Doing Dishes

(Having now caught up on the news of the day, I need to add, first, that my heart is breaking for all those in attendance at the Boston Marathon today. Prayers for peace and freedom from terrorism everywhere. The peaceful, pleasant time I had at the Cottage this evening is a huge contrast to those who are suffering. I will leave my journal, below, as originally written, but I will not forget when I look back on this day, that while I peacefully did dishes, the lives of so many around the world, for various reasons, are being torn apart. Absolutely heart breaking.

It's the view from Annie's Cottage kitchen window! Oooo la la, I could stand here and do dishes for a good long time! A lovely transition from a day of paperwork to an evening of preparing the Cottage for her next guests. Most of the sun, no longer hitting the yard, except a few little rays here and there. And that sky...magical!

I love our guests...it's truly like having company! We rarely meet them in person, but the sweet little notes they leave behind, and the care they show for the Cottage warms my little heart :-) Thank you, lovely people!

Oh! I want to mention something rather goofy that has nothing to do with doing dishes at the Cottage, except that while I was doing them, I looked down and saw my pudgy belly fat for what it was! This is so nutso, but after losing over 60 lbs a couple years ago, I started missing my belly fat! Crazy? Yep. It didn't feel normal not to have that squishy, Teddy Bear-like mass around my waste. I felt lonely for it. That is the absolute truth, I actually thought about how I missed it and tried to tell myself to 'quit that' but couldn't get through to the sensible 'me'.

Having confessed that to my family yesterday, my wonderful sister re-framed the situation for me with an immediate reaction, saying, "it's a grizzly bear!" Her emphasis, seemingly, being on the fact that belly fat is not cute and cuddly, it's dangerous and destructive! (Don't worry, she was nice about it, and I'm quite secure in her love, so it didn't bother me one bit) While one can safely be in the proximity of a black bear, a grizzly is an entirely different matter. Then I read a bit in a book she had about the negative things that happen in the body when belly fat is allowed to grow into bear sized bulges, and it happened! My heart shifted and I really don't like that soft, squishy mound of grizzly bear fat at all today! Not just a self loathing feeling, but a motivating, "no siree" thought entering my head when a desire to overeat tried to overtake my sensibilities.

That grizzly bear has begun to drag on my posture and cause pain and discomfort and...tight wastebands! Bad grizzly bear! Grizzly bear must go!

Thank you, dear sister, I do believe you got through to the, "I care enough to change my behavior" part of me that helped me lose weight in the first place! Now I just need a pleasant analogy for the nice, flat(ter) belly that I will look forward to having soon. Hmmmm, a blanket perhaps...draped over a smooth bed. That's cozy!