Back to Work...

Monday was my first day back to work and so far, all is well. No complaints really. I had lots of work waiting for me and I'm still wading through it. Having all that work does take your mind off of all the other things you worry about. I'm a bit tired this morning. I tossed all night, ugh! horrible. I wish I could have slept and made today a half day, but that's not really an option for me. I want to get my hours in and I want to do good this first week back. I was really surprised with all the "glad to have you back" statements. It was the best "welcome back" at work I've ever received. Now, I should get back to work and continue to wade through these piles...

Dinners...

I said to myself... well, if I can't go to work, I should at least put a decent dinner on the table... even if I am "recovering." I get enjoyment from the pleasure it brings my sweet dh. . and he is a darling, so he deserves my best, at least.

I thought I would start taking pictures, just in case I decided to scrapbook about it later .. or even write my recipes down.. ha.. ha.. (I find that funny). I rarely, if ever use a recipe! I just know what flavors he likes, and I combine them in a way I think would taste good.

The first picture is stir fry veggies tossed in angel hair pasta with pan fried cube steak. I cooked the steak at the same time I stir fried the veggies (same pan). The pasta is tomato & basil made with jerusalem artichoke flour. The veggies are green peppers, red peppers, onions, broccoli and zucchini cooked in olive oil seasoned with roasted garlic, celery salt and creole seasonings. The cube steak is seasoned with ground white pepper and creole seasonings. A little soy sauce on the veggies is good. Some times instead of doing the pasta, I cook white rice to serve and sometimes I add different veggies, just depends on what's in the frig.. But dh did say he liked this way the best so far :)

The second picture is stir fry fresh green beans with shrimp. The green beans are cooked in olive oil seasoned with fresh garlic, onions, salt, black pepper and basil. The shrimp were added in just before the green beans were finished.

As you can tell my dh is a fan of stir fry and hey! why not... it is pretty fast way of cooking. I usually don't cook the green beans with any meat, but since we had some shrimp, I thought I would try it. Hal liked it :) .. and I was actually able to eat a few bites and was able to keep it down! Yay!

I'm shrinking...

I was so excited this morning... I just had to share.

I haven't worn my wedding ring in months because it became way to tight to wear and I was afraid if I continued to wear it, the ring would have to be cut off.

But Today! I thought I would try it on and IT FITS! It isn't tight and it slipped right on!

I think this is my very first "wow" moment :)

At home...

Me today.

I don't feel much like getting out, but I'm feeling better. I think I will try getting out tomorrow. I am making the dh some good dinners though.

Sunday night was Halibut baked with creole seasonings, onions & capers; served with mahogany rice and steamed broccoli.
Monday night was brussel sprouts cooked in chicken stock, seasoned with salt and seared chicken/apple sausage links.
Tonight.. Boneless pork chops baked w/paprika on top of onions (the onions carmelize, very yummy) and baked sweet potato (maybe.. I might switch to green salad).


I'm enjoying the cooking. And dh seems to really be enjoying having dinner every night. I guess I will try to keep this up as long as I'm not working. But when I go back to work, he will probably have to do for himself more ... Who knows.. :)


I took the pictures of the flowers at San Diego Zoo.

Out of surgery...

I don't really remember much from the actual surgery day. I guess that is normal. According to the doctor the surgery went well, but according to me... I think I got ran over by a Mac Truck and then the drug me back to recovery! Tonight is our last night here in San Diego and besides the surgery part, we've really enjoyed our stay. I had the best nurses ever! got to see the beaches, walk the beach, shop and go to the zoo. Very good. But I was slowed down by the pain here and there and I did over do it once or twice.

I have lost 20lbs since surgery! I'm like ... where did it all go? My granny was so cute.. she said, "Sug, is that safe! You'd better take care of yourself." I love her for that :)

Hal says he can see that I've lost it, but seriously, I don't really see it. I wonder if I ever will. I believe that I'm a pretty realistic person, so hopefully, I will regain my normal sense of perspective. 

I'm on to soft foods now, refried beans, yogurt, cottage cheese, humus, etc... and I like it. Funny thing is, I really don't have an appetite yet.  

Thanks for all the well wishes. I appreciate them. Soon, I'll be back with pictures, scrapbooking, knitting, sewing, etc... I really want my old life back. Here lately all I've thought about was the surgery, meeting my pre-op goals, etc... 

I'm looking forward to going Home! I don't think there is any prettier place than Alaska in fall with the yellows, lime green, reds, purples.. it is simply magestic! 

Pre-op...

Well let's back up a little.. I had a huge scare on Monday at at the airport. Hal's mom dropped us off at departures and we went in and I gave him his boarding pass and he immediately took out his Drivers License and I thought.. good idea, I should get mine out.. and I started to look for it.. then I couldn't find it.. then I started to freak out.. I didn't know if they would let me on the flight, if I didn't have my license.. I started crying and I was in full panic mode. So Hal, called his dad and asked him to go through my truck (I didn't know where else it could have been!) and he couldn't find it anywhere.. So I decided to go up and speak with Customer Service (it was getting close to flight time and I was getting even more excited) and I explained to her that I couldn't find my license anywhere and I didn't have any other State or Government issued ID with my picture on it.... Thankfully I had my SSN card, voter's registration, Sam's Club & Costco cards with pictures on them along with a host of other credit cards and stuff with my name all over it.... and she said since we were first class and MVP it wouldn't be too big of an issue... I definitely believe luck was on my side! Thank God Alaska Airlines is so understanding.. 

However... our flight leaving Anchorage was an hour late getting into Anchorage, which made us miss our connecting flight in Seattle which they could not get us in first class on that flight... but we did get Exit Row and we will be credited for the downgrade in class... So, we were late getting into San Diego last night... 

Thankfully, today was much better.. the only thing is, we should have allowed ourselves more time to get to the clinic. Lesson learned. But my being a couple minutes late really didn't matter much... I went from appointment to appointment without to much stress and with little to no waiting. I brought my sock knitting along with me. I've learned that if I'm tired of waiting, just bring out my knitting and I usually get helped right away... LOL! 

Pre-Op was a success. Everything looked great, Chest X-ray, vaginal ultrasound, ultrasound to look at my liver, EKG, pulse, heart, lungs, I basically a very (abnormal) healthy obese woman. I'm lucky to be so healthy I know. And I feel that by having this surgery I'm actually using preventative measures to insure that I don't develop genetically inherited disease caused by obesity. 

Which leads us to tomorrow... I have to be at the hospital at 5:15am and my surgery is at 7:17am Pacific time. I've drunk the Magnesium Citrate and now have the icky shits so, I must discontinue this entry ............   

PS! THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR WELL WISHES!!!! I APPRECIATE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM :)

Getting ready...

So the bags are packed and everything is almost ready to go, except the toothbrush, toothpaste, etc.. always have to wait 'til the last minute to pack those items.

It is less than 12 hours before our flight leaves. I hope I can get some sleep, but I seriously doubt it. I'm taking the laptop, so hopefully I can update as I go along... who knows.. I'm a bit nervous and anxious.. Would love for this to be over already.

The packing and getting ready drives me nuts as it is.. I would love to say something brilliant at this moment.. but I've got nada.. Cya soon! :)