November 22-28, 2023

SarahMaxx

LW: 127.6
TW: 128.4

I am not surprised. That low weight last week was the surprise and it lasted for only a day. I think I must have been dehydrated. But I'm okay with where I am given the trip and some days when walking outside was not possible. I just don't burn as many calories on the TM as I do when I'm pulling those hills.

Next week who knows with Thanksgiving and one fewer class. I really need to discipline myself to go through the routine on my own. And I also need to think about what I eat and try to eat some protein before I eat carbs. I've read that that is the key to more stable blood sugar and not getting hungry again so soon.

Lois, I hope your trip to California is as easy as it can be on a holiday and that you make it safely there and back. I know I am thankful that we did not have to travel far today. The traffic here is unreal. We got a call yesterday that the vacuum was ready for pickup and so we went up to Frederick (about 20 miles northwest of here) this morning. We took a back road and did fine until we had to get on a major route for a few miles. And it was a parking lot.

Fortunately, the vacuum repair was minor, and they didn't charge us much at all. So one good thing happened in the midst of all the not so good things. And a friend just dropped by to reimburse me for some tickets, and she brought us up to date on the water damage they've had to deal with at their house. So that reminded me that we all end up dealing with stuff. And while talking to her, I remembered the storm door we have to replace, which can count as item number 6. So now I'm through!

Sheesh and Kelly, hope all is going well and that you have time in the next few days to check in.

And before I go, here are my 7-day averages for last week:

Steps: 11,689
Kcals burned: 1,817

SarahMaxx

Before the day gets away, I want you all to know that your friendship and support here are among the things I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving season. Stay safe, enjoy the day, and count blessings instead of calories.

GaGasheesh

LW: 133.8
TW: 133.2

That's my weight on Wednesday. I had the daughter's family here for Thanksgiving, so who knows what will happen next week. It's the final countdown to new baby girl here . . she did have another day of pretty good contractions and had to lay down. We're hopefully holding off until Sunday. . . Dec 3. So excited

Sarah, we got snow here on Thanksgiving night . . quite a lot! So I know I will also be on the treadmill only for walking for a bit. It's too cold for my lungs right now. I'm glad your vacuum repair was a minor cost. And hopefully that will be all until Christmas.

Lois, have fun and safe travels.

Kelly, thinking of you.

I'm also grateful for you ladies. We've been accountable to each other for quite a while now, and it's really been helpful for me. And, for me the friendship is real, even if only virtual

SarahMaxx

Happy Sunday everyone. It has been an "interesting" few days. Thursday, we spent Thanksgiving with firends, and that was very nice. Thursday night, hubby finished packing for his hunting trip and we got the tree brought up from downstairs. That's quite a task. It's hard to get to the only place where we can store it, and then even taken in sections, it's quite heavy to get upstairs, get in place, and a chore to get all the lights hooked up. I think next year, we may hire some young thing to help!

On Friday morning, hubby left for his hunting trip to PA and I enjoyed a day of being alone. I got the tree decorated, went to the libary, ran errands, etc. All was well. UNTIL. About 11 p.m. I was on the treadmill watching a show on HGTV on demand when I realized I had something in my eye. So I put the TV on pause and raced upstairs to wash my eye with some saline. I was hurrying to get back before the pause time ran out and so I took out my left contact, reached in the medicine cabinet for my saline bottle, tipped my head back and squeezed what I thought was saline into my eye. Key word. Thought. For the first time ever, I mistakenly grabbed the bottle of Clear Care, which is the fluid used to clean and store my contacts overnight. If you're not familiar, it's very caustic and uses a disk that neutralizes it overnight.

Well of course, the minute the fluid hit my eye, I realized the mistake and immedately reached for the real saline and started flooding my eye with it. I was almost in a panic. I looked at the bottle of Clear Care, which says "Do not put in eye" and gave instructions to thoroughly rinse the eye with saline or water and call a health professional.

Well at 11:30 or so on the Friday after Thanksgiving, reaching a healthcare professional would be pretty darn hard. I thought about calling my neighbor who also stays up late to see if she could drive me to the ER. But then I thought, all they will do is irrigate my eye (after probably a 5-hour wait) and tell me to see my othalmologist as soon as possible. So I just rinsed it many times, took two benadryl to help me sleep and an Aleve to help with the pain, and went to bed.

Saturday morning the eye was very, very red and scratchy feeling, but I could see okay. I've called my eye doctors' offices enough to know that they're closed on Saturdays and that their message says that if this is a "life threatening emergency, call 9-1-1." And I knew this was not life threatening, so I almost didn't call. But some little voice said, "call anyway, just for the heck of it." And good thing I did. Sometime recently, they had changed the message to include a number to call for a non-life threatening emergency. So I did and left my name, number, and why I was calling. About 90 minutes later the senior doc called to ask if anyone had called me earlier. I told him not yet, so he confirmed the problem and told me what to do. Basically, he said that first off, I'm far from the first person to do this (which made me feel better) and he said that it more or less causes a surface burn that will heal and in many cases fairly quickly. He said I had done the best thing by flooding with the saline and also using an eye cup. He then told me to go out and buy some Refresh brand preservative-free eye drops and use those every hour or so throughout the day on Saturday and every 3 to 4 hours on Sunday. He said if it's not mostly better by Monday, to come into the office. He also told me to not buy any brand of generic preservative-free eye drops, mentioning the recent issues with several brands of them. He said, in fact, with preservative-free, it's best to never buy a store brand.

So I did what he suggested and this morning, my eye is much less red and feels much better. So I'm going to take one for the team and take my neighbor Lyn out for dinner. She lives alone, does not go out much, and lately has not been feeling well. She's a wonderful person but she talks constantly and tells the same stories from her childhood and young adulthood over and over. I worry that perhaps she's in the beginning stages of alzheimers. A lot of the folks around here avoid her because once you start talking to her, you can't get away. But, as I said, she's a good person, and a smart lady (she was an editor for two major newspapers). So I've made reservations for an early dinner and off we shall go!

Sheesh, I'm so glad that all is well with the new little granddaughter and that she did not arrive here too soon. Gosh--December 3 is only a week away! I just saw the photo that Lois posted from Disneyland, and all but Rhea were wearing big smiles. (I think Miss Rhea may have been being dramatic! ) Kelly, stop by when you can. This time of year is so busy for everyone. Mentioning which, I want to get a few things done around the house and also get a little time on the TM before it's time to leave to dinner. Like many others, my intake has been a bit off-normal and with colder weather and everything going on, getting enough activity has been a challenge, too. But eventually things will smooth back out and we'll all be back on track. Have a lovely Sunday whereever you are.