tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35962999330141391322024-02-21T13:13:34.302-05:00Encounters of the Eccentric KindThe unexpected side of parenting eccentric kids... and a few other things...Not One Too Manyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401092637757216691noreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596299933014139132.post-63295720016533589372020-05-15T09:53:00.000-04:002020-05-15T09:53:18.458-04:00Teen Quarantine Woes<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by ready made via Canva</td></tr>
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Quarantine has been no joke. Sure, we do have more than one introvert that thinks that quarantine should be a way of life. They are living it up, but not everyone feels that way.<br />
We also have an extroverted teenager here. He has been doing a great job so I checked in with him to see what has helped him cope.<br />
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Here is what he said helped:<br />
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He went online, using Discord, Messenger, or Google Hangouts or to keep in touch with his people.<br />
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He reminds himself that the lack of a variety of people he sees in person will not last forever.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">He reminds himself that the lack of a variety of settings will not last forever. Also that he gets to move to different places on our property. The key is in not staying in one place all day to prevent boredom.</span><br />
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He keeps busy with projects that make it more pleasant to pass the time at home. That includes helping with the landscaping, and helping others in the house get things they need to do done to free them up for fun things together. There was even a quarantine related parody that was written and performed about rocking quarantine.<br />
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He dreams a little with friends about things they will do after quarantine but leaves the topic as soon as it becomes discouraging to think about what we are not currently doing.<br />
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He reminds himself why we are doing what we are doing because hard things are doable when they are part of a goal.<br />
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He reminds himself that he is not alone in his effort to protect himself and others.<br />
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He focuses on the things we CAN do right now, like art, purging the things we are not using, walk the dog, knock off your schoolwork so that your time is freed for when you can see people.<br />
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He took up a new skill and works on ones he already enjoys, like art.<br />
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He keeps his sense of humour intact: Meme sharing and following politics to poke fun at the current situation have reached the level of art form. Statler and Waldorf live here I am telling you. If it exists it can be heckled. They even started a game of Apocalypse Bingo. We laugh a lot around here. Finding a way to laugh with the people you are spending time with makes a huge difference says he.<br />
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So I guess Mary Poppins was right. In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun and SNAP the job is a game. This quarantine thing can be done, take heart.Not One Too Manyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401092637757216691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596299933014139132.post-80585759477477652792017-06-17T19:58:00.000-04:002017-06-18T07:49:25.538-04:00 A Commentary Four Years Out<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">I know a bunch of you haven't known me long enough to know this, but I haven't always been this weight. Occasionally I jump on the blog and give an update as to how my weight loss process is going since realistically, we've all got a morbid sense of curiousity about these sorts of things, don't we? <br /><br />"Did she keep it ALL off?" "Is she a failure? We'd better go check. Let's take our magnifying glasses to search for signs that she fell on her face."<br /><br /> So to catch everyone up, four years ago today, I had Roux-En-Y gastric bypass surgery in 2013 and added that to a total lifestyle and movement overhaul. In my first year, I blew away the clinic's goals and my own. I lost what in retrospect was too much weight, and we equalized it some leading up to my three-year update. </span><br />So what do I have to say about my fourth year?<br />Well, lots, and nothing all at the same time.<br /><br />You see, 'maintenance' is both the most exciting and most boring thing in the weight loss journey.<br /><br />In the honeymoon period of weight loss, we can distract ourselves with the scale, and all the awesome non-scale victories. It can be so very motivating. Enough to temporarily override the desire to cope with difficult emotions with food.<br /><br />Challenge is though, that the hard stuff keeps happening. Paired with the honeymoon ending, that's some rough road ahead. Real life has a way of continuing to happen on us, doesn't it? Sometimes our stress is caused by other people's choices and the best we can do is choose to try to manage our part as well as we can. When we are overcoming the impulse to stress eat, that's gonna affect our weight loss journey.<br />There are quite a few hard things I've been through this past year, but they include people whose stories I can't tell, so we will move on to the things I can talk about.<br /><br />This year has been particularly interesting for me. We've had a goal of maintaining of all of the tools I had to use before:<br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">CALORIES: Still trying to keep in the 1500 calories per day range. </span><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">PROTEIN: My aim is 80-100g protein per day which helps balance my energy levels and curb cravings. There is much more room in the stomach than there was, so this is really pivotal.</span><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">FLUIDS: Over 16 cups of fluid per day.</span><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">FITBIT-: Yes I'm still wearing that thing, and I get moving. I chose to upgrade to an Alta, and I've been pleased with it. I need to work more on my steps. </span><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">TRACKING: when I don't I am much more prone to do whatever feels good. So yes, at least intermittent tracking is going to be a life-long tool for me. My current goal is to track three times per week.</span><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">MENTAL WORK: Balance is really important. It's really easy to go back to the mental gymnastics and diet mentality.</span><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">SUPPORT: I have "been there, done that" kind of people who can speak sense to this situation and encourage me. I am ever so grateful for these people. </span><br /><br />But I've had to add more tools.<br /><br />My year included some new medical diagnoses. I'd like to preface this next section by saying that none of the following is caused by gastric bypass. If you are currently considering Roux-En-Y as one of your tools, this is not something you need to be afraid of.<br /><br />This year I was diagnosed with Sjogren's and severe osteoarthritis in my back. That, to be added to the veritable smorgasbord of hypothyroidism, Raynaud's and chronic migraine that we already knew about. I'm not throwing a pity party, please hear me, I bring it up to bring light to the fact that maintenance is going to include some really hard to manage things. Things that are going to complicate things more than for the average person. <br />Fortunately, my medical team is happy to help me try to manage things with nutrition and vitamins; medication when needed.<br /><br />So I've had to work to find out what kinds of things make my body angrier, and try to do less of that, and find the things that make my body happy and do more of that. Simple math right? I can "Math". Well, maybe I can "Science" better than I can "Math" because there is still a lot of experimenting going on.<br /><br />But I digress.... I was talking about tools. My medical team and medication, and new strategies for health, for pain and stress management, have become part of my toolbox.<br /><br />In fact, the weight loss has most definitely improved my situation. And that, my friends, was exactly the point of it in the first place. That and to be more present with my kids. I'm so glad my endocrinologist spoke up and was straight with me about this being necessary to take my life back when I wavered.<br /><br />Is stress eating still a thing for me? In short, yes. Add to that, I'm smack in the middle of the 'bariatric brat' stage, and my "I don't want to" about good habits sometimes yells like a two-year-old whose sandwich has been cut the wrong way.<br /><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">Here's the thing. Weight loss surgery isn't a panacea. It's just a tool. </span><span style="background-color: white;">So those sorts of things are not going to magically disappear. </span><span style="background-color: white;">And it takes a lot of effort to keep working all the tools day to day, under pressure. Has there been regain? Absolutely. Am I still fighting? You betcha.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Now there are going to be people out there who like to be critical and focus on that 'look what's been regained' part of this. I'd encourage a more positive, hopeful </span>view.<br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So here is my regain list.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I've regained:</span><br /><b>My Fight</b>- There was a time when I just plain wanted to give up because the goals were too big, too hard, too beyond me. Now I know that just plain isn't true. I'll eat elephants one bite at a time if I have to, but I will do it. Some goals are just going to take more time.<br /><br /><b>My Perspective- </b>It doesn't matter what the number on the scale says particularly for me now. My most important measurements are now not scale related.<br /><br /><b>My Confidence in my 'Gut'- </b>There were some situations that I've been through where my gut made one call and others around me were telling me "It isn't so". Circumstances this year have come about in such a way that confirmed my gut in more than one area. I won't second guess my gut again. On the surface, it sounds unrelated to weight loss, but this one, for me, was pivotal in the personal growth journey.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /><b>My Willingness to Face My Fears- </b>I repeatedly continue to share my story despite the fact that sharing the hard parts puts me open to criticism. That's not easy. But I've decided to "do it afraid" anyway, in the hope that it helps even one person rethink giving up on their efforts.<br /><br />Weight? Yes there is that too.<br /> I have maintained a loss of more than 100 pounds.<br /><br />If you want to talks specifics, at my highest I was 307.<br />I went too low and dropped to 157 at one point.<br />Last year I was 178.<br />After an incredibly hard winter where I've had to manage some very difficult things, I had reached 207, but have turned it around and have lost 5 pounds of that regain so far.<br />I will choose to work for loss in five-pound increments, assessing how I feel as I go, and I am pleased to say I am back in spitting distance of Onederland again. I think I'll go for that next.<br /><br />So while I don't quite have this maintenance thing all figured out yet, I'm working hard. I could honestly relate to Edison who said: "I have not failed, I have simply found 10,000 ways that do not work." I was thinking about that and then something rang like a little bell in my head. Something I'd heard before. What was it?<br /><br />Oh yes, that's it!<br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: center;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: center;">Ironically, that number where I'm sitting RIGHT NOW is in the statistical window that the Bariatric Center of Excellence's clinic set for me in the first place. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: center;">So they still consider this a success on a purely numbers basis. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: center;">Who am I to argue with that?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'm dreadfully curious to see what the next year brings, aren't you?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">For your amusement, my "before" picture with a picture of me teaching </span></div>
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Science-related classes in our local Homeschool Co-op. See? I can "Science".</div>
<br /></span>Not One Too Manyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401092637757216691noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596299933014139132.post-83024300545650554732016-07-22T19:18:00.002-04:002016-07-23T16:47:55.325-04:00A Two and Three Year Update On Weight Loss via Gastric Bypass<br />
I had Gastric Bypass Surgery, in conjunction with a total lifestyle and movement overhaul a little over three years ago now. I hit and exceeded clinic goals and my own. Makes for good reading, right? What's that? You're noticing that there's no 'Two Year Update' on the blog? Well, that's true.<br />
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<b>I didn't do a two-year update and here's why:</b> in having hit maintenance, I did as so many do and I floundered a little. Didn't know what to do with not having a 'goal' anymore. The day to day goal that it was suggested I take on wasn't meaningful enough to keep me motivated. Moving into the weight maintenance part of this is HARD.<br />
Don't get me wrong, I set myself to other goals, and succeeded little by little at those too. They were measurable, attainable. Things were moving on that front.<br />
But this was a year where my use of the tool was put to the test: winter, vitamin deficiencies, three deaths in the extended family, medical and interpersonal challenges, kids and their eccentricities, and just plain old life rolled into one. It was a serious opportunity to fall back on my old habits of eating for stress relief and comfort. For a while,I bought into the lie that if you stumble, you're failing.<br />
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I won't lie, it was tough. Because I really like Peanut M&Ms, and cheesecake.<br /> But I want to keep what I have more than I want to go back to where I was. It became pretty clear I'd have to fight for it like anyone else that loses weight and wants to keep it off. You see my dear, as I've always said, weight loss surgery isn't a panacea. It's just a tool. And it takes a lot of effort to keep working all the tools day to day, under pressure. It made me a discouraged body, especially since it fell in that period of time where people stop giving such lovely feedback on the work you're putting in.<br />
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So what was a girl to do?<br />
<b>Well, I needed to invest myself back in the process.</b> To make sure that I continued to give back to the people coming after me in this process, so I didn't forget where I came from. I needed to keep plugged in with the people who'd cheered with and for me during the pre-op and weight loss phase. They would now be the ones with whom I'd fight in the trenches for my maintenance.<br />
When a fellow group member suggested we start a maintenance support group satellite and asked me to help admin, I hopped on board, both for motivation and accountability.<br />
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I ran a back to basics informational series, facilitated discussion topics for them and would you know? I was very much not alone. Turned out, we were all suffering in silence, until someone spoke up. And when one spoke, then others found the courage to speak as well. <br />The courage to talk about the hard things like 'not keeping off 100% of the weight'. <br />To discover how it's 'normal' to experience 'bounce back' to a degree after massive weight loss.<br />To give voice to the unspeakable fear that we'd gain it all back.<br />To realize there are actually two challenges to manage about regain: recognizing regular bounce back, and then allowing that to be worsened by black and white thinking that says "I gained some back, it's all coming back. I can't do this." <br />To manage the reality that surgery doesn't solve all the problems.<br />
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To use the support we provide each other to formulate a game plan that would make it possible for that not to happen. </div>
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<b>To give a little context, I think it's important that you have a recap.</b> In 2013, I started at an all time high of 307 pounds. On my surgery date, I was 286, after two weeks of medical fasting. And I worked it that first year. Wasn't sure where I'd end up because well, frankly I always wondered in the back of my mind if this would fail too. Mini goal by mini goal I inched my way down, surpassing the clinic's goal and then the one I'd set for myself. So much so that at my first-year appointment I was 162 pounds and clinic told me to stop losing weight.<br />
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But I was ever so close to 150 total lost. Silly me, I have a thing for round numbers. So I pushed it a little further and by my birthday that year, I registered 157, a grand total of 150 pounds lost. Where I stayed for all of a week. It wasn't maintainable, and I was physically miserable. But hey, most people were cheering me on, so it wasn't a problem, right?<br />
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<b>By two years I'd had the 'bounce back' occur.</b> Mentally, it's hard to gain weight after you've worked so hard to lose it. I was so concerned about negative comments. People can be cruel. Especially when you use a tool that carries some stigma, and they wouldn't mind seeing you fail. I was so concerned about criticism that I didn't even want to do a blog update. No celebratory pics to showcase how much of my loss I'd maintained. Nothing inspirational to see here. Move along folks.<br />
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But, get this... I was a little bewildered when the clinic wasn't at all worried about me at the two-year appointment. No negative comments at all. They considered me to be doing well, and perhaps that should have been a clue. But I didn't really register that at all.What I did do though is decide to continue the mental work this past year to make maintenance a reality.<br />
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It has paid off, but when it came time to have to get on the scale for the medical records again this year I wasn't less pre-occupied. It's kind of surprising how after all this time, the scale can still take up a lot of mental space. I suppose I can be like a dog with a bone that way.<br />
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Do you know? I attended my three-year appointment recently, and I had conflicting feelings because my weight had been bouncing around recently, and I had a pleasant surprise. My two-year and my three-year numbers were only three pounds apart. At the two-year mark 175, and at the three year 178. Maintaining within an acceptable range .<br />
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Remember, they only had documented the first year at 162, They never saw me drop as low as I did. In their perspective, I am well within the expected range of bounceback and I am now maintaining well. When I asked the dietician about it all he shared with me a point of interest: It is completely normal to gain 1-2 pounds from aging alone with no other changes. With all the other things I've got going on right now, I'd say that's kind of exceptional.<br />
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<b>In retrospect, I should have stopped losing weight at 170. </b>I was 170 when I got married in 2000, and I've put six term babies through my body since then. But none of that occurred to me at the time, when things got hard. I had the projected acceptable 'bounce back', but because nobody was talking about it, I thought I was starting to fail. Having to add different foods back into my diet in order to avoid the dizziness turned out to be a mental trip too, and trying to adapt to 'normal' life not so very easy either.<br />
To be frank, it's a little like living in the twilight zone. Like 'normal' people, but not at all, because I constantly have to think about how what I put in my mouth will affect me. I don't tolerate 'lots of sugar' so well. Also, the line has moved as to how much I can take in before dumping sets in, but there is still a strong punishment for poor food decisions.<br /><br />
So my adjusted weight range is 170-180- this keeps me from dizzy spells and I move well and feel generally well. Could I lose ten more pounds and be at the bottom of that range? Yes. But what woman my age doesn't want to lose ten pounds? Oooops my 'normal' is showing. Normal, what is that anyway? It's a dryer setting!<br />
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So what does all of this mean? If I were to choose the middle of my acceptable range as my 'goal weight' and compare it against how much weight I've lost, my weight today, I have lost 98% of my excess weight. Shut the front door! I guess that's not too shabby after all.<br />
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On a bloodwork level, last year my vitamin D was low and that seemed to have righted itself with appropriate supplementation in my vitamin regime. Iron is the going concern now, and we're investigating a little further because the numbers came out a little wonky.<br />
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<b>What tools am I using to maintain?</b><br />
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CALORIES: Still trying to keep in the 1500 calories per day range<br />
PROTEIN: 80-100g protein per day.<br />
FLUIDS: Over 16 cups of fluid per day.<br />
FITBIT-: Yes I'm still wearing that thing, and I get moving. I use it to justify my lack of gym time. If I can hit 10,000 steps I don't care about the gym. I've got a whole bunch of coloured bands for it. It's kind of funny actually, matches the warbrobe. Probably looking to grade to an Alta eventually.<br />
TRACKING: when I don't I am much more prone to do whatever feels good. So yes, at least intermittent tracking is going to be a life long tool for me.<br />
MENTAL WORK: Balance is really important. It's really easy to go back to the mental gymnastics and diet mentality.<br />
SUPPORT: I have "been there, done that" kind of people who can speak sense to this situation and encourage me.<br />
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I talked before in other posts about needing to reset my defaults. I really don't eat well naturally. I have to maintain the habit. So what is the best plan? The plan I'll use for life. If it's not maintainable, I'll stop doing it and I'll gain weight. Period.<br />
So, ironically, I'm working every tool that even the people who don't choose Gastric Bypass have to work in order to succeed. Could I have done it without including this tool? Internist said nope. Not medically likely. So I work all the tools together. Shoots that whole 'easy way out' argument out of the water, doesn't it?<br />
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There are lots of things gastric bypass won't fix. Having had gastric bypass complicates treatment of some of the things I have going on medically also. Fortunately, I've got a good medical team that is willing to work with me on treating as many things with nutrition and vitamins as possible. That's really invaluable.<br />
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So I've been all over the map on this journey.<br />
It begs the question: What does success look like? Well, I think that will vary depending on whatever life throws me at the time. But I will sum up the current view of success with a set of pictures.<br />
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I had someone once suggest to me that perhaps I don't want to post my pictures (as frequently as they do) because I've gained back so much that I'm ashamed. Yes, it was a low blow, and hardly supportive. They were several steps behind me in the process and hadn't quite hit the maintenance stage and all that it brings with it yet, to be fair. That honeymoon period is a pretty big sweet spot and can make a person think 'regain can't happen to me'.<br />
<br />Well, I figure that posting infrequently to make more of an impact is the better way to go.<br /><br />
I'd like to address the above thought, so I chose to wear clothing I was wearing at my one year mark for my three-year photo updates. I still own both the pink cardigan and wear it occasionally, but my kid wanted to wear blue for the family photos and Mark and I had to wear blue to accommodate. So the black cardigan you get. I figure that being able to wear this at three years out served as commentary enough.<br />
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<br />Not One Too Manyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401092637757216691noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596299933014139132.post-81090330092152346962015-11-30T10:00:00.001-05:002015-11-30T10:00:05.544-05:00Things we never saw ourselves saying before kids!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
It's no secret that we have some shenaniganizers in our crew.<br />It has had me saying some things I never anticipated saying:</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><u>THINGS WE NEVER SAW OURSELVES SAYING BEFORE KIDS!</u></span></b><br /></div>
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High Five for NOT peeing in your underwear!</div>
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Please put your dress back down. Yes, your underwear are very exciting. no, not everyone wants to see them.</div>
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Well, honey, I'm not sure if there are toilets in Heaven.</div>
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Scissors are not for cutting toe nails.</div>
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No. My half knitted scarf does *not* look more beautiful off the needles. But thank you for showing it to me that way.</div>
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No, I don't think we will get a 'peed' snowflake to top our Christmas tree.</div>
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I'm not sure that the kitty really liked her bath, honey.</div>
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Yes, I am aware that hygiene is important, but my toothbrush is for me, not for the cat. </div>
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So what did you never anticipate having to say BEFORE KIDS?</div>
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<br />Not One Too Manyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401092637757216691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596299933014139132.post-64593629695802898222015-09-15T08:13:00.000-04:002015-12-29T13:43:47.631-05:00Help! I've fallen and I can't get up! (A commentary on falling 'off the wagon')I wrote this as a response to a post in my weight loss support group, but I'm CERTAIN that more than one person needs this today. So edited for your reading pleasure:<br />
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You've fallen off the wagon and you're panicking. You think you've gained weight. You think all is lost.You're wondering where you go from here. You ask "What do I do now?!"<br />
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So here's what you're gonna do.<br />
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<b>First, take a deep breath. This is not an emergency.</b><br />
I know it feels like it, but it's not. In the context of things, you've been here before and you can get out of it again. Your tool is still intact. It still works. Remember gastric bypass was never a cure-all. It's just one of many tools you work. So pick up your tool and work it.<br />
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<b>Second, remember that it's not 'all or nothing'. </b>You have the ability to decide that you are not left behind, and that you're not running from something (being fat, fear of regain etc) but running TO something (health, mobility, the feeling of comfort in your clothes.)<br />
Make all your choices through that lens<br />
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<b>Third, get rid of the junk food.</b> The temptation is too large. Remove it from the house while you choose to get back to basics.<br />
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<b>Fourth, get back to basics.</b> Review week six of the surgery manual; if you lost yours, get another one. The diet for life is your friend. <br />
Track your food, there is just something about having to write it down that makes you think twice about eating the junk. Don't forget to measure. Portion sizes get big fast when we 'eyeball' it. Seriously.<br />
For those of you reading this post that haven't had gastric bypass, this part won't make much sense to you, but suffice it to say there is a specific diet we adopt for long term health. The main theme of this thought is to get 'back to basics', and eat a diet appropriate to your situation.<br />
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<b>Fifth get moving.</b> Physical activity will help give you some exercise high and burn some calories. Both good toward your goal.<br />
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<b>Sixth, revisit where you've come from. </b>If you took 'Before' shots and measurements, and you are not as high as you were at your highest, this is the time to take them out...... forget what happened in the middle of your journey. You are likely still ahead of where you were.<br />
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If you are not, all is not lost. Not even a little bit. Repeat steps one through five until you get back to seeing results. In the meantime, make sure to work your support systems to their fullest. If that includes psych for depression parts of the journey, don't feel one iota of guilt. Just make the call and get an appointment. No shame. Make sure to get all the help you need to get healthy.<br />
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You've got this.Not One Too Manyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401092637757216691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596299933014139132.post-13334811531600606052015-08-30T20:46:00.001-04:002015-12-29T14:18:56.994-05:00All the reason in the world to pay full attention <br />
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The Negotiator is convinced we need a cat. It's not really likely to happen, but we did end up with a gerbil farm, all because of a field trip to price pet supplies, as an extension of math class, so I guess nothing's impossible.<br />
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This morning she was asking for a pen and a paper.<br />
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When I asked what she'd like to use it for, she replied "So that I can make a list of all the things we're going to need to get a cat."<br />
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"Fair enough." (I've learned to just roll with these things now. Just because we end up with a list of things a cat needs, doesn't mean we'll need a cat right?!)<br />
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Since I was currently in the middle of taking care of another task, she started making her list aurally.<br />
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"A bed, a litter box, cat food, water, a urinal...."<br />
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"A Urinal?!!!"<br />
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"No mom. A YARN BALL"!<br />
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Serves me for being distracted!<br />
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What wonderful things have you misheard your children say lately?<br />
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POST SCRIPT: We now have TWO CATS, and a crazy cat lady in the works... and she's making lists about dogs now...<br />
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<br />Not One Too Manyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401092637757216691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596299933014139132.post-53241409569420847512015-04-24T13:42:00.000-04:002015-12-29T13:44:05.274-05:00Head Games, and Goals, and Regain! Oh My!<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
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When I left my all time high of 307 pounds, I had lots of thought around 'goal'.<br />
What was that going to look like?</div>
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Would I stop at 230? (The weight I couldn't ever pass through)<br />
200? (Clinic's forecasted thoughts on the matter)<br />
170? (My wedding weight, that I never thought in a million years, would happen?)<br />
160? (My want list number?)<br />
157? (To make it an even 150 lost)</div>
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Oh the head games.</div>
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I *did* make it to 157- for all of a week. I earned my bragging rights, but my butt hurt to sit, and I looked 'too thin'. I thought so, others seemed to, also. It was affecting quality of life to have gone this low.</div>
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I called 'goal' at a range of 155-165, to keep me from losing my mind with all of the trying to decide what goal looked like.</div>
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But you know where I've actually levelled out for the time being? (at 22 months)</div>
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170.<br />
You know. My 'impossible' number.<br />
It seems (for the moment) where my body is happiest, without removing the excess skin.</div>
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It would seem that my 'unreasonable' number wasn't so unreasonable after all.</div>
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It's not a 'normal BMI'.<br />
It's not everyone else's view of perfection.<br />
I could decide to be discouraged about regain.<br />
Or I could decide it's maintainable with the current laundry list of health issues I'm facing. That I am maintaining a loss of more than 135 pounds, and there is nothing unimpressive about that.</div>
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Inadvertently, I built regain into my goal, and balanced out. No guilt required.<br />
Now, to behave myself and stay here.</div>
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Just thought I'd share that for anyone struggling with the concepts of goals and regain.</div>
Not One Too Manyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401092637757216691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596299933014139132.post-11158143454261637352015-03-25T20:00:00.002-04:002015-12-29T13:44:43.408-05:00One More Hilarious Reason I'm glad I Homeschool<br />
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It was a comedy of errors really.<br />
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Not sure I'd have even noticed if I hadn't followed up with the swimming desk.<br />
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I wanted to verify whether my kids had passed their most recent level of swimming and collect their badges.<br />
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The record holder scanned the list with me...<br />
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Story Teller... check<br />
Mountain Goat..... check<br />
Negotiator..... check<br />
Artist.... check<br />
Planner.... check<br />
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Wait. What's this?<br />
Artist has no show listed beside his name.<br />
Artist, but none of his other siblings.<br />
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That's strange. What do you suppose we've been doing with Artist, while his siblings attend swimming lessons? Duct taping him to the bumper of the van in the parking lot? No swimming lessons for you, Artist.<br />
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I was directed to ask the supervisor about it. I'm glad she found it strange also, since she has taught my son previously, recognizes that I bring ALL of my kids to class, and yet, there is a paperwork discrepancy.<br />
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I chuckle and tell her I suspect it is simply an admin error.<br />
She decided to ask Artist's teacher about it, since she might be able to explain why he had also been missing the report card.<br />
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This is the funniest part.<br />
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Supervisor: So do you have "The Artist" in your class today?<br />
Teacher: No, He's not here.<br />
Supervisor: (Pointing at Artist) What about that child? What is his name?<br />
Teacher: Oh, that's Tony. (Tony is not my son's name)<br />
Supervisor: I see. How often does Artist attend class?<br />
Teacher: He's been a no show for quite a while.<br />
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There is further discussion about the Artist's true identity.<br />
Ah, the light bulb begins to go on....<br />
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Turns out Artist shows up for class, his participation has been credited to 'Tony the No Show' and Tony was issued his report card. Shockingly, Tony failed to show up to collect it.<br />
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Later I told the Artist what had happened, telling him that his name was actually Tony.<br />
He was initially unimpressed, but then decided to make the best of it.<br />
He's still in a superhero phase.<br />
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He's decided "Tony" is his secret identity.<br />
He also passed.<br />
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He's also convinced that all he has to do is stop showing up for class in order to get a report card and pass his class.<br />
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Reason 3,261 that I'm glad I homeschool: It's a lot harder to lose track of who your students are.<br />
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<br />Not One Too Manyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401092637757216691noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596299933014139132.post-6353303277331132712015-01-16T18:18:00.000-05:002015-12-29T13:46:33.747-05:00Reorganizing our Schoolroom (Again)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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You'll remember I posted before about our <a href="http://encountersoftheeccentrickind.blogspot.ca/2014/09/gearing-up-for-new-school-year-school.html" target="_blank">2014/2015 School Room Tour</a>, because we'd made, what I considered at the time, to be some pretty nifty changes to our school room.<br />
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You're welcome to check the link above to see the original post, but the pics above will give you an idea where I went with organizing the multitude of things needed for our school space.<br />
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Well, we've had a few months to test drive the new system and I was pretty happy with it. Functionally, I mean. I was so much more organized than what I'd been working with.<br />
As time went on though, I could see that we needed to tweak it further.<br />
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We had some doors in the cubby units, that were brightly coloured, and I thought eye catching.<br />
Turns out it's distracting for kids with attention problems.<br />
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So when we had the opportunity to replace our TV unit with a similar one in black, we scooped all the black doors from the front school room, and decided to match the doors to the already white units.<br />
Very white, very boring. Very functional for the distracted monkeys.<br />
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The doors were added to more of the units, which allowed us to not see all the books. I think it contributes to a more stream lined look. The white very much brightens the room, which in med-January was a very welcome change.<br />
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We did also decide that we had too many paper types, note books, and even colouring books to store them in a way that helped us know in the first place that I already had them.<br />
This resulted in me making more copies than necessary, or spending too much money on buying doubles of things. Big money saver, actually.<br />
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So we did a little reorganization, and added some more drawers to the units, rather than just doors.<br />
We have partially re-labelled, but have more of that job left.<br />
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The neatest hack in this room, in my opinion, by far, were the tiny shelves that my dear husband added to the insides of the cubes. They hold the multitude of paper types, and small things, and do a great job of allowing us to see at a glance when we happen to be out of any given thing.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1q_eQnSD64dkzURJz6o_IWFf-qIz4gqt5oVcAc1NO4vMPsPNONEU_E3o52QFnQUu2Xjt9t4n42tdQEkgbWX460-eFOlpUy63_colQYaSxT6cuBfcfvdxBWNsgoYEH7T-usj96jsTQaIE/s1600/Side+by+side+organizers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1q_eQnSD64dkzURJz6o_IWFf-qIz4gqt5oVcAc1NO4vMPsPNONEU_E3o52QFnQUu2Xjt9t4n42tdQEkgbWX460-eFOlpUy63_colQYaSxT6cuBfcfvdxBWNsgoYEH7T-usj96jsTQaIE/s1600/Side+by+side+organizers.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I am finding that I am breathing a sigh of relief. Things are easier to find, and less over whelming visually.<br />
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Nony of <a href="http://www.aslobcomesclean.com/" target="_blank">A Slob Comes Clean</a>, is a favourite blogger of mine when it comes to de-cluttering. She's great at talking about it all, and hilarious to boot. She talks on many occasions about the container method. How you can only have what fits in the container. These units we've put in the school room really work well with that concept, and I have to make what I have fit, or get rid of it, to keep the stuff behind the doors, which makes the whole room look better. Keeps me honest about my pack rat ways. Keeps me motivated, because I really like it when it's tidy, even if tidy seems a little out of reach with five children, who are onsite most of the time.<br />
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We did keep the coloured cubbies in one of the units, because those were the kids' personal 'locker' type storage space. They had become accustomed to the colours they each had, so they stay.<br />
They may grow out of them soon, they may not. In the mean time, I have my splash of colour.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfzFAzzuhygVZroKl4YL-CYvCA78O_8S0VpDuQ1ZnjCLdS_Axz8ac671tgJTbmnJKorG7khvWRFcNZro3qYGYP6EWOUnDYvRM6a5W0KRrikcjSBa0VR-ZoZnkDuO-58SNRpjiEcUBzM0Y/s1600/The+After+Hack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfzFAzzuhygVZroKl4YL-CYvCA78O_8S0VpDuQ1ZnjCLdS_Axz8ac671tgJTbmnJKorG7khvWRFcNZro3qYGYP6EWOUnDYvRM6a5W0KRrikcjSBa0VR-ZoZnkDuO-58SNRpjiEcUBzM0Y/s1600/The+After+Hack.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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One last thing that we did was repaint and shellac the chairs in a darker colour. They used to be a honey colour and drove me a little crazy. This works better in the room, and is a little more forgiving than the light colour.</div>
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I would definitely say that the colour change in this room makes all the difference in the world.</div>
Now to dig out the label maker and move on to making sure *everyone else* can find all the stuff and things.Not One Too Manyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401092637757216691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596299933014139132.post-87949138932571962052014-11-14T20:16:00.002-05:002015-12-29T14:05:33.676-05:00DIY Poster Storage Unit<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrHq841H01tcnwEpWugxbgr5OGetdl5h3cSllX3IUFhhC6GZ4kIW5HrF-VsU27mJPIBW0JowjpuEALu565rkhGt3HGwKbtIOrari2if5aRg6wUGejcpD3D4vd86fEZAKdBDVOYGo6OTqk/s1600/DIY+Poster+Storage+Unit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrHq841H01tcnwEpWugxbgr5OGetdl5h3cSllX3IUFhhC6GZ4kIW5HrF-VsU27mJPIBW0JowjpuEALu565rkhGt3HGwKbtIOrari2if5aRg6wUGejcpD3D4vd86fEZAKdBDVOYGo6OTqk/s1600/DIY+Poster+Storage+Unit.jpg" width="241" /></a></div>
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Storage and organization of school and house supplies in our house is an on-going battle.</div>
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We have so many things that require odd sized storage containers. Things that would be quite cost prohibitive to our budget, or difficult to find.</div>
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Case in point. Not everybody has a need to store a whole bunch of posters in their house. But this girl does. Educational posters of every size and description. So, my dear husband, built me something to store them all in.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Y_PrynsU9H_IOYB5BfAClW05gTzByPBbc5hznJN99fnScDy9l-B4ypyD38rpovV3OSl35CkHFvbGh1VSPFGN7JHcS-nigzoDmevQB1dhFi7pnr9jNWBa8PV7k_8Vn-mtJIQDrzACpV4/s1600/20141114_185320.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Y_PrynsU9H_IOYB5BfAClW05gTzByPBbc5hznJN99fnScDy9l-B4ypyD38rpovV3OSl35CkHFvbGh1VSPFGN7JHcS-nigzoDmevQB1dhFi7pnr9jNWBa8PV7k_8Vn-mtJIQDrzACpV4/s1600/20141114_185320.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Looks simple right? Simple, and built like a tank. Relatively cheap too.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihDdz_CIHJpwOxd7Rag_CXftevu3UEPiF3ZkNQJVqEHZpcJktHvsDSu0NMMYEJGDDRPEhIdhaWsvwWY2lXb1x06iNAGaOQw4cg0_aJ1PjWw1-3XbtLXGm-jwxA611P6W3YY4esq9pA4YI/s1600/20141114_185345.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihDdz_CIHJpwOxd7Rag_CXftevu3UEPiF3ZkNQJVqEHZpcJktHvsDSu0NMMYEJGDDRPEhIdhaWsvwWY2lXb1x06iNAGaOQw4cg0_aJ1PjWw1-3XbtLXGm-jwxA611P6W3YY4esq9pA4YI/s1600/20141114_185345.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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It has worked to store those lovely posters for quite a while. I've been quite happy to have it, since something made of card board would run about $15 at the local store, but if you want to sort between types of posters, adding extra card board as dividers comes at $5 per sheet. I could also get a plastic, envelope like deal for about $20.</div>
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So for a while the size did its' job. Then I needed a bigger one. Nothing I could find really was quite right. None of it fulfilled my 'needs to be built like a tank' criteria. Save for the one that was gorgeous. It was $679.</div>
Not gonna happen.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeOLSdaTVEqK9RVAdPYSGJGcutX5M4f6MVyW_VWo6zJI9E7GQYI7tBM-tJMurmgTY6hm54DK156qQV2Jow1DWdSGrXldvxsyqdmXjZa7Jm09ZTyMb-hOgqSPo-u7RkJxQ5nNPfhuXlxY8/s1600/20141114_185107.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeOLSdaTVEqK9RVAdPYSGJGcutX5M4f6MVyW_VWo6zJI9E7GQYI7tBM-tJMurmgTY6hm54DK156qQV2Jow1DWdSGrXldvxsyqdmXjZa7Jm09ZTyMb-hOgqSPo-u7RkJxQ5nNPfhuXlxY8/s1600/20141114_185107.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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We decided the most budget friendly thing we could do was to modify what we had.</div>
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Using 2x4's, and ply wood, our resident 'stuff builder' added sides and a backing to the one I already had.</div>
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Three times.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpOEf98m2DXUbwXzjJfS9AlbnN7nVh7fuvXqdEeemlVWLi2JIjl8_oBMYOFmIZ1R5V3bPsxHYZQmBlkHRzmjeo7HMLCpWM7GEG2TI0VnVYcG8JXXNf5BmYyKqk1iBt8TANkERUslPYTVw/s1600/20141114_185438.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpOEf98m2DXUbwXzjJfS9AlbnN7nVh7fuvXqdEeemlVWLi2JIjl8_oBMYOFmIZ1R5V3bPsxHYZQmBlkHRzmjeo7HMLCpWM7GEG2TI0VnVYcG8JXXNf5BmYyKqk1iBt8TANkERUslPYTVw/s1600/20141114_185438.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Effectively we created permanent compartments that will allow for storage of different items.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzBcf9r9WNMw2xxZ1bw2P44uNjYciy3QYXlP8NUWENVa7qL6kiFCP2q-izQR3G2ry2hSIFQCrYalSTksMMUawQAKB5i1ft9Qgsf6xCJPpOYkuYCa7SyzxSQsayyuhiyfObaz26XKaHLGU/s1600/20141114_185647.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzBcf9r9WNMw2xxZ1bw2P44uNjYciy3QYXlP8NUWENVa7qL6kiFCP2q-izQR3G2ry2hSIFQCrYalSTksMMUawQAKB5i1ft9Qgsf6xCJPpOYkuYCa7SyzxSQsayyuhiyfObaz26XKaHLGU/s1600/20141114_185647.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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We were going for functional, rather than pretty, but as a nice touch, The 'Stuff Builder' even made an outside cover for it, so it looked slightly better.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxk12Nv8HV28QhQIYe_9rjZXElXj-6ATIoaqLUCZfcZpc-TIPZpfbjQSoSeUnar-G1mt3zgAWby97hyrjwAXeDEwhMyWHCzh0h7sSe-yGsgIAVTshf3fKcMq5T3M-jYC7m3hITmdHljYc/s1600/20141114_191648.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxk12Nv8HV28QhQIYe_9rjZXElXj-6ATIoaqLUCZfcZpc-TIPZpfbjQSoSeUnar-G1mt3zgAWby97hyrjwAXeDEwhMyWHCzh0h7sSe-yGsgIAVTshf3fKcMq5T3M-jYC7m3hITmdHljYc/s1600/20141114_191648.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Looks raw, but it will definitely do what I need it to, and we won't have stuff falling all over the place.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiywUtjRXFNpwmxLKTZsoC06iD_zO4oeArHxTUVbwyrpvNgThzV3WGzf4Rf_6ZB5Eb6Fvvvz7PSj7FE5BPq-Vqe-opul0sZeKOPFAFEZQ9Ej7ZRsuFZIFmQOaqT1FeWmTPg0pWbRtu5L-A/s1600/20141114_192642.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiywUtjRXFNpwmxLKTZsoC06iD_zO4oeArHxTUVbwyrpvNgThzV3WGzf4Rf_6ZB5Eb6Fvvvz7PSj7FE5BPq-Vqe-opul0sZeKOPFAFEZQ9Ej7ZRsuFZIFmQOaqT1FeWmTPg0pWbRtu5L-A/s1600/20141114_192642.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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I'll bet you're wondering what all of the compartments were for. Well, by the time I was finished loading it, I had loaded about 50 posters, a Wii Fit board, that one sad TV table that is still in our house, but didn't have a home, a crokinole board, three large art clip boards, a bunch of poster board, and a large folding card table.<br />
Now all that stuff isn't just leaned up against my wall being knocked around by the kids.<br />
For those who are curious, the total price tag on this project was about $30.<br />
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I'm so happy to have this problem solved.<br />
I would wait to post this until it's painted, but I know that most of the projects around here hit 80% done before we abandon them. Paint would be the last 20% of this project.<br />
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<br />Not One Too Manyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401092637757216691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596299933014139132.post-51304840499285429442014-10-27T10:43:00.000-04:002015-12-29T14:05:04.836-05:00Accentuate the Positive- reframing your child's frustrating tendencies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM5MKBtknJpEH1tXKo1ItfodJxn2rWbBk2vb3OVAkvOk02HleGdcJDkOefEyh6twdSg7mL0ULorAl04Ah833A9gGZuPOPPmF8P_po7onPJ6F01rKXhugmO_pCy7XcenwBDHeR2HcqRfLU/s1600/Accentuate+the+postive.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM5MKBtknJpEH1tXKo1ItfodJxn2rWbBk2vb3OVAkvOk02HleGdcJDkOefEyh6twdSg7mL0ULorAl04Ah833A9gGZuPOPPmF8P_po7onPJ6F01rKXhugmO_pCy7XcenwBDHeR2HcqRfLU/s1600/Accentuate+the+postive.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As a mama, I find that sometime it's easy to get discouraged.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">My central job involves trying to raise my kids right, troubleshooting the eccentricities of the children, and also bearing the lions' share of the responsibilities that come with seeing, finding, and stick handling all of the challenges that come with that. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Now, because of our mixed lot, we have some serious excess energy being expended, some big time messes being created, and </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">some serious off-task activities happening here. We have stubborn, moody, strong willed, forgetful, disorganized, inconsistent, and nosy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">That can feel pretty overwhelming sometimes. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Enough on some days to make a body want to pack up and go home.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Oh wait. We homeschool. I am home. Back to the drawing board.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Tongue in cheek, and to help me keep my sanity, I have to reframe much of what I see in the positive: </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> Their leadership tendency is so strong that they don't recognize anyone else's authority, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">They have will so strong that they will carry through on what ever goals they have to success. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">They get so into what they are doing that they can tune out everything else.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">They are an individual so spontaneous they constantly have things on the go.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">They feel so deeply. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">They are willing risk takers, and innovators.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">They notices everything, even the smallest details. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">What creative problem solvers!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Such enthusiasm, and energy!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Super quick thinkers</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">And of course, what you see is what you get.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">See, all of the things that frustrate one about a person can be reframed to see what's good about it. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Have you ever heard the saying about a person's greatest strength is their greatest weakness? Well, I believe that applies here.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It's just a matter of stick handling that in the right direction. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">We work constantly at it. Sometimes the trickiest part is remembering to do this when you're frustrated.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>Not One Too Manyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401092637757216691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596299933014139132.post-5274088151544747152014-10-06T14:33:00.001-04:002015-12-29T14:18:33.892-05:00Freezer Cooking: What Will I Do with all this TURKEY?!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn-vn7ZARuy8uUwl3O_Opwqgx54i0KOeIHzPKkfe-_4mXL4JwlOg1QyGJy0W0V1JPA4dPkczdhcejefdnNtgyK5sEylfoCJcQakU2O52jOSqo5dOdAfee1wvU8lEO4mv3QvNKNY8Uqabw/s1600/Freezer+cooking.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn-vn7ZARuy8uUwl3O_Opwqgx54i0KOeIHzPKkfe-_4mXL4JwlOg1QyGJy0W0V1JPA4dPkczdhcejefdnNtgyK5sEylfoCJcQakU2O52jOSqo5dOdAfee1wvU8lEO4mv3QvNKNY8Uqabw/s1600/Freezer+cooking.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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In case you were curious about any of my time and money savers as a largish family mom, I'd have to say that freezer cooking is a pretty handy way to go about achieving both for our family. There is a time investment involved, but the time it saves after it's done really does make it worth the time taken.</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">FREEZER/ONCE A MONTH COOKING DEFINED:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">An assembly line method of making several meals at one time that will last for anywhere from a couple of extra meals to an entire month worth of meals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">WHY FREEZER COOK?</span></b><span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><br />We choose to buy large quantities of supplies at lower prices, so we save money<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">We avoid take out, so we save money<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Increases convenience: We assemble many meals at once, so we have prepared food on the days we can’t/don’t want to cook. In the case of month cooking, potentially several nights of freedom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Promotes Nutrition: We know exactly what’s in the food.<br />Saves time: At dinner time on the day of, we have taken many steps out of the ‘what’s for dinner question’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Promotes Hospitality: casual invitations to dinner become easier, also when we want to heat something and take it to someone having a hard time (family challenges, deaths, births etc.)<br />
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<b>AN EASY WAY TO BEGIN</b><br />Often we will make a turkey or roast, and then don’t make full use of them. It’s a meal you already know your family will eat, and you’ve got a ton of it.<br />What if you packaged full meals in lasagna pans right away and threw them in the freezer? Label it, and you have a few extra meals. This can eliminate waste.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Other nights, make a double batch of something, or fill the biggest crock pot, or stock pot you have when you are cooking. Then immediately after eating, (or before if you’re ambitious) stock your containers, label and freeze them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">You can always work your way up from there to accumulating supplies for meals for a major cook, or continue to make triple( or more) batched meals, and rotate serving them through a menu plan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><br />
<br />
<b>LOSS LEADER SALES<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">There are some predictable times when you will find large amounts of the base items for freezer cooking on sale at fantastic prices. Summer is a great time to pick up zucchini, Rices go on sale with many of the Caribbean festivals, as advertised in the flyers. 10lb bags of vegetables (carrots, beets, onions, potatoes) go on sale when they come into season in the fall. Meats like turkeys and hams go on sale for us here in Canada before Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Under certain point programs that we have here, you can get free groceries, and time the spending of the points for when you know they will go on sale. With a little thought and planning ahead, that brings down the prices even further, and you can get the foods into the house that you want to make. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">MATERIALS FOR STORAGE<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Some of the useful things you might find handy:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Lasagna pans- half height lasagna pans or smaller depending on whether you are storing a full meal, a sauce, or a side dish.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Ziploc Bags- they store reasonably flat<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Containers that you would like to give a second use through re-use.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Sharpies and labels – you want to know what was in that container the next time you unearth it. Make sure to take note of your cooking date when you label, for food safety.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Multiple nesting stock pots- handy for making multiple types of foods at the same time, so that you can form an assembly line when the foods are ready. Having lots of pots to work with make it more convenient for the cooking stage, and storage is easier if they are nesting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">WHERE TO SHOP FOR THE SUPPLIES?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Check your local flyers for the foods, because that is a great bet for the loss leader sales.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">For the storage items, they are less likely to go on sale, so check out some of the following if you need ideas. Locally, we have:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">THE WHOLESALE CLUB- open to the public<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><a href="http://www.wholesaleclub.ca/LCLOnline/home.jsp?storeId=466">http://www.wholesaleclub.ca/LCLOnline/home.jsp?storeId=466</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"> </span><span style="background: white; font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">2255 Barton St East, Hamilton, ON L8H 7T4</span><span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">GT FRENCH<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><a href="http://gtfrench.ca/">http://gtfrench.ca/</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">90 Glover Rd Hamilton L8W 3T7<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">COSTCO<br />http://www.costco.ca/<br />
<br />100 Legend Crt. Ancaster L9K 1J3<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">1225 Brant St. Burlington L7P 1X7<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Not One Too Manyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401092637757216691noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596299933014139132.post-51267585106880591042014-09-17T10:34:00.001-04:002015-12-29T14:06:00.826-05:00It was the best of days, it was the worst of days.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2iLdeM96GzairTCYPP_3Cim5KRUDZGsFGEuZJ8JDK8npqDxAb0KBC9I1Lgn6GIWEon8zrxRylDU0KR5q7DP7IlkvThiqVYcjiKCC9XUaRxIkWOcvuUncaRETfkjQh6Q1tPOBRuoLRyBE/s1600/Best+of+Times,+Worst+of+Times.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2iLdeM96GzairTCYPP_3Cim5KRUDZGsFGEuZJ8JDK8npqDxAb0KBC9I1Lgn6GIWEon8zrxRylDU0KR5q7DP7IlkvThiqVYcjiKCC9XUaRxIkWOcvuUncaRETfkjQh6Q1tPOBRuoLRyBE/s1600/Best+of+Times,+Worst+of+Times.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
5:30 a.m. arrived. She put her feet on the floor, and rubbed her eyes. Yes, five days in, the headache was STILL there.<br />
<br />
Awesome.<br />
<br />
She knew if she didn't get moving, the kids would get ahead of her, and she'd be dragging behind them kind of like the owner of a too-large dog, that is being taken for a ride by something that she thinks that she is in charge of.<br />
<br />
The five minute shower that has become her hallmark occurred without incident.<br />
Breakfast got made and laid out.<br />
Then they started to come.<br />
<br />
One by each, they arrived hungry and insistent.<br />
Over half of them wanted something other than what had been prepared.<br />
<br />
None of them wanted to get dressed.<br />
None of them wanted to get ready for school.<br />
<br />
Here we go again....<br />
<br />
Yesterday had been rough. The raspberries that somehow made their way to being spread like jam all over the front hall were still fresh in her mind, as she considered the contents of the oatmeal bowl that were now splattered across the kitchen floor.<br />
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Today wasn't looking much better. To boot, it was still so early, and so much of the day was ahead of them. Sigh. It was enough to make a body tired.<br />
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Fortunately, she knew a few things:<br />
<br />
1) Nothing lasts forever<br />
2) Hard work pays off<br />
<br />
So she put on her big girl panties, and made a decision.<br />
That she wasn't willing to give up what she wanted most, for what she wanted right now.<br />
<br />
What she wanted right now, was more sleep, and an uninterrupted bath. If we were really shooting for the moon, there would be a book involved, that was being read for nothing more than pleasure.<br />
<br />
But what she wanted most, was children who understood that life is not all about them, that they need a strong work ethic to succeed, and that they learn to be good representatives of the God that set the example for them.<br />
<br />
They spent a lot of time in the corner that morning.<br />
They complained a lot about mom cracking the whip.<br />
But they buckled down and eventually did what they were supposed to.<br />
<br />
<br />
Later,<br />
One sibling said to another, don't worry about unloading the dishwasher. I'll do it for you.<br />
<br />
Still later<br />
And then a little girl arrives with a piece of artwork, and the words "Mommy, I made this for you, because I love you so much."<br />
<br />
Heart melting.<br />
<br />
And for that moment, it had all been worth it.<br />
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<br />Not One Too Manyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401092637757216691noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596299933014139132.post-40572940705436649412014-09-07T18:00:00.000-04:002015-12-29T14:21:16.190-05:00Gearing up for the New School Year- School Room TourWe some time over the summer gearing up for our new school year, which requires a lot of prep work. We've been looking at what hasn't worked for us, in the hopes of tweaking things, in anticipation of a smooth start in September.<br />
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We had been working hard to become more organized, because we have some disorganized operators around here, so we've made a gradual switch over this past year to a completely different shelving and storage system, in the hopes that it will help us out. Having five children learning in a space that is not huge, requires that I get a little more organized.<br />
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As you can see we do have a table for the kids to work at, but don't be fooled, they will work where ever they find themselves. Since the largest part of our school storage is in one place, I thought I'd give you a tour of our school room, so that it might spark some ideas as you make and tweak your own homeschooling experience. This has been something that I have worked toward for quite some time, so don't feel, if you are starting out, that you need to walk into homeschooling with an elaborate system. The state in which you see this room lasted about as long as it took to take the pictures, in the interest of full disclosure. :) Just a reminder that one should not believe everything they see on Pinterest.<br />
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We began to accumulate these neat units from IKEA earlier in the year. I have always loved that when a small child starts pulling the books out of these units that a whole shelf full doesn't fall out. Just the amount of books in the cubby that the child is currently wreaking havoc in. It buys mom precious minutes to do damage control.<br />
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We used the cubby doors in the second half of last year, but realized that the kids have enough books and supplies, that we decided to expand and give each child (save for the youngest) two of these spaces. Then they can store their school books, binders, and the courier packs that hold their pencil cases and smaller supplies. We decided to use a label maker to make sure that all the spaces had the appropriate names on them. No arguing over things being misplaced. Easy Peasy.<br />
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We decided that since IKEA had one less pink cubby than we wanted, we would use an appropriately sized basket to put packages of crayons and pencil crayons for future use. We lucked out at a thrift store for them, because someone dropped off a matching set.<br />
We are trying to work hard on each child having their own supplies, and each child being responsible for getting their own supplies into their own storage space this year.<br />
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Extra binders were stored at the bottom, since we tend to need to replace them frequently. We'll try to keep them as handy to the area in which they will be used, as possible.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJGCtPg0qtea2i1clePXHMPZk5Fv8eUjOTon_OCHxBvzqTpKioc6O29-OAfGZtIx3Q21iPNd-B5w6XpFwvLZH2eGpQqrFKpDwVdabfjl6uqjbh_FDm-mkp1xCZmxSRv4gSqWnZKv5MHa4/s1600/Cropped+Cubbies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJGCtPg0qtea2i1clePXHMPZk5Fv8eUjOTon_OCHxBvzqTpKioc6O29-OAfGZtIx3Q21iPNd-B5w6XpFwvLZH2eGpQqrFKpDwVdabfjl6uqjbh_FDm-mkp1xCZmxSRv4gSqWnZKv5MHa4/s1600/Cropped+Cubbies.jpg" width="318" /></a></div>
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We have many science related supplies, so we chose the upper drawers to keep the pieces in. Stickers, stamps and ink pads needed a place to go, and we chose this type of storage for them.<br />
Our Kindergarten specific supplies and visuals needed to stay behind closed doors, so we chose a row to keep those safely tucked away, out of sight, out of mind, from the children most prone to pull things out and leave them every where.<br />
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We did decide that some of our art supplies, (plasticeine art manequins, clay molding supplies) and laminated visuals, needed baskets that could be carried to the table and taken back when finished.<br />
Clip boards canvasses and small individual chalk boards were big enough to take up a space by themselves, so they got a dedicated square.<br />
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In unit number three, we have our Smaller odds and sods. We have pencils, and stickers, markers, dry erase markers and crayons, along with chalk board and dry erase board brushes in drawers.<br />
Since we also have tech supplies, they are organized and labelled so that we have places for them, and the kids know where they belong.<br />
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This seems to be one of our biggest challenges. Having a place for things, putting them in their place.<br />
It's also helping me prioritize how many things we keep.<br />
As a pack rat, it's always a challenge, but I am learning that it's important to simply choose to keep only the things that I have homes for.<br />
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The bottom shelves of this unit have many of our resource books, leisure reading books, and small individual curriculum books that don't fit my core curriculum. Each cube has been arranged so that like books are stored with like, so that at any given time I can put hands on what I need quickly.<br />
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I chose this unit to store my teacher's manuals. I use BJU for my core, so there are many subjects that I have as base subjects. Teaching multiple grades, and storing the manuals from the 'off' years when they are not being used became challenging when I stored the 'off' years in another room, so this has been a positive change. No more changing these books out each year. no more carrying it all back and forth. I just have have all grades together, but each cubby has one subject in it. So much easier than what I was doing before. The bonus is that I had space left over at the bottom to store my printer paper, lines papers and all the odd ball types of print outs that we need as part of the job.<br />
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That is the main core of our 'school room'. I'm so happy to have most of our school things in one place now, and I'm really moving forward hopeful that this new set up will help the kids keep things tidier and easier to find. We are a week in on our school year, and so far, so good.<br />
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<br />Not One Too Manyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401092637757216691noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596299933014139132.post-88669510713999175352014-09-04T08:48:00.003-04:002015-12-29T13:47:00.459-05:00Not Back to SchoolI had a 'breath caught in my throat ' moment this morning.<br />
<br />
Disturbing, and healing all at the same time.<br />
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All because we started back to school this week.<br />
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You see, I ended up with a very busy couple of weeks, between preparing to, and speaking for my weight loss support group last Friday, and preparing to and leading our local home school support group meeting on the first day back to school.<br />
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Makes for one busy girl.<br />
Lots to keep my mind occupied, and if I am completely honest, a little overwhelmed with the busy.<br />
Fortunately it's a 'when it rains it pours' proposition, and the rain doesn't last for extended periods.<br />
So we have a quiet period.<br />
<br />
My mind has moment to process.<br />
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That's when it happened.<br />
<br />
It's not that it hasn't happened before, but not quite this way.<br />
<br />
I realized that we still have one missing.<br />
One that DIDN'T start school this year.<br />
One for whom the day to day responsibility for parenting is not mine.<br />
One that I never got to bring home.<br />
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The quiet afford me the moment to think of what grade he would be entering.<br />
That's when it hit me.<br />
I didn't know off the top of my head.<br />
The shock hit me that I actually had to think about it this year.<br />
Devestated, because I never thought the day would come. For a second scared that I would forget. That I could ever forget.<br />
Healing, because it wasn't the main preoccupation.<br />
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To all the moms not sending one back to school, or stating them back to a school year for the same reason, or simply fresh in your missing your little one, my heart goes out to you.<br />
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Please take some time to be kind to yourself if you are currently struggling.<br />
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<br />Not One Too Manyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401092637757216691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596299933014139132.post-89254588310082858372014-09-02T14:34:00.000-04:002015-12-29T13:46:52.698-05:00So It Begins!!! Back to School We Go.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Today was our first day back after a break from hitting the books! </div>
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We spent a few weeks gearing up for the new year, and taking a well needed, well deserved break, and have gone back to it.</div>
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As you can see my boys are getting a little too old to be thrilled about our traditional back to school photos. Note cheese-y plastered on fake smiles.</div>
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They even went so far as to work diligently to avoid looking at the camera.</div>
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We have enjoyed our first day well enough, as unorthodox as it was for a first day back.<br />
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We had a few early risers who hit the books very early, and then we chose to get ready and change the scenery before too much of the day disappeared on us.<br />
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We took advantage of the short lines and ran some early morning errands. It afforded us the opportunity to practice our every day courtesies; waiting patiently in lines for our turn, keeping ourselves occupied in a non-obnoxious way, making pleasant conversation with people.<br />
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I think it worked out well for us, because it gave us a break, before returning back home to finish off the book work.<br />
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Fortunately, we have had lots of cooperation today, because we have also chosen to reinforce a forgotten policy, whereby tech time must be earned, and only after the days' responsibilities are taken care of, rather than the kids making the assumption that they are 'allowed' to have tech time 'just because'.<br />
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I give it three days before the novelty wears off and we have to work to keep this going.<br />
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But for today, I'm proud of the work they chose to put in on their first day back to it.Not One Too Manyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401092637757216691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596299933014139132.post-65965277639333269112014-08-26T07:07:00.001-04:002014-08-26T07:07:37.645-04:00We've come a long way baby: For Better or for Worse<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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There is a saying that makes its way around the internet:<br />
The couples that are meant to be are the ones who go through everything meant to tear them apart and come out even stronger.<br /><br />
It's true in a way. But it doesn't really reflect the work that's involved in making the choices that get you there.<br />
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I have great respect for prior generations that walked into marriage with the assumption of 'this is for life'. For better or worse. The days when marriages lasted Fifty, Seventy-Five years.<br />
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It's interesting though, when one is getting married now, how the 'worse' is glazed over.<br />
In reality though, it's how you handle the 'worse' that manages how long you get to have the 'better'.<br />
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My husband and I have had our share of mountain top experiences: A wedding, a first apartment, a first house, six children, personal victories, the joys that come when we see the product of our hard work.<br />
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We have also been through the heart break that only life's stresses can bring: moving, adding children to the family, carrying a child with a fatal diagnosis to term, and then burying the same child, massive weight gain, and the fall out that is brought on a family when it happens, chronic pain, finances, large family stresses, special needs, mental illness in the family, and more.<br />
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We have chosen though, that both the victories and the failures, the joys and the struggles are going to be seen through the same lens. The lens of 'For Better or Worse'.<br />
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That fuels how we make our choices, and inevitably, our outcome.<br />
We don't do it from a place of perfection. The journey still continues.<br />
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So, today, I wanted to pause and wish my husband a Happy Anniversary. I'm ready to tackle the next chapter.<br />
Fourteen years and counting, but I'm in this with you for life.<br />
<br />Not One Too Manyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401092637757216691noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596299933014139132.post-40049696258311676422014-08-24T18:31:00.002-04:002014-08-24T19:22:18.174-04:00But Daddy Told Me To!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A walk down memory lane if you please.... </div>
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The date is September 6th, 2007.</div>
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I had a five year old, and a three year old. Much less busy than now..... To be down to two would be considered a vacation in today's terms.</div>
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Let me set the scene: A mother sits, checking e-mail, a guilty pleasure. The baby naps, the eldest is occupied. Bliss.<br />
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Alas, her "Mommy Spidey-Sense" goes off! It has been 15 minutes since the last check in with her eldest son. The suspicious quiet raises her from her seat, knowing these things must be investigated.<br />
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She is heavily pregnant, and waddles her large self down the stairs, hoping that this trip will have been unneeded.</div>
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The Nintendo game has been abandoned. The living room is empty. The paint, last seen on the top of the entertainment unit, taller than a five year old has a right to climb, is missing.</div>
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Fear strikes the heart of the mother. She calls to him. Calls that go unanswered.</div>
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There is only one floor of the house left to investigate. The basement.<br />
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She reaches the bowels of the house, and can hardly take in the carnage she sees before her.</div>
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Paint on every conceivable surface in the basement. </div>
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The washer, dryer, the drywall was that waiting for it's installation.</div>
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The walls, TV, dressers, both front and back.<br />
The melamine cupboards, the table, the futon, and the carpet.</div>
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A lid to a large Rubber Maid container had served as his palate. Four colours of finger paint, masterfully mixed. </div>
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Stunned, and speechless, she lasts views a few pieces of paper with foot prints on them, before her eyes rest on the culprit, covered heard to toe was covered in multi-coloured finger paint. He was working on painting a small table. A masterpiece in his eyes.</div>
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Words fail, but she collects herself, before she asks him "What were you thinking??!!!" </div>
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His claim in Response? "Daddy told me to paint the table".</div>
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A miracle occurs, and the boys life is saved by the mother's sudden impulse usher the boy up stairs, to set him in front of a movie.<br />
She proceeds to call her grandmother, who chuckles and distracts her whilst she spends some time cleaning.<br />
The boys seems to know what is good for him in that moment, and chooses to sit, angelic, in front of the TV.</div>
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Many surfaces turned out okay, but 45 minutes of time spent cleaning was very tiring.</div>
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She returns to the main floor, satisfied a long last, that she has done all that she can do to rid the basement of the pestilent paint.</div>
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.He however, is indignant. "What took you so long?"<br />
When there is no response, he continues "Can I have a treat?"<br />
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Somehow he still, in his five year old confusion, looked legitimately put out that I was not happy to hop-to and get him is desired treat.</div>
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Nervy kid...... and yes..... In case you're wondering he lives to tell the tale. The Grandma who so lovingly gave him thus aforementioned paint as a gift lived also.<br />
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Not One Too Manyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401092637757216691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596299933014139132.post-10776045169901389102014-08-02T16:37:00.000-04:002014-08-02T16:37:57.497-04:00DIY Commercial Grade Bunk Beds<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR5Kk3t8OuXXjqFp0f0aItKiavuP9YTqmIFhNwZFrqYt27MAPZBLlMeS_56ZaGAwLFUmPFb4jxVis0clhbQczGbQnLAtMOhfVMo879fsI33f3EZIXbPHLqcR3hjmfk2OIpuRcsMftQblA/s1600/Bunk+Beds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR5Kk3t8OuXXjqFp0f0aItKiavuP9YTqmIFhNwZFrqYt27MAPZBLlMeS_56ZaGAwLFUmPFb4jxVis0clhbQczGbQnLAtMOhfVMo879fsI33f3EZIXbPHLqcR3hjmfk2OIpuRcsMftQblA/s1600/Bunk+Beds.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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Living in a larger family has both its' perks and it's down falls.<br />
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Since we need products that will stand up under <strike>significant</strike> 'commercial' use, yet are living on a single income, we often find that my Dear Husband's knack for applying his Red Green type skills around the house often comes in handy.<br />
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So we have decided that we need to do the great bedroom switch around yet again, in order to better use our limited space.<br />
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So this will require that we get creative. Yet again.<br />
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This time, it will require the building of bunk beds. Cheaper than custom made, yet better than commercial quality. Score!<br />
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We started with 4 x 4's, and 2 x 6's and added joist hangers to the mix. This is beginning of the bottom bunk.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf_WMW8mynqfIFHgq2A3uuKTna-Rc9FOG5IbDWIJiFo_IpJijGIvpnG8NLvfnwG8C6R9FIG8aahGhRpxSgtJKfiMem-eagd8jfY1uiTf7IADaqDeXmGXtq0ZvzP2Irp7BTyRvqpCK-zkE/s1600/20140719_150226.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf_WMW8mynqfIFHgq2A3uuKTna-Rc9FOG5IbDWIJiFo_IpJijGIvpnG8NLvfnwG8C6R9FIG8aahGhRpxSgtJKfiMem-eagd8jfY1uiTf7IADaqDeXmGXtq0ZvzP2Irp7BTyRvqpCK-zkE/s1600/20140719_150226.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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Next we add side supports and we added and installed slats in a 1 x 3" size. 'The Artist' was very happy to get in on the job, since it was hands on work, something he really enjoys. We also got to slide in proof to him of why we bother so much with Math class. See? Angles, measuring, counting and algebra are good for something!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHopWitJeSggfyl8WphxVb8RgIec-BGfS0U33vSncLYC0yF7muHlqR_9JWqUeoeVkh1tsyWqNKSaiOv4mZK8iOVRYXitu04wEdYNiKBFk5MFLcb-sXlP0O3mzLlldRIu6hVuV-wexn5LU/s1600/20140719_173450.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHopWitJeSggfyl8WphxVb8RgIec-BGfS0U33vSncLYC0yF7muHlqR_9JWqUeoeVkh1tsyWqNKSaiOv4mZK8iOVRYXitu04wEdYNiKBFk5MFLcb-sXlP0O3mzLlldRIu6hVuV-wexn5LU/s1600/20140719_173450.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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Now, admittedly things were pretty sturdy, but sturdy won't cut it at our place. Next onto adding extra support for the base under the mattress. We need extra support, so this will stand up under the rigorous workload of large family living. We secured them in place with many screws, so that they will stay put!<br /></div>
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There was a discussion briefly, about whether all this was necessary. Mark seemed unconvinced that he should have to go to the extra step. </div>
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I did, though, have memories of my childhood, of a child on the top bunk having a pest underneath them, lifting the mattress through the bottom of the top bunk with their feet, because of the slat-type design. To the child that receives the top bunk, you're welcome. This design change is for you.</div>
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Once everything was well assembled, we ended up using some paint to 'pretty' things up. Two coats later and now we are ready for the mattresses and bedding. Not too shabby. </div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">This project has worked out really well. I know it's very simple in design, but we can add to it with decorative touches down the road when we are not as time pressed.<br /><br />Just for curiosity's sake, I went online to do a price comparison, and see what we saved by dealing finding, and doing the work ourselves. I guess it's no surprise, but I had a hard time finding anything that was built this solid to be able to do an honest price comparison, with all the extra structural work we put into this, but as near as we could guess, we saved about $500. I'd say that was worth our time.</span></div>
<br />Not One Too Manyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401092637757216691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596299933014139132.post-48215779636855468172014-07-31T13:25:00.001-04:002014-07-31T13:25:20.752-04:00Tales from the 'Use it or Lose it Shelf'<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
I was finding that our weekly grocery shopping days would always have a fridge clean out attached to them that was taking up too much of my time. We were also having the problem of a lot of waste going directly into the green cart for composting.<br />
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With a large family, and a desire to stretch our pennies, I thought "There has got to be a better way".<br />
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One day, it occurred to me that a change of approach might serve us better. When we replaced our fridge, creating more usable space, I designated one of the shelves the 'Use it or Lose it Shelf".<br />
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Everything that is near expiry date, or left overs, or that would otherwise be relegated to the farthest recesses of the fridge, never to be found again, until it had reached 'science-project' status, goes on this shelf.<br />
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We keep it there, because in a pinch, if we need to figure out something for dinner, we can immediately see what needs to be used up.<br /><br />There are lots of websites out there that allow us to punch in the ingredients we have, and then it'll spoon feed us a recipe that will help us use those ingredients. Getting the kids involved can really work out well too. Helps them to learn cooking skills, and also problem solving.<br />
<br />
This morning, the shelf had broccoli and grape tomatoes on it. So our budding chef, 'The Planner', chose to make an omelette. Some eggs, and cheese and butter later, and Voila! What you see in the picture at the top of this post was born.<br /><br />One less offering for the green cart!Not One Too Manyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401092637757216691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596299933014139132.post-78588716070427075852014-07-08T20:14:00.000-04:002014-07-08T20:17:12.429-04:00Things we never thought we'd say (And then we had kids)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
We have some pretty eccentric monkeys in our zoo. There are five of them, which almost never leaves us at a loss for strange goings on at our house. So keeping that in mind, we often have to say things that we never ever imagined would come out of our mouths.<br />
Since someone ought to get a laugh out of it, here are snippets of our 12 years as parents. You might want to put that drink down now, and imagine trying to say this with a straight face:<br />
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"Gram, is there a procedure for cleaning a child's eye after he has peed in it?" (Josh was a few days old when he took advantage of an open diaper during a change. Chalk it up to being rookie parents)<br />
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"Please don't stand on the refrigerator."<br />
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"The contents of your diaper are not for painting with."<br />
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"Stop biting my sock!"<br />
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"Please don't lick the baby."<br />
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"Take the Marshmellow out of your nose."<br />
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"Honey, we don't tear the wings off flies and take them for walks. They don't like it."<br />
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"No, I'm not going to kiss your butt better".<br />
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"Sit up please. Your head is too close to the toilet water."<br />
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"Yes, I know you are done with them for the year. No, you may not burn your school books."<br />
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"Please don't lick the window."<br />
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"Spit out that worm. Wait. How many have you eaten?"<br />
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"No running with scissors."<br />
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"Hand over the diaper stash."<br />
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"You need to put on clothes BEFORE we leave the house. Yes. Underwear too."<br />
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"Fine. Oatmeal for a third meal today. Just eat SOMETHING."<br />
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"You need to stop drinking the bath water."<br />
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"Don't lick my arm" (Are we sensing a theme here?)<br />
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(On the umpteenth time being asked about 'what's for dinner') "Frog legs and Purple Ketchup."<br />
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" Get down off the __________ I don't have time in my schedule for an emerg trip today." (Can you tell this one took on many forms?)<br />
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"No, I do not want to hold your booger."<br />
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Hope you found this fun, and that you add a few of your own at the bottom of this post!<br />
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<br />Not One Too Manyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401092637757216691noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596299933014139132.post-71408097333883242632014-06-26T14:49:00.001-04:002015-12-29T14:07:56.443-05:00Half The Girl I Used To Be: The Sky is the Limit<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I followed up with the Bariatric Clinic, today, so I wanted to submit my One Year Appointment Update:<br />
<br />
I have a couple of vitamin deficiencies, none of which are major, and all of which are things that can be easily repaired with close attention. I get to work on making sure to get ALL of my vitamins and minerals in. All the time. No slacking off!</div>
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<br />
I have to get in with my endocrinologist or family doctor, because my thyroid medication dosage is now TOO HIGH!!! <br />
I'm thrilled, because this was my only medical issue pre-op that was measured by medications I needed to take. It was also the basis on which the internist told me I'd never be part of the 3% that get off this amount of weight and keep it off, without surgery. So for comparison purposes, I've been on a really high dose for years. To need it reduced is really awesome. For me, comparable to the diabetic who wants desperately off their meds, and manages a serious reduction in medication needs.<br />
It's quite possible that I'll never be entirely off the meds, but to know my system is behaving closer to normal, and will need less help to do so, is priceless.<br />
( We'll see with re-assessment how much it's reduced by) </div>
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<b>All about the food</b></div>
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They have upped my calorie counts to prepare me for maintenance. I'm now officially aiming for 1200-1500 calories per day. I know. It seems low to the average person, but remember I've worked my way up from 15 mL cups, taken every ten minutes, and worked each stage, to get to this. <br />
Some people think that once you're where you want to be, you can go back to what you were doing before. To keep what I've got though, this is likely where I will rest for life. (Give or take for exercise allowances) Discipline doesn't stop at one year. Clean eating and lots of movement has to stay a good habit.<br />
<br />
My protein is okay to stay at the levels I'd had them at, which was aiming for 80-100 grams per day.<br />
I get to food journal at my new levels, and come back in two months. If nothing else more exciting comes up, I will then continue on to yearly appointments, until the five year mark.</div>
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<b>Have we arrived?</b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.63636302947998px;">They told me to consider myself at goal. Can't quite wrap my head around that one. It's been a year of driving toward what seemed like an impossible goal. What to do with transitioning toward maintenance?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.63636302947998px;">Well, the new goal is daily compliance to the program, that's what.</span></div>
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The excess skin, they said should be considered to be in the 10-15 lb range, so some of that weight I'm carrying' doesn't really count'. It's almost like the expectation should be of an adjusted BMI because of the skin. It's not a pretty side of going through this, but I can hardly complain. </div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.63636302947998px;"> I was reassured, that as far as goal was concerned, BMI is not a great tool for picking a number goal for weight. (We all knew that though, right</span><span style="font-size: 13.63636302947998px;"> </span><i class="_4-k1 img sp_CURP0hUK7HI sx_df9f6b" style="background-image: url(https://fbstatic-a.akamaihd.net/rsrc.php/v2/ya/r/TuiykwnMzF4.png); background-position: -54px -954px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 314px 974px; display: inline-block; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; height: 16px; vertical-align: -3px; width: 16px;"></i><span style="font-size: 13.63636302947998px;"> BMI doesn't take muscle into consideration. Arnold Schwarzenegger would be considered obese.... pshaw.</span><span style="font-size: 13.63636302947998px;">)</span></div>
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Walking in to my appointment today, I was still pretty uncertain as to what my ultimate goal should be<br />
The mental portion of this roller coaster still remains, as far as mentally thinking of myself at goal, but they say I'm there. I'm guessing they know what their talking about and now it's up to me to get my head in line with that.</div>
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A friend says that it's just like having graduated. Maybe she's right. Doesn't mean the work stops here, but man it's a great place to enjoy the achievement.</div>
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<b>Now on to the exciting part. Everyone wants to know about the numbers, right?</b></div>
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I am down 147 pounds and they consider my results *not typical*.<br />
Typical, they expect to be 30% of total weight loss.<br />
My number was a hair under 48%.</div>
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So, for me, this is a good day. It took a lot of work, and a lot of great support to get me here, so I want to express a big thank you to all of you, for your support on this journey. I look forward to days ahead, and long term healthy maintenance.</div>
Not One Too Manyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401092637757216691noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596299933014139132.post-1959019103585195182014-06-24T13:42:00.001-04:002014-07-12T07:27:31.269-04:00Compassion in the younger years<br />
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A forgotten mouse trip hidden away became a spot of fascination of my three year old.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Snap!</span><br />
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Some well deserved tears followed.<br />
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I removed the trap from her hand, and verified that she was going to be fine. That didn't stop the noise immediately, though.<br />
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In a flood of compassion, her two older sisters rush to her side, kneeling to help her. I was shoo-ed away. Seeing they had the task well in hand, I continued making lunch. Leaving them to their own devices.<br />
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The oldest hugged her, and said to the injured party "ah, you poor thing". I was feeling like this was a heart warming moment. I was so proud of them.<br />
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Suddenly, a knowing look passed between the two eldest. Something of tremendous importance was about to take place. I could just tell.<br />
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Conspiratorially, one said to the other "Let's count her fingers to see if she still has five." There was a stunningly mischieveous look on each of their faces.<br />
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Yeah, yeah. Multi-tasking at its' finest. What looked like compassion, had quickly turned into curiosity as to the actual effects of a mouse trap on a hand. A mere science experiment.<br />
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Only at my house.<br />
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<br />Not One Too Manyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401092637757216691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596299933014139132.post-24643509536301217342014-06-23T07:33:00.000-04:002015-12-29T13:46:14.758-05:00A Pocket Full of Victories<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
It's so amazing the difference one year can make.<br />
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I recently attended our annual Home School Picnic event. It's a celebration for some of us finishing our year, and for others a fantastic opportunity to get together with friends before continuing on with summer studies.<br />
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It was a ton of fun, and as a leader for the local group, it was so nice to be able to get to meet new people, and to get to connect faces with names, since I have the opportunity to get to know many of the people via social media long before I get to meet them in person.<br />
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I was however taken back down memory lane, because<a href="http://encountersoftheeccentrickind.blogspot.ca/2014/06/the-view-from-here-first-year.html" target="_blank"> it's been a year since I really started in earnest down my weight loss journey road</a>, and it was a marker moment, where I could look back and see the differences from one year to the next.<br />
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The proximity of the release of my one year blog post about having had Weight Loss Surgery to this picnic naturally brought up some conversation as to my success. The acknowledgment for my hard work has been wonderful, for certain. But something far cooler happened that day.<br />
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I had a person ask me an innocent question. "So were you this out-going before losing the weight?". My initial gut response was "No". Which I said at the time.<br />
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But the answer was actually much more complicated than that. You see, I was overweight as a teenager, but didn't start piling on serious weight until I got married. Then the babies came and the thyroid was diagnosed as problematic.<br />
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What I hadn't realized until later than day, is that my answer should have been "Yes". At one point I was this outgoing. But my battle with weight had taken it from me. Or rather, I threw it away with both hands, well over a decade ago, and had forgotten one more thing, that I didn't know I'd lost.<br />
Not until it came back.<br />
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So to that innocent asker of the question: Thank you. You gave me a gift on Friday. A gift of realizing another part of my life that I have been able to take back. You know who you are.<br />
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You want to know another really cool thing that happened?<br />
Look back up at the top.<br />
See that picture?<br />
See me standing there, with my shirt tucked in? Wearing a BELT?!<br />
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Yeah. That hasn't happened since roughly 2000.<br />
That my friends is just one more in my pocket full of victories.<br />
I am ever grateful.<br />
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(Thanks also to Rachael DeBruin of <a href="http://www.parentingandhomeschoolinginfaith.com/" target="_blank">Diamonds in the Rough </a>for taking the picture for me.)Not One Too Manyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401092637757216691noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596299933014139132.post-68838127909886013592014-06-16T21:50:00.000-04:002015-12-29T14:08:12.572-05:00The View from Here: First Year Anniversary of Weight Loss Surgery<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm2zzb9j5B0Z491MHmNk84M95eaehD9ZmaNtURVAoTOyPvgq05XzztVisTIGpzNKkpJBctXhRRAfIdc1SiZk0ThJRn5Q5BgPM12E0V4qjvRIN8TeaaCg-zMRQ37AiOs-HdKBOavieD2HM/s1600/The+View+From+Here.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm2zzb9j5B0Z491MHmNk84M95eaehD9ZmaNtURVAoTOyPvgq05XzztVisTIGpzNKkpJBctXhRRAfIdc1SiZk0ThJRn5Q5BgPM12E0V4qjvRIN8TeaaCg-zMRQ37AiOs-HdKBOavieD2HM/s1600/The+View+From+Here.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Some of you knew me before, and many of you didn't. Either way, I've been told by people that they didn't recognize me upon seeing me for the first time in a long time. It's been a pretty big year, with some pretty big changes. As you read this blog post, you'll see words that link to the other blogs posts from the series I've written. Feel free to catch up by reading those as well, if you missed them. It definitely gives more perspective to the before and after pictures.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">June 17th, 2013 I took a leap, and changed my life by combining Roux-en-Y surgery to my tool box of tools to aid me in my weight loss struggles. So I am one year out from having had gastric bypass. It has been quite the year. This is a really good spot to take stock, of where I am now, and where I am going. This for sure though, is not the destination. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When I began I was over 300 pounds, and have lost 145. I have literally lost a whole person. I have dropped from a size 26 pants, to a size 8. My shirt size went from a size 4x to a size large.<br /><br />Now all of those numbers are impressive, but what really counts is the following:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> I am no longer in constant pain in my back, hips, legs, knees, ankles, neck</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My balance is improved. Before losing the weight and increasing my movement, I couldn't right myself. If I tripped over something, I went down.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I now rarely wake up tired, before I woke tired, trudged through the day tired, and often needed to nap when my children napped, just to get through the day.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Where before, I was so miserable that I wasn't able to be the person I am down deep inside, now I am experiencing the joy that comes with being able to participate more fully in life.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> I can keep moving with no troubles now.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have a ton of what we call Non-Scale Victories, and if you missed them, you can read them here in <a href="http://encountersoftheeccentrickind.blogspot.ca/2014/06/these-are-few-of-my-favourite-things.html" target="_blank">Non-Scale Victories: A few of my Favourite Things</a>. There are so many things I got to take back during this process.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><u><br />Changes I never anticipated</u></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sure, I knew I would lose weight. I knew I'd be raising the chances of being around for my kids. I knew I'd be able to move better. I was taking a fighting chance of gaining everything that actually ended up on my list of victories. But so much came out of this that I had no way to foresee:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>1) My ideas about this tool were challenged.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I had to challenge everything I thought was true about gastric bypass. I found out <a href="http://encountersoftheeccentrickind.blogspot.ca/2014/06/paddling-like-dickens-below-surface.html" target="_blank">just how much was under the surface</a>, beyond the pretty and inspiring before and after pictures. I had to make <a href="http://encountersoftheeccentrickind.blogspot.ca/2014/06/a-complicated-choice.html" target="_blank">a pretty complicated choice</a> I had to challenge my, and other people's ideas about gastric bypass being the 'Easy way Out.' I talked about it in two posts <a href="http://encountersoftheeccentrickind.blogspot.ca/2014/06/gastric-bypass-easy-way-out.html" target="_blank">here</a> (Where I talked about the pre-op process) and <a href="http://encountersoftheeccentrickind.blogspot.ca/2014/06/gastric-bypass-easy-way-out-part-two.html" target="_blank">here </a> (Where I told the story of my early post operative period). Now I know that there is a lot that goes into the process, and that this is a tool to be used in conjunction with other tools, to give the obese a fighting chance to get the weight off. There is no shame in using this tool. There is nothing easy about it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>2) Changing social circles completely.</b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"> I had friendships change for the most wonderful reasons. </span>I began to chase down the opportunities to spend time with positive and inspiring people. People who shared my vision, and could see my goals, and chose to help me approach them with hope in trying to reach them. Some of those people were reaching for the same goal. Some of them were in-person, and some solely on-line. That made all the difference, to have the privilege of walking beside them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I also had some people that chose to show unconditional support to me during that time, and it was such a gift. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>3) How differently people would treat me.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I had my suspicions and ideas in advance of surgery as to how people would respond to my surgery.<b> <a href="http://encountersoftheeccentrickind.blogspot.ca/2014/06/because-i-was-afraid-why-i-said-nothing.html" target="_blank">Because I was afraid, I chose to keep it quiet until after it was done.</a> </b>The only people that got to know in advance were on a need to know basis.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> I didn't realize some of the fat bias until I was being treated differently. It's just plain weird how fast chivalry from strangers comes back when you're not huge. How much smarter you're given the credit for being (or maybe it just removes the stereotype of being dumb and lazy when you lose the weight- who knows?)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>4) How differently I would treat me. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I was down right mean to me at times. I said negative, self-defeating things to me. I didn't believe anything positive anyone said about me. I chose to believe negative things that others said about me, true or not. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My misery had affected my outward behavior and it wasn't until I lost some weight, and started being happier, that I realized what an unhappy person I had become. When I started to be happier, people also responded to that, I think. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">5) How much this journey had everything to do with my head.</span></b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My focus changed- I developed a focus on being healthy and stronger, instead of being self-destructive. I became happy about not only every ounce I lost, but also in regaining the little things. These things are now a novelty to me. Things that most people, never having been morbidly obese, take for granted.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>I learned that I need to stop caring what others think so much.</b> </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I talked about this more here in <a href="http://encountersoftheeccentrickind.blogspot.ca/2014/04/life-lessons-dont-submit-to-court-of.html" target="_blank">Don't Submit to the Court of Public Opinion </a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>How much gratitude would become one of my daily tools.</b> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I decided along the way that I never wanted to go back to where I came from. I appreciate the woman that got me to this point, but I need to maintain the growth. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> That required taking inventory on many stops along the journey. I had the wonderful opportunity to share each of the small 'wins' with my support system. I was so grateful that they played along, and not only cheered me on, but started sharing theirs as well. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We were able to measure success in more ways than just our relationship to gravity.</span><br />
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It's one reasons I took so many pictures during the journey. I needed a reminder at each of the stops along the way how far I had come.<br />
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I'm enjoying the view from here, and looking forward to the work of maintaining what has been achieved.Not One Too Manyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401092637757216691noreply@blogger.com9