HARD LABOR!

Today I worked hard for most of the morning, first unstacking bricks and passing them, under the deck area outside out kitchen, to the handyman who was helping us to shore up the area behind Ellie's studio to prevent leaks. Last year this was a problem during the late rainstorms, and it was a job that needed to be done. While I was at it, I went on to clean and sweep out the entire path from the top of the garden down the side of the house to the street. I was sweating heavily by the time I finished.

7:00 AM, the usual: tea--this time with sweetener. I've decided I really like my hot tea in the morning to taste sweet, and must investigate healthier, non-sugar sweeteners other than the stuff in yellow packages I have been using.

8:30 AM breakfast. Fruit and cereal with walnuts, dried blueberries and milk. 1 cup coffee, milk but no sugar.

11:00 AM snack. Slice of packaged havarti cheese.

1:00 PM lunch. End of baguette with the fresh, sharp cheddar Ellie brought home from the market. With mayonnaise and a little chutney.

4:00 PM snack. 1/2 apple.

6:30 PM dinner. Oh, before dinner I chose to tuck into a bowl of tortilla chip fragments with edame hummus. Not a good choice! Dinner included 1/2 the leftover BBQ'd chicken breast from a couple of days ago, 1/2 boiled potato and green beans with a little butter. And, too, salad. It felt like a big meal--but that may have had to do with the unskillful choice before I sat down to eat.