New Year . . . New Me!

It’s a brand new year, with a chance to start over.  If the calendar can, so can I.  So with that in mind, my ONLY New Year’s Resolution is to be a new and better me.  I will see the positive side, not the negative side.  For example, I will gladly take the nasty smelling and tasting Lactulose because it helps me to stay healthy.  So buck up and drink it!  Although, I may still write to Qualitest (the manufacturer), and suggest that if they are going to make a medicine that looks, smells, and tastes  like antifreeze, they may want to try making a bottle that doesn’t look like a small antifreeze bottle.

I will not focus on what I cannot have, but focus on what I can have.  Who cares if I can’t have a big ol’ slab of steak or sprinkle salt on everything?  An herb-roasted pork loin chop is so much better.  And food tastes so good when you can actually taste the food, and not just salt.  Sorry, Sharon.  It isn’t ok to add salt just because you like the taste of salt.  Eating wonderful fresh produce is SO much better for me than grabbing a chocolate bar or cookie.  I'm more likely to grab a couple of cubes of sugar-free black cherry finger Jell-O.

I’ve discovered that I actually like a lot of things I grew up disliking, like asparagus, fresh spinach, horseradish, leeks, fennel, and pomegranates.  And I’ve always loved apples, oranges, grapes, pineapple, watermelon, and in the last few years, cantaloupe.  One of the biggest treats I have is keeping fresh fruit cut up in a container in the refrigerator.  So all you liver patients—break out your favorite shot glass once again.  And fill it with toothpicks!  Set that beside the refrigerator so you can quickly spear a couple pieces of fruit before heading back to bed, while you’re cooking, or as a snack while you’re reading.  In the Midwest in winter, fresh fruit can be expensive.  So try canned or frozen.  Right now I’ve got pineapple chunks and Mandarin oranges.  I just got the bigger-sized cans from my local Super Waldo’s (yes, their Great Value brand is as good as other more expensive brands usually).  The great thing about the pineapple is that it is generally canned in its own juice.  So when you drain the can, drain it into a glass and drink some delicious pineapple juice.  Or mix it with orange juice.  We always begged for the juice from the pineapple can as kids.  As long as she didn’t need it for some kind of green Jell-O concoction, mom would let us have it.  Yum!  And Sargento’s reduced sodium string cheese is actually wonderful.  Almost better than regular string cheese.  These are all things that I CAN have.  Nothing to feel sorry about there!

I will keep my feet elevated at work to further help prevent leg and foot swelling.  I will try to get as much sleep as possible.  I will be more patient (that’s a work thing).  I will thoroughly enjoy my lovely new (family heirloom) Broyhill chest of drawers with the cedar drawer boxes.  I will keep my card-making supplies in a more tidy fashion and not let them make a big mess everywhere in my house.  Especially the glitter.  I will overcome my addiction to glitter glue.  I will complete the projects I start.  And most importantly, I will enjoy regular foot spas.