I Have Belt Loops!

"People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway."   — Mother Teresa

I love that quote from Mother Teresa. I discovered that quote only recently and it rang a bell with me. It is how I have tried to raise my children. My words were not quite as eloquent… "yeah, people might take advantage of your kindness, but be kind anyway. Better to be known as a really nice guy that people will remember, than as a jerk who is soon forgotten." And, yes, we do get taken advantage of occasionally, but it is only very occasionally, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Not too much to report this week, as far as weight loss goes, but… get this… I have belt loops! I can now wear slacks with zippers and belt loops! I can now hang my phone on my belt loop, just like all the normal-sized people do! And, what's more, I can tie my shoes without holding my breath! And, I can wear a non-plus-size large! Have you any idea how excited I am? Oh! And, my towel wraps around my entire body, so I can run around scantily clad at the Y and not worry about things showing that shouldn't be showing! Oh! And one more thing... I can now cross my legs when I'm sitting. I am such a lady!  LOL Oh, the pure joy of it all! I'm tellin' ya! I should have done this a long time ago! People who have never been obese really have no idea how much effort it takes to do just simple day-to-day tasks, like tying shoe laces.

My weight loss seems to be slowing down these past couple of weeks. I think it might be because, while I still can only eat a small portion at a time, I've not been eating very healthily. I'll have to buckle down this week and just eat healthy things and more salads. I'm not eating much for vegetables. I need to work on that this week. But, I have belt loops, so all is right with the world!  LOL

Once again, I got lots of exercise this week! On Tuesday I went to water aerobics in the morning, and then had my group exercise in the afternoon, consisting of 20 minutes on a recumbent bike and 20 minutes on the treadmill, at 2.5 miles/hour and an incline of 5. On Wednesday, I went to water aerobics at the Y. On Thursday, I went to water aerobics again and then headed to the senior center for an hour of line dancing. On Friday I went to water aerobics. I think I'm beginning to like this.  And I have to thank my neighbor, Barbara, for keeping me going!  :)



This week, my 3-year-old grandson took my picture! I think he did a GREAT job! Thanks, Caiden! By the way, the boy LOVES those temporary tattoos! He's covered with them!

I decided to take my granddaughter to the 2nd Church today, as there was going to be a 9/11 remembrance ceremony involving the town's firefighters. I wasn't sure what I would be able to find to wear. While clothes that fit me are in the 18-20 range, I have no dresses smaller than 24. But dresses are wonderful things -- depending on the style, one can wear many sizes! Many of my size 24 dresses fall off me -- literally. But I found a sleeveless sheath with a matching short jacket -- made of rayon in a robin's egg blue. It looked really nice on me. It was very loose, but not so huge that it looked sloppy. And I found a pair of ivory sling-back pumps that I'd never worn -- actually forgot I even had them! (I'm NOT a hoarder! I'm NOT a hoarder! I'm NOT a hoarder!) I haven't worn any kind of heeled shoes in years! But, I did and I could actually walk like a lady in them! I added a pearl choker and, I must say, dahling… I looked mahvelous!  :)  My granddaughter had on a pair of black velour slacks with a very cute black and white top that tied in the back. She had black patent t-strap shoes and she wore nude panty hose! We were totally stylin'!  LOL  :) 

The ceremony was very nice -- short and sweet. The church has a gigantic flag that covers the entire front of the antique congregational church in the West village. It looked especially lovely today. The Fire Department members wore their Class A uniforms (dress coat and hats). They were all lined up outside the church while the minister spoke and prayed. After the minister finished her prayer, one of the firefighters read the Firemen's Prayer. Two of the firefighters walked across the street the lower the flag that hangs by the monument. It was a poignant community ceremony and I was proud to be there with my granddaughter and my fire chief husband.


When I am called to duty, God, whenever flames may rage;
Give me strength to save some life, whatever be its age.
Help me embrace a little child before it is too late,
Or save an older person from the horror of that fate.
Enable me to be alert and hear the weakest shout,
And quickly and efficiently to put the fire out.
I want to fill my calling and to give the best in me,
To guard my every neighbor and protect his property.
And if, according to my fate, I am to lose my life;
Please bless with your protecting hand my
children and my wife. . -- Author A.W. "Smokey" Linn

Well, that was my week. How was yours?  :)

Another week another pound... down 61 pounds

"By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer’s best of weather
And autumn’s best of cheer."

-   Helen Hunt Jackson, September, 1830-1885

I think, if I was just starting out as a new AOL member today, my new screen name would be AutumnLove. :)  Those AOL buddies of mine will understand. At least a million years ago (or so it seems), I discovered this nifty little pastime that I would take part in after I got home from work at 11pm. It took place in a chat room on AOL. The chat room was called the Game Parlor. I remember my very first venture into the Game Parlor. I was terrified that my next Amex bill would reflect thousands of dollars worth of time online. Back then, there was an hourly charge to be online. I kept asking everyone if there was an extra charge to play these word games. Everybody kept saying there wasn't, but I wasn't convinced until my Amex bill came and there was no extra charge posted, but I think my first online bill was over $100! Yikes! But I kept playing, because the games were fun, the players were fun and the game hosts were very welcoming. Each night, the same group of people, from all across the country, would show up to play the same games. Over time, we got to know each other quite well. The atmosphere was not unlike hanging out at your friendly neighborhood bar, with your favorite group of friends. After awhile, someone suggested that we all get together for a Game Parlor "Bash". And we did! We all gathered in New Orleans that first year. Then it was on to Las Vegas another time, Orlando another time and I even hosted a few friends here, at my house. What was really funny about meeting people at a bash was that nearly all of us only knew each other by our screen names, but we knew we couldn't go to the front desk at the hotel and ask them, "Hey, has Toonces checked in yet? How about ForTSumthin? Anyone seen LaMer?" LOL :D  Those first few bashes were a bit of a challenge, but we eventually learned everyone's real names. I still keep in touch with many of those friends I made online in the early 90s. Nearly all of them are on Facebook now!

So, when I opened my first online account, I had to come up with a screen name. I chose Judi Stickney… original, eh?  LOL  For whatever reason, that name was not available at that time, so I was given JudiS19187. How boring is that?? I discovered one could create multiple screen names on one account. So, after I ventured into the Game Parlor and found people with all kinds of fun screen names (one of my favorites was NewYorkJew… wonder where he is today), I decided that I, too, wanted a fun screen name. I love the Summer, but LovesSummer had one letter too many… the max was 10. So, I decided that SummerLove was perfect. Plus, I really like Neil Diamond's "Summer Love" song. So, SummerLove it was. And just like it is offline, friends gave me a nickname… I was "Summie".  :)  Some still call me that even today! LOL

But now that I'm getting older, I'm enjoying the autumn season more than the summer. The air seems cleaner, the sky is clearer, the days are warm and the nights are cool… perfect weather to do most anything!  And, so, were I to make an AOL screen name today, it would be AutumnLove.  :)

As my mother used to say, that is neither here nor there.  :)  This is week 13 post-surgery. I have lost a total of 61 pounds. Yes, it's only one pound more than last week, but I think I've eaten more this week than I have since before I had my surgery! We went out to a dinner dance on Friday night. The dinner consisted of cheese and crackers, with kielbasa for appetizers, three boiled lobsters, corn on the cob, salad, and mini cream puffs and mini cheesecakes for dessert. I ate two pieces of cheese, a couple of crackers, a couple of bites of kielbasa, about 1/4 of the salad, the entire ear of corn, and the claws and tail of one lobster. Later, I had a couple of the cream puffs and a mini cheesecake! I don't know how it all fit in that tiny little stomach of mine! But, it did and I didn't get sick! I danced more than I've danced in about 10 years! Slow dances, fast dances, medium dances. I was a dancing queen! And I had a blast!  :) I am definitely moving much better than I have in a long time!

I exercised a lot this week! Monday was line dancing, Tuesday was water aerobics and my group exercise at the hospital, Wednesday was more water aerobics, Thursday was line dancing and Friday, I went out dancing! Exercise every week day! Wow! Hopefully, I can keep up that pace this week as well! 

We took the family on a whale watch on Saturday. It was a challenge getting everyone up and ready to go by 7AM, but we made it there on time! And we saw whales! Not a lot of whales, but about five of them. The kids were all excited. This was their first whale watch and they loved it! The little ones were so well-behaved! Everyone was very well-behaved… even the older girls who almost always manage to get into trouble together! But they didn't. They were good girls.  Four hours on a boat and nobody went overboard! Amazing! But, after about two hours on the boat, my little grandson was ready to go home… "Daddy, I want to go home now." But, he got over that when another whale popped up.  Here are my handsome sons.

Today, I had them over for a cookout, which gave me yet another chance to cook up a storm! I made two pans of stuffed shells, a Greek pasta salad, a tossed salad, potato salad, marinated steak tips, hotdogs, fruit salad, and a ricotta pie with apricots! If you happened to have seen the link I put up on Facebook this week, it was THAT pie that I made and it was delicious!  My brother brought over some marinated chicken, so we cooked those up, too. We had a great time!

Well, that was my week. How was yours?  :)