Monday, November 26, 2012

And I'm All Settled in for a Long Day of Work . . .


            I have been busy, busy, busy!  My yearly tradition is to begin cleaning and decorating Thanksgiving evening.  I don’t do what is traditionally called “spring cleaning”; I fall clean!  I clean, scour, and purge the house in order to prepare for the decorating and season.  I rearranged the office, too.  Thank goodness for furniture movers, LOL. That desk was big!  Once the house was clean, I began the decorating extravaganza.  I put up the big tree with most of my Oz ornaments, and I put the small tree that we’ve used the last two years in the office.  I used it for all of the personal ornaments from childhood and new ones.  Then, I had to buy another smaller tree to put in the spare room (where Oz reigns supreme) and decorated it with a few more Oz ornaments.  Also, I put out one of my Dorothy nutcrackers and my needlepoint Oz stocking.  Outside was given attention, too, with new trees, deer, pathway markers, corner trees, bows, a wreath, and icicle lights!  Tons of other housekeeping items were scratched off of the list, too, so that last night I watched several Christmas movies, cuddled with the kitties and Cira, and enjoyed the scents of my candles and lights of my decorations.  I did homework last night, and after making some phone calls and doing more “paperworky” type things, I will be preparing for a new week of assignments and doing work  for school since the trimester changes Tuesday.  It was a nice, peaceful night, and I am hoping for a similar outcome throughout the afternoon and evening. :-)
            I have been having a fabulous week as far as weight, eating, and healing.  Yesterday morning I weighed 181.8!!!! YEEEEE HAWWWWW!  I am down to a size 12, too, and bought a new pair of jeans while out Saturday morning.  It feels so exhilarating to be progressing again.  I feel as if I hit a stumbling block for a few weeks.  And talk about motivation! I don’t want to do anything to risk the success that I have been having.  On Thanksgiving, I ate very small portions of mashed potatoes, a bit of dinner roll, creamed corn, stuffing, and turkey.  Of course, I focused on the turkey first!  About two and  a half hours after dinner, I was able to take a few bites of my mom’s homemade pumpkin cheesecake (OMG!!! So yummy!) and a few nibbles of pumpkin pie.  I was totally satisfied and able to go right back to my yogurt and high protein meals without any issues. 
It really is amazing how differently I think about food now.  Prior to surgery, people would ask how I was going to cope with the changes in what I had to eat and not being to enjoy food after surgery.  I was confident in my ability to NOT make bad choices because after surgery I would not have a choice – bad foods would make me sick or have a not-so-good effect on my body.  I’m sure that there was skepticism in many folks’ minds as to my ability to stay on track; after all, I had not gained weight by making good dietary choices.  However, surgery was the means to a new outlook on food.  Being on a liquid diet for two weeks before surgery and then being limited to what I could take in for so many weeks after surgery, my body cleansed itself of the bad stuff.  I no longer crave the bad stuff because my body no longer has a taste or hunger for it.  Does this mean that I will never eat a mozzarella stick again?  No.  But it does mean that mozzarella sticks are not something that I choose to eat over other choices that are better for my body and health.  I do not feel as if I am “missing out” or unable to have a pleasant time with friends at a restaurant; the pleasant time stems from being with friends, not food.
And with that, my friends, I will end.  Time to get back on task and tackle that work that has been waiting for me all weekend.  So, until next time. . . 

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