The Latta Family

 Technically, it's not quite 14 days.  Tomorrow morning is officially 14 days.   I'll say this, I'm surviving.  And this week it's been easier than last week.  I still want treats, but not with that same level of desperation I did last week.  Last week I needed cheerleading and being talked off the ledge and I had to pep talk myself a lot.  This week . . . I haven't had to get any cheerleading.  I've also not really needed to pep talk myself much.  In some ways I am feeling positive and in others . . . I am feeling frustrated.  I have definitely noticed some patterns.  I'm feeling positive because yes! I'm doing this, and it's definitely getting easier in the day to day.   I'm frustrated because the patterns I've noticed, are going to be hard to avoid when I release myself from the challenge.  1. I want sugar when I'm stressed, but the feeling goes away fast.  So I just have to wait it out.  I can do that for the most part.  I have also f

 I'm going to start this by saying, if you can't laugh when people say nuts- this blog post isn't for you.   Andrew recently got his permit.  I am the official new driver rider.  Andrew is suddenly willing to go anywhere with me- even a few weeks ago, when I went to a store to buy underwear.  He was willing to drive me, knowing the destination would be totally awkward and uncool.  (I won't lie- that trip was totally a test to see how interested he is in driving.  Pretty interested apparently.  We went our separate ways upon entering the store, but . . . he knew his mom was buying the dreaded underwear.).   Have you driven with a new driver recently?  Holy smokes it is stressful.  You see so many things you want to warn about (there are other cars braking 1 mile away, the light 3 intersections up is turning red, don't speed in case a mountain lion comes jetting out in front us- they move fast and are unpredictable.) but . . . you can't.  You have to play it cool,

 I mentioned on the last blog post, that I had reached a point where it was time to take a break from sugar.  It had reached a pretty unhealthy level.  I cleared through a bag of Hershey Nuggets- family size, by myself in 3 days.  I didn't stop eating my nightly ice cream.  I just realized I had perhaps become too reliant on using sugar to help deal with stress.   It's not a life style I'm adopting.  I will not follow a diet where I'll never eat sugar, when the 21 days is up.  I just needed a reset.   Here's how it's going after 7 days, with 14 more to go:  1. I have not had any headaches, shakes, frothing at the mouth. puking, extreme grumpiness etc (side note- if you ever watched Little House on the Prairie, do you remember the episode where Pa helped Albert overcome his morphine addiction?  That haunted me for life.  That episode is why I'm still afraid of drugs to this day.  I never want to go through a drying out period like that.) 2. The first 2 days I

 Here's just a weird collection of "stuff:" 1. Dogs.  Boy I tell you.  Dogs are smart.  They are so good at training us dumb humans.  Our older dog would get 2 meals a day (before the puppy).  She got dry food, a drizzle of low sodium chicken broth, and a scoop of canned dog food.  It's the highlight of her day- twice a day.  With the puppy I was going to be very disciplined.  She was not going to get all that nonsense, or table food, or extra treats.  She doesn't get table food- unless she steals it (Alexa tends to not pay attention, and I'm sorry if you leave a peanut butter and jelly sandwich unattended a dog is gonna get it.).  A few weeks ago, the puppy started this weird thing.  We feed both dogs at the same time, not in the same place.  But Dixie (the puppy) would sit about 6-8 feet from Gracie (far enough to be appropriately respectful, but close enough to swoop in and check out the bowl when Gracie had completely finished) while Gracie ate.  She would