I'm gettin' my figure back!!

And...that's good... and bad!

Since becoming "Skeletor," (bottoming out) I've gained back about 15 lbs.

That's good news...and bad news.

I've got a little bit of boobage back, which is good news, because "the pancakes" were pathetic. But... I've also got a little bit of my saddlebags back, which is bad news. I don't particularly like that (but the proper fashion can camouflage most of it).

I had gotten down to a size 10, sometimes even a size 8, depending on the maker of the clothes I guess. But I was skeletal. Although the "charts" told me I was still (barely) considered overweight, I was skeletal! Briana kept telling me to "go eat a hamburger!"

So, I have been.

And I pretty much like where I'm at now, a solid size 12. But now I see my old figure, with the saddlebags reappearing on my thighs (ugh). And sometimes I feel fat!! I have a little fat roll on my stomach/waist too (like an inch maybe?). And it makes me think that it's hard to remember (really??) what it was like to be +100 lbs. from here.

Wow. Did I really forget?? Really? I often feel uncomfortable in the clothes I wear that don't fit well, and think about how I used to be uncomfortable ALL the time, but still, I can barely remember being that big.

The weird part is/was outgrowing my clothes...again! I had to give away the size 10s to Goodwill, cause I'm like 99.9% sure I'll never be in them again. And that meant I needed to shop some more (ha ha...like I've ever stopped).

I really should start exercising and toning a bit, and yeah, I guess last week I did sign up for a yoga class, but that won't do it. I should start walking on the dreaded treadmill or I wish I could ride bike right now. Someday I'd still like to do the MS150 bike ride, but that would require a time commitment to train a bit first.

I could always stop my Caribou and/or evening wine habit too, that might help calorie-wise.

I don't know.

I'm not really concerned right now, I just need to keep aware and not let things get out of control.

That would be horrible.

Wow. Truly horrible.

Not a whole lot new

here in Never-Never Land.

I think, when we came home from vacation, that I saw in the mail an envelope from my gastric doctor, probably about my TWO YEAR checkup. But I musta thrown it out or something, cause I haven't seen it since getting home! And if I remember correctly, it was a sorta thick envelope. Oh well, if it's important they'll contact me again, right?! Although I really should schedule my checkup...

Wow, has it really been two years already?!! Yes, it has. August 6 will be my 2-year-surgiversary.

It has been quite a ride, one I'm so glad I jumped on!

So, maybe I should list the good and bad so far. Ok....

Bad parts of surgery/life after:

I don't do hamburgers anymore. They're just too dense for me and make me not feel good. When I make hamburgers at home for everyeone else I just eat something else. It's all good.

I don't do milk anymore. Or ice cream. Or yogurt. ONCE in a while I miss them, but not often. It's weird, I can have some granola cereal with half-and-half, but not milk. And I can eat some ice cream, but not just any old ice cream, and certainly not Haagen-Dazs. DQ small vanilla cone works for me, but my ice cream addiction has been cured, I rarely even think about it anymore. I get my calcium from supplements now, although I should be better at taking them (I'm better at that during the school year).

Ok, this could be good or bad: I usually have to stop eating WAY before I want to! Duh, that's how I ended up needing gastric to begin with, so that should probably go in the "good" file!

I don't like showing my arms in short sleeves, but I still wear them anyway. What the heck, it's not the end of the world if I have ugly arms in public...I've seen worse!! Much worse. Today I saw...oh geez, never mind what I saw. It wasn't good. Made me cringe and feel really bad for that person.

Right now that's all the bad stuff I can think of!

Good partsof surgery/life after:

A buzz is easy to get, I'm a cheap date!! LOL. A little bit of wine is all I need! And a Lemon Drop...oh my!

I have, according to Sanchez, "the world's biggest closet!" And I love it! It's been a lot of fun trying new styles and seeing what I like and don't like, instead of just wearing what will cover my fat body (and usually not very stylishly).

I can shop pretty much anywhere, and can find clothes very cheaply on clearance. LoVe it!

I've realized recently that I've become VERY comfortable wearing shorts. I don't even think twice before putting them on and walking out the door, yep, in public! It's so weird. Ok, so they're still down to my knees, but hey, they're shorts! And shorter than capris.

I am rarely hot, even in the summer. My "natural" insulation is gone. And since I prefer to be cold rather than hot, it's fantastic. I could almost live without the air conditioner. 70 degrees is fairly cool to me.

My feet don't hurt at all anymore. I can wear cheap sandals and be comfortable walking all day. That's a relief (literally!). That was such a battle before, my feet used to hurt constantly.

Since having vein surgery my legs don't look so bad anymore either. Hence, that's probably why I wear shorts. duh.

Oh, oh, oh....(jumping up and down cause I just remembered this one!)...on the Damtrak trip I fit SO very comfortably into the seat! At least width-wise...my butt did hurt quite a bit after sitting in the seat for just a bit (that should go on the "bad" list), and sleeping was still a pain, but I could crunch up in a seat made for two. But I can fit anywhere comfortably now...sitting in a restaurant booth with legs crossed, crouching down to pick up something from the ground, etc. Fab-U-lous!

I swear that often times men treat me differently now than they did when I was fat. They're nicer. They talk to me longer. They look me in the eye. They actually flirt a little!! It's kinda fun. I like it.

Right now that's all I can think of...I'm gettin' tired and such, so I'm gonna end this. I may come back and edit in a day ot two if I think of anything else.

I am not a candidate....

for president!

LOL, I mean... "for lasik eye surgery."

Dang!

I went to Joffe MediCenter today for their free consultation on lasik surgery, hoping to get it done around mid-August, after the wedding in case they screwed up and blinded me at least I'd get to see one kid get married, (Bri had to schedule her surgery like 4 weeks out). While I was talking to the first guy doing the testing, he asked me how soon I wanted to have it done. I said "mid-August, why?" He said "well, the soonest we could do it is....today or tomorrow!" Ha. Must be a slow time right now.

Anyway, after he did all the testing, he told me to go talk w/the doctor before viewing their video, because he was seeing some results that were "quite large." LOL, ok, at least I know he's not lookin' at my ass to get that measurement any more!

So the doc comes in (NOT Dr. Whiting, the doc on the commercials - it was an associate) and explains to me that on one eye the cornea is larger on the bottom, and although they could do lasik, he does not recommend it because it would put me at a higher risk for a more serious problem down the road, like my cornea becoming too thin and having no vision! He said, "if it were my family member, I'd tell them NOT to do it!"

Ok then. I thanked him for being honest, and was actually surprised by the honesty! It wasn't a crushing blow, actually when the first guy was doing the testing he said "you know, you'll need reading glasses after lasik anyway" and I though to myself "hmm, so I'd really be trading one problem for another...is this worth it?"

So by then my eyeballs were widely dialated, thank you very much, but I drove anyway, just took the side streets through the cities until I felt comfortable getting back on the freeway. I had taken my old Nikon cameras along cause I've been wanting to stop at National Camera Exchange and sell/trade 'em in on a new digital SLR version, so that was my plan. I decided to stop at Trader Joe's first, picked up a few things but nothing refrigerated cause it was dang hot out (darn). Then stopped at NCE and sold one camera (other had problems according to them, whatever) and got myself a new super cool camera. Yay!

Stopped at Panera Bread for lunch, and was thinking "hmm, the Queen and I should go to Panera and SHARE the You-Pick-Two, and we could each get like 1/2 a sandwich or salad or s0up and that would be enough." I got the strawberry/chicken/poppyseed salad and some sandwich, ate the chicken and fruit out of the salad and part of the sandwich. Such a waste, but that's the way it goes.

Stopped at Walmart for a very short list of things and came home. Doug and Dave are almost finished with screening in the back deck, it's gorgeous. They do good work. : )

So now it's 8:00, having a little blog juice and relaxing. I wish we woulda turned on the AC today though, cause it's dang HOT.

Summer....love/hate it.

She's got legggggggggs.....

.

and she knows how to use them! (c'mon....sing along!)

Yeah, right. Anywhoo....I went back to the vein doc last week for my 1-month checkup, since I had the rest of my veins ripped out/closed March 10th. That day wasn't too awful bad, it hurt some, but only took about 45 minutes of pain. It was more "painful" to wear those darn compression stockings for 2 weeks (I cheated by a day or two....rulebreaker me!).

So I'm done!! Doc said I still have a few "issues" with some veins, but that he wouldn't necessarily recommend doing anything else right now, and everything they closed, stayed closed.

So, that means this summer I might wear shorts, or at least Bermuda shorts (to my knees).

But wait....just what do beautiful legs look like now, you may ask?? I did take some "before photos", I'll try to find them, but here's a good "after" shot...

Aww, Geez.....guess it's time for a pedicure!

Feeding the Addictions

Had the day off work (short spring break), so what did I do???

Went shopping of course! : )

Had a wandering day planned with Carol. First we went to tour Regency Beauty Academy with Taylor, cause she's interested in that. It was fun, and I think it'll be a good fit for her if that's what she decides to do.

Then we had lunch at Mongo's...yum. I've learned to put a LOT of spice sauces on my stuff, otherwise it's sorta boring. I loved my lunch, it was great.

Then, we started our shopping at Clothes Mentor, a resale shop for "better" women's clothing. Carol tried on (with my urging) and actually bought several things that she said she normally would have just bypassed on the racks as not her style. Yay, I got her to think outside her "box" and such!! Carol, I'm proud of you, isn't it fun trying something new, and liking it?? : )

I found nothing there, which is unusual. I did try on a few things, and liked a few, but for one reason or anothe they just didn't work (cut too low, too small, etc.).

So, then we went to the mall. As usual, the mall has amazing deals. I got a few sweaters, some brown pants, black jeans, oh....and more hair product, cause since I've found what works on my hair, I want to make sure I don't run out. And Carol found more things she normally wouldn't have tried on. We had a great day.

Then...we ran out of steam. We both pooped out and were ready to come home.

So I have my bags in the bedroom, sorta hiding, waiting for Doug to not be around so I can unload them. : )

I can't wait to wear my new clothes next week.

Dang...I forgot to get false eyelashes!! hee hee

Ouchity Ouch Ouch!!

Had the rest of my veins ripped out today. Ah, fun. Not.

I don't remember it hurting afterward this much last time. Maybe it did, but I don't think so. We stopped for lunch afterward, and I could hardly stay awake to eat. I'm sure I fell asleep the instant I buckled into the car. Came home and took a 3-hr nap (with the help of some vicoden).

Been up for 2 1/2 hours now, about ready to go back to bed again. Ahhhh.....sleep. Hopefully when I get up in the morning the pain will be gone. Yeah, right!

But I'm done!! And that's a relief. Now I just need to work on doing some toning, and my legs will be beautiful.

Just beautiful!! : )

Tattooed woman!

Hee hee...yep, that's me...a tattooed woman! Bri suggested last fall that we get seashells tattooed on our feet in memory of our vacation together at the ocean. Ok, cool. So a few weeks ago we went to Voodoo Tattoo in Big Lake for suggestions. I'm pretty sure he thought he'd never see us again. Wrongo man (aren't they usually?!)! We kicked around ideas and Bri made us appointments for yesterday at 5:00. We took these sketches in for ideas cause we weren't 100% sure what to get:

We decided on the sand dollar because of it's meaning:

Legend of the Sand Dollar

THERE'S A PRETTY LITTLE LEGEND
THAT I WOULD LIKE TO TELL
OF THE BIRTH AND DEATH OF JESUS
FOUND IN THIS LOWLY SHELL

IF YOU EXAMINE CLOSELY
YOU'LL SEE THAT YOU FIND HERE
FOUR NAIL HOLES AND A FIFTH ONE
MADE BY A ROMAN'S SPEAR

ON ONE SIDE THE EASTER LILY
ITS CENTER IS THE STAR
THAT APPEARED UNTO THE SHEPHERDS
AND LED THEM FROM AFAR

THE CHRISTMAS POINSETTIA
ETCHED ON THE OTHER SIDE
REMINDS US OF HIS BIRTHDAY
OUR HAPPY CHRISTMASTIDE

NOW BREAK THE CENTER OPEN
AND HERE YOU WILL RELEASE
THE FIVE WHITE DOVES AWAITING
TO SPREAD GOOD WILL AND PEACE

THIS SIMPLE LITTLE SYMBOL
CHRIST LEFT FOR YOU AND ME
TO HELP US SPREAD HIS GOSPEL
THROUGH ALL ETERNITY

They drew up a design for us that we both liked, and went to work! Actually, they were running late, and there was a girl there getting a huge tattoo on her side, bawling her eyes out and sobbing. Alrighty then...just what a tattoo virgin (me!) wants to hear before her first tattoo!

Ok, my turn, I decided to go first! One last look at "untouched" feet!

She put the stencil on so I could see what it would look like

(I always thought they just did it freehand!)

Tools of torture!

Let's get this party started!

The first "bite!" Ouch. Actually it felt more like a burn with a bunch of pinpricks. There were a few times I hurt more than a little bit, I'll be honest!

All done! I like it!

Bri's turn...

Aww...matching momzie and daughter tattoos! : )

Now we need to go to the ocean again. : )

It's all good

So, how have I been spending the first week of 2010? Sitting on my rear in front of the tv mostly. Ugh. I'm sick of it.

I had the gallbladder surgery on Monday. What should have taken an hour and a half took them four and a half hours! I think Doug was getting pretty worried, he said even moreso when it was over and the dr. called him back into his consult room and Doug said there were couches and boxes of tissues all over! Wow, that woulda scared me!

Turns out I had some kind of extra blood supply vein to my gallbladder, and they had to follow it to see where it was coming from and how to deal with it. Then I guess my gallbladder was 1/4-inch thick when it's usually very thin, and they had to cut it out in pieces and be very careful.

I'm so thankful I went with Dr. Johnson and not the first guy I saw. The people at Unity Hospital in Coon Rapids are awesome. They treat you mighty fine! : ) They did send me out the door though around 6pm, and I was still very unsteady on my feet and slept the whole way home and then some. I figure between the actual surgery time and the next time I got out of bed in the morning I was sleeping for about 19 hours. Wow.

So today's Thursday, and I will actually leave the house for a little bit this afternoon with Doug. It's dang cold out and that's not fun, but it'll be good to get out of here for a bit. I'm getting sorta bored (although I do have end-of-the-year paperwork to do) and tired of sitting and laying. I'm actually feeling pretty good, moreso each day, as I move around. My stomach itches where the plastic band-aids are, I wanna rip them off but shouldn't. And I can hear some gas still trapped inside, when I roll over to my side I can feel it move and it sounds like a loud stomach grumble. Sorta funny, but it can leave any time now...

So now I get to re-test out what I can and can't eat. Greasy foods might give me problems like diarrhea, we'll see. I ate a couple squares of pizza last night, a little grease but not bad and had no problems. Ah joy, more to learn.

I hope I'm done with surgeries for a while, although I do still need some leg/vein work done. Ugh. I have a new empathy for people with chronic illnesses. I need to be more appreciative for my health, cause it's usually pretty darn good.

We're on!!

Surgery....next Monday morning....Unity Hospital! Good ol' Dr. Johnson's gonna do it. I adore him, he's like a kindly old Mr. Rogers sort of man, just very nice and kind. Turns out my appointment was with him and not another doctor in the practice. Yay.

I should only be there a few hours and then home. But, that means another week off work. It's a pretty easy surgery I guess. Good thing I have some sick time still built up.

Had a re-check on my veins today too (I have seen SO many doctors this week...I feel like I must be getting old!). Everything looks good there, still need to finish but that'll be a while yet, maybe over Spring break. We'll see.

I'm just happy to have a date scheduled for surgery, and that it's so fast!

The Scoopadoopdoop

Ok, here's the scoop...

Yesterday I went to go see the surgeon who the hospital gave me the name of.

I didn't like him. I didn't like his receptionist. I didn't like his tech nurse. I didn't like his other nurse. Wow.

I am being very judgmental here, but seriously, I did not get a good vibe from ANYONE in his office, from the receptionist to the surgeon himself, nor both his nurses. They all had something about them that just bugged me! I was not impressed with anyone there.

He said, and I agree with this, that he wouldn't do surgery for about a month anyway, because I need to finish my antibiotics and the gallbladder needs to settle down and heal a little before they take it out. Ok, I can understand that. But I don't like you. And I don't think I want you digging around in my guts.

I decided to follow my instincts.

So later in the day we were up at the mall, and I was sitting on a bench waiting for Doug to finish looking at stuff (we were in Scheels so he was looking at guns), and decided to call my gastric doctor's office and see if he did gallbladder surgery, cause I liked him! Why yes, yes he does! Yay. So I have an appointment to see him on Thursday afternoon for a consultation. Actually it's with another doctor in his practice, but that's ok, they're all good guys.

Now that's good news!

The other good news is that I'm actually feeling pretty good now. There's hardly any pain left, as long as I stay away from fatty foods and eat the borrrrring no-fat diet (sigh). I do ok I guess, we went to Red Lobster yesterday and I had baked, seafood-stuffed flounder, a salad with blue cheese (FAT!) dressing (but very little of it), and the skin of their wonderful baked potatoes (which is drenched in butter and salt but tastes soooooo good). And a cheddar biscuit. So actually I did eat some fat, but it must not be enough to make things go haywire.

I know....always pushing the limits. : )

Oh joy...

Looks like I've got another surgery coming up, probably soon too.

I ate a couple tortilla rollups (you know...the little cut rolled up pieces with cream cheese, etc. in them) on Christmas Eve around 4pm. Wasn't long after that when I started feeling bad....really bad. I figured, ok...something in there didn't agree with me. As seems to be my pattern with holiday get-togethers lately, I retreated to the bedroom...for the whole evening! I came out every once in a while when I thought I was feeling better, only to return a short while later, missing all the fun. Although, it is kind of interesting just listening to ALL the conversations going on while you can't see anyone.

I did get to see some adorable things on a couple of my times among the crowd - the little kids had a blast playing with clothespins! They were sticking them on all over themselves, becoming porcupines, it was hilarious. Tammy's kids and Heather's step-daughter are SO adorable.

Meanwhile I'd start feeling bad (extreme stomach pain) and retreat to the bedroom/bathroom and try to throw up. Not much came out (aren't you happy to be reading this??). I began to think it was the flu, because usually when something just doesn't agree with me it only takes about an hour and I'm feeling fine again. This wasn't happening.

On a scale of 1-10, I'd say my stomach pain, and back pain by now, was about an 8 or 9. After everyone left and Doug came to bed he asked if I wanted to go to the hospital. Naw...I can ride this out, but hey, while you're up would you bring me my laptop?? : )

I sat in bed and looked up "human anatomy organs" in Google images. As soon as I saw where the gallbladder is located, I knew that was it. I read a little online, and yep, everything fit. After about another hour I decided it was time to go to the emergency room, despite our huge snowstorm and horrible roads. Hospital is about 15 miles away. Real fun drive.

They hooked me up to an IV (oh yippee, hate them) and gave me some fluids, pain meds, and anti-nausea meds. Took some blood to check labs on things, everything came back normal (there isn't a test for gall bladder, but they checked other things). So we left there with some more pain meds, anti-nausea meds and an appointment for Tuesday morning for an ultrasound of my gallbladder. Another fun drive home, crawled into bed around 3am Christmas morning.

So it's a lazy, lazy Christmas, still in my pjs and most likely will be all day, which is fine with me. I guess some people live with gallbladder attacks for years, but not me, they can take this sucker out as soon as possible. That was NO fun. I am not a wimp, so for me to even admit that I needed to go to the emergency room is big.

There's a family history of gall bladder problems (a sister and brother have had theirs out) and it's a very common problem after gastric bypass too, so this is no surprise I guess, except it IS a surprise, cause I don't really have health problems. Oh joy!

Doug says I must be getting old(er). Duh. : )

Funny!

I just ran across a quote that said "If swimming is good for your figure...then how do you explain whales??"

Don't know why, but it struck me as funnnnnn knee!

Ok, so here it is December 13...the holiday season. What does our house look like?? Um....an ordinary day of the year. Pick a day, any day. Not a speck of holiday cheer in our house, cause I'm too busy/lazy to do it and no one else around here cares or has any ambition to do it either. I thought about digging out some decorations, but I'd really have to do some digging to get to them. Maybe later this week. Maybe.

I DID do some "holiday baking" today though! I made pretzels dipped in almond bark. : ) Hey, it counts...I put sprinkles on 'em too!

If I bake stuff, I eat stuff, and it'll make me sick, so there's my excuse not to do it. No one else around here "needs" sweets and crap laying around either, so in reality I'm helping my family, right?? Heck, I ate enough of the stupid pretzels already.

So here's to holiday laziness. I don't have a thing bought either as far as presents. Oh, wait. I do. I have one gift bought for Wes, and got that about a month ago. No one even knows what they want, so what the heck am I supposed to do, just go out and buy "stuff" so they get something. I think NOT! They'll get a bonus on their cash gift this year, and that'll be enough.

I did think of something yesterday that the kids could get for ME! I was walking out of Walmart, past the portrait spot, and thought "hey, that's what they could do...get me a portrait of the three kids together!" They wouldn't have to go to Walmart and pose together, just go outside and have a boyfriend take a few pics and get one blown up for me. But that probably won't happen either.

So bah humbug. Fleas Navidad and whatever. : )

Map 'O the World

I look at my legs, and see....what looks like a colorful map of the world! All the "pretty" blues, yellows, reds and greens in random, splotchy patterns makes me think of a map.

Agree?? Or just grossed out?! : )

That's part where the steri-strips have come off now and you can see the little punctures. Here's a "big picture" of my left leg (right one looks very similar!).

Ah...but the good news is that today, I get to NOT wear the compression stockings!! Yay. Feels a little weird, but man those things sucked (literally!)

Dang it!

Dang, dang, dang...I'm doin' the Dang Dance right now. There are TWO major veins they didn't get to (got to the daily limit of lidocane and had to quit). Ugh. I AM gonna go have them finish, but it probably won't be until spring break or maybe even this summer. At least they got the majority done and my legs look so much better, but still, I'm disappointed.

Oh yay, something else to look forward to. : (

Well now....

Is it over...or is it not?

Day two, they finished the right leg and did most of the left. I was not very happy to hear they ran to the end of the daily limit of lidocane so there are a few bulgy veins they didn't take out. Dang it, and of course one of them is one that bugs me the most! Ugh. They said that they closed the "feeder vein" to this one so it should shrink on it's own, but I wanted it GONE. Forever.

So we'll see when I go back tomorrow and then in a month for my checkup. If it's not gone or shrinking enough, then I'll have them take that one (two actually) out too. Oh yay, something else to look forward to. But at least that would be a fairly easy day. I did look at my "before" pics today. Yuck.

Got my beautiful compression stockings today too, thankfully I'll only have to wear them for a week. Man, they're hard to get on, but they did feel pretty good once I had them on (part way was all we did today).

Came home and slept a few more hours, the pain woke me up. Headed for the vicoden soon and back to bed.

Gotta go back tomorrow for an ultrasound and re-check, then I'm done.

If you're NOT queazy...go to youtube and type in Ambulatory Phlebectomy. : )

Yeowchimomma!

That describes yesterday, day one of the vein removal. Yeowch! It all went well, but I sure wish I had had something more than a bit of valium ("so I don't care so much what's going on" they said). There were a few times when I almost...almost cried. One spot in particular, which I have the same issue on the left leg (to be done today) hurt like a son of a bitch. Yay....I get to look forward to that today. But they said they'd give me a little bit more valium...I say YES!! Bring it on.

They asked me if I was interested in seeing what my veins looked like, so of course I said yes. Looked like a worm that you see on the sidewalk after the rain, about an inch or so long, flat and whitish. Mmmmm. Aren't you glad you're reading this? : ) Not what I thought it would look like.

So in a little bit we leave to go back and they'll finish one spot on the right leg and then do the left leg. I'm glad I took the whole week off, cause my leg is all wrapped tight and I walk like a peg-leg pirate. But my leg looked SO much better already (before they wrapped it I looked at it). They took "before" pics and will take some "after" in about a month for my checkup. I took some "before" too, but I'm not so sure I want anyone to see 'em! We'll see.

Off to see the wizard...I mean doctor. Again.

Vein vein vein.....

I'm getting my veins "done!" Soon, too! The Monday after Thanksgiving I'm going in to have some of them laser-ed closed, at which point my body will re-absorb them (YUCK...I hate thinking about that!) and others they'll puncture little tiny holes in my legs, cut the veins into pieces, and pull them out. LOL, now THAT'S a pretty picture, huh?! Speaking of, I'm gonna try and take before and after pictures...we'll see.

My veins are so bad it'll take them two days to do it all! Wow. I knew they were bad, but man. I guess a body can only "take" so much Lidocane in a day, and they said it'll take two times to do it all. Wow. Then I go back the third day to have 'em check it all over and make sure they got everything and that it's all going ok. I'll be off work the whole week, thankfully we already have Monday off anyway, so I'll really only miss (as if I "miss" work...ha) four days.

Now the only other surgery I want is a boob job! : )

Then I'll be good to go!

Go where??

ANYwhere!!

Normal?

I'm normal.

Yes, I AM (stomping foot)!!

So says the doctor anyway. : )

My BMI is now considered NORMAL. Not morbidly obese, obese, or even overweight. Normal.

Even my cholesterol and all other blood tests are well within the good "normal" ranges.

Wow. I don't think I've ever been considered "normal," by anyone. : )

Now if only I could have normal HAIR! I made an appointment for Monday for a real hair cut. Don't remember the last time I've sat in a stylist's chair, when my hair is short it's easy for me to cut it myself. But I am trying to grow it out a little (we'll see how long that lasts) and I'm very sick of the short style I've had for several years now. I want an update. But it's thin frizziness makes it hard to work with, so we'll see what happens. Found a place recommended by a co-worker who always has THE cutest hair (straight NORMAL hair though!). I think I need a miracle though.

Tanya is gonna come up here (YES YOU ARE!) and we're gonna go to a spa/salon in the cities for total makeovers. Hopefully before this school year is out (like for WOW '10...which by the way is our 10th Anniversary WOW so you HAVE to come and do something FUN for YOU), like in March.

We're gonna be new, NORMAL women! PL!

POTD

Ok, so I'm back to work.

: (

I know, I should be glad that I HAVE a job...but still.

Here's the first POTD (Picture of the Day). I tried to look happy....

Adventure!

Ok, so it wasn't a BIG adventure like PeeWee had, but an adventure it still was! Doug and I went to the Minneapolis Farmer's Market this morning. I've been wanting to go there for years and never made the time, and I knew this was possibly the last day I could go this year. I wanted to check it out to see about being a vendor next year with my soaps, and just to see/experience it all. It was fun! A pretty easy drive to and fro too. I was surprised how big and busy it was, and that there were a lot of things there that were not food, like clothing, jewelry (yay!) and other crafts.

So...now I can pretend to be just like Eggface (one of my favorite bloggers) - she's a gastric bypass woman who blogs about food a lot, she loves to cook and come up with new creations and seems to spend a LOT of time at her farmer's market. She posts a LOT of pictures of her creations too, and just today she's got a whole bit about her farmer's market. I love reading her blog and copying her recipes, though I have to admit I haven't tried many of them yet cause I am lame that way. : )

This is what we had for din-din tonight. Doesn't it look delish?

The chicken was grilled with a raspberry-chipotle sauce, I think from Cub. Very tasty. At first you tasted the raspberry, then the chipotle spiciness kicked in. The salad had a bunch of fresh stuff from the market -- cooked, cold beets, sweet onion, broccoli, kohlrabi and cucumber, with a raspberry vinaigrette dressing. Yummy for my tummy! : ) We also bought some squash, cauliflower, roasted almonds and I don't even remember what else (except of course a necklace and earrings, cause I'm SO deficient in them, LOL).

Of course the best part is eating it outside on the back deck with Doug (we've been doing that a lot this summer). I sometimes have a glass of wine with my meal (I KNOW, I KNOW...I'm not supposed to drink a THING for 1/2 hour after eating, but sometimes I can't help it!), but tonight I didn't have the wine (yet!).

Speaking of wine, I went down the road to the local liquor store today to get more wine, and when I was paying I remembered that they have a wine punch card now, and went to get mine out of my wallet. Well...I gave her the wrong wine punch card!! I said "Wow, now that's a bad sign, first of all that I HAVE a wine punch card, and secondly, that I have TWO!" The second one is from a local winery, Goose Lake Winery over by Nowthen. They have THE most delicious dessert wine, which is made with brandy in it too and kicks butt!

Now I'm gonna be sad the next two days cause it's the end of summer and I have to go back to work. Ugh. It's like an intrusion into my life. : ( I have so much other stuff I want to do other than work at a job...why can't I just win the lottery?

But that's life, right?! And it could be a lot worse. At least now I'll start posting my Picture of the Day again soon.

One of these things

is NOT like the others (remember that song from Sesame Street??)!



I just HAD to post these lovely pictures...we were camping for a few days at Carolina State Park on the Cape Fear River a week or so ago, and...well....North Carolina humidity/weather, ocean saltwater spray, lack of a blow dryer/straightener and wind result in me looking like an Emu! LOL.

I've got about 200 pictures from the trip, maybe I'll do a photobucket slideshow soon.

The scale...

Yesterday I had to go to a new dr. in Buffalo, I'm looking into getting my varicose veins taken care of (yay!), and of course had to step on the scale there. My first gut reaction when she said "we need to step on the scale" (like yeah, WE need to step on the scale...you first!) was "ugh, I hate the scale." But then I remembered, "oh no, not any more. Now the scale is my friend!"

Well, ok, not really my friend, but not my enemy any longer, that's for sure. Anyway, you know how the doctor's scales have that bottom weight slider that goes to either 100, 150, 200, 250, etc., then the top one is zero to 50 lbs? Well, she first put the bottom one on 100 and I sorta inwardly laughed at that, thinking "yeah, right, this is gonna work!" She slid the top one all the way over to 50 and it wasn't balanced (cuz duh, I weigh more than that!), so she slid the bottom one to 150 and restarted. But it was funny, cause she said "wow, you don't look it!" meaning I looked like I weigh less than 150 lbs. to a nurse who weighs people all day long?? Amazing. I think it balanced on 166, which is close to what my scale at home says (today it was 163).

The doc was really nice and they did an ultrasound on my veins, and it was very educational and interesting, and thank God they didn't find any extra heartbeats (not that that's even possible anymore)! LOL, at one point he said "wow, that's a HUGE vein!" No shit doc, why do you think I'm here! But for whatever reason, he's unable to do the procedure I need done, and is referring me to a vein place in the cities. The good news is that my deep veins are good, it's just the superficial ones that are bad, so that's cool. When it's all done my legs will LOOK good and FEEL much better. I might be able to wear shorts and...oh my gosh...a skirt?? I don't remember the last time I wore a skirt, probably over a decade or more.

I wish I could have it done today. But I can't, and it'll be probably some time in August or so before I can get an appointment and it gets done cause I'M GOING TO NORTH CAROLINA NEXT WEEKEND FOR TWO WHOLE WEEKS (yes, I'm shouting cause I'm very excited!!)! I decided today that I need to start getting a little sun, cause I am lily white and will be outside a lot more when we're down there, so I just came in from sitting on the deck. Yuck. I am not a sun worshipper and don't enjoy "tanning." But I need to do it, or else I'm gonna be a crispy skeletal thing in about two weeks. : ) If I tan I'll look more mummy-ish (darker, but still skeletal with wrinkly upper arms!). ha ha.

I'm so excited to be going to see Paul and Joy and meet McKenzie (Joy's daughter). Paul's such a great cook...yum, good food, and they're so fun to be around. I really wish we lived closer. It'll be a two-day car ride to get down there, oh joy. Actually I'm looking forward to sitting in a car reading or listening to my mp3 (over Alex's stereo) and just chillin'. It's just me, Bri and Alex going, and I think it'll be a great trip. They're planning a few day trips off by themselves to see the wonders of NASCAR hot-spots. I'll stick around the homestead and eat good food. : )

Oh yeah, the rest of yesterday was good too...I was in Buffalo, and they're "famous" for their Occasional Sales - where the store is only open one weekend a month, and I happened to hit it on the right weekend. So I wandered around downtown for a bit, got a good coffee, went and sat by the lake to drink it, then wandered some more. Didn't really find anything I HAD to have, but it was a fun wandering day by myself (love those!).

I did end up going to Walmart for a few things, and bought myself two new pair of jeans, size 10! Ten!! I had noticed earlier in the day that my 12s were a little bit loose to the point where they get annoying, so I tried on the 10s and they fit pretty good. Strange, cause I haven't lost any more weight, but my body is still changing I guess. Now if only I could grow new boobs...LOL.

Guess that's it for an update! The Queen is doing fantastic too BTW, she's losing weight at an amazing rate and is so excited. She passed a major milestone (certain weight) last week, never to return to it.

Life is good!

All hail

to the Queen!! Yay, yippee...she had her surgery today, and everything went great! I can't tell you how excited I am for her, what an adventure she's starting out on. I got to talk to her a bit this evening, and she sounded pretty darn fantastic.

That means she's gonna need those SEVEN bags of clothes I have for her...and soon.

Road trip anyone?? : )

Mmmmmmmmemorial Weekend!

Yay, summer (or at least spring) is finally here! We had a beautiful Memorial Weekend. It would have been perfect camping weather.

I started out my weekend with an hour long massage on Friday afternoon. Heaven. Well, ok, so there was also a little pain involved - when she was doing my back, she asked if the pressure was ok or if she should go "deeper," and I told her to go deeper. Ouch! At one point I had to open my eyes wide cause it hurt a bit, but....I liked it! I had never had a really deep massage, and wanted to experience that. It was a great massage, and after dealing with the kids at school, I needed it (just 8 more work days till summer break!).

Saturday I had a craft show just five miles from home (love that...not much travel time). We again had a beautiful day, and it turned out to be a pretty good show for me. Except I need to wash all my tablecloths now, the barbeque guy didn't seem to know what he was doing, and kept smoking us out with the flame/smoke from his grill.

Sunday I went and got some flowers and planted my little flower garden out front. Looks pretty nice now, except there are a few perennials taking over (lily of the valley and something else I don't remember the name of). I might take some of them out, but then again, they fill it in with very little effort on my part. : ) I also found another nice hanging basket to go with the one Bri got me for Mother's Day, so that's done. Bri and Alex also started working on the pool, we decided it was best to just drain the thing this year and start over, it was very nasty. Never did get clean last year and add another year's worth of leaves and dirt, and yuck. They finished that yesterday and we started refilling it. Maybe we'll actually get in this year. I know for once I won't be afraid to stand on the ladder, being 100 lbs. lighter!

Yesterday I made more soap. I've been having pretty good sales with it and keep running out of stock, so I'm trying to keep ahead of that. The six-week cure time can be a pain sometimes, but that's the way it goes.

I had a pretty nice "discovery" this weekend too...I can now wear sandals without my feet hurting! I've bought several pairs, mostly on clearance last fall, and got to start wearing them, and they're fun! Who would have thought such a silly little thing could mean so much. I know people who have never been overweight, much less the word I hate (obese - I just hate the way it sounds), can't possibly understand how something so simple can be so cool, but my feet would hurt so much over the past years all I could wear were those dang old clodhoppers (which I have happily thrown OUT) with the support insoles. Good riddance and hello sandals!

I ended my weekend with a nice relaxing bubble/whirlpool bath. Ahhhh, if only all weekends could begin and end like this one!

Happy for her!

This week my friend, the Queen, got some fantastically exciting news...her surgery has been approved and she's GONNA HAVE THE F-IN SURGERY!!

Yay! Yippee!! I am SO doin' the Happy Dance for her!

There are the "last minute" things to do, like meet with the surgeon and do the pre-surgery appointments, but.....one month from TODAY she's scheduled!

Man is her life about to change....

Oh. My. Gosh.

Let out of jail.

No, I haven't been IN jail...at least not the physical lock-down building!

I was reading an article titled "Woman's decision to undergo gastric bypass changes her life," (like, duh!) and she said this, which rang so true to me:

"Mentally, I never felt like a fat person. Finally, the person I was in my head and the person I am on the outside are ... becoming closer together. It feels like being let out of jail."

That's me, exactly how I feel. Like I've been let out of fat jail! And it's so freeing it's really indescribable.

Yesterday I saw a co-worker who had the FS two years ago. I rarely get to see her at work but I needed some ink so I had to go down to her department. Anyway, when I got back to my desk she had sent me an email that said "You are so skinny! You need to stop losing now, sticks are not cute!" LOL, so we had an email conversation about how things are going for each of us, etc.

I really would like to stop losing, and never ever thought I'd say I wouldn't mind gaining a little weight back, or at least not lose any more. Some days I feel like I eat and eat and eat, but I am still losing, usually only about a pound a week or so, but still...I am becoming a stick person.

But at least I'm not still in jail. : )

The Good, The Bad...and The Ugly.

The Good: I discovered I can eat Hershey's Dark Chocolate Kisses with no problems!

The Bad: I discovered I can eat Hershey's Dark Chocolate Kisses with no problems! Yep, the ol' double edged sword. There were these kisses sitting around at work from a staff party, and I love dark chocolate, so I grabbed a handful to put at my desk, intending to just eat them sparingly, thinking they'd cause me problems if I ate more than one or two. Well, I shoulda known myself, cause if it's in front of me, I want to eat it! I probably had about 10 of them yesterday throughout the day, with no problems. But that IS the problem...I don't need them and should continue to avoid stupid crap like that.

The Ugly: Or maybe I should say "The Stupid!" Last night I had some Haagen Dazs coffee ice cream, some of their "Five" brand (called that cause it only has five ingredients). I didn't eat much, cause I know that ice cream can cause problems, but man oh man, cause problems it did! I probably only had about 1/3 of a cup, and about 10 minutes later I had to grab an old ice cream bucket cause I thought I was gonna throw up. I didn't, but my stomach hurt SO bad for a good 45 minutes. I finally went to bed, thinking that laying down and going to sleep would just get rid of the pain, and it did.

What's it gonna take for me to learn??? I don't know.

But I think last night may have just done it. : )

Curiosity

So today I needed to clean out the closet again and see what I have for summer, if it ever gets here (bag number SEVEN for the Queen now!), and ran across a pair of my old "fat" jeans. I took them out to show Tate, and I said, "hmm...I wonder if I could fit both legs into one pants leg?" These were the pants I had on the day of surgery, last August, almost 9 months ago (my 9-month checkup is May 4). And at one point I'm sure I wore pants at least a size bigger.

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it provided us with some good laughs! I came out of the bedroom, barely able to walk 'cause my feet could only move a few inches at a time. Sorta like a little Chinese lady who takes tiny, tiny steps.

But look!!

Ok, and to be fair, they ARE stretch jeans and I WAS squeezed into them and stretching them as far as they'd go...but still!!

I can now say I've lost 100 lbs.! I still shake my head in disbelief when I think about it.

I was telling the Queen the other day, cause she's SO excited to have the FS in just a few short weeks, that...as good as you think it's gonna feel to be rid of all the weight...it actually feels a million times better!

The wind in my hair...the Harley in my dreams...

I DID get to feel the wind in my hair today!

I took a bike ride around the block (actually a bit more than that) after getting home from work. I had planned this morning to go walking/running with Carol after school, but she wants to concentrate on running a lot this week and next to WIN the Biggest Loser contest at school (which she's gonna do!), and I wasn't in the mood for running, plus I had some parenting that needed done after school, so I came home instead. I had walked the block yesterday and have been itching to get on the bike, so that's what I chose to do today.


It was a nice workout for my legs and felt good. It was a tad bit chilly out, but not too bad. I love riding bike, I get a sense of freedom when I ride. Not quite like on a Harley, but....it'll do for now.

Some of my fondest memories are riding bike in the summer at night when I was in my very late teens and early twenties. Like around 10-11 pm late, in the cool night air riding through what was then a smallish college town. The town had gone to bed (well, ok except for the college kids!), the streets were nearly empty, and it was peaceful enough to hear the frogs and crickets. It was heaven.

Someday I'd love to do the MS 150 bike ride. Maybe next year. I'm pretty sure it's too late for this year, I think it's usually in May. But...if I start working on it now and over the summer, maybe, just maybe, I could do it next year.

Before I turn 50! Yikes, now there's a scary thought! I had wanted to do it for my 40th birthday, but was too fat and out of shape to even really dream much of doing it.

Things are MUCH different now. This nearly-50-year-old could do it I'm sure.

And she just might. : )

Wheeeeeeeeee.................I mean Wii!

I had THE most excellent day yesterday. Seriously, THE most excellent.

Got up, had my morning quiet time to myself with a cup of coffee and a book (love weekend mornings). After Doug got up we went to Perkins for breakfast (had a 20% off coupon), then Menards to get a few things, like a new mailbox cause ours has been "taken out" three times since last summer, and won't stay closed anymore, which presents it's own problems.

Then....we stopped at the Harley dealership! (BIG grin!)

Oh man....how we want one. I suggested we stop and get the 'ol law of attraction juices flowing by touching, hearing and sitting on one (or more), so we did. I had no idea how big that place was, the basement of the store has hundreds and hundreds of bikes down there (the used ones we went to ogle). We fell in love with the bikes. Of course the salesman, Jim, asked if we were interested in one or two, and had me sit alone on several that he said I could handle. Ha. I'm not interested in driving one, I just like to sit back and enjoy the scenery without worrying about traffic headaches. But it was fun to straddle the bike, turn the wheel on it and VISUALIZE and FEEL the power and wind in my hair. And when he started one up...oh, the sound I love!

And you should have seen Doug's eyes! Talk about a buzz! I kept looking over at him, and I swear he had a Harley High, LOL. His eyes were wide and huge and he almost seemed to be glowing. Of course the prices were a Harley High too, around fifteen grand or more or what we'd like, so we'll keep looking and dreaming and seeing ourselves riding one. Somehow it'll happen, I know it will.

We were talking last night during our Saturday night "tub time," and I recalled giving away a Harley many years ago when Cal died. I gave his best friend his old Sportster, which was worth some good money, but I've never regretted giving it to him and I'd do it again today. They were best friends their whole life, and I told Tom he could have it, of course he drove up from Michigan within days to get it, probably before I could change my mind. I know he's cherished it all these years, and that gives me a good feeling. But now I want another one!!

Ok, so after we left the Harley dealer, Doug went home, I went shopping (the Queen laughs at how often I say I'm going shopping these days). Fashion Bug was having a deal on the dress pants I wear to work, usually $26.99 but from 10am-2pm they were $14.99, so I got another pair a size smaller, which acually fit me now. Cool. Found a penny on the floor of the changing room too. Of course I picked it up, more money in my pocket. : )

So then I traveled on to Target in Otsego, found a great pair of grey pants (hey, I don't have any grey!) on clearance for six bucks! Found another penny in the dressing room too! Then I went over to look at Wii systems. The nice older guy in electronics helped me and told me what all I needed. This other lady was there getting the Wii Fit board, she said she was surprised they had any, I guess they're hard to find in stock. I asked her how she liked her Wii and she loved it. The sales guy said he had 14 boards come in that morning, and only had 6 left at that point, so I got one of those with the system.

He asked me if I had a 10% off coupon that people had been getting in the mail, and I said no, dang it, cause that would be a good chunk of money. Well, sweet man, he gave me 10% off anyway! What a guy!

Finished checking out of Target, and they have a Starbucks in the store. I took that broken gift card that I found in the ditch a while ago over and asked if they'd replace it, and she did, gave me a beautiful new card in a nice little fancy envelope and I got a delicious tea to enjoy on the way home, compliments of the Queen.

Came home, a gorgeous spring day to be out driving the country roads (though it would have been even more enjoyable on that new Harley!). Alex and Bri were here, so Alex put the Wii together for me while I sat there and enjoyed a Chocolate Steamed Nirvana that Bri had brought me from Dunn Bros. Man....does it get any better than that? : ) I didn't have any of the frustrations of putting it all together.

Got the Wii set up and Bri and Alex boxed each other. Funny! Then I boxed Bri. I can see this being fun. Then a little while later I went down and got the Fit board going, it's pretty cool. Heck, that little board is smart! It tells you how much you weigh too. There are some pretty cool balance games that are a lot harder than you'd think. I tried the yoga and the skiing game, what fun. Maybe, just maybe, if my balance improves, I can try roller blading (for real, not on the Wii), which I was thinking about today (how much fun it looks).

Ok, then a little while later it was dinner and tub time. ; ) Usually on Saturday nights Doug and I enjoy a whirlpool bubble bath together (sorry kids that that grosses you out, but grow up!) with a bottle or two of wine and candlelight. It's become treasured time, we sit in the tub for a couple hours (it has a heater to keep the water nice and toasty warm), enjoy our wine, sometimes a little chocolate, and talk, talk, talk. We talk about anything and everything, it's really nice and after 21 years of marriage, I think we're even learning a few things about each other too!

So yes, it was THE most excellent day. THE most excellent.

Awww....my little boy

Can pick me up!!

LOL, we were just messing around, actually he's been able to do it for a long time now, we just finally got around to snapping a picture. I don't think he looks like he's straining too hard. : )

On another note...I couldn't find the piece of paper with old measurements on it, but oh well.

Earlier this week I went shopping (surprise, surprise!) cause I had a $10 off coupon at Christopher & Banks. Carol and I had gone there a few weeks ago and they do have some cute stuff, though they also have a lot of "teachery" or old-lady styles too, part of the reason I never really shopped there before. But that day I found THE cutest Christmas sweater, on clearance of course. Marked down from $45 to $5. Seriously, it's very cute. No, it doesn't have reindeer, santa or snowmen, it sorta reminds me of Dr. Suess's who-ville. Made me wish it was December now so I could wear it. I asked Carol how soon I could wear it, she said not till December 1st, so I marked it on my calendar on December 1st to wear my Christmas sweater so I don't forget about it! How crazy is that?!

Anyway, on Monday I found a really cute top there for $14.95, so it only cost me about five bucks after the coupon. I get most of my clothes these days extremely cheap that way. And believe me, I have a ton of clothes now. But while I was there I also spotted some really nice jeans, and took a pair of 12s and a pair of 10s into the changing room, just for kicks. I started with the 10s....and they fit! OMGosh! I didn't buy them, cause they had that awful gap in the back that I hate, but they fit otherwise. I seriously don't EVER remember wearing size 10s, ever in my life.