fall in the kitchen

Life is stressful, and I find that everything that I can do to reduce the amount of anxiety I experience is worth the sacrifice.  Even the previously unthinkable, unimaginable, ultimate sacrifice: giving up coffee.  Being a coffee lover (the taste, the smell, the comfort of holding a warm cup in a car on a dark early-service morning...) I of course refuse to give up coffee completely. But I have switched to decaf.  Just as satisfying for the things I love about coffee, without the anxiety it induces.  And I found to my surprise, mornings are much more pleasant and less grumpy.  My own body actually wakes itself up instead of waiting for a drug to do it.  E went off caffeine too (he was up to 2 or 3 energy drinks a day!) And guess what? Although he will never be a morning person, I can actually talk to him at 6 in the morning, while he's still lying in bed with his eyes closed, and have a conversation (what is your schedule like today?... remember, there's soup in the fridge for lunch..., please limit yourself to 2 slices of zucchini bread today, instead of half a loaf...etc) and he actually responds in coherent phrases (i'm doing a couple of trash-out bids.., ok thank you...i will try...etc). Amazing.

I have also found that cooking is a wonderful stress reliever.  Last week was particularly stressful, and I dealt with it by making a butternut squash seafood chowder, and zucchini bread fully loaded with coconut, chocolate chips and pecans. very therapeutic!