Yesterday my sister invited me to come with her to play Scrabble while we stayed with my mom. - As some of you know my mom has Parkinson's and requires someone to be with her at all times. At first I was a little hesitant because I know how getting together with my sisters ALWAYS involves that little four-letter-"F" bomb, FOOD. If you ever come to one of our family get-to-togethers you would understand. We always say we are keeping it simple and of course there is enough food to feed an entire country. Or so it seems. The entire time I combat the sugar/dessert demons as my sisters gorge themselves and ultimately so do I. We feed off of each others bad behavior. Now you know the reason for my dread.

This time we had a "plan". We did not buy anything we did not already have. She brought skinless and boneless chicken thighs and simply baked them, stir fried some veggies and I brought salad and veggies to snack on. This was wonderful! We ate and played Scrabble and then she brought out the cherry gummy hearts which I discovered were horribly high in calories and sugars. - well - DUH!! I ate only 5 the entire night - I did enter them in my log. And we had some homemade Chex mix but kept it under control. This time I think we fed off each other in a positive way. Neither of us over-indulged.

While I cannot say I was a saint, I was far better controlled than I have been in a very long time