I went for my blood work this morning. I remembered that a restaurant near the medical building has a senior breakfast buffet on Tuesdays, so I did my bloodwork and then we ate the buffet. We haven't been there for a long time and they upped the price another 50 cents. I decided that I would treat myself with that only when I go for bloodwork since it's nearby. We go there for dinner once in a while. They have good prices and I can order my dinner with no starch, just my entree and 2 vegetable choices. It was funny because another couple that was there for bloodwork came into the buffet right after we did. I guess other people do that too, since you have to fast for the bloodwork. The only thing I missed was my coffee this morning.

I will not know the results until Nov 6, unless it shows something devastatingly wrong.

The rash isn't as bad today, but my skin is still dry. We get really cold winters up here so dry skin is common, but I never had it like this. It could also be my thyroid because I've been really cold lately, too.

I like most all vegetables, but I have not been eating them as much as I was 6 months ago. I do want to get back to it. I cannot get used to okra. It's mostly a southern thing. You never see it on menus around here, except maybe Cracker Barrel, but we don't go there. I never used to see it in stores either, until recently. Occasionally, you can buy frozen mixed vegetables for soup that have okra in it. I don't know that I've ever seen fresh okra.

I love sardines, and they are very good for you. I eat them right out of the can with mustard. I don't eat the bones, but they say they are good for you. I don't like to hear the crunch. My mother used to eat sardine sandwiches.

Good luck on your Day 2 OP.

Carol Sue Glad you had your blood work done and really glad the rash is better. Cracker Barrel has fried okra but the last time I got it, it was not crispy. Since we don't eat until around 2ish, it probably wasn't fresh cooked. I decided that I would not get it any more. I like okra, but I have to be in the mood for it.

Do you buy the sardines in mustard? I got some one time that had the heads on them and I trashed them. I'm not eating anything that has the head on it. LOL How do you eat it without the bones since they are so small? Guess I'm dumb on this. :dizzy: I was a teenager when I ate those at a girlfriends house. Her Dad was eating them on some kind of crackers like Ritz and he would put it on them the crackers and just give it to me to eat. Like I said the next time I bought them when I was living with my aunt and they looked like little minnows to me with the heads on them and I trashed them.

Day 2 has been fairly good. I did have 1/2 serving (actually measured) of whole kernel corn with lunch and I will end the day with 26 g carbs today. I didn't want to cook supper so I opened can of chunky chicken and added a TBS of dill relish and used mayo, but must have gotten too much mayo for me because I felt yucky after. I should have cooked something, but it was only 0 carbs for supper. Still have a 2 carb snack planned for later if I need it. So I'll actually have 2 OP days behind me.

I did hear from GNC, but nothing from the PO today. GNC didn't say if they would do anything, but I did write back and tell them that I had looked everywhere and that we were home when the mail truck brought mail and went out to see if it had been delivered and it had not. I am hoping that someone GNC or PO will make this good.

I read an article in a newsletter I got from Diet Doctor. I am going to put this in my own words so I'm not quoting word for word. It was a copy of a letter of a 46 yr old woman who lost weight on low carb. She explained that Dr. Atkins had written in his book titled Atkins Complete Personal Diet Manual with his signature on the cover on page 11... again I'm not quoting this... He said that some people actually feel better on 25-30 grams of carbohydrates a day. He said that his fundamental message is: (and she said this is underlined by HIM) that your best carbohydrate level is the one you're happiest on without gaining weight.

I've been reading some on the low carb section here on 3fc where people are actually doing this. I saw one person eats between 50 g and 100 g carbs a day, but I think she said that she tries to keep most of her carba
days under 50 g.

I believe that I could do this. Right now my carbs seem to be around 25 g and I probably can keep it between 25-30 g most days and make my high limit 70 knowing that I might rarely reach 100 g. Right now until I get my system straightened out, I really need to keep them low right now.

Catch y'all tomorrow.

Trish, I have been buying my sardines at Aldi's and they are in spring water. I have never seen them with the heads still on! LOL Might be a southern thing. I take one out of the can and put it on a small plate. I put the tines of the fork in the center of the sardine lenthwise and lift, splitting it in half. The bone is exposed and I just lift it out with the fork or my fingers. I like horseradish mustard and I put a bit on that on the sardines.

I post on a couple low carb boards and the people there do various carb grams. I try to keep mine low to keep BS down. That's my first priority. Apparently I'm not keeping them low enough to lose weight. I think it is a different carb level for different people. Do what works for you, Trish.

I want to get determined and concentrate more on losing, but I have said that so many times and I'm having a hard time convincing myself that I will really do it. I know that a good loss with help with a lot of my medical problems. I want to be able to wear a pair of pants that are not elastic waist. What a goal! LOL

My rash is not red this morning, and not as itchy. My skin is still dry and it's itchy as dry skin. The itch before was unbearable at times. Once I scratched my leg so hard it bled. I am on aspirin therapy and bleed easily. I am no longer freezing cold either. I'm cold, but normal cold because it's October, but when I get really cold I feel chilled through to the bone and can't get warm no matter what I do. Under normal circumstances, I am usually warmer than everyone else in the room. Even though I live in a winter climate, I have very few sweaters. I usually wear short sleeves or 3/4 length.

Well, I have a real trial for the next 3 days. A friend of ours (DH 1st wife's best friend) daughter passed away yesterday morning ending her battle with brain cancer. DH kids went to school with her and she was like a sister to them and a daughter to DH and his 1st wife. They are precious people. Any way, DH DD called last night and we are meeting them to go to the funeral and then we will drive about 2 to 3 hrs Saturday to see the kids 92 yr old grandmother that we haven't seen in about 4 yrs. DH and I used to always go by and spend the night with her on our way back from So. FL. and need to try to go see her since I don't know when we will be that close to her again.

I'm having to change my hair appt to tomorrow morning and then work at getting things ready to go. DH needs some dress shoes so have to go shop for those as well as my usual running I do on this day. I am determined to stay OP while on this trip. I've get some nuts and I think I will boil some eggs (not my favorite snack) to take with me. I may just pick up some pkgs of tuna/albacore. Not my favorite and DH hates the smell, but it is only for 2 or 3 days. FBS was 133 this morning and weight was down .2 lb this morning, but that was with 4 1/2 hrs of sleep and I drank a glass of wine so I could sleep when I did finally make myself go to bed.

I had such a stressful incident with DGS last night that upset me so that I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I don't usually get that upset, but even DH got on to him about his anger issues. I know he has aspbergers (don't know how to spell it), but he gets so angry that he throws things when he doesn't think he is going to get his way. He wanted to see his 92 yr grandmother that is about a 3 hr drive from where we are going to be. Hubby and I had already been trying to figure out how we could go see her, but this is tax time for our house, car and other things going on. And I have put back just enough to pay those and still may have to dip into our monthly budget to pay it all. Taking the trip to the funeral is going to take at a lot of money for 2 nights in a motel and we usually have to help the kids with food. I told him all this. It made him furious and he got mad at me and told me to "Shut up". Boy where I come from you don't talk to your parents or grandparents like that. Having grown up verbally and physically abused in my life so I do not and I will not handle that kind of situation very well. Hubby told him that he is going to have to get his anger under control and then reminded him that he has told him and told him how much money we have and we wanted to go see his grandmother, but we did not know if we could work it out or not. In fact, she just had a great grandson born and she might not even be at home this weekend. DH will call in a little bit to see. It took me a while to get sleepy after that ordeal and thus the reason for a glass of wine at around 2 am. I finally got sleepy and went to sleep around 4 am. It just gets so exciting around my house some times. LOL

So I am really amazed that my fbs was only 133. That was a blessing. We are going out to eat today, but I already told DH that I have to eat some place where I can eat low carb. I told him last night that I have to stay OP on this trip because I'm just getting over that rash and if I eat carby foods I'll be miserable the whole trip. I guess I should be thankful that my body doesn't let me get way off plan.

Carol Sue I'm not going to be eating high carb. I'm focusing on getting the fbs down and keeping it down and I agree losing the weight would help us be so much healthier. From what I've been reading about LCHF (a lot more out there about it now and the benefits), I could live a long healthy/healthier life if I would do that. So I'm going for it. I may have to eat only protein on this trip. If that is what I have to do to keep from raising fbs, then I will do it.

Well, I've got to get busy.

Shannon and others Hope all is well with y'all.

Trish, I'm sorry to hear of your friend's daughter's death. Cancer is a terrible disease. May God comfort all of you.

I also think it is wrong for your DGS to talk to you like that because, after all, you are opening your home to him. I know the aspbergers can have that effect. Is he on meds for it? Things like that keep me awake, too.

I have had a bad 2 days food wise. I'm hoping to straighten it out at dinner tonight.

Carol Sue My day was not a 100% low carb. It was more of a moderate low carb. We went to Cracker Barrel and I ordered and got a really good grilled pork chop, green beans and cold slaw, but when she brought the plate it had steak fries. I told her I didn't order fries. She looked at the ticket and said "No you didn't". I guess the cook wanted you to have them. I said as she walked away, "You mean he wante me to be tempted with them, but I don't like steak fries". Next thing I knew I was eating some of them without even thinking about it. I ate a few bites of DH dumplings. I just can't resist a bite or two of them as nobody makes them like Cracker Barrel. Even with that, I have been OP before and after that meal so I feel good about the way the day went.

I got some nuts in individual servings at 4 net carbs, pork rinds 0 carb, cheese sticks 1 carb and a small summer sausage that has 0 carbs per serving. Also found a cheese dip I can take with me to eat with the pork rinds that says it is 0 carb. So I have my emergency food for the trip to stay OP. If I can mostly eat protein for the next few days and hopefully get in some veggies, I will be able to come home with decent numbers.

I got an email from GNC and they are replacing the lost Glucocil. Said they would send in a few days by Fedex 2 day delivery. I hope they mail it Friday so it will get here Monday. They said they would email me when they send it. DH said we are taking our laptops with us so if I get the email that it leaves tomorrow an will be here Saturday, I will call my neighbor for her to get it for me. It will be nice to have the laptop with me so I can check in with you guys. Checking in with y'all helps me to keep on keeping on.

I'm mostly packed. I've got to be at the beauty shop at 9:30 in the morning and we went to Walmart today so I wouldn't have to go tomorrow, but guess what? I forgot 2 things and still have to go by Walmart before I come home from the beauty shop. DGS is going to get out of school early so we are going to be able to get on the road by 1 o'clock.

I will check in again before I leave or when we get settled at motel tomorrow night.

Trish, I don't like steak fries either. Anytime my meal comes with them and I am not permitted to make a substitution, DH eats them, if not at the restaurant, we take them home. DH could get just a big plate of fries and be happy.

That's good that GNC is replacing your Glucocil. Companies will usually do that rather than lose a customer. I would continue to buy where I got the lowest price.

We had pork for dinner last night, too. I make pork chops for him and country ribs for me, and I cook them in sauerkraut. I ate some mashed potatoes with it, too. Naughty girl.

I don't know what we will eat tonight. I wanted to go to the mall and then stop at Texas Roadhouse on the way home, but then I saw that the sale doesn't start until Friday, so that's out. I don't want to go that far just to eat.

Tomorrow we are watching our grandson because they don't have school. We haven't watched him for a long time. It's getting harder now that he's older. They indulge him too much and he is very demanding and wants his own way too much. We will bring him to our house for the day, then take him home after dinner. Then his parents are going out and we are going to stay and watch him while they are out, so it's going to be a long day with him. If we watch him at their house they will have to come home earlier, but I was not in the mood for keeping him overnight after having him all day. I wish he was the type of kid who would sit and color. LOL He is very active and all boy! If it's not raining, DH will have to be outside playing with him. He plays rough.

I hope you have a safe trip.

Shannon, where are you? I bought the Nov issue of All You today. Didn't read your interview yet, but did check to be sure it was in there. I like the magazine, overall.

I was reading online about Glimiperide and I'm thinking it might be the cause of my itchy rash. It's back, and yesterday I took the Glimiperide twice. I wasn't taking it regularly before and because of my psoriasis I didn't give it any thought when I hot itchy or redness, but I've been using it more often lately. I will have to stop it for a few days and see if there's any improvement.

Well we had the funeral service at her church and it was nice. The little girls stood in the back greeting people as we entered the sanctuary. She was cremated so they had a beautiful picture of her surrounded by some flowers and the minister made it a celebration of her life. Then they had film of pictures the 2 little girls picked of their mother then when the film ended he actually spoke to the children to explain everything to help them understand where their mother is and what all this means in a way that they could understand. He did a beautiful job. We got to spend some good quality time with our friends when everyone left. We are meeting them for a quick breakfast in the morning and then heading to see DH 1st wife's mother. We will be home tomorrow night hopefully around midnight.

Oh his DD and her DH paid for our room.

Eating has been mostly protein because that is about all I could eat of the food around me. I am looking so forward to getting back home and eating normal again.

Carol Sue Sorry about the glymiperide and the rash. Be careful with that.

Shannon I too have wondering about you. Hope not hearing from you means your having fun with your crafts.

Catch y'all when I get back home.

Have a great weekend.

Ladies, I have not written because I have been in a horrible mood. I had a VERY bad experience buying my very expensive machine last weekend and it just really affected me. It's all I've been able to think about. Aside from the bad experience with buying it, the machine is already broken significantly enough that I have to take it in to be repaired. Of course I will not return to where I bought it so we are taking it tomorrow to the service center we used in the past in our old town. It has just been a really disappointing situation and buying this machine has been my dream for the last almost years so it has just been a huge downer. At any rate I am alive and I will post again soon when I am in a better mood to discuss life. In the grand scheme it is small potatoes. I am a strong Christian who knows that "you can't take it with you" but I just have felt like I had a hot air balloon sized excitement and a very large pin was inserted by that dealer. I'm hoping after my machine is fixed it will be like a "do over" and I can get excited again and just forget everything up until that point.

Shannon, I am so sorry to hear of your disappointment about your machine. I know you were really excited about it and it's so hard when things go wrong, especially where big money is concerned. You have had so many things going on in your life recently and it really tests your faith. I believe it will all turn out in the end. This is one of those trials you must go through. Once you get it all settled your will make beautiful things with the machine and all will be well.

{{{Hugs}}}

Trish, it sounds like the funeral service was beautiful and you got to see people you haven't seen for a while. I hope your visit with "Grandma" goes well, too. That was so nice of DD to pay for your room.

Yesterday we had 6 year old DGS from 8 AM until 10 PM last night. We picked him up and we went for breakfast at McDonalds. Then we went to the mall. This one store often has these coupons for $50 off a $100 purchase and it's allowed to be things that are already on sale, but not clearance. I went there and bought some new clothes, while DH and DGS went out through the mall and looked at the stores. DGS loved the Halloween store and spent an hour in there looking at everything and trying on masks. Then I went to Sears and got a top and a pair of jeans. Then we came home for a while. We went for pizza for dinner (I had a baked fish sandwich, no bun) then took him home. We stayed there with him while his parents went on a Haunted Hayride with friends, then they came home at 10 and their friends were going to stop and see their new house before they went home. We left, so I don't know how late their friends stayed. It was a very long day for us. I had over 6000 steps on my Fitbit. That's the best I've done since I got it. I will have to go to the mall more often. We got home around 11, and of all things, I was hungry for broccoli. LOL So I cooked some broccoli and ate it just with butter and salt. Who craves broccoli? I intend to get back to eating the veggies like I was doing before.

Now we can relax the rest of the weekend.

Here I am talking to myself again. I'm starting to feel as though this is my own personal online blog. LOL Guess I have more spare time than everyone else.

My BS is up a bit but I am trying to cut back on the Glimiperide so I am trying to stay low carb and let it come back down on it's own. Hope it works. My rash is a little better.

I haven't been eating my Kale as much as I was and I want to get back to it. I bought some baby kale and find that it's so much better, although much more expensive. But if I like it, it's worth the extra money. It is not as coarse and the regular. It can be eaten raw in a salad, and it wilts down in a couple minutes. I will have to google and see if it has the same health benefits.

I need to get out more, but I love staying at home. Some days my Fitbit registers less than 2000 steps. That's not good. The highest I have had is 6,800, and that was the day I went to the mall. The next day, both my knees hurt, but I did get in a lot of walking. They say you are supposed to reach 10,000 steps a day, but I don't see that happening with me. We don't go to the mall as much lately because so many new stores have been built closer to home, plus there is road construction that is going to last over a year and there are a lot of backups. We don't know a different route except for little back roads. DH likes highway driving and avoids back roads.

Trish, I hope you had a nice visit with DH former MIL.

Shannon, I hope you are starting to feel better about your machine.

Hi to everyone else!

(((((Shannon))))) So sorry about the machine. That really sucks. I hope the bad start good ending will apply here. We are here for you if you need to vent.:hug:

Carol Sue Looks like it is just us right now. I do hope the others will check in.

Our trip was sad to see our friend go through all this. You know the Mother was DH 1st wife's very best friend. She latched on to Tony and me and then when we got to her daughter's house, she wanted me to sit beside her and she talked to me like we were best of friends. She literally leaned on me for support. Even DGS said when we got to his Grandma's house, "Nannie, seeing and hearing you and Mama J talking was like seeing and hearing Mama J and Meemaw when they use to be together and talk".

We are FB friends and I always put inspirational things on FB because I have lots of family and friends going through things and it helps them. I feel like it is kind of a ministry. One day someone (younger generation) complained about how people put inspirational things on there. I'm not the only one who does it, in fact the one who complains has an aunt who does the same thing. Any way, I politely explained that when I put things on there it is not for everyone, but for those special friends going through things. I was surprised that the friend above spoke up and shared how I always put something on there to inspire her just when she needed it. I had no idea that she was going through this horrible battle with her precious only child dying with cancer. She was a good friend when I married DH and moved to FL, but I never pursued a close friendship because she had been wife #1's best and closest friend. And sometimes elderly people give us wrong advice as precious as they are. DH mother had told me one day that this lady and I could never be friends with this lady. She was very wise on some things, but I have realized the past few days that she missed it on this one.

I talked to DH about it when we were alone on the and I told him, I should not have listened to mother, because this lady needed a friend again just like DH needed a new wife. I suddenly realized that it doesn't matter whether I have the same closeness with her as his 1st wife had because I'm not her. I didn't replace her or take her place. I can have my "own" place with all these people. I should have learned that with DH in laws. They all just accepted me into their family just like I was one of them. I call DH MIL Mom #2 just like he does because she makes me feel that way. His SIL treat me like their sister. I feel very blessed.

I know I am wordy, but I just have to share the best parts of this trip. The good that came out of it.

DD and I briefly spoke of past events without details. I am so thrilled that they paid for the room although, I really know they couldn't afford it any more than we can right now. And DH and I really did try to get them to let us pay some on it. In fact, DH even gave her money on it and she refused and made him take it back. With the way things went when they left, I really felt like they had just used us. I am extremely happy to say that now I believe I was wrong. I believe we were all victims of the economy etc, etc. She and I cried together and we shared our love for each other and how we wanted our good relationship back the way it was. She did cry and tell me that she would move back in a split second if she could. Of course her husband is the one who wants to stay in FL. So there was much healing that went on even my little DGD (I call her mine because she was 1 month old when Tony and I married. So without going into more detail. All is good.

The other message was getting so long, I decided to add a shorter one.

Carol Sue Great job with the walking. If walking too much hurts the knees, you may not be able to do more. Remember what my doctor told me when I told him that I couldn't do more than 3 miles even though I wanted to. He said "You may have to learn to be satisfied with that". I don't think they are too much into pushing ourselves any more because we can damage something especially at our ages. So I would say that the fact that you are moving around and doing what you can do is good. Maybe you can eventually do more, but if not, you are still doing good because you are moving. :)

I pretty much stayed low carb this weekend but did not take any pills yesterday because, the day of the funeral I thought I was going to have to miss it because something set off the running to potty just before we had to get ready to leave. That was one time I was glad they were running late as usual. I had seen my anti-diahrea pills just before I left home and almost didn't take them with us, but decided "Well, just in case..." and threw them in the overnight case. Thank God. I took 2 doses per directions and I was fine the rest of the day. DSIL is doing 600 calorie/10 carbohydrates a day. Somebody said with a doctor's guidance, but I think DD is monitoring him which I guess as long as she keeps a close watch on his vitals, but I worry he might not get enough nutrition. He wants his chief to send him to the police academy so he can become a policeman so he is trying lose weight fast. Any way, I decided that us both doing low carb (of course, I know not to go that low) that it would make it easier + I got some pointers from him that I felt were good some not.:dizzy:

Long story short, I came home and got on the scales this morning and I weigh 211.6 today. I will keep up some of what I did except I will eat better quality food than I did for those 3 days. My fbs was 143 which I think is good because I took no Metformin after the potty issue until last night when I took a whole one. I did not take my bs meter with me because I decided to just relax and stay low carb and see what would happen if I wasn't thinking about it all the time. I didn't take any pills yesterday because I really didn't know what caused the problem. I don't think the 143 reading is bad because I went with out the Metformin for 2 nights and the last reading before I left was 165.

So a lot of good going on. I lost weight instead of gaining and the difference after this trip which is unlike the summer trip is that I'm going to keep this weight loss going instead of messing up and gaining.

Have a blessed Sunday

Trish, it sounds like you trip was good, all in all, considering it was for a funeral. It's always good to see people you haven't seen in a while and it's nice that you are accepted so well into DH's past family.

I always wished I had a big family. My mother was very hard to get along with and drove a lot of her family away, so even now that's she gone, I don't see them much. We are cordial when we see each other, but don't go out of our way. I took my mother's side even though she was mostly wrong, because she was my mother. She had very rigid beliefs and shared her opinions loud and clear. LOL Now that I'm older, I realize that a lot of the things she told me about her sisters probably wasn't true.