Day 17 - Weight 121

On really short notice, I have to leave for Idaho tomorrow morning. My parents retired in the southeastern part of that state leaving Palm Springs, where I grew up and got married for the first time, just a few months after my first son was born. It was 1991, and during a long roadtrip vacation through the northwestern states they bought a raspberry farm from "a guy my dad met while buying fishing tackle." I kid you not. They came back from vacation and were gone within a month to live in their idea of rural heaven, away from the hustle and bustle of southern California traffic, and congestion, and fast living. I have visited some over the years but can only take a couple of days before I need to get back to the "real world."

In the last couple of years my parents have spent their winters on the big island of Hawaii on a property where they've been building a simple little house for themselves. Away from everyone and in their own private utopia, with no rules and no judgements, I think they've finally found the life they wanted when they first fell in love back in the 60's and before they accidentally went and had a bunch of kids and got caught up in real life. I'm happy for them. Their lives have not been easy and I think they have found more than a spot of peace for themselves over there on that volcanic rock.

Anyway, they are selling the farm now and my dad came up with this idea that all of the kids, there are 6 of us, should come up and go through all of their possessions and "pick what they want just like I was dead." OMG! Are you kidding me? This is an awful idea. Everyone thinks so. Except, apparently Dad. OK. Here we come. I'll drive to St. George tomorrow, a little less than half way, and stay the night and then head up the rest of the way the next day. My brother and I will go this first week and move boxes from the attic and over the garage, etc., (Dad's got more than 200 boxes and that doesn't count all of the stuff that is "out") and sort them into similarities so that when everyone gets there it can go more smoothly. Almost more importantly, I'm hoping to use my camera to catalog Dad's valuable antiques, important collections and expensive pieces so that he can sell them at auction. He isn't dead. He's still living and he and my mother should enjoy their own property financially while they are alive. (At least that's my view). Most of these kinds of pieces don't hold any particular sentimental value for us kids, they're just things he was into and collected over the years but weren't really part of our lives. He's collected more than a good bit of early Americana pieces that should pay handsomely for him now that he's ready to scale down and simplify his living experience.

So, tonight I have driven all over town buying groceries for my husband's week on the diet while I'll be gone, pet play pens for the dogs to use at my parent's property, another food scale, etc. Errands successfully run, I pre-cooked, prepped, and packaged all of hubby's meals for the week. It turned into a late night but all the work is done.

COMBO SNACK/LUNCH

• Ground sirloin & Cabbage soup
  
• Apple
• WASA

I know this pic looks awful. Very brown and more than a little like something really gross that you wouldn't want to eat. BUT, it was delicious. Also, I learned something about the pics and shooting soup. The soup has steam rising from it, obviously, and so it's impossible to take a straight-on shot that appears clear. You'd have to wait until the soup was cold to take a good pic. No thanks. Its not actually a prop, it's my lunch. :-)

COMBO SNACK/DINNER

• Chicken soup w/Collard greens (for hubby)
• Grilled steak, fresh tomato (for me)
• Strawberries
• WASA