Our trip to the North Pole

Someone has to lose.

It’s been a busy few weeks. I can’t even remember all of the things that I have done in the past couple of weeks but I will say that Thanksgiving was very nice and I was out with all the crazy Black Friday shoppers the day after Thanksgiving. I don’t think I got any great buys but this has become somewhat of a tradition with my oldest daughter, my sister and me. My mom used to come with us too but now she lives in Florida. She did go shopping too; at 4am the only difference was there were no long lines and it was about 73 degrees. We kept in contact with her throughout the day and it made us feel like she was at least with us on the cell for a while. We missed her.

Last night I went to a high school football game and I had a blast. The most fun I’ve had in a while. My youngest daughter is dating a boy on the team so we went to show our support. It was a great game. They won the division championship and Saturday they will play in the “Super bowl”. So we will be off to another game this weekend.

It was so hard to see the other team after the game. I know that someone has to lose and that is part of the game but those young men played hard and it was such a good (and close) game. It could have easily gone either way. They left with tears in their eyes and some of them were outright crying. My heart went out to them.

Tomorrow I am going to the North Pole. You may think that is a weird place to be going but you must remember that Christmas is right around the corner. Can you think of a better place to go in December? I wrote about this trip a few posts ago. You will have to read all about it there. I will take pictures and let you all know how the train ride to the North Pole is.

This weekend we are going to the football game on Saturday and to the cape for a college tour on Sunday morning and then back home for youngest daughters first ever basketball game. We will have a fun filled and busy weekend.

My anxiety issues are beginning to rear their ugly heads again. I’m not sure why either. I hate feeling like this. The meds don’t seem to be working like they used to maybe I need to talk to the doctor about that soon.

Today I booked a flight to Florida for the end of January. I am going to visit my parents and a friend of mine from Virginia is going to fly down also and meet me there for a few days. I am excited about that trip. Hopefully it will be warm enough to spend a few days on the beach.

I have to get back to crocheting hats. It’s a long story and I’ll fill you in soon.

We share the same view

Weekend report

We had a great weekend. I went to a flea market in New Hampshire where they sell pocketbooks (mostly knock offs) with the girls on Saturday morning and then did a few errands on my way home. I left the house about 6:30am and didn't get home until about 4PM. I was only home for a little while and my husband asked if I would mind spending a little more time in the car. We hemd and hawed for a while and at 7 headed down to Foxwoods (the casino). We went to MGM for a change and ended up having a real good time. We didn't win but I found a penny machine that let me play. At 2AM my hubby was beginning to pace around my machine and we had to leave. We didn't get home until 4am.

We got up early on Sunday to get ready for company. My girl friend of 40 years and her husband came for brunch. I think that brunch is "my thing". I set a real pretty table and we had fruit salad, bacon, eggs, toast, juice and coffee. Laura brought scones and bloody Mary stuff. My daughter and the kids came out and I got to show off my grandchildren. My husband finds Laura’s husband very interesting and they always have lots to talk about. He was a Marine in Vietnam and has many stories to tell and my husband just eats that stuff up. My husband was also a Marine; he was a JAG and served after Vietnam. So while they visited Laura and I went for a walk and caught up on all kinds of stuff. We had a great weekend.

My ulcer isn't really bothering me and the medicine seems to be working great. I will go and see the Dr. in three weeks and I will have to have the scope done again in 3 months to make sure that it is healing properly.

I talked to my son yesterday and he sounded good. He seems to like this job and the man he is working for. He worked all weekend for the overtime. I am keeping my fingers crossed and I continue to pray that he will make this job stick.

My youngest daughter is doing fine and she is reading (at my request) for practice. We went to the bookstore this weekend and picked up a book that is a 7th grade reading level and she is doing okay with it. She said the story is good and she is enjoying reading it. I ordered software to help her with some phonics instruction and that should come sometime this week. Once I have that we will start working a couple nights a week to increase her reading skills. I am confidant that we can get her to where she needs to be with some effort.

My 4 year old grand-daughter was so cute this weekend as she told me all about going to vote. It went like this:

Madison: Mammy, Rakabama wined ya know.
Me: Oh yeah, what did he win?
Madison: A trophy.
Me: Cool…
Madison: He’s getting a puppy too, and he’s goin to live in a white house far, far away. Not the white house on my street.


So I explained that he won after all the people voted on who should be the President and the most people picked him to be in charge. She told me that she went to vote. It went like this:

Madison: I went to vote with Mommy.
Me: I went to vote too.
Madison: Did you go to church?
Me: No, I had to vote in my town where I live.
Madison: I had to show daddy how to vote.
Me: You did? How do you vote?
Madison: You go in and tell the lady your name and where you live. She gives you a paper and you sit at the table and fill it out then you tell another lady your name and where you live again. I don’t know why you have to tell the other lady, you live at the same place. Then you put the paper in the machine. That’s all.


My daughter went to vote and she took the kids with her. My son-in-law had to go up a little later to vote and this was his first time voting. He was a little nervous that he wouldn’t know what to do so my daughter sent Madison with him so she could show him. LOL

She is like a little sponge and she doesn’t miss much. I told Melissa she really needs get that whole thing on video, it was very cute and I love the way she says his name. One word rakabama.

I walked at the mall with my sister this morning and I am going to join the YMCA so I can start going with her to Pilates. I really need to do something to increase my muscle tone. I am not losing weight right now. It’s no surprise, I can eat more and I have found that I don’t have a problem with sugar. (big mistake on my part) I shouldn’t have tested it. I’m not gaining, but not losing either. I guess if I’m going to eat more than I need to exercise more. So I’m going to find out what I need to do to join and start going with her soon.

My youngest daughter had every leave out of our yard last Tuesday but by Friday it looked like someone had trucked them all back in plus more. She isn’t at all happy. It’s cold and fall like here, most of the leaves are down now and it’s sort of depressing. It will be winter before you know it. I saw deer in the yard over the weekend. They are really very beautiful animals.

Why didn't I know?

It’s funny how easy it is to get away from posting. I think daily about the things I should be putting here on my blog but never actually get around to typing. My weightloss seems to have to come to a stand still. I know why, it’s no surprise to me. I am eating more and more often and I’m not making the best choices. I need to pay more attention and stop this crazy behavior.

I spent the day yesterday at the hospital having an EGD or upper endoscopy and biopsy. It seems that I have an ulcer in my pouch. It’s been a bit painful but the doctor says we caught it early and with meds it should be fine. I will have to have another EGD in three months to check on it again. I had this done about 4 years ago and at that time I remember them getting me on my left side and putting something in my mouth… then I was waking up in another room. NOT THIS TIME! I was hardly sedated at all. I watched the whole thing on the monitor and was very uncomfortable with that thing gagging me. Very glad it only took about 10 minutes. I’m not in a big hurry to do it again.
My daughter is done with Volleyball for the season and basketball has begun. Those practices are only one or two nights a week and games on the weekends. She is going to start working on some extra things with a tutor. I recently discovered that she has a great deal of difficulty reading. I’m sure you are wondering how come I didn’t know about this, I am asking my self the same thing. She was reading out loud to me a few weeks ago and I realized that there was a problem. I mean a BIG problem. I contacted the school and got no help there, she is a senior with good grades and they don’t see the problem. Without some intervention she will not succeed in college. This is very difficult for me to say out loud, my daughter is 17, a senior in high school with good grades… and she can’t read. Amazing.
I took her for some private testing and she has been diagnosed with dyslexia. Fancy word that means she has trouble reading. When she was in Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade she went to a school that did not teach phonics… they taught the kids to read using the “whole language” approach. I would say that it failed her. She has memorized many words in her 17 years and that is how she gets by. If she is reading and doesn’t know what a word is she replaces the word with a word that is about the same length, starts with the same letter… and may even be close to the same shape. However, the sentence makes no sense. So we have ordered special software and I will begin tutoring her next week. If it doesn’t work with me helping her we may have to send her to a tutor, it’s just so very expensive that right now we have to try it this way first. She is open to the idea and also pleased to know that she isn’t just stupid, but actually has a real learning disability. I’m still not sure how it went this long before I figured it out.
My son likes his new job taking care of the pigs. He seems happier than I have seen him in quite some time. I am keeping my fingers crossed and I am sending up prayers like crazy that this continues.
My husband has been very supportive and helpful with all that is going on around us. He is the step-dad to my children… but you would never know that he wasn’t their biological father in the way that he cares for them. He is a good man and I love him dearly. Last week he had to have some minor surgery to remove a cyst from his back. It wasn’t a big deal and he will get the stitches out next week. He took most of the day off yesterday to be with me at the hospital and give me a ride home. I don’t mention him too often in my blog, unless I am complaining about him, but he really is a good man.
On Tuesday I got tickets to take my two daughters and my grand daughter on a special trip. We are going to North Conway, NH and taking an evening train ride to the North Pole. It’s the Polar Express Event. http://www.polarexpress.org/index.html I am keeping this a surprise for a couple more weeks. This was my daughter’s favorite book as a child and she is going to like this more than all of us.
I am waiting now for my grand daughter to come to my office. She has swimming lessons tonight at 5 and I take her. She is much more comfortable at the pool and with her instructor now so she is enjoying it more.
I am looking forward to a quiet weekend. I may do some flea markets and yard sales tomorrow and we have friends coming for brunch on Sunday. Tonight I am going to meet up with my hubby and we will go have dinner and then spend some quality time at the grocery store. LOL We need to do some stocking up. They are also having a big buy 1 and get 2 free sale of several items that I know my kids will eat/use. So I buy one and give the “free:” things to them.
I have spent no time at all working on my personal mission statement, a project I am supposed to be working on for my weight loss support group. I guess that will be next weeks project. I’ll post it as soon as I figure out what it is.
And one last thing for today:
Dear God, I pray for optimum health, wisdom, mental clarity and political prosperity for Barack Obama, and for his protection, as he seeks to become our President! Amen.

October 22, 2008

Today it's cold and rainy and the leaves are still very vibrant and all is all it's still very pretty around this part of the world. I've been real busy lately with appointments, kids and work around the yard. Yesterday I spent the day in Boston with my son. He was offered a job and needed to go to the temporary agency in Boston for orientation. His car is unreliable and he isn't very familiar with Boston so he asked a friend to bring him to his appointments. I begged him to let me take him into Boston. I didn't trust the friend was going to get him there in time, if at all. I know my son well enough to know that I was going to get the call saying he didn't make it to Boston for the appointment and he didn't get the job after all. I COULDN'T let that happen.
It is a very long story but I did get him there in time and he did have the orientation. After that meeting I had to take him to another location for a TB test. He was supposed to have his immunization records with him but didn't tell me that so he will have to bring those back when he goes Friday to have the TB test read. It was a long day. He is going to have to get himself back to Boston on Friday as I am not taking another day off. After spending the day with him yesterday I have to wonder how he finds his way out of his apartment in the morning.

I had a support group meeting on Monday at the weight Center. I like that group, real nice people and it helps keep me on track. This week our group leader asked us to start putting some ideas on paper for our personal mission statement. I am working on that for the next meeting and I will share it here when I am done. Some of the group read theirs during our meeting and they were as eloquent in their writing. I couldn't read mine because it wasn't nearly as well written as the others. I am very critical of my own words and ideas. I shouldn't be.

My weight is down a bit and I am happy about that. I haven't been feeling great for the past couple of weeks. My stomach hurts. I went to see the surgeon last week for my 6 month check-up and told him about the discomfort. He didn't seem to concerned but did tell me to let him know if it didn't get better or got any worse. I called this morning and I haven't heard back from them yet.

The pain is worse at night, it wakes me up and Boy does it hurt. Once I am up and about and have some food the pain subsides and sometimes even goes away. I am beginning to wonder if I have an ulcer. Considering that my stomach pouch is about the size of a large egg an ulcer can't be a good thing. I hope that he can see me soon and we can get this straightened out.

There are only two more volleyball games this season. One tonight and one next Monday. I am going to try and get out of my office soon and make it to the game tonight. My daughter is going to miss playing when the season is over. However, she is going to be busy with school work and possibly a tutor to help her with reading. I am hoping to have her tested for dyslexia in the next couple of weeks. She definitely has some issues with reading and comprehension.

This upcoming weekend my husband and I are going to be getting together with friends. His best friend moved from MA to Texas and we don't get to see him and his wife often. They are going to be in MA this weekend and we will spend the day Saturday with them. It should be fun.

My weight is down to 227 today. That's 108 pounds gone from last year at this time. Not bad. I feel great and I am happy about how things are going. Now if we can just figure out the stomach pain.

Life's not fair

I took a couple of pictures of the colors of fall this week and as promised I am putting them here. I have some turmoil going on in my life this week and the pictures are a peaceful contrast to the upset in my soul.

My youngest daughter is a senior in high school and she struggles with reading and comprehension, she has to work harder than everyone else for even a C. She is extremely organized and ALWAYS does her homework and is big into class participation. She almost never passes a test but manages to get through the class and pass it in the end.

She is in counseling because she may have issues with depression and she has some grief issues surrounding the death of her dad 4 years ago. The counselor suggested that we request testing at the school for a learning disability. So that is in the works. Although, trying to find her help has not been easy. The school is in no big hurry to help, she is passing and she is graduating. They don’t care that she isn’t going to be successful in college unless her reading skills are much improved.

It’s not easy to find private agencies that do the testing and when you do - you find out just how expensive this stuff gets. When I mentioned to my husband that I found a place that would test her and then give us some feed back on learning styles and such for $2,200 he pretty much freaked out. I don’t want to spend $2,200 either but I want to do the right thing and get her the assistance she needs to move forward.

I know that she is not going to die because she has a learning disability and that many people out there with LD are functioning nicely. I needed my husband to help me by bouncing ideas around and talking about what other options we might have. He just got angry and started questioning me like I had done something wrong. He was angry with the teachers for not picking up on this sooner and at the counselor for making the suggestion to have her tested. Most of all he was angry about the $2,200. So we are arguing.

Last night at my daughters Volleyball game they played 5 matches (they have to win 3). My daughter loves Volleyball and she really has a good relationship with the girls on the team. I sent a note via e-mail to her coach thanking her for taking the time to be the coach and told her how much I thought Alexis was growing both personally and academically. Her response was as follows: “Thank you for your kind words. I’m so glad that volleyball has been a positive in her life. Allie has been nothing but an inspiration to our team. She is probably the most team-oriented person on our team and really pulls the troops together. She’s always cheering everyone on. I (and the team) feel very fortunate to have her on our team…she’s been great!! “

There are 12 girls on the team. They don’t always get to play, I understand that. I have gone to many of the games and I watch the same six girls on the court for most of the game, and I understand that too. The coach wants to win. My daughter may not be the best player on the team but she isn’t the worst either. She doesn’t get to play all that often. Last night the team played all 5 matches and they were all close games. My daughter was the only one on the team that did not get in to play at all. As soon as the game was over she was the first one off the bench to clean up and put away the net and other equipment she never stopped cheering her teammates on and was a very good sport. The coach approached her after the game while she was taking down the net and tried to talk to her. I saw that Allie wasn’t in the mood for talking as she just kept working, the coach put her hand on Allie’s shoulder and Allie shrugged her off. Then she sort of slowly backer her into a corner and talked to her. Allie didn’t have much to say but I could tell that she was talking a little bit. After their talk Allie walked over and picked up her bag and left the gym. I followed. As soon as she was out of the gym and in the parking lot she began to cry. The coach had apologized for not putting her in the game, she said she was going to put her in the fourth match but she didn’t want to mess up the “Mesh” of the other girls. Many of the other girls had missed practice and were out of school sick the day before the game and it was always an unwritten rule that if you miss practice you can’t play. They all played. I was crushed for her. I actually felt her pain.

I asked her last night if she would be going to practice today and she said “yes, I am going to every practice and every game. I will be there for my team and my friends, but I have no respect for coach.” I will tell you that I might not have gone back if it were me and I am soooo proud of her for going back and not quitting. But my heart still aches.

Things are still not good with hubby and I am trying to make things better. I decided to go back on my anti depressants and anti anxiety meds. Maybe that will help.

The last time I heard from my son he had the possibility of a job offer at the animal hospital but I haven’t heard from him since so I’m not sure where that stands.

My oldest daughter and her family are coming for the weekend, we have lots planned. I hope that my husband and I can be over this tiff before they arrive and we can have a good weekend.

On Sunday all of my family will get together at my parents house for dinner. My parents leave for Florida next week and they will be gone until April. So it’s sort of our family Thanksgiving.

We also have a celebration to attend earlier in the afternoon on Sunday at friends. Their two children (adopted) are going to be baptized; my daughter and son in law are God Parents. This is along awaited event. One of the children is a 16 month old little boy whose parent was fighting for custody. She was found to be unfit and her rights were terminated. The baby has been with his adoptive parents for all of the 16 months and it would have been devastating for all of them if he had been taken away.

I hope my medication starts to work quickly. I am feeling so yucky and always on the verge of tears. I guess I wasn’t ready to stop taking them. Maybe I never will be.

Tuesday October 7, 2008

It's fall here in New England and the air is crisp and clean smelling. The leaves are gorgeous shades of orange, red and maroon. There is extraordinary beauty in the fall foliage and the bright blue sky.

That's quite a contrast to the mess on Wall St., the price of oil and gasoline, the news on the television, the fear and the anger we all are experiencing as we try to understand what it all means to us.

Today I am going to take the time to appreciate the colors, smells and feeling of fall. I am going to try not to worry about tomorrow because I have enough to worry about for today.


I am going to walk at the park after work today. I haven't lost any weight again this week, I think this is what they mean when they say a plateau. I still weight 231 and have been here for the past 4 weeks. I don't think I am done losing yet and this is a bit discouraging but I continue to stay the course and I will keep exercising and eating right (or as right as I can).


I am going to make a point to take some pictures of the foliage tonight at the park and I will post them here tomorrow.

September is almost over

Can you believe it? In just a few days it will be October. This month has just flown by. I have lots to write about today so please excuse the extra long post.
I went to Virginia to visit an old friend last weekend. I promised her I would come for a visit as soon as I could fit in the airplane seat. I have to tell you that I did it, I didn’t need a seatbelt extender and I wasn’t hanging over into the seat next to me. In situations like that I always felt like I was taking up too much space and invading other people’s space.

My trip started off terrible. I left my house and drove to the airport with plenty of time allotted for parking in the long term parking lot and taking the shuttle to the airport. I was at the airport and through security in much less time then I anticipated it would take. As I was having a cup of coffee I got a call from my oldest daughter, she was in the hospital with my grandson who had been throwing up all night. He started getting sick at 10pm and at 4:30am my daughter drove him to the ER. They were doing tests when she called me.

She told them at the ER that she wanted them to check him for an intersussception, (this is a type of bowel obstruction, which occurs when the bowel telescopes in onto itself) the doctors told her that it was most likely a stomach bug but she was very insistent that they PLEASE check. My daughter knows about interssusception because her sister, my second child, died from this in 1988. It was misdiagnosed as a stomach bug and after being sick for just 2 days and after 4 trips to the pediatrician she died at home on the living room floor.

My daughter was able to finally talk the doctor into doing the x-ray and ultra sound to check and they found that he did in fact have an intersussception. They would need to do a procedure to try and correct the problem, if that didn’t work they would have to do surgery.

I am in the airport with my flight about to leave and I am text messaging back and forth with my daughter and husband about the baby’s progress. I was so worried about what was going on. I was however pretty sure that he would be okay. The doctors had listened to my daughter and did the appropriate tests; they found the problem and were working to fix it. I knew that he would be okay. I still felt pretty helpless.

It also brought back a lot of memories and feelings from 20 years ago. Why didn’t the doctors fix Amy? How did they miss it? If it’s so easy to fix with just an enema, why did she have to die? These were all the questions from 20 years ago that were never answered for me. My life changed forever that day.

My husband left work and went to the hospital to stay with the kids and to keep me up to date on what was going on. By the time my flight landed in Virginia, they had done the procedure and the intussusception had resolved, they would keep him in the hospital for 24 hours to watch to make sure it didn’t happen again. But he was already doing much better. The doctor told my daughter that it was good that she was insistent that they check for the intussusception because they would have look for a lot of other things before they looked for that and more time would have gone by which could have resulted in infections and other problems.

So needless to say the first day of my trip was not good. I just wanted to be at the hospital with my grandson and daughter. Once I heard that he was on the mend and even up eating a Popsicle I was able to relax and enjoy the rest of the weekend. My friend Cindy was really very understanding about my frustration and worry. She was a friend 20 years ago when my daughter died and knew what I was going through.

We were able to have a good visit and do some catching up. She moved down to Virginia from Massachusetts about 15 years ago and I really miss her. We hadn’t seen each other in about 4 years. Her husband was working quite a bit while I was there and her two boys have grown up so much. It was fun to sit and talk with them too. We didn’t plan a lot of sightseeing or anything, which was nice, we had time to just visit and do some shopping. It was her mom’s birthday over the weekend and her dad took all of us out to dinner on Saturday night to a nice Irish restaurant. It was good to see them too. They are real nice people.

I came home on Sunday night and got a chance to see my grandson on Monday morning, Believe it or not he was on his way back to day care. My daughter works at the day care center and both kids go with her to “school” everyday. They were at school for a few hours and Zack got fussy, so back to the doctors. He had two bad ear infections that they treated with antibiotics and by Tuesday he was back to his smiley self. All is well at their house now. Everyone is healthy and happy.

Madison spent the night at my house on Tuesday and we went to my daughter Allie’s volleyball game. They lost and they lost badly. You would have thought they had never seen a volleyball before the way they played. We got home late and didn’t even have time to go in the hot tub.

Once a year at work they have an employee recognition dinner. (Lunch really). For all employees with ten or more years here. Friday was the day. The lunch wasn’t very good but the company was. We had a good time visiting and drinking wine and beer. After the lunch we are all free to go home for the day but I had signed Madison up for swimming lessons and volunteered to take her to these lessons every Friday at 5. So I came back to my office and did a little work and just sort of hung around until my son-in-law dropped her off. We walked over to the pool at the athletic center and she had her first lesson. She is 4 ½ and already knows how to swim. She has grown up with a pool both at home and at my house. We also vacation on a lake. Mostly she learned how to swim in my hot tub. She prefers the warm water. Swim lessons were a success and she will come back next Friday.

Saturday we went to my brother-in-laws farm for dinner with my husband’s mother. She is leaving Massachusetts this week and we all went to say good-bye. I hope she has a safe trip and there is gas where she needs it. I hear that gas is an issue in the southeastern part of the country.

I have volunteered to run and organize a monthly fundraiser breakfast at church. We send about 20 kids to church camp each summer and off-set the cost of camp with a scholarship for each of the kids. Every year we scramble around trying to find as much money as we can to help as many as we can. So this breakfast idea was my way of trying to help raise money.

Sunday was the first breakfast. I had lots of help from several of the parents of kids that go to camp and even some of the kids too. It was a big success. We were able to make about $225 dollars. It would have been less but most of the food was donated from local grocery stores and a woman at the church who works in a place that does food wholesale and her distributors are very generous. We are lucky to have the resources we have.

After church my husband and I went out to do a little shopping. We bought the stuff we need to close the pool next weekend and then went and poked around at a few stores. We had a nice lunch out at our favorite restaurant and then headed home.

I didn’t lose any weight in the past two weeks. I am holding steady at about 230 pounds, I did start to use some hand weights on Saturday and my arms are killing me. I need to get back into paying attention to what I eat and getting more exercise in.

Hopefully the next week or two won’t be so busy. I do have a group of about 30 people coming for the Columbus Day holiday weekend. They bring campers and tents, we have good food, play cards, a trip to the apple orchard is in the works and I hear the very brave are going to a haunted hayride one of the nights. It will be a fun weekend but I have lots to do to get ready.

My parents leave the week after that for their winter home in Florida. (Actually a campground, where they live and work from October until April).

I miss summer. It happened so quickly this year and I didn’t get to do all that I had planned.

I'm still here

I've been lazy this week about posting. I will be back on Monday with a nice long post. Have a good weekend.

an airplane seat

Tomorrow I am going to fly down to Virginia to visit an old friend. She moved down there many years ago. I don't get to see her very often, I think the last time I saw her was 3 or 4 years ago. I drove down from MA to visit and do some sight seeing with my kids during school vacation. I told her at the beginning of the year that I was planning on having the weight loss surgery and as soon I was able to fit in an airplane seat I would come and see her.

I leave tomorrow and I'm pretty sure I am going to fit in the seat. There won't be much room to spare (they make those seats so darn small). I am leaving my hubby, daughter and mother-in-law to fend for themselves for the weekend and I am going to have one last weekend of summer. I hope the weather will still be summer like in Virginia.

I lost another 3 pounds this week and that brings my total to 104 pounds since I began the program last October and 86 pounds sine surgery in April. Hard to believe. I feel so great.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend.

TGIF

It's been a busy week at work and it's about to be a busy weekend. Our Pastor is going to be ordained this upcoming Sunday, tonight we have celebrating with a party. We are "roasting" the pastor, also having dinner and dancing with a DJ. She has been our pastor for about 8 years while she continued her education and got her Master's degree. It is definitely a time for celebration. I even went out and bought a new dress for the occasion. I didn't have one that wasn't way too big.

Sunday morning we have our regular services and Sunday afternoon is the actual ordination. It is not being held at our church but in a neighboring town. I am working with a group of the women at the collation (snacks and coffee/punch) after the service.

I was able to find a counselor who works with teenagers and takes my insurance. Her office isn't far from the school and she does evening appointments. She has asked to meet with me first and I will meet with her at the beginning of next week. Then she will set up an appointment with my daughter.

Yesterday I stopped at the Avenue store near where I work. For those of you don't know what "Avenue" is it's a women's clothing store that carries sizes 14 and up. I have shopped in this store all of my adult life. I was there in April picking up some underwear and got to talking with the sales person. She too was considering have the gastric by pass surgery. I told her I was going in a few days for mine. I have been in the store quite often lately because all of my clothes are too big. I like the clothes at that store. I haven't seen the salesperson that I met back in April and I thought she must not be working there anymore. She was there yesterday, when I walked up to the register... she looked up and said "Oh my god, oh my god.... look at you, you look amazing." We talked for a while and she is in the process of getting ready for the surgery. She is going through the same weight center that I did. We made plans to meet at the next surgical support group meeting. I hope it goes as well for her as it did for me. The last thing she said to me.... I"I can't believe it.... you look like Barbie", she is of course exaggerating. I have to tell you that nothing could have made me feel better about my decision to have this surgery. I finally feel like I look good, and I feel great!

1. Christmas '07 2. April '08 3. September '08

Beginning of week four

Yesterday was the beginning of week four of my mother-in-law's visit. As I said before she sleeps in her motor home in our driveway so she has her "own" place to go when she needs to. However, I need my house back, I need my privacy back, I need my life back. I'm tired.

I guess this wasn't the best week to try and wean myself off my antidepressants and anti anxiety meds... huh? I'm back on the medication and will try again later.

My mother-in-law was supposed to leave yesterday and drive about 60 miles north of here to stay with one of her other children for a while. She told us last night that she will most likely go Saturday or Sunday instead. My husband has been doing everything he can to help her get things packed up and ready for the short trip. I don't think she is feeling all that great and that is why she isn't in any hurry to leave. I mentioned this to hubby last night and I think he is pondering what should be done about that.

My youngest daughter is not happy these days. She asked me to help her find a counselor or someone she can talk to about the constant sadness she feels. Her note to me leads me to believe she is actually in a depression. I have been on the phone all morning trying to find a counselor that is taking on new patients and that will take our insurance. I reached out to the youth Pastor at church and she contacted Allie and is taking her out to dinner tonight to chat. She also gave me a list of counselors that the church has used in the past. I called the school guidance counselor and made an appointment for Allie to sit down and talk to her about her anxiety about school, applying for colleges, Sat's and all the the things that she tells me are overwhelming her at school. I am hopeful that we will find the help she needs to feel better.

My grandsons 1st birthday party was on Sunday. He is just the cutest little kid. Always smiling and happy. The weather was great and everyone had a nice time. My daughter had the party at the campground where they were staying. The little kids all had fun playing in the water and at the playground.

Last night I went to my support group meeting at the weight center and I weighed 234 pounds. I was the same this morning on my home scale. I was glad to see that I had lost 3 pounds this week. I was sort of surprised because we have been eating more and more often with mother-in-law at the house. I feel like I need to be making a real dinner each night. When we don't have company I may cook once or twice a week and the other nights we have leftovers, sandwiches, or a salad. I don't eat that much and I'm not at all interested in cooking and cleaning up when I get home at 6:30 in the evening. I just want to relax.

Will write more later about youngest daughter and my efforts to find her a counselor, my mother-in-laws departure, and party plans for the weekend.

unofficial end of summer

It's Tuesday again. It is the unofficial beginning of fall and the school semester here at the college where I work. We are back on regular hours, 8:30 to 5; our summer hours are 8 to 4:30. It's nice getting out of work just a few minutes early to spend a few extra minutes in the good weather. Now that I am in the habit of coming in for 8:00am I will continue to do so for a while.

I keep one of those bag chairs in the back seat of my car. I haven't taken it our much this summer but today I decided to take it out and sit outside for my lunch break and read a little of my book. IT was wonderful and I hated coming back in to work. The sun felt like a warm blanket and I was so comfortable. I think I will do that again tomorrow if the weather permits. I usually have lunch at my desk while I continue to work. I think it will be good for me to get of my office for a bit of time each day.

I didn't lose much weight at all this week. I haven't' been eating bad or making poor choices the weight just isn't coming off. I have increased my walking to two times a day. I walk for about 45 minutes in the morning and then again after work I do the same. I still haven't started doing anything with weights, (other than buying some 3 and 5 pound dumbbells and carrying them home from the store). I don't think that counts.

This morning I weighed 237 pounds. Just one pound down from last week. Still beats the heck out of the 335 pounds I weighed about one year ago. I bought a pair of size 16 slacks and they fit. Most of the bands I have to buy size 18 still but I was pretty happy with the 16's.

My daughter made the Varsity Volleyball team at school and her first game is tomorrow afternoon. I am going to leave work a little early to go and watch the game. She seems to really like it; even though her forearms are all black and blue. I am looking forward to seeing them play. My granddaughter is going to come with me and then come home to spend the night. I will bring her home on my way to walk on Thursday morning and then her mom will take her to school.

My mother-in-law is still at our house and things are going okay. Last night her and my husband got into a disagreement and things were pretty intense. She decided to go out to her motor home to read and he went to bed at 8PM. I was so glad I rushed home from work to spend the evening with them, NOT.

Tonight I am not going to make that mistake again. I am going to walk for 45 minutes in the cemetery near my daughters house and then I am going to stop at the mall and pick up some protein supplements, after that I need to run to the grocery store to pick up a few things and then I will head home. All of those things I would have done last night had I known I was going to be sitting alone watching TV at 8pm.

I really don't like conflict at all. I go to extremes to avoid it. I gives me a stomach ache.

Thursday August 28, 2008

I have had a very busy week. The freshmen students arrived on campus yesterday and there was excitement in the air. I love this day on campus. My husband and his brother got the new floor down in the motor home for his mother and it looks great. I have been doing lots of extra walking but the weight is not coming off as easily anymore.

I forgot to post my weight on Tuesday, I weighed 238 lbs. Today is Thursday and I still weigh the same. That’s 79 lbs. down from the day of surgery and 97 down since Christmas.

Tonight I am going to the surgical support group at the weight center. I missed the group meeting last month because I was away on vacation. I am looking forward to going tonight.

This weekend is looking like good weather here in MA. We have a family gathering planned at out house on Sunday. Some of these people we haven’t seen in quite some time. It should be a good time. I have lots to do to get ready for company but I will have plenty of time on Saturday to do what needs to be done.

My mother in law is still visiting. She is very easy company and I am enjoying having her around. Tonight after my support group meeting I am going to meet her and my husband for dinner.

I better get to work…

August 21, 2008

Today is Thursday and I realized that I didn’t post my weight for the week on Tuesday as I usually do. On Tuesday I weighed 240 lbs. I’m still losing and it feels good.

My mother –in-law arrived this past weekend. We knew that she was going to be coming to Massachusetts, we just didn’t have any details about when, where she was staying, (she had invites from 2 or 3 of her children) or for how long. She lives full time in her motor home and spends a good part of each year driving around the country. Her home base is in Texas.

She left Texas in March and has spent time out in the western part of the country for most of the summer. On Friday night we got a call from her saying that she was in West Virginia and on her way to our house. She expected to arrive on Sunday and she did. She is very easy company to have, she brings her own house! She has dinner with us in the evenings and she is a lovely woman. I’m not sure how long she will be staying with us as she will want to go and stay at her other kids’ homes too. We live about 1 ½ hour drive from the rest of my husband’s siblings. I did hear her say that she was hoping to be back in Texas around Thanksgiving and she wants to stop at Myrtle Beach on the way home. I suppose she could be in the area for sometime.

I took the day off from work on Monday and I took her to the beach and to Foxwoods, we both had a good time and she came home with a little more money than she went with.

My grand daughter Madison came and spent the night last night so she could get a chance to see Bubba. We had a nice dinner and Bubba, Madison and my youngest daughter Allie spent some time in the hot tub before getting ready for bed. Allie and Madison were up and out before 6:30 and off to work/school.

Tonight we are going shopping for some laminate flooring for my mother-in-laws motor home. It’s time to take out the rug and replace it with something easier for her to clean. My husband and his brother are going to work on that Saturday. I am going to take mom out visiting for the day so the two of us are not in the way of the work.

The college where I work is coming back to life as more and more students arrive back on campus. All the freshman students will arrive next week and everyone else will be here next weekend. Everything seems so much more alive with the students here.

My youngest daughter starts her senior year of high school next week; this is hard for me to believe. Where has the time gone? It wasn’t all that long ago when I was sending her off to her first day of kindergarten. She will have a great year, she is involved in Volleyball, basketball and track, lots of other school activities and she has some good classes this year. Still no plans on where she will go to college next year but we will start talking about that soon.

Hours away from the weekend

The work week is almost over! Thank Goodness. I am very much looking forward to the weekend. I am even going to take Monday off and make it a long weekend. My mom called and asked if I would like to join her and my sister for a day at the beach. I might change my mind if the weather doesn’t look great for the day but right at the moment the extended forecast looks great!

After work tonight I need to go home and clean up the house a bit, I have company coming for the afternoon tomorrow. A lifelong friend of mine is coming to visit for the afternoon with her husband. I haven’t seen her in over a year and she has never seen our new home. I want it to be neat and clean. I think the biggest challenge in getting things neatened up is my bedroom. I have soooo many clothes. Most of them no longer fit and I need to spend some time trying things on and bagging up what is too big. Then I have a couple of bathrooms to clean, floors to sweep and some food preparation to do. I will save the outside stuff for tomorrow morning.

On Sunday is my nieces 17th birthday. I am going to my mother’s for cake and ice cream on Sunday afternoon for a little while. My husband is going to stay home and do some carpentry work. He took the stairs off one side of our deck. They were very narrow and dangerous steps. He bought all the lumber to make new stairs and then it started raining, it’s been raining since. The weekend weather looks good so maybe he will be able to get out there and work on his projects.

Last week my oldest daughter told me to keep my eyes open for yard sales with children’s clothes. Both kids are in need of fall clothing and she doesn’t have a lot of money to spend. I had to leave work early yesterday for an appointment so I stopped at the Salvation Army thrift store to see what they might have. I found some nice things for both kids. Then I stopped at the Children’s consignment store that I drive by every day, what a place! It was neat and clean, all of the clothes were on racks by size, and everything was clean and in most cases ironed. The prices were about the same as the Salvation Army store. I was able to buy lots of stuff with not a lot of money. I’m sure I will be back there again soon.

My youngest daughter comes home from camp tomorrow. I talked to her on Wednesday and she wasn’t having the best time. I was very surprised! In past years she didn’t want to come home, I would find her and all her friends at the dock hugging and crying because the week was over. This year they had new counselors and lots of changes. She says she probably won’t go back next year. It cost about $650 for the week. For that kind of money you should have a good time.

I work at a college and we are very busy getting ready for the students coming back to campus. Believe it or not some are actually moving in today. School doesn’t start until September 1st and the bulk of the kids move in at the end of the month. We are almost ready for them. I love it when they all come back. It feels like the campus comes back to life after being dormant for the summer. I’m not in any hurry to say good-bye to summer but I’m sure the fall will be good too.

Have a good weekend everyone~

August 12, 2008

I can't believe it is the middle of August already. I really feel like I have been cheated out of my summer this year. The weather has been cool and rainy. We haven't had any good heat waves or even great beach days for that matter. The weekends have been especially bad. Hopefully things will improve and we will have good weather at the end of summer and early fall.

It is pretty quiet at my house this week, my son moved out and my daughter is away at camp.

After we got home from vacation my son told us that he was going to move out, he has moved in with my niece, her roommate just moved out and she doesn't like living alone. He has agreed to pay 1/2 the rent. I'm not sure how he can afford it but I think that it's a good thing. Maybe this experience will help him grow up a bit.

My daughter is out on an island off the coast of Maine, it's a religious retreat center.

I am very envious of her. I went to this camp when I was in high school and college, I loved it there. I'm sure she is having a great time.

We had a pretty busy weekend and we had lots of fun. Saturday morning we took a ride out to the campground where our daughter and son-in-law have their new (well, new to them) trailer. What a nice place! They have a great site right next to the playground so they can sit at their own picnic table and watch Madison while she plays. There is a nice lake and good fishing. We brought out our canoe for them to keep there and use for fishing. At 2pm we went to a surprise 70th birthday party for a family friend. It was much more fun that I expected and we stayed there until almost 7pm. As we were driving away from the party My husband said "I think would should take a ride down to Foxwoods (the big casino in CT). So we did. We didn't win any money, as a matter of fact I think we made a pretty good sized donation. We got home about 3am on Sunday morning and we actually watched the Olympics for a little while before going to bed.

Have you been watching the Olympics? We spend some time each evening sitting and watching. Last night we watch the women's volleyball and some of the swimming. Those athletes are amazing!

It's been 17 weeks since my gastric-by-pass surgery. This morning I weighed 243. That's 3 lbs down from last week and 74 since surgery. I am now walking two times a day. I stop at the mall and walk a couple of miles before work and if it's not raining I stop at the outdoor track on the way home and do another mile or two before I drive home. I found my small hand weights and will start working with them sometime this week. I am determined to get under 200 pounds before Christmas. Then I want to stay under 200 for the long haul.

I'll be back to check in again soon. Have a great week!

Trying to Climb Back up on the Ball

I am back from vacation and trying to climb back up on top of the ball at work. It is not an easy task considering that no one did any of my work while I was away. Lots to do to catch up. At home it’s the same thing, I’m trying to get the laundry done and the trailer unpacked. Tonight I need to stop at the grocery store and re-stock the cupboards.

I was happily surprised to come home to a clean house and a mowed lawn. My son kept the place in good condition. However he didn’t find a job. So now I am on his case to find work and SOON. My husband and I pay his car insurance so we decided that from now until he gets a job he can only use the car from 6am to 6pm to look for work. The car must be parked in the driveway by 6pm for the night. He is not at all happy about this. We are about to see just how painful things have to be for him before he does what he is supposed to. He told us last night that he is moving out very soon. My niece lives in the city with her 5 year old son. She doesn’t like living alone and she could use the help with paying the rent. So all he has to do is get a job and she told him he can come there. I can’t wait. I really think that this is the only way he is going to grow up and learn to take care of himself. He has no idea how good he has it living with us, but he is about to find about.

We had a good time on vacation, it rained most of the first week but we made the most of it. My kids and grandkids were with us for that week. The second week we had lots of sun but not much heat. I walked a lot and picked gallons of blueberries along the road. Spent lots of time on the beach and in the water and in the evenings we played cards or sat by a fire. It was a good camping vacation. The picture is my two daughters and my granddaughter at Storyland in Conway, NH on a very rainy day.

The biggest excitement of the trip besides LOTS of rain was the pumpkin crash. Yes, you read that right. There is a giant pumpkin that you ride in up a hill to Cinderella’s castle. For some unknown reason the driver of the pumpkin drove right off the road into a ditch and the trees. We were asked to get out of the pumpkin and walk the rest of the way up to the castle where we would be interviewed about the crash. At this point we are all getting pretty silly and my two daughters were taking pictures of the pumpkin in the trees. The Storyland staff didn’t like the fact that they were taking pictures and they moved us quickly up
the hill. I will post a few pictures once I get them from one of the kids. I thought for sure they would offer us a free ticket to come back another day or at least a few food coupons but they just wanted our names for insurance purposes and were in a big hurry to get rid of us.

This picture is my mom, both daughters and my granddaughter.

I am glad to be back home and I am getting back into the swing of things at work. I thought for sure I would have gained weight on vacation because I didn’t make good choices a lot of the time. However, I think all the walking I did paid off. I actually lost weight on vacation. I am down to 246 lbs. that’s 71 lbs. since April 15th. My next goal is to start working with some weights and doing some toning. It’s time for that.

July 17th, 2008

I am leaving for vacation tomorrow. I'm nervous about leaving son home alone and I hope he doesn't have any big parties while we are gone. I won't have a chance to post agin until we return in august, but when I do I will give you the details of my vacation and post lots of pictures.

ENJOY!

Bird Watching

Alright... First of all I have no business goofing around on my computer this morning. I have a ton of work to do so I can leave for my vacation. However, last night I kept waking up and thinking about the work I had to do and I was packing in my head.... lol. I got little sleep and I should have got up and starting packing but I didn't want to wake my husband so I didn't.
Then I started thinking about all of the birds we have been seeing lately at our feeders in the back yard. I hope my son remembers to fill the feeders while we are gone. I decided to post some puictures of the birds we see daily in our own back yard. They usually come about the same time every day. I LOVE watching the birds.

There are still some I haven't been able to identify yet but I will keep working on it.

My husband and I are thinking about making bird houses, roosting boxes and bird feeders in the fall and selling them on line and at fairs and flea markets.

Tuesday July 15th

Three months ago today I had my gastric bypass surgery. The day of surgery I weighed 317 lbs. Today I weigh 252 lbs. Thats 65 pounds in 3 months. I feel great! I have so much energy and I'm not being so much a "wall flower". Before I did every thing I could to NOT BE NOTICED. Today I am much more comfortable with myself. I still have a long way to go before I reach goal but I feel better and better everyday.

I only lost 1 pound this week but it's better than nothing. I am wicked busy at work trying to get things finished up before I leave for vacation on Friday. I will try and post one more time before I leave for Maine. Lots of packing to get done t his week!

It’s a beautiful day here in Massachusetts!

We had a great weekend with friends and family all camping in our yard. The weather this past weekend was less than desirable but we still managed to have a good time. We played lots of cards and backgammon. Watched some really old family movies (8mm) and read. We did some get pool and hot time in when the rain stopped and Sunday actually turned out to be pretty nice.

Work is busy this week and I expect next week too. I have a big project that I have to finish before I can go on vacation next Friday. Right at the moment I am not working on my project because I have to wait for the registrar and the housing people to finish their part. I hate waiting on other people to be able to do my job.

Next week we will be heading up to Maine to stay at a campground on Sebago Lake for two weeks. When I was 7 my parents bought a summer house very close to the lake and the street we lived on had its own private beach. I spent summers there for about 30 years. We would pack up and move up there the day after school got out and come back just before school started. My dad came home to work each week and came up on the weekends. Many of the houses on the street were rentals and after a time we got to know the families that came each summer for the same weeks. I remember a family with 11 children from Larchmont, NY, they would rent two cottages and the older kids would stay in one and the younger kids stayed with their parents in the other. We had a lot of fun with them. They came every year for the same two weeks in July. There were many others and I still keep in touch with them today. After I had children of my own I continued the tradition until I had to work full time after my divorce.

My parents sold the house about 9 years ago and bought a motor home to do some traveling. They have traveled all over the country and now they spend winters in Florida and summers here in Massachusetts. For the past 5 or 6 years we have been camping at a campground about 1/8 of a mile from our old summer home, we get to see lots of old friends every summer and I really love the lake. This is the first summer that we didn’t rent a site for the entire summer. Last year we spent our two weeks vacation there and then went every weekend. This year we have a new home and we love being home. Also the price of gas makes it cost prohibitive to drive 300+ miles every weekend. Writing about that made me feel good; I really did have a blessed childhood.

I have been stressing lately about my 19 year old son. He really is on my very last nerve. I need to add some history here. When he was 5 he was diagnosed with ADD (not ADHD). He was not at all hyperactive, as a matter of fact he was pretty much a very quite kid that got little attention in school because he was a wall flower. When he was 8 his father and I got divorced and a year later his dad moved from MA to South Carolina and remarried a woman with 4 children. He only saw his dad once or twice a year for a few years, him and his sister would go for 6 weeks every summer and he would come up once a year to visit with them here sometime around Thanksgiving. I remarried when Nick was 12 to a man with no children, he took on the responsibility of being the “dad” figure and he did the “dad” things. He loves all 3 of my kids like they were his own. When “Nick” was 15 his dad was diagnosed with brain cancer and he died just a few months later. My husband and I took the kids down to visit several times to visit during those months. My current husband helped to care for my dying ex-husband. I think that speaks to the kind of man that I married. I have to say that I choose well both times I married. My first husband was a good man but circumstances and life caused us to need to go in another direction. I was very sad when he passed.

So back to “Nick” he is a lazy, angry, unemployed 19 year old who sleeps all day while we are at work and hangs out with his friends and girlfriend until all hours of the night. He rarely asks for money because it seems that his girlfriend is taking care of that. I’ve met her and she seems like a nice girl and she is going to one of the area colleges that you have to be very smart to get into, however I question her judgment as far as “Nick” is concerned.

Getting him to do anything around the house (mowing the lawn, trash, weeding, keeping his room clean…) always involves a fight. I have to ask several times and then yell and scream at him to get anything done. My husband is past being patient with him. “Nick” uses tools and doesn’t replace them, he leaves trash out where he parks his car, he doesn’t pick up after himself and does a lousy job at anything we ask him to do.

Every time my husband goes to get a tool or whatever… he can’t find it.

It seems that all I do these days is fight with “Nick” or fight with my husband about “Nick”. I’m tired. He really needs to find someplace else to live so I can have some peace. However, with no job and no money I can’t just toss him out on the street. Yesterday I told him that he should go and see the Navy recruiter. He is supposed to hear something about a job he applied for today. If he gets it I am going to tell him that he needs to find a friend to share a place with or something. When I get back from vacation I am planning to tell him that he can’t be at the house during the day while we are at work. He shouldn’t be allowed to sleep all day and party all night while we work to provide the roof over his head.

Sorry about the complaining but I needed to do that.

July 8th weight

Weigh in for the week. 253 lbs. that's a total of 64 since surgery in April - 12 weeks ago.

Happy 4th of July!

Enjoy the holiday and be safe everyone.

Time for a picture

BEFORE & TODAY

July already?

I can hardly believe its July already. I love this warm sunny summer weather. Today is a perfect day and I have been making excuses to get out of the building where I work all morning.

This past weekend was very good. I went to the beach on Friday with my mother, sister and a good friend. It was not a very good beach day. It was cloudy and it even rained on us a bit. We sat in our chairs and continued to read and chat despite the bad weather. We did a little shopping after our time on the beach and then went out for dinner. I didn’t order anything; I just had a bit of what each of them had ordered. We had a nice time. Saturday I did things around the house and enjoyed my day at home. Sunday my mom had cake (sugar free) for me for my birthday. All in all it was a wonderful weekend.

Last night I went to my Monday night Weight loss support group at the hospital. It was a bigger group than usual. There are two groups that meet on alternating Mondays and because of vacation schedules and such we have two combined groups meetings. I really didn’t have much to add to the group this week. There was a lot of talk about how people treat you differently after you loose weight and some people were feeling excluded by their friends and family. They were not being invited to places where there might be food or not invited to go for a bike ride if the others were going to be stopping for ice cream. I haven’t experienced that at this point so I didn’t have much to offer. All I could say is that you need to be honest with people when you are feeling left out and hurt. They need to know that we are okay going for a bike ride and not eating the ice cream. I suppose they are just trying to be helpful and not sabotage our weight loss by putting the ice cream in front of us.

This week is already going by quickly and with the holiday on Friday it will be a nice short week. I have a fun weekend ahead. We are campers and we have lots of friends who camp with us. We all have trailers, from pop-ups to big 5th wheel trailers. Rather than go away and pay campground fees and gas prices we have invited our friends to come and camp at our house in our yard. We have water and electric for their hook ups but we do not have waste dumping. Our yard is plenty big enough for the trailers and tents that are coming and we have a nice place for a campfire in the evenings. We have a pool and a hot tub, a volleyball net has been set up and the horseshoes are all set too. We live about ¼ of a mile from the town beach at a small lake. We have a couple of kayaks and a canoe that we can take to the beach if anyone wants to do the boat thing. We have planned our menu and everyone is bringing food and drinks. I am really looking forward to camping at home this weekend.

This is our first summer in our new home and I feel like I am on vacation all the time when I am there. There is little need to go away; we have it all in our own back yard. It’s just much more fun when you can share it with friends.

I did not lose any weight this week. This is the first week with no loss at all. I am still 258 lbs. I know what the problem is, Doritos. It’s kind of funny that I have a hard time eating the things I should like chicken, turkey… and tuna, but I have no problem at all with crunchy things like Doritos. Next week will be better. I would love to be under 250 before I go on vacation at the end of July.

Happy Fourth of July!

busy, tired and sore

I had such a busy weekend. I was just telling a friend of mine that I need a month of Saturday’s to get all of the projects done at the house and a month of Sunday’s to catch up on sleep.

This past weekend my husband went to Maine to do some work on our property there. It’s an old hunting cabin in the middle of nowhere Maine that we never have time to go to. Once or twice a year he takes the 6 hour drive and mows the lawn, makes sure that no one has broken in and frightens the mice that have taken up residence. We often talk about selling it but with the housing market the way it is; now is not the time.

While he was gone I decided to paint the room that he put the floor in a few weeks ago. Now some people would have jut bought the paint for the walls and got started. Not me, my parents both did painting and wallpapering as part time work while I was growing up. My mother even taught wallpapering at the local high school night classes offered to people in the city. I learned from her that you do NOT pain the walls without first painting the ceiling and the wood work. What a job. The house that we live in we bought last September and it’s fairly new, only about 5 years old. The room that I wanted to paint has never been painted beyond the construction coat of primer. The ceiling sucked up a whole gallon of paint and I was worried that I would run out before I finished. Luckily I didn’t. Wood work went smoothly although it probably could have used another coat of paint but I did run out of that paint. The only person that will notice will be my mother. I painted the room a light brown color; it took three coats of paint. The walls just sucked up the paint. I think it might have been a combination of cheap paint and lightly primed walls. I was able to get all but the third coat of wall paint done on my day off Friday. Saturday I put on the third coat of wall paint, touched up some trim that I got wall pain on and quit for the day about noon. I sat on my deck and spent time going between the pool and the hot tub most of the afternoon. It was nice having the place to myself with no teenagers hanging around.

My husband returned home at 7pm on Saturday night. Sunday I went to church with my daughter, after the service there was a church meeting to vote on a new youth pastor that the search committee was recommending. The vote was unanimous and we now FINALLY have an Associate Pastor for Youth and Christian Education. We needed her badly! I have included a picture of our two Ministers.


After the church meeting my husband and I had to take a ride to Rhode Island to pick up our camping trailer. A few weeks ago in a wind storm the awning was broken and we had to get it replaced. It was a big expense that we were not counting on. Yuck. When we got home we decided that the trailer really looked neglected so we got out the long handled scrub brushes, soapy water and the hose and gave it a bath. It took forever and my arms were screaming in pain after all the painting I did. I may never be able to lift my arms above my head again. The trailer looks brand new. The inside is nice and clean and ready for our two week vacation at the lake in July.

Monday night after work my husband helped me put up the border I bought for the room I painted and then he went off to balance the checkbook and pay some bills. I pulled up all the drop cloths and started putting the room back together. I had my daughter and her two friends help me move some furniture and hang things back on the walls. We call it the “Safari Room” as it is decorated with lots of African animals and other such themed items. See more pictures.

Tonight I must catch up on some laundry and ironing that really needs to get done. I’m sure that there are other cleaning projects that must be accomplished too before I get to bed.

I have some vacation time that I must use before the end of this month so I am taking tomorrow and Friday off from work. Tomorrow I must go and get my driver’s license renewed in the morning and then I will spend the rest of the day weeding. It has gotten way ahead of me and it’s going to be a big job. My sister has graciously offered to come and weed with me. I will work all day on Thursday and then go to my monthly support group meeting at the weight center in the evening. Friday is my birthday; I am going to spend the day at a lovely beach in Rhode Island with my mother, my sister and a very good friend. I am hoping for good weather although it always rains on my birthday.

Now for my weigh in for this week, I was very pleased with the scale this week. Today I weigh 258 pounds. That’s 9 pounds down from last week. Painting must be good for me! One of my goals was to be at 260 before my birthday and I did it!!!!!! A total of 59 pounds since April 15th.

I am busy, I am tired, I am losing weight and I feel GREAT!

50 pounds down at 2 months!

Today I hit the 50 pound loss since surgery. I am very pleased. Last night I went to a new support group at the weight center where I had the surgery. We will meet every other week for an hour. I really enjoyed the first meeting. I recognized several of the people from the monthly support group meeting and everyone was very friendly. There were about 12 of us in the group, some who had surgery as long as 3 years ago to me who was only two months out. I look forward to getting to know these people over the next few months.

This past weekend was a very busy one. On Friday night there was a program at my granddaughter’s school, cute, funny and chaotic! Saturday I went to her dance recital, she was so cute. I will have pictures to post soon. Saturday night I went to a ball game with many people from church. I had a real nice time visiting with everyone.

Almost everyone there knows I had the surgery but they don’t harp on it. They don’t act like the food police, (can you eat that?) (Is that all your going to eat?) which is a good thing. It might sound funny but I want people to stop complimenting me on the weight loss. The people from church don’t seem to notice it so much. I think because they know me and my weight has never been a big issue for them. I’m still the same me. I just wanted to say that I like being with that group of people because I am comfortable there.

One of the things we talked about at the support group last night was how our surgery has affected different areas of our lives. I was very concerned that it would have a negative impact on my relationship with my husband. We are both very busy people and one of the things we enjoyed doing together was going out to eat. It was in fact one of the only things we did together.

Our relationship has changed since I had the surgery two months ago. It’s better. I have so much more energy that I am out helping with the yard work more often, we go for walks, this past weekend we painted trim for our den and I sanded and stained wood on our boat. It looks so much better now. On Sunday afternoon my husband told me that he just LOVES the “new” me. He commented on my energy, my mood and told me that I seemed much happier. I am!

It seems that last week I didn’t post my weight on Tuesday. I was 270. I only lost one pound the week before. This week I am 267 and that makes it 50 pounds since surgery and 68 pounds since Christmas. I had to go out this past weekend and buy some pants. I am down three pants sizes.

Summer time heat

Summer is here in Massachusetts. We have very hot and humid weather all weekend with thunder and lightning each evening. Today is Monday and it’s about 95 and very humid. I am at work in my office with the AC on and it’s very comfortable.

I am worried about my dogs though. They are at home alone and I bet it’s warm in the house by now. It was pretty cool this morning so I left the windows, doors and shade closed. I left a fan blowing for them. They both need haircuts real bad and their appointment isn’t until Saturday. They will be glad when I get home and turn the AC on for them.

I ate my lunch to fast today and it’s sitting right in my throat. It hurts and I wish I could just throw it up but it doesn’t seem to want to come back up. So I am going to feel icky for a while.

We had the best weekend. My children all have June birthdays. On Sunday we had family and friends over to have lunch and Ice Cream cake to celebrate the birthdays. It was very hot and everyone spent lots of time in the pool.

On Friday night my husband and I decided it was time to replace a wall to wall carpet in our den. The previous owners had a dog that peed in that room and our dogs were following suit. We always put a pad down on the floor in case they had to go but they are not very accurate. The room was beginning to smell and the humidity made it worse. My daughter and I have very sensitive noses and it has bothered us for a long time but on Friday my husband could finally smell it!!! So the decision was made. It was time to buy laminate flooring. WOO HOO! I was excited. We picked out a nice laminate that looks like wood; it’s kind of a rustic looking dark wood.

My husband started working on it Saturday morning. He had the rug pulled up and taken to the dump before breakfast. He worked all day in the heat and had the floor all installed by dinner time. We went out Saturday night to buy the trim for around the edges and some doorway thresholds (transitions). We could not find a good color match so we are going to stain them tonight and hopefully have the project completed later this week. It’s so humid that it’s going to take a while for the stain to dry completely.

The rest of the week looks like great weather. Over 90 again tomorrow and less humid and warm for the rest of the week. Next weekend is another busy one. My granddaughter has a program at school on Friday night and then a dance recital on Saturday afternoon. Saturday night we have tickets for a baseball game, we are going with about 100 people from church. It should be a fun night out.

My dad is having his knee replaced tomorrow and is home waiting for a call from the hospital to tell him what time to arrive. He is nervous and excited about this surgery. I hope it gives him the relief he is looking for. He is 73 and still works. From October to April both he and my mom work at a campground in Florida and they LOVE it. During the summer months my mom works for a college here in Massachusetts part time and this summer my dad isn’t working. My parents are very active people and I have a hard time keeping up with them, even my dad with a bad knee. Once he is up and around again there will be no stopping him.

The weight doesn’t seem to be coming off this week and I don’t really know why. I am not eating anything I shouldn’t and I am walking a couple miles a day. I feel great and I have lots of energy so I’m just going to accept that some weeks the weight comes off and others it doesn’t. I’ll post my weight loss for the week tomorrow.