Happy Birthday to Me, I'm as Old as Can Be...

OK, not really, but I started singing that the other night on our way to my birthday dinner, and it's been stuck in my head ever since.  I have a tendency to make up my own songs a lot, especially for the kids' benefit.

Since my birthday has just passed, I've been eating out a lot.  Birthday lunches, birthday dinners, birthday cake (did someone say cake?!)  We celebrate birthday weeks around here, not just days.  My birthday fell on a Thursday, and I was taken to lunch by my mother and sister.  French onion soup and a chicken quesadilla.  Mmmm.  Worked for me!  Saturday brought another lunch with my mom, on our way to go grocery shopping.  I had breakfast...an egg and a piece of raisin toast with a smidge of bacon.  No troubles!  Saturday night my husband and I went to dinner.  I had the seafood dinner special, which consisted of 1/2 lb. of snow crab legs, a piece of broiled haddock, and 2 (yes, 2) deep fried shrimp with red-skinned mashed potatoes.  That was ok, because deep fried doesn't work for me but I think I can eat it anyway.  I did end up having to stop on the side of the road and throw up, but I don't know if it was the crab, the deep fried shrimp, or the fact that I just ate too much.  Maybe it was the combo of food and 1/2 a glass of wine.  Regardless, lesson learned!

Sunday was the last day of my birthday week.  We went to my parents' house and had chili (we all pretty much love Mom's chili) with corn bread and garlic bread, and at my request my sister brought an ice cream cake.  A Snickers ice cream cake, to be exact.  Boy was it good!  After I had it though, I started to get sweaty and a little nauseous.  Too much sugar.  But that feeling quickly passed, and it was worth it anyway.

Now, back to reality.  Healthy, homecooked meals.  Not to say Mom's chili wasn't healthy, but the ice cream cake that followed sure wasn't!  But before all that good home cooking, I have to clean this place.  It never fails to amaze me how the less time we spend at home, the messier the house is.  How does it get messy when there is no one here to mess it up?  Party gnomes?  Regardless, the little stinkers don't clean up after themselves, so that's what I'll be doing today.  There is no school this week, so maybe I can get my girl to help....hey, miracles happen every day, right?

My Snickers ice cream cake...yum!

Another Revelation (or "Food I Can't Eat #23")

The Italian in me is crying.  She has her fists raised to the sky, moaning "Why, God? Why?"  The voice she is hearing probably isn't God though.  It is saying, "Because up until recently, your large ass could have been mistaken for the broad side of a barn."  I'm thinking God isn't quite that truthful.

Why the drama?  Because today I discovered one more food I can't eat.  Spaghetti.  Angel hair, to be exact.  I'm going to add it to the list, to include all pastas that are similiar:  linguini, vermicelli, etc. etc.  We had dinner at my parent's house tonight, and my mom made an amazing seafood dish with a light tomato and wine sauce that she served over angel hair.  Shortly after finishing, I made my first trip to the bathroom.  It was all angel hair that came up.  Same with trip number two.  The third time occurred on the way home, and it too was all angel hair.  So.  Enough of that.  It was physically painful to have in my stomach.  Once I finally got rid of it all, I was good to go.

Sorry you had to find out this way, Mom.  I didn't want you upset while I was there.  What is it they say?  "It's not you, it's me."  In this case, totally true.

Luckily, the Italian whiner inside can find solace in the fact that other pastas work out just fine.  So bring it on, I'm ready.

Six Months

Six months post-op.  Life is good.  I had my six month check up recently.  I have lost 58% of my excess body fat.  I'm down 83 lbs. and from a size 26 to a 16.  I still have a little ways to go, but all in all I'm happy with my success so far.  My blood pressure blew me away at that visit.  This is the first time in over 10 years without medication, and it was borderline low: 106/68.  My pulse was 64.  It used to run in the 80s-90s, sometimes higher.  I did get my hand slapped though, because my iron level is low and I'm borderline anemic.  Why the hand slapping, you ask?  Well, because it's my own fault.  I started having a hard time taking my vitamins (they are HUGE), so I stopped.  I don't know, I guess I thought I was going to be able to maintain my levels without the vitamins.  Clearly not.  So I got an order for bloodwork in another 3 months, to make sure my iron is back where it should be.  Also, I have to drink more fluids.  My labs showed that my kidney function is a little down.  I don't have to go back for 6 months though, and that is ok with me!

Buyers beware

I feel the need to air my disappointment in a couple of companies.  In these times, we need to wisely spend every penny we have, and these two companies have let me down recently.

Polar, you are on notice.  I recently purchased a few cans of shittake mushrooms.  I was pretty excited about it, seeing as though I prefer canned mushrooms over fresh, and you usually only see the one type of canned mushroom.  At least around here. 

I was making soup and thought the shittakes would be really good added to it.  For whatever reason, I stood at the stove after opening the can and read the label.  One of the ingredients?  MSG.  Really, Polar?  MSG?  Why?  With all that we know about MSG, and all the alternatives (if such an item belongs in a can of mushrooms in the first place) why not pick a healthier one?  I will not be purchasing these again, and will take a hard look at any Polar cans I may be contemplating in the future, if at all.

Second.  Hanes.  I'm a big fan of their long sleeved t-shirts.  I like to layer them under my clothes (as I'm cold all the time now) and sometimes even sleep in them.  They are cheap ($6) at the local Walmart, too.  My complaint?  If they accidentally find their way into the dryer, they shrink 1 to 2 sizes.  Not just in tightness, which I can deal with, but also in length in both the torso and arms.  You know that scene in "Tommy Boy" where Chris Farley tried on David Spade's coat?  "Fat guy in a little coat..."  That's what I felt like.  I like these shirts so much, I considered buying up a size.  But wait a minute...I lost off of this weight, and I have to buy a size up?  NOT. HAPPENING.

So while this may seem like small potatoes in the scheme of things, I'm trying to be a thrifty(er) shopper, and when situations like these arise, it makes me feel like my efforts are fruitless.  What's the point of clipping coupons if you're going to waste $6?  Know what I mean, Vern?

Hip Hip...

...Hooray!

OK, that's cheesy.  But that's how I feel, because I finally got on the scale after weeks of avoidance.  I figured, why bother, the number never changes.

But it did!

Not only did it change, it went down...6 pounds!  Who loses weight over the holidays?  Me, apparently.  This is the first time in over 10 years that I am under 200 lbs.  Am I happy?  You betcha!  Does the recent vomiting pale in comparison?  Yup!

I'm now 24 lbs. away from the goal the surgeon has set for me.  This brings my total weight loss to 82 lbs.  Pretty awesome for (almost) 6 months time!

Cocky No More

Turns out I've been kind of cocky about not throwing up anything recently.  I've been patting myself on the back and being rather smug about the fact that I must have finally figured this thing out.

Not so much.

I've had my ass handed to me twice this week, figuratively speaking.  Earlier in the week I made Shake N Bake sirloin pork chops (an absolute favorite of mine from childhood) with lightly buttered pasta, peas and corn.  It wasn't long after I pushed my plate away with that sickish feeling that I was in the bathroom.  I was in and out of there a grand total of 6 times over the course of a half hour.  Not fun.  I thought maybe I ate too much.  As I was telling the gruesome tale to my mother, she suggested maybe it was the combination of peas and corn, as those with diverticulitis (a stomach condition that makes digestion difficult) can't eat any vegetable with any sort of a skin.  I did stop the throwing up once the peas and corn were out...so I won't be eating them in combination again.

Yesterday I went to lunch with my mother at the Boonville Hotel.  We usually have a good lunch there...not so much yesterday.  We both were unhappy with the quality of our meals, and mine proceeded to make me sick.  I had something I knew I could eat--hot sliced pork sandwich with gravy and mashed potatoes.  Yes, it's a caloric nightmare, I know.  It doesn't matter though, because I ended up in their bathroom twice.  After we left there we went to the grocery store, and I ended up hunting down an employee to find out where their bathroom was. 

Today we're doing lunch again, as I have to take the dog to the vet (we don't go galivanting and living the life of leisure all the time!).  I hope today is more successful.  I'm going to stick with something safe, like soup.  As a post-op bariatric surgery patient, we're not "supposed" to eat soup, as their theory is the liquid in the soup pushes the food faster through your pouch, thereby causing you to eat more.  I put oyster crackers in mine, so that's really not an issue for me (that's my argument, and I'm sticking to it).

A small update:  my hair loss has slowed down.  I'm still losing it steadily, but not in huge gobs any more.  It is waaaaay thinner than I thought it would ever be, but nothing a good trip to my hairdresser (who is also post-op) won't fix.  Now if it would just start coming back in...

The first post of 2011

1/1/11...New Year's Day 2011.  Hard to believe another year has come and gone.  A monumental year for me, a year that found me losing 76 lbs.  I have another 30 or so to go, so now's the time to buckle down and get serious.  The first 76 fell off...this last 30 is going to have to be worked off.  Nothing good comes easy, right?

I went grocery shopping today--by myself.  That rarely happens, and from the looks of my purchases, it should happen more often.  As I was loading the groceries onto the belt, it hit me how different I shop from when I first moved out onto my own, from a few years ago, and especially from 6 months ago.  It's been a fun challenge to cook even healthier than I used to, and to make it something my family (especially my finicky daughter) will at least try.  The downside to all the healthier groceries?  A heftier grocery bill.  By almost $100.  That did not impress me.  I suppose that's to be expected in this area, where you find your run-of-the-mill foods, and anything exotic you either don't find or pay through the nose for.  My main mission was to find quinoa.  I have never tried it, but I have read nothing but great things about it.  Unfortunately, I had to scour the shelves in the grain aisle at Walmart, and when I did find the rather small box, it was almost $6.  I bought it anyway, as well as a small package of all natural wild and brown rice for $5.  I love these types of rice, but it pains me to buy the fast cook packages with their high sodium seasoning packets and preservatives.  We had the rice for supper tonight, and it was amazing, if I do say so myself.

My husband's cousin has gone through her own lifestyle change, and has lost 90 lbs. just by changing her diet and exercising.  I'm so thrilled for her!  She posted this recipe on Facebook, and I'm totally going to try it:

Sweet Potato Smoothie
1/2 c skim milk
1/2 c baked sweet potato
1/4 c reduced fat vanilla yogurt
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Combine in a blender all of the ingredients.  Blend until smooth and foamy.

Sounds like a holiday in a glass, doesn't it?  Of course, I saw this after I got home, after not buying any damn sweet potatoes.  Oh well.  Next time.

For Christmas this year, we finally gave in and bought our daughter a puppy, a mini dachshund we named Oscar (Because he's a weiner dog, get it? Yeah, I'm hilarious.).  I'm excited to take him for walks in the coming months.  He's almost 3 months old, so walks around the yard are what we're doing at this point.  But any time not spent sitting on my ass I consider exercise, so yay me.

My friend Kim just started a blog of her own.  We met about 10 or 11 years ago...my God Kim, has it been that long??...while working at a video store while we were both in college.  I don't know if you could call it work, as we spent most of our time laughing.  We are the kind of friends who don't see each other or speak for long periods of time, but when we do, it's like no time has passed.  Kim had the surgery in Oct. 2009, and has lost 160 lbs. since then.  I'm so proud of her!  So this blog she started, it is called Kim's 30 to 30.  It's her 30 things to do before she turns 30.  It got me thinking.  I should have a list like this, things I want to accomplish by a certain date.  I may do this, don't be surprised if you see me post something similar.  Of course, mine will be more like 34 to 34, as my 33rd birthday is next month.  I need more than a month!  I'm such a procrastinator, it would probably be 5 to 34!

Anyway...I hope this new year brings you all the happiness you deserve.  Thanks for caring enough about me to follow my blog!  Make sure you take the new poll I've posted at the top left of this page.