Archive for the ‘family’ Category

It’s Thursday, must be time for another butt whuppin’

Posted: July 5, 2012 in Bariatric surgery, Cooking, Exercise, family, Physical activity, Weight loss
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Greetings!

Having just returned from another session at the gym, I’m feeling pretty good about myself. In just three sessions, I’ve managed to get my cardio up to 30 minutes without totally feeling that my heart is going to say “Oh, hell no!” and jump out of my chest. That’s a good sign.

Seriously, I’m starting to feel some small changes in myself. Not only am I actually being active, I look forward to these sessions (does that make me a masochist?) and I’m finding myself able to dig deep into my psyche and pull out an extra rep or couple minutes on the elliptical.

The elliptical… quite possibly my favorite piece of cardio equipment. I get a good workout and it’s not as hard on my knees and ankles as the treadmill. They’ve also had me up on the arc trainer as well, which I don’t care for as much due to chafing. Might need to invest some money in a case of Bodyglide. Our friend Mel swears by the stuff. She’s like the Bodyglide queen… as she should be. She runs marathons and stuff and knows all about this sort of thing.

In the good news department, I was able to up the weight on my strength training and the intensity level on the cardio. It’s a good sign and both Cory and Ryan seem very pleased with my progress. I’m nowhere near where I want to be, though, but all good things take time.

Tonight was also my first visit to support group. I’ll surely go again… I found it very informative. I would like to stay longer the next time, but I had a lot of prep work to do for my next group of trainees. The program consisted of a brief talk by a success story, in this case a woman who dropped 175 pounds. There were before pictures and the after was quite astonishing. After her talk, Dr. Ku and Dr. McPhee took the floor for a Q&A with the guests. It was interesting, as both men seem very down to earth and very positive. They were following it up with a snack sample, but neither Supportive Partner Woman (sitter in uncomfortable chairs!) nor I were really into a tuna and white bean salad. I did manage to score a couple of interesting recipes that I will have to try. One is for a chicken chili that seems like it could be quite tasty. I’m always up for good chili.

So, that’s all I have for today. I hope everyone is staying cool as we have a few brutal days ahead. So much so that the Yard Sale of Doom, Part Deux, has been postponed. I’ll miss seeing everyone, but I won’t miss the yard sale all that much. We still have a picnic to go to in the afternoon with my side of the family. This time, no surprise party that I am aware of. Yay?

Until next time.

Missing you…

Posted: June 17, 2012 in family, Reading Fairgrounds racing
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Father’s Day 2002 was pretty tough. My dad had recently been diagnosed with gliobloastoma multiforme and had undergone surgery to remove the tumor. He was slowly recovering, but the doctors had warned us that his time was limited. He passed that September, and every Father’s Day since has been painful. Hell, every day has been painful. Some more than others.

Mom and Dad at the racing banquet

Many of you who read this had the pleasure of knowing my dad. Jack was well-regarded in the community as a small businessman and was known to the Reading racing community as well having spent many years running the push trucks and tow trucks at the Reading Fairgrounds racetrack. In fact, you might say that I came to be thanks to that track. At the time, my mom was working as a secretary for Lindy Vicari and was set up on a date with my dad by some car owners. They soon were married and I came along not too long after.

Dad with a race car he helped build back in the 50’s

Dad was an interesting man. He wasn’t a college graduate, but was one of the smartest people I ever met. When it came to all things mechanical, well, it was like he had a gift. He could fix nearly anything and he had a sense of calm about him that usually only went away when I did something to piss him off (which was pretty frequently, I might add). I’m sure I was the source of pride and the source of gray hair. Dad wasn’t always the greatest at communicating his feelings verbally, but he could give you the stare and that would do it for you, if you were smart.

Dad and I didn’t do a lot of ball games… oh, we went, but usually to AA games at Reading where the old wooden bleachers would stab you in the butt if you weren’t careful. He even helped coach my Little League team, the Riverview Park Giants. We did go to a lot of races, though. Many Friday nights I remember spending at the track, usually sitting with my grandmother (who had box seats) and hanging out until after the races were over. Often, dad would take us through the pits. I remember getting autographs from Gerry Chamberlain, MeMe DeSantis and my favorite driver, Kenny Brightbill. Those were my special times with my dad… and up until he died, we still shared an interest in racing. We went to a few NASCAR events, I even took him to the September Dover race the year before he got sick. Dad would do things on the spur of the moment. I remember a band trip to Florida where the parental units went as chaperones, on one day’s notice.

Point is, as much as I knew him and spent time with him, I’m not sure he ever knew how much I loved the guy. This is one of the things I went over in my session with the psychologist the other week. She seems to think that I never properly grieved and as such, I still feel haunted by his death ten years later. Maybe that is part of it. I was so caught up in trying to be steady and solid that it was hard to let go when I really needed it.

I have regrets. I wish he would have lived to see me get married. I could just picture he and my father in law holding court in the bar at the reception, arguing over who was going to pay for the next round. That was another thing… he had a heart as big as anything, and he went out of his way to protect those around him. One of my favorite moments is when my mom was about to do her annual cookie baking at Christmas. She had this beat up old Mixmaster and was dreading the cookie mixing. I had excused myself after supper and was watching TV in my room. Dad comes down, says, “What are you doing?” I replied that I was watching TV. He says, “Get your coat…” I asked where we were going and he says, “I’m getting your mom a new mixer… I can’t deal with hearing her complain about the old one anymore.” Not exactly true… he didn’t like seeing her struggle with that old monster, so he and I went to Wal-Mart and came home with a new KitchenAid. She never complained about the dough again.

Finally getting my degree at Penn State… December, 1999.

Dad would also needle the hell out of people he loved. He and my grandmother would go back and forth, but that was his way. If he knew you couldn’t take it, he wouldn’t dish it out, but if you could, look out. He was certainly proud of me when I finally graduated college… he even said, “Don’t worry son… lots of people go to college for ten years. They’re called doctors.”

Fast forward to now, and while I miss him terribly, I certainly lucked out in the father-in-law department. Charlie is a prince among men, always kind and willing to work hard, not to mention a good sense of humor and good taste in Canadian whiskeys. In fact, The Management has weighed in on her dad on her blog. Check it out here.

So, to sum up, dad taught me a lot of lessons, most of which I didn’t really take to heart at the time. He taught me how to fix things, how to work, and how to love. When September 21 rolls around, I’m still going to be sad. But I know that he’s out there somewhere and missing us as much as we miss him. Even though he would’ve gotten a pinko daughter-in-law. And he would’ve teased the hell out of her.

Love you, dad.

Selling yourself or sharing yourself

Posted: June 12, 2012 in Cooking, family, friends, regrets, The Management, Weight loss
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I’ve really talked about a lot of things over the 50+ posts I’ve thrown up here. Few tidbits about life, some social commentary, shared some humorous moments… I’m here to tell you that I’ve not been completely honest with you.

It’s not that everything here is a sham… it’s not. I truly am overweight, I like to eat, cook, all that stuff. The places I’ve  been, the stories I’ve shared, all true. However, there’s a huge part of me that I’ve not shared. I want to remedy that. But first, how about a little story.

I’m hopelessly addicted to Next Food Network Star. Have been since Season 2, when Guy Fieri won. I like Food Network (big surprise) and a lot of the personalities. I watch Iron Chef America and want to actually go to Cleveland, just to eat at Michael Symon’s restaurants. I would go to Atlantic City, not to gamble but to eat at Bobby Flay Steak. I’ve been to Emeril’s Orlando. One of my favorite Food Network personalities, though, has always been Alton Brown.

Alton Brown and fishy friend

Alton is a food geek, and that appeals to me. I was intrigued by the new season of Food Network Star, where Alton, Bobby, and Italian diva Giada DeLaurentiis would each be mentoring a team of hopefuls. I started rooting for Team Alton, just because, well, they seemed quirky. Like him. At any rate, during Sunday’s episode, the remaining members of his team were all up for elimination. One of the team members, Judson Allen, finally homed in on a culinary point of view based on his astounding weight loss. However, the network was not convinced of his sincerity. Alton interjected with the following:

Being heavy… I was heavy most of my life… is painful. You learn to create a different version of yourself to project to people. You have to sell yourself because you’re not attractive and you’re heavy and you’re clumsy and all of those things.”

That just really hit me. It dawns on me that I’ve been using my alter ego so much that it’s become very difficult to know what is the real me and what is the me I’ve created. The line between the two has ceased to be clear. That’s not a good thing. So when I said earlier that I’ve not been completely honest with you, well, I haven’t exactly been honest with myself, either. I’ve actually gotten to the point where I don’t know who I am anymore. I’ve molded my exterior persona to be so middle of the road in an effort to be liked that it comes across as complete bullshit (“bovine scatology”). Nobody likes a bullshitter (or perhaps I should say “bovine scatologist”). I always say that I don’t like phony people, and yet, I’m actually a phony. I’m not the jolly fat guy. I HATE BEING FAT. I am so envious of the normal sized people sometimes that it just hurts. Really, really hurts. And the only way I’ve been able to quell that inner pain is by eating. A lot. I believe that SPW (aka The Management) knows how much I hurt because she sees me in my unguarded moments, when I don’t put on my fat armor and mask. Not many other people do. It’s not something that I’ve ever really talked with her about, so consider this my coming out party, dear wife. However, the aforementioned  conflict between my two personas tends to make me, well, cranky. Or perhaps bitterly sarcastic. Or both. Mostly both, methinks. Either way, that conflict manifests itself in my hardly being able to really experience and appreciate the goodness and joyousness that I want to believe is still in the world.

I really started fearing that this was happening when we made our annual December trek to Disney to see all of our friends for Reunion. It was like I was going through the motions rather than enjoying the company of like-minded people. I wasn’t having fun. I hurt, mainly from carrying the weight around, literally and figuratively. I kept thinking to myself, “How the hell can I be in the Happiest Place on Earth, surrounded by some of my favorite people, and be as miserable as I am?” I did what I normally do… I sucked it up and did the best I could, but I wanted nothing more than to be elsewhere. I usually feel that way anymore… just want to be elsewhere, to find a place where I don’t have to wear the fat armor, because that’s heavy weight to lugging around all the time. You know what, there is no such place. It’s still accepted to discriminate against fat… just look around at all the popular culture. The fat guy is usually portrayed as dimwitted and slow while the this handsome guy is always the hero.

I’m done playing the role. I’m fat, but I’m not always going to be. Maybe I didn’t get the winning ticket in the good looks department, but I’m not going to let being fat steal anymore of my life. It’s taken enough for two lifetimes. Bear with me… some of the bovine scatologist will linger. One does not exorcise the demons immediately. After all, I have to relearn how to be me and to love being who I am. That’s not a task I’m relishing, although I think the reward will be worth all the pain. To look in a mirror and see me, not what I think I should be, but who I am, well, that will be one of the best days of my life.

I’ll keep you posted. And thanks for reading.

I almost forgot a title…

Posted: June 11, 2012 in Cooking, diabetes, family, The Beetus, Wegman's, Weight loss
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Today was a kitchen day. It didn’t start out to be, but it certainly ended up as such.

For whatever reason, I thought about making my own pico de gallo, but I started out with a little tomato, mozzarella and basil salad. Nothing to that… just dice up some Roma tomatoes, put them in a bowl with some cubed mozzarella (use part skim mozzarella for a little more health benefit), them I add just plain Italian salad dressing and some basil (fresh, if I have it, dried if not). Cover the bowl after tossing the salad, put it in the fridge, and it’ll be ready to go in an hour or so.

I followed that up by seeding and dicing more tomatoes and some red onion. I’ve never attempted to make pico before, but I’ve had it enough to figure out what I need. Just not sure if I got the proportions right. I also don’t have any cilantro, so I let the tomatoes and onions soak in the lime juice and will add cilantro when I get to the store. I know it needs to sit awhile, so no worries.

One tip, if you’re going to make something like this, make sure you seed the tomatoes. If not, you have a mess. It’s really easy to do. Just quarter a tomato and use a spoon to scrape out the seeds. It’s really easy with Roma tomatoes, since they don’t have much in the of seeds to begin with.

The other task I undertook was to make some marinated sirloin for burrito use. I looked at a few recipes and decided to improvise. I took a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, pureed them in a blender, then I forced them through a strainer to get rid of the seeds. To this puree, I added half of a red onion, some cumin, oregano, garlic and black pepper, ran it through the blender, dumped it in plastic bag with some sirloin tenders we located on clearance at the Greatest Grocery Store on the Planet. Picked the steak up on a good deal as it was about to hit its sell-by date. I’ll let the meat marinade overnight and grill it up on the morning to see what happens. Truffles, however, were NOT a good deal. Seems like the price fluctuates with the season.

In other news, we picked up a lot of ingredients to make a food contribution for a project we have in the offing. I’m cooking up a baked pasta dish with a choice of meat sauce or marinara sauce. That little project will keep us busy the next couple of weeks. I’m kind of doing it on the fly, but it’s pasta. Hard to mess that up.

Blood glucose reading this morning was 114. Pretty happy with that. It’s staying a lot more stable, which is a good thing. It was fluctuating wildly for a few months, plus, I wasn’t checking it as regularly as I should have been. Gotta toe the line if I want to succeed.

Anyways, back to work tonight. I have my first ever trainees… this should prove to be interesting.

A daunting challenge…

Posted: June 8, 2012 in Bariatric surgery, family, friends, The Management, Weight loss
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For most people, when they hear the words “daunting challenge,” it usually conjures up an image of something so difficult as to be nearly unachievable. To Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, the climbing of Everest would have been a daunting challenge. What I’m embarking on doesn’t sound like much, at least not when compared with climbing Everest or running a 5K, half marathon and a marathon IN ONE WEEKEND. To me it has the same level of challenge, though.

See, I had my first group class today in the bariatric program. What I’ve taken away is that I’m going to have to relearn how to live. This is quite a daunting challenge for me, because one could argue that I haven’t exactly been doing so well thus far, and maybe going back to square one is a good idea. It was a very good session, though. Things started off with a presentation by the dietitian, Shauna, who gave the class an idea of what changes they need to be making. One of those changes is the cutting down on fats, and they, of course, showed a picture of bacon. That’s going to be tougher than caffeine, because I can live without the latter. Bacon, however, was created by God because He loves us and wants us to be happy. Of course, what’s the point of being happy if you’re not healthy? She also suggested that we be mindful of what we’re taking in, calorie-wise. I can see that being important. They even said that if we’re not sure what to look for on a label, they will cover that in a one-on-one session. Tracking can be an issue, thankfully they suggest some apps and technology to make that a little easier to do. Everyone knows I love my tech.

Following Shauna’s talk, Ryan took over. Ryan is an exercise physiologist who took us through some of the things we can do to exercise productively. He suggested that anything can help, even if it’s an old Richard Simmons VHS. This of course, inspired me to find this gem:

It seems to me that everyone at the bariatric clinic is super supportive and they genuinely want people to have success. That’s good, because this sure as hell isn’t going to be easy. I’m glad that I have such fine support amongst my friends, coworkers and family members. The one who has been the most supportive of me and whose support I need more than any other would be The Management. Seems to me that I do her a disservice referring to her as The Management. Maybe I should take a page from her blog and refer to her as Supportive Partner Woman (Drinker of Frozen Concoctions!)

Thoughts?

Next step

Posted: June 5, 2012 in Bariatric surgery, family, friends, Stress, Weight loss
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Greetings!

After yesterday’s tangential rant, I thought I would take the focus back to the weight. See, tomorrow afternoon is my psych consult. Apparently, they want to figure out why I am the way I am. Good luck with that. As Charlie Sheen said, “You can’t process me with a normal brain!”

And I just know this is what it will look like.

Seriously, the purpose of the consult is to determine if I’m a good candidate for surgery. Seems they won’t do it unless I have the right attitude and frame of mind to make it work. I’m actually looking forward to this, but I’m nervous at the same time. I’ve been thinking I should seek out a professional for some time, because I know that I have issues. I’m hoping that a session will be a good beginning, something that I can build on and get better.

I have no doubt that I have issues. I think everyone has issues of some kind, in some cases buried deep, in others, right on a sleeve. It’s finding the issues, confronting them, and reaching a peace that’s important.

I’ll let you know how it goes… so please keep good thoughts for me.

Chicken n’ Trout (and beauty supplies, too!)

Posted: May 23, 2012 in family, preakness, Weight loss
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Happy Wednesday to all the fine reader (sic) out there!

It’s a typical day here. Managed to get some exercise… I edged the lawn, trimmed the Lilac Bush from Hell, sprayed the lawn and even managed to cook up some dinner. That’s something I’ve been lacking on. It’s not that I mind cooking… I actually rather enjoy it. I’ve just been lazy. Maybe lazy isn’t the correct word. Probably better to say unmotivated. That’s always a problem when my weight increases. I get less motivated to do things that I normally enjoy, then I get more despondent about the stuff that’s not getting done, making me go running for the food… It’s like the character Fat Bastard says in Austin Powers, “… I eat because I’m unhappy, and I’m unhappy because I eat.” There’s a lot of truth found in jest.

Last night I managed to cull the freezers. It’s amazing what you can find in the dark frozen recesses of the freezer. We are guilty of forgetting what we have in there, buying more of whatever it is, then using that first and so on until you find a chicken breast that was dated sometime in 2004, which means it was three years old WHEN WE MOVED IT! That’s a little extreme, but when I found it, it was so freezer burned that it looked like a mummy. I wound up ditching a lot of stuff that was three+ years old ranging from soup to chicken to fish portions. There was fresh pasta that was freezer burned, frozen juice with more ice in it than a margarita.

Now you’re probably asking yourselves why. Why doesn’t he cook? Why doesn’t he keep better track of what’s in the freezer? That’s a pretty good question. As you know, it’s The Management and myself in Chez Brian. Both of us are decent cooks, we just tend to eat out. Anyone can tell you how bad that is for your health and weight. We reason it away… for The Management she likes to go out with some of her friends to catch up on the latest. For me, I guess I’m embarrassed that there are only two seats in our break area that I can fit into.

Getting to the title of today’s post, upon leaving Pimlico on Saturday, Baltimore police were routing traffic into a not-so-nice area of Baltimore

Image

(which many of you who have been there know is pretty much anywhere between the Beltway and the Inner Harbor). This, compounded with GPS confusion, took us past a staggering array of establishments advertising fried chicken and lake trout. In one notable instance, the chicken and trout place was also selling beauty supplies. Sadly, I don’t have a picture of that sign, but I do have a great picture of another sign.

So, back to the original point. I’m going to do my best to bring my meals from home. If I go through with the surgery, I’m going to have to revamp my eating habits, so might as well get ahead of it now.

I’ll leave you with something else from Fat Bastard.

Of course I’m not happy! Look at me, I’m a big fat slob.

Not for long, self… not for long.

Missed opportunities and recovery

Posted: December 1, 2010 in family, Stubby the Wonder Toe, The Toe of Wonders, Weight loss
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Greetings!

I am typing this from the “comforts” of my own living room, where I’ve been recovering from the Magical Mystery Toe. This is not quite as good as it sounds. See, I have to keep the foot propped up and my ass is crazy numb from too much sitting. I’ve been home a week and a half, and not done much. I’ll be two weeks post surgery tomorrow with no complications.

Today is a sad day, though. Today we were supposed to be flying to Orlando to spend a week with many of our friends for Reunion. My toe situation kind of put the kibosh on that trip. We were both looking forward to this trip… there was a lot of good stuff planned, including a dessert party and private time at the Osborne Spectacle of Lights. Alas, my need for I.V. antibiotics made travel problematic at best. Also, I’m really not ready to do Disney in an ECV.

There’s a good side to the problem, and that is just how great everyone was to deal with. When we realized it wasn’t going to work, my first call was to Disney Vacation Club (our timeshare). When I talked to the lady there and explained my situation (hospitalization, surgery, etc.) she managed to get things fixed that our points went back to our regular account and not into a holding account. This is great news and it gives us the flexibility to reschedule at our convenience (when the Toe of Wonders is healed up). After that, I called the airline. I have had issues with airlines in the past, so I was expecting to lose the money. With great trepidation, I called AirTran’s customer service line. I was connected to Frances and I related my story. Frances cancelled our flight without a cancellation fee and now we have the entire airfare as a credit in our account with them. AirTran could not have been more helpful and they were a pleasure to deal with. I will be sad when they are taken over by Southwest.

The other major stumbling block would conceivably be Micky’s Very Merry Christmas Party, a special hard ticket event at the Magic Kingdom. I called Disney about these tickets when I returned home and they were able to refund our money for the tickets. All told, we’re out about $5 in PayPal fees. Not too bad when you consider how bad it could have been.

So, moving right along, I’m making progress getting my blood glucose under control. The doctors put me on insulin, which kind of sucks, but it has not caused the suicidal feelings that Byetta caused. Speaking of Byetta, it seems that it is made from the saliva of the Gila monster. Apparently, it works for some people. Not me, though. So, I have to stick myself four times a day. It’s doing wonders, though. The downside is having a couple of bouts of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). The shakes and cold sweats are not a good thing, but once that curve is mastered and the blood sugars even out, it will be worth it. No one is saying anything in particular, but in the future, I might be able to control things with one injection a day, or maybe by diet alone.

Speaking of diets, mine is going well. I’ve gotten to about 1,800 calories a day and even though I can’t exercise, I’ve still lost 11 pounds since the day I was admitted to the hospital. This puts my total weight loss since I started the blog at 46.8 pounds. Just to think I almost lost 50 pounds in six months. This really makes me happy. When I get to 250, I’m treating myself to something I’ve always wanted to do… take a Segway tour at Disney World.

I’ll be back with another entry this week.

Current weight: 283.2

Wow… just wow.

Posted: July 8, 2010 in family, Weight loss
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Hiya!

Wow. Today’s post just isn’t flowing too much. It wasn’t a bad food day, we didn’t do anything really exciting. I guess I will just start and see what winds up on the page.

So, anyone who read yesterday’s post is aware that my mother visited yesterday. That can usually be a great cause of stress in my life. As my wife can vouch, I’m usually pretty laid back, but something about her visits, however infrequent, can usually get me cranked up. I’m never 100% sure why this is.

In the good news department, the visit went well. My heart rate stayed calm and collected. We had lunch and the sewing project I thought I needed her for was superfluous. You see, I need a suit for an upcoming vacation. I have two (I usually only wear them for wedding and funerals), one is bigger than the other. I assumed I would not fit into the smaller suit, as I haven’t worn it for about three years. The bigger suit did not have any buttons to attack suspenders, so I wanted my mom to put buttons on the pants. Before we got started, I said, “Well, let’s see how tight this one is,” meaning my smaller suit. To my shock, it fit. The jacket might even be a little big. I guess I prefer it to be a little loose. Better than being stuffed in there like a giant sausage.

After that happy news, Mom went on to my aunt’s house, where she will be staying a few days. I went back to my CD ripping, because it was too hot to go out and accomplish anything useful. We went out a bit, had to meet up with some friends at BJ’s so they could get a few items, then we went to the beer distributor. Speaking of hot, I was surprised the beer wasn’t boiling. We wound up with a Pete’s Brewer’s Box. Three varieties, Original, Strawberry Blonde and Rally Cap. After a quick stop at Stauffer’s, it was home to chill down the beer, as the first guest of the bar was stopping by that evening after work. Luckily, the beer had chilled enough by the time our guest arrived and a good time was had.

So, my food lesson for today is that spices are free. No, don’t go to the supermarket and abscond with a giant jar of cumin. What I mean is that nutritionally, they don’t really count. So, if you say, “Oh, healthy food is so bland,” spice it up a little bit. With the proper application of spices, you can make any dish interesting, not to mention updating the flavor of an old standby. Be careful, though. Spice should enhance the flavor of what you are eating, not totally obliterate it. If you have something that has a mild flavor, like tilapia, think of it as a blank canvas for your taste buds. Keeping to fish, a fish with stronger flavor, like salmon, doesn’t need much enhancement. When I make salmon, I normally use sea salt, fresh ground pepper and a little olive oil. I then roast the fish on a plank of cedar wood. This gives the fish a wonderful, smoky taste that blends so well with the flavor of salmon.

Yet another food tip involves ground beef. You will always see advertising for 95%, 97%, 98% lean beef. That’s pretty much a crock if you ask me. There’s not a lot of difference between the three, but they will charge you a lot more. Secondly, and this really holds true for grilling, a little extra fat goes a long way. As you grill a burger, the drippings fall away. Most of those drippings are fat and we really don’t want to eat it. However, when the fat cooks out of the meat, it leaves some great juicy flavor behind. So, if you want to be healthy, buy 90% beef. It’s a great compromise between high fat and high price.

So, I wish you the best here on another hot day in the east. I will be helping a friend move on Saturday, so there might not be a new entry. I’ll let you know.

 Today’s weight, 298.4

Wednesday stress

Posted: July 7, 2010 in family, The Jerz, Weight loss
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Howdy!

Hope everyone is having a great morning. Today is fine, so far, but my stress level will increase exponentially as the time of my mother’s visit grows closer.

I don’t really have any reason why her visits stress me out so much. Usually if she stops over for dinner, I just become a bundle of raw nerves. I know she means well, but stay the hell out of my kitchen. If I need help, I will ask for it.

It should be an interesting visit. I’ve been keeping her posted as to how the weight loss has been going, but she hasn’t seen me since I weighed about 330. The other day, when I was only down a tenth, she was giving me crap, though about not going out for a walk for two days. Not that I’d need the giant blister (now named Lord GOMF, the Earl of Bunion) to heal up or anything. The funny thing is that she was previously on my case for losing it too fast. I just can’t win, I suppose. If you add that to the fact that she’s currently annoyed with us for something I’m not at liberty to discuss at this juncture, well, let’s just say it should be an interesting visit.

So yesterday was bloody hot, however, we still have our new friend… a dove who has made a nest in one of our hanging baskets of geraniums. She’s got to be the calmest bird I have ever seen.

I was actually able to water the basket without spooking the bird. I’m interested to see if the eggs hatch and when.

Yesterday I went to the dry cleaners to pick up my suits, a dress for the missus, a shirt and another sport jacket. When did dry cleaning get so expensive? It was $43! I’ve had suits that didn’t cost that much (just kidding). There was a lot of running around as well, out in the heat. I fixed some chicken and salsa in soft tortilla shells with a little cheese for dinner. Salsa is like the ultimate condiment. It’s very flavorful and reasonably healthy. It also goes well with pretty much anything. Highly recommend.

After that, threw a tape in the machine to get the premiere of Warehouse 13 on SyFy. Thought this looked like an interesting show last summer and we found we really enjoyed it. SyFy has come up with some of the better shows I’ve been watching. Eureka is a hoot, and the remake of Battlestar Galactica was first-rate. I still liked the original BSG, it was so campy, but the grittiness of the remake was very refreshing. I’m not a big fan of Caprica, though.

I finished importing a stack of CDs into iTunes, messed around on Facebook for a while and went to bed early. All in all, not a bad day.

I leave you with the following:

You must begin to think of yourself as becoming the person you want to be. – David Viscott

Today’s weight 298.7 (down 21.3 since 6/24)

Addendum: Visit with Mom went well and found out I could fit in my smaller suit. Now THAT’S closet shopping!

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