Fake fruit and other annoyances

Alright - the fruit isn't fake, but the taste does not resemble the in-season variety in any way. It looks fantastic though, doesn't it? (note food tracking journal on my desktop waiting to record said berries)

My review: Color - 5 stars; Shape: 5 stars; Texture - 1 star - hard, almost crunchy (except on a couple of them where the very outer red seeded part is not too firm) despite good color throughout with no white husks in the center; Taste - 0 stars, as in flavorless. The only taste is the very subtle sweetness rendered by a single packet of Splenda sprinkled on. I use Splenda because sugar can set me off...even a teaspoon can flip the switch at times, so I steer clear when I'm eating clean.

I know better than to buy summer fruit when it's 25 degrees out. I was food shopping at my favorite local grocery yesterday - one not in my neighborhood but nice enough that I drive over 15 minutes to get there when there are several within 5 minutes of my house. They are the only non-union grocery story around here (though a chain) and always have the best produce of any grocery store. Not as good as a produce stand, but close. Huge organic and health food department. Great variety of all products. And resonable. But I digress.

These strawberries seduced me from the moment I entered the store - the produce department is the first through which you pass at this place. Immediately they had a big thing going for them...they weren't Driscoll Strawberries from California. In my part of the country, those are simply never good. They look beautiful but have no flavor. I haven't bought them in years. I'm sure they're fine out west, so please don't crucify me if you love Driscolls; but by the time they travel to the northeast, any resemblance to the original taste is likely a gustatory hallucination. These yesterday were from Florida - my home state! They looked good and fresh, so I thought I'd give 'em a try. Never again. Strawberries in January are just sh*tty, and a HUGE disappointment to my eagerly anticipating tongue. And today, I really wanted some good strawberries. Oh well, July will be here any day!

Next annoyance - remember last week when I was blathering on about my wonderful job? I KNEW I was going to jinx myself. Actually it's still great, but I have been unbelievably busy since coming back from the winter break. We are getting more and more medically fragile clients, and I'm starting to feel like I'm pulled in 12 directions much of the time. Monday mornings are always crazy, but today took the cake. People came in without things they were supposed to have, I had to make a million phone calls, check eyes that the staff was sure was pink eye (none were), on and on. When the hell am I supposed to blog??!! Kidding of course, but truly I am much busier continually than I've ever been before in this job. I didn't eat lunch until 1:45 3 different times since the break, which isn't awful, but I eat breakfast early (6:30 or even before), and even with a protein and fruit snack around ten, I'm ready to gnaw on my desk before I can get to lunch. I guess things will settle down.

As I've been whining for a few days, the husband and youngest son left this morning for Atlanta, leaving me home with my best dog friend Lou. After work today, I went straight to PT, where Katie, my therapist, seemed to be very distracted while trying to keep several clients PTing at one time. She was also icing her own foot from surgery she had about a month ago. She mainly had me doing my moves on my own, but still managed to yell out to me to "keep your leg straight!" a few times. Like a teacher with eyes in the back of her head! Anyway, once home, Lou and I had our first walk together since December 3rd, and it went fine. He seemed to sense I'm a little gimpy(though my limp is virtually gone at this point) and took it quite easy on me. We only went for about 10 minutes, long enough for him to perform all the required elements. Tomorrow, when I don't have PT, I think I'll try and take him for longer, depending on how the leg feels. Overall, between 14 minutes on the bike at PT and the 10 minutes with Lou, I got more physical movement than I have yet and I feel fine.

My food has been spot on today and it's so nice to know I don't have to cook dinner for anyone but me. Love it! I'm stocked with "my" food and have a wonderful variety from which to choose. Tonight will be some roasted root veggies and a lean hamburger, plus a salad. And I need to go get chopping my roots and get them cooking, so will sign off for now. Happy Monday everyone.