Halloween, bah!

I am not fond of Halloween. I don't think our kids should be encouraged to eat more candy, nor should they be encouraged to go around asking for handouts, nor try to scare and "trick" others. The real world has enough of that, so why a "holiday" for it? Kids today are more obese and less active than ever before. Of course, a good side to the holiday is that this is the most exercise many kids get now! But, it is popular with kids and adults, particularly my daughter, so maybe it is just me. Boooooooooooo

On another note, I have been dealing with my Mom's illness the past several days. My brother called a few days back and said my Mom looked really bad and may not make it much longer. She has been ill for a while, but seemed to always pull through. She has been diagnosed with cancer and now her doctors are talking about surgery and other types of treatments and apparently they are not explaining to her exactly what and why? If they tell her, she either can't understand or remember enough to tell me or my brother. I called her and asked if I could talk to her doctor. Of course, she blew up and gave me an adamant NO! She apparently is afraid I will say something to him to "hurt his feelings" or something. My brother now is upset with me because I am asking questions about her treatment and trying to get answers and I don't know why. Again, it must be me. I just wanted to talk to her doctor and find out about her disease, it's diagnosis, a prognosis and treatment options. I feel that I am in a position to understand better what they say and to ask more appropriate questions than my Mom or brother. I guess I need to let it go and pray for God's blessings to give my Mom the strength and peace of mind to deal with this. If it is indeed her last days among us, I believe that she is going to a better place, with no pain, sorrow or unhappiness and that has to be enough for me. Answers here on earth would be nice, but I guess I am just asking for me, it most likely wouldn't help my Mom anyway.

Another boootiful day in Memphis! I will be giving out candy while my daughter goes "trick or treating" dressed as a surgeon! Cowboys won again! I started a new diet this morning, based on the idea that you eat smaller portions of the right foods more often. I am eating chicken, rice, tuna and lettuce today, parcelled out in ounces and cups. Oh yeah, I had 4 egg whites for breakfast! In total, I will eat 6 times today, w/ about 12 oz of baked chicken breast, 4 oz tuna, 1 cup of rice and 8 cups of green veggies! This will last for 6 days, then we focus on eating healthier meals, low on carbs like bread and pasta, low on fat and high on protein (chicken, turkey, tuna). I seems to have a sound nutritional basis and with proper exercise, I hope to drop about 20 lbs in the next month or so. The hard part is preparing and measuring all the portions and actually eating 6 times a day. Today I had my egg whites for breakfast at 6:30, a mid-morning snack at 9:30 (4 oz chicken, 2 cup lettuce) and lunch at 12:30 (chicken, rice, broccoli). At 2:30 I will have my mid-afternoon snack (4 0z tuna, 2 cups lettuce) and wrap it up with dinner at 5pm. The other hard part will be not eating anything from 5 pm until bed-time! But, I do need to lose the weight and really want to. At my age, it doesn't come off nearly as fast as it used to and if I can get 20lbs off, I want to try to keep it off!

That's all folks!

Good day