And suddenly, it was spring

I've been spending most of this past week indoors feeling like something that's been stepped on. This morning was the first that I've felt half-human, and was dying for some fresh air. I peeked outside and discovered that lo and behold, SPRING had arrived sometime in the past few days!




It was sunny! And warm! Apologies to you punctuation purists out there, but I feel the extra exclamations are well-warranted in this case.

Anyway, I happily dug out a peasant skirt, sleeveless t-shirt and sandals. I'm a huge peasant skirt fan. I love the feel of material wishing around my legs as I walk; I've always found pants somewhat suffocating. Peasant skirts go in and out of fashion (ok, mainly out) but I've never paid much attention to fashion trends; I just love wearing loose and swirly skirts.

I walked down to Cobbs Breads; someone had put a coupon for a free loaf of bread in our mailbox. My loaf of Country Grain was still warm when I picked it up:



Dropped by the fruit market for some fresh raspberries, strawberries and bananas. And then (I saved this for last) visited The Chocolate Messenger to check out their sugar-free selection.

I mentioned last week that my doctor had reported that my blood sugar was high enough (borderline high) that I should cut down on sweets. I've decided that I'm going to play it by ear until my next annual check-up. I'm not going to get obsessed with what I can and can't eat, nor am I going to cut out all chocolate. I'm also not going to worry about cutting down on carbohydrates, etc...I'll work on the sweets first, and see what my next check-up says.

I'm going to save real chocolate for special occasions, savouring it all that much more, and investigate alternatives to satisfy my sweet tooth, plus try to get out of the habit of always craving somewhat sweet after every meal. It'll be tough at first, I know, but I figure healthier for me in the long run. And speaking of running, I also plan to ramp up my exercise schedule.



Above: I bought three sugar-free truffles from The Chocolate Messenger. I've had the dark chocolate truffle so far, and it was very VERY good. I wouldn't have known it was sugar-free from the taste.

So it doesn't look I'm going to suffer much. There's little danger of me overdoing sugar-free chocolate -- most store-bought sugar-free packages are plastered with "EXCESS CONSUMPTION MAY CAUSE LAXATIVE EFFECT" warnings which are somewhat off-putting, plus (as I've mentioned before) I've rapidly discovered that sugar-free doesn't necessarily mean low calorie.

My doctor's warning, however, was a good wake-up call, prompting me to start investigating sugar and sugar-free info. Thanks so much to those of you who have offered advice and encouragement. If I come up with anything that I feel might interest others as well over the next while, I'll post it in Blatherings.

Meanwhile, I'm going to enjoy the rest of this fine spring day and luxuriate in the ability to walk around for more than a few minutes without needing to fall over.



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