Camping and Three Favorite TV Shows!

So ... we went camping and it was wonderful! For those of you who know me well, I LOVE to camp! Seriously ... give me clean water, an air mattress, some wood and some matches and I'm in 7th heaven. I used to make my bed out of pine boughs and throw my sleeping bag on top, stretch a piece of canvas between two trees over my head and I was queen for the day.

Now that I'm a little older and my bones are a little creakier ... I can't sleep on the ground like I used to. The tent trailer is very nice to take camping. It's fully equipped with everything I need and it doesn't take long to throw a few things in an ice chest, grab a change of clothes and we're out the door! We went to a beautiful place in the Uintah mountains by a gorgeous reservoir, and yes it was bear country. I told Ethan, my grandson, that I was going to teach him how to cook pizza in a cardboard box. He thought it was great that his granny was going to teach him how to make pizza out of cardboard! (If only I could ...)! I lined a cardboard box with tin foil, put some briquets on the ground, placed 4 pop cans in each corner of the briquets, placed a wire rack on top of the pop cans, placed the pizza on top of the rack and then covered it with the box. In a few minutes we had really good pizza. We baked orange rolls for dessert. And no .. . I didn't have either. I warmed up my bean with bacon soup and it was delish!

We had a fun evening visiting and watching the grandkids burn marshmallows on their roasting sticks. No ... they never eat the smores ... just like playing in the fire and waving their hot wires around the fire, threatening to endanger eyes and burning the flesh off of our legs!

We had to pack up the next morning to go home because the site was reserved for the day and we didn't have a spot. But it was fun taking the trailer out for the first time this season. My hubby sleeps with a C Pap machine and we were able to use an inverter which drew power from the battery and his machine worked for the first time while camping. That was nice ... no snoring while enjoying the beastly sounds surrounding the trailer during the night.

O.K. ... I have to admit that I've grown very fondly of three TV programs that are on Sunday evening. America's Next Food Network Star, Army Wives, and Drop Dead Diva! Next to The Amazing Race, these are my top three programs. I've only watched a few episodes of Army Wives and I really got a kick out of last night's episode. I thought about all of our demonstrators out there and had to laugh. There was a really shy gal who needed to bring in some extra income so decided to become an independent demonstrator to sell housewares. Her friend hosted the party in her home to support her first workshop. The demo is a shy, quiet gal and is reading her introduction from a sheet of paper, then suddenly stops and turns on the boom box which begins playing stripper music. She proceeds to introduce her line of ' housewears' by bringing her friend out in a sexy maid outfit. The look on each person's face at the party was priceless! They were expecting to buy a slotted spoon or a ladle for the kitchen. The crowd went wild when she introduced the edible panty line and she ended up closing the party at around $700. Now, since I've only seen the show three times, I'm not sure if it's a naughty show or if I should be recommending it, but the three episodes I've seen I've really enjoyed.

Drop Dead Diva is about two girls who die at the same time and the model perfect blonde girl comes back to earth in the heavy-set lawyers body. It's delightful!

And of course I get caught up in the cooking shows and love almost anything on the food network channel!

Let's talk about books for a second. Here's two that are a must read! "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, and "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch. They're both an easy read and delightful. The Last Lecture is a true story about a professor dying of Pancreatic Cancer. He gives wonderful wisdom and advice for living. We bought the Guernsey book at Costco for around $8. It took me about a quarter of the book to really get the feel of what was going on and then I fell in love with it and didn't want it to end.

Is it getting easier on the diet? I think so! I'm beginning to see the rewards while trying on a bunch of clothes this morning. Most of them fit me now where I used to be too big for them. I even bought a bag of jerky and tried a little bit for my lunch. It was great the first day but I didn't do as well with it the second day. Perhaps I ate too fast! I was beginning to think that I would go down in history for never having a bout with throwing up after having the surgery. Well, my record was broken the other day. Remember the salad I had for the first time? Well, it didn't go down as well the second time and I was pretty miserable for about an hour and a half. It just stuck in the opening to the new stomach and hurt, until I was able to get rid of it. Hmmm... my thought of delicious salad has now been replaced with something softer and easier to digest, like cottage cheese. Hopefully someday I'll be able to eat it, but for now I'll stay away from it. I did pick a couple of cherry tomatoes from my patio this morning. They were delish and I had no problem with them.

I've got some sewing to do today so I'd best get on the stick.

Have a great day!

Lost Another Pound!

Wowzee ... I'm down another pound today. That makes 25 pounds down! Lisa mentioned that I was only down 10% of my body weight, which is true, but I need to lose 100 pounds, so I've already lost 25% of what I need to lose. So .... I'm a quarter of the way there!

For those of you attending convention for the first time, and coming to Salt Lake for the first time, there are definitely some 'don't miss things' that you've got to see. One of them is just a little north of the Salt Palace and that's temple square. They have wonderful tours, films to watch about the history of the mormons, beautiful grounds to tour, and you'll even get to see the tabernacle where the Tabernacle Choir performs. If you happen to be there on a Thursday evening you may be able to watch them practice. Across the street from Temple Square is a beautiful ediface and that's the Conference Center. You may be able to arrange tours there too.
There is no charge. Everything is free. Directly across Temple Square on the west side is another old building that used to be the Hotel Utah. You've got to go inside just to see the lobby. It's magnificent. Ask any guide there where the special film is playing about the history of the Mormons and you may be able to get a ticket to see that. It's wonderful. Just be sure to take tissues because it will make you cry!

A really nice place to eat with excellent food and not very spendy is in the basement of the Lion House. It's called the Pantry. Excellent homemade rolls, soups, desserts, and dinner, served cafeteria style. It's also west of Temple Square. Ask anyone on the street where the Lion House is. You can't miss it!

If you're into family history, check out the family history library. All of these buildings are in walking distance from the Salt Palace. I think there's a museum there .... all free.

Lots to do today before we pull out for camping. I've got to have everything packed and ready to go so when Lynn gets home we can just hook up the trailer and take off. Having a trailer that is fully stocked is so much easier than tent camping. This is a breeze!

Happy 24th of July everyone. This is a big day in Utah where we celebrate with parades and picnics the coming of the Mormon pioneers who settled this desolate valley and turned it into a rose!

Down 24 pounds!







Here I am down 24 pounds from a month ago! I weighed 226 this morning. I started out at 250. It's fun putting on the same shirt and pants when I take a picture every two weeks. The shirt is getting bigger and bigger each time I put it on. Actually, that's not true ... a shirt can't possibly get bigger and bigger. My body is getting smaller and smaller. And, I shouldn't have washed the pants because they're a stretchy jean material and they shrink when I put them in the dryer. So now they fit pretty good!

I'm feeling wonderful and doing fantabulous! Yesterday I introduced a salad into my diet. It was wonderful. I never knew that tomatoes could taste so heavenly. I didn't have any problem digesting the lettuce. I just made sure that I chewed it really well before swallowing. In fact I loved the salad so much I had it again for dinner. I bought a ready-made salad from my local grocery store. I used to eat it in one sitting. Now I'll have this for about 6 or 7 meals!

My daughter pointed out that I've already lost 25% of my weight in one month. That's incredible. I've never been able to lose weight this fast, not even on Phen Phen. The diet seems to get easier and easier with each day. I've even been able to get back to cooking and trying different recipes for Lynn and my folks and I don't have a problem with not being able to partake. I even made chocolate chip cookies the other day and they weren't even a temptation!

I tried a wonderful recipe from a Hawaiian demonstrator, Kaluha Pork. That's not her name, Kaluha Pork ... that's the dish. (I can hear you laughing!!!) Her name is Christine Jonick. It was divine and I was able to eat some of that. I'm including the recipe in the cook book. You'll love it and it's soooo easy to make.

We've been so busy in our ward. We've had tons of new babies born and I have a wonderful compassionate service leader who takes care of arranging meals for all of the new mothers for a few days after they come home with the new baby. As I mentioned before, my neighbor lady is dying of cancer. She should go quickly any day. It's just sad to see her one day doing so wonderful, and the next day she's lying on her death bed. Now we have Hospice visiting my mother and her cousin who both live in our little private subdivision. Then I received a phone call from a neighbor telling me that another neighbor fell down her basement stairs and was rushed to the hospital. She's broken a bone in her neck and she has been taking care of her invalid husband. I need to go over there today and access the situation to see how we can take care of them. I've had 7 deaths in less than a year since I've been the Relief Society President. I told the Bishop that I'm going to be known as the 'Death Relief Society President'!

One of my dear friends just had the same surgery that I had, Monday. I visited her in the hospital yesterday and she was doing fabulous. She's a young single gal who's fought the battle of the bulge all of her life. I can't wait to see what a difference this surgery will make in her life. She was ecstatic when they brought her her one ounce of broth and sugar free jello. She savored every sip like I did!

Well, I've got to get out and about and check on those needy sisters in the ward. Geez louise ... how did I do all of this when I was working full-time out of the home? This calling is definitely a full-time job, and I love it!

Oh -- we're going to take our tent trailer and go camping tomorrow night until Saturday. This will be the first time this summer we've taken the trailer out. I love to camp and camping in the tent trailer, for me, is like staying in a 5 star hotel! We're taking Dieter too. Oh, you pronounce his name, Deeeeter, In German when the 'i' is before the 'e', you prounounce the 'eee' sound. When the 'e' is before the 'i', you prounounce the 'iiii' sound. That's your first german lesson for the day!

Gotta run! Have a fun day, get your swaps made for convention, and I just may see a few of you out and about in Salt Lake City!

Another Great Day!

Wow ... where does the time go when you're having fun? I've been so busy but when I look around my home I think, "What have I done?"

Actually, I'm feeling wonderful and I'm getting stronger and stronger each day. I got up early this morning and watered my flowers and even pulled weeds in the front yard. I worked for about an hour. And, I got on the exercise bike last night for the first time. I didn't think I could even pedal for three minutes but I made it to 15. I'll have to work my way up to 30 minutes. Boy it's been a long time since I've been on an exercise bike. Lynn bought it a few months ago, but hasn't put it to good use yet. :)

We had some sad news yesterday. Our neighbor who was taken to the hospital has liver cancer and it's spread throughout her body. She also has blood clots in her lungs. Hospice hasn't given her many weeks to survive. I just pray that she won't have to suffer. If the cancer doesn't kill her soon, the blood clots will. This neighbor is my mom's cousin and her husband died in his sleep a couple of years ago. So sad!

On the bright side of things I connected with a good friend that I haven't seen for 22 years. We connected on Facebook. I had her out to dinner and we had such a good visit. She's amazing! She's never gone to college but has worked her way up the retail chain and now manages a large department store in the south-end of the valley. She has an amazing story. When she was small her father divorced her mother and re-married. Her step mom raised her with her two daughters. Her birth dad and mom both passed away while she was quite young. Not too long ago while flying to meet her cruise she noticed on her birth certificate that her mother had two children. She'd never noticed this before. Well, to make a long story short, through genealogy and genetic testing she found a brother in Missouri that she never knew she had. He'd been adopted and didn't even know who his mother was because the court records had been sealed. and of course he didn't know he had a sister. They have the same mother but different fathers. They've since seen each other a few times. I just think that is the most amazing story.

I can't wait for next week! Real food ... raw veggies and maybe I can even have a salad. They say lettuce is a little hard to digest so I hope I don't have trouble with it ... cuz I love salads!

Thanks for all of your wonderful recipes. I think I have enough for the book now. It's going to be lovely! Can't wait to get it to the printer!!

Happy Birthday Abby!

My youngest grandchild turned one today and I've only seen her twice in one year. The day she was born and a few months ago. No fair! I hate it that they live so far away in Oregon! Two of my daughters and their daughters drove to Oregon on Sunday and they're celebrating Abby's birthday at the beach. They keep calling me and I can hear the wind in the phone and the kids playing on the beach and I wish I was there with them. No fair!

I've been gone so much the month of June that I just couldn't justify leaving again for a week. My folks don't like to see me go and it makes them a little nervous when I'm not here. I had a sis who came and stayed with them when I went to England and they loved having her here.

So you all know that I'm going to South Carolina at the end of this month. We were going to see if we could book military housing tomorrow for around $45 a night. Just on a whim I went to Priceline and bid on the highest star rating hotel in Columbia for $50 a night and won! And, it's a Marriott Courtyard with two beds. Now I won't have to sleep with Reese's girlfriend. Ha ha ha ha! Actually I should have said, "Now she won't have to sleep with an old snoring granny!"

Still losing weight. I want to surprise you by taking a picture next Tuesday and telling you my current weight. I'll try and take pictures every two weeks, in the same clothes, and record how much weight I've lost. I'm feeling terrific. I just get a little tired after working a few hours and need to rest and then I'm fine. Sunday I cooked a roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, mixed veggies, and yams. I tried just a few slivers of the roast beef and had an ounce of the yams. Talk about delicious and it stayed down wonderfully and didn't make me sick. I'm really supposed to wait for another week to introduce regular meats into my diet, but I fudged just a little and was happy that all went well. It seems as if I get less hungry as the days go by. I think it takes a while for my body to finally recognize that it's not going to get as many calories as it was used to.

Oh ... I know the big news. I saw the new Harry Potter movie this morning at 8:30. Can you belive that I went to a movie that early in the morning? Lindsey had two free tickets and we got to go. We had a ball and loved the movie. It's really frightening for small children so I don't advice you taking them. After the movie I went over to check on the Relief Society sisters who were holding a day-time event and luncheon. Aren't I a terrible president to skip out on my sisters to go to a movie? I just told them that I had another appointment. They do fine without me and they have the system down patt!

That's about it for now. I'm happy and doing wonderful!

South Carolina Here I Come!

Get ready South Carolina ... I'm coming your way on the 29th of July! My son, Reese, is graduating from Boot Camp. He made it ... well, I hope he made it ... and his girl friend and I are flying out on Wednesday for his graduation. We're trying to make accomodations through the base and can't reserve our one room, one small bed, until Wednesday. Yikes ... can you imagine having to sleep with your soon to be (hopefully) mother-in-law, and she snores? Anyway, we're really excited to see him. He doesn't know that we're coming so hopefully he'll call so we can tell him our arrangements. He ships out to Virginia on Saturday and we'll fly home that evening. He wanted us to drive him to Virginia and stay there for a few days but the cost of rental car, one way, and housing was just too expensive.

Hmmm ... what have I been up to these last couple of days. I finally got my french door painted inside and out. That took a lot of oomph out of me. I just need to put one more final coat on the outside of the door and I'll be done! A project that I've been putting off for several months. And it wasn't as hard as I was thinking it would be. It was harder!

Some of you have asked if I take supplements after the surgery. Definitely yes! I take a sublingual Vitamin B under my tongue and chewable multi-vitamin (gag) every morning. When I start introducing meats into my diet, other than canned meats or deli meats, I will start on a chewable Calcium with D. I need to take these suppliments for life. I'm not supposed to ever take aspirin or ibuprofen. These medicines will cause an ulcer in the new stomach pouch. It's amazing that I haven't had a headache since I stopped taking the pain medication after my surgery. Normally I have headaches every other day. I really think that my headaches were due to sugar. A few years ago I went off of sugar for two years and my headaches were almost null. If I do get a headache I can take Tylenol but will have to cut it into fourths to be able to swallow.

Every Friday night is date night and Lynn and I usually go out to dinner. He's been having withdrawal symptoms since my surgery because we haven't gone out. We have our grandaughter from Oregon staying with us for a few days and she loves Chinese food, so I suggested we go for Chinese last night. Hmmm ... what can I have? Well, I ordered a vegetable plate and asked that they steam the veggies really soft. I introduced my new tummy to a little broccoli, carrot, snow pea, and mushroom. I noticed right away that they were cooked soft enough for me. But once again, I chewed and chewed and chewed. I noticed that Sarah and Lynn were through with their first plate of food before I had even finished my meager portion. It's amazing at how fast I used to eat and how much I could consume in a short amount of time. I think one of the big secrets to losing weight is to take smaller portions, chew and chew, and take your time eating. You'll recoginze the feeling of foolness before you're finished with your food. And then the important part, STOP EATING! I also picked out a tiny piece of chicken from their plate of fried rice and tried that. It's really too soon to start eating regular meats but I thought I'd give it a try. After eating I noticed that it felt like I had a big burp that needed to come up. It was then that I realized my pouch wasn't really accepting the veggies and chicken. I knew that if I burped it would come up, so I used mind over matter and kept it down. It was a little uncomfortable for a couple of hours and then I was fine. One nice thing about eating out ... I'm a cheap date! Give me a couple bites of your food and I'm fine.

I've had some invites to some of your gatherings at convention. I'll try to swing by. E-mail me your details at sumatragal@gmail.com. or comment here on my blog.

And, yes ... more main dishes for the recipe book would be delightful.

Gotta run .. we're catching a bus to tour the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House this morning at 9:00. Can't wait to see the inside of this beautiful ediface. The cool thing is ... if there is ever a new temple built in your area, you can go inside it while they have the open house. It' s amazing and something you won't want to miss!

Love to All!

Wiggy Wednesday!

Hello Everyone!



Once upon a time ... not too awfully long ago ... there was a Stampin' Up! facilitator (wonder who that was?) who decided that every Wednesday we would wear our wigs for the day and call it Wiggy Wednesday. I was sooo excited for Wednesday to roll around. I grew up with many different colored wigs, hair length syles, falls, and wiglets, and love wigs! Wednesday rolled around and I chose to wear my new red wig. I looked stylin' and I felt great! I got to work and I was the ONLY one wearing a wig! How's that for team support? Well, I had to wear it for the rest of the day because my hair underneath the wig wasn't fit for human viewing. My daughter was horrified and embarrased that her mother had worn her wig to work! Others within the company thought that I looked great. And I had a fun day fooling everyone with my new 'do'.



Today's been a good day! And no, I didn't wear my wig. I had a luncheon to take care of for a family in the neighborhood whose mother's funeral was today. We actually buried her husband just 50 days ago. That's neat when an older couple can go to the other side so close together. We had so many ladies in the neighborhood who brought wonderful food for the luncheon. Everything turned out beautiful. It's a good feeling when you serve others.



Some of you have asked if I have plans on going to convention as a demonstrator. I thought about it, but in all honesty I just didn't feel like that was the place for me to be right now. What I mean is, I don't want to take anything away from the classroom experience or from the facilitator that may be on stage. I wouldn't want a big fuss made over me if I showed up at the event. I think that would be in poor taste. Some have asked if they can meet me some where. I haven't made any plans for that either. But, I wouldn't mind hearing what everyone is doing on their free night. Who knows ... perhaps I may just show up there. :)



I wanted to share with you what a one ounce portion of food looks like. Here's two one ounce portions. This was my lunch. Peanut butter in one and yogurt in the other. It was delicious! I just introduced peanut butter into my diet yesterday. Great source of protein. I put a child's spoon next to the cups so you can see the comparison. Not much food but when you take itty, bitty bites and chew and chew, it feels like a gormet meal.


Went to my first support weight loss group meeting tonight. Not sure how I felt about it. There were some long-timers there who kept asking questions and didn't give the newbies a chance to get their questions answered. I really wanted a networking meeting tonight and the chance to talk to other patients. One of the surgeons was there answering questions but the problem was there were people there who were considering the surgery, so they had a lot of questions too. Perhaps next month's meeting will be more geared to what I was expecting.

I think the best support that I'm getting right now, is YOU! I've had several of you share your weight loss stories and surgeries and it has inspired and motivated me to keep on this plan. Thanks for taking the time to comment. I look forward to your posts and thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

Happy Thursday tomorrow~!

Tah Dah ....!

Before surgery photo.
Two weeks post surgery photo. I didn't think that there would be a difference, but THERE IS!!! Halleluja!




It will be two weeks tomorrow since I had my surgery. I went for my followup visit today and the surgeon is amazed! My incisions have all healed nicely (I heal very fast) and I haven't had any vomiting or explosive diar------. I don't like saying that word and you probably don't like reading it, so I shall refrain from saying it ..., well maybe. I have lost 20 pounds since the last time I weighed at his office. He said that I was on the high end of the weight loss for most of his patients. He also told me that I should lose the weight very fast. I'm down 14 pounds, with clothes, and 16 pounds in underwear, since two weeks ago when I weighed at home.




Each day I feel a little stronger. I even went for a walk today, but was exhausted by the time I got to my friend's home. I was leaning on her house, ringing the doorbell, hoping she was home so I could go inside and sit down. I had a busy day today with Relief Society work, planning a funeral luncheon for tomorrow, going to the Dr., and visiting the deceased at a viewing. But I really, really feel great. I even fixed Lynn his favorite dinner tonight ... chicken flied lice! (fried rice) This is one recipe I'll definitely put into our cookbook.




Speaking of the cookbook, it's coming along. There are some terrific recipes and I've even tried some. You'll want your own copy as soon as I have it published. Just let me know if you'd like one or several copies. You're still welcome to submit more. I think I could use a few more main dishes, and you don't have to be a Stampin' Up! demonstrator to submit. Just e-mail me your recipes, with a photo and bio of yourself and I'll include them in the book.




We've enjoyed having Angie's dog this past week. I'm going to miss him. He's very obedient. Much more so than Dieter. I hope that Dieter is taking good lessons from him before he goes home. I take 'the boys' over to Mom and Dads and they get the biggest kick out of watching them play together. It's more like Dieter pestering poor Sarge and he just sits there and takes it. On occasion he'll put Dieter in his place.




I think that's all for now. Tomorrow, if I remember, I'll take a picture of a 2 ounce portion of food so you can get an idea of how little it really is. The Dr. said that I'm probably only consuming between 3 and 400 calories a day. That's not very much. No wonder we lose weight so fast!


Happy Tuesday!

Still Doing Great!

My daughter dropped in this morning and chided me for not blogging lately. I guess you can say that I've been a little lazy in that department.

Things are still going very well with the recovery process from the surgery. I feel wonderful and my tummy doesn't hurt at all ... only when Deiter pounces on it! I go to the surgeon tomorrow and I'll take pictures and post my weight then. I can see that I've lost weight in my face and my clothes don't fit tight anymore. But to someone else they probably can't see a difference until I lose around 40 pounds. That's just the way it is!

The food gets a little boring and will continue being boring for the next three months. I usually have two tablespoons of scrambled egg with a smattering of cheese and salsa on top for breakfast, and a tablespoon of yogurt. Sometimes I'll mix my cottage cheese with the yogurt ... only 4 tablespoons all together. Lunch is usually a piece of string cheese with two, deli-sliced pieces of ham wrapped around the cheese. I'll add a tablespoon of canned vegetables to complete the meal. I can't drink 30 minutes before or after my meals. That's the hard part. I always want a glass of water to wash away the remains of the meal. Dinner consists of canned meat. I've only tried the chicken and it's stayed down fine. I mix it with light mayo or cottage cheese so that it's not so dry going down. Add a tablespoon of green beans and your meal is complete.

I'm trying to get my 64 ounces of water in for the day. I can use Crystal Light, but they say that just drinking plain water is best for you! I also was able to enjoy a sugar-free pudding that only had 60 calories in it. That was quite the treat!

Yes, my stomach still rumbles when it's hungry and I still crave snacks, especially at night. When that happens I just take a few sips of buttermilk and I'm fine!

I've been applying on-line for jobs and it's very time-consuming and frustrating. I think I'm going to stop! Nothing has panned out yet and I think it's a waste of my time. They say that word of mouth is the best way to get a job. If I haven't found a job by September I can apply for un-employment for 6 months.

We had a great 4th of July celebration. We celebrated on Friday at my sister-in-law's home, up in the canyons. Talk about a beautiful home, which includes an in-door basketball court, home theatre, and swimming pool. We had a BBQ, swam, and visited til about 10:00 p.m. We're babysitting Angie's dog until Thursday. We were worried about leaving the 'boys' home while we went to the BBQ so we put Sarge, their dog, in his crate and let Dieter, our dog, roam the house. Dieter wasn't too thrilled that his friend was in a cage. When we arrived home around 10:30 p.m. guess who was greeting us at the top of the stairs, wagging their tails? You got it! Dieter sprang Sarge from his prison. Luckily there was no damage done to the house, just spilled water in his crate.

Back to the BBQ. It's amazing ... I can make a piece of string cheese, wrapped with ham, last as long as someone eating a hamburger! And, I didn't mind it at all. It wasn't hard staying away from the chips, soda, or ice cream sandwiches. Even though ... Fat Boy ice cream sandwiches are one of the most divine treats in the world, and my favorite!

Since I didn't get my back door painted last week like I said I would, maybe I'll go work on it ... or maybe I won't. We'll see....

Happy Monday!

The Pounds are Falling Off!

This is crazy! I've never witnessed pounds falling off my body the way it's working now. Each morning when I step on the scales I've dropped more weight. I know ... weight experts say that you should only weigh once a week ... balogna! I weigh myself several times a day. Sometimes I weigh myself in the nude, other times in my underwear, sometimes with jeans, and sometimes after taking a big drink of water, just to see what the scale says. When I step on the scales and see a drop in weight each morning I have to step off and back on because I think there must be something wrong with my scales!

When I attended Weight Watchers I knew all the tricks prior to weighing in. Go in the morning to your meeting, wear the same outfit each week, don't wear any jewelry (it adds weight), don't eat or drink before weighing, and go to the bathroom! Oh this works too .... inhale really big before you step on the scales and then exhale, pushing all the air out of your lungs before stepping on the scales. Try it ... you may be able to eak out a few ounces. I remember Jaron and I doing that at work because we needed to lose a few more ounces of weight for a work contest. :)

I remember weighing at home and hanging onto the towel rack while stepping on the scales, one foot at a time, and watching the numbers on the scale, 120 ... wow that's great ... 160 ... not too bad ... then the needle kept creeping up, finally going over the 200 mark and finally settling in around 230. Yikers! Certainly there must be something wrong with my scales. I don't weigh that much. But the truth is ... I did.

Aren't we strange creatures when it comes to the scales? I took my little mother to the doctor when she was first diagnosed with lung cancer. Here she was just a little over 100 pounds and she insisted on removing her shoes and sweater before stepping on the scales!

The ONLY time I've EVER NOT minded stepping on the scales is when I went for consultation for my weight surgery! I didn't mind being weighed in my jeans and with my shoes on. Mind you ... the more you weigh for your height, the easier it is to get qualified for the surgery. And the last time I stepped on the scales, a week ago, I eagerly anticipated the results. As I stepped up on the platform I thought, "This is the first day of a wonderful change that is going to happen in this body!"

So ... I'm happy to report that my weight this morning ... in my underwear ... is 236! Down 14 pounds in one week! Is that amazing or what? I still can't believe it. Hope nothing is wrong with my scales and I've been sadly mislead.

So how do I feel? Most of the soreness is gone from my stomach and I even slept on my tummy last night. Best nights rest I've had in a long time! I still get really weak when I'm doing things and have to go lie down for a few minutes. I think it's my body trying to adjust to the few amount of calories that I'm consuming. And some of it may still be to just having surgery a week ago.

What am I going to do today? Apply for some more jobs, paint the trim on my french door, and work on my Relief Society lesson for Sunday.

Happy Wednesday!