No Turning Back, No Turning Back

As I alter my clothes from size 3XL to 12/14, the line from the song,"No Turning Back," drones over and over in my head. I've done it! I've lost the 95 pounds that I set out to lose. I'm taking away lots of material in my pants, sweatshirts and even my winter coat - yay, no turning back! I started the quest on May 16th, 2011. I didn't want to write about my mission and my goal in this blog because so many times throughout the last four decades, I have tried and I have failed. I was afraid that this try would end like all the others - hopeful at first but with no sustainable weight loss and even lots of times, weight gains. But, thanks be to God and the Dukan Diet by Dr. Pierre Dukan, I was able to read his book and totally commit to following his plan. It isn't over because the plan includes a way to work your way back to eating without regaining the weight and then a permanent stabilization plan. But, since February 3rd, I've maintained the loss and will be vigilant. Part of my plan is to help anyone else who would like to conquer obesity, mine was considered morbid obesity, and if you think I can help, please just ask. The diet rquires strict adherence to the plan but it actually works as it promises. In the picture, I've set up a sewing center in the living room near the woodburner so it's a cozy warm winter alteration place.

Pictures from the Last Post

A New Nine Year Old

Our fourth grandchild, Alexa, turns nine today. She's a wonderful child, sweet and loving and strong and pretty. On the birthdays of the grandchildren the last several years, we have taken them shopping and let them pick out their own gifts. It seems to give them a good idea of the value and limits of dollars and the ability to compare and decide what they want the most. But this year Alexa asked if, instead of shopping, we could use the money to go to the Children's Museum with her brother and sister. So, go we did. Yesterday, the five of us drove up to Eagle River, about thirty miles away, and spent almost four hours in a children's paradise. The population of Eagle River is only about 1300, but the museum has been a fixture for many years and is a non-profit venture paid for by donations and admittance. Since our grandkids are home schooled, their folks considered it a field trip and there were only about six to ten other kids there, so they had free rein to all the exhibits and hands on fun. They really could have stayed the whole day but Bing and I caught up on some reading and then pried them loose by offering a lunch at Subway where they each put away a foot long Veggie Delight. Bing took a lot of pictures to comemorate the happy birthday trip and I've included some. They loved the dress up, the ambulance, the wheel chairs and the very well equipped store, complete with scanner at the checkout.

Summer Chairs, Winter Snow

Stop and rest awhile - wait, these chairs are sitting in the snow. Where did the summer go? When did Fall slip by us. We're singing O Come O Come Emanuel and we're baking Christmas cookies and soon we'll be tapping Maple trees and launching pontoons. The years tumble by us now and our part time neighbor, Fred, says that it's because of all the Nasa launchings of the past several decades. I can't remember the premise of his assertion but he is certain it's true. I don't know why but I do know that time is precious and time is slippery but the cool thing is that in the realm of philosophy, time doesn't exist. When Bing and I got married we adopted a slogan that he and his friends used whenever they were on vacation, ie, "We've got a lot of time." This slogan was meant to slow us down when things got frantic and to remind us that we can take it easy. It worked very nicely. The pictures are: winter weeds, on the trail and summer chairs.

Mission Accomplished

Sue and Grandma Milli stayed five weeks and one day and the mission was to get Sue a partial knee replacement and suitable rehabilitation so that she could get back to her busy life in Minneapolis. On Tuesday, November 8th, they were able to say "mission accomplished" and they made their way back to the city. Sue was a remarkable patient and according to her physical therapist, far above the curve. They were so appreciative of the stay and we were pleased to help out. It was a good plan and Milli especially enjoyed the company, the food and her many card games with Sue.

Communal Living

Bing and I became empty nesters quite a while ago. I think it was about 1995 when the last of our three sons married and moved out. But about three weeks ago, we doubled our household members and have been sharing the homestead. My title of this post suggests living in a commune and that evokes images of a large compound with healthy looking adults and tons of kids happily coexisting and sharing the living space, the meals and the work. But our communal living is a little less intensive and in need of a lot less coordination because it's only four here, not fifty or sixty. It has been a pretty comfortable transition and will last a couple more weeks. Our fellow residents are Bing's 98 year old mom and his sister, Sue, familiarly known as Grandma Milli and Aunt Susie. For the last several years, Sue has been a more and more needed caretaker for Milli in their home town of Minneapolis. Milli lives in a third floor apartment with no elevator and Sue, of course, does the grocery shopping and carrying, etc. The stairs became a big challenge due to Sue's arthritic and painful left knee and the diagnosis led toward a need for a replacement knee. To make a long story short, the best solution seemed to be that Sue and Milli move in here for the knee operation and the rehab necessary afterward. And, so far, so good. Sue had the same surgeon as Bing and before this surgeon joined the medical world he had worked as an engineer making prosthetic parts, so he seems to do a remarkably good job with the placement and function of the part. Sue is doing very well and is now working on strengthening the recovering knee and regaining the ability to stair climb. The communal living has been fun and the biggest change is that we do an awful lot of shouting at each other. Milli is what would assume is almost stone deaf. The best way to communicate with her is face to face about six inches away from her ear and even then it often turns into a version of charades trying to get a word across. She is also legally blind but can see somewhat so the proper lighting is important too. It is quite precious to see her nod off in her rocker basking in the sun like a contented kitten. For a few days she wasn't feeling well and I noticed that this stage of her life felt to me like those early days of infancy where you checked the baby to see if he was breathing and you felt a deep deep love and concern for this oh so dependent being. But she bounced back nicely with a returned appetite and vigor for her pleasures of audio books, card games with Sue and the distinct pleasure of living with her son and daughter at this stage of her life. Our communal living will go a couple more weeks but the memories will last a lifetime........I've added some pictures of summer flowers as we say goodbye to them for the year. We're finally getting to the freezing point at night but it has been a nice long stretch of not so bad weather.....

Puzzling Behavior

It was supposed to be a week of fishing for Bing's two childhood friends. One is a fellow from Sun City, Arizona and one is from Billings, Montana. They drive together each year from Billings, visit some relatives for a few days and cap off their trip each summer with a week stay with us. This year the weather did not cooperate at all and the fish were even less cooperative. So the main event was cancelled more often than not. But we still had great fun and the usual lots of laughs that prevail in their company. To the rescue - who knew - both of them seemed to be of the same obsessive compulsive jigsaw puzzlers as I am. Neither had done any puzzling for years but once they sat down at the table where I was finishing a 1000 piece jigsaw that Bernie and the kids had given me for Christmas - there was no turning back - we finished that one and then proceeded to start and finish another 1000 piece one. - It turned out that each of us probably had that same trait because we're all Aquarians born under the same astrological sign.

Our birthdays are February 1st, 3rd and 5th - wow, maybe there is something to that astrological stuff!