ATNFTP

"WFD?" is the question around our house.  Usually sent in by text or Facebook message these days.  An afternoon phone call for the past 21 years.  "What's for dinner?"  The words carry the potential to throw me for a loop at times.  The meal of my choosing does not always please all palates.  Exclamations of "Ew!" and "That again?" may be lobbed from the peanut gallery.  Pregnant pauses on the other end of the line from my significant other do not bode well for my menu.  Not to mention that everything is not mapped out for the week most days, and an unexpected turn in daily activities has the power to alter whatever I thought I had planned.  Food.  Food will be served for our evening repast.  Guaranteed to fill the stomach, provide nourishment, and quell hunger pangs.  As I am not a short order cook, there will be no individualized plates for individuals.  Jazz it up with condiments or imagination if need be.  Gulp it down with a well-full of water.  Volunteer to cook tomorrow night.

Come and get it!

Tonight we grazed.  I'm totally owning my Pringles-and-prized-Pomegranate-ice-cream-bar-dinner as I firmly believe the alliterative aspects of my meal obliterate fat grams and excessive caloric content.  Every last delectable bite of creamy tangy goodness to be discovered beneath that thick dark chocolate exterior.  Each curvy thin crunch of dehydrated and compressed potato saltiness.  For the better half of the day, my thoughts wandered continually back to those frozen treats hidden in the rear of the freezer basket beneath the frozen blueberries.  I sweated my tushy off to earn the right to sidle up to that hunk o' chilly sweetness.

Now, about the Pringles, both reduced-fat, Original and Sour Cream n' Onion.  After our church picnic, I rounded up those leftover chips, telling the sweet older mother of one of my fellow parishioners and friends that they would be saved for our road trip to Wyoming at the end of this week.  Truly, that was the intention.  But what was I to do when both my husband AND my son desired the contents of the familiar cardboard tubes?  What else!  Share.  I estimate the containers at 3/4 of the way full; further, I estimate my share to have been 1/2 of a full container when one adds 3/4 + 3/4 and comes up with 1 1/2.  That means I only inhaled 1/3 of what was originally taking up space in my pantry.  You got all that?  I'm telling you what: you need to sharpen your math skills?  Keep track of what and how you eat.

On other fronts, my standing 8:30AM call from my younger brother, Gary, turned into a wandering wonder on how I would handle the death of my 14 1/2 year-old Husky-mix dog, Panda.  Nothing morbid, really, just curious conjecture.  He says I talk to her or about her quite regularly during the course of our often three times a day conversations.  I probably take her presence for granted as I mill about, asking her to scoot her boot or move away from the sink or clothes dryer or back door.  Each morning, I try to awaken before the heat of the day is upon us so that her mile walk is comfortable.  She gets a daily dose of canola oil and  glucosamine/flaxmeal powder in her breakfast kibble to help combat the effects of her arthritis and keep her graying coat healthy.  Panda is a familiar fixture.  She relies on me, and I care for her.  I will be at a loss when she takes her final nap.  "You know?  I'll even miss picking up her poo in those plastic bags I have to carry everywhere!" I told Gary.  It keeps me humble.  Hard to feel to proud or cool, walking down the street with the telltale dangling sack o' doggy deposit on your wrist, hoping all the while that someone has forgotten to pull their trashcan in.  It's my doody, er, duty.

Well, that's all the news fit to print this evening.  It's been an overall fine weekend.  Work and play.  Food and family.  The Lord is faithfully providing on all fronts.  Pastor Ron continues to be animated and passionate in his bid for Christ's misson in our little church.  The kids helped out and us adults reciprocated by allowing them their down time with friends.  I've got my Dell laptop and my iPhone . . . and I can use them in tandem if I want to.  We've got a road trip and family vacation coming up in a matter of days.  My brother is safe and regaining his life.  We've got it better than 98% of the world.  I'll never forget that.

You'd be well to do the same, dear reader.