Saturday - A Wonderful Day for

Good Morning Friends,

Sorry I've been absent, but really been busy and not too active on the computer, with the exception of Candy Crush, which kind of soothes me after a busy day. . .

Food choices have been mostly good, movement so so, based on my back, which since the move at work, which caused a set back, has not been good. . .  I have started back at the Chiropractor, as he really got my back in good shape until the aforementioned move and my lack of time to see him.  So weight is still kind of flat and stuck, but oh well, my main objective is to get myself in better shape, so that I can actively build my core and the weight will take care of itself.  With that being said, not sure I spoke on this before, but my company has an onsite gym, open 24/7 for those of us who work for the company, it's not big, but has the right stuff to aid in what I want to do and so I set up a consult for July 6th to begin the process of reclaiming my strength and happy place.  They boast a small staff of people to help get you started, small classes and the usual assorted gym stuff, personal trainers are available, but expensive, so I will likely forgo that for now.  Got a plan and I'll be darned, I am not going to let myself down.

So today is a day where I will be going to the Chiro, then hair dresser, then home to hang with the doggies until I need to leave for New York where I will be attending a Dead & Company concert this evening with my cousin and her husband at Citifield (Mets' baseball stadium), the weather is supposed to be low 80s, low humidity, which will make it perfect for concert going.  I will sleep at my cousins and then head home tomorrow, taking Monday as a PTO day to do whatever I want and that's my weekend in a nutshell.  

Food choices since I am going to New York, will likely be somewhat off, but I will not stray too far, just enough to feel like I'm home.  Last week me and few friends went to Coney Island for the Mermaid Parade, which was mostly a lot of fun, and I got to have a real Nathans hot dog (half bun) and I indulged in French fries, at the original Coney Island, they are cut daily, not frozen, and they were as good as I remembered as as kid, but I walked and walked that day, so I did not feel guilty and when my friends had ice cream, I was not even the least be challenged and choose not to have any, so I can practice restraint when I go to NY.  The temptation is always to stop at this wonderful bakery I know of and buy a loaf of good Italian bread and a couple of pastries, I will try to forego that temptation. . . 

Have a great day one and all!

Laureen

Hi Laureen

Go to NYC and ENJOY your concert!  Sorry about your back but so glad you have access to a gym at work.  You've got this.

I am running around putting out fires here in Arkansas.  I am having to terminate a real estate contract and evict an early occupant.  It is such a weird situation.  Other than that I am nesting.

I have suffered a devastating loss.  A friend of 27 years.  I haven't felt these emotions since I loss my mother.  In many ways it's worse.  My mother was 93 and had lived a good life.  This is just to say that my eating and movement are off.  As far as eating goes......I can't.  I am living on peanut butter crackers.  Anything else either comes up or sends me to the bathroom with diarrhea.  I know this will pass but in the mean time I am making sure I take my vitamins. I am  sleeping a lot during the afternoon.  At night I am in bed by 10 and awake by 4am.  In the big picture I guess I am sleeping the right amount of hours and still walking 6,000 steps most days.  My food is the only area in which I feel I am not doing well nutrition wise.  I'm doing the best I can and waiting for the gray fog to lift.

Hope everyone else is doing well and having a great week end.

Linda,

I am so sorry for the loss of your friend. When my SIL, who was my friend since we were little girls, died, I was forced to realize that we are getting to the age where more and more of the loses will be people our age and not our aged relatives. 

The gray fog will lift and until then, you do what you have to do in order to get through this mental anguish. Sometimes, eating is the only thing that can comfort our souls; we just have to make sure that the food choices aren't adding to our mental anguish too much. 

Just remember, we are here. 

Oh Linda, words really don't help much, but I am so sorry that you are going through such grief. I am familiar with the physical manifestations...crackers are sometimes the only thing. The only thing that helps me is knowing that the amount of love that you had for your friend was felt by her. That is worth any amount of pain. Be gentle with yourself. 

Julia

So sorry for your loss, Linda. I went through something like that, too, the loss that is, of a dear friend. The food, well, nothing bothers me other than fried foods. Hang in there. 

Linda,

I am so sorry about the loss of your friend, I understand that sort of sadness and loss is loss and there is no timeline for grief.  Sending you my best wishes. . .

Hugs, Laureen

Laureen,

It sounds like your head is in the right place. So many of us start this process with the notion that the surgery will get the weight off of us and we rarely work on the problems we had prior to the surgery such as working on our health and the rest will fall into place.  Getting your strength built and endurance back will help with the other and that was my mindset when I decided to gain control of my weight gain.  I talked to my nutritionists and my psych guy and we decided that my only option was to work toward health and not toward weight loss...it's the weight loss idea that sends so many of us into stress attacks which as we all know creates a chain reaction that pushes us towards eating.  

Moving and taking care of your body are the best choices...and the eating, it looks like for you, is taking care of itself.  

I hope your visits to the chiropractor are successful.  I have a masssues and his hands are like liquid heat and he makes my neck and shoulders feel so good. I really wanted to go to a chiro but my insurance makes us get a referral from our doctor and my doctor said because of my back and neck conditions, he wanted my neurologists to do the referral and you all are probably familiar with the ongoing battle between chiro and neuro docs so I didn't get a referral but he did refer me to a physical therapists who does massage and who is familiar with where my back injuries are and how to handle the nerves and so forth....he also uses electrical stimulation and some deep ultrasound....but sometimes I just want my back cracked...you know?  

Well, let me get off here and see about doing some cleaning. The kids are with their mom this weekend so I am taking advantage of the emptier apartment.  

Ladies,

My grandchildren are with their mom this weekend so I am taking advantage of the empty apartment and am doing some cleaning and watching inappropriate TV...you know Orange is the new Black, that kind of inappropriate.  

Today I had loaded oatmeal for breakfast and it just tore my stomach up.  I didn't add anything to it but my husband reminded me that it is a lot of fiber, so maybe it's a good thing. At least I didn't get sick to my pouch....you know?

Lunch will be turnips, greens, squash, and peas. My daughter's garden is going crazy.  Dinner tonight will be salmon, the leftover veggies from lunch, and probably for me some shrimp or mushrooms.  I am not a big salmon eater. My DH loves it but it is a little too dense for me...so I usually eat a bite or two and fill up on mushrooms. 

Last night, after we took our grand babies to meet my daughter, we stopped and ate at a little Chinese restaurant that we love. The owner is a delightful woman from China whose husband came here years ago and started the restaurant and after years in the restaurant business, he died and she had no choice but to take over the handling of the restaurant. Her son was my student and he ended up with an MBA from our university and he works for a huge corporation 8-5 and helps his mom in the evenings...and they are both delightful people. Whenever we eat there, she always gives us expensive chocolate candies with our fortune cookies and we take them home and DH eats them...so we went there to eat and she had her chef make me so steamed crab legs and they had just gotten a shipment of stone crabs in so he made those for me too and I love eating crab meat...it's my favorite seafood in the entire world.  I like cracking the legs and pounding the claws and it gives me an excuse to play with my food and dip in butter....all my favorite things. So, I was eating the crab and then out came the stone crabs and I was eating those and she comes over and sits with us and in her broken English, she tells me that she wants to take the Citizen test but her English isn't good enough....I told her of course I will work with her and she will pass the test so starting next week, she and I will be meeting every single day during my lunch hour and we will begin her reading and writing English studies.  She was so happy and I was so happy and when we went to pay, she wouldn't take a penny, so DH left the cost of the meal as a tip to the waitress....a win by all was had.  I have picked out the language books she will use and I have lesson plans for the next few months and I am pretty sure she will be ready to take the exam before Christmas.  Yeah! One of my favorite community service volunteer jobs was when I taught the GED classes and the ESL classes for citizenship.  I volunteered for the Ozark Literacy Council and had a blast working there until I took my full-time job at the university. I think, though, it might be time for me to go back and see if there's a place for me to teach at least one class.  

Well, let me get off here and get my butt in gear....I am going to wash all my dang bed covers and get them put up until winter and that means going to the laundry mat to use their big washers and dryers.  

Ladies, eat smart, move a little, and practice mediating.  I promise you positive results from just soothing your mind a few times a day.  It's like doing Kagels...you do it a few times a day and you can sneeze without losing a drop of urine....same with meditation, do it and you will learn to control the stressors in your life and not the other way around....speaking of Kagels, I'm doing them now...see, tighten the floor of your pelvic region to reinforce your bladder and gain control of that sphincter....great way to save money....no more pads....

Jeannie,

You are so kind to help your student's mom with her English. That is a priceless gift. The Kegal comments made me laugh...if I want to shock my teacher friends I'll tell them I'm doing my Kegals....haha!

Julia

Hi Laureen and OFF,

I have been home from Pennsylvania since Monday.  My food has been off, because I can't kick the damn sugar, and seem to have no desire to.  When I was preparing for surgery, I was able to wean off it, and then stay sugar free from the day before surgery till December 2007.  Now, it's off the hook.  My meal choices are good, but that addiction is the worst.

So, I have been avoiding checking in because of where my head is.  I need to get more focused on my overall program.  Back to AA more than once a week, and back to church.

Must scoot.

Love,

Trish