I Forgot My Age

As some of you know, as you age you cannot eat all the different kinds of food you use to eat. Sometimes it's not the food but the 'combination' of food. I found out Saturday night or Sunday morning after midnight that food choices can ruin a good night of sleep. That leads into a terrible Sunday, although Stella and I got an afternoon walk in and I caught up on my sleep.

With a new week of warmer temps ahead, a time change that doesn't feel like one, Stella was ready to start her new week with some stretching and a nice morning walk, sunny and 30°. As you see, it was normal routine for Heidi.

I like this time change. It feels normal. I don't catch myself looking at my watch and saying "well the real time is an hour before this" ... it looks and feels like 8:30am when Stella and I took off. I wish the state of Indiana would stay on this time all year round like it use to.

When I left you on Saturday I was having a wild strong urge for Ben & Jerry's ice cream. That would require a 25 mile round trip to buy a small container or two. When you want something that bad, 25 miles is nothing. I have driven further late at night for a burger, a strom or a pizza. So, mileage was not a factor.

Possibly the start to my digestive torment that would occur sometime around 2am or 3am depending if you want to factor in the time change, was in the Frozen Food aisle. I cannot remember if the ice cream and pizza are on the same aisle but someway after buying two containers of Ben & Jerry's ice cream ... I ended up with a "Wild Mike's Ultimate Pizza", so large that I knew Walmart did not have a bag big enough for it to fit.

I had two to choose from. They had the 4-cheese option or one with pepperoni and a big red label on the box cover "Over 2 pounds of pepperoni" ... I doubted that, although it was heavy enough in my hand maybe it was true. Of course I chose the checkout lane that had no one in line. My cashier was either having a bad day or hated her job. She was not friendly nor did she have a sense of humor.

By the time she checked out my three items, I felt like she hated her job and possibly all people since she did not acknowledge my complimentary thoughts. It didn't matter ... I was 12 miles away from enjoying ice cream while my pizza was in the oven. (I waited until after I ate the pizza to eat the ice cream)

I found out that sometimes my brain forgets how old my digestive system is. Long gone are the days of bar hopping, eating at the prohibitive street vendors with a bottle of beer in my hand, from Tijuana to Olongapo City Philippines.

As recent as 5 years ago I would spend EVERY Saturday in the fall on a huge eating marathon while watching 14 hours of college football on tv. Those Saturdays would start with pancakes or waffles until all the batter was cooked, an omlet added on the side. Moving into the potato or macaroni salads with lunchmeat sandwiches, chips and salsa. By late afternoon I would move to pizza, maybe chicken wings, or baked salmon. I wouldn't be done though because at 7pm and 10:30pm a new game(s) would be starting.

That would bring out another bag of chips since I had eaten a bag of them during the day. A second jar of salsa ... hmmm time for burritos, cilantro, sour cream ... and ... at least a litre of Pepsi to wash all of that down, starting with the sandwiches. After midnight and into my last college football game from the Pac12 conference ... I would end the eating/football marathon with a container of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. What ... maybe 7,000 calories ... or more ????

So you can see the potential but I have not eaten like that since 2014. Due to my changes in eating over these past five years, my digestive system has changed and not just because I am older. So I didn't think too much about some pizza and ice cream. After all I was drinking water instead of Pepsi.  :)

Wild Mike's Ultimate pizza probably didn't have two pounds of pepperoni but damn it tasted great and is now my #1 in frozen pizza. The crust was different and baked out just like it would if I were to have a fresh pizza at my favorite places in Bloomington. The sauce tasted fantastic and primo cheeses ... I highly recommend Wild Mike's pizza. (not an affiliate link)

Even with the temperature at 30° this morning, the field was so saturated from all the rain the past few days you can see the water as I walked on the path.

Since the pizza was so large, for the first time in my history of eating frozen pizza, I cut the pizza in half before I put it in my oven. My 45+ year Tappon 400 stove has a smaller oven above the stove and that is the oven I always use. If I wanted the pizza to fit in that smaller oven I had no choice but to cut it in half. So it was a win win. I can eat the other half of pizza this afternoon.

As with any pasta sauce I know there is a chance I might have a little indigestion but I am willing to find out which kind I can eat without any problems. I also knew that the combination of pizza and ice cream might cause some problems but when you are retired you have to take chances, you have to think outside the box sometimes and take that step outside your comfort zone. I am gambler and took that step.

Needless to say I lived on TUMS from 2am until 8am, spreading them out 1 per each time I woke up. The sleep app on my watch didn't like my sleeping pattern at all the next day as it sent me notification after notification just how screwed up I was and what I could do to imrove my sleeping cycle.

Is this what the world is coming to ???  LOL ... a watch or sleep app telling me how to live, what to eat, when to stand up, when to breathe deep ??? Luckily there is way to change the settings to receive only those notifications I am interested in

Sunday morning it was quite depressing to think that Ben & Jerry's ice cream had torn me up on the inside. All that rich cream they use had to be a factor. As I looked in the bathroom mirror I swore more than a couple of times "I'll never eat ice cream again" and wondered what I would do with the second container in the freezer.

As time passed and as I added more hours of sleep I started feeling better. I ate things that were easy on my digestive system. Nothing fried, plenty of water, no coffee, just olives, cheeses, an avocado, some spoons of cottage cheese. I only chose the cottage cheese because if my hounds were having digestive problems they alway say to mix rice and cottage cheese for an upset stomach.

By the time Stella and I returned from our afternoon walk I was ready to "step outside my comfort zone" again. I slowly tore off the plastic wrapping around the lid to a brand new container of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Same company but a different flavor/mixture. My addictive brain was telling me "just a couple of spoons" and that was all I had. I waited for the results.

I went back to bed for more sleep since my morning siesta had rated out as solid, deep sleep on my sleep app. It was not until after 10pm I woke up in a daze. I had no idea what time or day it was. Heidi was sleeping on her dog bed in the corner and Stella was stretched out as far as she could, on the couch. My addictive brain said it was time for ice cream as I read the internet to catch up on the sports I had missed on Sunday.

Two hours later I am back in dreamland for another night of solid sleep. It was nice to see that my watch sleep app was more than happy with me when I woke up and it congratulated me on my sleep for Sunday.

The MOST IMPORTANT result was not catching up on my missed sleep from Saturday night but finding out that the ice cream was not the cause of my discomfort ... ice cream was back on my menu and that promise I made looking in the mirror was just a rumor.

I woke up from a dream on Monday morning, where I was living an a new condo with new carpet and 4 different basset hounds. Two were grown and two were puppies. There was Harry, Arthur, Maggie and Sadie (basset) all wanting to go outside the first thing in the morning. I was trying to pull on a pair jeans to get two puppies outside before they peed.

About the time I heard yelling from the neighbors I was THRILLED to wake up in the country with no neighbors and two full grown hounds that were still sleeping. It must have been the ice cream late last night giving me that kind of dream.

So with half of Wild Mike's Ultimate pizza in the freezer, sunny skies, sleeping hounds and a time change my body prefers ... there is no place to go but up today. Things are back to normal as we start a new week. Conference basketball tourneys start this week and that is followed by March Madness which will lead me right into a new MLB season. All is good because I am that much closer to college football season ... and that infamous 'to do' list.

Not that I will ever go back to the eating marathons while I watch all of those college basketball games these next three weeks but I will be aware of the food combinations and quantities of food I am eating. I'll stay in the range of 1,500 to 1,700 calories per day. I'm still going to keep my carbs low but might add bananas and apples back to my menu.

As you can see, Stella took her time this morning. She walked at her 'afternoon pace' and stopped in front of me a couple of times after passing me just to let me know she was the one in charge and I was only along for fun.

What animal would move all of this bark out into the middle of the yard from the trees that Stella pass by the old fence?

That bark comes from the tree I burned when clearing out the brush years ago, just behind Stella.

It might be sunny and not raining but Stella is still following her recent habit of walking next to the house to conclude her walk.

Did I miss anything in the news the past few days ??? I haven't looked yet but will.

I feel good this morning in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.