Weight Loss Wednesday

Or not so much...This has been another busy week. I have been keeping active... lots more moving around than sitting around... been doing my walking and my exercises .. not as much as I would like. My shoulder has been killing me. Finding the balance of doing things so I do not feel completely useless and so that I am working towards getting in better shape.. and yet not putting myself in a position where I can not even lift my own coffee cup or sleep at night is very challenging. I hate taking any type of pain pills.. used to be before the accident that one advil would take care of any pain I had... now after three years 4 hardly make a dent and if I take too many I end up with other issues that are no fun either. I will find the balance.... I am glad I now have a set of workouts that I can do without making the shoulder hurt too bad... so I can keep doing those just have to figure out how to do the every day stuff.

We did get out of the house one night in the last week for a hike with some friends.. we kept it simple, one mile and level... but will be exploring some new places this week and figure we will do 3 to 4 miles. I remember when we started this last year I was so happy to make it around the block... and we were up to 7 to 10 miles without much more effort than around the block was when we started. Looking to be doing 10 mile hikes every weekend before long again.

My parents are in town this week for some visiting, and I had them and my kids over last night for dinner... I used that as an excuse to make some cupcakes in jars ( mom brings me the jars ) and I am also blaming those cupcakes for me not having lost any weight..in fact I went up one pound. I do also want to mention that aunt flow decided to come visit too and I always have a weight increase when this happens. Yes I am making excuses... but.. not really.. even though when I got on the scale this morning it was up a pound.. it was up a lot less than I had been ready for... and it really is not so much about the weight coming off as it is about getting healthy... and I AM feeling a lot better every week. My energy and my spirits are a lot better every week... even though my shoulder is killing me it feels so good to be doing a bit more.

Weigh in last week at 253 ~ weigh in this week at 254

Weekend Started on the Hobbit Trail :)

Once again I had a wonderful weekend....One of the best things is getting to have three days with Dave. We love doing the same things and spending time together. Friday we ran errands in town and did a little grocery shopping. We visited some garage sales, bought an old wood working level for $2, it is really pretty, teak wood and brass edges. Friday night we had some friends over and we went out to explore a new trail we had found on the other side of the island. We had so much fun.. the trail is flat and one mile... we just did one loop but would be easy enough to do a couple more loops and if we stayed on the main trail I am thinking we could get a good workout in. We all picked the Hobbit trail..a little side trail you can take.. which was a lot of fun.. very cool in there.. but some bending over and winding around.. would make it a bit hard to do it with some speed.

We then came home and bbq'ed some buffalo burgers and visited for awhile.. getting our plans for our Vegas trip all figured out. I am so excited, I love trips.. and I love Vegas and these are awesome friends.. it is going to be a happy time with a lot of great memories :)

Saturday Dave and I took Missy out to lunch at Islanders.. We both had the fish and chips which were so good.. and then she had the almond chicken salad and it was great too. It was nice to get a chance to visit with her a bit, then we dropped her off at her boyfriends and Dave and I headed to do some tool shopping... the first stop we bought a dust collector that is twice as big as the one we have now.. one of the focuses of the new shop is to really keep the dust down. Then we headed to Rockler to get some more gates and hose for it. They were having a VIP special and it was 25%, traffic was so horrible we almost did not make it before they closed.. but we did. Home to have some dinner and watch a movie, Despicable Me (which I slept through) but Dave said was really good.

Sunday we did yard work.. all day. We spread some gravel in the driveway, weedeated, weeded the flower beds, mowed, moved the trailer to the back, cleaned out the shed, went through the cupboards in the shop. We figured out where everything will go for next weekend, bike stuff back in the trailer, cupboards from shop are moving to the shed so that ALL of the car stuff will be there. We talked about what we have to get done in the yard this year and what we want to get done and how we want it to all end up when finished. Sunday night we worked in the shop and got the upper cabinet on the right hand side up on the wall..we then made shelves which I will be staining today. We will put them in tonight and start moving stuff over from the left side so we can take those cupboards down to the shed and get the tools moved over there. Sometimes it seems that this is taking forever and we will never get it done.. but we are getting so close. This week we will get everything moved over and then next weekend (4 day weekend)we should be starting building the last two cabinets and the two roll arounds. After that it is a matter of getting everything in the right place.. then doors and drawers and a bit of trim. I am so excited and looking forward to it being done and being able to really get on making some fun stuff :)

For All Moms of Daughters

A friend shared this song/video with me yesterday and I sat and listened to it with tears in my eyes and a smile on my face. My daughter is 18 next month and graduating and moving out. She is head over heels in love and planning on getting married next year.

I love her with everything I am, and am so thankful for the relationship we have had while she is growing up. I consider her one of my very best friends, even though sometimes she needs me to wear my mom hat. These last few months have been some of the hardest times, watching her go from my little girl to a woman who loves and has plans for her future that do not include me and that I have no say in. Harder still because she is my last baby. I look forward to sharing her adult life with her as her friend :)

Weight Loss Wednesday

Week Two update with some pictures from todays beach adventure :)

This last week I started walking on the treadmill and did a good job (not great) of doing my workouts. The lunges, the weights and the resistance tubing. I really need to work on getting a lot better at doing at least some part of it everyday.. it is hard to get back on schedule for doing this.

I really tried to work hard on eating better.. smaller portions... and more veggies and fruits with less sugar and carbs... hmmm I still need a lot of work in this area.

I did have more energy this week and I did sleep better, also helps that we had some sunshine to enjoy.

Weigh in last week 255 ~ Weigh in today 253 = minus 2 lbs :)

New Beach and New Shop, Lots of Fun

I have been wanting to write this blog for a couple of days, but with the issues blogger has been having I waited.. which.. was very hard to do! I had an amazing weekend with my honey. It is nice that we get three days.. we love spending time together.. only problem is.. it is still never enough time to get everything done. The plan was to spend as much time as possible in the shop working on the cabinets as we can not do anything else out there until they are done.. but.. Friday we had to run to town to do some errands and it was so beautiful out. We did get everything done we needed to.. and just in time for dinner, burgers and fries at 5 guys.. Awesome!! Then we walked around Best Buy and Costco.. turned it into a date night... yeah that is how we spend our date nights.. and we love it. We do need to buy a new printer so checked those out.. would love any recommendations, just leave a comment. Then home and we watched some tv... no shop time.

Saturday.. we slept in a bit... and then.. decided since it was still nice to run and get some propane ( to use to burn the weeds in the driveway) and while we were out we would stop at a garage sale or two. It was so nice and sunny out, we also stopped at the Beach House Barn , I love this place.. they are super friendly and have wonderful fun stuff, one of those places that every time you visit you see something new that you can't live without.

( that bottle is one of the things I Love at the Beach House Barn)

We also checked out a new shop that just opened... called Retreat. Beautiful place, friendly, fun stuff. I look forward to visiting there again too. Between Stanwood and Camano there are a lot of wonderful fun stores to poke around in and visit in.. I am not much of a shopper but I love the visiting part :) I love seeing fun stuff and new ideas on old stuff :) Retreat has that! They have a Market coming up on June 25th that looks like something not to be missed :) Lots of fun stuff from different people all in one place! ( I love the wine holder below)

We did find one garage/estate sale that we bought something from.. I got a old pan for making cheese cake in.. I always have a hard time avoiding the kitchen stuff.. a lot of the sales have stuff from when I baked with my grandma... I love it and can never refuse it.. I spent one dollar.. lol Dave spent $20, which for us is big spending.. but he got two brand new, in box never opened items.. one is a compass.. an old sighting compass.. looked it up online and you can buy a new one for $150, he also got a flash lighting kit thingy ( umbrellas and flash bulbs and tripods for taking photos) new is about $170. Everything works and has manuals for both items... so we got a great deal. ( One sale we went to has a bunch of peacocks running around )

Found a new beach I can not wait to explore more... we spent a little time out playing on it but hope to go back and walk the trails and I want to spend more time on the beach itself.. it is a lot different than the beach at my house.. mine is all rocky.. this one is all sandy and lots of drift wood.. even found some pieces of sea glass :)

We did get home about 2 or so.. we did get all the weeds in the driveway burned and cleaned up.. and well that was pretty much all we did..it started pouring and then it was dinner time.. we decided to head out and get pizza and beer.. went to Islanders and it was wonderful... as it always is :)

( crummy cell phone picture in the dark does this No justice)

Sunday we spent all day in the shop, the top cabinet is boxed and ready for face frame and shelves tonight.. then should start doing the finish work on and by this weekend it will be up on the wall.. then all we have left ( for that half of the shop ) is doors and drawers. I think we are going to tackle the other side before we do those though. That side will get some tear down of cabinets that are there and then we need to build cabinets for a couple of the tools.. and one more for the wall... they should be easy compared to the ones we have done. Just the fact that we will not be tripping over as much stuff will make it easier to build them.

It was a wonderful weekend.. and this week so far is wonderful too :) Sunshine :) Yesterday I had a burn pile for hours and got some of the scraps from the shop burned and a bunch of branches.. neighbors all came and visited.. it was a nice afternoon.. then worked in the shop in the evening :)

Test Run

Well blogger seems to be getting it all back together.. finally have my missing post back up.. no comments with it though .. oh well.. better than nothing... I am not sure what all happened but wow did blogger take a big fall last week and it is taking a bit of time to get it up and going again. I had a wonderful weekend and took some pictures.. can't wait to share it... but I will.. just want to make sure when Publish PostI post that it will be sticking around.

Life Uncommon

I love this song.. the video is not so wonderful.. but it gives you an idea. I love Jewel and this cd is from one of those times in my life where there were some powerful changes, one of those growing and learning stages in life. I put the cd in yesterday and was listening to it and thinking about how much life has changed since then and how even though some of the choices I made in that period of my life did not end up being the best at the time.. they all brought me to where I am and I would not trade this place for anything in the world.

The words of this song mean something to me.. in every aspect of life.. "Lend our voices only to sounds of Freedom" is something I believe we should all try to focus on. "No longer lend you strength to that which you wish to be free from" for me it is about not getting involved with what I do not support, not wasting time arguing about things that do not matter to me... watching/reading stories about things that I do not believe in. The big things to the little things. It is about keeping myself focused on the things that matter and that are important to who I am and where I want to be going.

*edited to add* Just read a friends blog and loved how it tied into this post "Talking Things Up"

Life Uncommon"

Don't worry mother, it'll be alright

And don't worry sister, say your prayers and sleep right

It'll be fine lover of mine

It'll be just fine

Lend your voices only to sounds of freedom

No longer lend you strength to that which you wish to be free from

Fill your lives with love and bravery

And you shall lead a live uncommon

I've heard you anguish

I've heard you hearts cry out

We are tired, we are weary, but we aren't worn out

set down you chains, until only faith remains

Set down you chains

And lend your voices only to sounds of freedom

No longer lent your strength to that

which you wish to be free from

Fill you lives with love and bravery

And we shall lead a life uncommon

There are plenty of people who pray for peace

But if praying were enough it would have come to be

Let your words enslave no one and the heavens will hush themselves

To hear out voices ring out clear

with sounds of freedom

sounds of freedom

Come on you unbelievers, move out of the way

there is a new army coming and we are armed with faith

To live, we must give

To live

And lend out voices only to sounds of freedom

No longer lend out strength to that which we with to be free from

Fill your lives with love and bravery

And we shall lead...

Lend out voices only to sounds of freedom

No longer lent out strength to that which we with to be free from

Fill you lives with love and bravery

And we shall lead a life uncommon

Weight loss Wednesday

It is back... I did these post on Wednesdays for a while last year.. and I was losing weight.. sometimes just a tiny little bit.. but it was coming off.. then I had a few weeks where nothing was coming off and I stopped writing.. and then the weight not only stopped coming off but the weight I had lost started coming back :( Now I am starting over.. and going to be visiting this blog every Wednesday with my weigh in and to talk about what I have done during the week and what the goal is for the coming week. Holding myself accountable and writing it down here for not just me but for everyone else to see really helped. Thank you to everyone that left comments last time around and please feel free to leave them again, I can really use your support.. just knowing someone is reading this will help motivate me a lot.

I have about 20 weeks until our planned trip to Vegas, wow that seemed a lot longer away until I counted it out, and I would really like to have lost between 20 and 30 lbs by then.. well I would like to have lost at least 50... but I know there is no way that will happen. Last time I did this I started at 260 and by the time I lost 30 lbs I was in a whole different size of clothes.. which I have a LOT of clothes for that size.. so if I can lose 30 by the time we go to Vegas I will have a whole new wardrobe by then. My smaller goal is a one pound a week. My overall biggest goal is to be a LOT healthier. I am thinking in getting healthy I will lose about 60 - 80 lbs total.. but even though my focus appears to be on the weight itself.. it really isn't.. it is just that the weight is an easy way to watch things change as we start. Hauling around all the extra pounds is not healthy.. in anyway.. so being a bit focused on the weight to get things started is good.

My goals this week is to exercise, exercise and exercise! Drink lots of water! Eat less carbs and sugar!

I have my exercises all figured out, have a long list of things to do from my physical therapist... and I need to be walking/running on the treadmill at least 4 days a week.

Weigh in today 255 ~ Goal 180

Camping in the Rain

Went camping last weekend with my sister at the spot she has.. it is one of those camp grounds where you buy a space in it.. that way you always have a place to camp. You can leave your trailer up there year around and there is a club house with a pool and a craft/activity room for the kids and basketball place and a bunch of other stuff.. always stuff for the kids to do.. and they even have a grown up only space.. yay!!

It was pouring rain for a lot of the weekend.. but.. the way they are parked we just pull in at a bit of a angle and then with both our awnings out we can put the fire right outside the awnings and sit under them and have the heat reflected in and it was awesome!

When we got there Friday night it was raining... we sat around the fire and visited.. had some awesome steaks that were cooked on the bbq.. sister covers hers with fried onions and mushrooms and then melts blue cheese on top... I tried some of this.. minus the mushrooms.. and omg.. I will now be eating my steaks this way.. they were So good! If you have a favorite recipe with Blue cheese.. please share it here.

Friday all night it poured... ... attempting to get up in Saturday morning was close to impossible.. it was cold out there... and every time I rolled over it rained harder.. so I stayed in bed until a bit late :) Then the rain stopped so I got up.. everything was still soaking wet and the huge trees were dripping big drips.. but it was nice to just sit and visit around the fire. I love spending time with my sister :)

The rain pretty much held off all day so in the afternoon we were able to all go for a walk with the puppy ( sister has a baby chocolate lab that is so very sweet and too cute ) we explored around the camp ground for awhile and then made it back right before it started raining some more, just in time for dinner :) Tonight it is hamburgers on the grill then smores in the pouring rain.. no way I was going a whole weekend of camping without a smore.. no matter what the weather.

Sunday morning was still a bit wet.. and Mothers day.. so I again slept in and then had a lazy morning with some hot cocoa and computer time. Then up for some visiting and cleaning up campsite so we can get home and get some things done. This weekend was very relaxing and calm... I loved getting to visit with my sister.. it is so special that we get to be friends now and not just sisters. I also loved the time Dave and I just spent together in the motor home, working on projects and visiting together.

A Wonderful Weekend!

Camping Deception Pass

This last weekend we stayed close to home instead of heading out to the ocean... it was wonderful.. no stress of traffic... took like $25 of gas instead of $200 and gave us a lot more time to camp and relax and enjoy. I am thinking this year we will be spending a lot of time exploring camp grounds within an hour of us, there are a lot of them.

Almost there, driving across the big bridge over Deception Pass, going to be camping down there. We got to camp it was still daylight.. just barley.. but it was nice.. got camp all set up and the fire going.. and sat around visiting and roasting hot dogs and making smores... then inside to play

some poker and have some drinks... I am not sure what the martini was called that Laura made.. but I can tell you all this stuff was in it and it was so so good.. smooth and rich and oh wow!

Next morning we get up and have some breakfast and guess what.. more poker!! It was that kind of weekend... we played for a few hours.. had some lunch and some beer margaritas, my sister got me started on these and I love them. Beer Margarita Recipe here

We did decided to take a walk around the loop and check out some of the other camp sites and just walk a little bit... we ended up going around the loop and then heading to the beach..followed a nice trail down and then took the road back.. it was a nice adventure.

Trail to the beach

This is a very pretty beach, sandy and with some rocks and just a beautiful place with some of everything. I did find an agate and a handful of sea glass this weekend. :)

The big trees were just amazing... so tall and old and beautiful!

Camp is all cleaned up and we are ready to go.. well.. we are not ready to go home.. but we have to check out of the site... this photo is great.. makes out motor home ( on left ) look so tiny.. they pretty much are both the same size. Back to the beach we go.. just going to park the motor homes there and spend some time enjoying the wonderful weather.

I can not believe I did not get a photo of the motor homes parked in the parking lot with the awning out and the lawn chairs... some people gave us some odd looks.. I think they were jealous :) We did walk around the point and check out the bridge... the one we were on when we took the first picture... we got a bit closer.. in fact I am sure the huge rock we ended up on was where there was a cache.. but I had left the info in the motor home so was not sure. I did not get any pictures from there because my phone died... I will get them next time.

This weekend was so much fun... the weather was great... warm and sunny.. today it is pouring again :( We had good food and drinks and great friends to visit with. Even saw another good friend of mine who was visiting the park for the day with family in from out of town. The only problem with the weekend was it was just too short...they are always too short. After we got home and everyone got cleaned up we all headed back out and went to the casino to spend a couple more hours stretching the weekend out... now we are back to the weekdays and already making plans for another weekend out and some longer trips too :)