2012 Rolled out with a nice little spontaneous family reunion for The Feed Bags.
Lane and Noriko came down from Wetaskawin to pick me up on Friday night and we drove out to Westbank. It was such a peaceful trip. It was the first time I was a long distance passenger in a very long time, almost ten years. In fact the last time I was on a trip with Lane was in 2003 when we were on our way back from Vancouver and we stopped to swim with Oni in the Similkameen River.
Ten years older and hopefully ten years wiser, we arrived very early on Saturday morning and had a
Hiya fellow Feed Baggers!
Messa went to the CFR, otherwise known as The Canadian Finals Rodeo. This is an annual trip that I take with my friends the Redman's. This year was a bit different as Dave had to work later in the week. So, Treena, Austin and I drove up ahead of Dave at our usual time and BOY OH BOY... We hit a massive snow storm on our approach to Edmonton, just outside of Camrose actually.
We checked into our Motel and were snowed in, not literally but we
Salutations Sweetu's,
When I last left you hanging in gasp of suspense, Jan was on the road to recovery from cancer. Her father's funeral was a week ahead and Lane's wedding was a mere five days away.
It felt good to be home, as good as it get's. My home is the home of my aunt Irene who is also my dietary sponsor. We hugged in the driveway and went inside to lay off my things and take refreshment until the rest of our crew came in from GP, 13 hours N/E of us.
Two hours passed and then we all heard the roar of Aaron's RAM 3500. The whole town did. George and Tara were literally in tow, with their boys and pooch plus fifth wheel. Hoaky Croaky. Good times were on their way.
Head gasket blown on their Ram, George and Tara were grateful to arrive when they did, despite being 2am and waking up the hood. Hmm, more tragedy? Yeah, kinda...
Hello little lovely's!
It was mid-March and I returned from Grande Prairie to Calgary 10 pounds heavier then I was when I left, but still 25 pounds lighter than I was when I started my dietary rehab back in November of 2011. There I was - trying to figure out how I could manage to fullfill my upcoming obligations while travelling and trying to maintain my girlish figure. Okay, okay. Not girlish, at least not yet. Little did I know...
Welcome back friends,
Yesterday in Part One of Eating Through Travel, Trauma, Tragedy and Triumph, I left off asking three questions:
(1) What made me stop caring about my diet and my health after such diligent and constructive work in losing weight and changing my eating habits?
(2) Had I really adopted a new and healthy lifestyle, or was this a façade?
(3) Or, was I temporarily reverting to my old comforts in order to bear up under the pressure of my cousin's fresh wound of a cancer diagnosis?
Here is how I first allowed my cousin Jan's cancer diagnosis to put me on what I will affectionately call my "DIETARY DETOUR".
Firstly, I made a silent deal with myself when I was up at Tara and George's looking after their two son's. I said to myself, "self? If I re-route my journey through this jungle of junk food for two weeks,
Hello my dear friends,
It has taken me what feels like forever to harness the time to sit down and write about why this little piggie went to the market and didn't come home for seven months... SEVEN MONTHS??? Yes, that's what I said.
Here's what happened since we last saw each other:
After returning to Calgary on the first day of February, I thought that I would enjoy a short respite from my travels to my co-piggie, Irene's; after all, February IS the shortest month of the year. Let's make the most of it. I enjoyed a full month of activity doing my regular volunteer work, and spent the month catching up on hugging all my friends. I was successful in continuing my diet (after I devoured my cookies and chips) and managed to lose almost 35 pounds when the first in a series of events would thrust all of my hard work into a downward spiral, flushing my great achievement down the toilet with my hand on the lever.
Like most everyone, I have little control over the events in the world around me that occur from day to day. These are the incidences that I am not immediately related to, I having more or less, no influence on them and in turn they remain oblivious to me. At least, that's what I thought up until that email from Jan. I contemptuously refer to it as The "C" mail.
This is a story about how our journey in life is not ours alone. No matter who we are, what we do or what happens to us along the way, our life makes a distinct impression - whether visible or unconscious - upon the lives of others. This mark can affect how we think, speak, act and react and links us all together in the marathon that is the human race.
The Feed Bags have officially separated after 75 days together.
Some may say, awe that is sad. I say it's a very good thing. The reason that we were together for so long is because Irene and I wanted to support each other through a new dietary procedure. Irene also sponsored me as my weight loss coach, giving me tips and tricks after her 100+ pound and continuing drop in weight.
We finished the first three cycles of Dr. Moreno's 17 Day Diet. As per his instructions, if one does not finish their total weight loss by diet day 51, you must re-cycle, starting over from either first or second cycle depending on how much you are willing to sacrifice. Honestly, there has been no sacrifice on this diet! It is wonderful.
Last Tuesday night, I arrived back in my town of Calgary, Alberta and took a few days to clean, reorganize, unpack and launder to mention just a few things. I kind of went off my dieting for three days because before I left, my apartment was not diet proof. So rather than throwing out food whilst the famine is just "ending" in Somalia, I chose to eat my triple chocolate chip cookies, dill pickle chips and
