I Am What I Chew

these are the devil's own wafers

Sweets are not on my food plan, so when the little cookie-pushers in the green berets came to the door, I rebuffed them with a “Thanks, we already bought some.”

Then, Keeper called my bluff and demanded some Trefoils or Samoas or even some of those Lemon Creme Thingies. I had to admit I was lying.

it wasn’t over. We were accosted outside the supermarket this weekend and we gave into the chocolaty temptation known as Thin Mints.  It is 4 days later and there are still a few left in that single box of succulent wafers, but only because of my white-knuckled willpower.

My aqua fitness teacher asked if I had ever had them frozen.”They’re scrumptious!” she declared.

No, I haven’t.  I don’t need them to be more delectable.  I need them to be way LESS yummy.

Girl Scouts, be gone! And take your overpriced boxes of sugary goodness with you!

not my actrual gym bag

So, today I spent waaaay too much time hunched over the computer trying to de-bug a project. All of a sudden, it was 4:30. Time to go to my water aerobics class.

I faced a dilemma. Go to class, like I should, or take a nap, like I wanted to? Or, watch funny dog videos on YouTube until it was too late to go to class, thereby avoiding the decision.

I did the right thing. I grabbed my little pink gym bag and headed for the Y. And it felt goooood.

A small victory over my habitual sloth, but nonetheless a step in the right direction.

It’s all about the everyday choices, people.

New Zealanders are hip to the noodle

This week, it’s all about the noodle.  I am learning to love aqua fitness and my fine foam friend, the aqua noodle.

I wish I had invented this guy (being demonstrated at left by a bunch of New Zealanders).  Not only does it hold you up in the deep end of the pool in a much cooler way than, say, water wings, you can straddle it and ride it like a pony.  Oh, yeah.

I do know who invented one kind of noodle – the instant ramen variety that sustains so many college students.  It was Mokofuku Ando, the Japanese magnate who spent a year in a shed perfecting the drying process and giving birth to both instant ramen and Cup-O-Noodles.  I know this because I just finished a fascinating memoir called “The Ramen King and I: How the Inventor of Instant Noodles Fixed My Love Life,”  The author is funny guy and NPR commentator Andy Raskin, who (whom?) I had the pleasure of meeting when he spoke to our San Francisco writing club.

My world would be no different if Momofuku had failed to reach his goal of inventing this particular over-processed, high-sodium dehydrated food, but I can’t imagine life without my aqua noodle.  Thanks, nameless person who thought of this. Hi ho Silver, away!