Hmmm ... Who Smells Like Chocolate?

So, I've got the funniest story to tell you that happened to my 87 year old mother the other day. You all know that she's been on Hospice care for the past 3 1/2 years and is down to 87 pounds. She's a little trooper and has such a will to live. She decided to wash her own hair the other day and she's about blind. She got her shampoo out of the bathroom and took it into the kitchen and set in on the counter while she got the water going in the kitchen sink to wash her hair. She took off her glasses, set them on the microwave, bent over the sink and grabbed a bottle and squirted out a big glob on her hair. As she was trying to work up the lather in her hair she thought, "That doesn't smell like my shampoo." Then she looked at her hands and noticed that they were all brown. She had grabbed a bottle of chocolate syrup that was on the counter instead of her shampoo and gave her head a good dousing of chocolate. She wasn't sure how to get the syrup out of her hair so grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her head and called me for help. Unfortunately I wasn't home to help so she had to figure out how to get it washed out of her hair. I guess I'll have to be a better daughter and start washing and fixing her hair on a regular basis. I did think that her hair looked a little darker when I went over later. :)



We had a wonderful time camping in Logan Canyon towards Bear Lake. Bear Lake is one of the bluest lakes I've ever seen. More like Tempting Turquoise. It's been one of our favorite places to go in the summer. You can see the lake in the background. Ginger and D.J. and their three daughters came camping with us. I just noticed that I don't have any pictures of D.J. or Reese, their youngest. She was sleeping in the car when we took these pics and D.J. stayed with her.

Lynn and Ginny. Hey ... Lynn just told me that he's lost 20 pounds since my surgery! Way to go Lynn. I guess if I eat less, he'll eat less. See, it was all my fault that we were both fatty pants!

Our daughter Ginger with her little brother, Dieter! Yes, she thinks we pay more attention to him then her, and she's probably right!

This is one of our favorite spots to camp. Unfortunately there was no room at the inn so we had to camp about 7 miles down the mountain from this spot, amongst the 'mooing cows', quakies, and hot sun. But the campsite was quiet, the spot was nice, we had flushing toilets, and the stars were spectacular at night. Even though it was REALLY hot in the daytime, the evenings were really chilly. We all had to sleep with our hoodies over our heads and socks on our feet.
Time to buy some new jeans. These are a little baggy on me. I've gone from a size 24 to 18-20. Size 18 fit but they could be a little looser. Went to the surgeon yesterday for a follow-up visit. He said that I was 'spot on' for my weight loss. Down 41 pounds in two months. He said that I should have 1/2 of my weight off in three months. That's normal for his patients. I told him about my 'vomiting' episode at work last week and he chuckled. I asked him what all the phlegm was about and he explained it this way. He said that we don't realize how much saliva our glands produce and how much we are constantly swallowing. When the piece of chicken got stuck in the pipe that goes into the new stomach the saliva had no place to go but 'up'. So every time I would swallow saliva, up it would come. I told him that I was going to hold off on chicken for a while and he thought that would be a good idea.

I made meat loaf the other night and had that for dinner and breakfast too. It was wonderful and I didn't have any problem with it at all. I also tried steak for the first time. Mind you ... it's just a small portion, around 2 ounces. But it went down and stayed down very well. One of my readers commented that I needed to watch out for Bean and Bacon soup because it is high in carbs. The thing that you need to realize is that beans are high in protein and the amount of soup that I consume is only 45 calories. So, I'm not too concerned if it's high in carbs because of the calorie content and the fact that I'm still losing so wonderful. And, it's a good source of protein, which is 75% of my meals.

One of the most amazing things that has happened since my surgery is not having headaches any more. I used to have a major headache daily. I'm sure I'm sugar intolerant and that was what was making my headaches. So if any of you out there are experiencing headaches try going off of sugar for a few days to see what happens. A few years ago I went without sugar for two years. In the first 6 months or so I lost 50 pounds and when I went back on sugar I gained all of the weight back, plus some extra!

Tony Grove Lake is a mountain lake fed by the snow so it's VERY cold, but there were a few brave kids playing in the water.

O.K. ... got to get back to my presentation for Canada that's coming up in two weeks. Wish all of you could come. We're going to have a delightful time and I can't wait! Hmmm ... perhaps I'll consider doing some sort of event out in the midwest. How would that suit your fancy?