Monday, October 31, 2011

A Big Shout Out To Banded Cupcake !!

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Hey Ya'll,

I just checked my Blog and found that I had another new Follower!  She goes by Banded Cupcake, and her Blog site is.....TahDah....: Banded CupcakeBanded Cupcake is so new that her Surgery is actually on Wednesday.  THIS Wednesday (11/2/11), so please follow the link provided above and give Banded Cupcake the love and support she needs right now!!  So Banded Cupcake, "Welcome to my Nightmare!", we will all be waiting for you to Blog post Surgery, letting us know that all is well, and you are doing ok.

Aloha My New Friend :)

Another Shout Out! This Time To Lolli!! :)

 I'm sorry Lolli, but this is the only photo that I could find on your site.  I didn't even see an icon, or I would have used it!  If you prefer that this photo not be on here, let me know, and I will delete it immediately!


Hey Ya'll,

I can't believe my great fortune!  I just checked in, and found that I have another new Follower!  Her name is Lolli, and Lolli was just Banded on Thursday, Oct 27th!  So Lolli really is a new Bandster!!  If you haven't found Lolli's Blog yet, please follow this link: Bandipes (Like Recipes, But For The Band!), and give Lolli all the love and support she can use in this very early stage of her Journey!!

So Lolli...."Welcome to my Nightmare!".

Aloha My New Friend :)

A Big Shout Out To Brenda !!

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Hey Ya'll,

Well I just checked into my Blog, and found that I have another new Follower!  Her name is Brenda, and her Blogs name is: Bandster Momma: One Momma's Journey From Fat To Fit!Brenda was Banded on April 5th, 2011 and has already lost 114 lbs and is only 29 lbs from goal!!!  Truly fantastic Brenda!!  I totally envy your dedication and will power to stay strictly with your diet!  If only I could.....

So if you haven't found Brenda's Blog yet, please follow the link and check it out and give her the support to meet her goal in the shortest period of time!  So Brenda, "Welcome to my Nightmare"....

Aloha My New Friend  :)

Sunday, October 30, 2011

A Big Welcome To...Lucy!!

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Hey Ya'll,

First off...I want to apologize to my newest Follower!  I just now realized that I had a new Follower....When I open up my Blog, I always look at the number of my Follower's to see if it had changed.  This works....most of the time.  Unfortunately, she started to Follow me at the same time that I LOST a Follower, so the number stayed the same!!  I finally looked at the icons, and realized that I had a new icon and didn't recognize the photo or name....

Soooo, after all this, I would like to introduce my newest Follower!  Her name is Lucy, and her Blog name is: Lucky Lucy's Lap BandLucy was Banded on Sept 8th, 2011 and has lost 16 lbs already!!  So if you haven't found Lucy's Blog yet, please follow my link to her Blog, and give Lucy the love and support we all need in this Journey!!

So....Lucy, "Welcome to my Nightmare"! 

Aloha My New Friend :)

Sorry For The Confusion!!

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Hey Ya'll,

I don't know if you noticed, but I changed my Blog Layout a couple of days ago, and until my hubby Walt, told me today, I didn't realize that My Blogging Friends didn't follow me too! 

So I am in the process of inputting them back in, but since I Follow sooo many great Blogs, it will take me a couple of days to get ya'll back in.  So far, I am up through the D's.  But since our Internet comes and goes, depending on time of day, etc.  I only have a window of time each day that I can do a lot of stuff on the Blog until the Internet slows down to a trickle....

So if you don't see your blog listed (on the left hand side of the Blog under all of the Button's that I have grabbed), just check back in a day or so, and I should have them all in by then!!

Aloha My Friends  :)

I'm On The Losing Track Again!! :)


Here are the Maui Jim Sunglasses that I choose!  Walt let me buy them this week, so I wasted no time in getting them!  It was a hard choice between the Black frame with Gray tint, or the Tortoise frame with Bronze tint.  But since I have problems with the sun and glare, I went with the Black/Gray as they are darker.  So now I am ready for Hawaii....well...almost!!

Hey Ya'll,

How do you like my new Fall Blog Look???  I was going to choose a great one that was darker, but I felt that it looked too much like Halloween, and that it would be outdated after tomorrow, and before I change to a Winter look.  So I choose this one since it definitely looks like Fall!!! LOL

In my last post, I finally faced the music and came clean with my weight gain....at that time, I was back up to 189.0 lbs.  This morning I am down to....184.2, giving me a weight loss of 4.8 lbs so far!  Lets hope that I can keep it up!

I had Lunch with Carol, one of my Sister In Laws on Friday, and then we went to Joann's to get the materials for me to make her one of the Tote's that I have been making.  We changed it up a bit this time though.  Instead of me making the handles out of the yarn, as the pattern calls for, she is choosing to have leather straps attached.  So this will be interesting to see how it turns out!!  I will keep you posted on it.  But before I can start her Tote, I need to make my Mother In Laws Afghan, that we are giving to her for Christmas.  We won't be seeing her at Christmas time this year, as she will be in Hawaii, so I am trying to get it to her in time for Thanksgiving! 

I am finishing up the Chef Bear today that I am making for Kelly, one of my BFF's (I have already finished the Tote Bag) so that I can get it in the Mail tomorrow since her Birthday is the 10th.  Now I just have to figure out how I am going to get the box with her gifts, and the even bigger box with all the Books that I am sending her, On The BIKE!!  I think that I can fit the smaller box in the Trunk, but I will definitely have to strap the bigger box onto the back seat somehow!!  Then drive carefully....straight to the Post Office!!  LOL 

By the way, if anyone is unaware of this....I found out (It's on the USPS website (buried of course)) that if you are mailing Books, CD's, DVD's, etc, so long as you are sending only this type of material, you can Mail them via Media Mail for a TON LESS MONEY!!  But you cannot have anything personal in it, such as a note, photos, or letter.  It must be only the Media items!!  The last huge box that I sent to Kelly with Books, weighted about 40 lbs and only cost me about $17.50 vs $191 sending regular mail with large box!!  Even sending it in 3 of the Large, Priority Flat Rate Boxes would have cost me over $45 after tax and extras that is attached....I am so glad that I figured this out!! LOL

The Company that Walt is now working for, is holding a Bowling night to Benefit some local Charity a week from Monday, so he is going to attend it!  I might have attended it too, but it is in Carson City, and I would have had to ride the Bike there and back, and it is getting cold here!  And I do not have Winter Riding Gear to keep me warm!  Plus, because of my Spinal problems, I am not supposed to do anything like Bowling....but if I was living close, I would have at least attended for support!!  Oh well, Walt should have a good time with his co-workers.  It will give him more time to bond with them.  It is always hard to start a new job.

Walt also told me that he would buy me a new Camera to take to Hawaii (we bought his new Professional grade Camera this week).  I don't do well with Camera's that are too fancy, and with too many choices....I like a point and shoot!!  So I will just get me a newer Camera similar to the one I have now, with better abilities.  My old Camera was given to me 6 yrs ago this Holiday Season!!  I can't believe that it has already been 6 yrs.  Oh well, I better go for now, got lots to do, and lots of research to do for my new Camera as well.  We leave for Hawaii in 1 month and 2 days!!  Till next time.....

Aloha My Friends  :)

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

I'm So Horrified And Ashamed!!
















No matter how hard I try, I can't get the Orange or Yellow colors to come out right in the photo!  But you get the idea right?  This is the Afghan that I gave my Mom last weekend.  This photo shows half of the Afghan so that you can see the pattern.  Of course she loved it, since it came from me!  And she did get the idea that I took from the colors of the Bird Of Paradise Flower.  Which was my Grandmother's favorite Flower.

Hey Ya'll,

Well, it has been 3 weeks since my last post, and almost that long since I have been able to read others posts as well.  And as bad as that is, it isn't what I am Horrified and Ashamed about!!  What I am Horrified and Ashamed of, is that I have been avoiding the scale now for quite some time (I know, slap my hand!!)....I knew that I had gained weight.  In fact, I knew by the way my pants fit that I wore over this past weekend, that I had gained at least 15 lbs.

Well, I stepped on the scale this morning, and....to my utter horror (just in time for Halloween!), I weighed 189.0!  Which means that I have gained 19.4 lbs in 6 months (since April 30th)!!!  So if you look at my weight stats above, I have changed my weight tape to my now current weight, to keep myself accountable!  This is one of the hardest things that I have had to do since my Weight Loss Surgery....to admit to EVERYONE that I have gained back so much weight, and post it in my Ticker Tape as well....But I knew that I needed to do this, to try to keep myself accountable to both you and myself.  :( 

I am going to try my best to stop my GRAZING, which I have been doing all day long for months now!!  I no longer have any sweets in the home now, as I know that if they are here, I can't stop myself from eating them, until they are completely gone!  I am not one of the lucky ones, that has the will power to Eat Just One....I have to Eat Them All!!  So I am going to do my best to not buy anything for the home, that I can graze on.  Keep your fingers crossed that this time I can get myself back on track and stay on track!!

Especially since we are leaving in 1 month and 6 days (no, of course I am not counting!!  LOL) for Hawaii!!  I had high hopes after losing down to within 30 lbs of my goal 6 months ago, that I would be down to my goal by then.  But now all I can hope for, is to lose down to about 175-180 lbs.  If I can get below 175 I will be thrilled.  I will keep my blog updated as the weight comes off (notice that I said that it will come off???).  I am doing my best to be positive right now.  I will try to update my weight change at least once a week, assuming that it changes each week.

So, in 5 weeks and 1 day, we will be driving to California, which is where we will be catching our flight to Hawaii the next day.  I can't wait!  I have just one purchase that I still need to make for the trip.  Walt promised me that he would buy me a new pair of Maui Jim Sunglasses for the trip (I love Maui Jim Sunglasses).  We decided that my Distance vision wasn't bad enough for me to have to wear RX Sunglasses now (Reading is another story!!  LOL  I DO need glasses to read), so a pair of good Sunglasses (non RX) is much less expensive than a pair of RX Sunglasses, of much lesser quality.  And since I can still pass the DMV Vision test, then I am ok!

Walt went to a Vascular Surgeon last week, about some ugly looking Varicose Veins in his legs.  And luckily the Surgeon said that although they look horrible, they aren't as bad as they look, however, the ones in one of the legs could be causing a lot of the problems that he has been having, so he is going to contact our Insurance Co and find out if they will cover Surgery to remove the bad Veins.  I will keep you posted....

Our oldest Daughter Christa finally made it up to visit with the Grand kids a couple of weeks ago.  They got a late start though, and didn't have enough time to do everything that we were hoping to get accomplished!!  So hopefully she will be able to make it up one more trip before the full Winter hits the Sierra's.  I hope so, since we forgot to give her some "stuff"!!  Plus the kids didn't get to explore Scheel's, one of the biggest two story Sporting Goods store anywhere!  We got to Scheel's just in time for the kids to take the last Ferris Wheel Ride of the night!!  But no time to shop....Not to mention that Christa didn't get to shop at the Outlet Stores that are attached in this group of stores. :(

Last Thursday, Walt and I rode the Bike down to Sacramento.  On Thursday, we had appointments to get our hair cut, then after the cuts, we met my parents for Dinner at one of our favorites Mexican Restaurants in that area.  By the time we made it to our Daughter Kat's house, it was around 6:30 pm.  Then we had to leave by 7 am the next morning, in order to ride to our friend Don's house (2 hours away), in order to get our new back tire put on the Bike.  So by the time we made it back to Kat's on Friday, it was 7 pm.  I stayed at Kat's on Saturday while Walt took the bike to get the Trike Wheels back on.

So Kat and I went to Lunch at The Cheesecake Factory, then shopping at the Mall.  The Cheesecake Factory has the best BLT Salad!!  Of course I substituted the Cheese and Dressing, but it was so good that I will probably order it every time that I go there from now on!!  In fact, I was checking out to see if they have a Cheesecake Factory near where we will be staying over night, the night before we leave out for Hawaii.  One of our friends lives near the Airport, and we will be eating Dinner with her that night, so we need to figure out where we will be eating while there (insert picture of me drooling about now).

So Sunday, we rode back up to Reno.  Walt had threatened that I was going to do all the riding back up, since we would have the Trike Wheels on.  But he ended up riding it back.  Probably a good thing, since I have never ridden the Bike except on fairly flat ground.  Definitely not over the Sierra's in traffic!  The thought of having to worry about Walt on the rear commenting on how I was riding (down shift, up shift...), that I was glad to not have to deal with it and just enjoy the ride.

I did ride the Bike on Monday though, to get some shopping done.  And this time I actually got on the Freeway (in not the best conditions).  This is amazing since they are doing major roadwork on the Freeway around here and the "Spaghetti Bowl" as they call the Interchange here, is horrific in the best of circumstances.  Everyone avoids it at all costs!!  LOL  But I braved it in order to go to Cabella's (another huge Sportsman's Store) to save some time, in order to get another T-Shirt for my Grandson Walker.  Of course, they didn't have his size in stock once I was there, even though they told Christa over the phone that they did!!!

So Christa called back that night and complained.  They promised her that they would ship one out directly to her postage free, since Reno is the closest store to her, and she lives in the Sacramento area, and they also promised they would enclose a pre-paid return label to return the damaged T-Shirt!!  So we will see if they follow through as promised.  If so, then we will be very happy with them, if not, then Corporate will be getting a nasty notification about their Customer Service....

The weather here is quickly turning very cold!  It is already getting down close to the 20's overnight.  Now remember that this is the Desert!  I was not expecting it to get this cold when we moved here.  But last Winter was a very cold one, with lot's of snow!  More so than usual they said.  Lucky us, our first Winter and it was one of the coldest!  But at least this Summer, turned out to be a mild one!  I don't even think that we had a day where the temperature went over 98 degrees!!  At least not while we were here.  And I will take the cold over the heat any day!! LOL

So I have finished two new Afghan's.  One I have already posted photos of, and my Mom's which I have a photo above.  I have one more to make for Christmas, and that is for Walt's Mom.  Luckily she lives near us, so it isn't any real rush to get it done.  However, I will still attempt to get it done by Thanksgiving if possible, since we will be spending Thanksgiving Day with her, and we will not be here for Christmas (neither will she, she will be on vacation!!).

I am also making a Tote Bag for one of my BFF's Kelly, who lives in New Hampshire for her Birthday.  Unfortunately, the colors that she wanted it to be made in, makes it not as thick and stable as I would like.  The colors are in softer yarn, which makes the Tote kind of flimsy, meaning that it won't stand up on its own as well as others that I have made.  But at least it is in the colors that she wanted....I am also going to make her one of my Bear's.  I will probably make her the Chef Bear.  And I would also like to make her a new hat for Winter since I have the perfect colors for it!!

Oh well, so much to say but this is getting to be so long already, so I will just have to continue it another time....so, till next time.....here are some photos of the Afghans, etc that I have made recently.

Aloha My Friends  :)


Again, this is showing half of the Afghan.  I was hoping to get the colors to show better, in different lighting, etc.  But the Orange and Yellow just will not cooperate!









This is another photo of Hannah's Afghan.  Hopefully you can see the colors better in it as well.  The colors reminded me of the Ocean, so calm and serene.









This is a photo of the Chef Bear that I made for our friend and Hairdresser Roxanne!!  This is the first time that I have tried to put a name on one!










Christa in the play Shooting Range in Cabella's.























Walker in one of his favorite hats, and yes, he had at least 3 knives on him (real knives too)!!












Emily having a great time!!












And of course me!  I don't know how I did it, but I managed to find the only gun in the Shooting Range that gave more than 10 points per shot!  I managed to get a high of 660 out of 20 possible shots!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Fall Is Definately Here!!

Snow blankets the ski lift chairs at the Soda Springs Ski Resort near Soda Springs, Calif., Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2011. An early October storm swept through Northern California bringing rain to the lower levels and up to six inches of snow to the Sierra Nevada. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Yes, it went from ZERO Snow to this overnight!!  With high winds as well!!  It is only time, for the Snow level to hit us too!!  We are at about 4400 ft above sea level and the Sierra's where this photo was taken is at about 5774 ft above sea level!!

Hey Ya'll

Well if I had any question of it being Fall a week before, I don't now!!  LOL  The winds that we were getting here almost daily, seemed to stop during July-September.  Well....they are back!!  Last night it was so windy that it Blew Over Our Huge Gold Wing Motorcycle!!  That Bike is almost 1000 lbs!!  Too bad we didn't already have the Trike Wheels on it, then it wouldn't have been tipped over!  Oh and did I say that it rained too??  Right now at 6:30, it is already down to 46 degrees, and it is supposed to drop down into the 30's overnight!  This is only the first week in October....I wonder if we are going to have another Winter of above normal Snow fall for our area, like we had last year??  Just yesterday, we were still running the Air Conditioner!!  And now we are bringing out our Ceramic Heaters....What a difference a day makes! LOL

Now at this time of year, when it rains up here in the Reno/Sparks/Carson City area, or down in the Sacramento Valley area, it usually means that it is SNOWING up in the Sierra's!  And it did!  See the photos above the post, and at the end of the post!  The Sierra's had high winds with Snow, instead of Rain!!  So I am hopeful that it isn't too late for Christa and the Grand Kids to come up for their Birthday visit!!  Her car isn't new and they don't like to take it for a long drive, especially in Winter weather conditions.  So I am hopeful that the major storms holds off for another week so that they can come up at least once!!  So please cross your fingers and toes that the weather gets better and holds for at least a week!

We've been really busy lately, getting our new Corporation up and running for the Business.  Since we moved out of California, we needed a Company for Walt to do his work through, and we decided to close out the California Company and open one in Nevada.  Especially since we have made Nevada our new home.  So we have been busy getting the Corp up and running, opening Bank Accounts, etc.  A big pain in the A**!!  LOL  But something that is necessary.

We were a bit concerned that because of the Bankruptcy last year, that the new Bank would turn us down for opening up the new Accounts.  But we were pleasantly surprised that they not only allowed us to open the Business Accounts, but Personal Accounts too!!  This means that we will eventually close out our California based Bank Accounts in the near future as well.

Like I said in an earlier post, we rented another smaller Storage Unit (half the size and interior/climate controlled) last month, and so far we have just about everything in it that we intend to keep.  We only have a few items left in the larger Unit.  But we are hopeful that this is the last month that we use it!  Technically, we could squeeze in the "stuff" from the larger unit into the new smaller unit if necessary.  We still have my Cream colored Arm Chair, that we are getting rid of and the Kitchen Table and Chairs from our RV that we want to sell.  Walt hopes that we can get $100 for my Chair (which we paid around $400 for and is still in perfect showroom condition, having been barely sat in, and never by a child!!), and at least some money for the Table and Chairs.  We are going to place them on Craig's List and see if we can get something for them....

Here is a photo of the Chair, do you think that it is worth $100???  If not, what do you suggest we sell it for???



I have finished Hannah's Afghan which I posted photos of in an earlier post, and I am almost finished with my Mom's Afghan too!!  We are planning on taking them with us to give to them, when we go down to Sacramento in a couple of weeks.  We really need to get down there and get the Trike Wheels attached to the Bike....especially since the Winter is starting sooner than expected!!  We need to get it done while we can still ride the Bike down and back!!  Otherwise, I will be stuck without transportation during the Winter again!!  I will post photos of my Mom's Afghan soon!!  Hopefully in a couple of days.

I have been reading a lot of the blogs of those who attended the 2011 Boobs weekend!!  It sounds like ya'll had a really great time!!  I so wish that I could have attended....but, like Walt says "we are going to Hawaii (my dream vacation) in a couple of months", so I can't complain, and....we are flying First Class!!  We managed to get great rates.  So....maybe one of these years, Boobs will consider having its gathering here on the West Coast????  There are a lot of us that would love to attend from this side of the States!! LOL

Walt just got home from work, so I guess I should go for now.  Till next time.....

Aloha My Friends  :)

Trucks drive along the fog and snow shrouded Interstate 80 near Soda Springs, Calif., Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2011.  An early October storm swept through Northern California bringing rain to the lower levels and up to six inches of snow to the Sierra Nevada.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)