For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16
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Menu update below:
Good morning, Friends.
I'm still here on Island 145 this morning...scale weighed me at 145.0 this morning, same as yesterday...wooohooo!...you know how it is when you get to a lower number....you wonder if it is going to 'stick'...and it has!
Do you remember Joe when I was on Island 147? 
He gave me some good advice about watching out for extra sodium...well, tomorrow makes 2 weeks since I've given up soda pops (as in diet pepsi and diet orange sunkist)...and popcorn. This has made a BIG DIFFERENCE for sodium reduction. As for sweets, I eat fruits mostly when I have sugar cravings. AND...I try to keep my calories under 1700...yesterday my calories were 1600.
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This is Jerry...do you remember him?
He had offered for me to ride his bicycle when I was on Island 147. Well...I have a mountain bike (beautiful and in good condition that I bought at a yard sale for only $5 during our last year's vacation in the mountains of NC) that is stored in Hubby's storage building that just needs the tires aired and I'm hoping that soon Hubby will get it done so I can start riding it and I recently bought a bicycle helmet (never had one growing up and no problems but it doesn't hurt to be extra safe)...at a thrift store (Goodwill) for only $3.
This is Jacob, the raccoon who says 'RIGHT ON!'
He encouraged me to eat lots of fresh apples when I was on Island 147. 
So...although I haven't been having any apples lately, I've been eating bananas and watermelon.
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Back at the homefront...
Hubby
is doing well. We both got upset stomachs after eating at the expensive buffet restaurant Tuesday nite for Valentines' Day supper and we've decided we don't want to go back to that restaurant anytime soon to put it mildly. He was up a good deal of the nite with nausea but he is better now.
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I went to see Mom
yesterday, who was very angry with me, saying that 'they' had said I had told them to make sure to get her up, dressed and out of her (familiar, comfortable) bed and she was sitting in her wheelchair in the hallway very mad with me. I told her I did no such thing but she said there were 2 or 3 of them that told her the same thing (while I was wondering why I'd even come). I wheeled her to her room where she and I could spend some time together and I gave her a banana and a fruit-jello (low fat and low calories). I put the same (in a bag) on her roommate's bed, who was not in the room. I spent about an hour and a half with her and she cheered up some when I painted her fingernails red, which she loves and put lipstick on her and at her request, some pretty earrings in her ears to match the cracker barrel shirt I'd given her the day before that she had on yesterday.
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Today's Menu Plan:
Breakfast: 1 cheddar cheese toast made w 1 diet bread and about 1 oz. cheese 130...1 plain diet bread toast with grape jam 130...2 coffees with ff creamer and splenda 20...total for breakfast 300...(300 subtotal)
Lunch: Banana 100 and 1/2 s/w of 1 diet bread 40 and 1 tbs Smart Balance chunky pb 90 and 1/2 cupful of low-cal G2 tropical punch gatorade mixed half and half with water 20...total for lunch 250... (550 subtotal)
Supper: Buffet Restaurant (not the same one we ate at on Valentine's Day): Salad with fresh veggies and pecans and a little dsg 250...unsweet tea w splenda or splenda-substitute 0...1/2 cupful rice 100...1/2 cupful lima beans 100...1/3 of a pc of fd chicken 100...1/2 cupful of mac and cheese 150...half of a very small pc of cake 150...total for supper 850...(1400 total for day)
Total: 1400 calories
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Hope you are having a good day.
Love, Maria
Progress as of today: 60 lbs lost so far, only 5 lbs to go!
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16
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Hello, everyone...
Pretty, sunny, morning (in the 50's, I think) here in SC...supposed to get up into the 60's (F) today according to the weather channel on tv...
Scale weighed me at 145.0 this morning...woo-hoo...getting closer to goal...only 5.0 away!!!
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Hubby 
surprised me Monday afternoon by presenting me with a beautiful red fragrant rose in a vase with a pretty red ribbon wrapped around it for Valentine's Day. I surprised him by taking him out to his favorite (though expensive) buffet restaurant last nite for Valentine's Day supper in another town nearby.
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I visited my Aunt (Mom's only and older sister) 
yesterday and took her a Valentine's Day gift of a beautifully wrapped gorgeous Cracker Barrel shirt and a red balloon with 'kisses and hugs' written on it and she was VERY HAPPY over it. I also sang her a special Valentine's Day song from me to her on her piano while I played it. She had her caregiver to take photos of me singing it to her and had me to sing it to her over and over, which I happily did. It was something I made up that went like this:
'Happy Valentine's Day...to my beautiful Aunt...
And I love you so much! Oh yes, I do...
Happy Valentine's Day...to my beautiful Aunt...
Have a happy day!...I love you!'
It was just a little simple tune and song but she loved it so much and I sang it with her sitting right beside me to where I could look at her when I sang the words to her.
She is a sweetheart...she gave me a beautiful tin of Whitman's chocolates and also another gift that apparently she'd decided to part with which was another of her most precious treasured collection in her kitchen, her green ceramic cookie jar (she's already given me the set of mugs and holder and also the teapot and creamer and sugar for past gifts...)...She has always adored her green ceramic collection that she has had for many, many years...it is her fav.....She still has her green cannister set, which she said she wants me to eventually have... Her favorite color is green. I spent about an hour with her and we had a wonderful, happy visit.
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After visiting my Aunt, I visited Mom a good while yesterday afternoon and she gave me a big red Valentine box of Russel Stover Chocolates (someone apparently had given her...I think one of her new roommate's Daughters)... I gave her a beautifully wrapped gorgeous Cracker Barrel shirt and a red balloon that said 'kisses and hugs' on it.... She loved them. Her new roommate was not in the room as she was out spending time with her Daughter(s), I think, so I put her Valentine's Day gift on her bed (a shirt for her also, wrapped pretty), and an identical balloon like Mom's and Aunt's that I tied to her serving tray table beside her bed for her to find when she would get back to the room. I spent about an hour and a half with Mom and we had a happy time together and I sang to her, too.
Hope you are having a good day.
Love, Maria
Progress as of today: 60 lbs lost so far, only 5 lbs to go!
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16
Hello everyone,
I am now in the 145's! The scale weighed me at 145.8 this morning. Big Smile!
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Hubby and I just got back from spending about an hour and a half with Mom at the nursing home. Mom was doing well. Had on her makeup and jewelry my Sister 
gave her when she visited her yesterday. Mom told me that Sister (who has lost a lot of weight recently and is working on getting to her goalweight) left me some candy (quite a lot) and I got it and brought it home...Sister means well...she knows I love chocolate but I am feeling in control of my eating again and only indulge within my alloted calories each day. Mom's roommate was doing well and one of her 2 Daughters came to visit her while Hubby and I were visiting Mom. While there, I cleaned Mom's side of the room and brought home some items that were cluttering it. She still has plenty of her things in there and especially her prized photos of family and friends gracing her long windowsill.
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I talked with Brother 
over the phone this morning...he sounded very, very happy over his new job, which he has already been working at a few days.
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Hubby is doing good, too. While he is taking a Sunday afternoon nap, I am back here in the study, keying this to you.
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Hope you are having a good afternoon.
Love, Maria
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RYC thanks. My birthday is the 26th.
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16
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Hello, everyone...
Pretty, sunny, chilly morning here in SC...
Scale weighed me at 146.2 this morning...getting closer to goal...
Supposed according to weather channel on tv to turn cold over this weekend...with high only in the medium to high-40's tomorrow....(but only the Lord knows for sure)... but it IS winter and SPRINGTIME
is right around the corner! 
(Time for gardening, Umpqua!)
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Hubby is working today but he is supposed to be off tomorrow. He and I 'may' have next Saturday together
if his schedule doesn't change (he is supposed to be off that day). I cooked a good supper for him and me last nite...we had rice and beef stew, italian green beans, macaroni and cheese, and for desert, a piece (in moderation) of german chocolate ice box cake. Yum! Yum!
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I visited Mom a good while yesterday and together we worked on some greeting cards to send to 2 of my Aunts...(Mom's Sister and Sister in law)...Mom wrote what she could and did well on the first one and could only manage a little on the second one, so I helped her with the second one and then I addressed the envelopes of them both and mailed them at the post office after I left the nursing home on my way home. Mom and her new roommate are getting along real well. Her new roommate is real sweet and has 2 Daughters who dote over her and do everything they can to make their Mom happy. So sweet! :-D It is a big comfort to me to know that they visit their Mom (and thereful mine as well, who is her roommate, hehehe) often.
Hope you are having a good day.
Love, Maria
Progress as of today: 58.8 lbs lost so far, only 6.2 lbs to go!
RYC: it's the grandparents of the kids I was going to babysit who showed up. My grandparents would be 110-120 years old by now. :-D
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16
Hello everyone,
I am SO DRAGGING... I got up this morning, prayed and read the Bible...ate a little breaky, then I decided I needed to clear out the 2 back clothes closets and make them more accessible and have the spring-summer wear in one and the fall-winter clothing in the other one. I worked for a couple of hours on them...I know I made progress as I have a big pile of clothes to give away stacked up in the living room...may take them to the nursing home as they usually need donated clothing there. Question: Why, oh why, would someone want to hang on to clothes that don't fit? Example...couple years ago while on vacation in the mountains, I bought a nice pair of size 6 jeans, thinking I would eventually soon be able to fit into them (NOT!)...well they are now part of the give-away pile. Some things I've kept for years that family has given to me, thinking I might regret it if I got rid of those clothes (that I didn't wear)...they are part of the give away pile...Some things I had that were really nice but I probably wore than maybe at the most, 'once' a year?...part of the give away pile...Clothes that were maybe's became part of the give away pile...They are all on hangers, so will make it easy to distribute them. The Lord doesn't bless me for me not to share with others the beautiful clothes He blesses me with. So...That's what I've been up to today.
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When Hubby called from work on his lunch break, I asked him about us going out to supper this afternoon and he agreed. I sure don't feel like cooking supper after dealing with all those clothes!
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Where is Dear Diarist? (aka Stella Starr...) I miss her!
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Hope you are having a good day.
Love, Maria
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For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16
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Hello everyone,
Scale weighs me at 146.8 this morning...
Brother called yesterday... He left the nite before on a train and he had changed over to riding on a bus traveling toward his new job. Please keep him in prayer.
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May or may not visit Mom this afternoon. I'm feeling so 'out of it'...headache, can't get warm enough, aches and pains....still taking antibiotics....
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Hubby is doing well. He and I have our house back to ourselves again and are getting used to it being only us together here again.
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Hope you are having a good day.
Love, Maria
Progress as of today: 58.2 lbs lost so far, only 6.8 lbs to go!
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16
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Hello everyone,
Scale weighs me at 146.6 this morning...so there are benefits to taking antibiotics...it's called 'loss of appetite'...ha, ha. I am working on getting better and thank you for all the encouragement and prayers.
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Brother is leaving on a train tonite. His suitcases are packed and he is ready to go. It will be quite an adjustment to get used to his not living with us. But he has a new job to go to and he is happy. He likes living in far away places and it doesn't bother him to relocate and live in an area he's never lived in before.
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Brother is going to visit Mom this afternoon and say his goodbye to her and I sent a note by him explaining that I will see her soon as I am staying home and resting and that will give the two of them some special time together.
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Hubby has been taking good care of me when he's home. We are taking Brother to the train station
(in another town) tonite to see him off.
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Hope you are having a good day.
Love, Maria
Progress as of today: 58.4 lbs lost so far, only 6.6 lbs to go!
Glad to hear your brother is excited about moving - he sounds like me a little. I have been moving so much in my life and I got used to it, sort of. I don't mind it at all moving places I have never been too. It is an adventure. Stay well!
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16
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Hello everyone,
I've been under the weather lately and Hubby and Brother took me to the er Friday. So...I'm asking for prayer for me today... I am taking antibiotics and I was severely dehydrated, too, so they gave me iv fluid at the hospital.
Weight is the same as last time I keyed an entry (scale weighed me at 147.4 this morning).
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Brother is still very excited about his new job... He will be leaving for the long trip there tomorrow.
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Mom seems okay currently.
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Hubby is doing good, too.
This is short and sweet...I'll try to key more when I am feeling better.
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Take care.
Love, Maria
Hubby and I visited Mom after we ate out at a buffet restaurant for lunch. She was in distress and it took a long time to get someone to come see about her. We didn't leave until someone did come, though.
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This is short and sweet...I'll try to key more when I am feeling better.
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Take care.
Love, Maria
Progress as of today: 57.6 lbs lost so far, only 7.4 lbs to go!
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16
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Hello everyone,
Thanks for taking the time to read this journal and for your comments.
Yes...weight is up a little (scale weighed me at 147.4 this morning) but I'm so-so okay with it at the moment. I can still wear my size 8's comfy, so that is good. BMI is 22.4.
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Brother is very excited about his new job... He is to be starting it next Wednesday. He will be leaving here Monday and I will surely miss him. We've gotten quite pleasantly used to him living with us. He is a very sweet guy that thinks nothing of getting up each day and grabbing the vacumn cleaner and going to work vacumning or any other work that needs to be done. He is a joy to talk to. How I will surely miss him very much when he leaves next Monday to go up north to his new job.
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Mom got a new roommate at the nursing home. I met her today and I believe she is a very sweet person. I hope the two of them get along real well together.
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Hubby came home from work today and announced he may be off next Saturday (woo-hoo! I feel a husband-kidnapping coming on! We'll be 'gone with the wind' if he does!).
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Hope you are having a good day.
Love, Maria
Progress as of today: 57.6 lbs lost so far, only 7.4 lbs to go!
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16
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First, hello, dear Friends.
Second...warning...this is another one of those 'crybaby' entries...emotional...who, me???
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Brother...
Brother found a job...only about 800 miles or so away...he will be leaving early next week and I will again be ALONE during the daytime til Hubby comes home from work in the evenings...I think I have forgotten what that feels like...I will GREATLY miss my Brother...it had been many years since he and I had spent any time together with his living in another country and now he is going away again...I am blessed for the time we've had together..He got a position as a COUNSELOR...a rehabilitation counselor...wayyyyyy up north from here...PLEASE pray for him...I love my Brother (only one I have) very much.
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Mom...
Still visitng Mom just about every day at the nursing home...that is another story within itself that I will refrain from indulging in at this time...just please keep praying for her as well...
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Daughter...
Also, please remember Daughter 
in your prayers... I don't see her often as she stays very busy. I think back to when she was four or five years old and I think...who would have known then that they (your kids) grow up and move away and you don't see them much????? How much more I would have CHERISHED our time together then if I had known then what I know now??? She is a sweet person and maybe I will see her soon...
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Hubby...
Last but not least is Hubby who is my encourager... He always has uplifting things to say to help me when I need to hear them the most. He's a patient man (mostly) and I am very blessed to have him for my Husband.
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Thank you for your comments.
Especially I notice that even when I am not here, you are sweet and faithful to send a comment to me....thanks!
Love, Maria
Progress as of today: 58.6 lbs lost so far, only 6.4 lbs to go!
Inky is doing great: she is a very independent cat and doesn't like hanging out around me so much, unlike Selina who is always following me around the house and being lovely. They have totally different personalities. Inky only comes to me when she is hungry, haha! I like her personally, too, but I prefer Selina...
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Nice visit with you mum, glad she didn't stay angry. You're doing great on the weight and calories!
selina on 02/16/2012:
Thank you Maria! I hope so, I can't wait to see that scale moving downward!
Great visit with your mom, good thing she enjoyed the finger nail polishing and beautification session, how sweet. I spoke with my mom, too, yesterday over skype. It's not the same as visiting personally, but it works when one is so far away...
I have been eating too salty foods I guess (olives, salty cod fish) so I saw my weight go up this morning. Must drink lots of water today. Have a great day!
supercheese on 02/16/2012:
So, is island 147 really an island or just when you were at 147 LOL. I too have been eating too much salty food and now that TOM is coming, i fear the worst (when my salty and sweetness come out). I believe this is my LAST DAY for diet soda (hopefully)
Umpqua on 02/16/2012:
Great job Maria and yay for giving up soda!!
V on 02/16/2012:
I remember all the friends from the island :) Congrats Maria, splendid job <3
thenewmle on 02/16/2012:
Yeah for 145!!! Giving up the sodas really does make a sodium difference! I gave them up 5 weeks ago and that's when the weight was just melting off! I wish I had something else that was a sure drop... I'm getting bored with 164 but I have to admit I feel really good. I guess I should be excited that I'm not moving in the WRONG direction!!! Have a great evening!