Sameo, Sameo...

And, as the saying goes, life goes on... I'm still job hunting. Hubby has two job offers but can't go till he gets done with these IV antibiotics. Our older daughter is doing better now that her life is on a more even keel and people aren't messing with her on a daily basis. Verbal abuse SUCKS! Mandy, our youngest, will start school Aug 24th--her senior year. So, we'll be sucked in to the senior rush of portraits, ordering announcements, college applications, and more! But, it should be a good year anyway. She's got good grades, solid plans for the future, and is a bright kid who seems to test pretty well (great ACT and SAT scores!). Matthew, the world's greatest grandbaby, is growing so fast! He has like 9 or 10 teeth now and is always on the go now that he's walking.

He's loving life here away from the cigarette smoke and with his mom under so much less stress.


My weight? Well, that is at a standstill again... No biggie--not losing or gaining. I am not exercising either due to the knee, so not gaining is good!

And yet MORE before pics!

It is a wonder the stuff you find when you move and are in the process of packing and unpacking..... Some stuff should never see the light of day again. Some should have been trashed or donated a long time ago. And, still yet more stuff has been totally forgotten over the years. I stumbled upon a couple more "before" photos today!

This one was taken in June of 1991. I didn't yet know it, but I was just barely pregnant with my youngest (who was born Feb 92). Eliza (shown with me in the pic) was 2 and had a blast that day. We were on a road trip with my hubby in the tractor-trailer. He was hauling a load of watermelons from LaBelle, FL to Memphis, TN. We stopped along the way from time to time to be tourists--something we don't get much chance to do. This particular day, we toured the USS Alabama, a battleship from years gone by that is permanently docked at Mobile, AL. Eliza had a ball going up and down the corridors of the ship and climbing on bunks and such. There is also a submarine on site (the USS Drum I believe it was).


Then, there is this one... It was taken in the fall (Oct or Nov) of 1999 while at the CHADD conference. We were out sightseeing this particular day and, as you can see, this was taken in front of the White House. I probably weighed in the neighborhood of 350 to 370 at that time.


I am so happy to say that this is no longer me! I can't believe I waited so long to do anything about my weight.

You're Not Done Losing Till YOU Say You're Done...

There was a post on OH lately that stated that the person was 2 years postop from RNY and still 60 pounds from their goal weight. They asked what info could be shared about losing weight in the 18 mos to 2 year postop timeframe and that they really wanted to lose that last 60 pounds. One response to that post stated that you are not done till you say you're done. I really liked that attitude... If you give up, then you probably are done. If you stop really trying,then you probably are done. BUT, until YOU decide that this is it and you are not going to try anymore, then you are not necessarily done losing weight! We are told over and over that the surgery we had merely gives us a tool which we can use to lose weight. That tool is there for the rest of our lives. What we are often missing though is the motivation to USE that tool.

At any time, we can decide to utilize this weapon against fat! We can go back to what we've been taught and start using that tool/weapon again. We can eat properly, boost our protein intake, and increase our exercise. It really can be just that simple!

I post this because I am in that spot right now. I've moved, as you know already, from the hills of West Virginia (the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains) back to the flatlands of southern Florida. Walking is easier. Biking is more possible--even with my old bone-on-bone knees... I truly have no excuse for not exercising. Now, I am trying to DO it. I've gone from walking 2.5 miles per day Monday to Friday at about a 3.5 mph pace to walking almost 3.5 miles Monday to Friday at that same 3.5 mph pace. I am going to ride my bike today if the sky doesn't fall early (it rains most afternoons here). My sister and her best friend walk (at a MUCH slower pace) most evenings just before dark while their kids are riding bikes. I may start doing that too. It is just a matter of deciding that I want to do it, I am worth it, and it will help me AND make me feel better. I have made that decision. I am ready to do it. Let's just see how it goes!

Hunting....jobs, houses, peace!

Moving sucks...even when it is for good reasons! All the stress! Packing. Loading. Moving. Unloading. UnPACKing! UGH!! Then, the real stress of finding a job and finding a house to buy. It never ends! Toss in the daily stress of living with two teenage and 20-something girls and a toddler and life gets even more fun!

Did I mention that my name is now "somebody"?? "Somebody has to wash the dishes..." "Somebody come help me do ___________." "Somebody needs to wash clothes..." Yep, somehow I always end up being the one to do whatever it is that needs done. So, that makes me chief cook, bottlewasher, dishwasher, laundress, housewife/cleanup crew, and all on top of trying to find a job and look for a house to buy! Talk about someone who needs a CALGON moment!

before pictures....found a couple!

I've always made sure I was the one TAKING the pictures just so that I didn't have tons of pics with my big ole butt in them. I hated seeing pictures of myself when I was heavier. So, that made finding any full body "before" pics hard to do. As we moved though, I came across these... They ain't pretty!

This first one was from the Spring of 1997. We were at a get together for my hubby's family. It was the first time I ever met those folks in the picture and was the last time I've ever been around them. They live over in northern Ohio and we have always been somewhere else. We actually made that trip because my own grandmother had passed away and she lived in Columbus...


Then, the second picture I found was from my student teaching during the fall of 1998. I look so danged happy in this picture!

Thankfully, those are BEFORE pics and not current pics! Here's a pic of me at my current size just for perspective:

Almost TWO months!

I just realized that as I posted a bit ago, it had been almost two whole months since my last post! WOW! Why, you may be asking????

Well, life is CRAZY here right now!
1) My daughter's divorce is not going really smoothly.
2) We're doing visitation every week, three days a week for 5 hours each day.
3) We got an offer and sold our house.
4) We're preparing to move back to Florida after 10 years here in WV.
5) We're packing and selling and packing and selling......
6) The 4-H cookbook finally went off to press with over 600 recipes!
7) 4-H camp is THIS WEEK!

I still had boxes that were never unpacked from our move in December of 1999... Granted, they were my good dishes that I never got a reason to use. But, they were still wrapped and packed from our last move! We have accumulated SO much junk in 10 more years. Where did it all come from? Why have we kept it so long? So much of it has been trashed, sold, or given away that I wonder why we ever packed it in here in the first place! Don't get me wrong, the extra cash from the stuff we've sold was cool... But, it probably would have been better to just keep the cash we paid for it way back when! LOL

And, OMG, the sorting! I have to pass on all the 4-H stuff to whoever will be taking over my club's leadership. I have tried not to save too much soapmaking stuff, so have been eBaying like crazy to move it out of here. I have a local lady who will take a bunch too, but haven't been able to even get her on the phone! I gave away a bunch of sample products I'd gotten to try formulating new recipes. Just passed them on to other soap and body product makers to play with.

CLOTHES! Wow, where do they all come from?? When I lost my weight, I gave away over 200 pounds of my own clothing. Now, as we go through drawers and closets for my girls, there is probably over 100 pounds of stuff that they are ready to give away.

And books! OMG, so many books! I am a history teacher. That doesn't help, but I have an entire 18" x 18" x 12" box stuffed full of cookbooks! That doesn't count all the stuff I've printed or written down over the years either! I didn't get to weigh 410 pounds without loving to cook! LOL

Add to all of this, the clutter of 41 years of living..... Well, 41 for me! I have SO MUCH STUFF!! Ugh!

We finally wrapped up the 4-H cookbook and ended up with 600 recipes! WOW was all I could say as I typed the list of recipes.... WOW!! That book will be a hit and I won't even be here to get one.... I'll have to leave a padded envelope with someone to send me one!

4-H camp is this week. I am the president of the Leaders Association, and camp planning was my responsibility. I was also to teach classes this week at camp, but with the move have had to find others to take that chore. Wow, my last 4-H camp... My girls are pretty much grown. Mandy could do 4-H for 3 or 4 more years (age out of program at 21), but really doesn't show enough interest to stick with it once we move and she has cousins to hang out with again... So, this may be the end of my time in 4-H unless I lead a craft group or some other specialty group in FL. It has been fun and I've made lots of friends who I will truly miss...

Emotional Aftermath of WLS...

In an interesting post yesterday by Therese (Miss Redd) over at OH, the term "emotional aftermath" was used in reference to the period after WLS when we all have such turbulent emotions as we attempt to get used to living in the "normal" world without so much extra weight to pack around... It was discussed how the journey is more than just a period of weight loss. It is a time of really finding ourself all over again. We were fat for SO long. During that time, we were rejected for various reasons. We were too fat. We were unable to do things. We were unhealthy. We had no self-esteem or confidence. Sometimes it was other doing the rejecting. Sometimes it was just our beating ourselves up.

Now, as we lose the weight and take our lives back, we still beat ourself up! We are still fat in our heads and will probably always feel that way. Once the fat chick, always the fat chick--even if only in our own mind... We still struggle with SO many things. And it is more than just not really feeling comfy shopping in the juniors or misses department at the clothing store!

I related a story about shopping for cars. I looked at cars I would never, ever have even glanced at before solely based upon the proximity of my belly to the steering wheel! Someone else told about skipping a pedicure with friends because of her weight. We can get so depressed even after losing the weight that we stop going out and being with others! How can we get past this? I truly think that the emotional impact of the weight loss journey needs to be addressed more before surgery is performed. They want to know that we can deal with the eating changes that are required before they do the surgery. How about starting to help deal with the thinking changes???