I'm A Sick-O

I should have known. Last night right in the middle of the mall, my one year old threw up all over me. Up my sleeves, down the front of my shirt, on my jeans, even on my boots. I thought it was just because he was jumping around in the play area and then stuffed his mouth full with a peanut butter cracker. But alas, I was wrong. I caught his virus. I woke up in the middle of the night moaning and groaning in pain. Don't ya hate that feeling when you know your sick, but you try your very best not to throw up? And then when you finally do, you feel better for a little while until the vicious cycle starts all over again. Yuck! I hate this! I even had to go to Wal Mart feeling like this. It was my normal grocery day so it had to be done. We were out of everything. And I almost lost it right in the middle of Wal Mart. Thankfully I made it home without embarrassing myself totally. I had to call my doctor because I was warned before my surgery that vomiting can be dangerous for me. The band could slip and cause a hernia and then I would need lots of tests and possible surgery to correct the problem. Rather than giving me a prescription for the vomiting right away, they advised me to....get this.....go on full liquids for 2 days! Are you kidding me? Again? This is getting ridiculous already! But I do understand. At least with only liquids, there is less of a likelihood of vomiting. So, here I go again! While I was at Wal Mart, without thinking I bought my old standby for when I'm not feeling well - Ginger Ale. It's my favorite thing to sip on when I'm sick. But I forgot that I'm not supposed to have anything carbonated. It could cause bloating and possibly stretch the stomach out. And that's not good at all. So, I asked about it when I called the doctor. He told me that I could still have it if I really needed to. I just have to let it sit out for awhile to let all of the fizz go away before I drink it. Fair enough. So that's what I did. It's the only thing I've had all day. I haven't even taken my multi vitamin. I'm afraid to. I'm such a baby when I'm sick. If even the slightest thing makes me gag, I'm done. If the gagging starts, vomiting is sure to follow. I've always had a weak stomach. Even as a child, my older sisters (Missy, you know you did it too! ) would tease me by pretending to pick their noses or some silly stuff like that just to see me gag. I couldn't take it. And I still can't. My poor husband, who works nights, got no sleep today because he was taking care of me and the boys. He was on dirty diaper duty all day long! Even the smell of a dirty diaper sent me reeling today! Hopefully this will pass and I'll be back to "normal" in no time. One good thing, though. Maybe my not-so-friendly scales will finally budge again! Here's hoping!

Take A Picture, It Lasts Longer....

Have you ever walked into a room and felt like all eyes were on you? It's unsettling, isn't it? That's how I feel every time I walk into church lately. It's really the only place I go where lots of people know me, since I don't really work anymore. Oh yeah, church and the gym. I know that people are just curious, but it's still somewhat uncomfortable. The difference between the 2 places, though is that at church, people are curious for good reasons. It's the place where I've received the most encouragement and support from everyone I talk to. But at the gym, I feel like people are staring at me like, who does this fat woman think she is? It's funny how the 2 places make me feel completely different. When I walk into church and I hear one compliment after another on my long walk from taking the boys to their classes to the other side of the building to the main sanctuary, I can feel myself standing a little taller along the way with each compliment. By the time I reach my destination, I almost feel like my face is gonna explode from smiling so much. My church family...their the best!

Now, the gym is a different story. Maybe it's just me, I don't know. I feel fine and perfectly at ease when I'm on the cardio side on the elliptical, but as soon as I set foot on the side with the weights and machines, I feel like all eyes are on me. Like everyone is watching me, waiting for me to make a mistake, fall off of a piece of equipment, or drop a weight. I honestly don't think I would have the guts to keep going if it weren't for my husband. He is such an encouragement to me in the gym. He's been working out for over 30 years and the gym is like his second home. He's spent years researching all types of exercises programs, supplements and even did some personal training for awhile years ago. I trust him to lead me in the right direction. And just when I'm feeling really self conscious on a particular piece of equipment or with a certain exercise, he's right there beside me, helping me to do it the right way. It's like he has radar and he knows when I need him to help me or just for some moral support. And he pushes me too. He has more faith in my ability to exercise than me. If I think I can only do 25 lbs on something, he puts 30 on the machine, or if I say I'm done after 8 reps, he makes me do 10. Sure I complain at the time, but when I'm finished, I'm so glad I gave it that extra effort. And I'm so glad he believed in me. I would be lost without him in the gym. And in life. He's my partner and I'm so glad God blessed me with him. And for sure, he's one person I don't mind staring at me. He can look me up and down ALLLLL DAY LONG! Grrrrrr.......

Shrinky Dink

I've been doing some shrinking lately, but not the kind you might think I'm talking about.
I'm not ashamed to admit it. Well, ok...maybe just a tad bit. But I've been seeing a psychiatrist once a month since about 2 months before my surgery. And to be honest, it's been great for me. I think I mentioned this in a previous blog, and if I didn't, if you've known me for any length of time, I have always been up front about struggling with Post Partum Depression after my youngest 2 sons were born. And I've been on and off with the depression ever since. Well, one of the things both my husband and I were concerned about with the surgery is that there is a high percentage of patients who undergo weight loss surgery that suffer from depression afterwards. So, we decided that it would be a good idea to talk with my doctor about our concerns. My family doctor, who has little experience treating depression, referred me to Dr. Fawaz. From the first meeting with him, I have always felt very comfortable and at ease talking openly about my struggles. In fact, I remember at my first appointment, when I walked into his office, there were 2 places to sit. A chair and a couch. I joked with him that I was NOT gonna sit on that couch. EVER! You know, there's that stigma associated with psychiatrists and couches....I always head straight for the chair! Anyhow, I've seen him regularly since then and I am currently taking 2 prescriptions to help me through this time. Actually, as of today, I'm only taking one. I'm doing well, so we decided to try it with only one and see how it goes. I like him. I mean, as a doctor. And I trust him. That's important. Except there's this thing. At every appointment, he always talks about food. It starts out innocent enough. He'll ask me something like..."Do you miss food?" Or, "How are you doing with your eating?" Then, he'll ask me if there's anything in particular that I miss. Like, chocolate, or salty snacks, or meat, or.....Then he'll start telling me some of his favorite foods! He'll go on and on about this kind of bread that he likes, or he'll tell me that his favorite chocolate is Ghiardelli. Then I get hungry for those exact same things!!! So today, when he started, I jokingly said, "OK, that's enough, your making me hungry!" I think he got the point. I dunno, maybe he's using some secret psychiatrist mind game thing. Maybe he can tell alot about me by my reactions to what he's talking about or something. Just a thought. But for some reason, I always feel better after talking with him. Like someone other than my family (who are supposed to care about me anyhow) cares about my success. It's encouraging. Well, of course I am paying for him to care, aren't I?
And you know what else I like about my monthly appointments? The drive to and from his office. It takes about 20-25 minutes to get there and the same to get back home. It's a peaceful drive with pretty scenery. I usually schedule my appointments during the boys naptime and when my husband is home. So, it's a nice break after a stressful morning. And today was especially nice. My appointment was over fairly quickly, so I knew the boys would still be asleep. Before I went home, I stopped off at the furniture store where we've bought all of our furniture for the past 10 years. Were in need of a sectional. We don't have enough seating in our living room right now, so were looking to upgrade. It was a nice stroll through the store browsing through all the lovely things. And I think I found one that I really like. And it's a good price too!
So, yay for me!!!!
It's been a good day today!

If you are in need of a pstchiatrist, I highly recommend Dr. Jamal Fawaz. You can contact him at...

Brook Lane
P.O. Box 1945
Hagerstown, MD 21742
301-733-0330
brooklane.org

The Curious Case Of The Confiscated Candlesticks And Tales Of The Troublesome Toilet Paper

I think all of you, my faithful readers could use a break from listening to me whine about the woes of weight loss for one night, so I thought it would be interesting to give you a little view through the window of my world in the wonderful joys of raising 3 boys!

I love candles and even more than candles, I love candlesticks. I don't have many, but the ones I do have I love. My favorites are these 2 cute white ones with crystal dangly things hanging from them. I'm sure there's a name for the dangly things, but I don't know what it is. Then there's this one silver one I found at a thrift store yesterday for 99 cents. A creative idea that I borrowed from my sister was to roll pages from old books up to look like a taper candle and use in the holders instead of a candle. Purely for decorative purposes, of course. So that's what I did. I've already had the white ones on display in my dining room for awhile and I found the "perfect" spot for the silver one right smack in the center of my coffee table. Well, I thought it was the perfect spot. But I'll get to that in just a sec. I made my "candles" this morning and boy did they look cute. Shortly before my husband put the boys down for a nap today, I left the house to run some errands. When I returned to the house 3 hours later, the candles were missing....

OK, so it's not like I can't whip up some new ones in 30 seconds, but I kinda flipped out. "Who took my candles", I screeched! Empty blank stares from all 3 boys was all I got in response.

I already knew who took them. I always know who did it when something disappears in the house lately. It's my 20 month old son, Hezekiah. The boy is the very definition of mischief. Look it up in Websters, I'm sure you'll find his mug right there beside of the word. His mind is always wandering, trying to find the next thing to get into. I narrowed my inquisition to him...."ZEEKIE (my nickname for him) WHAT DID YOU DO WITH MOMMY'S CANDLESTICKS?" Immediately he got down on his hands and knees like he was searching for them. He's 1 which means he has the memory of an 80 year old so he probably didn't even remember taking them. I looked everywhere I could think...in the toy box, in the trash, under the coffee table, behind the couch (I did find 2 missing sippy cups there), upstairs, downstairs...they were nowhere to be found. Like I said, I could easily make new ones, but for some reason, this just irritated me. Anyhow, I quickly forgot about it in the chaos of changing diapers, getting dinner on the table, and clearing the dining room table of my craft clutter. When I lifted Zeke up to put him in his high chair for dinner, I found one of them. The poor thing (the candle, I mean) was all crumbled up and stuffed into his high chair seat along with 2 clothes pins and a kids bowling ball. Yeah, that makes total sense now!
Silly me. Why didn't I think to look there? It's so obvious of a place to hide them!

Mystery solved. Well, not quite. The other one is still missing. Eh, I'm sure I'll find it in the most obvious spot of all when I'm not even looking, like probably in my underwear drawer!

So, I have this thing. Yes, another pet peeve. I think this makes 10 that I've told you about since starting my blog. It has to do with the toilet paper in the bathroom. First of all, I like it to be "over" not "under." And secondly, men...when the roll is empty, don't just get a new one out and sit it on top of the old one. Change it. Replace the dang thing! Throw the old one away! But in 10 years of marriage, my hunka hunka handsome hubby hasn't learned that it bothers me. I'm not complaining. Actually it makes me chuckle each time he does it now. It only slightly bothers me, but not enough to....let's say....make him suffer for it (wink wink). So what do you think I saw when I walked into the bathroom this evening? Yep, you guessed it! A new roll of toilet paper resting atop the old empty cardboard tube. Oh well, I'll choose my battles. This one is no biggie.

Now, leaving dirty dishwater in the sink...that's a biggie. But not this one.

OK, I'm done rambling for now. I'm off to make more candles. Have a great day!

Feelin A Little Tipsy

Remember that Tip Of The Day that I promised a little while ago? Ummm, yeah…about that…..I’m sorry. I kinda fell off the wagon with it. Sorry about that. So I’m going to make it up to you today with lots and lots of little things we can do to “Nix Fat, Not Flavor” in our daily food choices. So, here goes…..

*Opt for spray butter on whole grain toast or use spray salad dressing on fresh salads.

*Add a spoonful of Greek yogurt and salsa to a baked potato. Or bake potato skins in the oven and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese or drizzle with ketchup.

*Drink nonfat or 1% milk. Mix whole and 2% milk gradually changing the ratio of both until you are solely drinking 2%. Continue this process until you are drinking 1% or skim.

*When eating out, ask for a side salad or fruit dish instead of fries or onion rings.

*Purchase lean cuts of beef including top round, sirloin, or 93/7 ground beef. Remove the skins and cut off excess fat.

*Try using ground turkey instead of ground beef in spaghetti, burgers, chili or wherever else you typically use ground beef. The turkey is less expensive and better for you.

*Prepare tuna or chicken salad with non-fat Greek yogurt or sour cream instead of mayo.

*Add spray butter and Mrs. Dash seasonings to unflavored popcorn rather than buying the extra butter flavor.

*Use egg whites instead of regular eggs. Replace 2 egg whites or ¼ cup egg substitute for every egg.

*Instead of using butter, shortening or oil in cakes, brownies and other baked goods, use applesauce or prune puree. Decrease baking time by 25% to avoid a dry cake.

*Steam vegetables and add fresh garlic, low sodium soy sauce, or other herbs and spices to enhance bland side dishes.

Ya Can't Judge A Book By It's Cover

I'm taking a timeout today from the normal boring weight loss stuff and giving you another of my weekly Saturday night craft project blogs.

A few weeks ago, a very generous crafter friend of mine blessed my fuzzy leopard print socks right off when she gave me 2 GINORMOUS boxes of crafting and art supplies. They were overflowing with all kinds of goodies, some of which I still haven't figured out how to use yet! There was so much stuff that I was able to share with my sister and a set of young budding crafter triplet sisters from my church and still had so much left over that I had to get another Rubbermaid 7 drawer storage cart to hold it all and that still wasn't enough storage space. Among the loot were 12 books on all kinds of craft techniques and projects...enough to keep my little hands busy for a very long time! My favorite at the moment is one titled "Altered Books Workshop" by Bev Brazelton. I could not wait to get started on some of these techniques. So off to the local thrift store I went where they had hard cover books for 25 cents each. JACKPOT! Oh my, the selection they had! My favorites were the Readers Digest books. What amazing covers they have! Absolutely beautiful just by themselves, but I knew I could make them even more stunning using some of the techniques I learned. I couldn't decide what to try first. I mulled it over for a week before I settled on something. I will try my best to give you a step by step how to even though I forgot once again to take pictures of each stage of the process. I'll try not to bore you. Like most of my projects lately, this one took me 2 days from start to finish keeping in mind I have 3 little boys who require my constant attention. The first step was to choose a book. That was easy enough. This is one of my favorites... The book said to use PVA glue. I had no idea what that was and after searching for it at 3 different craft stores, I decided that good ole Mod Podge would do just fine!

The next step would prove to be the most difficult of the process and as my luck would have it, the most dangerous as well. You need 3 small match boxes for this stage. You can use the regular kind you find at the grocery store, but I just happened to find 3 white ones in the stash of craft supplies my friend gave me. Hold the short side of a match box next to a group of pages from the back of the book and add more until the thickness of the block equals the thickness of the matchbox. Apply Mod Podge to the edges of the block of pages with a foam brush. Let the glue dry. Hold the pages together with bulldog clips until the adhesive dries. Next place a matchbox on top of the block of pages, aligned with the edge of the page, and trace the shape with a pencil. Do this for each of the other 2 "drawers". Remember to space them out evenly.

Place a cutting mat between the block of pages and the back cover of the book. Cut along the pencil lines, removing a few pages at a time. Don't worry about the cuts being super neat. They won't be visible on the finished project. Make sure you have extra craft knife blades. This technique involves a lot of cutting. Start with a fresh blade and replace it for each of the 3 holes. It will make the whole process much easier. Occasionally as your cutting, drop the matchbox into the hole to check that it fits. Continue cutting until you've reached the cutting mat through all 3 holes.

BE CAREFUL OR THIS COULD HAPPEN......

Not to worry though, it was nothing a roll of paper towels, a tube of Neosporin and a box of Spiderman bandaids couldn't fix.

Next, paint the matchboxes. The book suggested you use spray paint to get a very thin layer so that the drawers would still slide in and out easily of the sleeve of the matchbox, but I only had red spray paint, so I very carefully applied a thin coat of brown craft paint.

I didn't need to cover the whole box because only the edges and inside would be visible.

Next, apply Mod Podge to the sleeves on just the sides and bottom and drop into the holes. Hold in place for a few seconds. Don't insert the drawers until the Mod Podge dries or you may glue it shut. Don't ask me how I know this.

Next apply the Mod Podge to the tops of the page and matchboxes and glue the preceding page to cover the mess.

At this point, I chose to decorate the front and back covers. I didn't have to, but I wanted to give it extra oomph! I just used bits of scrapbook paper and inked the edges to give it an aged look. I used Mod Podge to adhere the paper. Oh, I forgot to tell you that you should give the cover a light sanding to remove any grease or dirt left from fingerprints and handling of the book. This gives the cover a more uniform look and makes it better suited for adhesives.

Next I chose some word trinkets to put into the drawers. You could just place them in the drawer and let them jiggle around, or adhere them. I chose the latter just in case little hands find their way to my new project.

You can anything you want to make the handles on the drawers. I found that beads worked beautifully. I found some that matched perfectly.

I added some additional trinkets, ribbon and ephemera to the front cover because you know, More is always better!

I used brads on the binding to add a little bit of interest.

And this is the back cover... "M" for my last name.


I didn't completely finish the project yet. I plan to decoupage something or paint or maybe do something else to these pages so that when the book is open it is beautiful too.

Isn't it fabulous? I think so. I hope I didn't bore you or lose you completely in my explanations. Tell me what you think! Until next week......

What Goes In Must Come Out

Tonight for the first time since my surgery, I got sick, vomited, hurled, puked, blew chunks, up chucked, threw up, heaved. Whatever you want to call it, I did it. After surgery, this can happen for one of two reasons - if you eat too fast, or if you eat too much. I’m not going to lie, I ate too much. If you remember, I had to go for 48 hours with just clear liquids. Well, my 48 hours was up and my kids had pizza for dinner. I ate some. More than I should have. Not anywhere near what I used to be able to eat. I ate less than 1 slice, but it was still too much for what my stomach can hold. I knew it when I was eating it, but it was just soooo good. I didn’t care. Then I started to feel uncomfortable. It’s a hard feeling to explain, but I could feel it coming. I tried to stifle it, but no matter how hard I tried, up it came! Oh man! I hate throwing up! Why did I do this to myself? Worse yet, each time you throw up, you run the risk of your band slipping or twisting. If I remember correctly, if I ever get the flu or some kind of virus where throwing up is involved, I’m supposed to call my doctor’s office to get a prescription to stop the vomiting. Thankfully, it just happened one time. I’d like to say that I’m never ever going to overeat again, but I know that would not be true. I will do my very best and I’ve done very well so far, with the exception of tonight. But I can guarantee that there will be another time when the food will taste too good or I’ll be incredibly hungry, or emotional, or whatever and I’ll want to eat. And when that time comes, hopefully I’ll remember my experience tonight and that will be enough to make me stop, but I’m not making any promises. I’m finding that just taking it one day at a time is too long for me to think about. I have to take it one meal at a time, moment to moment. And sometimes that’s all we can do. Your issues may be different than mine, but I’m certain that everyone has something that they struggle with. But even though, our issues may be different, one thing is the same. When we call out to God to help us, He will be right there. When we are weak, He is strong. When we fall, He will be there to pick us back up. When we can’t stand ourselves, He loves us unconditionally. And just when we think we can’t make it any further, He gives us the grace to make it one more day. This is my testimony. I’ve come too far to go back now. I’m moving ahead. I’m not letting this one little slip up get me down. Tomorrow is another day and I will make it! And you can too!