Good evening!

I am spending this time this evening with my two four-legged girls this evening, as my sweetie is out having fun with the guys! So, I an spending some time at the manse this evening doing a little bit of WHATEVER I WANT!!! ;-)

I can’t decide if I want to curl up with a good book, or if I want to watch a sappy chick-flick!! Oh, so much to do, so little time!! ;-)

And, I realize I haven’t really arted much in the past week, but I think I have really pooped myself out with all of the art class stuff that I have been trying to keep up with for the past 6 months! and even though, I am enjoying my current class, I think that this will be my last soul-searching/art class I am going to take for a while! I need to just get to the arting of it all, and get some new pieces made!!

On the bariatric surgery/dieting front, I met with my physical therapist today, and I was pretty impressed with m’bad self. I say that because I was able to do a lot more physical activity than I think she was expecting! Heck, I do a lot more physical activity than even I expect! I have usually been pretty active even as a fat-chick! ;-) Anyway, she has helped me write out some of my physical goals, and given me some homework to help me work…er…I mean…train for these goals. So, I left there feeling pretty jazzed about all of that!

Oh, I want to tell you about this AWESOME book that I read. Yesterday, after I got home from work, I couldn’t decide what to do, so instead of flip on the tele, I decided to pick up a book that I had borrowed from the hospital’s community library, and give it a try. The book was called Tuesdays with Morrie. After about 2 hours, before I knew it, the book was finished, and my perception of death and dying has literally changed!! I know that sounds deep, but it is such a LOVELY book!

Tuesdays with Morrie is about an old man, a retired professor, who is dying, and a young man, who was one of his students about 16 years earlier. They meet together on Tuesdays, where they share stories, and the old man shares his life’s lessons about living and dying. It is such a beautiful story, oh, and did I mention that it is a true story?? I found myself laughing out loud, crying like a baby, and wondering why in the world I hadn’t read this little gem of a book sooner?? I highly recommend this book to anyone who has even lost a loved one – it might just change your perception on life and death too! :-)

Some of Morrie’s lessons are:

  • Don’t assume that is too late to get involved.
  • The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn’t work, don’t buy it.
  • Love is the only rational act.
  • Don’t cling to things because everything is impermanent.
  • Love each other or perish.
  • Don’t let go to soon, or hang on too long.
  • You are not a wave, you are part of the ocean.
  • Sometimes you can’t believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel.
  • Accept what you are able to do and what you are not able to do.
  • Death ends a life, not a relationship.

Meet Morrie – Such a happy, happy man!!

On a more frivolous note, (my, my, my this one of those random thought kind of posts this evening!) I received a package in the mail this afternoon. Since I am getting ready for bariatric surgery, and it has been pushed out by a month – did I tell you that??? Well, my surgery is now September 4th – I was a little bummed when I found out it was pushed out so far, but I know it will still be worth it! Anyway, this package I got this afternoon was a package of new clothes that had I found online at Lane Bryant. These clothes were on clearance sale with a special additional 50% off, so I got them dirt cheap!! The screwy thing is, is that I ordered them all in my post-surgery goal size – a size 14!! I am a little embarrassed to admit that, but I just could not pass up that kind of sale, and I KNOW that I will get there, AND in only about a year after surgery, sooooo…it seemed like a GREAT idea to me, and I am still pretty excited about it. However, the only thing that kind of scares me, is that I haven’t seen this size since I was 18, and a size 14 just looks sooooo tiny!! Now I am starting to second guess my goal!! I am not going to dwell too much on it now, and just keep doing what I know I need to be doing! So there – I feel like I have just gone to some kind of confessional, and now I feel SO MUCH BETTER!! Thanks for that!!! My check for your psychologist’s fee will be coming in the mail!! ;-)

So, I am going to wrap this up. I have decided to go take another evening walk before I plant my hieney in front of the tele to watch some episodes of Sex in the City, while pulling pics of my dream outfits out of fashion magazines!! Yeah, that sounds good!!

Here is to a FABULOUS evening!! ;-)

 If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!


Good evening!

Well, I realize that it is late, and I should really be going to bed, but my sweetie and I have just returned from first playing with the girls outside, and then walking the girls back to the house, and then my sweetie and I heading out for a nice evening walk ourselves!

Before I tell you our walk, I want to tell you about our good news, and our bad news. Bad news first. Jason and I have gotten our final surgery dates today, which is good news, however, Jason’s date is 2 weeks later than he had originally thought so he is a little bummed about it. My date however, has been pushed out by a month!!! ACK!!! When I first found out, it ALMOST caused me to want to quit, but of course, my super-supportive husband came to my rescue, and I am NOT backing out now!!! ;-)

So, for the good news. Well, Jason has made his surgery goal weight!! YEAH!! WHOO! HOO!!! I am soooo EXTREMELY PROUD OF HIM!!!! and for those of you keeping track means that he has lost 4 pounds this past week! AMAZING!!! Whatta man!! ;-) I did not make my goal weight this week, but I am only one pound away from my goal weight, so I will HAPPILY TAKE THAT!!! YEAH ME!!! LOL!! ;-)

Getting back to our walk! While we were walking, my sweetie and I took turns saying out loud one goal that we hope to be able to achieve post surgery. With my sweetie’s permission, here are a couple of examples of things we came up with…

ME: I want to be able to touch my toes with my knees unbent

HIM: I want to be able to breathe while tying my shoes

ME: I want to ride the rides at a carnival and not have to worry that the lock won’t latch

HIM: I want to see that

ME: I want to be able to run a mile

HIM: I want to see someone from my past who made fun of me, and make them eat their words

ME: I want to see that

HIM: I want to be able to take a bike trip. A long one!

ME: Me too!

HIM: I want to go to a water park and not get stuck down a water slide

ME: I want to be able to keep up with my niece while swimming

HIM: I want to be able to buy tall clothes without having to buy big and tall clothes

ME:  I want to be able to sit Indian-style in a movie theater seat

So, there you have it! I really am so thankful to be going through this journey with my sweetie!! I would never have made it this far without his love and support!!

I have said it before, but I will say it again, life is really good!!

Here is to a FABULOUS evening!! ;-)

 If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!


Good afternoon!

We are having a lovely four-day weekend here at the manse!! LOL! ;-)

I thought I would share some new pics of some things going on around our place this weekend! ;-)

Here are some pics of our garden! It is so fun to watch the plants grow and getting out there and weeding, pruning, and making everything look lovely!!

We are so jazzed to see how much lettuce we are going to have! They are growing so much faster then us newbie-farmers could even imagine!

Here are our snap-peas, and 3 strawberry plants! We already have one red strawberry!! We will have to flip a coin to see who gets to eat it!! ;-)

Here are the two blueberry bushes! I can’t wait to see how much they produce! ;-)

Here are a few of our herbs!

Here are a few more! We have 3 pots of herbs growing! ;-)

Next, on to our living room!! As many of you know, my sweetie and I are getting ready for Bariatric surgery. One of my goals before surgery is to make sure that the house is clean, organized, purged, and no muss, no fuss ready for us to just concentrate on getting better!

One of the things we have been hearing from past patients is that a recliner is almost imperative to post-surgery resting! Well, I have been a long time naysayer of recliners. They are large, ugly, and I have just really never liked them! So, when I picked up two leather ones this weekend, I was sure that I was losing my mind, but my rationale behind doing that was twofold! 1. I know that we will both be having surgery, and I don’t want either one of us to have to sleep on the couch! 2. It has been really hard to have company over when there is just not enough seats in our place!

So after a ton of time spent cleaning, purging, and redecorating, and along with the help of my FABULOUS sweetie, we were able to take our living room from this:

To this:

Aaaaaaah…SO MUCH BETTER!!

The feeling in here is now so much more calming. We moved the large television out from in front of the window, so the room is now awash in sunlight! What a much more positive feeling, and way less drab and gloomy!!

 

Also, now that I have a bunch more of our favorite art work on the wall, the space feels sooo much more like us!!! I can’t wait to see what the rest of the house looks like once we are finished, but we are really so close!! I will make sure to share pictures with you as more progress is made!!

Here is to a FABULOUS evening!! ;-)

 If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!


Good evening!

My sweetie spent today planting all of the vegetables into our new vegetable garden, and I am very happy to report that I have some new pictures to share with you!

I am soooo very impressed with what he was able to do in such a small space!

We now have growing:

  • Spinach
  • Green leaf lettuce
  • Red leaf lettuce
  • Green romaine lettuce
  • Red romaine lettuce (I didn’t even know that existed!!)
  • Butter crunch lettuce
  • Red bell peppers
  • Green bell peppers
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Yellow grape tomatoes
  • Broccoli
  • Snap peas

All of these veggies will be a great and tasty foundations for some very healthy salads this Summer!! ;-)

We also planted an herb garden in some large pots we had on hand! They now hold:

  • 4 kinds of basil
  • Thyme
  • 2 kinds of oregano
  • and 2 other herbs, that I am going blank on at the moment (sorry!!)

My sweetie also got us some strawberries for our hanging pots, and two blueberry bushes, which he is going to let grow in 2 different large pots. I am SOOOOO EXCITED to see what grows and how well we can incorporate these fresh goodies into our our new healthy life style!

This whole adventure has been so much fun! I haven’t actually gotten my hands dirty (thank you, Love, for doing all of the dirty-work, literally!). I will eventually get my hands in the dirt, weeding  and tending to the veggies’ care, it is a garden after all, but Jason and I have had so much fun planning it out, and seeing it come to fruition. I realize it is just a small garden, right now, but it means something so much larger to my husband and myself. This little garden is a small glimpse of what we envision for our future; owning our own little farm. It still makes me smile ear-to-ear when I think of it even now!!

We are so blessed, and life is so good!

Here is to a FABULOUS evening!! ;-)

 If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!


Good evening!

This is going to be a quick post this evening, as I am on a cleaning roll!! As you may remember, if you read my post the other day, I am working on getting my art studio completely reorganized, purged, cleaned up, and ready for my next round of some serious arting time!!! If you saw the pictures from the other day, you would agree that THIS is QUITE the undertaking!! I am motivated to get it done though, my sweetie has gotten me a gift certificate to my favorite day spa to get a spa pedicure!!

WHAT A GREAT MOTIVATER!!!

That and the fact that I will have an awesomely clean workspace to get some new art pieces created!! I CAN’T WAIT!!!

Anyway, I am going to head upstairs and get a crackin’!! I am so close to being done that I am thinking that tomorrow will be the day that I can call the spa and make my appointment!! YEAH!!

I will make sure to keep you posted, and I will share pics as soon as my art studio is done!!

Here is to a FABULOUSLY PRODUCTIVE evening!! ;-)

 If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!


Good evening!

Has it really been more than a week since I have last posted! EEK! Sorry about that! I find that I am a little behind in my Brave Girls’ Soul Restoration II class, and am seriously trying to get caught up before the next lesson and assignment comes out this next Tuesday, but that is not what I want to talk about tonight!

What I want to share with you, this evening, is a couple of REALLY BIG jobs my sweetie and I are doing around our place this weekend.

First off, my sweetie is busy building us a garden in the little backyard of our condo! I am SOOOOO EXCITED to be able to harvest our very own fresh salad fixings from a garden where we grew everything ourselves. I am not exactly sure what all we are going to grow, but so far I know we are going to both red and green leaf, and Romain lettuces, spinach, both cherry and grape tomatoes, and some herbs – cilantro, oregano, rosemary, and basil. Doesn’t that just sound delicious!! I can’t wait for our first harvest!! I will totally make sure to keep you posted on that, but in the meantime here are some pics of my sweetie finishing up the building of and filling of our new raised garden bed:

The measurements of our new garden bed is 4′ x 8′, and alth0ugh it is not as large as the garden we will have when we have our little farm, I figured it would be great practice!! We are planting our veggies sometime this week, and I will make sure to share pictures then too!!

Here is my handsome sweetie, and garden-builder!! Isn’t he adorable?? He just kept saying what a great feeling it is to be working out in the “yard”!! I just LOVE seeing him so happy!!

So, while my sweetie was busy building our new garden bed, I was busy on a big house project myself; purging, cleaning, and organizing the art studio!! That is such a GINORMOUS JOB, that it is going to have to take more than just one day to do!!

I had stuff squirreled away in every single nook and cranny in this room. My goal today was to get EVERYTHING pulled out, put as many like items together as possible, and then go through as much as I could while sorting everything into multiple bags: confidential recycle, donating, garbage, and put away all of the rest!

The long table on the right of this picture is not normally in this room, but my sweetie brought this in for me so that I would have a place to do all of my sorting! Thank you, Love! ;-)

As you can see, I still have a LOOOOOONG way to go!!

I am excited to get this room completed, but I am going to need a little bit of help!! My sweetie has agreed to give me some moral support tomorrow, as I do the hard work of really paring down!! I want to get rid of the old to make way for creating the new!! This space is going to be a HUGE part of that future!! When I think about that, it makes getting rid of stuff kind of exciting!! ;-)

So, before I start again in the morning, I am going to spend the evening hanging out with my sweetie!

Here is to a FABULOUS evening!! ;-)

 If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!


Good evening!

I was on such a high yesterday afternoon! Nothing could stop me! I was the QUEEN OF THE WORLD!!!

Well, it has been about 24 hours later, and I have gotten a blow off of my invincibility pedestal! As you may already know, my sweetie and I are going through the process to have bariatric surgery done; we are both wanting to get the gastric bypass, him in July, and me in August.

Anyway, I got my lab results back this afternoon, and I have to tell you, I am still in a little bit of shock, and not sure what to make of it all.

So, what I found out was:

It looks like I am now going to have a sleep study to see if I have sleep apnea since my overnight oxygen levels dropped to 81%. 90% – 100% is normal. DARN – I was hoping to somehow avoid having to sleep at the hospital while having people watch you!! (Did I mention that I work at the hospital???)

I am pre-diabetic. Hrmph! I honestly didn’t see that coming, but with the diet and exercise I am doing, I am sure that will be manageable, and hopefully after the surgery, a complete non-issue.

And finally, and most shockingly I found out that have hyperthyroidism.

WHAT???? How can that be???

One of the common side effects of hyperthyroidism is unexplained weight loss!

Uhmmm…I WISH!!!

No, I have not experienced that symptom AT ALL!!! The most common symptom that has hit me really hard is anxiety, which I guess is caused by your system running faster than it is supposed to! That would also explain the racing heartbeat, flushed face, and overall distaste for any heat of any kind (because my body is already running a little hot).

Yes, I said it – “I’m HOT!”

Not to mention moodiness, inability to sleep, and my hair falling out! LOVELY! (Sarcasm!)

So, as I deal with the fact that I am getting older, whether I like it or not, and the fact that I knew that if I didn’t take care of my health at some point, I would be taking care of my sickness, like it or not, my sweetie is taking me out to watch a play this evening; A Streetcar Named Desire. I am pretty excited about that, since I have never even seen the movie before, and I hear that this story is a classic!! and having a moment of fun, is just what the doctor ordered!! Thanks love!! ;-)

I will keep you posted!!

Here is to a FUN  & PEACEFUL evening!! ;-)

 If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!


Good evening!

Things are going pretty-freakin-fabulously here at our place!! Jason and I are both doing really well with our new pre-bariatric surgery clean living diet. All veggies, all the time, lean protein, and 2 servings of fruit, and dairy daily!! I am not sure exactly when it happened, but I have acquired an AMAZING amount of energy, and it has really gotten me motivated to not only continue on with my arting, but get our house back in tip-top shape!!

As I have been busy re-creating myself and having a blast with my newly re-found creative side, for the past 6 months, our house and all of the chores necessary to keep a nice, clean, clutter-free home has really been suffering; and I realized as I had surprise company this past weekend, that the state of my home has really started to bother me. SO, instead of whining and complaining about it, I decided that it was time to take come serious action, and take back control of the chaos that has become our home!!

The action I decided to take was a combination of making a plan, and taking the whole process in baby steps, so I don’t overwhelm myself and just give up for the next 6 months. So what I did was first create a list of all of the household chores that I could think of:

  • Dishes
  • Counter tops
  • Laundry
  • Making the bed
  • Bathrooms
  • Floors
  • Dusting
  • Taking out the garbage
  • Windows
  • Entry way
  • Back patio
  • Bathe the dogs
  • Wash the dog bowls
  • Picking up after ourselves

I then took everything on this list and then assigned a day of the week for each chore, leaving Sunday open to just relax.

Next I decided to take it a step further, and made a wish list of chores I wish would get done around here like:

  • Vacuuming the vent covers
  • Vacuuming the refrigerator coils
  • Cleaning under the fridge
  • Cleaning under the stove
  • Wash the Car
  • Detailing the car
  • Pressure washing the window blinds
  • Cleaning the oven
  • Cleaning the barbecue
  • Shampooing the carpets
  • Cleaning out the dryer vents
  • Organizing the coat closet
  • Organizing the game closet
  • Organizing the Linen closet
  • Organizing the laundry room
  • Organizing the art studio
  • Organizing the walk-in closet
  • Organizing Jason’s closet

I then decided how often I wanted these tasks done; monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually. Next I wrote on a paper the months of the year, and took each task and assigned it a month in which it would get done in.

Then I thought about all the tasks around the house that have to get done, but are one-time things that may not actually need to be scheduled on an ongoing basis. I decided to make a list of these things too:

  • Replace the broken linen closet door
  • Paint and install the baseboards
  • Install hardwood floors throughout 1st floor
  • Paint the front door
  • Paint the garage door
  • Paint the laundry room
  • Rebuild shelving in the laundry room
  • Reupholstering the 2 chairs and ottoman in the garage
  • Refinish the coffee table in the garage
  • Refinish the antique dresser in the garage
  • Get rid of the miscellaneous cabinets from the garage
  • Replace window in art studio with a noise barrier window

I then made this my “Honey-Do” list and my sweetie and I have agreed to work on tackling each one of these items, one-at-a-time during our Saturdays, so that went on the chore chart calendar as well. I am not sure if we are going to spend time every Saturday doing these things, or every other Saturday. The good thing about this entire chore chart is that it is not set in stone, and we can change whatever we want!!

I have to admit that now the chore chart is ready to go, it is pretty large and a little daunting at first glance, but Jason and I did our list of chores for this evening, and it took us about 1/2 an hour, and the house already looks great!! WHEW! What a great feeling!!

Anyway, I am off to go do some arting homework, while my sweetie gets some game time in this evening, and then we are off for our evening walk!! Life really is good!!

Here is to a FABULOUS evening!! ;-)

 If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!


Good evening!

Well, after work today, I discovered that I had a couple hours to myself at the house, which I LOVE!!! You see, being at home at the house, at least for a little while gives me the opportunity to be a super neat-freak without ridicule!! MWA-HA-HA-HA-HAAAA!!!

After getting the laundry started, I realized that my sugar free decaffeinated swiss mocha drink was out, AND THAT IS SIMPLY UNACCEPTABLE!! That has been such a delicious part of my work morning ritual that I decided to take a moment and brew another bottle of that! Done!

Then, since I was in the kitchen “cooking” AKA mixing 2 ingredients in a bowl for serving later, I decided to prep some individual bowls of sugar free pudding, which has been our go to treat when we are seriously craving something sinfully delicious! Got 4 of those squirreled away into the fridge.

Since, I was already on a roll, I decided to make some high-fiber, super low fat blueberry muffins so we could have something different for breakfast tomorrow morning! Got that done too, and may I say that unsweetened applesauce is so AMAZING that it can sub for oil!! THANK YOU apple sauce makers!!! ;-)

So, that is a glimpse into what my evening is looking like! Cooking, cleaning, rocking around the house, and eventually I am going to have to get my heinie in gear and get up to my art studio and do my Brave Girls Soul Restoration II homework!! Tonight is making  vision board! SCORE!!! Totally up my alley!! So, that is totally do-able!!

Oh, let me give you a quick update on our Bariatric surgery plans! Yesterday was my one-week mark, and so I went in and weighed – scary! But I found out I really had nothing to be afraid of – I have lost 5.3 pounds my first week on my pre-pre-bariatric diet!!! WHOO! HOO!! That little surprise left me on a high for the rest of the day!!!

BTW, my pre-pre bariatric diet is basically eating super clean, tons of veggies, lean protein, limited fruit, dairy, and avoiding sugars, sodium, bad fats, and avoiding drinking my calories. If you would have asked me before I started how hard I thought this was going to be, I have to be honest, I would have said it is going to be REALLY HARD! but, thankfully, with my sweetie’s help, we have found a bunch of new recipes that have been very flavorful and it really has been super easy to make it through the week! Thank you, Sweetie – I find that I am saying that a lot to you lately, but it is so awesome to have someone supportive to go through this journey together with!! :-)

Alright, that is enough for one night! I will see you tomorrow! ;-)

Here is to a FABULOUS evening!! ;-)

 If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!


Good evening!

This is going to be a crazy short post! I know that I have been MIA, and very sporadic in my postings for the past few weeks, but I thought I would just quickly stop in and give everyone an update on what’s going on in my life now!

I am in week 2 of my Brave Girl Soul Restoration class, and I am sooooo LOVING it!! Melody Ross and the whole Brave Girl Club crew has done a FABULOUS job at putting together a seriously LIFE-CHANGING class! If I could afford it, I would gift this class to EVERY SINGLE WOMAN I KNOW!!! Seriously!!

I have also been creating a lot of art! Art for my new office space, art for the sake of getting art pieces done, and even one special piece of art for a VERY SPECIAL person in my life!! Eh-Hem, it is her birthday today!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIRRRRL!!! ;-)

Anyway, I discovered that the hardest part of getting her piece created was not in the deciding what I wanted to create for her, but it was actually getting it into the mail. This will be my first original that won’t live at my house!! DID YOU HEAR ME???? These pieces are like my children!!! Sooooo, long story short, I got it in the mail late, but it is TOTALLY on it’s way!! I hope she LOVES it!! ;-)

What else? Oh yeah – this one is a biggie!! This week was my official start of my bariatric program, which means I am now on the path to getting gastric bypass surgery! Scary, but soooo exciting!!! My provider guestimates that I will lose about 1 third of my entire body weight, which BTW will make me weigh about what I weighed at age 12 – REALLY!!! I have to lose 16 lbs before surgery, which sounds very doable, and I have a minor hernia that I wasn’t aware of, so they will fix that during surgery too. So, I am running around getting all sorts of tests, labs, and procedures done, and it looks like my surgery is tentatively going to be in August (you have to be in the program for a minimum of three months)!!! Please keep your fingers crossed!

OH – and Jason, who is 2 weeks into the process further than I am, found out that he has lost 16 pounds in 2 weeks!!! THAT IS AMAZING!!! Keep up the great work, Love!! I am so very proud of you!!!

I will keep you posted on both of our journeys!!!! ;-)

Here is to a FABULOUS evening!! ;-)

 If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!

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