Category Archives: Positive

There’s No Place Like Home!

Good afternoon!

I am very pleased to announce that Jason and I are finally back at home! You know what they say, “Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home!” and baby, is that ever true!!!

YEAH!!

Jason is doing GREAT!!! He is tube free, drain free, and is very happy to be home! According to our doctor, his only jobs right now, and for the next week or so, is to breath, walk, and sip his liquids!! Sounds cushy right? Well, maybe not so much, but he is in agreement that we are sooooo blessed, and that God is taking FABULOUS care of us!!

I have to give him kuddos because this is probably the first time in our 17 years of marriage that Jason has really had to give up the reigns and let me take complete care of him! He is a trooper!!! I know that the day that he can walk around the house without me following and watching him making sure he doesn’t get dizzy and fall, he will feel like a truly free man!! Soon, baby, very soon!! πŸ˜‰

We are just so happy that he is just on the other side of this surgery! We know that the hardest part is yet to come, and that dealing with all of the mental stuff is going to be the next tricky part to get through – and maybe something he will always have to deal with, but life is really good!! I also have to mention that it has humbled us to the core about how many old friends, new friends, and family members have come out of the shadows to encourage us, and to share there love, support, prayers, and well-wishes. We will be forever grateful for all of you, and pray that even if it is only in some small way that we can return the love back to all of you! πŸ˜‰

I also want to give a shout out to the AMAZING staff at Salem Hospital, both our surgical team, as well as the SUPERB nurses up on 5NW!!! Every was so attentive, caring, and there was never a time where we felt like we were a nuisance, or a bother! I felt like there was a lot of laughing going on during our entire stay, and that was AWESOME!!!

Anyway, Jason and I are going to have a quiet evening of sipping, breathing, and walking! Yes, Doc, we were listening!!! πŸ˜‰

Here is to a FABULOUS evening! :-)

Β If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!

Off We Go!

Good morning!

Well, we are up and at-em this morning! Just about ready to head out to the hospital!! Jason is feeling “Great!”, but he is pretty antsy!! He even made me breakfast this morning!!!

WHO IS TAKING CARE OF WHOM HERE??? πŸ˜‰

Anyway, his bag is packed, I have packed a bag for myself, and he is busy playing with his Sophie girl!! Our girls know that something is up – they know what it means when the suitcases come out, and I can tell that Sophie is just begging pappa to take her with him!! Not today little girl!!

Anyway, I am praying that all goes well this morning, and time seemingly flies, so that I can see my sweetie’s smiling face in his room this afternoon!!

God is good, all the time!!!

I will keep you posted!!

Until then….

Here is to a FABULOUS morning! πŸ˜‰

Β If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!

Getting Ready for The Big Day!

Good evening!

So tomorrow is the big day; my sweetie is having his gastric bypass surgery in the morning at 11 am. He has worked so hard to get to where he is now. He has gone to every appointment, made every goal, documented and reported everything that was required of him, and lost the necessary amount of weight required of him to get this surgery scheduled, not to mention making it through the last two weeks of his liquid diet!! As of this morning, he has lost a total of 61 pounds within the last 4 months. I am just so dazzled by how easy he has made this whole process look!! If I could just perform half as well as he has done when it is my turn, that would be AMAZING!!! I really couldn’t be prouder of him!!! HE TRULY IS MY HERO!!! πŸ˜‰

He is doing really well this evening; he is remarkably calm and just ready to get in there and just get the surgery done, so he can get onto the other side, and keep on keeping on with his journey to get fit and healthy!!

I will be making sure to keep posting updates over the next few days! I know he is going to do great. He is in very good hands, not only his surgical team that will be working on him, but also I know that God is going to be in that operating room guiding all of the hands that are going to be taking care of my love, as well as with him throughout his two-day hospital stay!! I know that everything is just going to go swimmingly, and I will make sure to keep all of you posted!!! We really do appreciate all of the prayers, and well wishes from all of our friends and family!!!

With that said, I will make sure to post again really soon!!

Here is to a FABULOUS evening!! ;-)

Β If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!

A Splash Bash Kind of Sunday!

Good evening!

WARNING: this is going to be a photo-centric post. OK, you have been forewarned!!! πŸ˜‰

Today was our church’s annual Splash Bash, which by the way, just happened to be my sweetie and my first, Splash Bash!! and let me tell you…it was

SOOOOOO MUCH FUN!!!

So what is a Splash Bash? Well, it is a community get together at our church, where there are 5 large water features brought in for the afternoon. Then everyone in the community is invited to join us for some Summertime fun, getting wet, having a delicious dinner and some yummy desserts, spend some time getting to know each other, and generally just have a CRAZY-ZANY DAY OF FUN!!! πŸ˜‰

The weather today wasn’t as hot as it has been this past week, which would have normally been a downer, but it turned out to be really quite a great day for our water-filled day!!! It was overcast, which meant it was not too hot to be outside, and there weren’t any sunburns to be had -YEAH!!

So, I took so many pictures of today, and really am excited to be able to share them with you, so let’s get this party started!!! πŸ˜‰

There were these 5 AMAZING blow-up features that were brought in for the afternoon! 3 of them were water features and 2 were regular blow-up type rides, where kids could climb, slide, jump, and play!

 

I did not get wet today – being a “Dry Girl”, and wanting to take pictures – I knew that getting wet was not going to be feasible without ruining my camera! Seeing this ride kinda made me second guess my decision to stay dry!!

You had to run, jump, slide, splash, and try not to fly off the end of the slide!!! That appeared easy for most of the people that were playing on this slide, however, when it came to the big guys playing on the slide – they really had some difficulty stopping and would occasionally go flying off the end!! There were between 3 and 5 adults standing at the end of the slide to try and “catch” the men before they went flying! It was quite funny for all of us bystanders!!! πŸ˜‰

 

Jason patiently waiting, and wet, in line for his turn! πŸ˜‰

There was no falling gracefully when it came to this slide!! It was also funny, because when a larger person jumped down the left-hand-side, and a small person was waiting on the right hand side for his turn to go up – the right hand side person sometimes got catapulted into the air! Kind of two rides in one, if you ask me!! πŸ˜‰

Here is Jason and Bethany, trying to stop Zach from flying off the end of the slide!! Beware if you should happen to be standing behind this group because they splash created when the slider hit the wall was HUGE, and you were almost guaranteed to get wet!!! Lesson learned the hard way! πŸ˜‰

See what I mean? This was Jason and his splash!! πŸ˜‰

 

Here is the fearless BoobieJo!

She really impressed me with her ability to fly down this slide!! She had the most graceful slide out of most anyone who slid down this thing!! At least she was able to stay right side up!!! YOU GO MISS BOBBIEJO!!! πŸ˜‰

 

They also served dinner, and afterward had a HUGE buffet of pot luck desserts!! It was soooo hard to behave myself and enjoy a treat in moderation!! Thankfully Jason was there, and was able to help me keep my dessert intake into perspective!! Thank you, Love! I couldn’t do it without your help! πŸ˜‰

If the awesome rides were not enough, they even had these cool water shooters that, of course, my sweetie found and quickly proceeded to get into a water fight with these really little kids, who just thought he was the coolest adult every!!!

 

Jason even jokingly started to refer to this cute little guy as his “arch-nemesis”, and would feign pain and fear whenever this little cutie was able to figure out how to work his water shooter!! LOL!!! Jason is the cutest oversized ‘4-year-old’ that you have ever seen!!! πŸ˜‰

 

Then the calvary AKA, Zach, came in to save the little kiddos! and Jason and him spent the next half an hour or so hiding amongst the large rides, and trying to ambush each other and douse the other with cold water!! I apologize to any innocent bystanders who may have been harmed in this afternoon of fun! I try to keep him check, but alas, there are times when he has the uncanny ability to just run amok!! πŸ˜‰

This is the face of a man who knows when he has been beat!! LOL!!! πŸ˜‰

 

and of course, just to prove that I was really there, I decided to slip this little pic in to the mix!! πŸ˜‰

It really was a great day, and maybe, just maybe, next year I may even convert and become a ‘get wet girl’ instead of ‘dry girl’, but I am NOT going to make any promises!!! With that said, we are both pleasantly tired and ready to have a nice quiet evening at home!!!

Here is to a FABULOUS evening!! ;-)

Β If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!

Hiking Silver Creek Falls!

Good evening!

I have some very exciting news that I am sooooo excited to share with you. Ok, so in all honesty, it is really exciting to my sweetie and I, and maybe not so much for you, but all the same, I am still going to share it with you!! LOL! πŸ™‚

Wait for it…

My sweetie and I walked the 2 and a half mile hike at Silver Creek Falls yesterday morning!

WHOO! HOO!!! πŸ˜‰

Ok, so 2 1/2 miles may not sound very impressive, but it is quite literally a hike that takes you steeply down into a giant bowl, and then you have to hike what feels like a constant straight up to get back to the top again!

Let me just give you a little back story! The last time a tried any hike at Silver Creek Falls, it was one of the smaller hikes, and let’s just say there was a point, on the way back up, I had the realization that I had let myself get extremely out of shape, and I had a bit of a breakdown, balling my eyes out, crying to Jason. “I am going to die here! *SOB!* I will never make it back to the top, let alone the car! *WHINE!* “Save yourself, and leave me! *DRAMA QUEEN! DRAMA QUEEN!*
Ok, so admittedly not one of my finest moments!! πŸ˜‰

So now maybe you understand why hiking the two and half mile hike at Silver Creek Falls is such exciting news??? There was no crying. No whining. No pleading with Jason to save himself.

IT WAS AWESOME!!!

There were some pauses. Some quiet time where I just had to concentrate – especially during the last stretch. There was even some praying for help, and prayers of gratitude when I realized that we were so close to the top! It really was an AMAZING experience!!! I even had the ability to take a TON of pictures, so I apologize for the possible overload of pictures that are to follow, but I want to remember this day for a long, long, LOOOOONG time!!! πŸ˜‰ The day I realized that all of the healthy eating, and exercise is really paying off!! πŸ˜‰

This is the South Falls.

Isn’t Jason looking great?? He has lost almost 50 pounds!! Way to go, Baby!! πŸ˜‰

I am not doing too bad either! Even though I have such a long way yet to go, I have lost about 25 pounds! πŸ˜‰

This is a water tube that Jason was fascinated with. I fear that he would have tried to climb in and of course get himself stuck if I weren’t there! So to his-would-have-been-rescue-team trying to get his booty unstuck from this water tube – YOU ARE WELCOME!!! πŸ˜‰

Yes, this is what happy looks like!

Thanks to the very kind stranger who offered to take a picture of us together in front of these falls!! πŸ˜‰

I think you would agree that just those views along were worth it!!! What an amazing day!!! Let’s just say, we will be doing that again soon!! πŸ˜‰

Here is to a FABULOUS evening!! ;-)

Β If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!

Some Time On My Own!

Good evening!

Here I am! I have been MIA for a while, I realize, but in all honesty I have been really been busy, and have been taking a break from personal computer time/social media. Tonight my sweetie is at Burning Man, or at least the Oregon version, which is called “Soak”. I am always a little blue when he goes out of town, but this is something that he has really been wanting to do. This is one of those things that is on his life list, and you have to know I will ALWAYS be soooo supportive of him, and his list, so I am ready to have some me time for the next few days!! πŸ˜‰

For my me time, I don’t have any huge plans while he is gone, but I do have some little plans! Tomorrow night is our bariatric support group. This is the first time I have ever gone by myself, so that will be a change! πŸ™‚

Then on Friday, my niece, Megan is coming over for an auntie night/sleepover! YEAH!! That is always fun!!! I am going to take her to dinner, then to go see the new movie, “Brave”, or maybe bowling, or miniature golf. I am sure we will also squeeze in a manicure!!

GO GIRL TIME!!

Then on Saturday my sis, Nette, and my nephew, Morgan will come over on Saturday so we can go swimming!! Whew!! After they all head home, I have a feeling I am going to have to squeeze in a nap!! πŸ˜‰

Jason will be home sometime on Sunday, I am thinking probably in the late afternoon, and I already miss him!! We have had a few crazy weeks recently, and haven’t really had a lot of alone time, so I am really looking forward to some quality time when he gets back into town.

Ok, so backing up just a bit. On Friday afternoon, I am picking up a C-Pap machine. I am not looking forward to it, but interested to see if it will help me sleep more soundly during the night.

Oh, you may not know this, since it has been such a while since I posted but we have been really busy on the bariatric surgery prep process. I did have a sleep study, and man that was probably the worst night of sleep/no sleep I think I have EVER had!! I have met with a psychiatrist, physical therapist, and I have met my goal weight of losing 16 pounds! Matter-of-fact I have lost 24 pounds so far. Clothes are much looser, I am getting ready to float down to the next size down! It is quite the dilemma!! πŸ˜‰ I have almost 80 days until my surgery date.

Jason has finished all of his pre-op stuff, he is down almost 40 pounds, and his pre-op class next week, which means that in two weeks he will be starting his two week liquid diet, and his surgery is about 1 month away!!

Another thing that we have gotten into the habit of is doing nightly walks together, and long walks on Saturday and Sundays! This last Saturday, with my youngest Trina in tow, we walked 6.4 miles!! EEK!!! It took us 2 1/2 hours, and I had two super blisters on my feet when we finished! Not fun!! However, we would have gotten back faster, but yours truly ended up taking a really bad spill after twisting her ankle!! Yep, that is me, and that is why my middle name is “Grace”! πŸ˜‰ Unfortunately, I twisted my ankle at about the 3.2 mile mark, so I still had 3.2 miles to go to get home!! Needless to say, I spent the rest of the weekend with my feet up!! πŸ˜‰

Anyway, I realize it is getting late, and I still have to take my evening walk, so I am going to have to cut this short!!

Here is to a FABULOUS evening!! ;-)

Β If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!

Friday Night at the Manse!

Good evening!

I am spending this time this evening with my two four-legged girls this evening, as my sweetie is out having fun with the guys! So, I an spending some time at the manse this evening doing a little bit of WHATEVER I WANT!!! πŸ˜‰

I can’t decide if I want to curl up with a good book, or if I want to watch a sappy chick-flick!! Oh, so much to do, so little time!! πŸ˜‰

And, I realize I haven’t really arted much in the past week, but I think I have really pooped myself out with all of the art class stuff that I have been trying to keep up with for the past 6 months! and even though, I am enjoying my current class, I think that this will be my last soul-searching/art class I am going to take for a while! I need to just get to the arting of it all, and get some new pieces made!!

On the bariatric surgery/dieting front, I met with my physical therapist today, and I was pretty impressed with m’bad self. I say that because I was able to do a lot more physical activity than I think she was expecting! Heck, I do a lot more physical activity than even I expect! I have usually been pretty active even as a fat-chick! πŸ˜‰ Anyway, she has helped me write out some of my physical goals, and given me some homework to help me work…er…I mean…train for these goals. So, I left there feeling pretty jazzed about all of that!

Oh, I want to tell you about this AWESOME book that I read. Yesterday, after I got home from work, I couldn’t decide what to do, so instead of flip on the tele, I decided to pick up a book that I had borrowed from the hospital’s community library, and give it a try. The book was called Tuesdays with Morrie. After about 2 hours, before I knew it, the book was finished, and my perception of death and dying has literally changed!! I know that sounds deep, but it is such a LOVELY book!

Tuesdays with Morrie is about an old man, a retired professor, who is dying, and a young man, who was one of his students about 16 years earlier. They meet together on Tuesdays, where they share stories, and the old man shares his life’s lessons about living and dying. It is such a beautiful story, oh, and did I mention that it is a true story?? I found myself laughing out loud, crying like a baby, and wondering why in the world I hadn’t read this little gem of a book sooner?? I highly recommend this book to anyone who has even lost a loved one – it might just change your perception on life and death too! πŸ™‚

Some of Morrie’s lessons are:

  • Don’t assume that is too late to get involved.
  • The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn’t work, don’t buy it.
  • Love is the only rational act.
  • Don’t cling to things because everything is impermanent.
  • Love each other or perish.
  • Don’t let go to soon, or hang on too long.
  • You are not a wave, you are part of the ocean.
  • Sometimes you can’t believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel.
  • Accept what you are able to do and what you are not able to do.
  • Death ends a life, not a relationship.

Meet Morrie – Such a happy, happy man!!

On a more frivolous note, (my, my, my this one of those random thought kind of posts this evening!) I received a package in the mail this afternoon. Since I am getting ready for bariatric surgery, and it has been pushed out by a month – did I tell you that??? Well, my surgery is now September 4th – I was a little bummed when I found out it was pushed out so far, but I know it will still be worth it! Anyway, this package I got this afternoon was a package of new clothes that had I found online at Lane Bryant. These clothes were on clearance sale with a special additional 50% off, so I got them dirt cheap!! The screwy thing is, is that I ordered them all in my post-surgery goal size – a size 14!! I am a little embarrassed to admit that, but I just could not pass up that kind of sale, and I KNOW that I will get there, AND in only about a year after surgery, sooooo…it seemed like a GREAT idea to me, and I am still pretty excited about it. However, the only thing that kind of scares me, is that I haven’t seen this size since I was 18, and a size 14 just looks sooooo tiny!! Now I am starting to second guess my goal!! I am not going to dwell too much on it now, and just keep doing what I know I need to be doing! So there – I feel like I have just gone to some kind of confessional, and now I feel SO MUCH BETTER!! Thanks for that!!! My check for your psychologist’s fee will be coming in the mail!! πŸ˜‰

So, I am going to wrap this up. I have decided to go take another evening walk before I plant my hieney in front of the tele to watch some episodes of Sex in the City, while pulling pics of my dream outfits out of fashion magazines!! Yeah, that sounds good!!

Here is to a FABULOUS evening!! ;-)

Β If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!

The Good With the Bad!

Good evening!

Well, I realize that it is late, and I should really be going to bed, but my sweetie and I have just returned from first playing with the girls outside, and then walking the girls back to the house, and then my sweetie and I heading out for a nice evening walk ourselves!

Before I tell you our walk, I want to tell you about our good news, and our bad news. Bad news first. Jason and I have gotten our final surgery dates today, which is good news, however, Jason’s date is 2 weeks later than he had originally thought so he is a little bummed about it. My date however, has been pushed out by a month!!! ACK!!! When I first found out, it ALMOST caused me to want to quit, but of course, my super-supportive husband came to my rescue, and I am NOT backing out now!!! πŸ˜‰

So, for the good news. Well, Jason has made his surgery goal weight!! YEAH!! WHOO! HOO!!! I am soooo EXTREMELY PROUD OF HIM!!!! and for those of you keeping track means that he has lost 4 pounds this past week! AMAZING!!! Whatta man!! πŸ˜‰ I did not make my goal weight this week, but I am only one pound away from my goal weight, so I will HAPPILY TAKE THAT!!! YEAH ME!!! LOL!! πŸ˜‰

Getting back to our walk! While we were walking, my sweetie and I took turns saying out loud one goal that we hope to be able to achieve post surgery. With my sweetie’s permission, here are a couple of examples of things we came up with…

ME: I want to be able to touch my toes with my knees unbent

HIM: I want to be able to breathe while tying my shoes

ME: I want to ride the rides at a carnival and not have to worry that the lock won’t latch

HIM: I want to see that

ME: I want to be able to run a mile

HIM: I want to see someone from my past who made fun of me, and make them eat their words

ME: I want to see that

HIM: I want to be able to take a bike trip. A long one!

ME: Me too!

HIM: I want to go to a water park and not get stuck down a water slide

ME: I want to be able to keep up with my niece while swimming

HIM: I want to be able to buy tall clothes without having to buy big and tall clothes

ME:Β  I want to be able to sit Indian-style in a movie theater seat

So, there you have it! I really am so thankful to be going through this journey with my sweetie!! I would never have made it this far without his love and support!!

I have said it before, but I will say it again, life is really good!!

Here is to a FABULOUS evening!! ;-)

Β If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Good evening!

My sweetie spent today planting all of the vegetables into our new vegetable garden, and I am very happy to report that I have some new pictures to share with you!

I am soooo very impressed with what he was able to do in such a small space!

We now have growing:

  • Spinach
  • Green leaf lettuce
  • Red leaf lettuce
  • Green romaine lettuce
  • Red romaine lettuce (I didn’t even know that existed!!)
  • Butter crunch lettuce
  • Red bell peppers
  • Green bell peppers
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Yellow grape tomatoes
  • Broccoli
  • Snap peas

All of these veggies will be a great and tasty foundations for some very healthy salads this Summer!! πŸ˜‰

We also planted an herb garden in some large pots we had on hand! They now hold:

  • 4 kinds of basil
  • Thyme
  • 2 kinds of oregano
  • and 2 other herbs, that I am going blank on at the moment (sorry!!)

My sweetie also got us some strawberries for our hanging pots, and two blueberry bushes, which he is going to let grow in 2 different large pots. I am SOOOOO EXCITED to see what grows and how well we can incorporate these fresh goodies into our our new healthy life style!

This whole adventure has been so much fun! I haven’t actually gotten my hands dirty (thank you, Love, for doing all of the dirty-work, literally!). I will eventually get my hands in the dirt, weedingΒ  and tending to the veggies’ care, it is a garden after all, but Jason and I have had so much fun planning it out, and seeing it come to fruition. I realize it is just a small garden, right now, but it means something so much larger to my husband and myself. This little garden is a small glimpse of what we envision for our future; owning our own little farm. It still makes me smile ear-to-ear when I think of it even now!!

We are so blessed, and life is so good!

Here is to a FABULOUS evening!! ;-)

Β If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!

Happy Tuesday!

Good evening!

This is going to be a quick post this evening, as I am on a cleaning roll!! As you may remember, if you read my post the other day, I am working on getting my art studio completely reorganized, purged, cleaned up, and ready for my next round of some serious arting time!!! If you saw the pictures from the other day, you would agree that THIS is QUITE the undertaking!! I am motivated to get it done though, my sweetie has gotten me a gift certificate to my favorite day spa to get a spa pedicure!!

WHAT A GREAT MOTIVATER!!!

That and the fact that I will have an awesomely clean workspace to get some new art pieces created!! I CAN’T WAIT!!!

Anyway, I am going to head upstairs and get a crackin’!! I am so close to being done that I am thinking that tomorrow will be the day that I can call the spa and make my appointment!! YEAH!!

I will make sure to keep you posted, and I will share pics as soon as my art studio is done!!

Here is to a FABULOUSLY PRODUCTIVE evening!! ;-)

Β If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!