Monday May 22

Happy Queen Victoria Day for those in Canada! Weight 115.5, calories 874. Some of those calories were DH's homemade cornbread - not much but I couldn't resist. He insisted on making it though it has been months since he has done any real cooking. I had to help him on the measuring (he had only put in 1/2 of the butter and 1/3 of the milk) as well as setting up the oven, but it is really good and he loves the stuff. Hopefully he will eat it fast so I won't.

We cut down and pulled out 4 old bushes in the garden yesterday (one of which was a 12 foot high arborvitae). It took most of the day to get them out, as the stump removal on the last one was nasty. One stump came out easily with a shovel, 2 we pulled with a chain attached to the car, but the last one had unbelievable roots and ultimately I had to just cut them all with my reciprocating saw (love that thing). No time to plant after all that, so the hydrangeas will wait until next weekend (we are supposed to have rain most of the week). My back didn't hurt at all (it used to be extremely painful with any physical labor), but my hands are the most sore.

Enjoy your Monday!

You go Liz !! Sadie and I had a 15,000 step walk before the pool crew came. No structural damage or liner issues, despite the incredibly low water level. Luckily, it is raining for the next day, which will benefit the pool refill and my plantings (flower, veggie, and grass).

I am down two pounds, to below my range. I think I may be dehydrated, and believe this is a blip. When I gain or lose, I'm working on waiting 2-3 days, to see were I stabilize, rather than my old "knee jerk" reactions. The number on the scale will no longer be the single determination of success or lack thereof. (Work in progress !)

BB and Ann, still formulating some thoughts on your very interesting and significant insights yesterday.

Wednesday is my two year VSG follow up and "final scheduled visit" to bariatric office.

Ocean, it takes me 2 days before I see a weight gain after an unusually high calorie day. And then when I lower cals accordingly, my weight usually does a bouncy-bouncy (down, up, down, up, down) back to where I was pre-splurge.

That's one of the things I have loved about all the data I've kept on MFP -- I can go back and analyze it to identify patterns.

I must have found Ocean's lost weight! Just the opposite for me....retaining water after birthday dinner out for DS#1 at Japanese Steak House last night.

Very interesting conversation yesterday. Thank you all for your musings. I learn so much!

Busy, busy week. Scouts tonight, finals for the older 2 boys, car shopping for DS#2, parents coming to town on Thursday, graduation (Hallelujah!) for DS#1 on Friday, Family pics on Sunday and work, kid running, house cleaning etc. thrown in there throughout the week!

Liz, that sounded like quite the job getting those bushes pulled out!

Ocean, nice walk with Sadie! I could have benefitted from such a walk this weekend - though we had cold, wet weather!

Weight: 134.6

Macros: Cals - 1,668, Carbs - 148, Fat ? 69, Protein - 99, Fiber - 22

Veggies/fruits: 5 (goal is 7)

Sleep: 4.5 hours (erk!)

Exercise: None

* * *

And that's why Liz's sleep rule ("Get up at your regular time, no matter how late you fell asleep") is a good one. Due to sleeping in late yesterday morning, I didn't fall asleep easily last night. So this morning I got up bright and early.

Liz -- that's some serious yardwork! I've got to get one of those reciprocating saws. Ocean -- congrats re the pool. Your dog walks are a lot longer than mine ever were. Respect to you and Sadie.

This week's highlights: more work around the property (cutting down dead trees), a pedicure spa party with my sister and two nieces; a sleepover visit from our 18-year-old niece, 30-minute walks before aquarobics classes; some consulting work; and an overnight trip to hubby's annual high school reunion this weekend.

Gratitude.

Good morning everyone. Yes, I agree with the commentator that yesterday's conversation about alcohol and food issues was very interesting.

for the past week have been trying to learn to eat only when am hungry and just until full. The hungry part is much easier then 'til full' part as have belonged to the clean plate club for too many years.

Diane I adore scrabble. Good one with the triple points.

walked a bit, weedeated, planted some kale and enjoyed a visit from an out of town friend. A great day and as a plus the sun was out.

Happy Monday!

Another wonderful day yesterday. Free air conditioning. Cleaning up in the shop with the doors open. A pair of barn swallows are trying to build a nest in the S beams of the roof. I let them work a day or two and then remove the nest. They move over 6" and start again. We have wonderful trees that they could build in.

Wt 218

Sleep was not too good last night. frequent waking and grazing while awake. Slept until almost 8. I usually am up by 5.

Mowing today and maybe some chainsawing if I get the time.

More later, David

Greetings Grand People

Still at 135.5. Though I might creep up as I did eat a small serving of lasagna and apple crisp at the scrabble party. Too much sitting on butt yesterday. Worse than usual.

Kiln opens today and I get my yellow submarine sculpture out.

Wow Liz, what a lot of yard work. We have a few heathers and a princess bush to plant. Backyard is so overgrown since it has rained so much and prevented mowing. At last, a sunny day again.

Hey Carbon, we can play Words with Friends if you want. My handle is Chippyrat. Also, I play on the International Scrabble Club isc.ro Its free and the games are live in real time. I am Rakuku on that one. These people I play with are tournament players and killer good so I was thrilled to beat the one guy who usually kills me. But we are all good sports and enjoy each others successes.

Still re reading and contemplating yesterday's discussion. But I just have to keep reminding myself that I can't eat as much as other people and thats just the way it is.

Gallery duty tomorrow. We are short handed as a lot of artists are doing the Open Studio weekends. Since I don't do that I have to help take up the slack. Plus the never ending production of goofy little animals.

GL with the dog breeding Devon. I tell people I have a new puppy and they say "oh, did you get a rescue dog?" I am all for rescue and support charities that do that but I really appreciate a properly bred dog free from health defects.

Grocery run today. Time to eat my weight in asparagus since its available. yum.

peace all. Diane S

P.S. Dave there is a product called Tangle Foot that is sticky stuff you put where you don't want birds to nest. We had swallows trying to nest right above in the center of our front porch. We wouldn't care but the front porch would have been full of poop. We have this issue at our art studio too. Anyway, the Tangle Foot works. Diane S

Oh me, oh my! What a weekend. STRESSFUL! Won't go into long, drawn out details, but I had a 24 hour period of high stress trying to figure out what was the right thing to do breeding wise, etc... because of that damn dead sperm! After much nail biting, indecision, trying a new stud dog that just wasn't experienced enough to get the job done, talking things over with two of my mentors ( a father and daughter handling team), I decided to risk it all for what I really wanted in the first place and sent Ella back to the fellow I bred her to last fall, but got no pups. The dog has since sired a small litter. He and Ella took one look at each other yesterday and the sparks flew and their love was consummated in a matter of minutes. They will continue their love fest on the central coast for the next few days and I will pick her up in June. Blue's breeding also fell through because of the dead swimmers and the dog that would compliment her locally will be unavailable unless I bring him to my house. Not going to work with my two males. So... I'm taking another risk and breeding to the top winning dog in the history of the breed who died shortly before my VSG. It's exciting because no one has been allowed to breed to him for over 6 years. I'm so pleased that his owners think so highly of my dogs (doesn't hurt that they all descend from their foundation female...)! Blue should be ready to breed sometime late this week. So fingers crossed all the way around.

I am not up even an ounce from my low last week. I know I was up on Friday and Saturday. Didn't weigh yesterday and was pleasantly surprised to see I've maintained the 10 pound loss for several days now. I hope to lose another 1.3 soon so I can be in a new "decade". That always makes me happy on the way down. Never on the way up, but always on the way down!

Reduced my Vyvanse dose yesterday unintentionally. It is a good thing, too. Vyvanse and stress do not mix well together. I think because Vyvanse is a stimulant (right Shel?) it can add to the feeling of anxiety or unrest that can accompany stress. I noticed, too, that stress and binge eating are quite different. My bingeing has all but stopped on the Vyvanse. However, the stress really triggered my want of soothing food. I really wanted ice cream. I didn't want loads of it, but when I was hungry that's really the first thing I considered. Smooth, Cool, Soothing. Sounds about right for stress. Luckily, with the bingeing in check I managed the stress eating much more easily. The two together have been down right destructive at times for me. Another plus of the Vyvanse. Oh, back to maintenance dose today.

Open house tomorrow. Lots to finish up with the kids, but since I changed the room last week, at least it's clean and inviting! Just need to hang work up and display reports, and works in progress.

Wish I had time to comment on all the posts from this weekend. Lots of good stuff. Just don't have time right now...