Friday-it's FINALLY here!!

Hello OFF family,

Been very busy with day to day life. Bought my self a bicycle, just waiting for it to be delivered. Since I live in Northern California the weather is almost perfect for riding. Hoping this will be easy on my back. 

Thoughts and prayers to all,

Debbie

Aloha Nancy and all of my OFF sisters....

Nancy, you are the "energizer bunny" of the OFF!! How you do all that you do AND battle physical challenges is just awe inspiring. I'm guessing that your spiritual work is what gives you the stamina to take a day at a time and make the most of it. Thank you for sharing your life with us.

Friday is my Sunday!! I work at the hospital Sat. Sun and Monday mornings....and holidays!! Babies don't wait to be born on the weekdays...they just arrive when they want to or have to! I always call Friday evening and see how many babies were born today so that I'll have an idea how long I will be there tomorrow. It's always a treat and a surprise to see the brand new little lives on Sat. morning.

I have been having an AWFUL time trying to update my weight loss banner at the bottom of each post. I tried starting from scratch with a new one, and I still get the "not updated for 80 days." I always used to be able to easily update, but not anymore. Any wisdom for me on this?

It is a glorious morning here on Maui. The breeze is very gentle, so the ocean is smooth as glass, so I can see the jumping fish, the occasional turtle stick his head up, and if very lucky, I see dolphins frolicking out front. I sat out and read the paper this morning and got my Vit. D and kept my tan in place. I fade quickly if I don't do at least a couple of hours a week.

Hoping you all have a wonderful day, and that something magical happens for you. Please share!!

Aloha nui loa,

Maui Karen

Hello All,

Today was a rather busy day.  I've been invited to go present at a University in  the Middle East to a group of Middle Eastern and American-in-the-Middle East Universities (Texas AM, Cornell, and two others).  I will be presenting on the approach that I am taking to business writing (really quite boring).  But I am also going to meet with someone from the State Department and visit a couple of High Schools and work with an Arabic University to help set up a partnership with our university.  I am comfortable with everything except the helping set up a partnership.  I just don't really feel like I am experienced enough to do that sort of thing, but the Chancellor from their university and I met a few months back and he specifically asked for me.  Soooo, they are paying for my DH, a couple of my student workers, and me to fly over, stay a week, and do some pretty wonderful things.   I am getting ready to go.  I was going in November but I was able to put it off until Feb. because it will take our university that long to prep me for what I have to do.  Plus, they are going to try and get one of our deans permission from the University in the ME to accompany me.  

Then after work, DH and I went to a catfish restaraunt and I haven't really eaten much fried food since surgery, so of course what do I do?  I freakin' pig out on the hushpuppies and by the time my food got to me, I could barely hold my head up.  I spent twenty minutes in the bathroom throwing up everything.   I felt so bad for the women who came in and who had to hear me hurling like a bulemic person.   

We got home, and I was feeling a little better.  So, I gave all the girls baths and combed them and dried them and lotioned their little paws good.  They are pretty good about the baths; although the normal IQed ones get a little fussy.  Ginger, my mentally challenged girl, just sits there and lets me wash her from top to bottom.  He will meow a little but doesn't every try to get out of the tub.   So, they all have had their baths, the three normal girls get a bath once a week, the mentally challenged girl gets a bath every single night…she does not clean herself at all…so, she can be a stinky kitty.   I put burts bees wax on their paws and their little claws so that they don't rish getting dry paw or cracked claw.  

Now DH is sleeping in the chair and I am thinking of going in for some Greek Yogurt.  

Well, soon I will be writing my yearly it's my surgerversay post and I usually start talking to myself over these few weeks before the anniversary date, reminding myself of how horrible my life was before.  And, today, while we were eating at the catfish hole place, there was a woman who was doing the buffet, I ordered the food from the menu, and she had her plate piled to the top and kept going back for more.  I couldn't help but think about those days when all I could do was hope that they had enough shrimp, fish, ribs, or whatever on the buffet line. 

Well, I hope you all have a great weekend.  DH and I are going to spend the weekend at a lodge on top of Magazine Mt.  It's a really beautiful place and we have a gorgeous cabin that we've rented.   We are taking the grandkids and we are going to do take them on a horseback trail ride.  I will try to take pictures but I'm horrible about that. 

See yo uall either later, if I get some internet on the Mt., or when I get back.

So I talked to the nurse at my gynecologists office today. She said that my bloodwork shows that I am still not menopausal, even at age 55! She speculates that due to my big weight loss my body had a lot of stored estrogen which was released and stalled my body's natural progression towards menopause. Interesting, huh? So we'll see what the biopsy shows after my d&c on Monday. I'm just ready to have it all over with. Love you all!