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?  :)