as well as just plain fun. If this is the first Christmas you’re spending without a loved one, God bless you. I hope unexpected blessings fill your heart.

Wherever you are, whoever you’re with, Merry Christmas!

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Image credit: © Pasko Maksim–stock.adobe.com

I didn’t plan to celebrate all of these national observances, but this one caught my eye and I feel compelled to honor it. Whether it’s milk chocolate or dark you prefer, today is a day to just smile and give in.  Okay, I don’t want anyone to break their diet on my say-so. But for the rest of you chocolate lovers, go for it.

I’m celebrating a couple of other things as well. I saw my neurosurgeon today and found out that all of those compression fractures that put me in a brace have healed and there are no new fractures to report.

On Monday I start a new job, one that won’t require any lifting, which was what got me in trouble with my back to start with. I’m excited and nervous about this new job, which is natural, I suppose.

So I’m going down to that fancy chocolate shop today to get myself a small something and say, “things are looking up.”

 

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Image Credit: Box of chocolates © Nitr–stock.adobe.com

I feel I should add some balance to my post about Chocolate Cupcake Day of a few days ago. Today is National Apple Day, and I say for every cupcake we eat, we should chow down two apples. Actually, a healthy diet would probably have us eating an apple a day and a cupcake no more than once a week, but I know myself better than that.

Still, I’d like to eat a healthier diet. It’s difficult when you’re cooking for one, or even two, because few recipes cater to the single eater and you end up with a lot of leftovers. And no appetite for the food by the time you finish eating all of it. I’ve bought a pound of ground beef before and thrown out half of it because two burgers in a row is enough for me.

That’s a distinct waste of food and I’ve sworn I won’t do it again, but right now I’ve got a pound of chicken breasts in my freezer with no plan for how to prepare them. I originally planned to separate them all before freezing and pull them out one by one, but I forgot to do that and now they’re all frozen together.

It’s too easy to rely on frozen pizza or other frozen meals, but those stop tasting good after awhile. Today I ate totally unhealthy food all day long and now I’m paying for it. My stomach aches and my head just feels icky. Yet at the grocery stores in my area, there aren’t any deli options, such as salad or (really wishful thinking here) soup. In fact, there aren’t any delis that I know of in the area.

Yes, there are some restaurants that have relatively healthy food, but they’re some distance from my apartment and expensive to boot. I have a limited budget and eating out is a luxury.

So, sorry about griping. I truly do want to eat healthier food (without denying myself the occasional cupcake), but I struggle with finding such food that fits into my lifestyle.

It’s a dilemma many single people face, this inability to cook for one. If you have any suggestions, I’m open to ideas. In the meantime, let’s all enjoy the single-serving apple!

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Image credits: Basket of apples © voren1–stock.adobe.com, Row of apples © cooperr–stock.adobe.com

Today is National Chocolate Cupcake Day. This is an easy day to celebrate, and as far as I’m concerned, a belated celebration is also legit! So in case you’re reading this post past the actual holiday, I give you permission to eat a chocolate cupcake. Or two, if they’re of the mini-cupcake variety (if you’re like me it’s hard to stop with just two of those, so I’m going to be good and go to the bakery to get just one regular-sized cupcake).

We all need things to celebrate, and today I was looking for a holiday I could easily support. We have a great bakery nearby, and what do you know? They had a special on chocolate cupcakes. So I’m satisfied.

Image credits: Spider cupcakes (below) © azurita–stock.adobe.com, Regular cupcakes (above) © olyina–stock.adobe.com 

I learned something last night.

It’s one thing to watch a disaster from a distance, in the safety of your own home, when you have no personal stake in what’s happening. It’s another when your 20-year-old nephew has decided to stay in New Orleans and wait out the hurricane.

I watched the Hurricane Ida coverage last night as much as I could, but it was so stressful imagining what my nephew would be going through and not knowing where he was. I have no idea where he stayed, except I know it’s not in the house he now calls home. He’s a student at Tulane and perhaps the university had a place for the students to wait out the storm. At any rate, now he’s safe and home, but communication is difficult and will only get worse. After all, how do you charge up your phone when there’s no power?

No word yet on what Tulane will decide to do. The semester just started. It would be hard to conduct classes with no power, not to mention how the students would take care of themselves without it. The last I heard, it could be weeks or even months before power is restored to New Orleans.

I pray for my nephew and all the people affected by Hurricane Ida. It will never be the same watching hurricane coverage again, for no longer will I be able to separate myself from what is going on. I always believed I had a great deal of empathy for people in those situations, and perhaps I did, but this adds a whole level of understanding.

Image credit: copyright EvgeniyQW–stock.adobe.com