Losing Weight Without Losing My Mind

I've got to give credit to my Grandma Fay. She was a pioneer in eating healthy in the days when you were considered a "nut case" for juicing fruits and vegetables. Well, she taught me how to eat healthy; she made me juices and salads both fruit and vegetable. We even walked to the grocery store. Grandma Fay lived to 93; I'd just like to lose some weight.

And as many of you know it's not easy to lose weight. I've got myself an ideal situation. I can make losing weight my main purpose in life. I'll shop for groceries, eat healthy and exercise on the treadmill. And go to weekly meetings at Weight Watchers. Kinda of a narrow and a bit repetitive. But so necessary for my health. I'm diving into this after years of denial. It's a problem that you can't hide. And I FINALLY am doing something about it.

I take it on one day at a time. 1500 calories a day. Sometime a meal at a time. Counting calories. Finding ways to fill full without stuffing myself like a glutton.

I drink a lot of water. The fancy Italian type that has bubbles. About 64 ounces a day. It sure beats diet coke and I actually feel hydrated. It tastes better than tap water too. It's expensive but so was 8 cans of diet coke a day.

We even got a talking scale. So there's no fudging it.

So away we go...I hope I'll work out how to eat on this diet and I won't be so obsessed with dieting and losing weight because, you know, I've got so much more to do with my life.

The Black and White Keys

I had some music education my first year in high school. I went over to my best friend's (and later my first crush) house and sat down at her family's baby grand piano. It was lovely. And my best friend at 14 taught me to read music and peck out a melody to sing.

I was never really any good. But just good enough to sing alto in the high school concert choir. I barely auditioned and got into the choir. So I sang with the altos and my best friend sang with the sopranos. More than notes separated us now. She had slept over and I made a "pass" that was rebuffed. So afterwards, I didn't go to her piano anymore. Instead, I ding-dong my father to get us our own.

I don't know how my mother and I did it but we convinced my father to buy a beautiful upright piano that to this day still has a wonderful sound and looks like an attractive piece of furniture. And so, both my mother and I took piano lessons from this suburban lady. She was nice and my guide into mysterious lands and adventures. I studied for almost 2 years. My interests changed to getting into college and without my best friend's encouraging hands guiding my hands over the keys, my interest just waned.

But I still loved to play this one piece, Moonlight Sonata. I even memorized the easy version and played it for my Grandma Fay (she was the jewish one). Now you must understand that Grandma Fay was very frank with her opinions. After I finished playing she said, "Very nice, but could you play something a little happier?" I was floored. I thought I was all grown-up and serious. Now Grandma Fey wants silly and happy! Adults! Who can understand them!"

It's been now over 30 years since I tried to play the piano. But I've been wanting one. Couldn't afford an upright so I got a keyboard. I hope again to play with the help and guidance of a piano teacher. This one is a gift to myself. Totally for me!!!