Last week flew by in ways I never thought possible. It’s so strange to be on the other side of a painful experience. When my Dad was dying, I just didn’t understand how life could keep moving. I’d be driving down the road and look in other people’s cars and wonder, “Is their Dad dying?” “Is their kid sick?” “What is their life like?” But then life just keeps moving and it moves fast, which I guess is almost comforting at times. Comforting even when you feel like that very fact can punch you right in the stomach the minute a memory resurfaces.

Martin Everitt is 2 years & 4 months going on 65. He’s so much more resilient and honest, which is what keeps me so grounded these days. The other day, he kept saying that he wanted to see Crazy Popa (what he called my Dad). At 2 years & 4 months many of you know what that means: He said it over and over and over and over and over again. That’s what they do at this age. It. Never. Stops. So, you can imagine how I felt as he repeated those words over and over again. I simply looked down at him and started crying and said, “Me too, Martin Everitt. I want to see him so bad I can’t stand it.” Then I said, “If you close your eyes, you can see him. If you listen closely, you might even remember his voice. That’s how we are going to see Crazy Popa from here on out. Okay, buddy?” I’m so thankful Martin Everitt makes my Friday afternoons look like this even when my heart breaks a little when I am desperate to pick up the phone to call my Dad:

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And then humanity comes along and smacks you in the face. In a good way. Wait, perhaps I should have used something else there because I can’t imagine anything slapping you in the face being pleasant, but just go with me on this one. I told y’all about the Apple Drop the Community Food Bank of Central Alabama and Society of St. Andrew was hosting in Walker County yesterday, right? Well look at what happened:

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Over 200 folks showed up to bag 30,000 pounds of North Alabama apples. Those bags were distributed to Food Bank agencies, which means they’ve either already been distributed to families or will be distributed this week! It was so nice to see folks show up to make this happen and we were done bagging them in less than two hours. Stay tuned for another produce drop as we’d love to see you out there with us!

Now to the Weight Watchers stuff: Okay, since I started WW a month ago, I’m down 12 pounds. It is getting easier. When I say it is getting easier, I mean that I’m realizing that my body was basically hard-wired for empty calories. I’m retraining my body to fill up on other stuff rather than immediately go to french fries or potato chips or anything else that is fried and salty. Look, people: Fried and Salty is my thing. I am  tempted by those kind of things and I’m proud to say that I only had like 10 chips and maybe 4 Fritos last night at a party. That’s a big deal for me. Speaking of big deals (well, kind of), I want to share this new concoction I came up with this morning:

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What you see here is a 6 point breakfast! Let me break it down:

If you haven’t bought some Charras Baked Tostadas yet, well… I just don’t know what to do with you. I am using these for dinners, in place of chips, and for snacks.

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So, here’s the recipe: Scrambled Egg On Baked Tostadas (fancy name, huh?)
2 Charras Tostadas (2 pts)
1 egg, 2 egg whites (3 pts)
1 ounce reduced fat cheddar cheese (1 pt)
red bell pepper – sliced (free)
green onion- diced (free)
spinach – julienned (free)
fat-free greek yogurt (free)
salsa verde (free)
Paper Plate: Free

Spray non-stick pan (or use teeeeeeeeny tiny amount of oil). Sautee sliced red bell pepper. In a separate bowl, whisk egg and 2 egg whites together and add to pan. Add diced green onion, julienned spinach, and grated cheese and scramble together. I saved a little cheese to munch on, but you can add to the entire egg mixture if you want. Microwave tostadas for like 20 seconds to get them warm. Spread 1/2 tablespoon of greek yogurt on each tostada. Spread a tablespoon of salsa verde on top of that. Then add the egg mixture to both tostadas. EAT THEM!

Those were a few of my favorite things from last week. Here’s to next week. I hope it moves a little slower…