Falling off the wagon

Over the summer, I decided to "give up" sweet drinks. Partly because I was drinking way too many of them and they weren't helping my waist line any. And, partly because I was hoping that the move would help convince my kidneys to stop trying to run, screaming, from my body.

When I say "give up" I mean I no longer guzzle soda or sweet iced tea at meal times, I try really hard to stop picking up Phenom's ever-present glass of coke, and generally curtail my consumption of such drinks to "emergencies" or special occasions. For example, an emergency might be when facing a full day at the office after pulling an 'all-nighter.' It's not that I've sworn off them, but I'm reassigning them back to their proper place in anyone's life . . . a treat.

It has been a long week in our office. And, we were very, very good about bringing our lunches from home and eating in the office. So, a few days ago, the SMLF decided that we need a Dixie Friday.

The Dixie is an old, old drive in burger joint. This place has been the evening hang out for countless generations of teens and the daytime fast-lunch joint for everyone else. Everything goes in the fryer . . . bacon. . . hot dogs . . . the cheese they put on the hotdogs . . . everything. And, I'm pretty sure that the fryer is sporting lard rather than canola oil.

The place is unair-conditioned, and thus is off limits during the summer. But, our fall is teasing us and we deemed the weather to have merited a return for lunch.

The thing that they do best, beyond the chili/onion/mustard topped cheese burgers and battered fries is they will add cherry syrup to any soda. Our favorite is cherry Mt. Dew. And, it's as many cups as you can hold. The woman who waits on us generally brings us a 1/2 gallon pitcher rather than fetch refill after refill. (Today, she refilled the pitcher once.)

I decided that the first return to the Dixie for SMLF was occasion enough to indulge in all the cherry mt. dew I could handle. I had three full cups before my head started spinning. It was good.