What's on your PHOTO Friday Menu RNYers?

she loves it! I thought she was going to jump through the computer screen! (she's 18 years old - I haven't seen her that engaged with anything in years!)

Amazing! Amazing that she's 18 and amazing that she likes to watch TV!

Good morning! Small victory this morning-I haven't been losing much more weight, so I've been a bit discouraged, but I know it's my own fault for not sticking to my plan and eating all the delicious food being catered in. I haven't gained weight though, which is really what matters to the doctor. Anyway, I'm out of laundry, so I eyeballed my size 20 jeans (I was a 24 at the beginning of this evaluation, and have been in a 22 recently). They fit! I have been doing weight training at the gym (I know it's not conductive to weight loss, but I want to improve my strength) so I must be at least losing inches.

QotD: I have more of a "Thanksgiving Eve" tradition with friends than I do for actual Thanksgiving Day. On the Wednesday night before, we all get together at the mall food court, shove a bunch of tables together and eat food court food. It's not gourmet, but we started the tradition when we were teenagers ;) Afterward, we all go up to my friend's dad's house. My friend now lives in Denver, but it used to be HIS house too. He's kind of the "group" dad now, and we stop by his house often just to chat. We have the yearly traditional viewing of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, in which we shout our favorite lines and repeat the same inside jokes every year. Afterward, we play board games until the wee hours of the morning when, bleary eyed, we finally call it a night. I just love it because through the years, we've all scattered, most of us are married and some of us have kids now, but this seems to be the one night we all find sitters, gather at the mall and our friend's living room, and we're all 16 again...except now there's sometimes wine. Thanksgiving day is just whoever happens to invite us to dinner first. sometimes my paternal aunt, sometimes my maternal great-aunt, sometimes my in-laws.

breakfast: homeade breakfast burrito on a low-carb wrap (egg, sausage, monterry jack cheese, and home-pickled jalapenos)

B2: blueberry Greek L&F

lunch: spinach and buffalo-style tuna creations

snack: Oh snap! pickled carrots

Dinner: unsure. Grocery shopping tonight, and might just pick something up at the store to fix for myself (DH is gone tonight)

Photo: My Baker Creek rare seed catalog arrived. I'm circling things in it like a kid at christmas with a toy catalog, and fantasizing about spring again!

Congratulations on fitting into the size 20 jeans, Cassie!

Your Thanksgiving Eve tradition sounds like SO much fun!!! That's totally awesome!

Thank you! I've been kind of stock-piling smaller sizes when I go thrifting with DH, but I didn't expect to be able to dig through them before surgery. I don't have any saved from before due to constant moving in my early adulthood, and honestly I don't think the jeans I was wearing in high school are even my (or anyone else's) style anymore anyway. I was a pseudo-goth/punk teenager and wore JNCO jeans...the ones with ridiculously wide legs and pockets big enough to fit a textbook in.

As soon as cooler temps strike I start fanticising about spring! I'm not much of a gardener though so it has nothing to do with seeds. I just am not a fan of winter.

I like "crisp" fall temps, and snow on Christmas Eve but after that, I'm done with it! DH and I have plans to make another garden bed and I'm now dreaming of all the yummy things I want to grow in it!

I think you are doing fantastic! You should be very successful after surgery.

Thank you! I hope so too! I'm SO ready to just stop being stiff and sore all the time. I'm still too young for that! Lol

You will be amazed at how much better you'll feel and how much more energy you'll have. I was obese most of my life and didn't have surgery til I was 52 so I didn't know anything except back and knee pain every day. You have done so well pre op I can't wait to see how well you do postop. I have a feeling you'll surprise even yourself with your success.