Day 3: Operation HOPE

Put a fork in me...I am done with Day 3!

This was a very hard day...very hard.

*sigh*

Breakfast was steal cut oatmeal, 1 teaspoon of 100% organic maple syrup, green tea and lemon water.  Okay, no one told me that it would take 35 minutes to make this oatmeal.  And, no I didn't think to look at the directions before this morning at 6:00 a.m. when I was going to make it for both me and Noah.  I mean come on...who takes 35 minutes to make oatmeal?!?  Well, apparently the Irish do because upon further review of the package it said these oats are "Irish Style".  Erin Go Bragh!  So, needless to say, Noah had instant oatmeal because by the time I would have finished cooking the Irish oats he would have had to leave for Vo-Tech.  I did make them for Sarah and I after Noah left.  We did enjoy them with maple syrup and a little cinnamon.

Breakfast down...breathe...

Now onto lunch.

Lunch was a beautiful vegetable soup topped with diced avocado, an orange, green tea and lemon water.  Directions said that it would take 19 minutes to cook this beautiful soup.  However, what the directions didn't say was that it would take me over 40 minutes to prep all the vegetables that needed to go into this beautiful soup.  Seriously...40 minutes of chopping, dicing, and slicing!!  I started prepping around 11:35 a.m., and didn't sit down to eat until 12:45 p.m.  Really??

Lunch done...breathe...breathe...breathe... (Yes...I needed that extra breath after this.)

Thank heavens there's only one more meal to go...dinner.

Dinner was flounder, green beans and lemon water.  I also made brown rice for my family in our new rice cooker {just purchased today}.  I got an fantastic recipe for the flounder from a friend of mine.  (Recipe found here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/12715/fish-fillets-italiano/).  I omitted the black olives and used coconut oil and fresh tomatoes.  It was absolutely delicious.  Everyone ate it and loved it.  The green beans were good.  Wished I could have had a little butter on them...but a little salt, pepper, garlic powder and lemon juice made them edible.  Scott and the kids said that the rice was great.  It wasn't on the menu for me tonight.

Dinner done.

This day was hard...period.  Just. Plain. Hard.

Hard because every ounce of my body is hurting.  Hard because I was just as busy today as I was yesterday...running errands, schooled Sarah {we homeschool our kids}, phone calls to make and return, computer work that needed to be done, a new puppy to take care of, three full meals to make from scratch.  Hard because the prep time for all these meals was just absolutely unreal to me.  Hard because every ounce of my body is hurting.  {I know I said that already...but that is just how much I'm hurting.}  Hard because I broke down and cried three times today.

*sigh*

But in the hard, I chose joy.

Joy that we got a new rice cooker so I don't have to stand at the stove babysitting brown rice that takes 45-60 minutes to cook.  Joy that I have all this great food to put in my body...and it really tastes good {except for the tofu}.  Joy that I have a wellness center who is telling me exactly what I need to do.  Joy because my sweet son and daughter did everything they could to help me and lift my spirits when I was at my wits end.  Joy because my husband listened as I belly ached about all the hard.  Joy that my family is embracing this lifestyle change with me...without complaint.  Joy that I have amazing family and friends who are cheering me on.

I am so glad to see Day 3 done!  So. Glad.

Now, first sleep.  Then Day 4.