12/08/18 , Saturday

1. Within Range: Yes
2. General Wellbeing: 9 on SS
3. 10,000+ Steps: 8769
4. Fitness: walking
5. Self-Care: facial
6. Play/Leisure: knitting; reading
7. Intention: Continue to embrace our new normal

So, new techniques arrive at my salon 5-8 months after everywhere else. My technician said I was the third person in a week to ask for it, so they will order some. Patience isn't my strongest suit, so I ordered my own gel and UV light to play at home. I want it, and I want it NOW !!

Diane, so proud of you for following Devon's directions to a T ! Post away !! Peps.. sorry to hear Ron has been living with his bag seven weeks ! No fun !! Miss 150, you reminded all of us what hitting the wall is like! Let's remember, stress is stress...our bodies don't know the difference between positive and negative causation. Stressors can be physical, emotional or a combination. This time of year, we need to MAKE THE TIME to honor what our bodies are telling us and make self care a priority. Off my soap box !

Weight 121.4, calories 731. If I could string a bunch of low calorie days together could I get under 120???

I took DH out for an early dinner at a restaurant on the water, then on a Christmas light canal cruise. Both went well, though DH's eating habits are getting a bit rough. Not really bad but not what they used to be? A fair amount of shoveling. He lets me do all the ordering now which does simplify the process. It was hard getting good pictures but the cruise was just the right length for DH and he really enjoyed it as did I. A couple of ok pictures below.

Along the lines of Ron's issues, I mentioned to one of my nurse friends about maybe taking DH to a urologist to investigate whether he needs surgical help (his BPH has gotten progressively worse and he is on the maximum dosage of medications). She pointed out that anesthesia probably would not be a good idea as it could make his dementia worse. I guess we stick with the meds and diapers at night.

Have a super Saturday!

Good morning Diane O. What's this UV thing?

Also, gonna have to go back and look at Peps instructions for posting photos.

Missing some of Shel's beautiful photos recently, btw

No weight today. Sure I'm up. How could I not rebound after that stomach bug. Next Dr. appt is Weds so we'll see "official" weigh in. I'm starting to not get too concerned. Trying to enjoy. It's funny because my appetite has decreased, actually, but my stomach is starting to grow. Still sort of wearing normal jeans but it won't be long--but in a funky place still of definitely not looking pregnant--just fat.

It looks like our big snow storm will actually be nothing more than a dusting, and everyone is TICKED!! I'm sad not to have snow but glad to keep our plans. Yesterday I got off of work early and treated myself to a pedicure and brow shaping. And then DH and I had date night. Food was meh, but company was great.

Lengthy plastic surgery discussion. Feel free to skip: So first, I went with my mom to a med spa. I'm all for things that make you happier with your body. But I do firmly believe there are limits to that, and it's hard to know where to draw the line. At some point you just have to be happy with yourself. Anyway, this is a place that does everything short of plastic surgery. And it's so easy to get caught up in it all! Overall, I'm pretty happy with my body. However after losing over 125lbs. there are some things that take more work to be what I'd like. My love handles probably bother me most. While my tummy tuck was an improvement, I have protruding love handles that create a permanent muffin top (just on the sides) that look like my pants are too tight no matter what I'm wearing! PS recommended elongating the scar (and that perhaps I should've had circumferential TT) which would maybe even eliminate the need for lipo since they'd just take out those chunks. Other have recommended only lipo. And now I get to the point of the story I was starting with, this med spa has coolsculpting. But sometimes I wonder if those things really work? And then I think about my thighs--easily the largest area for me pre-wls. Considering, they look good. And they don't normally bother me. But occasionally I do think about the excess inner thigh skin and wonder how it might get worse as I age! Coolsculpting also can work on that--but then there's inner thigh lift but that scares me!! And I think Cecily could speak to that. I had my PS almost exactly 5 years ago so I guess I've sort of forgotten the complications!! So tummy flanks is #1 and #2 would be my chin. I don't know if it's fat or skin or both--but it bothers me because even in just face shots, I look heavier than I am. Some of it is genetics. At this medspa they have kybella for dissolving the fat or ultherapy which they call "spanx for the face." Both are non surgical. But face stuff scares me. All this would be in the future--maybe distant future. And I still need to evaluate whether I'm going down a rabbit hole or if it's something that I can do to improve. I know several of you have or will do plastics, maybe multiple rounds, so putting this out there.

I've looked at Coolsculpting before and afters and the results seem so subtle for the expense. I'm not above spending a chunk if it gets me something that makes me happy. But I'm not sure about that one. I haven't looked at Kybella or Ultherapy. I did see a woman I follow on Instagram get her TT extended and it seemed like a really easy in-office procedure with great results. But then I thought my surgery was going to be easier (not easy) with better results, so comparisons to others as in most areas of life are dangerous...

I kinda had the same thoughts on coolsculpting: looked like minimum $2500 and I'm just not totally sure it will work. To some extent that's true about all of this--remove some, see bulges in other places, or fight scars, etc. But I'm not sure there'd be a huge difference in cost of revision (okay, still probably a hefty chunk, but going along the theory I don't want to throw away $2500 either). My biggest worry is recovery, especially since I'll have two little kids.

Kybella and ultherapy would be for my chin. I guess kybella chemically melts the fat while ultherapy tightens the skin, but does nothing to the fat. So sometimes they're used together if a person doesn't have elasticity in their neck. I think I could probably go with either. But I do worry about doing anything on my face. And one of my concerns about kybella (I've asked about it like the past 3 years! ha!) is am I just left with a wattle instead of a round face?

The good news is I can't do any of it now while pregnant. This is 2020 at best. But I'm so glad I embraced WLS when I did, and even TT (though to a lesser extent) that I wonder if I'll regret not doing some of these other things at my age now. On the other hand, I'm very appreciative of all my body has endured and actually fairly proud of it. I'm thinking the TT is the only thing I'm pretty likely to do and mostly because I've already gone down that road, so why not make it what I already had hoped for? (Plus, after having two babies, it might be perfect time to revise!)

I had a facelift in early 2017 and I don't think it cost much more than that. I was super happy with the results and that I did it. The eye lift/brow lift was also worth the cost and was way easier to recover from than the facelift. With the facelift I could be in public comfortably with makeup covering any residual bruises after about two weeks and earlier than that with the eyelid/brow lift.

Teaching schedule allows for lots of time off,which I am so grateful for, but the drawback is time off is almost always during the most expensive time to travel. We're very pleased today because we found reasonable airfare to Orlando over my spring break. Essential to living through a Minnesota winter: knowing you are getting out at some point. Now I have Florida to look forward to. During spring break we stay with my parents at their winter home in Winter Haven. Due to my Mom's chemotherapy , I don't know if they'll be able to make the trip south this year. If not, we'll most likely head to the beach. Either is a happy option.

Tonight we're going out to dinner with dear friends (friends since we were 15) followed by a Christmas Concert in downtown Minneapolis. We'd love to leave the suburbs and move back to the city proper, but we both have commutes to work that are under 10 minutes. For now, we settled on, we will stay close to work, and commute for fun. We get to the city at least once a week, so it's working out so far.

I just realized that my today ends with the Nutcracker. How amazing that I barely realize that even tho I just bought tickets a couple of days ago. I better get cracking.

Leesa, you must be super busy getting ready for surgery and holidays (I hope you are letting some of the holiday trappings go this year) May ease in movement be your Xmas gift this year. Here are a few healing Northwest nature pics. My good friend, Monsieur Goat, was likely helicoptered from his perch in the Olympics (where he is non-native) to the Cascades this fall. I spend more time in the Cascades so I like to think we will soon meet again.

Peace to all! Shel

So beautiful Shel!

I want to live where you live!