235.5...I found the love of my life!

I've seen my love before here and there, but never really truly paid attention. I just took it all for granted.

I am in love with salsa!

Ok, so it's not a two-legged kind of love, but it may be better, because with salsa I don't think I ever have to feel disrespected in the morning.

You see, I've been eating chicken for over a week now and it was getting kinda, well, boring. The chicken was getting old, sitting in a rocking chair and not wanting to have any fun. I've gotten more comfortable now with what I'm choosing to eat, just the basics, hitting all the things I think I'm supposed to be hitting, a little vegies, protein, fruit, oatmeal and that yogurt that makes you gag, no matter how good it tastes. I'm ready to experiment, I got a little confidence under my belt along with my extra tire (one more tire and I could have had a full set!).

I noticed salsa in the frig and it was my roommates...obviously. Now, if you know me, you would know that my frig is basically just a cold square thing that gives me crushed ice at the push of a button. You might not even think that there could ever be food in it. I sometimes forget that there's actually doors that open. I'm so used to eating out all the time and mowing down weak patrons to get to the good fatty grub at gigs, that this losing weight thing actually turned the frig into what it was attended for - holding my food.

When my new roomie moving in (BC "Before Consideration of living a healthier life), she sent me an email asking if it would be OK if she could move some stuff aside in the refrigerator for her stuff when she got to my house since I wouldn't be home. I immediately called my friend Dave, then my friend Connie and we laughed...we laughed...oh God how we laughed. Kind of funny that they laughed and that's all I told them. I said sure, there will be plenty of room! She figured it out when got to my house and realized that the me and the frig weren't quite on speaking terms - yet.

Well, that salsa was eyeballing me with a come hither stare, that I expected to pick it up and see "come do me" red pumps on the bottom. Next time I went to the store, I got some salsa and plopped it down on the chicken, shut my Tupperware and put it back in the frig, not knowing what lay in store. What the heck.

The next day, I heated it up during a break at work and WHAMMO! I'm in love. Hmmm...does this count as my vegetable portion of the day? Of course, I went around gleefully telling everybody, I LOVE SALSA I LOVE SALSA only to have somebody ask if I had taken up dancing.

It's amazing how just a little bit will go a long way to enjoying something. I really enjoyed the new taste. I never really thought about putting salsa on chicken. I guess I'm so used to eating a half of bag of tortilla chips with salsa before I accidentally choke, making myself stop enough to actually let my taste buds do their job. I love that wonderful long couple of seconds when you're gasping for air, thinking back on your life, hoping you don't die because of food and for a split second go...wow, that tastes good.

"Teri" made some great suggestions on a comment she made on one of my previous blogs and I thought about her when I was eating the chicken/salsa and I followed her advice. She said put down the fork after every bite, taking a sip of water, chewing slowly. I did this and enjoyed the taste and experience so much more, with chicken rather than chips. Also, it's always better when you're not fighting for your life!

She also said something that I have tried before and it's surprisingly easy, but even easy is hard sometimes.... When you get something to eat, you put the usual portion size on the plate and put the other half back. I'm going to need the strength on this one! I love to eat, which is obvious, but what isn't so obvious, is that I love to eat out, especially places I play. I may be on stage, singing and jumping around, but when I'm off, I like being a patron too and buying dinner. This weekend, I'm gigging for the first time since I started really really wanting to see my shoes.

The M&M in Gresham gig is coming up this weekend and they have a steak dinner that I love.

Here's a question. Is steak bad? Well, it's bad for the cow, but can it be possible to enjoy yourself and not enjoy yourself when it comes to a steak dinner and all the goodn's?

And how about the cake? What cake you ask? Well, it's the birthday cake on Saturday for me and my friend Jamie's birthday. How am I gonna handle that? I have to find something creative. Has anybody ever tried to suck a birthday cake up a straw??

You know, there are some things I don't know and that's ok. I don't know if I will have the steak or the salad this weekend I don't know if it's possibly to eat cake through a straw.

But, one thing I do know...this will be my last birthday that I'll wear a shoe without a view.