Preventative Maintenance

A small break from back logging to share a little story from this weekend:  First of all, if you know anything about me, you will know that I have a very special/strange relationship with food. 

For instance, when eating a meal, I can only eat one dish at a time.  I must finish that dish before moving on to the next.  If my plate is filled with roast beef, mashed potatoes, salad and steamed vegetables… I will start eating my salad first and cannot move on to the next dish until my salad is gone.  Once I finish the salad, I move on to the veggies.  Once the veggies are finished, the mashed potatoes.  Etc, etc, etc.  (Oh and the meat part of the dish is always to be eaten last, obviously).

Also, if I decide on a certain food to eat (because I’m influenced by TV or otherwise), I will NOT be satisfied until I actually eat said food.  I will make the lives of everyone who stands in my way of getting the food that is on my mind miserable until my task is accomplished. 

For example, last week I was watching Jacques Pepin make a delicious Bean and Bacon soup on TV.  Suddenly I was overcome with this out of control desire to eat Bean and Bacon soup ASAP.  I kept thinking about how nice Bean and Bacon soup would taste on a cool summer evening, the crisp summer air paired with the warm soupy beans.  It was all I could think about.  That Bean and Bacon soup was calling my name!  Unfortunately we had no Bean and Bacon soup in the pantry.  So, I started to get ornery.  I stewed (no pun intended) for about an hour, wishing and hoping that the Bean and Bacon soup would magically appear on my dinner table.  But… it didn’t.  So finally, I made The Husband take me to the store to purchase some good ol’ Campbells Bean and Bacon… and then I was happy.

To add to this, if I have bought myself something to eat (something that I’ve been craving) and it gets eaten by someone else… I absolutely lose my marbles.  I’m very protective of my food, ok?  The Husband has learned this and always, ALWAYS, asks before eating something I’ve bought at the store… or before eating leftovers in the fridge.  He knows he’s in for it if he doesn’t ask first.

Also, if I don’t get fed on a regular basis, I turn into a monster.  Call it hypoglycemia, call it insulin resistant… I call it normal.

The Husband, who knows me very well, has learned all of these things about me.  He does not like having a monster for a wife, so he is very careful to watch for the warning signs of when I’m about to “turn”. 

On Saturday we were out running errands for a large part of the day.  As we were on our way from DI to Home Depot, the Husband suddenly turned to me and said, “We need to get you something to eat”.  “But I’m not hungry”, I protested.  The Husband then explained to me the following:

“I know that you’re not hungry now, but you will be very soon, and I don’t like you when you’re hungry.  Think of this as preventative maintenance… like an oil change.  You change your oil on a regular basis as preventative maintenance, to make sure something bad doesn’t happen to your car.  You don’t wait until your car breaks down or starts getting a knock in the engine to get it checked out.  Honey, I’m feeding you right now as preventative maintenance… an oil change of sorts”.

His argument made so much sense, it was hard to get mad at him for saying it.  So, we went to get something to eat.  Preventative Maintenance.  I married a very smart man.