I Did It!!!

Wednesday morning I went into Weight Watchers and weighed in. I had this feeling in my heart that this was going to be the big day, and it was! I reached my goal weight and actually lost a bonus pound! I jumped up and down, I cried and I cheered and I felt like I had won American Idol!!!

A year ago I started this program. I planned it and on New Years Eve announced to Hubby I was starting to go to class the first meeting after the holiday. I started it, and I have only missed one meeting in the entire year and that was when we were on the cruise.

Officially I have lost 49 pounds on Weight Watchers. That’s a whole little person!

Nov 17 08 one year later

So what am I doing to celebrate? Spending some quality time with my sister and my grandnephews! Also just plain enjoying the fact that I can go shopping and fit into clothes easily. What a great thing.

Short Post

Hi Everyone. Usually I strive to write interesting things about me or my dogs, or just life in general. Tonight, it is already 11 PM and I am only now getting my computer up and running after it crashed shortly after dinner tonight!

I’m not sure what happened. After dinner tonight my friend, Barbie called, and after we got done talking I came back to my computer and it had crashed. The program that was totally gone was my email program! Just. Not. There!

I eventually found the files but was unsuccessful just simply moving them into place. So I had to download them, clean the program off the computer and then reinstall it and put back all my folders.

Even now, I am shaking my head.

Once that was done I typed our Christmas letter for Hubby, and now I am writing my entry quickly, before I crash in bed. I sure am tired.

So forgive me for being boring and not writing anything more tonight. One good crash deserves another!

Good night!

Half A Pound & Ring Tones

I got ready for Weight Watcher on Wednesday morning thinking that I had probably gained some weight during the Thanksgiving week. I mean, come one, I did eat apple pie and chestnut dressing. However, I did make both items low fat and low sugar.

I went out to get into the Jeep and for the first time in 10 years actually had to scrape my windows of ice. I guess it is time to put the Cadillac to bed for the winter and put the Jeep in the garage.

When I scraped the outside window I noticed that inside there was frost too! So I had to scrape ice off the inside of the window. I should have turned off the defroster first because the ice went blowing into the car like a wild snow storm! LOL!!!

I drove to my meeting carrying my coffee and a little paper bag with my yogurt and raisin bread to eat after I weighed in.

Now you all with think I am nuts, but I am thisclose to my goal so I am still dressing in shorts and a tank top to weigh in. If I could wear my bathing suit and not feel really weird about it I would! Anything to keep the scale on my side.

I weighed in and……I lost a half a pound!!!

I was so pleased because I had a nice Thanksgiving, I did eat everything I served and my idea to measure out all my food in advance worked.

I called my cousin Janet to tell her the news and also to ask her about my phone (she has the same one) and she sent me the link for a great place to get ring tones for the phone! Yay!

It is a good place and I spent too much time on it today downloading ring tones. Hubby’s ring tone is now “The Stripper”! LOL!!!

All in all, a very good day!!!

Puppy Dog Eyes & Cell Phones

You may be wondering what these two things have to do with each other. Today my puppy dog’s eyes actually enabled me to get a new cell phone. Here’s how it went!!!

Hubby and I drove down to Portsmouth, New Hampshire today to get both Arnie and Anneliese’s eyes examined and certified. Dr. C. is the son of a former co-worker of Hubby’s, back when they were both pilots in Hong Kong. Hubby can clearly recall this Veterinarian as a very small baby, and now he is a Certified Canine Ophthalmologist.

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The two dogs are both fabulous, as are their corneas and their retinas! Now both Arnie and Anneliese can be bred, just not to each other.

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After we finished up with that we hit the stores. I got a new cell phone! Yay!!! It’s the super cool full keyboard  LG enV²® in Maroon.

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I am a happy girl! Now once we got that we went grocery shopping and I was walking through the produce section of the store and I heard this nice cool whistling music and I thought, oh that’s nice and then I wondered where the music was coming from because they were playing Christmas Carols on the store speakers. Then it dawned on me! It was my new cell phone.

Duh!!!

Tonight I plan to learn a little more about my new phone so I can talk to people without cutting them off (sorry Mel!) and actually answer my phone when it rings (sorry Hubby) and send a text message with correct punctuation (sorry Em!).

Still today was good. Healthy eyes and a new phone! Yay!!!

Skiing

It was a cold and damp day as I made my way to Waterville Valley ski resort. In the past, I have always thought of Waterville as my home mountain. I know the area, I know the people who work there and I know the lodge. It’s always been a home away from home.

Today marked the return of the Dackel to the slopes, after a two year absence. I must tell you that my stomach hurt like it did when I was in 8th grade and was anticipating a math test!

We woke up at 6:30 and quickly dressed and headed out. I’d made a weight watcher breakfast sandwich and some coffee to go and off we went.

We arrived just in time to hear the start bell ring, announcing the beginning of another ski day. Hubby and I put on our gear, and then went out, got in line and off we went.

Up, up, up to the very top of the mountain. It was beautiful up there and Hubby had me stop and pose for a picture.

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He took two and then something happened. Yes, folks. I broke the camera! I knew it was going to happen sometime, as I am always making this joke about it, and today….the old camera just died. Later, I was able to get the pictures off of it, but since it is so old and a real pain anyway, I do not think I will even worry about getting it fixed.

We skied down the first time and I was tight, and tentative and really afraid. On the way up Hubby and I had been talking and I realized that Hubby is the “kiss of death” for his skiing companions. First me with my knee, then George with his shoulder, and Carole with her fractured pelvis and now Dino with his broken arm! Yes, I thought twice about the man who I was sitting next to me on the ski lift!

I did make it down, but comfort was not to be found. I felt frustrated and as gawky as I did the first day I wore braces as a kid.

The second run I saw a woman who was an adaptive skier. She was in a ski chair. She lifted herself onto the ski lift, and then just let go and had fun all the way down. I really admired her.

My second run I loosened up a bit, but Hubby recognized the fear and he asked if I wanted to stop for a little sugar free hot cocoa. Oh yeah, he is the man of my dreams!

We came back after our break and skied two more runs. At this point I swear that there were several hundred elementary school kids skiing the slopes going 100 miles an hour and scaring the daylights out of this old woman! So I told Hubby I was done for the day. I told him to go ahead and keep skiing, but I think he recognized exhaustion and knew I would need direction to our table at the inn and then eventually the car.

We came home in time for lunch and then a nice, long, hot, soak in the bathtub. I’d still be there, but we threatened to run out of hot water.

I skied. I stayed upright. I survived!

OK, Here I Go!!!

It’s been almost two years since my skiing accident.

Today I decided to breakout the ski boots, ski parka, skis and helmet and get myself ready to get back on the mountain.

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So I put on my boots today and wore them all around the house to help my legs, once again, adjust to them.  It was strange to have them on. You know I’ve lost a lot of weight since the last time I skied, so I am thinking (hoping) I will have a much easier time moving around.

I’m pretty nervous about all of this. I think part of me would like to stay in bed and hide and never go out again, but then I think of how beautiful it is and how much I enjoy the scenery and I think in the long run I would really miss it.

So I am putting on my big girl ski gear and heading for Waterville Valley. Keep your fingers crossed!!!

Answers To Questions

Forgive me Bloggers, for I have sinned. I gained one pound at Weight Watchers this week! I knew I had to have gained something. After all the goodies I ate on the trip. I mean how could I turn down freshly baked dinner rolls with sunflower seeds? Or an appetizer of shredded crab, shrimp and scallops with a cream sauce? Or perhaps the baby lamb chops, lobster tails, prime rib, or eggplant Parmesan?

I probably would have done better if I had pushed away the chocolate cake, tiramisu, baked Alaska with extra fudge sauce, and the rum raisin ice cream made with dark, delicious, real rum!

I did try to avoid this gain by walking everywhere and taking the stairs when I could. In fact, poor Hubby was breathless at times as I was zipping up and down the stairs.

With 15 flights of stairs to walk, you’d have thought I would have at least broken even in the weight department, but no such luck!

Now, yesterday a few of you asked me questions and so I decided that I would end today’s post with answers to these questions.

  1. Is there a particular reason you stayed home to do chores whilst your hubby got to go skiing? Seems a tad sexist to me!! …..Not really, it’s early in the ski season and I am not the die hard skier that Hubby is. He really loves the rough early skiing, and I simply don’t. Trust me, I was much happier at home doing chores!

  2. Musical dogs, huh? How long does “in-heat” last? …..A typical heat will last three weeks. It just seems like forever!!!
  3. Did you give up skiing? I remember your accident… How did the WW’s meeting go?? …….No, I haven’t given up, although I admit to being a little nervous. I haven’t skied since the accident . I plan to ski this this year….. As you can see from the entry above, WW was not as great as I’d hoped! ;~)
  4. oh man, you’ve sure got your hands full with those dogs! ……I sure do!!!
  5. Of course the easy answer to the cooking problem is just to stay on a cruise permanently! ……Now there’s the answer to it all! I like how you think, Loth!!!

I’m 50!

Since I am in the middle of the Atlantic enjoying the sunshine, I thought I would set this up to post before I left. It’s a montage of pictures of me, my life and my loves over the years. Some of the things that make me…..me.

All the bad hair styles, wild wardrobe, and no make up make me cringe at times, but then I see the love in the eyes of those I have been photographed with and I really feel like one of the luckiest people on the face of the earth.

You’ll see my sister, Mel, Hubby, Mandy, Katie and my cousin Janet. There are a few pictures in there of Janet and me sitting side by side at Thanksgiving dinner. I have to comment that as long as I can remember Janet and I sat next to each other at these feasts.

I hope you all enjoy this look back over my last 50 years!