What the hell?

How do you loose 100 pounds ... have great cholesterol levels ... and then have a heart attack? 

What the hell!

Not what I expected.  

Hubby is going to be fine ... but I guess we are going to have to do some re-evaluating of everything we have been doing. 

Never too Old

I had the best day! 

My Daughter  wanted to have her garage insulated and sheet rocked,  so she can install some cabinets that we found being pulled out of a commercial unit that was being remodeled ... Score!!!  We got them for nothing!  Our hubbys said they would deal with it when football season was over with ... well  we decided that we didn't need to wait for super bowl before it got done.   How hard could it be?   We watch the DIY Network. 

If I wanted a home improvement project done ... like say shelves added to a closet???? I would spend 18 months badgering my husband into agreeing to do it for me.  Seriously it took him 2 hours to do it from start to finish ... but took me 18 months whining!  I seriously think that must be part of the "honey-do" process!
The plan was to get one wall completed before the guys got home... so we sent the grandson's to the "Other" Granny and started our day with a green coffee smoothie and a couple of pieces of bacon. 

Any way the insulation was pretty easy to put up. Well fairly easy ... just make sure you are covered up pretty good ... and a quick note ... read the package that the insulation comes in ... didn't know until we were on the last piece that some of the insulation is per-perferated if you have to cut them down ... that would have saved time!

Lunch was a couple of oranges that the "other" granny sent home.  Planned on tuna salads but never got around to it ...

So we got the first sheet up ... not as easy as I thought it would be ... you should have seen me cutting around the plugs ... what a joke!!!!  Honey has a new item on his to do list ... Patch miss-cut!

 ... well my dad who turned 93 last July  ... hung sheet rock for a living ... in the 50's when he first came to California.   He has some of the best stories!  Some funny ... some scary ... some you just won't believe ... anyway who better to call to ask how many screws really need to be put in ... and how do you cut around the pipe that sticks out of the wall. 



Dad bless his heart got in his truck and rushed over ... (left my mom on the porch locking the front door - he forgot to wait for her)

Dad to the rescue!!!!  He showed us how to measure and pre-cut the sheet rock before you put in on the wall!  LOL ... He explained why you stagger your seams and where to place the screws.  We got that wall done!  We even got to hear some more stories of when he worked some of the high rises being built in San Fransisco and Oakland. 

3 Generations!

It was a good day!  And thanks to my fellow blogger  Alati at The Daily Journey to a Better Me I remembered to get pictures of me and Dad! 

You know before I changed my way of eating ... there was no way I would have been able to even participate in this project ... I would have been taking the pictures ...and sitting on the side lines. Now I get to be a part of the pictures ... What a sense of accomplishment!

Not every victory is on the scale!  Sometimes its in the ability to actually get up and do something that you never thought you could do!

It really was a good day!

 

 Oh ... and this morning when I weighed ...212.8 lbs! 

A life with out pictures and my New Year's Resolution

I have spent a lifetime avoiding being in the picture ... Anytime the camera's come out I'd go into hiding.  There are very few pictures of me at Christmas, there are hardly any pictures of me at any of the family functions ... none with my daughters.  Really I was part of their lives ... honest I was there!

In addition to not showing up in the family photos, I avoided being out and seen.  You know I have never been to any of the Class Reunions.  This year will be our 30th.  Yikes. 

I stay home ... I always decline when invited to the movies,  concerts or sporting events. 

Professionally I have held myself back because I would not go to seminars, events, conventions.  And when I could not get out of an event I sat in the back and hid.  God don't ask me to mingle!

I hated flying!!!  Not because of flying but fitting in the seat.  Biggest fear is being mid-travel and being told I need to buy another seat.  I missed out on a lot of family reunions and family events ... would always make up an excuse and would send my daughters and hubby ...  you know I just couldn't get out of work for that long someone has to hold down the fort! HA ... LIES!  I missed more than I can ever tell you ... people who are no longer here ... that I will never get the chance to visit with or love.

I married the most gregarious, friendliest man on earth ... he can strike up a conversation with anyone anywhere ... the grocery store, the hardware store, doctor's office ... in line for the potty ...anywhere! Stand still for a moment and he will talk to you and tell you a joke.  And it killed me ... I hated for him to draw attention to us.  I would hide behind him and act like I wasn't with him, then when we would get home I would mourn that I didn't take the opportunity to join in. 

I have not made a real new friend in 25 years.  You can't make friends if you are hiding... they aren't going to come knock on your door and say "I wanna come in and get to know you" well a salesman would but ... I don't have enough money to buy a friend that way.

My weight has interfered in almost every aspect of my life.  The worse part it has affected everyone around me too!

So my New Years Resolution this year is to get front and Center in Every Picture no matter what my hair looks like or what I'm wearing!And to start being a part of my family's memories and to stop hiding in the background.

Hi My Name is Retha ... what's yours?

Its Progress

Today marks the end of one year.

January 10, 2014 - 278.8 lbs

January 9, 2014 - 213.8 lbs

No Grains ... No added Sugar

I'm not done!  

Black Eyed Peas & My feelings are almost hurt

First ... Happy New Years!

We all have family traditions, we may not know why we do them every year ... but we know something drastic will change forever if we give them up.  My family has always celebrated the New Year by eating Black Eyed Peas & Corn Bread.  My husband hated them!  For years and years, he would snarl up his nose and walk away ... but hey I have eaten black eyed peas every year since I could eat solid food. Its for good luck.  Imagine what would happen if I skipped a year! 

About 20 years ago, I got imaginative and made them into a soup ... BAM ... Success!  Hubby loved it!... Neighbors loved it! My girls loved it!  Took me hours of chopping, simmering and tasting... but I created a recipe that was a favorite.  For the next 7-8 years that we lived in that house ... our neighbors  would show up with their empty Tupperware bowls for MY SOUP!  My mother stopped making her peas because dad wanted mine ... even my brother would drive over the hill to come for my Black Eyed Pea soup.

Now I can't tell you in words how proud I have been all these years that my friends and family really and truly loved my soup.  I feed people!  That is what I have always done ... a true food pusher! When we had parties ... I made enough food for 3-4 gatherings ... NO ONE LEFT HUNGRY!

This year things are a bit different ...  I have changed my way of eating ... I eat clean real foods ... I don't use processed box foods or added sugar.   I'm mindful of everything I eat.  I made the decision that I would make my Black Eyed Peas one last time! But I would be mindful of the forbidden ingredients(Sugar) and leave them out.

Well I thought they turned out really good! Hubby loved them ... Daughter said they actually were better than ever.  However ...

I had my oldest daughter drop off the bowl for my parents on her way home ... and this morning I called to see if they wanted more ... hmm ... dad said ... "hun, don't let cissy make it next year ... she doesn't do it like you do, we told your brother not to bother coming"

So I'm sitting here wondering how I feel ... are my feelings hurt or is this just part of the new me?