I'm Wanty not Needy

I only made a few purchases this weekend.
Well, if you count skinny pop, diet Snapple or beef jerky, then I made lots of purchases, but you came here for fibery goodness.
Almost a year and a half ago, I was given two Corriedale fleeces. Shannon had taken them Up North to have them processed at Stone Hedge Fiber Mill. I love the way they clean and prep. 7 pounds of dirty fleece became almost 5 pounds of yummy roving.

While we were at the Tip of the Mitt Fiber Festival, I picked up Grellow Fiber from IceMelon. You see it here in singles form. I need to ply.

Also pictured is some laundry butter (new to me) and a skein of Washtena Wool Company fingering in Wolf. I see it as Hedwig and will be making something owlish from it.

My lovely hostess, Shannon, knows that I want to learn to sew better, so she gave me this book to increase my skills. I didn't think anything would fit, but I am within the scale of the measurements on the patterns. Happy dance and big NSV.

I think the biggest want for the weekend was just to be with my hubby. We are together a lot, but there is nothing like a road trip to get us talking. I think we both wanted/needed this.

Road Trip

We headed Up North for the weekend.

Started out at 530am on Saturday. 

The sunrise was beautiful! 

We were headed to Tip of the Mitt Fiber Festival.

We made it to Boyne City about 10:30 and met up with Shannon. We headed to the festival about noon where we met with Shirley and little man after dropping Sarge at the rifle range. 

There would be pictures of the festival, but my phone decided it needed a reset at that point. Not impressed...neither was I. 

After stopping for lunch and then picking Sarge up, we all headed back to Shannon' s house to relax. First time meetings for our hubby's. I think it all worked out. A few naps,  lots of laughter, and then bedtime. 

Sunday I think we all slept in a bit. We had brunch, the men napped and us women chatted, knit, spun, and laughed some more. 

Sadly we had to say goodbye. 

Sad to go. Miss them already!

Sarge and I headed out on the road again for a quick stop to see his friends in Grayling. 

We stopped for dinner then arrived about 730p. As I said, it was a quick stop, about an hour.  Then we were off for home. 

We arrived about 1 am and crashed out about 2am 

It was a fun weekend. 

My question: 

When did giving someone advice from experience become judging? 

Who fucking knew?

For 47 years I thought I had straight hair that often was frizzy.
I had a really good hair cut in January and the stylist told me to find non silicone mousse and try scrunching my hair. A friend at college who is also a stylist told me to look up the curly girl method. I have ordered the book and read up bunches. I also asked friends for input.
It's going to be a long process.

Today, I am super happy with my hair.

This is without curling iron or blow drying. 

I'm still learning. 

16 Months

16 months post RNY Gastric Bypass

HW: 315

CW: 217.4

Exercise routine: 

100:

Crunches

Push-ups

Windmills

Squats

Cardio: 

5 miles on Recumbent bike at setting 3

I took 3 days off while recovering. 

I will change it up for February and add hand weights. 

NSV's

Seeing collar bones

Smaller wedding ring

Noticing more shrinkles

Shoveling snow

Able to pull off knee high boots without unzipping

I had a esophagus ablation last week. Everything came out ok. 

I'll have a biopsy in 2 months and another ablation a bit after that. 

It leaves me with a husky voice and need of a liquid/soft food diet for a bit. 

I'm not as far as I want to be but each day I get a bit closer. Sometimes I get discouraged because I have not met goal. I have to remember this has not been a straight path for me. I have had procedures since the main surgery. I just need to keep my sight on my goals. Failure is not an option

Rambles at the beginning of 2017

Welcome 2017!

Yes, I know, I'm late. January is not over yet, so all is still good. 

We woke up to 2017 instead of ringing it in. It was a quiet day and we are good with that. I believe in "start as you wish to go on", so I cast on a new knitting project and Sarge ended up cleaning his pistols. Things we both enjoy doing and hope to do more of during this year. We had Black eyed peas and ham for dinner for luck of the new year. Other than that, it was movie day. Nothing fancy. 

The last couple of weeks have been a bit stressful for us. Transitions with college for me and job for him. Hopefully, soon, I will be in that job place so I can take the stress off him. Between us though, I think we are stronger than ever. 

Any major event can put a strain on a relationship. We have faced huge moves, job changes, deployments, and my weight loss surgery. Every time, we talked our way through it. We have had our ups and downs, but by communicating along the way, we stay on track, together. Each time we are told by someone that the act is statistically supposed to break us apart. I think huge changes in life can break some people apart. I also think that their relationship was not strong before the change and therefore could not withstand that change. If you are able to see the change, communicate about it, and see the positive in it, then you should be able to come out the other side much better than you were before.

We have survived.

Hopefully we will continue to survive.

When I met him, back in 1995, I never thought we would be together this long. In two weeks, we celebrate our 15^th wedding anniversary.

I would say yes all over again.

I hope you feel the same about the one you are with.

Stay positive and communicate!

Merry Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve! 

The presents are wrapped and the stockings are ready to be filled. 

I talked with a friend yesterday. I'm still not feeling great about how the RD treated me, but I need to not take it personal. 

I am going to refocus. I need to start eating on a schedule again. 

3 meals at certain times- same every day. 

If I am hungry in between and have had my liquids, then I can have a snack. 

I'm going to keep the meals to 50% protein/veg mix. 

Snacks need to be protein rich like a Greek yogurt or cheese. 

I'm going to get popcorn back to being an occasional thing. 

Water and teas need to become my main drinks again. 

I'm going to try to stick to Whole Foods as much as I can. 

1000 calories... I'm not worrying about hunger, as I really don't feel that. It's being more mindful when I am eating. 

I can do this

Week 64: The one where I'm pissed

Saw Doctor Foote today. I have to have ablations done to my esophagus. He also told me that by no means should I be at 1400 calories. He has never seen loss of weight to meet goal over 1000. He wants me to drop back down and do what I was doing at 6 months out instead. 

My feelings, I am pissed and hurt. My dietitian knew that I had been frustrated. I did not understand why she was bumping up my carbs. I have lost faith in her and will not be taking information from her anymore. I know I have to see her because it is part of the plan, but I am not going to be sabotaged. I guess I should be thankful that I now know my range to maintain is 1200 calories. I just feel that I have wasted 6 months of my golden period with a dietatian who does not understand RNY surgery. 

I am slowly dropping back to 1000 calories from 1400. I will see the whole team in March and I hope to be in the 100s by then. 

My macros are 1000 calories. 60-80g protein and under 60 carbs. The rest should fall into place. 

Exercise: I just finished a 21 ab workout I am pushing to 31 days. 

I am starting a 21 day butt work out. Squats are my downfall but my ass needs it! 

The ladies at the retreat bought me a recumbent bike. I love it! My goal is 5 miles 3x a week. I also need to get back to the treadmill. I want to put 2 miles 3x a week on it. So the routine will be:

Daily:

100 crunches

100 squats 

50 push-ups

M-W-F: bike

T-Th-Sa: treadmill

Sunday- total gym. 

I want to bring in the gym more, but I need to work back up to it. 

I'm going to try to channel the anger I feel into my workouts and push through. 

I'm hurt that I cannot trust someone that is supposed to have my best interest, and my health,  at heart. 

The ablation scares me but the doctor told me how easy it is and that I will have a few follow up procedures to make sure it is all taken care of. I do trust him. 

Side note: 

I gave Dr. Foote a pair of hand knit socks as a thank you and Christmas present. 

I gave the team hand knit cowls and scarves.