Good morning to you all. It is cold this morning and we have finally had to put on the furnace for winter.
I have gyn appointment this morning so I am hoping we will get a surgical date set up. I was cramping and bleeding the whole darn trip. We didn't even get off the ship for the excursion as it was way too cool to go snorkeling or swimming in the pool and I told Jack I couldn't see sitting under a tent for 5 hours when we could enjoy what was on the ship, watch the new movies I took with us, etc. I couldn't go swimming anyway with the way I was so we just sat in the pool area and people watched and had a soft serve ice cream. They have a free machine on the pool deck.
We had a nice time overall considering I felt lousy the whole time. I gained weight as I couldn't control what I ate, not how much, but how the stuff was prepared and such. I had no way to weigh myself either to see what was happening. I can only hope they don't take me off my Belviq. It didn't help my legs swelled up again so was having that weight also. They are slowly coming back to normal now.
Jean: Have a great time in Minnesota. I hear they got a lot of snow.
Good morning, ladies! 39 degrees but maybe 52 for a high today. At least the sun is shining.
The new WW SmartPoints program starts Sunday so next week will be so busy! We are having a meeting Saturday afternoon to restock the shelves and get ready for the big day. Finally the emphasis is going to be on healthier eating with saturated fats and sugars being taken into points calculation. All the junk food is going to be expensive point wise.
Yesterday I had my knitting group and the First Thursday Bee potluck dinner. A good time at both!
I went to the surgeon on Wednesday and he dismissed me from his care so that is good. My PC doc said I can't do water aerobics, water Zumba or yoga for another month but it would be okay to walk for exercise. Bummer.
Faye, I'm glad you are back but so sorry you were hurting the whole cruise. I hope you get your surgery date so you can finally see an end in site.
Jean, I think I would freeze if it got to be 9 degrees here! I hope you have fun this weekend.
Maggie, is Will still in the research trial? I hope the new medicine works for him.
Good Afternoon from Minneapolis! There is no snow and it's a nice 48 degrees here. We are waiting for Jason and family to arrive. I can't believe how much the city has grown as well as the amount of traffic. Talk about living in rural Iowa!
Maggie, hope your doctor gave you a surgery date. It's too bad you didn't feel well while you were gone. There is no snow here right here, but there is quite a bit closer to the Iowa border.
Susan, glad you enjoyed your activities yesterday. I was surprised your doctor doesn't want you to do the water aerobics or yoga yet. I know you enjoy them. I'm sure he has his reason.
I need to change clothes and be ready to roll when Jason calls. Have a nice rest of the day and enjoy!
Good morning to you all! Going out early to WM to get some things the commissary doesn't have. Besides trying to get things put away and such, e have commissary shopping this weekend.
I have been really busy since we got home. I had errands yesterday, the doctor appointment and then doing non stop laundry and clean up from the trip. Next week I have to have a diagnostic mammogram on Tuesday, but the rest of the week is housecleaning. My house is a disaster and needs cleaning for sure. I have to get everything put away first.
Finally got a surgical date for a hysterectomy. They are doing it Jan 4 at 7:30 am. I asked to be first on the rotation. I want to get it over with. It will be so great not to have the pain and bleeding and such anymore.
Jean: We saw a man in the elevator with an Iowa shirt on so asked him if he was from Iowa. He said not anymore as he lives in FL, but he was at one time. I can't remember where he was from, but I told him my friend lived in Storm Lake. He said, "Oh, that's a nice resort area, but pretty ritzy." You never told me you lived high on the hog!!! Glad there is no snow. Hope Bob and Jason get in some good fishing. Have you read the latest Evanovich book? I just finished it this morning.
Susan: Hopefully the time will go fast so you can go back to your regular exercise routine. I would take the wheelchair up on the jogging and walking track on the ship and walk around with it. I knew I couldn't go very long with just a cane, but the stability of the chair allowed me to walk more.
Everyone have a good Saturday. Off to do my blood sugar and then breakfast.
It is another bright sun shinny day here. Not much going on to write about but I wanted to check in and post.
DONNA FAYE You will be new gal next year or whenever you go on another cruise and enjoy it so much more.
SUSAN No they don't have that trial going here with the team as far as we know but he isn't in it this time. They are determined to get it all though and he has two more sessions then an evaluation.
Have a great day my cyber friends.
Always remember ~ Never, never, never give up
Good Evening! It's been a cloudy cool day in MN but no snow. Ian's team lost, 28-0. They played Kansas City, MO, and that team had some huge kids on it. They also cheated and took some cheap shots when the refs weren't looking. I'm just repeating the comments being made around me because I wouldn't know a either move if I saw one. One kid on our team got the wind knocked out of him but was ok. Tomorrow's game is at 9:45, leaving the hotel at 8. We sat in lawn chairs, or stood, because there are no bleachers. We were inside so that was good.
Maggie, Guess I was thinking about Donna having surgery and typed Maggie for some unknown reason.
"Gma," I'm glad you have a surgery date! Obviously the man on the elevator hasn't been to Storm Lake in a long time. A lot of the ritzy people have left town, and we are losing retired couples every day. It is a pretty town around the lake and parks, but when you get into the "diverse" areas you would think you were south of the border. We have as many Mexican stores downtown as we do white stores. At least they are earning a living and hopefully paying taxes. No fishing on this MN trip, the lakes around here aren't frozen but it is a football weekend.
We went over to Amanda's brother's house for pizza and to watch the start of the Iowa game. Hopefully, they will hang on to their winning record. Iowa is ahead 6-3. Enjoy the evening!
Home again, home again jiggety jig! I am so very thankful we don't live in a big city! I can't imagine going to school at the U of MN and trying to find my way around the campus let alone housing. It is huge! Ian's team won their game today, 8-0. The kids were well matched in size and both teams played well; we were just a little better or maybe luckier. The 8th grade team was to play after us but the team they were to play had four players in the ER after their game yesterday. Rumor had it that three suffered concussions and didn't know it right away. The fourth kid broke his leg. They forfeited today and went home. The 6th graders won both their games so will head to Dallas next weekend. We drove home in and out of weird fog. Tomorrow is a busy day with money counting, a Christmas luncheon and meeting in the afternoon, and Kolby's concert at 6. I am ready for bed and heading that direction shortly.
It was another bright sun shinny day. Since we aren’t supposed to get some more rain for awhile maybe some of the mud will dry up.
I have decided to get myself back to a WW meeting tomorrow and start it with the new program and get all new material. I have a long enough vacation now and it’s time to get on down the road to getting thin. The good thing is I didn’t gain all that I had lost back so I don’t have to face getting it off again. It will be good to be getting the new material and get myself acquainted with it the rest of the month and start the new year with an idea of how it all works now.
JEAN Don't worry about the name for I got a big kick out of it and knew exactly who you were talking to. Nice to have that game inside but funny they didn't have any bleachers set up.
Good morning to you all. I woke up to go to the bathroom and couldn't go back to sleep so balanced my checking account, etc and thought I would go ahead and post so I didn't forget.
I am going out and getting my nails done this morning then I have an 11 AM appointment to have my underarms waxed. We shall see how that goes. I have arthritis in my shoulders and it can be hard to extend my arm completely to shave. I thought this would be a good alternative as they lay you on a bed and my shoulder would have enough support. I am going to ask them about my eyebrows too. I get them waxed at my hair salon, but they grow straight out and I think they should be trimmed shorter. I don't have much in the way of an eyebrow anyway but it bugs me.
We did the commissary shopping and finally have everything dragged upstairs to put away. We are tackling that tonight. I have another mammogram (diagnostic) early tomorrow morning and it takes a long time. It is miserable because it is very involved, I have to stand for a long time and my knee does not like that one bit, and again the shoulder issue comes into play. It is a much more involved thing than a regular screening. It is the left breast only where I had the calcium removed and now what they call fat necrosis is blocking some images.
Jean: Oops, I am sure you talked about the MN trip on posts while I was gone and I just made an assumption. You do Maui in February, right? I love living in the big city. Coming from such a small town you would think I would hate it, but I got so used to living in them when Jack was in the Navy I guess I just acclimated myself. You can certainly tell what part of town you are in here just by the stores. The area we live in was ok until it got gobbled up into the city limits and now it is pretty blighted. We have whole shopping areas where the stores are all gone. The mall here by us used to be a nice place to walk, but now it is awful. A black church bought it a few years back to develop and nothing came of that. The anchor stores are gone and I don't even know what is inside anymore.
Maggie: Hope you like the new program. We are sticking to what we use now. I like it, it works for us both and that is all that matters to me. I don't eat junk food anyway and though I am sure I don 't stuff enough veg into my day, I eat fairly healthy. I do a lot of portion control now with taking the Belviq too.
Good morning, ladies! 56 degrees and overcast today.
I'm not doing much until this afternoon. I know we'll be swamped at WW. I think this is the best change yet. The emphasis is on nutritional food and if an item has sugar or saturated fat, the points are going up - in some cases a lot. Points for things like chicken breast have gone down. Calories are being taken into consideration and a 100-calorie portion can be anywhere from 1 point to 10 so there will be no easy guessing. I'm so glad they are giving the nudge to fruits, vegetables, protein, and fat and steering people away from processed foods with no real nutrition.
Faye, this new plan is much better for diabetics. The old plans were written for the time they were released and much has been learned about nutrition since then. I hope your mammogram isn't too stressful. Ouch on the underarm waxing.
Jean, you are always busy! I'm glad Ian's team won one game. They need more eyes on the field to watch for the bullies on the field. The incision on my stomach is 9 inches long and that's why no exercising now. He wants to be sure it is fully healed so I don't get a hernia.
Maggie, you'll love the new program. You will need a new calculator ($9.95).
Have a wonderful day!
Last edited by QuilterInVA; 12-07-2015 at 10:30 AM.
Went to WW meeting earlier this evening and like the leader and the folks there. I got some booklets for Eating Out and the Shopping Guide one along with a WW booklet of Year-Round Fresh along with a new calculator which counts Calories, Sat Fat, Sugar, & Protein. The old one counts Fat, Carbs, Fiber, & Protein. I’ll be able to calculate the points from my old favorite recipes that have the nutritional information at the bottom of them using the new calculator which will get a lot of use.
Another busy day today. When I got to church this morning I found out the just hired secretary had quit. I assume over the weekend since she still had post-it notes all around her work area. I had some concerns about her but thought she would hang in there. The children's program was yesterday so had the regular first of the month givers plus all the extras who came to the program. I didn't finish until 11:15, passed up the gift shop money on my way home, changed clothes and headed to the P.E.O. luncheon/meeting. Got home from that in time to catch my breath and head to Sioux City for Kolby's program. I am one tired grandma tonight! I'm home all day tomorrow but need to go to the grocery store. Might even get the tree decorations out. Every year I say I am going to be more organized and it's not happening.
Maggie, the kids played inside where the university team and the Vikings practice. That's why there are no bleachers and very little room along the sidelines. This is the first year to be inside for which I was thankful. I can't imagine sitting outside in "normal" MN weather. Good luck with the new WW program. You go girl!
"Gma," I hope the mammogram goes smoothly and turns out ok. How often do you have to do that? Let us know how the waxing goes. We leave for Maui on January 27th-February 6th. I have a lot I want to get done before we leave. We lived in Minneapolis for a year, then Cleveland for four, but lived in areas where we didn't have the traffic and congestion. Where we lived in Minneapolis has gone from four lanes to six, the mall where we shopped is now completely gone with a WM in its place. Sioux City or Sioux Falls is as big as I would want to live in now. Storm Lake is around 9500 considering the illegals who aren't in the count.
Susan, Wow! I didn't realize you had such a long incision! Ouch! Has the price gone up for WW meetings?
It was nice to see so many posts today. I am heading for bed!
Good morning to you all. Going to be a sunny day in the 50's today. I have to head out about 8 or so for the mammogram repeat.
The waxing went great and I even had her fix my eyebrows and help with them. I bought a package deal for my underarms and I made another appointment for the day before I go into the hospital. I told the gal we could then discuss how often she thought I needed to come. I have so little body hair and it takes a long time to grow out, I don't want to be going in there and paying when it isn't necessary. They say 3-4 weeks but I am not sure I need to go that often. She said I was one of the easiest people to wax she has ever done. Sometimes they have to tweeze small hairs that don't come out, but she only had to do one hair with me. It took longer to shape my brows than do my underarms. It's not real expensive, $18 for underarms or the brows and considering how hard it is to raise my arms completely up, it is worth it. My right one complained even on the bed, but my left one wasn't too bad. She is a nice gal around my son's age and I liked her. We got along gangbusters.
Those dopes at the USPS never started our mail back up so while I was waiting for the nail salon to open I called them. Took forever, but he finally came back and said he caught her and the mail would go out today. We had a half container of mail and she just dumped the box right inside the gate but our mail for yesterday she put in the mailbox. It took me about 30 minutes to sort through the whole thing. Millions of catalogues!!! The lazy FedEx guy just hung a plastic bag over the gate with my package too. He knotted it and I had a devil of a time getting it out between the slates as it is a 6 foot fence.
I have to go into the hospital next week to get my blood work done for surgery and maybe an EKG I don't know. I just had one for the d and c so they may or may no do another one.
Susan: You definitely don't want an incisional hernia and have to go back in and get it repaired. I have had to have that done twice, but it wasn't at the incision site, it was at the ostomy site. Each colonectomy he did he had to go back in and fix a hernia around where the ostomy had been. Weird. Hope you aren't too busy for WW.
Maggie: Hope you enjoy the new program.
Jean: I am just hoping my Christmas cards get here in the next couple days so I can get them addressed and out. We used a photo from our cruise so I had to hurry around and order them when we got back. I have already sent Jackson's stuff and have Thomas's money already in a card so they are both sent. I got restaurant gift cards for the kids and will put them in their Christmas cards so I am all done with that. I hope you have a wonderful trip this year. Are all the kids going?
Good Afternoon! The sun is trying to peek through the clouds and the weatherman is predicting rain showers. It's a "warm" 49 degrees -- nice for December! I picked up the gift shop money this morning, wrote a $5000 check for the Auxiliary donation, made a trip to the bank, then back to the hospital with the check. Bob came home for lunch; now he and Sonny are taking a nap together. I have laundry going and should vacuum.
"Gma," it makes one wonder just how much training the new postal employees receive when they start. I stopped by the po last week to buy stamps and my favorite gal was training another gal. The new gal had a very southern accent and when I asked said she was from Arkansas. She was nervous and apologized for being slow. I told her I was in no hurry and to have a good day. I could tell she was relieved. Bob did find out our regular carrier will be back after Christmas. I wish there was a way to stop all the political mail plus the junk mail. I am on so many junk lists it makes me nuts. We are treating the kids and grandkids for the Maui trip. It is sort of a year early 50th anniversary celebration. If we waited another year the grandkids will be more involved in school activities so decided to do it early.
I hear the dryer buzzing so need to change loads. Hope you all are enjoying a terrific Tuesday!
It's too bad you didn't feel well while you were gone. There is no snow here right here, but there is quite a bit closer to the Iowa border.
I was surprised your doctor doesn't want you to do the water aerobics or yoga yet. I know you enjoy them. I'm sure he has his reason. 
Lol
Obviously the man on the elevator hasn't been to Storm Lake in a long time. A lot of the ritzy people have left town, and we are losing retired couples every day. It is a pretty town around the lake and parks, but when you get into the "diverse" areas you would think you were south of the border. We have as many Mexican stores downtown as we do white stores. At least they are earning a living and hopefully paying taxes. No fishing on this MN trip, the lakes around here aren't frozen but it is a football weekend.
Ouch! Has the price gone up for WW meetings? 
It took me about 30 minutes to sort through the whole thing. Millions of catalogues!!! 