 |
| This was my weigh in this morning on the Wii. |
WARNING: This will be a long post! lol I have lots of pictures to share.
Take a look at this! I'm so excited! I weigh 198 lbs. ONE-DERLAND!!!! I made it! Wow! I weighed last night and I was at 199.2 .... so I lost .9 lbs. over night. What an awesome feeling. I thought I had gained over this last week because I ate so many things I shouldn't have but I told myself, that while on vacation if I wanted something, I would have it so that I wouldn't feel deprived. Well, I sure didn't deprive myself..that's for sure. Most days, I got all of my protein and liquid in but I had a few days that it just seemed impossible because we were running here and there. I'm not sure why I didn't gain anything but maybe the fact that even when I indulged in the forbidden foods, I didn't have much because my stomach can only hold so much at a time or perhaps all the walking and climbing we did counter acted the junk calories I took in. I'm not sure why I continued to lose but I have to say that if this last week would have been a week without my sleeve, I would surely have gained 5-10 lbs. Thank you sleeve...I heart you! :) It is so nice to know that if I mess up for a week, I don't pack weight back on...in fact, I still continued to lose. I'm so shocked by this. This is totally opposite of what it was like with the "before sleeve" reality.
I'll share our vacation with you. We have never taken a "vacation" trip during a holiday week. This year has been stressful and we needed a breather. So we went to Branson, Missouri. Actually, Kimberly, MO. This is about 8 hours from where we live...Texas. It was cold, in the low 40's, but it was fun. The first night we stayed in a one room cabin. We liked it but it was expensive and didn't have a full kitchen which was important to us being that we were going to be there for a week and we didn't want to eat out for every meal. Isn't it cute though?
After that, we found a condo with a very close balcony view of a lake. It was very nice but the bed was as hard as a rock. Don't get me wrong, I slept...just not comfortably. We mainly went to Branson for Silver Dollar City. They had over 4 million Christmas lights. It was beautiful! They also had many Christmas shows and of course, lots of rides for our son. I think I will just shower this page with lots of pictures. Some pictures didn't turn out so great because it was night time and our camera wasn't cooperating. Go figure! Anyways, we had a blast and my energy level was soaring! My mood was good and I felt like I could conquer the world. Past vacations I sat on the sidelines, felt sluggish, and tired a good amount of the time. I know this time was different because of the weight loss. Not only not dragging all that extra weight around but also my hormones don't feel totally out of control. It's so weird and I know I have a long ways to go but I feel like a new person. We even went down into a cave that was physically challenging. You had to go down steep stairs that equaled a 50 story building. When we reached the bottom my legs were trembling. But I was okay and able to keep going. My hips gave me no trouble and I had the energy to lug around what weight I do still carry. We went through the rest of the cave, going up and down steep passages. Then at the end, we had to climb 10 stories worth of steep stairs. It was hard but I did it! I was a huffin' and a puffin' but in the end, I was "A" okay! We also tromped all over Silver Dollar City which is in the hills. Up and down hills all day long for 3 days. It felt good! It was a lot of fun! My leg muscles were sore. We were going to go for a 4th day but the crowds were so bad that we decided to do some other things like bowling, swimming in the indoor swimming pool, and we played some games at the condo.
We had a great Thanksgiving! I hope y'all did too!
 |
| Down time in the condo. |
We went to the Springfield, MO Discover Center. This was a lot of fun for all of us.
 |
| Bouncy bridge! I tried this, too, and it was very bouncy and fun. |
 |
| Tops table! |
 |
| 234 cans! Wow! |
 |
| Pull yourself close to the poll and it would go super fast. This thing nearly made me sick! Of course, you don't see a picture of me doing it. lol |
 |
| About to go flying! Look at his face. |
 |
| He has his hands on a static machine. You can't see it but the guy's hand is making his hair go up and down. It was funny as you can see us laughing. |
 |
| Then it was my turn. Can you see my hair standing up? It was pulled up in a pony tail. We decided to let my hair down to see what would happen. See the next pictures. |
 |
| Yes, my hair goes down to my butt. These pictures just don't do justice to what that static machine was doing to my hair. It was everywhere. It's hard to see it all. |
 |
| Talk about a bad hair day! |
 |
| I think this was called a pixel board. We had fun with it. |
 |
| This is a drinking fountain...made to make you squirm a little. They did it to play with your mind. Did we drink from it? No way! I just couldn't! |
 |
| A real human brain. |
 |
| Inside the eyeball. |
 |
| This was one of my favorite things. I just love bubbles, especially when they're this huge! |
 |
| Can you believe this? |
 |
| He's being eaten! lol' |
 |
| Then we got to pretend we were doing a news caption. This was fun too. |
 |
| He looks really serious here! Something big must have happened! lol |
 |
| He was 3 stories in the air. It took awhile for him to conquer his fear but he did it! I'm so proud! Look at his face. |
 |
| Now look at his face...he's calm and having fun! |
Silver Dollar City
 |
| Glass blowing |
 |
| Holiday spirit? Ha! Don't ask...lol |
 |
| Just beautiful! This was a huge display ... look at its reflection in the water. |
 |
| Look! Santa Claus! |
 |
| Okay...this was the only ride I rode. I'm not a ride kind of person. I hate the way it makes me feel. This was fun though! |
 |
| This is one of the many rides they rode together. |
 |
| Isn't this just the sweetest thing? My baby! |
 |
| Major huggins! |
 |
| Gettin' some lovins! |
 |
| He's having his hand made into a wax statue. This was really cool. I'll have to take a picture of the final art piece. |
 |
| See my guys on there. You don't see me on there! Are you crazy? lol This ride had 5 loops in it. Acckkkk! |
Silver Dollar City: Marvel Cave
 |
| This was the beginning of our cave tour. See the picture behind her. This was were we would be traveling by foot. |
 |
| In the cave now. |
 |
| Going down steep stairs that equaled a 50 story building. |
Back to the rides:
 |
| Bouncy bridge! |
 |
| They had a live Nativity play. This was after the play was over. |
On our way home, we took some back roads through Arkansas. This is Beaver, AR. This is a really long, one lane wooden bridge. You don't see this every day.
That's it for now. I hope all of you are doing well and I hope I didn't bore you to death with all these pictures.
Looks like a fun trip and CONGRATS on being in onederland!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Sarah and yes, we had a ton of fun!
ReplyDeleteHi Penny,
ReplyDeleteI loved the photos, easy to see you all had a wonderful time away. All going well with my eating, have to eat more protein I have been told. Well it is the first day of summer here in Sydney Australia, would you believe it is the it is colder than it has been in ages only 20 degrees in Sydney today! If only summer was like this all the time we usually fry:)
God bless you, will look forward to reading your next blog.
- Roslyn, Australia.
Hi Roslyn! Thank you and yes, we had an awesome time.
ReplyDeleteProtein...you'll get there. The first couple of months post op are the hardest. How are you feeling?
Wow! 20 degrees Celsius, right? Which I think would be in the high 60's in Fahrenheit, right? I would love to have that right now. We've been in the low 40-50's F here in Texas....and it's just going to get colder. Okay, I have a stupid question...sorry, just never thought about it before...but is Christmas there in the summer time? I can't even wrap my mind around that. lol Sorry, I know that sounds so stupid.
Anyways, so glad to hear from you again. I will be posting again soon and hopefully with some more success. Ha!
God bless you and have a good night! Penny
Hi Penny,
ReplyDeleteYes Christmas in summer here is really hot, we usually spend the day around swimmng pools and having picnics or at the beach, those brave families have a hot cooked lunch but that seems to be a leftover English tradition and the airconditioning seems out of place. That's why Christmas cards with snow on them seem so foreign to us at this time of the year. I love the card I get from my friends in Canada it always makes me feel cooler! Do you live far from Galveston? My Great-grandfather was born there and his parents owned a saloon there in the late 1800's. I will glady send you some of the heat! Only a couple of weeks to go until I knock off work for the Christmas Holidays! Stay happy.Take care, God bless you and keep up the shrinking!
- Roslyn Australia.
Good Morning Roslyn! That is so interesting and so hard to wrap my mind around. I was explaining to my 8 y.o. yesterday about the time difference (that you are a day ahead of us), that summer has just begun there (but it's still December), and the temperatures are totally opposite of us right now. He was like me...having a really hard time imagining it. lol I guess you are the same way, just on the other realm of things. Do you all put up Christmas trees? This is so interesting to me. I'll make sure to take lots of Christmas pictures in a few weeks and I will definitely share with everyone.
ReplyDeleteOur weather in December is always kind of crazy. The last couple of days, we've been in the 50's-60's but you never know, when Christmas hits we may have snow.
Galveston? Yes, we live about 5-6 hours north of there. We actually took a weeks' vacation back in May of this year. We love going down to the beach to play. We usually go there once every year or two. It's an easy drive and is not too expensive. Here's our pictures of Galveston on my homeschool blog: http://marbleschalkanddirtysocks.blogspot.com/2011/08/pictures-what-we-were-up-to-last-year_6041.html
That's really interesting about your great-grandfather. Do you have any family left in Texas?
I love that, "keep up the shrinking!" lol I'll try! You, too! God bless! Penny
Penny...
ReplyDeleteI AM SO PROUD OF YOU!!!!!
Holy Cow!!! This is such amazing news! ONEDERLAND!!!! You have no idea I stood up and did a whoop whoop when I read this, scared my husband half to death LOL.
Seriously, you have worked so hard, this is amazing news! Congratulations!
Your pictures look amazing! You will just keep on losing to! You're going to get to your goal in no time!
I have to say, exercise doesn't have to be being in the gym every day, walking around teh mall for 4 hours will burn calories just as much ( Actually better) than walking on a treadmill. When you go on a vacation and you walk everywhere, your body is like YAY LETS DO THIS!!! lol. <3
I read a book recently called " Why the Frech Aren't Fat, and it's about this exactly, it's because in Paris you walk or ride your bike almost everywhere. <3
have a beautiful Holiday Season!
~Sarah
Sarah!!!! You are cracking me up for real! Bah-Ha-Ha! Thank you so much! I know, onederland...I mean O-N-E-D-E-R-L-A-N-D!!! I never ever thought I'd see one-anything. It feels so stinking wonderful to be here. And what's really cool is that my Wii Mini is shrinking as I strink!!! Gotta' love it!
ReplyDeleteI was just about to go to bed when I saw your comment! You made me smile so big!! Thanks so much for the compliments and the encouragement to start walking. I have been thinking about it, really! Why am I such a lazy bone? Anyways..... Thank you, thank you, thank you! Have an awesome night! Penny
Hi Penny,
ReplyDeletewell Sarah has convinced me to go walking around the mall too, what a great excuse for some shopping!
You are our little ray of motivation, I cant wait to get to Onederland too, keep it up, shame we cant all get together and go walking around the mall together:)
You asked about the christmas trees etc. in Australia, most of us have those "Store bought ones" although there is nothing better than smelling fresh pines in your loungeroom and of course you have to hang all your bibs and bobs off them including lights. The shops are decorated beautifully too. There are compeitions in some suburbs for who has the most beautifully lit house fronts. We have lots of carols by candlelight happening around the place but because of the inevitable mini fires caused by children with candles we usually have "carols by glowstick" I have a few little Christmas trees put up around the place but the cats just love to pull them down and play with the baubles and tinsel (I have 7 cats) but hey they are entitled to enjoy christmas as much as their mum does.
Have a great day, God bless you.
- Roslyn, Australia
Good Morning Roslyn! I know, isn't Sarah motivating and inspiring? And I totally agree with you, it would be so much fun to throw those old walking shoes on and hit the mall together! I have the feeling we'd never stop talking.
ReplyDeleteOkay, well, we have the fake trees, too..and the real ones, too. lol Though, we have pretty much been a fake tree family for all time. Real ones are a lot of trouble and you have to buy a new one each year. When I was growing up, we had a few but not since I've been married.
We just put ours up last night. We also put the lights on...well, most of them. We're going to have to buy at least one more string of lights. We had Christmas music going and I made my husband and son hot cocoa with marshmallows with soft peppermint candies mixed in. Fun!! We still need to decorate with our Christmas balls and other decorations...and I can't leave out, the homemade decorations, mostly from my son over the years. I love that y'all call your decorations bibs, bobs, and baubles. That's so cute! Some use tinsel around here, too. Oh and I know what you mean about the cats. I don't have any now, just one dog but when I was single and had a roommate many, many years ago, we each had a cat and those cats managed to drag our Christmas tree across our apartment by the strands of lights! What a nightmare! hehe I suppose they were celebrating, too.
I can just hear your Australian accent as I'm reading your post. I just love it!
Let's keep on keeping on! Shrink, baby, shrink! God bless you and I hope you have a great day! Penny
Oh, forgot to mention that we may get our first snow today. This is really early for Texas. But I don't think it will stick if we do because it's not below freezing and it's just been too warm this last week. Ahhhhh, winter time! I used to hate it but now that I live back in Texas and winters are a lot shorter, I pretty much enjoy it!
ReplyDelete*SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!* <3 Mall walking is super fun, and Penny, I live in Austin, so if ever you want to meet up we can go mall walking here! <3
ReplyDeleteI recently put up my Christmas tree as well, I promptly took a nap with all the lights in the house off except the tree :P Nothing makes me feel better than having a lit tree in the living room. We are not a huge " presents" family, we do give them, but for us, it's more about being together as a family, even so, I LOVE MY TREE! lol. Reminds me of being a little girl, I would always sleep out in the living room during the Christmas Holiday because family came down and the adults got the bedrooms while the kids got the couches! I have no complaints about that, there was something magical about having a living room filled with kiddos laying around a lit tree!
As for snow WOOOHOOO!!! That's so awesome! We are in the 20's here at the moment. but no precipitation, Ahh well. It's nice to have it actually be cold around the holidays. I remember my first Christmas as a married woman ( 2008) I was wearing shorts and sweating, wishing for the Ohio weather my mom was enjoying!
Penny, I am so glad I could make you smile, you deserve tons of smiles, and this shrinking is amazing!
I can't stop being so proud of you lol.
have a beautiful night!!! <3
Sarah
Hey Sarah! Thanks so much for the invite. If I lived closer, I'd say let's hit the mall. Unfortunately, I live east of Dallas but if I'm ever coming that way, I'll let you know. It would be neat to meet you.
ReplyDeleteI lived in Georgetown when I was a kid. Those were some my best childhood years. Do you know where that is? It's not far from you.
Ahhhhh, sleeping in the living room with the big Christmas tree and all those twinkling lights...oh, and lots of warm cozy blankets piled on top of you. That sounds wonderful! I think we may have to camp out in the living room really soon. My son will absolutely love that.
Snow?!? Well, we didn't get any yesterday. But it looks like it's in the forecast again. I don't know, but my feet seem colder than usual the last couple of days.....huuuummmm...could this mean a white Christmas? I hope so!
Sarah, once again, thank you for your very sweet compliments and encouragement. For once, those smiles you see from me our NOT fake. I really and truly feel so wonderful inside. It feels good to have my self-esteem back. Thanks for noticing. :)
God bless and have a great day! Penny