Midnight Cookies

Okay... it's really not quite midnight.. and I should be done before midnight. Still... when the boy waits until 5:30 pm to mention he's signed up to bring cookies and chips to the class party Friday, it feels like I'm going to be stuck making midnight cookies.

Paul asked Mac.."How long have you known about this?" "Since yesterday," says Mac. "Well, says Dad," Yesterday you could have expected home baked cookies... today you get what's easy for your mother."

As my mother would say "I was at home when I baked them!"

Catching Up

It's been interesting, recovering from this surgery. The first week I was taking my pain meds regularly. The second week I began spacing the time out a bit more. This week I've been needing the pain med only at the end of the day. I wake up pain free and make it through most of my day under my own steam. But usually around 6 pm... I am beat and there is pain. Still, I am so much bettter than right after surgery.

Interesting too was Sunday night. We went to Dothan that day to do a bit of necessary shopping. Bookstore, Hallmark store, lunch, and JCPenney for jeans (not necessarily in that order). By the end of it all (maybe two hours max) I was exhausted. Sunday night I just wanted to cry. Don't know why... I didn't hurt too bad and it had been a good day... but I just curled up in my bed and let the tears flow. It wasn't long and I felt better afterwards.. but it was just such an odd thing. Hormone fluctuations, maybe?

Mac has reached his weight loss goal. He looks so good! I need to take pictures and post them. He started out shortly after school began, weighing about 195 lbs. Our two years of homeschooling had definitely taken it's toll. But in just 5 months he's dropped 45 lbs, and has lost 3 pants sizes (thus the need for new jeans)! And he's done most of the work with exercise. He started with walking just a mile a day and slowly worked up to five miles a day... we later added two weight sessions a week, plus basketball playing. As far as food goes, he mostly just began watching portion sizes. This kid lost weight eating pizza and chicken fingers! LOL.
We are now working on tweaking his program so that he quits losing weight. I'm encouraging him to walk fewer miles and give himself a little leeway on the food.

And speaking of weight loss... since the surgery I have now dropped 8 lbs! I am also eating a lot less at mealtimes. Yesterday I took the kids to the gym ... although I couldn't work out with the weights, I did walk a mile on the treadmill while the kids did their thing.

I am looking forward to truly being "back to normal." Each day (minus the Sunday meltdown) I get a little better and that's good. :)

I had the staples removed today. Not too terribly painful... some were actually painless.. others felt a bit like a pinch. No driving for another week and then I can start doing "local" driving.

The staples were replaced with surgi-strips. Those will fall off on their own. I actually am having a bit more localized pain than before. But even still.. each day is a bit better. No gym for me for another four weeks, but I can begin my walking program again... starting slow and building up. I go for another check up in four weeks.

Approaching Normal

I actually have a couple of outings planned today. Grocery shopping (with Paul's help) and a luncheon with some of the spouses and hubbies from Paul's unit. :) Fun stuff I hope. I've been pretty closed-mouth about my health here within the unit. I had to tell the XO's wife because this month (February) is my month to plan the spouses' coffee. All I told her is that I had surgery and that I had to plan something that wouldn't require me to do a lot of lifting and preparing (we're having our meeting at a restaurant on post).

She did a little fishing... asking if everything was okay. Now, Paul had told her hubby exactly what was going on because of the time off that Paul would need. Guess the information stayed at the office. So, the only additional information I gave her is that we had to plan it for a time when we knew that Paul would be home.

For all that I share here on this journal, I really am rather quiet about my affairs around the folks that are in our unit. Although I've met a few that I think I could be friends with, truth is, we aren't friends yet and I prefer to keep my business out of the general public.

So.. at this point, I can laugh deep and only feel a slight twinge. Everything is healing nicely. I have my appointment tomorrow to have the staples removed and I will ask Dr. for a bit more guidance with respect to exercise (walking) and how much longer I might need to wait before I go back to weight training with the kids.

Since the surgery I have lost 4 lbs (without really knowing if I gained any "water weight" right after the surgery) without really trying. I understand that the uterus was the size of a medium melon...so some of that could be from the removal. My appetite is good, but I find that I am quickly satisfied with about one third of what I ate before surgery. I don't know if that is a side effect of the pain medication (lower appetite) or if after 48 hours of liquids only, my tummy is smaller and I'm actually listening to it. At any rate.. it's all good from my point of view... unless after I stop the pain pills I go back to eating too much...

I'm only taking pain pills during my waking hours now... so I'm down to about three a day at this point. Sleeping through the night, but I am having some truly bizarre dreams... which may be partly caused by the books I am reading... lots of vampire/werewolf stories. :) In last night's dream, we were part owners in a large house (four floors) that was a gateway to the demon world. Demons would occasionally come out and grab someone to drag down to their dimension. We moved out... grabbing as much of our belongings as we could.. while the house was beginning to implode on itself.

When is a good "belly laugh" not a good thing?

Within a week of abdominal surgery! LOL. It's funny, but it's not. Anything that really tickles my funny bone is guaranteed to cause pain. So, I'm avoiding some of my favorite spots like LOLCATS... after first discovering how much it hurts to laugh.... and on that note.. there is the cutest video of a cat under the packing peanuts that really really really hurt my stitches! Should you get the chance, and it doesn't hurt you to laugh... go enjoy.

more animals

It's done

I went into the hospital on Monday and had my surgery. I came home Wednesday. It already seems like a million days have gone by! And not in a good way.. lol. Pain medication is keeping me comfortable. I am up and moving... after a fashion. I know it can only get better. I really do have a happy mindset about it all... I'm just really tired and sore and bruised.

What a surprise! It absolutely made my day.

For years I have carried a roll of developed 8 mm film. Based on the envelope I had it in, I assumed that it was footage of the girls (military) drill team that I was a part of in high school. During December it resurfaced again and Paul suggested that I have it converted to DVD format before it deteriorates too far. So we dropped it off at the local Walgreens.

It takes a while... about two weeks longer than the estimate they gave us. We finally picked up the finished product yesterday when we were out for lunch. After our many errands were taken care of, we came home and popped in the DVD. It wasn't the drill team.

It was Christmas 1977. The year that my brother brought home his fiancee. There was my mom and my dad looking so young, so happy. And my sister Susan, looking almost exactly like my daughter Kim. (Something that everyone has always said, but until this video I never saw the resemblance) It was an incredible blast from the past! To see my dad looking so good, so healthy... what an incredible gift.