Christmas Cactus @ Greenhouse

Yesterday, what customers have been asking for, arrived.  Christmas Cactus.  This photo is of a very small pot (3 inches wide) with the few little bits that broke off the large plants.  I can never throw away something with a "bud" even though I already have way too many Christmas Cactus.

I am still freezing cold, but finally managed to Google "Atkins/cold sensitivity" and discovered this is a very common side effect of the diet, especially long term.  And "long term" means anyone doing Atkins longer that a month.  Which isn't very many dieters.  I can't see a dieter interested in "fast results" sticking with this diet through all the weigh loss stalls.

With the 365 Day Diet in 2007, I don't remember being cold.  But, I don't remember much after losing my job in September.  And I wasn't eating low carb.  I was still eating bread products and pasta on that diet with a limit of 1200 calories a day.  So, enough carbs to keep me warm.  And I know now that I was losing  muscle on that diet.  My daughter says I looked terrible (thin but haggard) and was difficult to be around as I was always angry and mean.

She likes me on Atkins.  I am usually happy and I look very healthy.  I think it's all the fat.  Keeps your skin looking "plump" and all the cheese and heavy cream keeps you from feeling hungry.  The good feelings in my intestinal tract leads me to think I am allergic to wheat.  Have always been allergic to wheat. I have read that we crave the thing we shouldn't eat.  And I do crave wheat products if I start eating them. Can't make myself STOP eating bread, pasta or cake.

Anyway, I don't eat wheat now.  I just need to find a sub for bread crumbs.  I like bread crumbs and have been eating them on my fried eggplant and later today in the meatballs I will be making.  It's the ONE food item that I decided to cheat with.  The one forbidden item that I allow myself to have.  Atkins does sub crumbled pork rinds for breadcrumbs but I haven't actually tried that.  Sounds disgusting.

 I have a new low carb cookbook with something called "Magic Rolls" which can be dried and crumbed into bread crumbs.  I think I will take a closer look at the recipe.  I don't want to create something that is a temptation, i.e. looks too much like actual bread.  The recipe is in a diet program that allows higher amounts of carbs.  So, I think the recipe does include white flour.  But it may be lower in carbs than commercial bread crumbs.

I am pretty excited about Thanksgiving Dinner in a few weeks.  A website had an Atkins sub for cream of mushroom soup (mayo and sour cream) so I can make green bean casserole.  Happy Dance.  The can of onion rings is even okay, in limited quantities.  I will miss the baked sweet potatoes but I can have mashed turnips instead of potatoes.  I don't think I will have cranberry sauce.  It's a fruit.  And I usually eat half a can with my dinner.  I will have large amounts of  roasted Brussels Sprouts.  So more "can have" and less "cannot" which is always a good indication that I will be happy.

I apologize for so much diet conversation today.  It's one of those periods in the diet journey where I have to reevaluate, make changes,  etc.  My pants are loose at the hips and waist.  Really, what more can I want right now?

My little beet quilt didn't work out as I had envisioned.  But the background has possibilities. So I will work on the background until I figure out how to make beets.  Out of fabric.  I did notice on many image websites that beets are always shown in a pair.  Two beets in every photo.  I was trying to have three.