Hi everyone! Welcome Sunnycocounut, look forward to hearing all your tips that have helped you. We went to church this morning..great teaching! DH was kinda sob walking in and out and couldn't stand much but was glad to be there. After church our dd and her fam came for their "Christmas" with us. We had a snack type meal and enjoyed having them here. Everyone liked their gifts. Our son got home in time to visit a bit with them and for kids to thank him for their gifts. He isn't feeling well and hurt his foot during the intense walking he has to do with the military. He's soaking in the tub right now. I'm very tired myself and may go to bed extra early tonight.

The good news is I lost 3# this week! But i have no idea how...I haven't eaten much different than usual to be honest. I hope I retain this loss and it would be nice to lose more. You may remember I gained 10# when I started this new diabetes med so I would at least like to lose that amount.

Perhaps my bs causes my difficulty with sleep too, Carole Sue, I don't know.

Hi Love2garden, glynne!

Love2garden, DH will eat leftover lasagne or stuffed cabbage rolls for some reason. Very rarely will he eat anything else leftover. He knows it's in the refrigerator, but for one thing, he thinks it spoils if not eaten right away, and also, he thinks eating leftovers signifies that you are poor. He would never want anyone to think he is poor. He has a strange way of thinking about things. I have grown accustomed to it over the years, but I realize how it sounds when I explain it to other people.

Mary, I am very happy to hear that you have lost 3 lbs!! Yay! Don't worry about why, just accept it, as long as it's not coming from illness. It's possible that you are busier than usual and just not eating as much without realizing it. After my second bowel surgery I gained 20 lbs and I just can't get it back off. I go down a few pounds, then it goes back up. When I was down to 180, which is by no means, thin, I had bought some new clothes. Now they are too tight again and I would like to at least be able to wear them, as they are brand new. I do very well for the first half of the day and then it all falls apart around supper time. My blood sugar is not under good control, either. I need to be more diligent.

It sounds like you had another nice Christmas with your DD and family. I think you have a very nice family, Mary. I love hearing about them. Very loving, and caring for one another.

Good morning GG's,

We had a nice weekend. Saturday DS Jason got back from his vacation trip. Got to talk to him on the phone. Also got to visit by phone my mom and my sister.

Yesterday, we had our “Christmas” with DD Sara and her kids Corbin and Maddie. Corbin was only here for a short time ~ wanted to get home with his friends to watch the Dallas Cowboys football game. Sara and Maddie stayed and spent the afternoon with us. Sara made a homemade pot pie and I had made a pasta salad she asked me to do and had an apple pie and ice cream for dessert. Maddie played with the stuff we got her and then they went ice skating (our town puts up a tent like structure around Christmas time with an ice rink inside). I just watched ~ figured I have enough stuff on me that needs to be fixed ~ I didn't need to add a broken hip to the list. I have never been ice skating in my life and it is probably not the time to try it now.

Thankfully my husband likes left overs. I think maybe if husbands were the ones who had to come up with a new meal every day ~ they might look at left overs differently.

I'll try to get some personals later. I should try to spend less time on the computer and get off my rear and move more.

Feeling kind of overwhelmed ~ lots to catch up on after being gone for many days. Still feel kind of tired and like I need to rest up some more. I think it would help if this darn cold dreary weather would get over with. Where is that sun shine?

Hope you all are doing well.

Gayle, I have never been ice skating, and I don't intend to now. LOL I can barely walk on ice, let alone do it intentionally.

DH was single for a year before he met me, and he lived on donuts and french fries. He could easily do that now, too. If I am not hungry, I can make him a big plate of fried potatoes and he's happy. He likes them with Campbells mushroom soup poured over top. I like it too, but I don't eat more than a couple pieces. Not good for my weight or blood sugar. DH has never had a weight problem.

I like baked or grilled fish and he doesn't. When I want to cook that for my dinner, he is happy with a hamburger. He's not hard to please, but he doesn't want to try new things, or eat leftovers. LOL I like when we go out to eat because we can each choose our own meal from the menu.

Glad you had a nice day with your DD and her family.

For our "Christmas" yesterday I served mini quiche (veggie and cheese), brie cheese topped with fruit and a variety of crackers, a veggie tray and a fruit bowl. I made rice krispy cookies for the kids but was surprised to learn that my sil who normally does not eat sweets likes them too! I sent them home with the rest of them as I didn't want them around me. I enjoyed the meal and really liked the brie. I bought it but my dd was telling me she has made it herself (the fruit part), so may try that sometime.

Today I planned to clean our bedroom but am off to a very late start and already made the bed forgetting to change the sheets. After I post this I will dust and vacuum and call it done. I can always change the sheet tomorrow. I also want to mop the kitchen floor and take down the Christmas tree/decorations. I put them up a little at a time and will probably take them down the same way.

I don't skate (on ice or otherwise), my sister got into it when she was young but I never did although I did try it at the skating rink a few times. LOL I'm like you Carole Sue, I can barely walk on ice and hate to these days. I've had enough hurts in life and don't want to risk injury I guess. I've seen so many older people have an injury like a fracture and never be the same again. That kinda happened with my dh even. He jumped from that ladder in 2010 and fractured his femor and although he has done pretty well, he never completely recovered his prior strength even though he really tried.

Carole Sue - I'd be nutty if my dh was like yours, LOL Just kidding but I like a lot of variety. My dh is kinda set in his ways but he is still pretty adventuress.
But everyone has their quirks and there are worst things one could get in a husband and they have their good qualities too. I can't imagine life without mine. I've been with him since I was 19 so really have never lived much on my own. Before marriage I shared an apartment with other girls for about a year and then had my own apartment for about a year, but that was it. BTW, I love fried potatoes but can't imagine them with mushroom soup over....I don't like any of those cream of soups. Dh likes some things I won't eat too, won't even try some! I rarely eat leftovers but depends on what it is, but thankfully dh and our son will eat them. Now that our son is with us we don't have many leftovers and if we do he usually takes them in his lunch. He is so easy to cook for as he is not picky at all. How frustrating to get new clothes and now they are too tight! You have lost before so I know you can do it. My son showed me this old video and it has kinda inspired me...even though I am still not really applying it I just think of it alot! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow0lr63y4Mw
I'm like you do well first part of day and comes the evening when eat way too much. My bs is not good again too. I know if I'd rein in my evening eating it would be much better.

Thank you for the nice comments about my family. They do all love each other but we are not perfect. We have one dd (oldest) we rarely see or even hear from although we do have good times anymore when we are together. And there was a problem between our ds and dd during ds' visit which is why we had two separate Christmas celebrations. DH and I just love them all and pray for them.

Glynne - Any more news on whether you will have surgery? Do get the rest you need.

Love2, Sunny ...hope you are doing well!

Doing fine, Mary. Glad you had your extra Christmas and enjoyed it all. I agree about the ice skating, never tried it and never shall. I loved roller skating, but last time was when I was about 50, and decided that was it.

I love quiche. Please post your way of making it small or large.

We got married when I was 19, I met him when I was 16 on a blind date set up by my best friend and his neighbor. We really hit it off. He was in college, but we wrote every day that year while he was away and I was finishing high school.

Carole Sue, Your experience with buying good clothes that don't fit is exactly mine. I look at those things and should be empowered to do better, but instead feel discouraged. Finally DH took me shopping to get at least some clothes I can wear now. Thanks to washer and dryer I can get by fine but better get some weight off before long or I'll wear out what I have.

DH mopped Kitchen and bathroom while DD and I went to the Gym. What a treat to return to clean floors. His illness is gone and he is his usual restless self, got to be doing something.

I have been awol but reading....my Buckeyes won the National Championship, and will be tired for three days after staying up and then needing to get up. My youngest daughter turned 18 yesterday as well.
My other daughter rented a "cabin" in the woods in Ohio over New Years where our whole family gathered to celebrate our 50th Anniversary again....our wish was to have everyone together again....I made it thru Thanksgiving and last nights game not gaining! A real excitement for me.

I will be leading the Made to Crave Bible Study at our church starting in February, hopefully some other gals can get a hold of how to start the journey of craving God first and not food!

Love2garden, ever since I had my 2 abdominal surgeries my belly has grown, probably because of damage to my abdominal muscles. I've added a couple inches. My hips and thighs were never big, so when I buy pants I have a really hard time. If they fit my waist they are baggy in the behind. If they fit my behind, they don't zip or button. I wear some elastic waists out of necessity even though I don't like them. I don't know if my waist would get smaller even if I lose weight. But I should probably do that and find out! Huh!

DH has been cleaning the floors and running the vacuum since I had heart surgery in 2008. I was released to full activity a couple months later, but he still does it and I don't stop him. Shhh! LOL

Mary, I liked the video. Every time I complain about my weight DH tells me to quit eating. Like that's so simple! LOL

A lot of people have told me they couldn't live with my DH, but over time, I have adjusted to his ways. Some things bother me though. He does not like to be around people. He says he doesn't know them, but you never know anyone unless you spend time around them. His brother married a woman who has a daughter, just like DH had a son and daughter when I married him. His brother's step-daughter got married and had a baby, and the baptism is this Sunday. He refuses to go because he doesn't know "these people." This is his brother's family! What if I had felt that way toward his children? Well, I am going to the baptism with my step-son and his wife. I don't know what to say about why DH did not come, but I hope I'm not asked. My step-son knows how his dad is, but the others probably wouldn't understand. I don't want to lie, but the truth might cause hurt feelings. He went to the girl's wedding when she got married, I don't know what's different about the baptism. He does have good qualities, too, but some of them get over-shadowed by his quirks. My mother was a lot like him. She did not socialize much. Maybe I'm attracted to the same type of people.

We met when he was 17 and I was 14. Just as friends. Life went on. I ran into him when I was 31, he had been married, had children and divorced. He wanted to be with me constantly, never other people. I didn't see that as a red flag. He has been like that ever since. I adjust to his quirks, and I would imagine I have some quirks too, and he has adjusted.

I love to try new foods. Nothing ever tastes terrible to me, but some don't taste good enough to eat again. I won't eat really weird things, like snails or grasshoppers.

Deelou, Yay for the Buckeyes, and Happy Birthday to your daughter. Oh, to be 18 again! She has her whole life ahead of her.

I would like to care for my body the way God wants me to.

Somewhere my tracker and picture have disappeared ! The info is still in the box where I post weight?

Deelou, your tracker is still there. I can see it at the bottom of your post. I'm not sure what picture you are talking about.

I just spent the last few minutes playing with it and got one back😳

Good morning! Today is dh's post-op appt with his lung surgeon. We have to go early for a chest x-ray first. Then the incision nurse (from his colon surgery) said just to have them call her and she'll come over to check that incision. She is very nice and flexible, so glad, cause I'd like to have it all looked at while we are there. Last night another strange thing developed...he has been complaining of soreness that mostly hurts when he moves. He said it gets to about a 5 on the 1-10 scale but doesn't hurt all the time. Tylenol does not always relieve it, but Oxy helps. I had heard his complaint but just thought it was soreness from the surgery. Well, last night he shows me that it is more in the left upper quadrant of his abdomen and there is a bulge there. Of course, my mind goes wondering...fluid has run down there? bowel blockage from all the Oxy?inflammation due to the breaking off of part if a rib for the surgery? and more... It felt very firm last night but not so much this morning, but there is a definite bulging. So will ask the doc about that too. If it's not one thing it's another. Other than that he seems to be gradually regaining his strength...still tires easily and gets sob easily but I didn't think that was too unusual at this stage post-surg and his age. He even cooked dinner last night...polish sausage slices with green and red peppers and rice.

I have to get ready for our appt so no time for personals.

Mary, I hope Joe's pain and bulge are something minor. I have some bulging which I blame on scar tissue, but no pain with it. Pain needs to be checked out.

I forgot to mention this when you were discussing changing sheets. I usually change our sheets every 2 weeks. I have 2 sets...one is in the laundry at a time. DH saw something on TV that said you should change sheets every 5 days, or you could contract MRSA. That doesn't really make sense to me, because I always thought you had to come in some type of contact with MRSA bacteria to get it. But it made me think, and now I am going to change the sheets every week. I probably should have been doing that all along. DH has always taken his shower before going to bed because he does dirty work, but I have always showered in the morning to get ready for my day. Maybe I should switch to evening, too.

Carol Sue, I usually change bed sheets each week, wish I had extra sets of these nice flannel ones, but with washer and dryer just off the Master Bedroom, I can easily wash and dry then put them back on. Problem is, if power should go off, what? So I ordered a spare set and am glad I did.

I do better on a semi-schedule. Wednesdays are my day for the car and to do what I want and need, Thursdays are usually reserved for our Bible Classes that haven't started up yet for 2015, Sunday's are for Church, and possibly time with family. Then we reserve Tuesday's for Doctor's appointments.

With this schedule my house cleaning is set. Now that DH is retired, beginning on his second year, his cooking breakfasts most days and supper on some has changed my schedule a lot. I do go into kitchen to get those areas that I know need to be tended to that others in house don't think of.

With volunteer work taking lots of phone time and computer time, I have far less time to simply stop and read (I dearly love to read and to learn) In 2015 I hope to adjust for some more time to spend as I choose. Living room is now an Art Studio for DD, and TV room often has that thing blaring so I often feel without a quiet place to simply read and journal. Feeling frustrated about this issue, but not finding a solution yet.

Mary, please let us know what the Doctor tells you about Joe's issues.

Gayle, sounds as if you are needing that time to simply do what you want to do, too.

Dh's x-ray was very good much better than before surgery. His incisions are healing well (from the lung surgery). As to the new pain which is more like a soreness that can really hurt when he moves, the doctor says he thinks it is still from the surgery. Dh says he has numbness there too and that is probably from the cutting of nerves (I have it too from my gall bladder surgery). The dr said the bulge is probably just weakened muscles. Apparently this is all very common and the pain should go away as he heals, the numbness may or may not. Dh is now on activity as tolerated. I asked him not to lift heavy things until after a month at least. He is just past 2 weeks.

Love2/Carole Sue - I have always changed sheets every week unless we are away for part of that time. Of course there have been a few weeks I have missed for one reason or another, but dh prefers weekly. I don't see how one could get mersa that way unless perhaps if someone with the disease slept there. I don't know much about mersa though. I know it is sometimes in prisons. Love2 I like the way you do the sheets...I have way too many and not enough room to store them. If any ever get worn out I will keep it to three like you. Its like all the clothes we have...an not enough room for them too..I mean, we only have one body..how many do we really need or even wear in a life time even I think a weeks worth is probably more than enough for most people! But I didn't think that way when I was younger.
I like your house cleaning schedule too, I have tried a similar schedule but never can get it to work out. We like to do things on impulse or have to schedule an appt on the wrong day or something. Not sure what the answer is for me..it's something I've been working on for 52 years!

Carole Sue -I usually shower in the morning...until ds moved in I was a bath person but now I only occasionally take a tub bath as that is his bathroom. I have actually begun to enjoy showers, except I think my feet look better when I take a bath regularly.