Happening #1: Summer = Vacation
I went straight from being a student to be a teacher. This last year was the first (since I was about five years old) that I was neither. Therefore, in my mind, summertime has come to mean time of rest, relaxation and FUN! This is not to say that I do not enjoy writing on this blog, however, it does come with a lot of reading, research and, well, work-like stuff.
As June pressed on, as the days got longer, and then when my husband was freed from his teaching responsibilities I found myself researching less and less which, in turn, lead to less and less information to share here. Ultimately, by the end of the month, I decided it was summer vacation, but I would keep my eyes open for any BIG stories out there (as you can tell from my archives, I didn't do such a great job of that).
Happening #2: The Summer of Sugar (or "SOS" as it really was a cry for help!)
Two things happened as a result of taking my mind off the Search
- I missed out on most of the major foodie news in the last couple of months, and
- THE SUMMER OF SUGAR ENSUED
It's that second one that is really quite terrifying.If you recall, I can not have dairy, and I have been very good about that. However, as the days got hotter and the ice cream trucks started coming around every day with NOTHING I could buy to refresh myself, one day I finally cracked. I decided I needed Popsicles in the house to maintain my sanity. Not the end of the world, I know, but I remembered this when I was at my most favorite (and at times like these, most dangerous) store, CostCo Wholesale. While there I spotted (please forgive me, I still can't believe it myself) a CASE of FlavorIce Pops and PUT THEM IN MY CART!
My dear readers, it does not end there...
On the SAME EXACT TRIP (a worse-timed trip to CostCo could not have been planned, obviously, I was having an EXTREME moment of weakness) I spotted a CASE of glass bottles of Coca-Cola "Hecho en Mexico" and PUT THEM IN MY CART.
That was, surprisingly, the bigger problem of the two. I say surprisingly because "Hecho en Mexico" means it is made with real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup and at least the bottles can be recycled, whereas the ices are a disaster on both fronts! So what made the Cokes so bad? Upon first sip (which didn't happen until about two weeks after the purchase, we were really good about spacing them out), it opened up Pandora's box for me
S U G A R ! ! !
It took me most of the summer to figure out what the heck was going on, but without gluten and dairy for over a year I had seriously (albeit, unintentionally) decreased my sugar intake as well. Once I had the taste of the sweetly addictive additive, I was doomed. All summer I was craving sweet things like I never have. Resisting dessert tables at family BBQs became increasingly difficult and I started telling myself things like, "You can't have gluten or dairy, but you can still have SUGAR!"
Then we bought iced tea mix. You know what I'm talking about, right? The brown sugar-stuff you throw into water and mix around. We told ourselves this was better than soda, so it was OK. We practically inhaled the container in a week's time. THAT IS WHEN I REALIZED HOW BAD I HAD GOTTEN.
In fact, that is when I realized how important the Searching for Sustenance blog is to ME.
What Happens Next?
What happens next is in the works. I don't think I can commit to a 5-post per week schedule anymore now that I have my Rivera Runs Through It blog as well, so in the next couple of weeks I am going to get my planner out and set up a working schedule. I will keep you updated and get this Search back on its feet, because it is needed. I don't know if you need it, but I definitely know I do and I'd love it if you came along for the ride!!
Then we bought iced tea mix. You know what I'm talking about, right? The brown sugar-stuff you throw into water and mix around. We told ourselves this was better than soda, so it was OK. We practically inhaled the container in a week's time. THAT IS WHEN I REALIZED HOW BAD I HAD GOTTEN.
In fact, that is when I realized how important the Searching for Sustenance blog is to ME.
What Happens Next?
What happens next is in the works. I don't think I can commit to a 5-post per week schedule anymore now that I have my Rivera Runs Through It blog as well, so in the next couple of weeks I am going to get my planner out and set up a working schedule. I will keep you updated and get this Search back on its feet, because it is needed. I don't know if you need it, but I definitely know I do and I'd love it if you came along for the ride!!
