Well, I've managed to get my weight up to 243, which is a personal high for me. Too much Christmas stuff at Dina's (although she was good before Christmas), Grace, Angela (of all people) and well myself. I never held back when we went out to my favorite hangout, the Honeytree or when Michael & Dina took us out for dinner. So what do I do about it?
Barb found these diet pills put out by Jillian of the Biggest Loser. $20 and a 21-day plan. I noticed first off that I needed to run to the can more often. In fact I had to hurry to the bathroom more than once! I did go down to 237 but when we had lunch with Pastor Mike & Judy and saw what Mike lost on South Beach, we decided to try it.
Barb agreed to prepare all of the funky stuff I had to eat so why not - give it a rip!
Since I am on day 4 now as I write this, I'll summarize the first 3 days.
Mistake #1. Sunday was NFL Championship day. The NFC & AFC Championship games to determine who plays in the Super Bowl. So I decided it would be nice to have "last meals" and bought a large frozen pizza for dinner. We went to Dominik's for B'fast where I had a Dagwood sandwich and fried potatoes. From there it went downhill. As we watched the games, I ate cheese, cheese and crackers, 3 beers and finally most of the 3 meat pizza. I think Barb had 2 pieces and we left one. Monday morning, I found that I had gained 2 lbs. and was at 239! Big mistake.
Day 1:
Breakfast was 6oz of V8 vegetable juice (hot & spicy yum!), 2 strange vegetable quiche cups made with spinach, eggs, low fat cheese, green peppers and hot sauce.
Mid-morning snack - a mozzarella cheese stick
Lunch was grilled chicken breast on a romaine salad with balsamic vinegar dressing and sugar free Jell-O for dessert.
mid-afternoon snack was celery stuffed with Laughing Cow light cheese.
Dinner, grilled salmon (yuck) replaced with left over chicken we had for lunch, steamed asparagus and a tossed salad with a light Italian dressing.
My evening dessert was a vanilla Ricotta cheese thing Barb made. Very good.
Day 2:
Breakfast was the hot & spicy V8 vegetable juice, 3 poached eggs and 3 slices of Canadian bacon. In retrospect, 2 slices of Canadian bacon would suffice.
Mid-morning snack - 2 turkey roll ups made with Boston lettuce, low fat turkey slices and cilantro Mayo made with low fat Mayo, chopped cilantro leaves, lime juice, soy sauce and garlic. This is a very nice snack.
Lunch was chopped salad with tuna. The salad was chopped lettuce, cukes, tomatoes, celery and an olive oil dressing with llimejuiceand garlic. I vetoed the avocado that was in the recipe. Unlike most folks, I happen to hate avocado. I had another Jell-O for dessert.
My mid-afternoon snack was once again celery stuffed with Laughing Cow light cheese.
Dinner: baked chicken breast served with roasted egg plant with red & green pepper, fresh basil and olive oil and a small tossed salad. Seems to be a lot of veggies.
My evening dessert was another Ricotta cheese thing Barb made but with some coffee powder and unsweetened cocoa powder. Again, a very good combination but Barb rewarded me with a sugar free fudge sickle too.
Day 3:
Breakfast was not my favorite. She prepared an omelet with asparagus, mushrooms and cheese. Not too bad with hot sauce but I told her I would prepare the omelets from now on. I agreed to eat anything she put in front of me and that was difficult. lol
Mid-morning snack was another mozzarella cheese stick.
Lunch was interesting because we had a lunch date with our good friend, Jan. We decided that I could eat a Chef's salad with their blue cheese dressing. I also drank ice water. A beer would have been nice or even a diet coke but not during the 2 weeks of phase one.
Barb made me Ham roll ups for my afternoon snack which were the same as the turkey ones but using ham instead. Very good.
Dinner was a broiled sirloin steak, which Barb cooked very well, steamed broccoli, sliced tomato and a really horrible mashed cauliflower. OK, she used her blender to mash them instead of her hand mixer so it was pureed instead of mashed. I ate them but it was hard!
Tonight's dessert was another ricotta cheese thing with slivered almonds. Tasted OK but I preferred the other two she tried out.
As I go through this experience, I will try to keep posting my meals.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Facial Lesions
This whole thing started several weeks ago when a "mole" on my face seemed to be in a bad position and when I washed my face it kept breaking open and bleeding. After awhile Barb says I should have it checked out. She is a veteran of facial lesion surgery and in her case, the lesion was precancerous.
So, after I return to Florida, I call the Ft Pierce VA clinic and they set me up with my Nurse Practitioner who agrees that it should be looked at closely. They schedule me to go to the West Palm VA Hospital for an appointment with a Dermatologist. He looks at it, removes it and says that he'll send it out for biopsy but he thinks its a wart. A week later, I get a call from a scheduler at the hospital who wants me to come in the next day for my surgery. Eh ah, what surgery are we talking about? He says "for your facial cancer". This is news to me but I've come to find that the professional staff at the clinic and hospitals are super, conscientious people who try to do an excellent job. The support staff are bureaucrats who think the VA owes them something and we should be happy that they even talk to us. Someone dropped the ball.
So I go to West Palm and met very nice Doctor Pat. She looks me over and then sets me on the table with the 3 big lights over it and proceeds to numb me and then cuts out around the incision that the dermatologist did. Now I think she removed a huge chunk of my face but Barb says "wow, I thought it would be bigger". What the hell, not her face. LOL
So now I have an incision closed by 5 stitches and it actually hurts - aches like a toothache for several hours.
Today they remove the stitches and I find that I have a clean bill of health. The "chunk" did indeed have malignant cancers cells in the center around where the first incision was made. The outer edges had no sign of bad cells so that means I'm safe for now. Good news for all concerned especially me!
So, after I return to Florida, I call the Ft Pierce VA clinic and they set me up with my Nurse Practitioner who agrees that it should be looked at closely. They schedule me to go to the West Palm VA Hospital for an appointment with a Dermatologist. He looks at it, removes it and says that he'll send it out for biopsy but he thinks its a wart. A week later, I get a call from a scheduler at the hospital who wants me to come in the next day for my surgery. Eh ah, what surgery are we talking about? He says "for your facial cancer". This is news to me but I've come to find that the professional staff at the clinic and hospitals are super, conscientious people who try to do an excellent job. The support staff are bureaucrats who think the VA owes them something and we should be happy that they even talk to us. Someone dropped the ball.
So I go to West Palm and met very nice Doctor Pat. She looks me over and then sets me on the table with the 3 big lights over it and proceeds to numb me and then cuts out around the incision that the dermatologist did. Now I think she removed a huge chunk of my face but Barb says "wow, I thought it would be bigger". What the hell, not her face. LOL
So now I have an incision closed by 5 stitches and it actually hurts - aches like a toothache for several hours.
Today they remove the stitches and I find that I have a clean bill of health. The "chunk" did indeed have malignant cancers cells in the center around where the first incision was made. The outer edges had no sign of bad cells so that means I'm safe for now. Good news for all concerned especially me!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
I didn't want to lose this blog that Patti Anne mentioned on Twitter.
God twitters creation
God: Gosh its dark in here.
7 days ago
God: There thats better.
7 days ago
God: Hey guys im finally on twitter! Whats up?
7 days ago
God: guys?
7 days ago
God: oh right. i’m the only thing in existence, haha.
7 days ago
God: shut up i wasnt talking 2 you RT @Satan I TOO EXIST
7 days ago
God: BOOORREEDD with endless void gonna make some stuff
7 days ago
God: Hey look what I did today! Separated the darkness from the light. Universe looks like a black and white cookie.
7 days ago
God: I shall call the light day and the darkness Eileen.
7 days ago
God: Darkness doesnt look like an Eileen. Lets go with night
7 days ago
God: Also i created heaven & earth.
7 days ago
God: also i created apostrophes but im not gonna use them
7 days ago
God: thats enough creating for now. Catch ya tomorrow
7 days ago
God: RT @Satan: WHAT IS “TOMORROW”
7 days ago
God: oh i forgot 2 mention i created time too. Busy day.
7 days ago
God: kind of lame creating 2day. Created a firmament. Not sure what that is
6 days ago
God: OMme so much 2 do 2day you guys! Got to bring 4th land from the waters AND create plants and trees. What should i do first?!
5 days ago
God: should have done land first. plants sank
5 days ago
God: fixed! Trees now ON TOP of land.
5 days ago
God: sorry no tweets yesterday guys. Made the sun moon & stars. turned out 2 be more work than i expected. Theyre bigger than they look
3 days ago
God: another busy day. Made @beastsofthesea, @birdsoftheair, and best of all: @penguins. Those turned out so well.
3 days ago
God: made some more kinds of penguins.
3 days ago
God: Poll: What else should i make? a. beasts of the land b. creatures in my own image c. more penguins
2 days ago
God: Answer my poll!
2 days ago
God: maybe it was a mistake to create the internet b4 invention of computers
2 days ago
God: all right penguins it is. Yay!
2 days ago
God: oops. Penguins don’t like the desert.
2 days ago
God: or Indiana.
2 days ago
God: or the sky.
2 days ago
God: ill try the rainforest. Everything thrives in the rainforest.
2 days ago
God: Not penguins.
2 days ago
God: screw it. Made a bunch of other beasts of the land. Not as awesome as penguins but much less picky.
2 days ago
God: also created fake fossils and planted them in the ground 2 make the earth appear much older than it is. Just a little practical joke.
2 days ago
God: i need more followers.
2 days ago
God: #FollowFriday @adam @eve
2 days ago
God: @adam @eve I am the LORD your God who separated the light from the darkness. You shall have no other God before me for I am the LORD your Go
2 days ago
God: &#$%ing character limits. Point is, yay! I made you! Hi! Do what i say.
2 days ago
God: @adam: such as #noteatingapples.
2 days ago
God: @adam what do u mean why? Because im ur god and i said so.
2 days ago
God: @adam why r u bugging me about this? u can have all the mangoes u want and theyre way better.
2 days ago
God: @adam well youre just going to have to take my word for it.
2 days ago
God: @adam WHAT is ur DAMAGE with this apple thing? Eves not tweeting about apples. Shes just off – um –
2 days ago
God: @eve Hey!
2 days ago
God: @adam @eve: EPIC FAIL at #noteatingapples. Both of u r BANNED
2 days ago
God: so yesterday was really stressful. Im taking a break today. No more tweets til tomorrow.
1 day ago
God: Check it out, baby panda sneezing! http://tr.im/DsZ5 (took a break from my break to create YouTube.)
1 day ago
Thursday, October 1, 2009
been awhile
It’s been some time since I've opened this site up. Just lazy I guess since I haven't really been overly busy. Well, I guess I have been working on the house since I've been back plus a day in Bradenton for Dr Audry and a day in West Palm getting glasses.
Today I cleaned the front entryway with my pressure washer. These stupid gnats seem to like my front screen - lights on or off. Anyway, there are thousands of dead carcasses hanging on the screens. Can't blow them off, got to pressure wash them. While I was at it, I pressure washed the front walkway, the recyclable bins, the dead grass at the foot of the driveway and the loose paint on the stone on the front.
The stone is a round 18" in diameter stone with stained glass hummingbirds and flowers embedded. I made this a number of years ago in Ellenton with Charlotte Wahler. I miss Charlotte. She's a great lady and a great teacher. Her & her husband, Bob are great people.
I had to paint the stone because the lawn people in Ellenton got fertilizer on the stucco part, which rusted, into the stucco. To cover it up, I have to paint it periodically. I should make a new one. The paint is on and now I have to scrape the paint from the glass.
Today I went to Sister Judy's to help her with her computer. Hers runs terribly slow for some reason. It's a Compaq and should be Ok but never is. I really don't know what to do to speed it up. I did forget to put an antivirus back on it. I'll have to make a note to go back.
My Bucs are pitiful this season. Last Sunday's loss to the Giants kind of reminded me of pre-1986 teams. This week Josh Johnson, second year backup QB will start. Not too enthused right now even if I did take them in my pool this week. The boys in Wisconsin will get a chuckle out of it.
Today, Carmela came by and got the weeds out of our patio. She returned later and swept the envir-sand into the cracks. I really didn't need her to do it but she started it so. I don't think Barb was too happy spending $30 on doing it but between my back and her ailments it was the smart thing to do. Carmela told me about her church in Vero Beach. First Church of God on 58th Street. Sounds like a big church but maybe we'll try it.
Today I cleaned the front entryway with my pressure washer. These stupid gnats seem to like my front screen - lights on or off. Anyway, there are thousands of dead carcasses hanging on the screens. Can't blow them off, got to pressure wash them. While I was at it, I pressure washed the front walkway, the recyclable bins, the dead grass at the foot of the driveway and the loose paint on the stone on the front.
The stone is a round 18" in diameter stone with stained glass hummingbirds and flowers embedded. I made this a number of years ago in Ellenton with Charlotte Wahler. I miss Charlotte. She's a great lady and a great teacher. Her & her husband, Bob are great people.
I had to paint the stone because the lawn people in Ellenton got fertilizer on the stucco part, which rusted, into the stucco. To cover it up, I have to paint it periodically. I should make a new one. The paint is on and now I have to scrape the paint from the glass.
Today I went to Sister Judy's to help her with her computer. Hers runs terribly slow for some reason. It's a Compaq and should be Ok but never is. I really don't know what to do to speed it up. I did forget to put an antivirus back on it. I'll have to make a note to go back.
My Bucs are pitiful this season. Last Sunday's loss to the Giants kind of reminded me of pre-1986 teams. This week Josh Johnson, second year backup QB will start. Not too enthused right now even if I did take them in my pool this week. The boys in Wisconsin will get a chuckle out of it.
Today, Carmela came by and got the weeds out of our patio. She returned later and swept the envir-sand into the cracks. I really didn't need her to do it but she started it so. I don't think Barb was too happy spending $30 on doing it but between my back and her ailments it was the smart thing to do. Carmela told me about her church in Vero Beach. First Church of God on 58th Street. Sounds like a big church but maybe we'll try it.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Wouldn't it be great if Michigan beat Notre Dame!
Last year was a disappointing year for us Michigan fans. Lloyd Carr retired and Rich Rodriguez was named head coach. Coach Rod came from West Virginia and had been successful where ever he coached. He lead Michigan to the worst season ever 3 - 9. It was embarrassing.
The usual problem with being a bad team is that your good players desert you for other schools and recruiting is a bitch. Now we are the bottom of the heap (ranked #38) and in a classic rebuilding year.
Coach Rod utilizes the spread offense which is what most college teams have been using as of late and he is somewhat known for being quite an inovator of the system. Last week, Michigan handily beat Western Michigan, a good MAC school but a MAC school. This week, we get to see them play a decent team in Notre Dame. This is kind of a must win situation since Michigan was the doormat of the Big Ten last year and a continuation of losing to good schools could lead this young team to a downward spiral. Go Blue!
The usual problem with being a bad team is that your good players desert you for other schools and recruiting is a bitch. Now we are the bottom of the heap (ranked #38) and in a classic rebuilding year.
Coach Rod utilizes the spread offense which is what most college teams have been using as of late and he is somewhat known for being quite an inovator of the system. Last week, Michigan handily beat Western Michigan, a good MAC school but a MAC school. This week, we get to see them play a decent team in Notre Dame. This is kind of a must win situation since Michigan was the doormat of the Big Ten last year and a continuation of losing to good schools could lead this young team to a downward spiral. Go Blue!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
It's Tuesday already?
Of course it is. Labor Day weekend was a good one. Saturday, Barb & I had our wedding vows renewed, Sunday was spent at Angela's watching Byron make chili. Monday morning we went to the Clarkston Labor Day Parade to finally see Lauren march with her high school band. She just spent a week at band camp so hopefully they look good. They did and so did she. I was surprised to see how serious she takes it. She was eyes forward and never cracked a smile when she marched past us. Her eyes told us that she saw us but she was all concentration. I guess so she didn't mess up her precise steps. It was cool seeing her march though. I hadn't attended a parade in years and didn't realize that everyone parading would be throwing candy to the kids. Wow, the kids cleaned up. We had to laugh when Barb noticed that one of the groups marching was advertising a Dental Service and they threw a ton of candy out.
After the parade, Barb, Dina and I went to our favorite restaurant, The Honeytree for a late breakfast. Sarah who is our favorite waitress waited on us. Since it was already 11:00, we were all pretty hungry but I resisted my normal strawberry jam with my toast. Not losing much weight but I'm not gaining either which is hard when you live with the Jozwik's.
Later in the afternoon, Dina's Aunt Dolly came by so we all hoped in Michael's truck and drove to Motor City Casino in Detroit. This seems to be a favorite past time for the Jozwik's. We drove down through Detroit and I'm always amazed at the number of burnt up or boarded up houses along the freeway. Kind of reminds me of the pictures of Beirut that used to run on the national news. Barb & I kind of broke out even.... well, Barb won $15 and I lost $15. When we met up at 5:30, Dina was hungry so we decided to hit their buffet. $24 a person! We knew that Greektown Casino which is close by offers theirs for $9.99 so we were surprised. Michael said, let's see if our comps will pay for it all. They swiped their card and sure enough, all 5 of us had a free meal. Michael said that a few weeks back, they won $2,800 and that added to their comp points. The food was far superior to Greektown's so we knew why t was more expensive and there were a whole lot of people eating so the question of Michigan's economy came back up for discussion. I am truly amazed that in a state that has 29% unemployment, there are so many people gambling. How is this possible? Mystery of life, I guess.
This morning is overcast and 65 degrees. The weather report calls for mid 70's but rainy for the next 3 days. Time to start thinking about our trip home to Florida. Of course, the weather down there is still mid to upper 80's and thunderstorms so maybe we need to wait until that weather quiets down as well. I can handle mid to upper 70's not so much 80's. Tropical Storm Fred is out in the Atlantic but they project it to stay in the Atlantic so there's no threat of Hurricane right now.
After the parade, Barb, Dina and I went to our favorite restaurant, The Honeytree for a late breakfast. Sarah who is our favorite waitress waited on us. Since it was already 11:00, we were all pretty hungry but I resisted my normal strawberry jam with my toast. Not losing much weight but I'm not gaining either which is hard when you live with the Jozwik's.
Later in the afternoon, Dina's Aunt Dolly came by so we all hoped in Michael's truck and drove to Motor City Casino in Detroit. This seems to be a favorite past time for the Jozwik's. We drove down through Detroit and I'm always amazed at the number of burnt up or boarded up houses along the freeway. Kind of reminds me of the pictures of Beirut that used to run on the national news. Barb & I kind of broke out even.... well, Barb won $15 and I lost $15. When we met up at 5:30, Dina was hungry so we decided to hit their buffet. $24 a person! We knew that Greektown Casino which is close by offers theirs for $9.99 so we were surprised. Michael said, let's see if our comps will pay for it all. They swiped their card and sure enough, all 5 of us had a free meal. Michael said that a few weeks back, they won $2,800 and that added to their comp points. The food was far superior to Greektown's so we knew why t was more expensive and there were a whole lot of people eating so the question of Michigan's economy came back up for discussion. I am truly amazed that in a state that has 29% unemployment, there are so many people gambling. How is this possible? Mystery of life, I guess.
This morning is overcast and 65 degrees. The weather report calls for mid 70's but rainy for the next 3 days. Time to start thinking about our trip home to Florida. Of course, the weather down there is still mid to upper 80's and thunderstorms so maybe we need to wait until that weather quiets down as well. I can handle mid to upper 70's not so much 80's. Tropical Storm Fred is out in the Atlantic but they project it to stay in the Atlantic so there's no threat of Hurricane right now.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Sunday September 6 thoughts
Lots happening in my life. First of all, yesterday Barb & I were actually re-married in the Catholic church. Father Tom presided and Dina & Michael were our able Maid of Honor and Best Man. It was kind of chilling to see that my wife apparently still loves me so much that she wanted to do this. She is my best friend. Observing were Grace, Dolly & John Imbrunone (and Sylvia), Michael's Mom, Toni Koop and his sister Mary Blackstock. Oh, Father Collins, visiting from Africa, also stood by Father Tom's side during the service. Observation, that morning when Barb came down I said to her "Happy Wedding Day" and she stopped and gave me the sweetest smile I've seen in awhile. Score one for Larry! After the ceremony, we went to Carrabas for dinner. Toni & Mary had other plans so they didn't come. We had a nice dinner and good company.
Michael is building a tool shed for Mary at the farm. I have been trying to help out but with my back, I've been limited to about 4 - 5 hours a day. This morning, my back absolutely refused to cooperate so I'm giving it a day off. Michael's still out there and I feel bad not being there to help somehow. Maybe tomorrow will be better. The tool shed is being built to last. We dug a 4 foot hole for the foundation and built it up with concrete block before back filling. Michael has a carpenter who rough framed the structure and a mason who did the concrete work. Now the base is being built up with stone work. In other words, we went out to the old rock walls and picked rocks of all shapes and sizes for build up the base to a height of about 4 feet. The mason did the first layer before he went on a 4 day Labor Day weekend and we've been continuing. He'll be surprised to see that he only has about another foot or so when he returns. Probably not happy either. The carpenter is a joke. Michael planned this with pressure treated lumber and come to find out, you need a special nail when you construct something using this lumber. Apparently the carpenter never knew that so we will have to re-nail everything as soon as the stone work is done and before the top layers of T 111 is nailed on. It'll be a cute structure.
Now that our "wedding" is done, we are waiting for Barb's niece Amber wedding day on the 9/19/09. Then we are free to go back to Florida. We'll lallygag our way back by stopping at the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio and possibly a quick visit to Pastor Mike & Judy in Hiawassee, Georgia. Barb hates to impose on anyone so I guess it'll be a quick visit. I just hope the hot dog days of summer are done in Florida when we return. With a little bit of luck.........
Today we're going to Angela's so that I can write down Byron's chili recipe. He claims that he just "throws it together" without measuring so I'll try to be a bit more accurate. I really love his chili! He usually serves it with his cornbread too which also is very good. Is Byron's better than David Fowler's? Well, just different.
Michael is building a tool shed for Mary at the farm. I have been trying to help out but with my back, I've been limited to about 4 - 5 hours a day. This morning, my back absolutely refused to cooperate so I'm giving it a day off. Michael's still out there and I feel bad not being there to help somehow. Maybe tomorrow will be better. The tool shed is being built to last. We dug a 4 foot hole for the foundation and built it up with concrete block before back filling. Michael has a carpenter who rough framed the structure and a mason who did the concrete work. Now the base is being built up with stone work. In other words, we went out to the old rock walls and picked rocks of all shapes and sizes for build up the base to a height of about 4 feet. The mason did the first layer before he went on a 4 day Labor Day weekend and we've been continuing. He'll be surprised to see that he only has about another foot or so when he returns. Probably not happy either. The carpenter is a joke. Michael planned this with pressure treated lumber and come to find out, you need a special nail when you construct something using this lumber. Apparently the carpenter never knew that so we will have to re-nail everything as soon as the stone work is done and before the top layers of T 111 is nailed on. It'll be a cute structure.
Now that our "wedding" is done, we are waiting for Barb's niece Amber wedding day on the 9/19/09. Then we are free to go back to Florida. We'll lallygag our way back by stopping at the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio and possibly a quick visit to Pastor Mike & Judy in Hiawassee, Georgia. Barb hates to impose on anyone so I guess it'll be a quick visit. I just hope the hot dog days of summer are done in Florida when we return. With a little bit of luck.........
Today we're going to Angela's so that I can write down Byron's chili recipe. He claims that he just "throws it together" without measuring so I'll try to be a bit more accurate. I really love his chili! He usually serves it with his cornbread too which also is very good. Is Byron's better than David Fowler's? Well, just different.
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