Welcome to Monday, I'm in Chicago!
We go to Chicago in a torrential rain storm with severe flooding on Saturday evening. All the exits coming from the South were closed to the south.I had to take the toll way west of the city to approach my daughter's exit from the west.
Driving in blinding rain isn't fun. It's like driving get in a white out! I finally got to the first oasis on the toll way and that's where I stayed for about an hour and a half ca uh see my nerves were fried!!!
We r here for about a week then bum going home for 4 days and coming back for three weeks!
Talk on I'll check back later Carla
Good morning Carla and everyone.....
Carla....please put your safety first. I would have pulled off and found a coffee shop or better yet a motel. I would never drive in that weather. So glad you made it okay!!
How long a drive is it from your home to your daughters house? Enjoy being with your sweet little Vinnie. I saw the pictures on Facebook last night. She is growing like a weed!!
Vickie...I saw and commented on most of your pics on Facebook. Benny had an awesome BIRTHDAY PARTY! Loved all the pictures. Those boys are just the sweetest!! You look amazing...tiny little you!!! So glad that Butch will be getting in to the doctor. I am keeping all of you in my thoughts and prayers.
I hope Judy is having a great vacation!! Don't they come back today?
Eileen...I hope your pain is subsiding. HUGS and LOVE!
My mind is blank...sorry I can't think of who else I was replying to. Love you all.
As for me....not a lot. Last night Nic came and spent a few hours with me. Then he was off to my BIL's for a couple days. He will be going fishing with my EX. Then Kyleigh and Mitch stopped by for a bit. Then Amanda called. I was planning a quiet evening but this was even better!!! I finally got to bed and Carrie called!!
As usual nothing seriously planned for the day. I was going to do laundry but will wait until tomorrow. Seems everyone has laundry to do today!
I took a shower a bit ago. I think I will grab my new magazine and go sit outside on one of the bench's for a little while. The sun is shining. It is still only about 75 degrees right now. I want to get out before the humidity gets any worse.
Wishing you all a beautiful day!!
Prayers for our wonderful OFF family.
Much love and many hugs to all.....connie d
Good morning (barely!) Carla and Connie and all my OFF sistas!
Carla, that long drive would just wear me out! I don't know how you do it. Have a great time with darling little Vinnie. She is so cute!
Connie, so glad you're getting to visit with so many of your sweet kiddos these days. I know that is special and fun for you! The humidity is ghastly here, too. Funny thing, the temps have not gotten above the low 90s here yet, but the humidity is so high, we can't stand to be outside. However, my flowers are loving it. Even my snapdragons are still hanging in there, which is unheard of for June in Texas! I did lose quite a few of my impatiens, which makes me very sad. I'm going to look for more this week, but it's awfully hard to find impatiens here at this time of year.
Today we take Butch to the doctor at 3 o'clock. He sure did have a rough night. He's in a lot of pain. And coughing constantly. I'm scared to death of lung cancer for him. He was such a heavy smoker for so long. He's been quit about 10 years now, but he already got bladder cancer from smoking (yes, smoking causes BLADDER cancer), and that happened after he had quit, too. And of course, he has prostate cancer which we are controlling with hormone therapy. I sure hope and pray this is not another type of cancer that is causing all his back pain and coughing.
Tomorrow I go back to see my PS at the Wound Care Center for what I HOPE is my last check up. The "hole" where my old belly button used to be has finally healed over and closed. I hope she discharges me tomorrow.
Connie, thanks for them sweet words, hon! I did look pretty thin in that picture, didn't I? #thinthighs 
LOL! Yesterday I was wearing a pair of my size 16 denim shorts, and they were too big. Carrie had on a pair of size 10 denim stretch shorts and she made me try them on. HOLY COW! They FIT! I couldn't believe it. I still don't trust myself to stay this size. Every time I think about altering my clothes, I stop and shy away from actually doing it. The mental and emotional hangups from Morbid Obesity are forever with us, aren't they?
I have so much I want/need to do around this house for the next two weeks! I hope my shoulder holds out. I have painting to do, both inside and outside, and heavy duty cleaning, and furniture rearranging, and sewing! So much to do! Carrie and some of her friends are coming to spend their 4th of July weekend here. Meanwhile, we are taking Chris and the boys to the YO Ranch for the 4th, so we won't be here when the 30-somethings invade us. Carrie invited FOURTEEN friends to come down here! OMG. She says she knows not all of them will come, but still! Anyway, all I'm going to do is leave the house clean and clean linens on all the beds. I told Carrie to tell everyone to bring their own towels and pillows. And they will have to pool their money and go to the grocery store for their own eats. And I know several of them will be bringing their dogs for the weekend. I'm trying hard to tell myself these are adults (not teenagers!) and they can certainly manage a weekend here on their own without mass chaos and total destruction. Right??? (Please tell me I'm right!)
Well, I need to go. Today is devoted to clearing all these stacks of papers and bills off of my desk. OMG. So much has piled up. I'm probably more than half late with all of it, and that is so unlike me. #toomuchvacation
Love you all!
Vickie
Hello Vickie.....YAY size 10...I think you need to move a lot smaller down the size chain!
I am so glad your wound is healing. I pray tomorrow is your last trip to that doctor!!
I am still praying for Butch....I will be waiting for an update.
I would think Carrie is old enough, and her friends are old enough to clean up after themselves. They stay for free so yes they should buy their own food as well. I would have said "NO" to all the dogs. I hope they clean up after them as well. I guess I would tell Carrie if all isn't as you left it, they won't be doing this for a 2nd time!! I am on your side!!!
Love you much....HUGS....connie d
Good Afternoon Carla, Connie, Vickie, and all to follow,
I'm in the middle of chores, and took a break to grab some lunch, and check in here. Carla, I'm glad you got to Chicago safely. We had some rain during the night, but I must have slept through it. It's overcast and rainy, but nothing torrential.
I have laundry going, so is the dishwasher. I am tempted to start tearing apart my spare bedroom. Problem is, it will take days to get it finished, and I'm busy tomorrow. I'm watching the boys in the morning, then going to the zoo, to do an outreach. I like doing the stations, where I sit with one animal, and share my knowledge about that animal. They're easier than the lessons, where we talk about a variety of animals, about a specific topic.
Connie, I'm glad you got to see the kids. That's fun.
Vickie, I hope Butch's pain turns out to be minor. I wouldn't think the worst, till you get the bad diagnosis. Right now it could be anything, not just cancer.
Must get going.
Hugs and Prayers.
Trish
Albert Schweitzer
Hi Trish....I feel like a dang fool compared to what some of you ladies get done in a day. You amaze me. I used to be so active all the time. This last couple years have really slowed me down. If I could only be pain free!!
You need a couple of days off from family and volunteering to tackle your spare bedroom. With no interruptions you should be able to fly through it all. It would be hard to do stopping and starting all the time. I would talk to the people at the zoo and then Colleen and have a mini vacation!!! You deserve that much!! This is just my opinion....maybe it wouldn't work out for you.
Love and hugs...connie d
Hi Carla and my OFF family:
Glad you made it to Chicago, Carla. Saw the photos on Facebook. Vinnie looks a lot like you.
Today's my Friday ... hope it goes smoothly. I had a email run-in with my one coworker who irritates the hell out of me ... I told him I was coming in at 4 (I come in later on Sunday because I work 9 hours on Saturday; got to even it out or I'm into OT and the high boss doesn't like that). So he shoots me back an email saying does our boss (the copy desk chief) know I only work a 7-hour shift? I said you can tell her, but I need to work less on Sunday or I'm in OT. He said OT is fine on Sunday. I don't know where he got that idea, but I was always told OT is not fine unless it's authorized. And it's discouraged. He's ******g me off, anyway. I forwarded his email to my boss, told her to get him off my case. He's not my boss. He has no right to tell me what hours to work. It's not like I'm coming in three hours late. It's a half hour.
Anyway, not much else happening here. I feel better than I did Saturday, but that's relative. I never feel really good, just in less pain. By the end of the day, I'm in pain.
I need to get into the shower and have lunch. Have a good day. Feels like rain ... supposed to get thunderstorms sometime in the next couple of days.
Hi Eileen.....I am so sorry for all your pain....I can really relate. I never feel really good either. Pain is there every single day. The degree changes but it is never gone! These storms coming and going have me in so much pain...by night fall...I can hardly walk.
I think it is awful how your co-worker has treated you!! I am glad you sent the info to your boss. You don't need the added stress of that monkey!!! How rude!!
We are expecting storms later too. I a getting tired of this weather!! Hope you can get through the night and then have some days of rest.
Love you....HUGS.....connie d
Hi sistas!
Just wanted to post an update on Butch's condition. Because his medicare doesn't go into effect until next week (July 1st), we just sort of did the bare minimum today. Saw the PA, not the real doctor, this afternoon. They ran a urinalysis and found white blood cells in his urine, which indicates a kidney infection of some sort. So they're sending a sample to the lab to be cultured. That will take 3-4 days to run. In the meantime, he is starting on an antibiotic and also a pain/anti-inflamatory drug to manage his symptoms of back pain. We have a follow-up appointment next week and at that time he'll have a full blown physical and blood work and all the rest.
The good news is that his lungs sounded clear and there was no blood in his urine. But we still don't really know what is wrong. Hopefully he'll start to get some relief quickly from these new meds and we can limp along until next week.
I did mention all the cancers and the smoking history, etc., to the PA, but he didn't seem to think that was connected to today's problems. So what do I know? We will see the REAL doctor next week and I'll explain it all over again to him.
On a more personal note, I have done much better with my eating today. Maybe the hormones are starting to take effect again. Yesterday I ate so much cake and chocolate. Ugh! I was just CRAVING it, like I used to do before WLS. Of course, I was sick as a dog this morning from eating all that junk. But today I haven't had the cravings. And we stopped at the store and I bought a bunch of fresh fruit to snack on and I didn't buy a single processed cookie or snack at all! My weight was back up to 170 this morning, and frankly, after all the junk I've crammed down my throat the last couple of weeks, I was stunned it wasn't higher. Maybe I caught myself in time before I did too much damage to my new low weight of 168 lbs!!! I really want to go back down into the 160's again. I'm trying.
Butch says he feels too badly to eat much supper, so I'll make him a grilled cheese and tomato soup for his supper. I think I'll just eat veggies and fruit. Sounds good and easy to me.
Love you all!
Vickie
