Happy Memorial Day! and late check in...

Weigh-In:

Starting weight:  249
May 27, 2013:  244

Week 4 weight change:  0 lbs
Total loss to date:  5 lbs

I neither lost nor gained weight this week.  I'm calling it a win!  This week has been a series of doctors appointments and surgeries for my mother.  It was exhausting for both of us and I opted for eating out rather than cooking healthy meals at home frequently.

Plus, we had a family gathering on Saturday.  I am sure the prep for the party helped me to maintain my current weight.  There was a lot of bending, lifting, stair-stepping and scrubbing done over two days!   The party food was delicious -- cheese and crackers, chips and dip, crock pot barbecue w/ homemade cole slaw, hot dogs, fruit and vegetable platters, deviled eggs, two kinds of macaroni salad, potato salad and desserts of cake, brownies and cookies.   So, calories burned by the party prep were regained by the party itself - break even!

Back to plan on Tuesday.  Gearing up today.  I need to go to the store for salad fixings and fresh vegetables to augment the food already in my house to get totally back on track.  However, normal, or what passes for that these days, begins again tomorrow.  Normalcy will help me to stay on track.  Goals will be set again next Saturday.  The only goal this week is to get back into the groove of juicing and eating right.

This coming week features two days of doctor appointments.  A real break from last week which had us running every day but Thursday.  And a real plus: This week's appointments will be fairly short!  Tuesday afternoon, Mom will have her stitches removed.  She has facial reconstruction(?) surgery last Tuesday.  Basal cell carcinoma was removed and the cancer had spread so far that Mom needed to see the plastic surgeon for outpatient surgery rather than having the dermatologist close the removal site.  
 

Wear Sunscreen!!!!!!!!!

Second trip is a regular doctor's appointment for all three of us, Me, Mom and Aunt.  Hoping to lose another few pounds before weighing in at his office on Friday.

I leave you with pictures of Mom and her first great grandchild:

Weekly Report: May 18, 2013

Weigh-In:

Starting weight:  249
May 18, 2013:  244

Week 3 weight gain:  1 lbs
Total loss to date:  5 lbs

This was a not so good week.  A lot of activity, exhaustion and stress meant poor choices in food and beverages - too much caffeine free diet coke, too little water; too many pre-made meals, too few healthy homemade meals.  Bad for my eating plan.  Bad for my budget.

This was the week to start walking and I did not.

Time to reboot the goals and restart the plan.

I'm not sure how to stem the tiredness.  Sleep is elusive and early to bed is an impossibility.  Activity this week will be mostly deep cleaning the house.  I am hoping a thoroughly cleaned home will help reduce my stress level and increase my motivation.

There will be a bit more stress this week.  Mom will undergo surgery early in the week to repair the gaping wound caused by the Moh's surgery.  We spent most of the day Friday at the dermatologist's office having basal cell carcinoma removed from her face.  The doctor thought the cancer was a small spot.  It turned out to be more widespread than anticipated.  The first eraser tip-sized hole turned into a quarter sized hole.  Friday was a very bad day!  I will know later today when surgery is scheduled.  I think that will be a crockpot day!  The wound has been bleeding quite a bit.  This weekend will be spent making sure Mom keeps the bandage on, especially since she doesn't remember what happened, why it's there, even what it is sometimes.

I really need to pre-plan, pre-make and execute the menu for healthy eating with more consistency this week to counter-act the stress that is sure to come.

Goals:

1.  Pre-Assemble daily juice.  Baggies with all the ingredients in one spot will help get the juicing done with minimal prep each day.
1. Clean, peel, cut and bag the daily ingredients two days at a time
2. Set up the juicer before bed
3. Get up and JUICE!
2. Plan the weekly menu with most ingredients on hand by mid-day Sunday.  Prep as much as possible to make dinner easy to prepare when I walk in the door after work.  This will go a long way toward preventing the "I'm too tired.  Let's hit the drive through" phenomenon that took over this past week.
1. Inventory Pantry/Fridge/freezer
2. Create the menu
3. Make a shopping list of missing ingredients
4. Shop for the missing ingredients
5. Prep two or more days at a time
3. Institute the Post-It board to plan the deep clean.  Post the board somewhere that others might see and step up to help out.  If they don't, at least that will keep me on track to get it all done by the end of the week.
1. Pick a spot for the post-it disply
2. Divide the display room-by-room
3. Write each task on its own post-it
4. pick a post-it and DO IT!

Starting the New Year in Style

New Year 2013 crept in silently.  We did watch the New Year's Rockin' Eve Dick Clark tribute and countdown and we almost got to the ball dropping, but Mom pooped out.  I watched it online.

While I was watching ABC that night I realized I have been forever old.  Odd at 53 to believe that, but really - rockin' eve?  I'd rather have Guy Lombardo-like entertainment.  Actually, when I was 20 I preferred the Guy Lombardo New Year's Eve.  I often flipped over to whichever channel had the big band countdown so I could hear Auld Lang Syne big band style.  I was singular in my preference.  My companions on any given New Year's Eve preferred the Rockin' version.

Watching this year's show, I was semi-tallying the "I've seen them", "I've heard of them," and "Who the heck is that?" observations.  I think there was an even split - but the overarching category?  "I could do without seeing this act/singer/spokesperson ever again!"  I believe that applied to every single act/person!

Old, I am you.

The fact that my yearly upper respiratory infection was beginning may have put an extra layer of "I don't give a darn, it's just another day" on the festivities.  The infection took hold of my son first.  We visited the Doctor on Jan 2.  Diagnosis: a flu and infection.  It took him three full days of antibiotics, rest and alternating ibuprofen and acetaminophen every four hours to even hit his fever.   He seems to be on the mend, no elevated temperature by Friday evening.

Jan 3 about 1 PM, I could feel the aches building and a slight temperature and that punched in the face/chest feeling I get with upper respiratory infections and sinusitis.  Temperature was hovering around 100F, when I finally got home from work and took it.  Friday, I called the doctor's office when the opened, explained my symptoms (identical to my son's) to see if they could call in meds for me, or if I'd have to come in.  Receptionist said doctor "would surely want to see you, but he is fully booked today".  She asked for my call back number to let me know either way.  Luckily, my doctor knows me, knows this is an annual event, and trusts that I know my body.  He had them call in the z-Pack prescription.

Two doses of the Zpack and the alternating Ibuprofen/Acetaminophen every four hours seems to have knocked the temperature down.  I still have some body, joint, muscle achiness, though not as bad as it was.  Cough is now more productive, which is a good thing, though it adds to the body aches at my lower rib cage.  I believe I am also on the mend.

I bought masks to wear around Mom and Aunt, so I wouldn't breathe my germs all over them.  I have been washing my hands like crazy.  Unfortunately, Mom got at least a head cold out of it... either from me or from getting out of the house last Friday and this Friday for her basal cell carcinoma surgery and follow-up.  I was so hoping she wouldn't get sick.   She is sneezing and has a runny nose and a slight cough.  We'll keep our fingers crossed that it is just a head cold.

I promise not to be a whiny blogger all the time, but felt the urge to share my new year fun.

See you next time.

This and that and a little more

So much I want to do - so much heat I don't want to do it!

While the heat and humidity of the last few weeks has not be record breaking, it certainly feels that way!

I'd like to knit - but it is so hot little progress is made.

I'd like to crochet together that last HAP afghan waiting for me. I can only do a little bit each night because the weight of the blanket makes me so darn hot!

I'd like to tame the garden. But the heat and humidity are debilitating when I step outside.

I hate to wish away my summer... but a little relief would be so sweet!

Defying the heat and humidity, I started my Feather Duster shawl (ravelry.com link) in Colinette Pariesienne. Mohair in the middle of August. I must be nuts! :) Again - I do a little and then have to set it aside to cool my clammy hands.

First repeat. I've gotten farther than this - more pictures later.

I've started a secret project for my downstream Secret Pal partner. I selected Gloss fingering weight from KnitPicks for this project. It doesn't seem nearly as warm as the other projects I've got in the works. Perhaps I'll have a finished object soon!

Mom is making slow progress. She has had a slight set back this week. The anemia has taken hold again. I'm watching to be sure she doesn't fall too far and require hospitalization this time. She was hospitalized the last two times her red blood count fell too far.

Physical therapists are visiting twice a week and seem pleased with her progress. Slow and steady. Now if I could just get her to eat more!

As Mom is improving, I can leave her for a few hours now and again - if I time it right. That meant I was able to go to my LYS - The Yarn Garden in Annapolis - for Thursday Knit night. I was glad to visit and just sit and knit. I hope Mom continues to improve - for her sake as well as allowing me to resume my Thursday night outings on a more regular basis.

Working on my stealth project, I was happy to show two knitters the crochet hook beading method I use. Neither had seen it before and wondered how it worked. Now they know! :)

Until next time.