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.

We made it!

We made it through the weekend with no problems. They were fun to have over and easy to take care of. The baby is sooo easy.

Today is Tuesday again and this mornings weight was.... 271 lbs. That's 46 pounds since surgery just 7 weeks ago! I feel good and I have lots of energy. I don't have much time to writing now but I will post again soon.