I compromised on a lot of things this past week. But there were two exceptions I managed to stand firm on. Do allow me to enlighten you as to why I couldn’t compromise on these two.
The first was Finish The Sentence Friday. That’s the blog link I belong to where every Friday (well Thursday night if truth be told) I muddle craft out a post based on the topic we’re given. Today’s sentence prompt is “The one thing I’ll never compromise on is …”
Well things have been a little bit busier than normal this week. My 91 year-old-mom had a tumble and bonked her head last Friday. Since then she’s been to a zillion appointments and moved out of her apartment to temporarily live with my sister. Then on Thursday after undergoing invasive eye surgery (Dr. assures her she won’t lose her vision and she has many more paintings in her future) she needed me to stay with her overnight as my sister was leaving town.
I normally write the FTSF post on Wednesday and polish it on Thursday. However knowing Mom would need me all day Thursday I thought I’d give it a miss. Altogether. Then Janine – one of our four marvelous hosts – fired out an email saying due to the business of summer this would be the last FTSF until August. Did I have a rethink? Nope. Held firm. No FTSF this week.
Then we come to a second item. That of the three-day juice cleanse. My daughter encouraged me to join her on this cleanse in which we drink 21 preordered bottles of juiced vegetables and fruit over a three day period. Reason to do this? To reboot the digestive system. I’ve never done this before, nor has my daughter. I agreed to do it to support her and to give myself a boost. Perfect.
The only problem? Day one is Thursday. The day I’m with Mom all day and all night. We can’t change the date as the juice has been delivered and it is date sensitive. However, I know that there is no way Mom will support this juice cleanse. She’ll definitely see it as chicanery and tom foolery of the highest order. How to hide the fact that I’m not eating and that I’m drinking from multiple highly suspicious bottles?
Well I’m sorry but I refuse to compromise on this one. I’m drinking the damn stuff come hell or high water. Her first statement when I arrive to pick her up?
“We’re running late. No time to eat. I’ll give you lunch after.”
Jesus. What a start. I snap in her seat belt (her rotator cuffs won’t allow her to do this anymore. She tore them climbing up a rope ladder onto a ship on a trip to the Arctic three years ago at the age of 88…) and mumble about the lack of a need to feed me.
“Nonsense. You must eat. It’ll be a hell of a day today. I can’t have you fading on me.”
Fortunately the juice cleanse concept is placed on the back burner by the far more pressing demands of the eye surgery. The topic isn’t raised again until dinner time.
“Why aren’t you having chicken? Or potatoes … Or something other than that god awful green sludge?”
The next morning she offers me half of her banana at breakfast and half of her oatmeal cookie at lunch. I don’t compromise. I stand firm.
It hasn’t been easy. The majority of the flavours are honestly dreadful. I don’t think I’ll be able to sample the likes of kale/celery/cabbage/ginger and mint combos for several months … if not years. But I honestly have to say I haven’t been hungry. And I am happy to report that on day three I was gifted this one delight. “Skin Deep” is a wondrous mix of strawberry, kiwi, lemon and apple. A completely different and therefore very welcome taste sensation.
So by noon today I’ve not done a FTSF post for this week but at least I haven’t compromised on the juicing front. Then I read a comment on my latest post. It was from Ruchira over at the wonderful blog called abracadabra. She kindly mentioned that she missed my FTSF post. What? Really? Wow. Get a grip Kelly. Why was I compromising on the FTSF front? I’ve still got a few hours to post. I’m not ill. I’m just juicing.
Thank you Ruchira. And thank you Mom.
And many, many thanks to my marvelous hosts Kate Can I Get Another Bottle of Wine, Janine’s Confessions of a Mommyaholic, Stephanie’s Mommy, For Real and Kristi’s Finding Ninee. I ‘ve really enjoyed getting to know you and the others of FTSF. See you back here in August.
26 Responses
Your poor mom! And good job hanging in there for the juice fast (I’d totally have caved, I’m almost positive). I’m glad you participated in FTSF, Kelly!!
Oh I don’t think you ould have caved on the juice fast Kristi! Anywho, it’s done and I must say I am feeling better. Glad I did FTSF too Kristi – here’s to August!
Umm…I’ve seen that juice cleanse (or similar ones before) and I wouldn’t have made it through the 2nd juice – I’m not a fan of sludgy drinks with weird flavor combos!
I hope your mom is recovering OK from her eye surgery!!
Hahaha! Kim it was a hard slog at times – especially the first day. However it’s done now and I am feeling good. Thank you for your kind words about Mom. She is getting better each day.
Good for you for doing a juice cleanse, especially after the week you have had ! I should have thought alcohol would have been a better choice !!
Oh Jane that is too funny. Had folks for dinner last night and I didn’t touch a drop of wine. That open bottle in the fridge is calling to me for tonight though.
Your mom sounds like an incredible woman, and I hope she’s recovering well. I think you did the right thing by not compromising, I’m sure your skin is glowing!
Thank Tarana. She is one of a kind our Mom. As for the skin glowing well … you made me smile. The cleanse is done and I am feeling pretty good. I’ll pass on your lovely words to my mom.
Give your sweet mom a hug on behalf of both of The Dose Girls (her soon to be adopted daughters!!)…am so sorry she is having such a rough week! The fact that you are still juicing is AH-MAZING. Seriously, gold star to you on commitment there friend! :)-Ashley
I will indeed give her a hug from my “sisters.” Thanks Ashley. The juice cleanse is done. Phewf! Here’s to us all having a wonderful, healthy week. Of course we will – what with our sandbox office …
I’ve never juiced. And I don’t think I will start soon. But this aging thing is crap. So I will definitely never say never!
Hugs to your fabulous mom. 🙂
It is crap. And thanks for your kind words about Mom. I’ll pass ’em on and yes give her some hugs. Thanks Katy.
What a week! I’ve done a 3-day juice before – but I made my own juices and was able to control the taste and the ingredients. You are right – you are never hungry. I’m going to do a 7 day raw diet next week. I did a 10-day detox in Feb and again in June – never felt so good!!! I believe you can heal yourself with food – a new concept for me. This is the link to the documentary – fat, sick and nearly dead (it came with my juicer ha) – http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/ I always enjoy your posts!
Wow – good for you to do not one but two ten day detoxes. Amazing. And inspiring. I’ll check out the link. Thank you for that Vickie. Hope the 7 day raw diet goes well.
Your mom sounds like a great lady; I hope she recovers quickly! I’m not sure that I could do the whole juice thing. I don’t tend to stick to things that I don’t enjoy and those blends don’t sound very appetizing. I’m glad that you got through it and feel good 🙂
Thanks Kathy. She is on the mend. As for juicing well many have told me that when they do a juice cleanse they whip up their own juice and therefore make sure they are tasty. We had no choice in the flavours but didn’t have to spend the time firing 67 carrots into a juicer so I really can’t complain. Thanks for popping by and commenting!
I make my own ‘green sludgy stuff’ and I’ve learned to love it. Crave it. Go figure. I like driving to work in the morning knowing I’ve already had 7 or 8 servings of veggies (maybe 1 or 2 fruits) and I can be a slacker for the rest of the day.
Hope your mom is recovering nicely. Give her some juice, my mom loved it. Then again I started spiking hers with cocoa.
Ok Susan fire off some recipes to me please. I cannot convey how horrid some of these combos were. “The Base” was the worst. Having said that both my daughter and I did find ourselves getting used to them by day 3. It became less necessary to down ’em all in one go. It surprised me. I love kale, mint, ginger, cucumber etc but in this case? Yuck.
Your idea of driving to work knowing the 7 – 8 servings of veggies is dealt with is wonderful. Most folks have just had their caffeine quota. And I am not proud revealing that I am half way through a coffee right now. First time in a week I’ve started my day with one. Yikes. WHAT AM I THINKING? Back to the veggies …Thanks Susan. Happy juicing!
I prefer green smoothies over juicing, Kelly. Just think I need to eat the whole thing, y’know. But if you’re going to juice the same rule applies…start out with more fruit/carrots and as you get used to it, cut back on the sweet stuff. My favorite juice would be carrot/apple/spinach/kale/parsley/cucumber/ginger with or without all those ingredients. Romain lettuce also makes a good base green.
Spinach is very mild. If you’re making a smoothie start with banana/berries/spinach/ginger/yoghurt/water and ice. You can work up to the other stuff later.
My basic green smoothie is banana (sometimes I’ll throw in some berries but I’m good with very little fruit)/spinach/kale/parsley/celery/cucumber/ginger. Baby bok choy and collards are good too. It’s not set in stone, neither are the proportions, it’s what I have on hand. Plain yoghurt or almond butter give it a nice richness. You need some fat when eating veggies in order to absorb the minerals.
Thank you so much for this Susan. They all sound delicious. Hadn’t thought of the bok choy/ collards option. Always have almond butter on hand yet didn’t think to throw it into a smoothie – clever.
Wow!
Your plate has been full, Kelly.
I admire you for all that you have been doing and yet you had the patience to follow your regimen!
Thank you for mentioning me, and yes your posts always tickle me thus, am glad to join you until the month of August!
Pleasure Ruchira – thanks again for the FTSF blogging nudge.
Just checking in on how things are going, Kelly! Hope your (or rather “our”) mom is doing well. I’m so impressed you are sticking with your juice!! (and if I have to tear my rotator cuff, I hope it’s doing something awesome like climbing a rope latter in the Arctic…but it won’t be because I don’t even do cool stuff like that now!) –Lisa
Thanks for checking in Lisa. Things are improving on the Mom front. She asked me just yesterday if I would please fire out a blog post update about her …
How’s your mom doing? She sounds like quite the character…climbing a rope ladder at 88…I am impressed.
The juice cleanse sounds interesting. I’ve never done anything like that. I love veggies, but I’m not sure how I’d do on this. How did it go?
She actully had a second fall so she’s been in the hospital for the past week or so Michelle. However, they are tweaking things and she’s on the mend. Making new friends all over the place. As for the juice cleanse when it was all over I found that my tastebuds were much sharper and I felt quite rested. As for the flavours – I grew more accustomed to them by the time day three rolled around. I’d recommend it!