Good Monday Morning Everyone!!!!
Yes, I have returned!!! Another vacation is behind me and thankfully so. Glad to be back safe and sound, though I can't say I'm liking being back to the heat and humidity-and rain!
Well, first things first, or should I say, most important things first is to talk about my visit with
FROG! How I so wish we could of spent more time together and more alone time together, but I am so thankful for the time we did get to spend. FROG is such a good sport, my kids and nephew had a blast with her, "dressing" her up in their wigs and having her imitate
LITTLE RICHARD, ELLIE MAY CLAMPETT and gawd knows the others. I took pictures, couldn't let this opportunity go by without getting some serious blackmail shots!
We also were able to get in a couple games of scrabble, which I love but hadn't played in years. FROG played a card game with the kids-I sat out and thankfully so-my butt just hurt watching them still playing after 3 hours. The evening FROG came in we met in town and while my Mother took the kids back to the mountain house (as we call it), FROG and I went to OUTBACK where she treated me for dinner-it really was the first real decent meal I had since we had arrived. Friday FROG and I went for a walk/run, where she thought I would be leaving her in the dust-NOT! I told her I don't do hills, only jogging down them, not up. She definitely left me in the dust and easily so. I couldn't even get my engine in gear that day for some reason and shortened the session not only due to that, but timing-we had gotten a late start. Let me tell you all, that FROG has definitely changed since I saw her in January! I could immediately see how she has thinned out and not only that, how she's gained some nice sleek muscles, esp. in her arms. AND, she totally impressed me by running up this steep hill in front of my Aunt's place that I have to walk up, and when I do, I look like one of those distance skiers who have to lean forward-she made it look so effortless the way she jogged up that "peak" she had me in awe. Saturday morning we had to head out early so we could get to GA to let the kids go to SIX FLAGS. I felt bad we had to all be up and out so early and didn't like that I had no time to just sit with FROG before we had to all scoot out the door. I have to say, it was the coldest morning that we had while we were there and as FROG drove away I noticed ICE/FROST on her car! I was sorry to see her go and REALLY enjoyed our visit, despite it being way to short for me.
FROG, THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN for coming all that way for such a short visit, it really made my vacation memorable and I know it did for the kids as well. Thank you so much for the foot goodies, that was so sweet of you to bring that for me and you can be well assured I will put it to good use, along with having ELI make good use of it on me
Also, thank you for bringing my MOM the linen water, I just can't get over how you'd not only bring her something, but something so appropriate that she thoroughly would enjoy-you have no idea how she loves that stuff and how many bottles she has-she uses them all. I also can't thank you enough for treating me to dinner-it was yummy and the best meal I had all week. I can't wait til you and BILL have the chance to come up there one day when ELI & I get up there to spend some quality adult time together! THANK YOU AGAIN!!!!!!!
Oh yes, MOM said to tell you "hello" and that she's sorry she sent you off without your morning coffee on Saturday.
I called
MONET on Friday to let her know we decided to take the kids to SIX FLAGS and she so nicely agreed to meet my MOM and I at HARRY'S. She was easy to spot since she so nicely told me what she was going to wear. Once again, it was like seeing an old friend after being away for a while. You can easily tell that she is definitely the artistic type. She has an artistic looking flair about her, so I think. And, I would so, if anyone has the chance to meet her, try to do so around meal time-she sounds like she's a fabulous cook! Where FROG leaves me in the dust with jogging, I can see MONET could easily leave me in the dust not only in the kitchen, but at the grocery store!
I would love to try some of her delectable sounding creations as well as her artistic ceramic creations-but until then, hope to see some pictures!!!! She was so sweet to take MOM and I to a ME grocer where I purchased a few goodies for ELI before heading back to HARRY'S. For those of you who don't know HARRY'S, it USE to be a great place, unusual farmer's market among having tons of other unusual items. I wasn't impressed and in fact, was quite disheartened during our visit to see it had really changed a lot and didn't have the draw it did in the past, not to mention many of the goodies it use to have as well. I did manage to finda 60% chocolate that I hadn't heard of before and a salad dressing too. Of course, I did take a few pictures before MONET headed off and will post those when I get them developed. The pic she posted of us does neither of us justice!!!! You cannot see the beautiful face she has and I have to tell you all, her hair is beautiful! Yes, she has gray hair at her young age, but it's beautiful. She reminded me of an old friend/customer JODY that also had gorgeous gray hair at a young age-hopefully, my pics will do us some justice.
MONET Once again, THANK YOU! I really enjoyed our visit, if even for just a little while. I hope next time I run through HOTLANTA that I will be able to spend a bit more time with you and maybe throw myself at your mercy to try some of that delicious sounding food you make. Thanks for the heads up on that rice, I'm looking forward to trying it soon. That dressing I bought, I opened it last night, just to see what it was like-delicious! I would recommend it, even though it's a lot more expensive than anything I've ever bought, I do think it's worth it-now if the price of lettuce would just come down!!! Thanks again for driving my MOM and I to the ME store-I'll have to come up with some ideas for you and that couscous, though I'm sure you have lots better ideas of your own. Next time, I promise, I will bring you some STARBUCKS COFFEE!!!!
So, here I am, home and hopefully back to normal. I started my day with trying to get back into my usual routine so I got myself out there and did my 4.5 miles in 46:15. Got home right before it started to rain, though I did have a few sprinkles in the middle of my walk/jog.
Here's my run-down of my vacation:
I loved my parents place! My parents bought this 2b/2b trailer up in the mountains, sight unseen. There are 14 or 16 (can't remember which) homes up this section in this development and there are only 3 trailers up there, which they no longer allow anyone to put up there and these 3 were "grandfathered" in. My Aunt built a modular home at th top of that hill the FROG ran up to and then the next place is my Grandparents trailer, the next it my paren'ts and the last one is my Grandparents other place, which they stick my Aunt in when she comes to visit. My parents place is by far the nicest and biggest of the lot-I really enjoyed it and look forward to being able to spend more time up there in the future.
WEATHER: The weather was gorgeous! We had one day of some rain, but after that it was just beautiful and we couldn't ask for any better weather. It was cold, that I have to admit, esp. the last day when we saw the ice/frost-it was in the low 30's!
The wind chill made it even colder. I'd much rather have the cold than the heat we came home to last night.
EXERCISE: I was able to get in 4 days of walking/jogging. Not being use to the hills up there I jogged down and walked up those darn hills. Sunday, Monday and Wednesday I was able to do 4.8 miles and then petered out when FROG & I went on Friday and figured we got in maybe 2.5 miles. I had a dog experience on Wed where this big black dog came for me and I had to pull out my mace. The owner was in her car coming down the yard and took her sweet time to come get the mangey animal. I said to her, "can't you get your dog any faster??" and three times she said "what?" Heck, I thought I was back in Miami and the woman didn't understand me-no, she was just pissed that she had to get out of her car and come get her flea bitten dog who was bearing his teeth not even 4 feet from me! She tells me "he won't hurt you!" and I said, "like I'm suppose to know that!!!!" Some people have a lot of nerve-she's the only folk up there that I can say was nasty, everyone else was wonderful-they all wave at you even though they don't have a clue who the heck you are!!!!! FROG & I had a dog encounter on Friday but it was a friendly one-eyed dog taht posed no threat, but we didn't know it when she came charging down to us.
EATING/FOOD: Well, I had all good intentions of being 100 legal during this trip, taking up with some of my foods, shake mix, my scale, journal, etc. The trip up there, I was fine but I made a BIG mistake and bought a organic brownie mix that I made for the kids and thus ended up eating almost the entire pan. I don't know what happened to me.
TWO YEARS of being OP, going on vacations and never going off plan, parties, events, etc. etc-nothing phasing me and my way of eating and a flippin pan of brownies throws me off the deep end! Yes, you heard right-the wagon came and got me and threw me off one of those mountains up there! Landed right on top of me too. I've always told you all that the reason I don't cheat is because I know myself and once I start, there's no stopping me-well, I don't lie and I stayed true to form and I just kept going and going and going, like the evil Energizer Bunny-there was no stopping me. I ate more chocolate in this past week than I have in the past 2 years! Then I got into some SF ICE CREAM, something I would NEVER even think of eating here at home-well, I had SF ice cream twice in one day and two other times, not to mention the 1/2 gallon of Breyers we had in the fridge at home. Oh geez, don't let me forget the SF butter pecan ice cream at Ryans, gawd forbid!!! Oh yes, and the CRUSTLESS CHEESECAKE I made with FROG in mind, who only had a little sliver while I had most of the cake!!!! I was like a monster-I didn't even know myself. I ate some things on this trip that I didn't even really like-you'd think if I was going to eat something I'd really indulge in some things that I could not get here at home, things that would be really great-but no, I ate stuff I wouldn't even consider worthwhile. AND, to top it all off, I felt awful, sickly. I can't believe that wouldn't even stop me from eating like a lunatic-nope, I just kept going and it went from bad to worse. Come Saturday, the day we were leaving, I told myself I'd try to be good-didn't happen, said the same on Sunday-wanted to hit Italiani's for lunch in Orlando, they chose GOLDEN CORRAL instead, wasn't totally bad there, but did manage to have more chocolate and found a FROZEN CUSTARD joint while in Ocala that I just had to try. I had bought peanuts for ELI while at Harry's, ate the entire bag in the car, chocolates, anything I could get my hands on. When we got home I ate a bunch of chocolate I had opened as well. I had lost all control!!!! Of course, not drinking hardly any water during this entire vacation didn't help either-have no idea what happened there. Besides a bit of water here and there at restaurants, I didn't even drink a whole 1.5 liter bottle of water the entire time I was gone-bad Debbie!
FEELING: This sort of continues the above. I knew even before I made those brownies, in the store when I had them in my hands that I was going to eat them, something deep inside made me feel that and it still didn't stop me from buying them. I do thank G-D that when I thought about going back to buy a few more boxes to bring home that I had some common sense to say no because I knew if I did so, that I'd not only make them, but eat them once again. I didn't think that it did THAT much damage, but after I kept going and going with my bad eating I started to feel bad-not only bad that I had lost all control, knowing the fact that 2 years of being OP seemed to have taken a back seat, but also feeling sick, lethargic and worst yet, lying in bed at night and feeling my skin crawling and stretching. I knew the pounds where coming on my body and I could actually feel the tingling in my skin. You'd think that right there would stop me from continuing on, but it didn't. It seemed what I had read from so many articles and had read in many posts of the past that once you let that sugar back into your system it's so hard to stop and that seemed to be what was happening to me. Yesterday, as well as Saturday, being in the car most of the time, driving, I could feel my pants being tighter than they'd ever felt before. When we stopped for the night on Saturday and I took off my clothes, I could see how evident that was from the elastic red streaks on my stomach from my clothes-not a pretty sight, nor did it feel good either. I'm sure not drinking water didn't help me any either-totally dehydrated and my lips being chapped big time sure confirms this.
TODAY!: Last night when I went to sleep I said enough was enough-the past is over, I'm home and back into my own surroundings with everything easily at hand-there are no more excuses. I can't conitnue on another day and screw up or I can get right back in the saddle and try to undo the damage I've done. I woke up with a sense of renewal and started the day with doing my 4.5 miles. I've already had 1/2 of a 1.5liter bottle of water and I've had LAUREN hide all my SB LEGAL CHOCOLATE. I am re-committing myself as of today, this morning, this moment to be back on track 100% and not to let myself go like this ever again. I am not proud of what I did, quite the opposite, and I have to take the appropriate course of action before things really spiral out of control any more which can easily undue all the hard work I've done for the past two years. I think my commitment to this WOE is stronger than this temporary insanity I had this past week and I know that I can get back to the way things were and should be.
SCALE: Believe it or not, there was the exact scale that I have at the mountain house, but not once did I get on it. Maybe it would of been good if I had, maybe seeing the scale going up would of jolted some reality back into my head, but I stayed far away from it, even though the kids told me it weighed them 20lbs less!!! BUT, last night when I came home, I was determined not to get on the scale until at least WIW to see the damages that had occured-I knew it wasn't going to be a pretty site. This morning when I woke up I had a internal fighting match with my conscience about stepping/not stepping on the scale. If I got on it, at least I would see the damage all this had done to me and maybe that would help me get back OP easier, and then on the other hand I thought if I could just get to WIW maybe I would be able to do a bit of the damage before seeing what damage was left. I have to say, I stepped on the scale and even though there's a definite gain, it's not as bad as I thought. I figured I'd be up close to 130, but I was 123. NOW, I'd like to kick myself from here to NC! Just to think that if I had stayed OP I'd probably had lost, or stayed the same, but after what I ate yesterday, I wish to God that I'd of not eaten all that stuff because that may just be the icing on the cake to make the scale go up. Anyhow, there's no use crying over spilled milk-it's over and done with, I gained some weight and it may take me some time to get my body back in gear, detox and lose those pounds-but I'm back, back at home, back on the board and
BACK ON TRACK!!!!!!!!!!! I've read one of our old MM posts that I have up on the fridge from not too long ago called
MAKING CHOICES and it's definitely something I'll be reading over and over again today and the next few days to follow.
So, how is everyone???? I really did miss you all. Has anyone been MIA/AWOL since I've been gone? Do I have to send a APB out for anyone?? Any NEWBIES?? If so,
WELCOME!!!!!!
I'm not going to even attempt to read the board from last week, so it there's anything really important, could someone please give me a heads-up???
I'm starting this week anew, so I better get my responses on the board before I have to write a book!!!!
TRANQUIL,
WELCOME TO THE BOARD!!!! Another Floridian!!!! We passed through JAX on the way up. Sounds like you are doing well your first week of SB, CONGRATS on your 1.5lb loss. House, spotless, too much energy-care to come to Miami for a visit and clean mine-it was bad enough to start with but now with having to clean out the car with all our stuff it's a lot worse-could definitely use the help-need a vacation, of sorts??? I'm sure you've already found how wonderful the gals are on the board-don't hesitate to ask for any help-we're all happy to throw in our 2 cents. Hope you'll try to attend one of our next SB GET TOGETHERS!!!
MEL, as you've read above, I too have had a gain-so you are in good company. Haven't had time to respond to e-mails, but I know you sent me one. Did you e-mail me your snail mail addy so I can send you a check? Is your SIL holding those coffee beans for me?? Will get up there probably next week, but will give her due notice.
GRACIOUS, sorry to hear you aren't feeling well. If your ears were burning for just a little while on top of all the other stuff you were feeling that was because MONET & I were chatting about you for a bit
KIMMY, loved the pics!!!!!!!!! Always great to put a name and a face together, not to mention the great body transformation!!! Fireplace? Those are almost non-existent down this way-would love one, love how they look, but would look pretty darned stupid in Miami!!!
MONET, I wouldn't worry about those 2 pounds coming back on-you know you are eating right and they are more likely just mystery pounds, not fat pounds like I gained. After we left you on Sat we went to KOHLS, found 3 tops-liked the store. We never made it to BREWSTERS couldn't find it. Sorta drove around aimlesly until we went to get the kids-MOM didn't know what to do, I sure didn't know where to go-not so bad though driving around, but would of difinitely been better if we found BREWSTERS-next time!! THANKS AGAIN!!!
ADRON, eating OP is actually easy when you are on a trip if you prepare right-I've done it so many times in the past-this time I had good intentions, but bad ones outdid the good for some reason.
ROSALIE, THANK YOU AGAIN!!! Thanks for getting last weeks board up and running for me, you made going away easier knowing I didn't have to worry about the board being started!!!!
THANKS TO YOU ALL for keeping the board hoping this past week!!!! If I get any free time, I will try to glance at the goings on of last week.
Okay gals, it's almost 10:30am here and I am going to mosey along and try to get some things accomplished before the day is gone.
I'll check in later!!!
{{{HUGS}}}
Debbie
194/123/129
SB since 3/22/00
Reached goal 6/10/01
I might clean their acts up too 
So I gotta go get him some meds... Heck, why not... everyone else in the house is on medicine, why should he be any different!!LOL!!!
...but I'm still with it and I'm exercising as much as I can 
. It's really true what they say about making an attempt to walk to destinations. Obviously that's much easier for me than some of you. I live in a city so I never have the need to drive...time constraint is my only problem. I guess that means I just need to walk faster 
