Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Two more full days here, then we pack to go back to our place on the Southeast coast of Florida. We haven't been there since mid-December. We are looking forward to returning but sad about leaving here. Today is beach and a restaurant for dinner that we have wanted to try all month.

I missed that yesterday was my 6th surgiversary. I still thank goodness every day for having the opportunity to have it. I probably couldn't have snorkeled yesterday at the weight I used to be! The snorkeling was fantastic, BTW. What gorgeous fish!!!

Cecily, good luck with the diet. DD enjoy every moment of your trip (we will be passing through near there on the way back Thursday). Peps, I hope your back is improving daily and how is your Dad? Diane S, Ocean Diane and Shirl, enjoy your day!

Have a safe and healthy Tuesday!

Busy day today (accidentally typed busty, ha!). My clean rugs come back today so I can reassemble two rooms, yay. Also have the the appliance repair guy coming to work on my stove and dishwasher. One knob on the stove is frozen and my dishwasher makes an unholy noise at a few points in the cycle. I hope they can be fixed as they look new, but they are 16 years old. I also have a board meeting today.

First day of the diet was fine, but if I keep eating like that, I won't lose weight. Starburst jelly beans happened to be something you can have (no red dye #3, salt or dairy) and I overindulged. Won't buy those again. I can't be trusted. But I did make a nice beef and barley stew that had all safe ingredients and it was good and made lots. I also have the makings for greek Israeli couscous salad. I just have to leave out the olives and feta, but I don't really like feta (can't say the same about the olives). The dressing I like is safe so at least it should taste good!

My trash can overfloweth. Thankfully they come today so I can start filling it again. The toe offending lumber goes with it!

Off to start the day!

Its good to hear there are a few foods on your draconian diet that are tasty. It's two weeks, right?

It is. For sure! I can also make my own bread. I might try that, one of those no knead overnight ones.

Back is still on the mend.... It's two steps forward, then a step back and another few steps forward. I went to the chiropractor yesterday and had a very nice adjustment and felt so good afterwards. Then this morning, I'm a bit stiff.

A big move forward is that I am going to work out today for the first time since the beginning of February. I am very much looking forward to it. Yes, I promise to take it very, very easy. We are going to work out for 30 minutes and then work on stretching for 30 minutes.

Back down under my red line weight. Whew! One of the things I am working on is helping myself understand that my satisfied feeling may be NOT average. As a former volume eater I think I tend to want a full feeling more than is normal. I look at some "naturally" thin people I know and see that they can be very satisfied with a small amount of food - even smaller sometimes than what I feel I like to eat with my smaller VSG stomach. (Though, let's be honest, my VSG stomach is not all that small.... 6 oz of grilled chicken thigh is doable for me!) So, I am working on finding satisfied rather than full. Not an easy task for me.

My brother and I are beginning to have some tension about my dad's care and future. He got testy with me yesterday on the phone about he and I needing to stay with my dad 24/7. I reminded him that I said that I was not in favor of the scenario. My dad has plenty of money to afford home health care until he goes into assisted living. My brother is going to burn himself out quickly, if he tries to fulfill the obligation of 24/7 care. Plus, my father doesn't WANT 24/7 care. He is fully functional at this time and wants to maintain independence as long as possible.

I don't think it's going to be a big issue with my brother, but if my bro gives me anymore grief about it, I will remind him that I was the one who stopped working to help my dad with my mom and I was the one holding her hand and wiping her tears as she died because he couldn't deal with our mom being sick with cancer. I don't need him trying to play the guilt card about my dad's care. I guess I was struck by the way he spoke to me. I felt like he was talking to me like I was his child.

No rain today, so I'm hoping the fence will be finished and the dogs can have full reign of the yard again!

Not much else....

I feel for you and your brother. Such a difficult time and difficult decisions. Often what the caretakers think is right and what is really best for the individual aren't the same. Going to a caretaker support group can help in sorting some of that out. I resisted it at first but what a difference it made.

Stretching sounds like just the right thing.

Aging parents, and how to assist is a sticky situation. Especially when they still have some agency and opinions about what is best for them. I disagree with many of my parent's choices, but they are not invalid stated to the degree that they shouldn't have their say about their own lives. It's tough.

A lot of people in my support group also used Home Instead and were very pleased with them. I chose to use daycare 3 days a week which worked for about 8 months with my son also helping at home for half of that, then of course deceased DH was in assisted living memory care for his final 3 months. My support group in Florida had quite a few people using daycare and we talked about which ones they liked, cost, etc. which was quite helpful. I remember when it first came up thinking that I didn't need any services but 4 months later realized that it would be a good idea and it really helped.

Greetings all

Gallery duty yesterday and studio visit to get finished work. So today was scrabble with the usual suspects. I won only one of three games. One guy I almost never beat - he knows every weird word in the world. So he is my warm up game. On the way from scrabble to the studio I stopped at a deli and they had a grilled lamb burger. I like lamb but never make it as DH hates the mere smell, so I got this lamb burger. Big mistake. It was terrible. The dogs are getting the rest of it but I would not be surprised if they refused it.

Peps so sorry about your Dad's issues. I learned from experience as a lawyer that people under stress sometimes act in ways they might not otherwise so you might cut your brother a bit of slack. Home health care is wonderful going from my mom's five years of it. I think she really enjoyed some of the workers and they could do a lot of things that I could not do. My mom even had a special bath nurse who came twice a week and used special equipment that her residence had. She loved to play cards with the care workers and it kept her amused and calm. They also knew how to prevent and take care of bed sores and keep good records. Some were better than others but all were very helpful. We used a couple of agencies - Home Instead and Right at Home. Right at Home quit because crazy Pat was so horrible. Anyway, it was a good experience.

DD I see your pics on FB. Love that you are lazing about the pool. Keep it up.

Liz glad you got to snorkel. Very fun. Thats what we loved about Mexico at Cozumel. Awesome fish right in your face!! We even have snorkeling masks with prescription lenses in them.

CC glad you found something good to eat. Beef barley sounds good. Me want some.

Oh well, time to start cooking for the dogs. Take care all.

Diane S

Snorkeling in Cozumel was incredible. I saw a barracuda!!! When I first saw it, my husband said it looked like I was trying to swim backwards. The primal part of my brain just lit up, danger!!!! by the time the word barracuda formed in my head, it had already passed.