POTATO CHIPS!

(Let the music play while you read ... or dance ...)



Why is removing excess weight so much harder than gaining it?  And WAY LESS fun??



Slowly but surely I'm finally getting rid of some.  For two years I fed my emotions, good or bad!  Potato chips are my feel good food.  Since birth!  My Mom would put little snack bags of chips in my Easter basket because I've never been a candy lover.  (I would use the candy to bribe my brothers ...)  Mr. First Husband made me a spray-painted-gold potato chip necklace.  I taste tested popular "flavored" chips in different countries.  I taste local potato chips when I travel the USA (well, except Kentucky where my Sister is watching me ....)



Now you know why I am back at Weight Watchers.  This past week was NOT a good week for me.  I didn't even want to get weighed in.  Thankfully my support system nagged me into going.  Down a little bit and a total of TEN POUNDS since I started WW.  Seventeen since my Dr. appointment June 1.  Now to lose one pound a week.



All I need to do is lose one pound.  Each week.

GRANDPARENTING

Oh gosh do I miss those little men when they are away!  Even the big old dog.  They are having fun at the beach where it was even warm enough to go in the ocean!

No, they didn't build this.  But how awesome!??

It's a good thing that boy loves to be strapped on ... he's a runner otherwise.

We traded vehicles so that minivan was loaded.  They even took the wagon so they could haul everything to have a campfire on the beach.  So far, I haven't had to try to use their car ... hard for me to get in and out of but tomorrow is Weight Watchers, new orthotics, lunch with a buddy and a hair cut and color.  Let's hope the knees hold up!

Can't wait til they return!

ENERGY CRISIS

That clipart just about sums it up for me!!!

The kidult family is heading over to the Oregon Coast for two nights (haven't even started packing and it's 11:00am) so I will have some nonstop time to purge my room.  It is our old office, filled with boxes of photos, old tax returns, worthless paper and a few treasures, I'm sure.  It's hard to work in there with the dinosaur nest at the foot of my bed, an art table on one side and my bed stretched out through the middle.  When I get that big stuff up and out of the way, I will have room for the two piles ... keep and toss.

I've started a few times but always get (pleasantly) interrupted to do something I consider way more fun (that would be just about anything!).  One day I found Kate's first lost tooth!  I can't even open the boxes of photos until I'm ready to scan.  That will be a long fun journey!

It was a tough call to not join the family at the beach.  Since I can't walk so well (especially uneven terrain) and can't sit on the beach (cause I can't get back up!), plus I would need to rent my own room and probably share it with Braeden and/or the dog, and they are such late owls (their day doesn't start til 1pm or after).  I need to get my room ready for walker rehab time!

If only Mr. B would leave some of his energy behind ...

TURN TURN TURN

Remember that song?  Written by Bob Seeger but mostly word for word from the Bible, Ecclesiastes 3:1-8:

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, a time to reap that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Last night I met up with a friend who works at the company my husband led for 25 years.  Things are changing.  I'm so happy that Mr. Ralph left when he did.  He liked the smaller, family-like feel of an energetic group employees who strived to do better.  He knew everyone by name and a lot about their family.  He made his "rounds" twice a day and spoke to each person.

The company is so big now.  The camaraderie is lessening and it's difficult to know each employee.  This is life!  I'm glad there is a time for each thing in life.  And I'm now getting the hang of doing each of these!

My friends are changing.  I have outgrown some friendships and modified others.  Families of family and friends are changing so quickly. It's impossible to comprehend my brother's grandson is starting high school!  My nephew just bought a house.  My youngest niece is heading to grad school.  So many of Kate's preschool friends now have families.  UGH!  Just reading this makes me realize I've aged a bit ...

To every thing there is a season!

HELP ME RHONDA

Last night Mary Beth and I went to a casino to watch Brian Wilson, THE Beach Boy.  My teenage years came back to life.

We sang.  We clapped.  We swayed.  We swooned.  The songs brought each of us back to specific times and people.

But it was bittersweet.  I have not kept up with music or musicians.  Apparently Brian Wilson is suffering effects from years of drugs and depression.  There are documentaries and now a movie.  He came to the concert in a wheelchair...and sat at the piano.  He can't really sing on key any more.  His words of introductions were slurred and barely understandable.  I was embarrassed for him.  Performing in a casino two hours from Portland, Oregon

He is doing a good job of ending his musical journey by continuing to make music.  He was saved from sure death at the hands unscrupulous people.  He sacrificed his life and future after receiving so much fame.

The money he is raising is for a music program for kids.  I hope that generation can be spared the wicked part of fame ...

MARRY IN HASTE

Yesterday I had lunch with a Portland friend and after discussing our little lives for hours, she asked if I had any interest in dating.  Nope.  I sure don't.  Not now anyway.  I'm not sure why but I'm feeling happy and fulfilled with family and participating in both of my communities.

In the beginning of my widowhood, MANY MANY people asked about me dating.  So totally too early to even think about.  Now a few friends ask but no one is trying to set me up.  (P.S.  IF I ever want to date, or have help finding dates, I will let you know!)

Every widow progresses at her own rate.  My Colorado buddy dated a few years after her mate died.  She knew him from way back and she spent a great amount of time getting to know him. Not really as a potential mate, as he wasn't as willing to compromise on life as much as she felt she was, so he is now back to being a good friend. And occasional lover.

A good acquaintance (high school buddy) was widowed for maybe a year or two when she went online to date.  She was totally unhappy living on her own ... in fact, had moved in with her brother-in-law and family.  She is still working full time (which would keep me busier than I would want to be!) as she is ten years younger.

She met a special someone and they had email conversations and phone conversations and finally a date.  Three weeks later she moved in with him.  A few months later they married.  A year later they are divorced.  We chat via email but I'm waiting for her to bring up this topic.  Not mine to pry.

I am just not interested.  For physical needs, I bought a male order husband from Pure Romance.  That's another blog ....

ONE OF THOSE DAYS

Look out world .... 

Braeden didn't want to wake up to go to camp this morning either!  I was willing to let him go back to sleep but he said his eyes didn't want to sleep.  Silly boy!

It's cool, grey and overcast although supposed to clear up and be mid-70's.  It's a good time for me to putter and be slow.  The rest of the family is still in bed so I'm on my patio sipping my coffee.  Lingering over email, Facebook, reading blogs (what a luxury!), posting items for my volunteer job and getting a short blog written.

I'm pretty glad I'm living with these other four because I bet I would be having a hermit day today if I were on my own.  Nothing wrong with those, of course, but I'm breaking out of that mold.  I needed them during those first two years of widowhood.  Not so much any more!  

Towards the end of the month I have a lot of computer projects to do so I use those days as my hermit days.  Once the wee one gets up, and I get some delicious snuggles, then pick up Mr. B from camp ... I'll move over to the Clubhouse to get my work finished.

In the meantime ... going back to surfing and learning and sipping!