2011 Breast Cancer Calendar is up for sale

The 2011 Breast Cancer Calendar is ready and up for sale.

Please consider buying one to support Breast Cancer, you can click on the picture and it will take you right to to donate page and a calendar will be mailed out to you.

Cost is $18 and there are 12 NEW donated patterns not available anywhere but on the calendar plus a few bonus patterns in there too including a basket.

Even if you don't knit it makes a beautiful calendar and supports a good cause and then if you know a knitter you could always get one as a gift for them too.

One of the 12 patterns in mine... can you guess which one?

And in case you missed our previous two calendars they are still available, years 2009 and 2010 on this same site.

30 Years Finding ME Beneath all the FAT

It's been quite the journey.

Today is my 48th birthday. It's an important one for a few reasons. In 2007 the Dr told me I was in such bad health that I would have a stroke in 2 years and in 3 years I'd be dead.  As you can see I am NOT dead. I reversed that prediction and I have Dr Singh and weight loss surgery to thank for that. As well as my friends and family for the support along the way, and it goes without saying to God for preparing the way for me to get out of the death trap I was in.

I have to say I didn't believe I'd ever really get back to a normal size. Not for a long time. I've lost weight before and always found it again plus many more pounds.

Even when I was small (aka high school photo) I didn't think I was small, my image of myself was not positive at all. I thought I was fat and ugly and not worth very much.

That is no longer the case. It took a long time to finally admit that it was OK to like and yes even LOVE myself. That does not mean I am self centered or conceited. Well maybe sometimes, lol.

Being overweight was a shelter and a burden for me. I hid behind the weight because it gave people a reason to look down on me, and I think deep down I thought if I ever lost the weight I'd have nothing to hide behind and then when people didn't like me there would be nothing to blame except myself.

Now I guess I don't care, if you don't like me it's your loss. I'm a great friend. And if you mistreat me or use me well again that's your loss. Unfortunately I hate to say that has happened recently, but when it did I did not turn to food to feed the hole that was left behind, I have truly changed the way I think and who I am.

I was saying the surgery did NOT change me but I guess it did. I am confident, I am energetic, I am HUMAN.

So I even cut my hair off, what was left anyway. Turns out everyone thinks I look better and younger with short hair, who'd a thunk it? 

One last comment, school is going great. It's a lot of work and I am just a little overwhelmed but it's FUN. Not much time for other things, like blogging, but I will try to get here when I can. 

September 1, We Are All Winners

Well at least I am, LOL. Yes I am a WINNER. What did I win you ask...hmm perhaps I should make you all guess...

Tell you what for everyone that guesses correctly and posts it in the comments I will draw a winner and send you something. Not sure what yet, I mean everything I own is packed in boxes somewhere bewteen the two houses but I have something, no worries.

Speaking of worries... Anyone afraid of elevators? My sister is terrified if them, she won't enter one if she's alone. Well as you may or may not know...

hmm did I mention on the blog that I was moving out of our "money pit" house and into adult/senior luxury apartments? Well if I didn't I am now. We moved in last weekend. We are now living in a giant HOTEL, lol. At least that's what it looks like to me. I LOVE it. We have an exercise room in our building (haven't used it yet) open 24/7 too... no bad weather excuses for me anymore, lol.

...Anyway, back to the elevator, we live on the 2nd floor. So we have the option of taking the elevator or walking up the stairs. I do both depending on what I'm carrying and how exhausted I am.

Well last night my husband worked his security job and got home around midnight or so... tired as he was he entered the elevator and punched the #2 button and the doors closed. Then the worrying started... the #2 floor button light went out and the elevator did NOT move. No doors opened, nothing was happening. He was stranded in the elevevator alone in the middle of the night. He pushed every button and after 5 long minutes he was getting ready to push the emergency call when suddenly the doors opened. He jumped off, still on floor 1 and took the stairs. Needless to say after I heard this story I took the stairs all day today, ha good exercise right? Spoke to management and they will look into it but the elevator company thinks the elevator went into sleep mode? Really? Like my lap top does if I am not speedily typing on these keys? I've never heard of an elevator sleeping.

Speaking of sleeping... that's my biggest challenge right now. Especially with moving and school starting. I am lucky to get 3 hours a day in a row. I NEED more than that. Did you know that you can eat the same amounts and exercise the same every day, but if you don't sleep you will GAIN weight? TRUE fact. I have been through a lot to lose this weight and I certainly don't want to find it again because I am too "BUSY" to rest.

Tomorrrow is my second day on campus... so maybe I'll have something interesting to post about the days events.

I'll see you then... don't forget to comment and guess what I won... oh and please don't forget to follow my giveaway blog too, I'm in week two now and only 40 or so out of the 500 goal are following.

I NEED YOU.

Back To School Was The Easy Part LOL

So Monday I take my son to the hospital for a follow up visit, and in my haste to get there and the frustration of dealing with his attitude as we got out of the car I somehow managed to leave the keys safely in the ignition and then locked the doors to make sure they'd stay safe. Uh Oh

Of course I never paid attention to my moms advice about the cracked open window, cause we rolled those electric windows up nice and tight. Now it was 90+ degrees out so the wise thing, keys or no keys, would to have left a little crack for air, but like I said I was frustrated. Listen, mom's always see into the future I know this is a fact cause I can see into my kids future all the time, I just can't see into my own.

I called to have a locksmith/tow trucking company come to rescue my keys. Yeah, I called them back and canceled after they advised me the cost was $75. You have to be kidding me, give me a hanger and I'll do it myself. Of course I probably had a hanger in my car with all the moving and everything but the car was locked, lol.

I was going to have my sister go to my new apartment and have the property manager let her into my apartment to get my spare car key and bring it to me, BUT the property manager has Monday's off. My husband was at work, I thought he had a spare key to my car, he did... but it was to the old car, the one we sold on craigs list 2 weeks ago. Oops. He couldn't leave work and even if he could he'd first have to get the upright freezer off his truck that he sold to a co-worker.

 Yeah a comedy of errors this day was.

So my nephew "Chuck" came and picked us up and brought us to his mom's, my sisters, house. I promptly borrowed a bathing suit of hers...

OK let me stop here for a moment... did you just read what I said? I borrowed a bathing suit from my small skinny sister and it FIT. It was one of those aha moments, I am not a FAT girl anymore. Ok back to the keys...

So I jumped in her pool, the air was warm but the water was COLD. I needed to cool off emotionally and physically. It did help, there is something to be said about what pool water does to my mood.

Normally I have an extra door key attached to my purse, why? Cause I like to hoard things and carry everything but the kitchen sick when I leave the house. But since we started this move I have been downsizing everything including my suitcase sized purse, LOL The sad part was I have one of those cases that you can attach to your car somewhere to hold a spare key, and I SAW it just this past weekend when I unpacked a box and thought "I should really think about putting this on the car somewhere" Let me tell you friends, when you hear that still small voice LISTEN.

Well this all happened around 1pm and it was almost 8pm when I was finally home. Just in time to cook dinner, change clothes and head out to work. Spare keys in my posession too. I am paranoid now.

It's funny the day started out in a panic... I printed out my school schedule and realised one of the classes was at 10am and that was NOT going to work out for me. I rushed to the school Monday morning and met with my advisor and got it changed to online instead, this freed up my schedule and I was very excited.

I went online to check out the online classes I am taking, there are three of them, three on campus and three online. I was eagar to get home from the Drs and start the online stuff but of course that never happened.

So when I got to work last night I turned on the laptop and WHAT? No Internet. You have got to be kidding me? I finally did get on line and got to at least sign in to the classes and look around. Honestly out of that day the school stuff was the easy part, minus the parking lot at the college, wow what a zoo.

Today, Tuesday, was my first on campus class. I LOVED it. The professor happens to be my advisor and I like her. There are only 7 women students in the class and no men. Three of the 7 are over 40 too, it's going to be a fun class. Was supposed to last 3 hours but we were done in 90 minutes.  This class is about society and aging adults. I think I'm gonna post a poll on the blog I am curious about a few things we discussed, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Ok I have rambled on long enough, I have online schooling to get to now. Oh and remember the NEW blog... please come and follow it too, I am trying to build it to 500 followers. There are new giveaways every Monday, and when I get 500 followers someone will win the Ipod Shuffle. Click on the link in the side bar or here. Please send your friends too. Thanks everyone, you're the best.

NEW BLOG...

I have started another BLOG... I really want to have a special place for contests and give aways and I don't want them to get mixed in and maybe overlooked with my never ending LOVe and Adoration for Adam and Knitting and my new LIFE as a healthy person.

I am going to be approaching manufacturers to donate products to be reviewed and given away and the more followers I have the better chance I have of getting some great stuff for you to get for FREE

So please head over to my new blog, and become a follower, enter the giveaways and send your friends and family too, OK?

The new blog is called "Freely You Have Received, Freely Give"
and you can get there by clicking on this link or the link now on my side bar.

Thanks everyone... I now bring you back to our normal scheduled program...

That means soon I will be blogging here daily as well... starting September 1st, as I reflect on my first day back to school after 30 years... and the adventures I am sure I will face on a daily basis.

Another KEURIG contest, Woo Hoo

As you all know I have been praying in a KEURIG ever since I used my dads for the first time almost two years ago.

I am still waiting, and thanks to good friends looking out for me (Libby) I have been told of yet another KEURIG give away contest.

I figure I can increase my chances if you all enter and when you win you donate the KEURIG to me, LOL. Just kidding, this is such a great coffee maker I wouldn't mind at all if you kept it for yourself.

So here is the link to the contest, but hurry it ends on August 31st, don't procrastionate. LOL

The blog is called Faithfully Frugal and Free (what a great blog title, huh?)

and the cntest I am refering to is this one Win a KEURIG

There are many more contests so you might be entering them all day long, so rest up those typing fingers, LOL

KEURIG giveaway contest, be still my heart

Well lookie here, a blog about COFFEE and not just coffee but this month it's all about the KEURIG.

As most everyone in the universe knows I WANT one of these coffee makers. Have now for two years. I have some coffee pods and even a filter cup but NO KEURIG. Of course I am praying for one to land in my lap at the amazing price of FREE. LOL.

Still waiting, but I haven't given up hope.

Anyway Libby was kind enough to email me a link to this contest revolving around a KEURIG

She actually has a ton of giveaways on her blog so even if you don't care about a KEURIG, which I find unbelievable, lol, there might be another contest right up your alley.

She can be followed on Facebook and Twitter too so hook up you might just win something.

That's my good news update for today...

back to regular blogging in a few days, I have been MIA too long, I am ready to re-join the blog world again.

Aunt Kathy

Are You Kidding Me?

Well I've gone and done it now, LOL. I got my progress report from the Y today for my April 2010 exercise results.

Not too shabby huh? Didn't think I had it in me to lift all those Elephants in just 30 days. Of course I did more than weight lifting, I also swam and walked and elipiticaled lol is that even a real word? Well it is now. Let's Get Elipiticaled, let's Get Elipiticaled... can you hear the tune? Come on get Elipiticaled with me.

So all that exercising burned a decent ammount of calories. Now you'd think burning all those calories I would have shown some weight loss but I am still plateaued, I am shrinking in size a little though, so I guess the muscle is leaning me up but not YET promoting weight loss on the scale.

Speaking of shrinking in size, funny thing happened to me last night. I was out helping a friend until almost 11pm and I did NOT have dinner and I was hungry on my way home. So I decided to stop at Taco Bell for a quick easy protein fix (smile) Pinto and Beans are always good, I LOVE Mexican type food. So I pulled through the drive through, got close to the window cause I have short arms. Took out my $2 to pay for the feast and the WIND blew one of the dollars right out of my hand. DRAT. The guy looks out his window and can see the buck near my front tire. He wasn't gonna let me go though, I had to get the $$. Well I thought about leaving it and digging for some quareters but decided I'd get out and try to get it. It was after all a dollar and they are hard to come by, right? So I opened my door, literally about 6" and thought how will I even get out of the door? But I got out, then I had to get past the window price thingy that sticks out and the side mirror on my car. I DID, got the dollar, got back to the door opened it again and slid in. Not a scratch on me or the car, LOL. This would never have been possible even a year ago. I am SHRINKING and it sure feels GOOD.

Yes I feel great, and I LOVE exercising. In fact my life is starting to get crazy and I am starting to fear the 5-7 days a week at the Y are going to dwindle down a little, Yikes, Life is interferring with my exercise. Do real people ever think those thoughts? I actually printed a calendar out for scheduling so I can make sure I can schedule GYM time. Yes I am going to be that busy.

Did I tell you all I signed up for college finally? Yes, it's official. I am going to take Human Services and become a Counselor/Social Worker. My hope is to work with adults and children struggling with weight issues, and helping those who have LOST a lot of weight and need help dealing with all that changes in their lives and bodies and minds. This I KNOW a lot about. I start school in the Fall. I'd like to take some classes on diet and nutrition as well as I think this will help me in this venture.

Well that's a quick update. I am still knitting, getting ready for my 30th high school reunion and seeing my dad and friends in CA again. Then Adam comes for 2 months in the summer. Then school starts. I promise to try to blog though so you all know I am still breathing. LOL

Aunt Kathy

Goodness Graceous

Wow it's been forever since I have come here and blogged. I have been wanting to, I've so much to say , to share and to show, but the time simply vanishes before I can put my thoughts together.

I am still knitting and crocheting and even a little counted cross stitch too. Still designing some dishcloth patterns and have started thinking outside my usual box in that area, learning some new stitches and enjoying them a lot. Lately it's been a stash of baby bibs, quick and easy. These are just a couple of the ones I finished.

Adam is still in SC and I miss him every minute of every day. But soon he will be here for two months in the summer and life will be heaven for about 60 days. I can't wait I have plans to enjoy every minute, we will be out and about enjoying the summer, because I CAN be out and about now. I have such a different life now, I can do so much. It's amazing the prison I was living in all these years, and now I have been set free. It's mind boggling.

I have discovered something about myself, you better sit down for this, I LOVE TO EXERCISE. OMG really, there is nothing I'd rather do most of the time... I have found myself thinking and even speaking out loud that LIFE is interfering with my exercise schedule... DR appts, housework, cooking meals, etc. takes away my time from the gym. LOL I can now do almost 20 min on the elipitical, I can ride a real bike now, I lift weights and of course I still swim, water aerobics too.

Health wise I am doing excellent. My weight loss has sort of plateaued since Thanksgiving, but I have lost a lot of weight I am sure my body is just trying to catch up to the shock. I am OK with that, at first it bothered me, but the Docs say I am a weight loss success, I have lost over 80% of my excess body weight and kept it off for over a year now, if I never lost another pound they would consider me a success. I still hope to eventually get to my goal weight, but that will involve some plastic surgery and I don't have the $$ for that unless I win the lotto, can anyone see into the future and tell me what numbers to pick? :-)

I am seriously considering finally at the ripe old age of 47 1/2 of going to college for the first time. I have been rolling this idea around in my head for almost a year now. Not sure what I wanted to do, because really I can DO anything I want. I think after much prayer and thought I'd like to go for dietitian, nutrition and clinical social worker type degrees. I WANT to be able to help others, young and old, who struggle with weight loss, and I'd like to be able to councel after weight loss as well, because really the changes physically and mentally when you lose over 100 pounds is massive, and I think having gone through these myself I can help others as they reach that part of the journey.

Thought I'd close out with a funny photo of Adam and Me from Christmas vacation. I'll be back more often I promise, I miss recording my thoughts and I have appreciated all your messages to me asking how I am doing and when I am blogging again. Thank you all for caring, it means the world to me.

Nana You're not too OLD anymore!

Adam has come and gone

Just a few sample pictures from Adam's 2 week long visit. I have been wanting to get on here and blog forever.

~

Adam flew all by himself from North Carolina to New York. He is a brave and BIG boy now. He was so funny, he knew the plane was stopping at another airport before he got to NY but he didn't have to change planes. But he thought the plane when it got to NY was going to drop him right off at Nana's house. But once he saw me waiting he knew it was OK.

~

Of course I spoiled him rotten, it's what Nana's do right? Several trips to Old McDonalds, an entire day at Chuckie Cheese, Christmas, playing in the snow, shopping and portraits at Sears, we filled up those two weeks fast.

~

Hardest thing I ever had to do was send him back on that plane. But he will be back for 2 months in the summer, that is keeping me going.

~

I wasn't sure what he would say about my weight loss and my "new"hair but out of the mouth of babes came this comment... "Nana you're not too old anymore!"

~

Well it's an update anyway, I am so hoping to get back into the swing of things and start blogging more regularly. So much is going on in my life. I think my blog is changing too... I need to have one for knitting and contests, and one for weight loss and one for Adam, LOL. But I don't know how to seperate all those as they all do intertwine together too.

~

What are your thoughts? Will I lose you with different blogs? I could have a link to each one from the other, but really maybe it's too much. Help!!! LOL