What's next!

First, I will start with happy news. The surgeon said I am healing better than he expected and has released me from the cast that held me driveless (both in exercise and car). And now I am able to walk with freedom. Yeah!

Second, Christmas had its moments. I have a wonderful family and the ones I got to share it with made it even better. I miss my boy who is still in prison more and more every year. I wanted to share the only picture of me taken at Christmas this year, not cause I didn't want my picture taken but, because I was the one taking all the shots. This is my brother who I love and adore very much.And of course there is a shot of me and my grand baby:Third, I got to meet another blog friend who was visiting UT from Oregon for the holidays. I just love meeting new people. If you have never met or read her blog I encourage you to. She is incredible. You can find Margene's blog here. Here is a photo of us with our better halves. I didn't feel very good this day so hence the bad hair.
And lastly, I continue to drop the pounds. I only have a couple more and I have hit the low end of my healthy BMI. I love the fact that I am looking good and finally am up on both of my feet walking again. I pray that 2011 will continue to bring me good health.

BUT, like I said there is a downside. boo hoo.

Because of all the side effects of my Trigeminal Neuralgia and my brain surgery. It has cause me to have an uneven bite in my jaw. Long story but can only use 1 side of my mouth. I now have TMJ; which hit right before the holidays. UGH!

If you have not heard of this before, it is quite painful and causes my jaw to lockup. The doctor has me on a soft food diet and lots of meds. I miss my fresh raw veggies and fruits and all the health foods that require chewing. I have turned to eating sugary creamy foods. YUK! Surprisingly I have not seen any change on the downward numbers with the scales. It is most likely credited to the fact I eat like a mouse taking in tiny bits of food a day. I hope I do not require further surgery to repair my jaw. See I told you WHAT'S NEXT!

All and all I am grateful to be alive and am looking forward to a new year, especially summer, wearing a size 8! Happy New Year!

Dropping by to say:

I am still alive and doing well. Hope you all are having a Merry Christmas. Stay warm and safe. Love you all.

I feel over whelmed.

HOLY CRAP! I have been away from blogging for awhile now. I thought I would check in and read a few today since I am SNOWED in. I HATE THE SNOW! But OMG there are way too many to read. Where do I begin? I think I will just NOT read any and pretend I am just starting over. So if you think I NEED to read something important that I missed you will have to comment here and tell me which one to track down.

My foot is healing slow but I am getting around better now. My MS is still bothering me. UGH! I am still going down on the pounds. Weighed last night and I was 136.9 down from 141 Nov 1st.

I am not going to go to my WW meetings cause I feel they are not helping me. Don't get me wrong I am still grateful that they are there. Just been going for a year now and I know what I need to do so if I am struggling or gaining I will hit my meetings. Until then I remain home. Plus I want to be in control of my final weight loss number not them. I will continue to lose until I feel I am done. I will not go past the healthy BMI guidelines though. So don't start in on the speech, like WW does every week. (hence the reason of me NOT going).

I dressed up in my UTAH UTE gear to go to our rivalry game last Saturday against BYU. We won at the last 3 seconds of the game...OMG it was about to give me a heart attack! Here's some pictures of me at the game:

It was VERY VERY cold at the game!

This is the new me!

It was hard to get the red off but the black washed off easy...LOLI had to get my boot involved in the spirit too.

My Hubby was not going to paint his whole face so he just did his go-tee..Chicken shit!

We flew to Notre Dame a couple of weeks ago to attend the Utes playing the Fighting Irish. We lost that game But the stadium & campus was beautiful. I still had a great time minus the 3 hours during the WET, COLD SAD game! I was a frozen Ute fan at that game:(Waiting at the hotel lobby for my brother before the game.

The tail gate party before the game. Resting my foot which is wrapped with ice.

The huge stadium.

Need I say anymore!

I didn't have my family with me during Thanksgiving so it was kind of depressing. I ate very wisely and lost in the process. Life is good. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and now let's bring on Christmas!

SMILE!

Shout it from the mountain tops!

After a very long a stressful month, the doctors gave me the OK to put some weight on my foot. Just have to be super careful and use the aide of the knee walker and wheelchair when needed.

I am a WALKING FOOL NOW!

Like if that wasn't exciting enough, I also went to my WW meeting last night too. I was concerned about my weigh in since I have not been mobile for the last 4 weeks. And unable to go weigh in.

Well the scales were very nice to me. I lost 6.8 pounds during those 4 weeks.

INCREDIBLE!

Just goes to show ya that you can lose weight without exercise. I am so disciplined in what I eat, so I am convinced that is the secret to my success.

I love being thin and only wished I had done this years ago. I love the way my clothes fit, and that I can wear anything I see in the stores. I even have noticed people treat me different now that I am smaller. (they are nicer). Go figure!

Getting excited for the BIG football game Saturday. I bought a black wig to wear since it is going to be a BLACKOUT game against TCU. I can't wait to go and cheer on my mighty UTAH UTES! We are still un-defeated so I am a little nervous about this one. We beat TCU in 2008 so I know it can be done. And who knew that we would beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, not Alabama that's for sure! LOL

I will post pictures of how silly I look at the game. Until then I AM SMILING BIG!

Stupid pants!

My jeans are too big AGAIN...UGH! I went to the store with my mom today. It was good to get out of the house for a minute. Anyway I saw some way cute junior designer jeans that I loved. So I got 2 pair in a size 11. (my junior 13's were the ones that were too big). I did not want to go through the dressing room and have to take my boot/cast off. So I took them home to try them on.

OMG they were so freakin cute on me. They fit so perfect. THEN I looked down and I saw they were two inches too short. ARE YOU FREAKIN KIDDING ME! I guess the smaller the size the shorter the inseam. DAMN I was so PISSED! Don't they know it is NOT easy for me to go shopping with this hurt foot? And I need a pair of pants to wear to the Halloween party tonight.

Guess who is going to be wearing baggy butt jeans being held up with a belt? Hope they don't think I am wearing a hobo costume. LOL

P. S. As I was leaving the store we went past the MISSES department and I compared the size 11 junior jeans with the Misses size 8. I started too scream with excitement cause they were the same in the hips (they were low waist jeans) and seemed to have a roomer butt though. I am not sure if I need a roomer jean in that area but HEY they were a size 8! I would have got them but they weren't as cute as the 2 I already had in the cart. Maybe next time, they might even be longer in the inseam too.

So I think I can wear a size 8 blog world!

I am SO NOT done!

Here's some background info: I started WW last Oct. I weighed 211 pounds wearing a size 22 and a 2X shirt. I have never been small and this was/is my 1st attempt to lose weight. I am not addicted to food nor do I eat from emotions. My error was I didn't eat enough. Go ahead start throwing the dishes at me. Sorry I am a different person then the rest of my friends but don't get me wrong I still feel your pain and what I have to do is NOT easy for me either.

I have changed my goal weight loss several times over this past year, which has caused my WW leader to just shake her head at me. I thought I would be happy at 150 then I got there and saw I could lose more still. So I thought 140 would be good. Now I want to get to a size smaller than my size 10 jeans. I look at myself and I can see areas that could still handle being smaller. YES I WILL GET TO THE POINT OF BEING HAPPY WITH MY SIZE! Just not quite yet.

I weighed myself this morning and I am 139.1, which is below what WW had as my low end weight of 140. So I called the main office and was told I can go as low as 128 but that's as far as they want me to go. OH I can do that. I seriously don't think I will EVER get that thin nor do I want to.

On a different note. My foot is SLOOWLY healing. Still no weight baring. But it sure makes me happy that I am not trying to drag that OLD 210 pound body up on 1 leg. 10 more days til I go and see the surgeon. I hope he gives me the green light to start walking. My incision looks GREAT too. All & all I am doing ok. I have had a few falls but I have managed to save the foot.LOL

Life is good! Size 8 here I come!!

PLEASE READ AND FORWARD!!!

A Must Read for All
EVERYONE NEEDS TO READ ALL OF THIS and HAVE CHILDREN READ IT TOO!

After tossing her books on the sofa, she decided to grab a snack and get on-line.. She logged on under her screen name ByAngel213. She checked her Buddy List and saw GoTo123 was on. She sent him an instant message:

ByAngel213:
Hi. I'm glad you are on! I thought someone was following me home today. It was really weird!

GoTo123:
LOL You watch too much TV. Why would someone be following you? Don't you live in a safe neighborhood?
ByAngel213:
Of course I do. LOL I guess it was my imagination cuz' I didn't see anybody when I looked out.

GoTo123:
Unless you gave your name out on-line. You haven't done that have you?

ByAngel213:
Of course not. I'm not stupid you know.

GoTo123:
Did you have a softball game after school today?

ByAngel213:
Yes, and we won!!

GoTo123:
That's great! Who did you play?

ByAngel213:
We played the Hornets. LOL. Their uniforms are so gross! They look like bees. LOL

GoTo123:
What is your team called?

ByAngel213:
We are the Canton Cats. We have tiger paws on our uniforms. They are really cool.

GoTo123:
Did you pitch?

ByAngel213:
No, I play second base. I got to go. My homework has to be done before my parents get home. I don't want them mad at me. Bye!

GoTo123:
Catch you later. Bye

Meanwhile, GoTo123 went to the member menu and began to search for her profile. When it came up, he highlighted it and printed it out. He took out a pen and began to write down what he knew about Angel so far.

Her name: Shannon
Birthday: Jan. 3, 1985
Age: 13
State where she lived: North Carolina

Hobbies: softball, chorus, skating and going to the mall. Besides this information, he knew she lived in Canton because she had just told him. He knew she stayed by herself until 6:30 p.m. every afternoon until her parents came home from work. He knew she played softball on Thursday afternoons on the school team, and the team was named the Canton Cats. Her favorite number 7 was printed on her jersey. He knew she was in the eighth grade at the Canton Junior High School . She had told him all this in the conversations they had on- line. He had enough information to find her now.

Shannon didn't tell her parents about the incident on the way home from the ballpark that day. She didn't want them to make a scene and stop her from walking home from the softball games. Parents were always overreacting and hers were the worst. It made her wish she was not an only child. Maybe if she had brothers and sisters, her parents wouldn't be so overprotective.

By Thursday, Shannon had forgotten about the footsteps following her.

Her game was in full swing when suddenly she felt someone staring at her. It was then that the memory came back. She glanced up from her second base position to see a man watching her closely.

He was leaning against the fence behind first base and he smiled when she looked at him. He didn't look scary and she quickly dismissed the sudden fear she had felt.

After the game, he sat on a bleacher while she talked to the coach. She noticed his smile once again as she walked past him. He nodded and she smiled back. He notice d her name on the back of her shirt. He knew he had found her.

Quietly, he walked a safe distance behind her. It was only a few blocks to Shannon 's home, and once he saw where she lived he quickly returned to the park to get his car.

Now he had to wait. He decided to get a bite to eat until the time came to go to Shannon 's house. He drove to a fast food restaurant and sat there until time to make his move.

Shannon was in her room later that evening when she heard voices in the living room.

"Shannon, come here," her father called.. He sounded upset and she couldn't imagine why. She went into the room to see the man from the ballpark sitting on the sofa.

"Sit down," her father began,"this man has just told us a most interesting story about you."

Shannon sat back. How could he tell her parent s anything? She had never seen him before today!

"Do you know who I am, Shannon ?" the man asked..

"No," Shannon answered.

"I am a police officer and your online friend, GoTo123."

Shannon was stunned. "That's impossible! GoTo123 is a kid my age! He's 14. And he lives in Michigan !"

The man smiled. "I know I told you all that, but it wasn't true. You see, Shannon , there are people on-line who pretend to be kids; I was one of them. But while others do it to injure kids and hurt them, I belong to a group of parents who do it to protect kids from predators. I came here to find you to teach you how dangerous it is to talk to people on-line. You told me enough about yourself t o make it easy for me to find you. You named the school you went to, the name of your ball team and the position you played. The number and name on your jersey just made finding you a breeze."

Shannon was stunned. "You mean you don't live in Michigan ?"

He laughed. "No, I live in Raleigh . It made you feel safe to think I was so far away, didn't it?"

She nodded.

"I had a friend whose daughter was like you. Only she wasn't as lucky. The guy found her and murdered her while she was home alone. Kids are taught not to tell anyone when they are alone, yet they do it all the time on-line. The wrong people trick you into giving out information a little here and there on-line. Before you know it, you have told them enough for them to find you without even realizing you have done it. I hope you've learned a lesson f rom this and won't do it again. Tell others about this so they will be safe too?"

"It's a promise!"

That night Shannon and her Dad and Mom thanked God for protecting Shannon from what could have been a tragic situation.

*****NOW****

EVEN FORWARD THIS TO PEOPLE WITHOUT KIDS SO THEY CAN SEND IT TO FRIENDS THAT DO HAVE CHILDREN OR GRANDCHILDREN.

:( & :)

There has been so much going on with my foot. But to make a long story short I have to do another 2 weeks of no weight baring. The stitches are out, the incision looks good. The bruising is ugly but will fade.

I can now shower which I did and loved it. They said I could put a little weight on it yesterday and when I did a huge electrical shock went up my leg. So I call the doctor to find out if that was normal or my MS acting up?

Dr just called and said the electrical shock is coming from the nerve. And that means IT IS NOT HEALED ENOUGH YET. So no weight baring for 2 more weeks.

Patience is not my strong point. But I will do as I am told:)

On a more happier note I stepped oh so very lightly on the scales this morning and I am down 3 pounds since Oct. 1st. So even with all the meals being brought in my home I still ate wisely enough to loss. 4 more and I am done. Maybe by Christmas.

What an exciting year this has been. Thanks for holding on tight with me on my wild and crazy journey. smile.

Update

2 more days of neighborhood meals! Don't get me wrong I have appreciated them. BUT OMG the desserts ARE KILLING me! I have only tasted them which only makes me wish I could have MORE! SO YUMMY!!! So see how I can be excited to have them OVER????

So I mustered up the strength to hop on the scales this morning. YEP! I am up .9 but I am soooo happy with that seeings how I am laid up, depressed, in pain and not eating my NORMAL foods.

Just an update on my well being.

I am ALIVE!

Going to my follow up post op appt this Tuesday:)

The unveiling!

TODAY IS THE DAY I GET TO TAKE THE BANDAGE OFF.

I am nervous about this because I haven't got to see it yet and fear I won't be able to get the bandage back on right, So here it goes. I still am not going to be able to put any weight on it for 10 more days or so and I still have to wear/sleep in the cast/boot:(Oh the anxiety of not knowing whats under the cast! Notice the lack of a SMILE!The cast is off now for the bandage. "Is THAT blood I see?"
The sneak peak...And I was told it was only going to be 3 centimeters. YEAH RIGHT!!!So Kayla couldn't find any COLD ice packs. My friend Brook grabbed a frozen bag of peas to put on it. IT WORKED!
Now I understand why it hurts. Look at all the bruising:(

Surgery update

My surgery went well. I have a new extension to my leg that I can not take off AT ALL for 5 days. This should be interesting to sleep with. It has an inflatable section that keeps it from moving around on my skinny shin. They put this on to help with my balance. I can use it ONLY as a balance check if I feel like I am tipping a little. This extra support will help just in case I land on it during the no weigh baring time. I have a 30 hour nerve block in my lower leg/foot. So I am just experiencing the tingling from it being numb, which is better than the pain. I will be in lot of pain after it wears off so I have some good drugs.

But On a BAD note I fell today AGAIN (not on my foot this time). But I ended up cracking a rib. I am having a lot of pain from that which makes up for the lack of foot pain. The Dr can't do anything for my rib but ice/heat and IB-800's.

Getting around with a cracked rib and a hurt foot is NO FUN!!! I am a fighter and I will not let this bring me down. I am so excited with the outcome of the surgery. The surgeon told Clay that he thinks I should get total relief after the 6 months of recovery.

The best part of the whole day was when I got on the scales at the hospital and I saw 143. Only 3 more pounds to reach my goal weight. Saturdays weigh in read 147 so I like this one better...LOL

I won't be blogging as much during my recovery cause the pain pills make me sleepy and my ribs need to rest. Just know even though I won't be reading your blog as often DOESN'T mean I am not thinking of you. SMILE!!

Challenges.

Well the day is approaching. 6:30 Monday morning will be the time & day.

On a different note. In order not the have to pay for my WW meeting I have to weigh in any day of the first week of every month. Knowing I wont be able to go the whole month of Oct I had Clay drive me to the weigh in this morning. I have been under ALOT of stress this week (I am not an emotional eater I just DON'T eat when I am stressed). I am very nervous about my recovery. MS really does mess up a person and their ability to balance on 1 foot. Crutches are OUT so I went and bought a knee walker last week. I have been practicing as if I had already had the surgery. Most of the time I did quite well. But there have been a few times that I have fallen and of course I landed on my bad foot. It only takes one time and the surgery results will be destroyed. Hence the STRESS. This is my new knee walker. I also will be relying on the use of my electric wheelchair.So back to the weigh in. I was lucky that my husband took me cause I needed the extra moral support. I didn't stay for the meeting, cause the pain is at a point that I need to have ice and elevation all the time now. This photo sums up my morning:YEP! I gained just as I thought. 1.6 pounds. The BIGGEST weight gain thus far. I cried right there in front of the workers and my man. He quickly told me in his soft but caring way to "Stop it." He is right. He also said he will be putting our home scale up for the month so I don't try to hurt myself trying to stand on it. I agreed cause knowing me "If there is a will. I will find a way."

I am very nervous not knowing for weeks where my weight is. It could be very dangerous. I will have to wear sweat pants for quick access to go potty. So I can't tell by my pants. OMG I am scared and nervous!

The STRESS, the NOT KNOWING, the neighborhood FOOD choices for meals, the added PAIN, etc..., All TOO MUCH for me to take.

PLEASE! PLEASE! PRAY FOR ME!!!

Hold on Tight...

I am struggling with my weight this week. Not sure what's going on. I have been on track 99 % of the week. I went to a football game Saturday where I ate off track once but not horribly. I got on the scales and the last two days I show a gain of 2 pounds. Which for me is BIG. I hope it wasn't that silly piece of pizza I ate at the game. More than likely it is the lack of exercise I am getting due to my foot.

So I got on the bike this morning and rode 15 minutes. Man I am out of shape. I was up to 17 miles before my injury now it was a strain to do 3 miles. I know I am pushing myself but I have to. I don't want to get too comfortable in not exercising and revert back to the old me. It's like not going to church week after week. Pretty soon you go inactive.

Riding the bike today was hard and a little painful but necessary I thought. Just don't want to cause more pain to my already injured foot. So I stopped when it no longer was comfortable.

Surgery is this Monday. Recovery is scaring me with the possibilities of extra food being bought into the home from caring neighbors. That's what our church members are famous for, service. They are planning to have meals brought in for 2 weeks. (which includes desserts)

I will need some extra will power the next few weeks. For me it's easy to stay on track when the temptation is not there. My family is so good that way. When they want something, like a dessert, they do it out of my view. I love them for that.

The recovery involves a lot of sitting with my foot in the air. Now that Clay has my computer hooked to my big screen TV I can read my blogs and do my facebook. I was fearing the withdrawal symptoms not having access to my computer for those weeks. Hubby came through with a great plan. Life is good there!

I am NOT going to use this time as an excuse to cave and say the hell with it. I have come way too far for that. I will be utilizing a great deal of will power and support from my blogs and family.

Until then pray for my surgeon, a speedy recovery and the extra strength I need to stay on plan.

The best concert thus far!

I just wanted to start out by saying OH MY GOODNESS!!! Can Brad put on a show!!! The visual technology that he had blew my mind! Never have I seen such a techie concert as his! If you love country music and every get a chance to see him, I STRONGLY recommend you do. Money well spent!

As must of my followers know I bought a Mega Concert ticket package at the beginning of the summer. Well this was the closing show of the season. Brad Paisley's Water Tour was the BOMB!!!

We started the day out at a smaller stage that would be featuring 3 lesser known, but still on the radio, singers. The gates opened before Clay got off from work, so he met me there when the big acts started later that night. I took my girlfriend, Brook, who had not been to a concert in many years. So I was so happy to see her excitement to be at the show. Clay arrived with my dearest best friend and her husband. Camille & Erik had not heard Brad's music before, but were more than happy to spend the evening with us. Now that's a TRUE friend!

I hope you enjoy just a few of the shots I took of my exciting day.

Josh Thompson.

Oh yeah at the smaller stage we were on the front row. Brook had never been so close to a singer. It was so cute.
Brook made sure that NO BODY even came close to my foot or dare stand in front of me either. What a sweetie!

Easton Corbin

Steel Magnolia

They are a husband and wife team. So cute to see them sing together.

Justin Moore

Justin was a great opening act for the big stage performers. He has several hit songs and he played them all.

Darius Rucker

And you all know who this is right? Brad Baby!!!

Brad has been playing the guitar since he was 8. He can really jam with the best of them too.

BUTT shot....Oh La La!

This cute puppet was part of his show. While he was singing "Celebrity" a video was playing on the huge HD screen behind his stage. This was the puppet in the video that played Brad. After the end of the song he had the puppet come out to greet the fans.
Now for this photo. The camera is NOT zoomed. I was like 2 feet from him as he made his way through the crowd. If I hadn't been trying to get a picture I could have grabbed his butt.
The only thing separating me from Brad was a railing and a bunch of security guards. I screamed so loud that I know he heard me. Way cool.The reason he was walking right by me was that he was going to a small platform in the middle of the arena. He sang a few songs but mostly talked to the crowd. He said when he was younger he could never afford the seats close to the stage. He made a promise to himself, that if he ever made it big he would perform a few songs to the people in the cheap seats. What a sweet guy.

It would not surprise me to see him someday excepting the Entertainer of the Year award. He has my vote!