Warning: Unless you want to read about my lifetime ongoing struggle with my weight,  Turn Away! 

I was born a fat kid.  I weighed 10 lbs. 8 oz. at birth.  I was always fat growing up.  My lowest adult weight was 190 lbs.  It got as high as 320.  I was miserable.  I had high blood pressure, an enlarged heart and shortness of breath on even the slightest of exertion.  I had tried many diets over the years but kept gaining more and more weight.  My doctor had overseen quite a few of my attempts and told me that some of the problem was my hard to control thyroid.  This only made me feel slightly less awful. 
Then one night while watching the news, I saw a report  on bariatric surgery.  The report said the procedures had changed greatly from in the early eighties.  I am a nurse and had taken care of some of those earlier patients (who died) and told my mom, “If I ever say I want to get that surgery, commit me to the mental ward.” 
Thankfully she didn’t listen. 
I had Roux-N-Y open agastric bypass surgery on June 7, 2001.   In the ensuing year, I lost 160 lbs.  That was half of me.  I did pretty well following the post surgery guidelines about food and exercise until this past year or so.  I quit walking my three miles 3-4 times a week when I injured my back on Thanksgiving Day, 2006.  After Physical Therapy that lasted six weeks, I found out I had cysts on my ovaries as a result of an MRI for back/hip pain.  Off to the gynie I went and after months of observation and pain, I had them removed in June of ’07.  It  took a full 12 weeks to recover from that experience.  The walking I do at work was tough enough for the first few weeks.  By then I was out of the regimen and the holidays came and went with my discovering that sugar didn’t bother me near as much as previously. 
I have been trying to get back on track for the past few weeks.  I went to a support meeting, which I have never done before.  They gave me some great ideas which I have been trying to incorporate back into my lifestyle.  It seems to be working and so far I have lost 4 of the 20 lbs I gained back over the past year. 
I cleaned the cupboards of all the food that is bad for me yesterday.  I have a food hording problem.  I buy it, and usually don’t end up eating it. 
It seems wrong somehow that I had the surgery and all I think about is food.  But i have to be sure that I am getting enough protein and often enough to keep my blood sugar from plummeting.  Yet I don’t want to graze.  Then there is the water issue.  I can’t drink a half hour before or after eating because liquids create a slurry in the small stomach that goes into the small intestine that much faster which can lead to  more weight gain. 
If any of you fellow GBers are having difficulty, you might want to read the book above.  It really helps and I keep referring to it daily.  It’s like a pep talk.
I have a goal to RUN in a 5K race this summer.  I started to train this morning and my husband thinks I can do it, even though I have never been a runner before.  But this is my goal for both weight loss and turning 50 this year. 
Okay, enough whining about my weight.

I like rural. Don’t like neighbors so much, (Although I like all of mine). Like to be able to go outside naked, if I wanted to. Not that I ever had or would, but I like to know I could if I so desired. I like days when wild turkeys look in my window. I like the fact there are no neighborhood associations to please. I like clean air and cows. I lived in a couple of small cities and missed my farmland. I expect to live in a rural area all my life. I even plan to spend my old age at the county home I work at because it is on a working farm. Of course, maybe by that time the area will be developed.

   

I just answered this Featured Question, you can answer it too!

1. Crap your internet crashed, what are you going to do next?
play solitaire
2. Have you ever pierced something the old fashion way with a needle?
No.

3. It’s Friday night, who are you usually with?
My husband or my co-workers
4. Ever eaten an entire thing of frosting?
No

5. Would you want Spongebob as your friend?
I think I do.
6. Last person you slept next to?
Mr. Tater.

7. Do you own any casettes?
I think there are some still around here, yes.

8. Have you read To Kill A Mockingbird?
yes

9. Weirdest dream you’ve ever had?
Probably the one where I re-designed and built my own house
10. Have you ever been in a police car?
No
11. What instrument would you like to learn?
mandolin

12. Were you ever a safety patrol in elementary school?
Yes! and Ronnie Myers (the captain) asked me to be one. ahh…memories.

13. Did you used to watch Hey Arnold?
Yeah, football head. with my son.

14. Ever have a water balloon fight?
LOTS of times!

15. Do you like dodgeball?
yeah, I was good at it,too. weird, huh?

16. Do you crack your knuckles?
No, it makes your knuckles big.

17. Ever order anything from the tv?
yeah, plastic containers and I loved them. I still have most of them.

18. What was so much fun about Hot Wheels?
Cool cars and got to play with the boys.

19. Are you supposed to be doing anything?
drinking water

20. What are you listening to?
Monk on tv.

21. Are you tired?
not especially

22. What are you up to next weekend?
visit the parents.

23. Left or Right foot?
left

24. Can you write with both hands?
no, but i can write well enough upside down.

25. Did you ever watch the Kid’s Choice Awards?
Yes. When the kid watched.

26. Most random thing in your room?
I’m in our living room and there’s a mostly unused Total Gym
27. Do you own a karaoke machine?
nope.

28. Ever see the Saw movies?
Yeah. Pretty good for that kind of movie.

29. Do you get cold sores a lot?
Not a lot.

30. Close your eyes, turn around, count to ten and open your eyes, what do you see?
the tv
31. Did you actually do #30?
uh…no.

32. Ever cheat on someone?
yeah, actually. with my soon to be husband!

33. Ever talk back to a teacher?
no

34. Chapstick or Lipgloss?
lipgloss

35. Do you buy stuff at Bath and Body Works?
yeah, the antibacterial instant hand sanitizer in many scents

36. What time do you get up for school?
Don’t have to anymore.

37. Last time you got poison ivy?
two years ago

38. Ever go to a tanning bed?
no

39. What is below you?
couch

40. What pet do you wish you had?
the ones I have now

41. Would you want to live in Alaska?
No, Ohio is cold and dark enough

42. Your best friend just called from another country, what country is it?
England?

43. Rain or Snow?
snow?

44. Do you deep condition your hair?
once every couple of years

45. Did you go to pre school?
hehehe…they didn’t even have pre-school. Heck, we didn’t even have kindergarten.

46. Last movie you watched at home?
easy…just this morning …Beowulf

47. Where do you want to go to college?
Akron U

48. Don’t think about gluesticks.
hopefully wouldn’t dream of it.

49. What are you thinking about?
Monk and his brother, Ambrose

50. Did you just ask yourself, ‘wtf is with the gluestick?’
Now I am.

I borrowed this from Bubblysox. It kept me busy for a while.

I was about five years old when I inherited a bike from my cousin. It had training wheels and my Dad kept readjusting them. When I finally graduated to having both training wheels off, (they came off one at a time), Daddy walked beside me holding me up as I rode out the flat part our lonnnng lane. He kept talking and encouraging me. I noticed his voice getting farther and farther away. “I’m riding! I’m riding!” I shouted and then hit a mud puddle and lost control. But Daddy was there to pick me up.

   

I just answered this Featured Question, you can answer it too!

I am writing this in response to the Kween of the Queens challenge:

Here are some things I remember from before I was ten:
♦ Woke up one Christmas morning and opened the new doll Santa left for me and exclaimed with all the awe of a two-year-old, “Look! She has blue hair just like Mommy’s!” (Mom has always had dark brown hair, even now in her seventies, and it’s natural, too!)
♦ One evening when I was three, my divorced mother was going on a (first) date and there was much happiness in the house. My older brothers and I were waiting to meet the man. When he came into our kitchen, I saw how handsome he was and walked up to him and held out my arms to be picked up. He didn’t hesitate. Once I got up to eye level I said, “Will you be my Daddy?” He still is!
♦ One weekend, when I was four, I went to Renfro Valley, Ky. with my Granny and Grandpa. We stayed in a motel room and the beds had yellow sheets. I said, “Boy, Grandpa, I don’t know how you’re going to sleep. You hate yellow!” He always told me how that “tickled” him.
♦ Sitting outside our house in the sunshine while Grandpa helped dig a new stairwell to the basement. I was positioned so I could see everything he was doing. I was singing “You Are My Sunshine”. Grandpa kept saying, “Sing it again.” He evidently was tone deaf because he seemed to enjoy it.
♦ Going to church with the grandparents almost every Sunday. Most of the time my brothers and sister would go, too. Then after church, we would go for a Sunday drive or go to our home to have Sunday dinner which my mother prepared. She would make fried chicken, gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans and crazy cake. That would make us all sleepy.
♦Sometimes Grandpa would drive us somehere and say to me, when it was time to go home, “Okay, tell me how to get home.” I almost always knew the way!
♦One time we were all watching Wild Kingdom and Marlon Perkins said something like a Cheetah can run as fast as 40 mph. Granny exclaimed, “40 Miles?!?” And Marlon said, “That’s right. 40 mph!” We all laughed so hard we woke up Grandpa. When he heard the story, he said to Granny, “I told you your voice carries!” Hilarity ensued.
♦ One Halloween, when I was 8, my Mom had this huge belly. She told me she was going to the hospital and wouldn’t be home for a week. I asked if we could go trick-or-treating, but once again, she said no. (We lived on a secluded farm and there wasn’t anywhere to go.) That evening Dad came home and told me I had a little sister. I was so happy, until my older (step) sister said, “You realize you’re not the baby anymore don’t you? You won’t be Grandpa’s favorite anymore!” I was devastated. I could deal with Mom and Dad loving the new baby, but I couldn’t bear to live without “My” Grandpa. When I saw him that weekend, I told him what she said. He said, “That’s not right. I’m a big man and I can love all of you, but you have a special place.”
♦ Months later, Mom went back into the hospital for surgery and was gone for two weeks. So was the baby. She went to stay with Granny and Grandpa. It was okay with me though, because she never really took to Grandpa, she was more Granny’s baby. Around this time, my older sister ran away from home, causing turmoil. She and Mom got into a screaming match, (she did most of the screaming) and she said, in her bitchiest tone, “You are NOT my mother!” Mom came right back with, “No, I’m not. And right now, I don’t want to be!” I was torn between my allegiances to my mother and my only older friend, from whom I learned a lot. ….especially how not to act!

Okay. After reading this over, my siblings may have been right. I was spoiled and I wouldn’t change a thing.

I live near a town called Canton, Oh. That’s right, home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In the past week, it has been in the news for two less wholesome reasons.
The first was the trial of Bobby Cutts. He killed his pregnant girlfriend in June and left his two year old son with her body for two days. The real kicker was that he was a policeman for Canton. He kept quiet while the entire community searched for the missing woman for nearly three weeks. Finally, the guilt bug led him to go to the authorities. Without admitting guilt, at least to the media, he led them to her body where he dumped it. He had an accomplice, a single mother who had a police record. She turned state’s evidence.
He was found guilty of the murder of Jessie Davis and of the aggravated murder of their unborn child, Chloe. You see, this policeman, who had just two weeks earlier taken a CPR course admitted elbowing Jessie in the throat cuasing her to fall to the floor. He said he forgot how to do CPR and evidently forgot that 911 will call police to the scene of an accidental death. He then got bleach to help bring her around, evidently like smelling salts. Then he wrapped up the body, put it in the back of his vehicle, went and picked up the lady who was supposed to babysit his son, and took the body to a park where he proceeded to leave it out in the sun. Meanwhile, he left his son in the house for two days, alone. Oh, yeah, he was also found guilty of child endagering. Do ya THINK?! While the search was going on, he maintained his innocense and was indignant with the press for casting suspicion on him.

The second incident involved former President Bill Clinton. He was in Ohio to campaign for Hilary. A self professed Obama backer claims Bill took a swing at him after his speech. This man has made the national news with his claim. Watch the video and read the story and decide. cantonrep

It just bothers me that people are this caught up in the biggest high school popularity contest in existence. He doesn’t even vote.

I went to my parent’s house yesterday, armed with my camera. The following pics were taken through the glass of my car. My brother carves with a chainsaw and here are some of his creations:

This next shot is of a pond he put in their yard. Notice it also has a couple of carvings. This was taken from an upstairs window.

And finally, this is Mom’s window. She has always had glass objects in this particular window because of the way the sun comes in.

This is the picture of the boy’s car. Ugh!

This is the view from my front door window:

He’s hibernating!

And this is the view of my dratted bamboo from the back window:

Ahh! February in Ohio!