Salty, Sweet & Mean
My salt craving started last year...definitely since I started school and became more stressed out. (Remember how I took that really fast-paced statistics class on advanced regression last year? The one where the midterm took me 30 hours, and the final took me 20 hours?). It was sometime around then that I noticed I gradually started wanting more salt than usual. In fact, I�ve always only rarely used a salt shaker to sprinkle extra salt on my food. But I found myself regularly reaching for salt to sprinkle on tomato slices, on mashed potatoes, on corn, on popcorn, in plain oatmeal, on eggs, in soup, on fish, etc. On a visit to my parents� house recently, my mom even noticed and mentioned it.
While it�s a significant change from the norm for me, it�s not something I�d have really thought to mention to a doctor. But when Kirsten asked about diet, cravings, etc. and I said �OMG, YES, I�ve been craving salt lately!�, it was like she had totally expected to hear that from me. She basically explained that this often means you're depleted/exhausted. It just seems so random, so you wouldn't expect it to have a logical explanation. Who knew?! You learn something new every day. My blood pressure is always slightly low, but I still hope the salt cravings eventually subside, as I certainly don�t want to go on to eventually develop hypertension from using too much sodium. Aside from salt cravings, I�m in a bad arthritis flare that scares me a little bit, but, we won�t go there now..
Switching gears from salty to sweet, I just celebrated the b-day of someone close to me. We indulged in a night at the Melting Pot, as well as my most favorite dessert: red velvet cake (but those two things weren�t on the same day, obviously!). People who know me well know that I think red velvet cake is just about one of the best kinds of cake around. It�s classy and elegant and pretty and decadent. Which may explain why I�m wearing stretchy pants right now as I sit here finishing some work that has been hanging over my head. :-)
Weekends are too short, but mine was good. It featured two small daytrips out of town. I've finally found a decent outfit to wear to my April conference in San Diego. My kitchen is re-stocked with groceries at Trader Joe�s. And there was some great Scrabble action. Finally, I�m getting excited about the fact that I'll be learning (hopefully soon) a new game called Carcassone. Two different friends, Martha, and Peggy, both love Carcasonne and love playing it. Here's an excerpt from a message Peggy typed to me:
�Carcassonne is an AWESOME game. It's suitable for two people or a family. And it can be as sweet or mean as you want to be. I only recommend playing if you get some of the expansion packs.�.Two people or a group. Sweet or mean. That sounds like it's probably my kind of game.
