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I know dozens of single/widowed women and a few married women who travel the world with traveling buddies. Likewise, many women join tours of all kinds as a solo traveler.

The two years after my husband died I went to Antarctica and the Galapagos and Italy and Greece and other Adriatic countries with good friends and to Ireland and to France by myself the two years after my husband died. They were wonderful trips!

I think it helps to be an extrovert, but I could be wrong about that.

Interesting - it also works well for dementia patients. I had an Alexa in deceased DH's room and would play his favorite music to help him feel calm.

They all respond to music in one way or another in this group. Some walk around in time with the music and one or two seem to calm waaaayyyy down and end up snuggling up or draping themselves over me while we listen, play and sing.

Good Sunday morning and happy time change to all! I slept over 8 hours last night! Whoo hoo! Granted there was a lot of waking up, because that is simply par for the course for me, but I do feel satisfied having stayed in bed and resting for a full night and then some! Yet, I'm not feeling fully wide awake. LOL!

Naturally, after my rant yesterday about needing to make behavior changes, the scale showed a full two pound drop this morning. A scale drop like that is always incentive to continue making those hard choices. Liz, Diamond D, thanks for the supportive words. No, I do not have to drop the full 35, but I do want to lose at least 23 more pounds to land at 198. After VSG I got down to 170 which was an ideal weight for me in my 20s. I just don't think it's an ideal weight for me now - especially with the muscle mass I have put on. I think 188-190 will be my Goldilocks weight. But we'll have to see. Right now my goal is to get below 220 and take it from there.

Today's chores: Get photos of RV done and uploaded. Groom 1 year old puppy Airedale for my friends - Huge undertaking!!!! Meal prep lunches for the first part of the week. Thaw dog meat and cook their eggs. Lesson plan.

Oh... I am having senior-itis again! I have no drive to lesson plan (not good!), so today I am forcing myself to sit down and plan out my 4 grade levels for the week. For my 3 special day classes, I only loosely plan because my two severe special day classes have to be played by ear. Last week the teacher divided the TK-2 special day into two groups and left me with the non verbal high maintenance students and took the placid kiddos to the another room. I had only 5 students with me, but 3 adults aids. Tells you the kind of behavior those little imps have!

One of the joys of having a house full of dogs is watching the antics and interactions of their morning play. Buster, Molly and Bug are rough housing in and out of the house. The "big" dogs are all outside in the yard playing sentry or lying in the morning sun. Of course, this all happens AFTER our morning get lots of love from Daddy sessions! I can always count on Buster to climb half way up on my lap and snuggle in and look at me with his deep, dark, soulful eyes.

Well, time to get ready for the day. So many things to do before it gets dark!

Lazy morning, also enjoying being tucked under the covers. I made an actual dinner last night, so I'm kind of excited about having some for brunch. (A chicken, vegetable, cheese hot dish).

We've started watching 2 series: Agatha All Along, from Marvel on Disney + and Disclosure on Apple + .Agatha is a sequel to WandaVision, which I loved, despite not being a Marvel fanatic. Agatha is entertaining, but isn't grabbing me quite the same way. Disclosure is searing, and left me in pieces. Super compelling, great cast, but be prepared. We've only watched 2 episodes, and last night I thought maybe it's too much well portrayed deception, revenge, betrayal and I can'****ch it. But now I have to see how they all get to the other side of this tragedy.

Tomorrow is Professional Development and worktime, so no students. For the first time ever, we have election day off, no school at all. Then back to students on Wednesday and Thursday, followed by using one of my sick days to take care of my Mom on Friday.

Scale down a little bit more, but past experience tells me this is where it will stop. Then over the week, a little creep upward every day, followed by a release of water weight over the weekend. I may be relying on more processed food during the workweek, maybe stress also causing some water retention or inflammation. But unless we go on a longer trip, I'm almost always within the same 2 pound range.