Hi everyone.its cold here today.winter is here and im really enjoying the wood stove. I finally figured how to download pictures with my dd laptop that shes letting me use until I can buy a new one. so heres the befor and after pictures. my lower pooch is gone and that's what I was so happy about. I look and feel more normal and am so pleased with the results. I still have a belly just not as big as it was and the part that hung down is gone yay..now im going to try an maintain as even tho im not itty bitty im happy where im at compared to where I was,if that makes any sense lol.The last picture is befor any of my journey started. I have been planning thanksgiving and starting to do the extra cleaning that I need to do befor the kids get here. I wouldn't have the extra work if I wasn't so lazy at doing what I should do. im a great "gorker" hope you have agreat day. rosey
Pretty quiet here. We stayed home except I did go out to get my nails done. DH drove me because I was feeling kinda dizzy and he wasn't busy. It's wet and coldish outside. Dh is cooking tonight...chicken cabbage stir-fry I think and of course rice. I eat only a little rice. I really haven't felt like eating anything I have on hand today. Was tempted by the thought of ice cream at the mall but left right after my nails were done so didn't even get close...
I haven't done so well the last couple days. Did not get my bike ride in either day. Didn't eat so well today.
Tomorrow is a new day.
Feeling kind of blue. Don't know why. Kind of goes in cycles. My sister thinks it has something to do with the full of the moon. Maybe
I think partly, I feel kind of lost sometimes. I lost my job back in August. My husband is trying to work it out so I can retire. I really want that, but guess I am having a hard time adjusting to that. Also, I used to talk to my mom every day ~ 2 or 3 times a day. Usually on my way to work, on my way home from work and right before I went to bed. We joked about that ~ I told her I was calling to get tucked in. But now with my mom in a nursing home, I don't get to talk to her that much. Not always every day, and not for that long of a time. So, maybe after years of talking to her every day ~ I am kind of lonely. Even though she has alzheimers, we were still able to talk and have fun. She has always been a good listener, and she never lost her sense of humor. We joked that she was my therapist.
I get kind of tickled with her ~ she will talk to me for about 10 minutes, then she gets to itching (nosey ) to get back over by the other people to see what is going on. I am glad for her though that she likes to be around the other people and not just sit in her room all alone.
I have friends I can talk to, but the topic eventually turns to my troubles ~ most lately with my brother. It just kind of all spills out. So, I hesitate to talk to my friends, I don't want to drive them away by venting about my troubles. They probably get tired of that. Hopefully someday, I will be able to visit with my friends and have a pleasant conversation.
Oh well. Thank you for listening. Writing therapy I guess.
Good morning gg's. It's very cloudy and getting hot here. I'm packing for the weekend. Trying to plan meals around my diet. I'm thinking barbecue. I know I just lost 2 lbs but I feel the weight difference. I'm sure I was carrying a lot of fluid. It's deer season this weekend so I'll be sitting in a deer stand. Peace and quiet!!! Just nature sounds.
Gayle I can hear the depression in your words. I'm sure it is a big loss even though your mother is still here. Just different. Hopefully the brother situation will change. I'm going to pray for you. As for venting that's what we are here for. Vent all you want.
Mary our thoughts are what sabotages our diet. They are deadly. I have been off the carbs for a little over a week now and my craving are gone. It's a good feeling. I sleep better too. Usually I have to take something to help me fall asleep. I take nothing now and fall asleep within 10 minutes.
Bobbi I hope your gravy comes out good. We don't bake our turkeys here. We deep fry them whole. Not diet friendly. But what cajun food is diet friendly. Lol.
Weight continues to dip down so hope one of these days it will actually stay down the whole week. Tonight we are going to a pizza place to celebrate our gs's 7th birthday. Happy to go but pizza is sure not what I need. I will try to stick to one piece and if the crust is thin enough two might even be ok. We are taking our son's gf's dd and gd with us so they can meet our dd and her family. The kids are the same age. So sounds fun and I will be tired out by the time I get home but hopefully that will make me sleep better. Last night was better but still not the eight hours I need. I think it was my arm pain that caused me not to sleep last night. I am done with the antibiotics (for colon) but can't say they have helped much...maybe a little...but I'm still having very mild pain in my colon, so if that's enough to send me to a surgeon, my doctor probably will. He almost did last time even though I told him it was very mild and kept asking him about possibly eating something that triggered it. I will see him on Monday. Anyway I am glad to get off those nasty antibiotics!
Can't believe Thanksgiving is almost here! I need to think about what I'm going to take to my dds. Last year I bought a pumpkin pie from Costco but turned out she made her own. They are not much for dessert and we can't eat much of it so no need for so much.
Glynne - I hope you can retire if you want to. I love it but you do have to have interests and activities to keep you busy if you are used to being active. No problem for me as I like to just putter around the house but we do go to the gym and church and we travel as much as we can. And of course this old house with a big yard keeps us (esp dh) busy with upkeep and repair. That would be hard not being able to talk with your mom as much as you're used to. How far away is she? Will you be able to visit often?
Cajun - I always thought it was the carbs that helped sleep! So that's a new idea to me. I feel like I would be so hungry I couldn't sleep if I cut back on my carbs more, maybe I should try it. It seems like everything I really like is a carb...don't know what to eat that's not a carb. I eat cottage cheese (not many carbs), cheese (for diabetics it's a fat), but for snacks thats about it that are not carb and I get tired of them. I love radishes, celery (esp with a little pb) and carrots (heartburn though!), these are of course carbs too but usually fine to eat.. but right now I can only eat cooked veggies and don't care for them cooked for snacking.. I don't like things like turkey slices...wish I did...life would be easier. I hope to get my colon under control and be able to eat the fresh veggies again. I've given up nuts and sunflower seeds because I figure they are probably the worst for my colon and they were my favorite snacks. I like a lot of variety and get tired quickly of the same foods . Oh well, I'll keep trying.
Hello gg's. I'm sitting on a deer stand. It's noon and full moon so the deer are feeding early. It's warm today and the mosquitoes will be out late this afternoon so decided to hunt in the middle of the day. Dh is at the camp unloading wood. When I get back he may go on his stand and I'll stay at the camp and cook. We are planning to cook fish tonight. Last night dh barbecued. It was so good. I stayed 100% on my diet so far. Yay!! I'm hoping I can do this.
Mary I guess the carbs I was talking about that keep me awake are the sugary carbs also the ones that turn into sugar in your body like potatoes. Mainly sweet carbs.
Gotta go. More hunting to do. It is so peaceful on this stand. I hear birds and the leaves are gently falling.
Good morning all! It is pretty quiet around here today. We had a nice time at the birthday party, took our son's gf gd and she seemed to enjoy playing with the other kids. The traffic was terrible going over so we were glad we started early. By the time we got home, we were tired and slept well. My weight is staying down ...I went up .2# with the pizza but that's not much. I ate 3 small thin crust pcs, probably more than I should have and a pc of cake so happy I didn't gain more. Now, I'm hoping to maintain today and get a good number tomorrow.
Cajun - Well sweets are certainly a draw for me, but I don't eat nearly as many as I used to. I told dh to stop buying chocolate bars or else hide them much better. I did eat a pc of birthday cake last night and was a little bit tempted to have more but nothing that was too hard to walk away from. Now if it had been at home, I might have, so glad it wasn't. DD wanted us to take some home (pizza and cake) but we declined. You are right about the battle being in the mind. I have to think about what I eat so I'll make the right decisions, but I'm working on changing the way I think about food and making intentional choices for things that will help my body and not hurt it at least 80-90% of the time.
Hey...It is wet and dreary down here and I wanted something...just something sweet and gooey and hot. So I made a pumpkin pie dump cake. Made it a wee bit diet friendly. Will check with fitday later, OMG it is so good. Oven 350 and pam 9x13 dish.
2 15oz cans of pumpkin puree
cup of splenda
3 eggs (egg beaters)
1 can ff evaporated milk
pumkin pie spices
box of sf yellow cake mix
1.5 sticks of ICBINB lite
Mix pumpkin, eggs, milk and spices and pour into dish
Sprinkle cake mix on top
Drizzle melted butter over cake mix
Bake at 350 about an hour.
DH who never eats hot pie, cobbler etc is on his 2nd piece! k3
Mary...after years on South Beach and usually on level 1.5 if I crave a sweet I spend a few minutes thinking what I really want????? Then try and find a substitute that is diet friendly. I can fool me and make my tummy happy in so many left handed ways. BUT I do use a lot of sf products. Bake an apple with sf caramel sauce, poach a pear, celery stuffed with lf cream cheese and dried cranberries, salty nuts help.
A partly sunny day here and a little warmer than it has been lately. 70 something ~ just right.
Got to hug on DS Jason and had a short visit. No news from DD Jen in NC. DD Sara went with the kids and scum boy to Arkansas to a place they had been to before as a family to dig for crystals. I feel like just shaking her so she would wake up. I feel like it is good for them to be nice and get along for the kids sake, but after all she went through this is ridiculous. She says he has changed. Of course it seems that way ~ he can probably manage to be nice for short periods of time. I think it because they are not living under the same roof. If that were to happen, I bet it will be no time before he is right back to being the stupid jerk he was being before.
K3 ~ your pumpkin pie dump cake sounds delicious. Is it hot or cold by you? Where do you find the SF carmel sauce you just mentioned?
Mary ~ glad you had a nice time at the birthday party. Sounds like you did a good job being in control with the food. Kept it down to one piece of cake. That is awesome. Sweets are what I struggle with most. I do want to be retired Mary. And I don’t need to worry about being bored ~ there is plenty to do here at home. All kinds of sewing projects I want to get at. I am a great one to get all the parts I need to make something, then never get around to doing it. Then also, I would like to get through our boxes of stuff we have accumulated over the years and get rid of what we no longer need and organize the rest so I can find stuff.
Cajun ~ enjoy your day ~ it sounds so peaceful where you are. Way to go staying on track so far. You can do this!
Rosey ~ thank you for sharing your pictures. You are an inspiration. You have been through a lot and you still keep smiling and having that wonderful positive attitude. You look great.
K31 ~ what adventures are you up to this weekend?
Donna ~ are you and Samson enjoying a cozy weekend gorking?
Bobbi ~ what project are you working on now?
Lynn ~ how are the new courses going? Are you getting more used to the new system that you are having to work with?
Deelou ~ Hello ~ how are you doing?
Sorry if I missed anyone.
Got to visit with mom a little this morning. She lasted about 5 minutes this time, then she was itching to get back by the other people. I am happy for her that she seems to be enjoying it there.
I started doing something different with my ebooks, so thought I'd share as might help some of you who are getting so many free ebooks. It's hard to pass them up and the kindle will hold a great many but it has it's limits....maybe the newer kindles hold more...but I have the first version and it's supposed to hold 1500 books and I think I have over 2000 already on it! I don't want it to slow down too much where it might freeze even, so I am now downloading new free ebooks to my iPad. I could also download them to my Kindle for PC or phone, but that will be my last resort as I don't really enjoy reading books on my desktop computer and not too much on my phone. Don't know why I didn't think of downloading to other devices before. I am not sure you can transfer them back however, so don't download any to another device that you really want on your Kindle. I think maybe you can transfer them back to your kindle manager on amazon but my concern was that since I have so many already on it, when I keep adding the device might get really slow or freeze so downloading to a different device seems like a safer option. I wish though that I could just download to the manger software to begin with. Then I could pick and choose what I want on my devices at any given time. Hope that makes sense. Not sure why Amazon doesn't allow for that option.
Happy weekend everyone.. thankyou for all the kind atta girls even tho it was a surgical intervention it was still hard work. and I feel awesome. my dd will be here in a few and we are going shopping and have a girly day,me,dd and grdd. we always have fun. I decided I didn't want the usual big crowd for thanksgiving,just don't want to do all the pre prep stuff,it will just be my girls and their familys. I have made that pumpkin dump cake except I put chopped walnuts on the top.it was really yummy we had amama moose and baby almost in the dog pen this am,pepper was going nuts and they were not a bit afraid altho I was a bit nervous mama moose might charge.. hope your day is lovely rosey
Saw nothing on my stand. I had an excellent day on my diet. We are going home this morning. Going to church and having a lazy day. It's rainy today. Be back tomorrow.
I really thought I would drop a pound this week but no, I only lost a few ounces! It seems like my body always wants to stay at 160. Well, I'm thankful I didn't gain at least! Sun tends to be my biggest eating day and I notice I'm hungrier today but trying to be wise. Its probably my biggest eating day because I don't usually track what I eat just try to keep it in my head.
It's a really quiet day here. We went to church but otherwise have just been home. I fixed a stir-fry chicken and zucchini dish for lunch. Dh watches the Filipino channel all Sunday afternoon and I tend to just putter around the house doing miscl little things...I made another bottle of fabric softener today and un-liked a lot of companies on FB, and unsubscribed from a lot of blogs and other email subscriptions. I'm cutting way back or maybe giving up entirely my sweepstake hobby because I feel like I have other things I'd rather spend my time on now. I'm sure I'll enter a few now and then but I've been cutting back for a while. Of course the wins have dropped off too...that's the way it goes you know...last month all I won was some Keurig tea cups and this month so far I've won a couple books. It's fun to win and the more you enter the more you win but right now I feel called to other things.
While giving up on sweeps, I've been indulging in another guilty passion...I subscribed to several of the beauty sample boxes. You may have seen the offers. I tried several to see which I like best. The samples are fairly large and some are even full sized. It is fun to get stuff in the mail even though I don't really need it. Some of it would make good small gifts. I've already give a few products to others. Once I decide which I like the best I'll drop the others and probably before long all of them as my bathroom cabinets are already too full. But for now it's fun. And the little boxes will be perfect for wrapping gifts!
Cajun - Glad you're doing well on your diet. It does seem to get a little easier over time. I notice even on a "bad" day, I'm not doing nearly so bad.
Rosey - How far are you from town? I picture you as being really secluded in forest and snow in a little log cabin, all cozy and good smelling with all the baking you do. The kind of place I'd love to visit but not sure I'm tough enough to handle the snow and wild beasts I kept that cake recipe too and plan to fix it soon. When there is family around so I don't eat it all.
Well, it was a busy weekend for sure! Friday evening I went with my sister to Fayetteville, Arkansas for her daughters bridal shower. Well we started off Friday night in Rogers, Arkansas at P F Changs for dinner. Then on to the hotel in Fayetteville about 9:30 on Friday night. Got up the next morning and headed to the shower given by one of her friends. My sister really did a neat thing and we didn't play any of those silly games, instead everyone made a Christmas wreath to take home. Some very creative people in that group!! Left there about 1:00 and went to see their new house they had built, they will close on it tomorrow. Vey beautiful and sure not what our first starter home was!! They will be going on their honeymoon to Saint Lucia and be home on December 24 to spend their first night in their new home. We left there and went to Panera bread for lunch. Finally got home last night about 5:30. Did church this morning and then our family lunch. By the time I got home I was ready to "gork"!!!!
Mary, when I download books they go to my Iphone, ipad, laptop and my pc.. They don't download until I click on them but I like having them on all my devices.. that way I know I will have something to do no matter where I am!
Hope everyone has had a great weekend... take care and I will try to et to personals next time
rosey 
I did eat a pc of birthday cake last night and was a little bit tempted to have more but nothing that was too hard to walk away from. Now if it had been at home, I might have, so glad it wasn't. DD wanted us to take some home (pizza and cake) but we declined. You are right about the battle being in the mind. I have to think about what I eat so I'll make the right decisions, but I'm working on changing the way I think about food and making intentional choices for things that will help my body and not hurt it at least 80-90% of the time.
even tho it was a surgical intervention it was still hard work. and I feel awesome. my dd will be here in a few and we are going shopping and have a girly day,me,dd and grdd. we always have fun. I decided I didn't want the usual big crowd for thanksgiving,just don't want to do all the pre prep stuff,it will just be my girls and their familys. I have made that pumpkin dump cake except I put chopped walnuts on the top.it was really yummy we had amama moose and baby almost in the dog pen this am,pepper was going nuts and they were not a bit afraid altho I was a bit nervous mama moose might charge.. hope your day is lovely
The kind of place I'd love to visit but not sure I'm tough enough to handle the snow and wild beasts
I kept that cake recipe too and plan to fix it soon. When there is family around so I don't eat it all.
