Missing you…

Posted: June 17, 2012 in family, Reading Fairgrounds racing
1

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.

Back in the day

Posted: June 16, 2012 in Bariatric surgery, Exercise, Physical activity, Weight loss
0

With my current situation, I’ve been thinking a lot about how much thinner I was back in the day, especially compared to now. I was so active in my high school years that I didn’t have time to work on my Jabba the Hutt physique. One of the surprising activities that helped keep me in shape was marching band. We had a band director who wasn’t real fond of marching, but knew it had to be done. He was much more of a jazz nut. So, we marched in three parades a year, unless there was something special in town. We also marched for the football games. You never quite realize how much lung capacity you need to march and play at the same time, I tell you what.

The Management will often quote the line from American Pie… “I am a band geek. I just never joined the band.”

It’s amazing how much that HS band stuff sticks with you. Choir, too. When we go to see the Candlelight Processional at Walt Disney World every December, I still remember every word and every note of the bass part in the Hallelujah Chorus. It’s been 23 years.

Regardless, I don’t think you can discount the value of being physically active. I’m not advocating giving up exercise, but rather the use of physical activity to help keep you in shape. During his talk the other day, exercise physiologist Ryan said you have to do both to be a successful bariatric patient. I’ve at least upped the physical activity part of my daily routine. See, my place of employment is located near what is known in the biz as a “retail power center”. Or, as everyone else likes to call it, a shopping center. Basically, it’s a strip mall with big box stores. I’ve made it my mission to walk every day and try to go a little farther each day during my allotted break. One day, I walked to Home Depot and back; the next day, HomeGoods and back. My goal will be able to go all the way around the perimeter of the shopping center in 30 minutes. Hope I get there.

So, Monday brings a visit to the regular doc’s office. This is all part of my bariatric program. I must have my weight monitored by a regular doc for six months. Then I could go on to have surgery done. I’m hoping for good news… my last visit there wound up with me weighing in at an immense 374 pounds. I’ve been trying to eat right and get my physical activity in… I’m hoping it reflects in the number on the livestock scale. It’s really scary that the number has gotten so high as I was as low as 270 last January. I guess the wheels don’t fall off as much as just disintegrate. That’s the main reason I haven’t been giving a weight update… our home scale doesn’t go that high.

Oh, and the chili I made the other night has been given the seal of approval by The Management. As such, I’ll post my recipe here:

Brian’s Beef, Bean and Beer Chili

Ingredients
  • 1 pound lean ground beef
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil (might as well get the Omega-3)
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 cluster fresh garlic, smashed or minced
  • 2 teaspoons cumin, ground
  • 2 tablespoon chili powder
  • 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
  • 8 oz of fresh black beans, soaked and boiled
  • 1 cup of beer (I use Sam Adams Boston Lager)
  • 1 chipotle chili in adobo sauce, chopped*
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 handful cilantro, chopped
    * If you are short on time or don’t want to mess with a real chipotle, just dump in Tabasco Chipotle sauce to taste
Directions
  1. Heat a large sauce pan over medium heat.
  2. Add the ground beef and brown, breaking it apart as is cooks, drain any grease and set the beef aside.
  3. Add the oil in the pan, add the onion and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
  4. Add the garlic, cumin and chili powders and saute until fragrant, about a minute.
  5. Add the tomatoes, beef, beans, broth, chipotle and oregano, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20-50 minutes. I then put it in a crock pot on low for 4-5 hours to really saturate the flavors
  6. If you want to make things healthier, use leaner beef. I will use 96% lean beef. It also makes for less grease to drain

If you are feeling like a big batch, double up on the ingredients, use a full bottle of beer and perhaps a can of beef broth or a packet of flavor enhancer. For those who like their chili with more heat, add hot sauce to taste.

I’m not sure…

Posted: June 15, 2012 in Lego, The Management, Travel, Weight loss
Tags: , ,
0

what I will be writing about today. I have a streak going that I don’t want to break, so I’ll just start typing and see what happens.

I mentioned in the little biography blurb that I have a wee bit of a Lego problem. It’s true. I’m fascinated by those little plastic bricks. Growing up, we didn’t have a lot of money, but the few Legos I had were very well-used. I spent a lot of time building spaceships of my own design, knowing then that since there’s vacuum in space, my ships could be very rectangular. Well, that and there weren’t a lot of round pieces back in the dark ages.

Fast forward to December 2011, we were visiting the Lego Imagination Center in Orlando at Downtown Disney. I was taken by the sheer number of choices available. Being as I like Star Wars, I was checking out some of the Lego Star Wars sets, lusting after the Super Star Destroyer that cost $400, things like that, when I saw the AT-AT.

WANT!

To quote my friend Jed, “I’m generally very pro-AT-AT.” I thought it would be a great set to build after being out of the Lego game for 20 years. It was only about 815 pieces, reasonably priced as such things go, and the last one they had. I bought it, then realized I had a problem. How the heck would I get it on the plane? This was a pretty big box and The Management and I were only travelling with carry-on bags.

Luckily, a friend of ours we would be seeing at New Years was travelling via Auto Train and was willing to take the AT-AT home for us. It was sad, though… I had to wait another three weeks to build it. Or even to see it again. Sniffle.

So, December 30, The Management and I headed to scenic Glenside, PA, to take in a Cinematic Titanicdouble feature featuring two of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. One was called Astral Factor. Starring Robert Foxworth and a pantsless Stefanie Powers, well, it’s as bad as you might think it would be. The other was called Frankenstein’s Castle of Freaks, and that was even worse. All that is beside the point… I was finally reunited with the AT-AT. I was rather happy about this, as you can probably tell from the picture.

The Precioussssssss

The next day, I was able to start construction. It came back to me and I was again struck by the attention to detail. This even had movable legs and a General Veers minifig! I started understanding why the sets were so expensive and just how much detail goes into them.

After watching me build that, The Management decided she wanted to join the fun and we managed to pick up a model of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater, from the Lego Architecture Series. Lego Architecture takes some of the world’s landmarks and renders them in Lego bricks… some results are better than others. I consider Fallingwater to be an amazing rendering, whereas the Sydney Opera House was a dud, IMHO.

Anyways, she built that in one night and our family addiction was born. Currently, the Nerd Lair is populated by many of the sets from the Original Trilogy films. There’s a TIE Fighter, X-Wing, Y-Wing and the Millennium Falcon. On the bar is one exception, an Ultimate Collectors Series version of Obi-Wan’s Jedi Starfighter. Also on the bar is my birthday present… an Ultimate Collectors Series Imperial Shuttle. That took me nearly a week to complete, but it was certainly worth it.

In short, Legos were a big part of my childhood and one I’m very glad I’ve not only been able to rediscover, but one that I’ve been able to share with The Management. Her next build is in the house… an Architecture Series rendition of the Robie House. We’ll see how it goes.

Hope you all have a great weekend and can treat yourselves well. I have a regular doctor’s appointment on Monday. Hope I’ll be able to report a few pounds lost.

Food porn

Posted: June 14, 2012 in Cooking, Food porn, Weight loss
Tags: , ,
0

One of the quirky habits that Supportive Partner Woman (Devourer of Tasty Meat!) and I have is a proclivity toward food porn. When we are out and we see a nice looking dinner plate, we snap a picture and put it up on Facebook.

Top: Roasted cedar plank salmon with olive oil and fresh ground pepper; bottom left: veggie flatbread pizza; bottom right: my almost famous chocolate chip cookies.

I even have an album simply entitled Food Porn, where the photos go to live on. I’ve recently started adding photos of some of my culinary creations when I feel they pass the pretty test. I’m going to share a few of the best looking ones here.

Left side: Scallop risotto from Royal Caribbean; top right, standard chicken sandwich from Chick-Fil-a; bottom right: chicken nachos from San Antonio Bar & Grill in Washington, DC.

Quite honestly, most of the food porn stuff is not what you’d call healthy by any stretch of the imagination. There are lots of red meats and lots of desserts, most of which I didn’t actually eat. OK, maybe I did eat the red meat… I’m not opposed to tasty cow. Or tasty chicken. Or tasty fish.

I like to post it because to me, food tastes better when it looks good. I’m sure there have been studies done proving this, but to me, presentation means a lot. Appearance influences perception… not just food but everything. You could see two identical meals, same ingredients, same recipe, and chances are you’d pick the plate that looks more appealing and say it tasted better.

I’m going to start posting up some recipes… most of what I do is simple enough. I’m not quite good enough to make all my own stuff yet, but I’m pretty good at modifying other recipes to suit my needs. I’ve gotten ahold of a nice black bean chili recipe that I’m going to try to tweak. We shall see how it goes. If it’s good, I’ll post it up here.

Have a great day, folks, and I will keep the food porn coming your way.

And the excavation continues…

Posted: June 13, 2012 in Cleaning, Cooking, Weight loss
Tags: , ,
2

A typical sleep cycle here at Chez T will involve me heading to bed before The Management. See, she’s much more of a night owl than I am. I like to get to bed and accomplish things in the morning. I think I feel that if I get something done in the morning, I won’t feel unproductive through the rest of the day.

As many know, I’ve been working at cleaning out my office. That project is well on its way to completion; I’m actually writing this from my new desk, which is nothing but a folding banquet table. I have plans to build some add-ons for it, but it’s working in the meantime. My cleaning has moved on to the bedroom closet and, I’m happy to report, I’ve been joined in that effort by Supportive Partner Woman (Folder of Multitudinous T-Shirts!).

Good God that’s a lot of shirts!

We don’t have a lot of pictures of the closet, but this picture should give you an idea of what needed to be refolded and organized. I’m happy to report things look a lot better. I’d like to think that after the procedure is done, I’ll be able to buy smaller clothes.

To go along with our improved organization, we’ve been doing more meals at home and meal planning. Just yesterday, I made chipotle-marinated sirloin strips and pico de gallo. I also used some flatbreads we found at Wegman’s as a pizza crust. I put some jarred pizza sauce (I know..l. need to make my own) and mozzarella on top, along with some sliced Roma tomatoes and, in my case, some green pepper slices. For a first effort, it was actually pretty tasty, and it looked pretty good, too. When I got home from work last night, I also cooked a big pot of black beans for my steak burrito. First time I ever cooked beans that weren’t from a can, so we shall see how they turn out.

Veggie flatbread pizza – a work in progress

So, that’s what I have for you today. Remember. You can always make up for calories with flavor. Spices are generally free, so feel free to use liberally. You can make up in flavor what you lose in fat and calories.

Selling yourself or sharing yourself

Posted: June 12, 2012 in Cooking, family, friends, regrets, The Management, Weight loss
Tags: , ,
0

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
0

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.

Wow… just wow.

Posted: June 10, 2012 in Bariatric surgery, diabetes, The Beetus
0

So, living here in Cow Country has taught me that a lot of the local cuisine is really not that great if you are diabetic or in a bariatric program. Everywhere you look, you find all sorts of compressed pig parts, carb-laden starchy goodness, breads, baked goods and candy. To say that the Pennsylvania Dutch really know how to make fattening food would be doing them a disservice. They are the kings of fat food.

One of the hallmarks of the PA Dutch country is the smorgasbord. Sure, many people have seen Old Country Buffet, Duff’s Famous Smorgasbord, Cactus Willie’s, any of those places. Many have eaten at a casino buffet. They all have their places… I remember going to a joint in Florida during a high school band trip where the buffet came to you. You stood next to a giant round carousel of calories and the smorgasbord rotated past you. No worries about someone cutting in line ahead of you, that’s for sure.

The PA Dutch have raised (or lowered) the bar when it comes to consuming mass quantities. Whether buffet or family style, you can get what you want at any of these places, just be warned, you’ll get a lot. Not only of food, but of people wearing stretchy pants, or as Jed likes to refer to them, “buffet pants.”

For us here at Chez T, the gold standard in buffet is Shady Maple Smorgasbord, located in East Earl, PA.

I’ve never seen the place this empty

The food is undistinguished… perhaps best described by Cookie, in the movie City Slickers, “You ain’t gonna get any nouveau, almondine, thin crust, bottled water, sauteed city food. Food’s brown, hot, and plenty of it.” I naturally assumed that I had eaten my last broasted chicken and stuffing. Then I discovered that Shady Maple actually has discount pricing for post-bariatric patients. My first thought was, “Seriously? WTF?” If you check this link, you’ll see what I mean.

You have to wonder if there are really post bariatric surgery patients lining up to strap on the feed bag. Everything the professional staff is telling me makes me believe  that this is the last place on Earth I will want to eat. I guess some habits do die hard. WGAL did a piece on the aforementioned discount, showing here:

Another gem in the culinary pantheon is Good n’ Plenty. This establishment is referred to by the local Disney nerds as “Amish ‘Ohana” because the food is served family style. The brown, hot and plenty of it rule applies here, too.

Mmmm. Fried chicken.

I did not see any post-bariatric discounts, though, but again, this is a place I’m not really seeing as being in high post-op demand. They do have some amazing fried chicken, though. This one will be tougher to give up than Shady Maple, since this is one place our friends from New York like to visit when they are in the area.

Other local establishments, such as Miller’s Smorgasbord, do not mention any kind of bariatric discount, which is probably a smart thing. I think that getting this type of major procedure done should also make folks reconsider their eating habits. I’m thinking that unbridled consumption helped get us here in the first place. If you want it to work, then maybe, just maybe, you might be better off at Saladworks.

I leave you with the following quote from Dave Barry:

I recently had my annual physical  examination, which I get once every seven years, and when the nurse weighed me,  I was shocked to discover how much stronger the Earth’s gravitational pull has  become since 1990.

The Yard Sale of Doom… not quite so bad, actually

Posted: June 10, 2012 in Cleaning, Yard sale
Tags:
0

Well, it’s here and gone. The Yard Sale of Doom has come and gone and our house is still standing. There was, of course, an incredible display of unbridled cheapness, but that’s what happens when you have this kind of function. Let’s review, shall we?

After not getting to bed until around 2:00 or so, 6:30 was waaay too early to be getting up. I knew it would be a scorcher, so I decided to forego the shower, threw on a ballcap (and pants, too) and got to work. The Management and I had done a lot of prep work the past few days, including removing the giant computer desk from my office, so there wasn’t a lot of carrying stuff to do. Dragged the tables outside, displayed our wares, and off we went.

besides the giant desk, highlights included three gently used Lego sets (figured if I sold them for what I listed them for on eBay, I’d be ahead of the game. No eBay fees or PayPal fees), a table that we used in our kitchen, some DVDs, and a few other sundry items. Our friend Cheri also set up a couple of tables, primarily getting rid of children’s clothes and toys. We weren’t seeing much action on our big ticket stuff, so I snapped a quick picture of the computer desk and threw it up on craigslist. Figured it couldn’t hurt. About a half hour later, I check my email and there’s a reply from someone expressing interest in the desk, with a phone number. I start dialling the number when someone asked about the desk. Turns out to be the guy I was just calling! What are the odds?

He wound up buying the desk, along with a printer and router. I was just glad to see it go!

All in all, other than some people trying to nickel and dime us (asking $1.00 for a DVD and somebody offers $0.25. I looked at him and said, “Seriously?” He didn’t buy… cheap bastard. We even managed to take some of the profit and pick up some chicken BBQ from the local fire company. They get $9.00 for a half chicken, baked potato, roll, cole slaw, drink and dessert. Not bad and goes to a good cause. It helps that it is some yummy chicken.

Next chapter of the Yard Sale saga takes place July 7, in bucolic Blandon, PA. If you’re headed up 222 to the Kutztown Folk Festival, look for us on the side of the road.

As an aside, the birdie maternity ward is back in business. Every summer, it seems that a certain dove likes to lay eggs in our hanging flower baskets. It’s actually kind of cool to watch, as she seems to be a very calm bird. Hope I can get some pictures of the hatchlings this year.

Mom keeping an eye on things

 

A daunting challenge…

Posted: June 8, 2012 in Bariatric surgery, family, friends, The Management, Weight loss
Tags: , ,
1

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?

Older Entries
Newer Entries