Oatmeal Sucks

...when you are eating it right.

I have managed to wean myself off of those flavored instant oatmeal packets that were once my mainstay. I thought I was taking the healthier option than day, the three egg omelet or the three donut breakfast - and maybe I was. But I have found a more excellent way. It isn't sexy or glamorous, but it gets the job done.

Plain, steel cut oats. Someone commented on my work blog about a method of cooking oatmeal in the slow cooker, so that you aren't letting yourself be maneuvered into bad trade-offs when you find yourself starving and absolutely cannot wait 30 for oatmeal to cook. I've tried it, and it is now a part of my routine. It will actually last about 3 or four days, and the idea of reheating oatmeal, while once unthinkable, is now de rigeur. Here is the recipe.  Take one cup of oatmeal, two cups of water, and one sup of unsweetened almond milk and stir into a small crop pot. Cover.  Turn it on low. Go to bed. Easy breezy.

The problem is that it is just very bland. But what are our objectives here? To become a gourmand? Or is it to avoid at all costs losing your feet, going blind, or dying before 55? Level set with me here, sir!

So I've made peace with the fact that every meal is not going to be an experience. Some of these meals -MOST of these meals- should be enough to satiate the hunger just enough to last until the next mealtime and provide the nutrients my body needs to heal itself. Nutrients I have either crowded out with tons of sugar, salt and fat, or subverted by making the the redheaded step children of my diet. That's it. I have finally disabused myself of the notion that at least for now, flavor is not a top concern. And that is okay. It's not nasty, it is just plain. And I can chop and apple or a peach or a few strawberries and throw that into the mix, and the meal improves considerably. I am adding sugar, but it is sugar with lots of fiber as well. This is the path for me now.

I think of oatmeal the same way I think of grits now. I don't want to eat it on its own, but with some other ingredients, it can be pretty filling. With grits, I expect them not to be be sweet, and so I cook them with no butter or cheese, and usually add green peppers, onions and tomatoes. With oatmeal, I expect it to be sweet, so I supplement with fruits. But why must it be so? I'm going to see if I can find or create some oatmeal based recipes that are outside my experience. Thinking outside the bowl, if you will. Just thoughts.

Will revisit later.

Afraid to Be Happy?

Something happens to some people when they get kicked by life. Not all people. God knows that there are those who were either born with -or somehow acquired along the way - the ability to roll with it, or to let it roll off of them. They slough off the bad things as if it were dead skin on a reptile. They discard it, wriggle loose from it, and go on about their business. Their troubles are are on the side of the road in their rear-view mirrors, and they open up more and more distance. I don't know how they do it.

Some of us are not so fortunate. Or maybe we are fortunate in a different way. Some of us, we get knocked down, done wrong, screwed over, etc. and it takes a long time to heal. Being diabetic and also getting older, I have noticed it takes me longer to get over colds and I am slower to bounce back from the rolled ankle or pulled muscle. Some of are like this in our hearts.

I don't have a solution for this. I was just thinking, and this is where my thoughts took me. I've heard the phrase, "once bitten, twice shy" and wondered what I meant and why it has to be like that. Now I know. You but your trust in someone, and inevitably, that trust is broken. Sometimes it is a small wound, sometimes it is earth-shattering.. I have been on both ends of it, and even the small ones can make you swear off trusting anyone, ever again. Sometimes, we refuse to embrace happiness because we fear that misery is presenting itself to us in a clever disguise. Sadly, when we have our shields up like this, we are in poor position to discern, and thus, potential happy opportunities are turned aside.

The point is not to rush you back into taking hopeful risks, but maybe to nudge you a little. Life is short, and fear is a terrible companion on your journey. The sooner you can shake it, the better, and the sooner it will become a memory as you head into a brighter sun.

A Quick Challenge

I saw this on Pinterest, and it has stayed with me. it says so much in just two sentences.​



Are you still in learning mode? This applies to both personal and professional life.

In my personal life, I am learning to take better care of myself. In my youth I assumed myself to be invincible. In middle age I see that was a delusion. A useful one, a common one, but a delusion nonetheless. These old bones creak and pop. I am not invincible. My battles with diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol are daily reminders that this once glorious temple is under siege. So, that's one thing. I'm learning about the world around me, learning from my children even as I impart what little I know to them. I pray that I never lose the desire to keep learning and improving. I am learning to be more disciplined, for sure. I am learning to plan more. I am learning to listen more and talk less. I am learning to playing piano better, although I've been dabbling in it for more than 30 years. There is always more to learn.

In professional life, we are adopting a set of new tools to be learned and mastered. In my experience, not long after I achieve some expertise with these tools they will be replaced, and the circle of life will begin again. Hakuna Matata. I have worked on various flavors of Agile and they each have had their own peculiarities. This current iteration is no different, so there are lots of things to learn, to iternalize, to make habit-forming. As always, I'm being challenged to learn new programming patterns and languages to meet the always evolving needs of the business. In this arena, I couldn't stop learning if I tried.

There is more I could rattle off about what I'm learning, but in keeping with the pithiness of this quote, I shall leave it here. Happy learning!