Untitled

Exhaled in slow motion Dreams float away, climbing high Yearning to be free

~ D.L.Chilson 05/27/2020

This old wooden manure spreader has been on our farm since before it was ours. There was recently a bush growing through it but it has been recently reclaimed.

Random bird house found on the farm.

I have a “thing” for the random bird houses we have stuck in the trees around our farm. I take pictures of them often throughout the year and from year to year. They are never the same picture, even if it’s the same bird house and the same tree.

I don’t really talk about my religious beliefs much, but since this is my IMHO blog, it’s all fair game here. I just haven’t. For one, I find that religion is one of topics that can get people very ‘heated.’ Especially here in the United States, where everything (and I do mean everything) is political in some way or another For another thing… as a Christian here in the United States, I feel…

The view from our driveway at 5 a.m.

Every morning, I get up at 4:45 in the morning, get dressed, make a pot of coffee, and then head out to the barn and chicken coop to feed the chickens. It’s still dark out then, which irks the roosters, but it’s the only time I can do it before I have to get ready for work. The views are amazing, though!

New buds on the lilac tree.

Trying out the camera on my new phone. I think it took some good pictures on our walk about.

White Spirit, by Amy Ravenel

Yesterday, I sat down with my brand-new, fresh out of the Amazon box copy of White Spirit by Amy Ravenel.

White Spirit, the first of book of Ms. Ravenel’s Restless Spirits series, begins with Tristan Johnson, a psychic with erratic and uncontrolled abilities who can see the past (often to tragic results), moving into a new apartment. Through backstory, we learn that one such event led to…

Memes like this are everywhere on my FB feed right now, comparing the separation of immigrant children from their parents at our borders to families being separated due to military service.

I’m not really going to talk about what’s happening at the border. I’m not. It’s a horrible, inhumane thing and there has got to be a better way.

No. What I want to talk is this meme and the others like it…

Life is a lot like these roses. It starts out small, in a tightly wrapped bud, then slowly opens up into a beautiful blossoming treasure.

My husband’s strawberry patch has started producing berries for the year. They are not the big, big ones you buy in stores but still decent sized.

And as you can see, there are more beginning to ripen.

I have mixed feelings about the phrase “our thoughts and prayers are with you.” On one hand, it is the appropriate response when someone you know is going through a tough time. A disease, the death of a loved one, loss of a job, etc. Sometimes, just knowing that someone else sympathizes and is praying for you helps lift spirits and makes you feel the burden a little less. Sometimes, it’s the only…

If you’re following this blog, you might have noticed a lot if posts about my weight loss surgery and the subsequent weight loss. So you’re reading this and looking at the title of the post and thinking… That’s a big change. You’d be right, too, but that’s not the event which promoted this post. You see, for the last 17 years, I have been, for various reasons, a stay-at-home mom. With my DH being…

So many changes, Right, Left, up, down, all at once. Am I ready yet?

~ by D.L. Chilson 28December2017

It feels like both a long time and hardly no time at all.   Paradox much?  But it’s true.  I’ve been busy with life, so the days have gone by very fast.   At the same time,June was so long ago that it’s coming back around again.  I’m at the half way mark, so to speak.

I’ve learned so much and yet still have so much to learn.

We’ll start with today’s mug shots and stats.

Selfie 🙂

Front View

Today’s Weight

Current Weight:  162.6 lbs.

Surgery Weight: 238.8 lbs

Highest Weight: 248-55ish

Goal Weight:  140-150

This makes for a grand total of 76.2 lost.

As I predicted, I have started to see some slow down in the losing department.  I’m still losing, just not as much. Also, I have been going through periods of about 2 weeks where I stay at the same weight, give or take a decimal point.  And then one day, I’ll start losing again, for about a week.  Then the cycle repeats.

I did have my follow-up with the surgeon and nutritionist last week and was told that this normal because I’m nearing a healthy weight and don’t have as much excess to lose.

However, I have suspected that I was losing inches instead, and and had my suspicions confirmed this past Saturday.

  In the above pictures, I am trying on size 14 jeans (the ones on the bottom row are Skinny Jeans, too) from Walmart, and weighing a size Large shirt that was given to me a couple months ago by my aunt.

Two weeks ago, I could not wear that shirt.  It’s a little form fitting now, but not tight-tight.

The 14-jeans are also form-fitting.

Just based off how I’ve been going recently, they should be comfortable to wear by the end of January.

Which is good because the 18s and 16s I have been wearing are getting a little too loose.

Things to make note of this month…

My feet have arches now.   I don’t know when that happened, but it did.  I’ve had to start wearing arch supports because otherwise, I get pain in my feet.  Especially if i exercise with a lot of walking.

My bowel movements have suddenly become regular.  I can’t honestly remember the last time I was regular.   What I’m used to is going a week to a week and a half without a bowel movement, and then having one day (sometimes two) where all I do is poop.   Like my body was storing it up and then getting ride of it once I couldn’t possibly hold any more.  This accompanied with bloating, abdominal cramps, and painful movements.  Now?  On movement a day, at least five days out of the week.  Regular.   It’s a weird feeling.

(And yes, readers, weight loss patients talk about poop.  We think about poop.  A lot. )

On the Hair Loss front, I haven’t lost as much (yet) as I thought I would.  I’ve been taking all my vitamins, biotin twice a day, and making sure I get more than the minimum of my required protein.  But I do think it looks thinner than it used to be.

Random pics now…

I actually like this selfie of me. I took it Christmas Eve.

A comparison. What a different a year makes.

I’ll start off with the stats…

Current Weight: 171.4  lbs.

Surgery Weight 238.8 lbs.

Goal (mini-goal): 150 lbs.

I’m calling this a “mini-goal” because I went into this saying that I wanted to be between 140-150 because that’s where I remember being comfortable in my own skin.   As of right now, that goal is about 21 lbs away from becoming a reality.

Front View

Side View

A selfie from last week, because today my face wants to look stupid.

I meet with my doctor and heart doctor next month for follow ups.   The doctor will run blood tests to see how I’m doing on my vitamins, go over my diet and we’ll probably discuss caloric intake, etc.

The heart doctor… well, I’ll be honest, I’m not really sure why I’m seeing him again.   I did not have high blood pressure before my surgery.  It was borderline a few times but never high enough where I needed medication.   Ever.  I only saw this doctor after I started the pre-surgery hoop-jumping because I needed an EKG and stress test before getting approved.  So… he’s not one of my regular doctors.  At all. And at the post-surgery follow up I had with him, there was nothing for him to find.  My numbers were all normal.  So again, I’m not sure what’s the need for this one.   If my numbers are still good, I am probably going to tell him I won’t be coming back unless my regular doctor refers me for an actual legit reason.

Does that sound reasonable?

Now, how about a non-scale victory?  I walked a 5K race on Veteran’s Day.

Before the race…

…. and afterwards, with my mom and son. Mom walked it, too. My son ran.

  The race was a walk/run organized by my daughter and her friend for their senior project at school.  It was a lot of fun!

At five months out, I’ve been getting a lot of compliments from family and friends.   A lot of them ask me if I have any regrets about having the surgery.  I can honestly say that I don’t have any.  I am healthier than I have been in a long time, doing things that I enjoy doing, and I’m not a slave to my weight.   That is probably the best part about it.