I’ll be measuring and weighing in weekly. I have a long way to go. If I want a job, sadly this may be my only hope. There is a lot of discrimination against people who are overweight. People think they are lazy…not true in my case,you can ask most anyone who knows me. I always have more on my plate than most people care to have. But that is irrelevant. Perception is everything.
Monday was my first day. I stayed on the diet although it was very difficult. Especially keeping away from too many sugar grams. I wanted to have some fruit, but I just couldn’t and still be able to have some bread to make a sandwich. Staying under 120 grams of carbohydrates is not as hard as staying at 15 grams of sugar or less.
My husband and I got up, did our bike ride, so I had more than my share of exercise. I also had to do a lot of walking on campus today. My knees are killing me and I won’t be able to ride tomorrow as a result.
Breakfast on the Belly Fat Cure
My breakfast consisted of 3 eggs, about an ounce of shredded cheese, a sausage patty and a slice of home made bread, made without enough sugar to measure….just enough to make the yeast activate. I used whole wheat flour and some white flour. It was very dense, tasty and satisfying.
I felt the pull to have something sweet all day; not candy or something like that, I just wanted a piece of fruit. I have plums sitting on the table as well as apples. An apple has 14 grams of sugar, though it is only two carbs and not many calories. But I’m not counting calories, I’m counting carbs and sugar. I am allowed 15 grams of sugar and 6 carbs.
I used 1 carb for my slice of bread, no sugars.
I had a large glass of Crystal Light pure fitness, that uses stevia for most of its sweetening. This has 4 sugar grams because they use sugar as a way to deliver the powerful stevia sweetener. I will be switching to using pure lemon juice with some stevia, that has no sugar in it, for a drink once a day after this box is gone.
For lunch I had a turkey pastrami sandwich and a salad with cottage cheese with ranch dressing. The bread was 8 grams of sugar and 3 carbs. The salad had two grams of sugar, no carbs.
I had a snack of 1/4 cup of nuts twice during the day. 2 sugars for a half cup, not carbs.
I had classes late on Monday night (I am finishing up my last two required classes this year for my Masters Degree.) so i didn’t get home until almost 9 p.m. I was starving and wanted so bad to stop by toco bell, but I waited until I got home and cooked a pork chop and had a half cup of mashed potatoes and gravy…leftovers. That was one carb and no sugars. whew! I went over by 1 gram of sugar, but I felt pretty successful for the day. It was hard. I am told that it will become easier after I get (detoxed) from sugar addiction. I am sure that is the case, but in the mean time….
I intend to be open and honest. I’ll report my defeats as well as my victories. This is a journey I’m serious about. It began when my husband and I started bikeriding in early June. We started out at 2.5 miles a day and soon got up to riding 4.2 miles a day. I can already feel the difference. I have more energy and sleep better. My skin isn’t as dry because my circulation is better. We miss getting out once in a while, but for the most part we ususally get out there and ride at least 5 days a week.
This success has helped me feel more confident about getting serious about weight loss through a better diet. I’ve dieted many many times. My weight gane started when I got Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. It is like putting your body on steroids for years. My face has mooned, I am insulin resistant, I had to have a hysterectomy and they found cancer in my uterous. I was lucky they found it so early because I didn’t have to have Chemo or Radiation.
This illness affects your body in a bad way and weight gain is one of the main results because it messes with your hormones so bad. I may be in an uphill battle, but I refuse to get up. I actually was told by a doctor that “You won’t be able to lose weight.” That was just one doctor though, others have encouraged me.
I was turned on to Jorge Cruises book, the belly fat cure. Well most of my fat is belly fat. It also said it was for people too tired to diet or exercise. Well I’ve felt that way. It’s like a vicious circle, you feel bad, you don’t feel like exercising, everything hurts, but only exercise and diet control will work.
I am doing the exercise. Riding a bike is the only thing I can do that doesn’t kill my knees. I saw on Dr. Oz that increasing muscle around your knee joints will actually pull the bones away from each other and cure the knee problem. Cool!
The belly fat cure is especially good for people who are insulin resistant. My body does not recognize or react to the insulin I am pumping out. So what this method of eating does is drastically cut out sugars and limits carbs. This last week I didn’t stay on it well but I did start really looking at my sugars and carbs and started reading labels, not for calories, but for how many grams of sugar and carbohydrates are in it. I was astounded at how much sugar we eat. The buns that McDonalds uses have 15 grams of sugar in them. That is all I am supposed to have for a whole day. Katsup has sugar, most fruit has lots of sugar.
The trick is to use your sugar wisely. Use it for fruit and vegetables that have nutrition and fiber in them. Stevia is a new sugar substitute derived from the stevis plant. I have raised this plant and it is super, super sweet. You wouldn’t want to eat even one leaf of it. It is too sweet, but it’s pweer in taste makes for a good substitute. I will be switching to this for things like lemonade, or if I want a little sweetness in my bread. Bread has at least 2 grams of sugar per slice. Sugar is everwhere. Anyway enough of my rants. I advise buy the book even if you don’t need to. It is full of scientific information that will enlighten you about our modern eating habits.
I’ll be checking in daily if possible to let you all know how things are going. I may be screaming, but I am hopeing this will keep me accountable, as I have no one nearby to be accountable too….my husband is still heavily addicted to sugar. He has broke himself of caffeine though…I’m proud of him for that. He’ll come around eventually and he has consented to eat what I fix, because he knows it will be healthier. (He’ll just buy sugar for himself for snacks until he decides to jump on the bandwagon.)
We started out from the gulf early in the morning. I took one last look out my balcony window at the ocean and surf. It looked like it was going to rain first thing in the morning. It will be hot and humid. I was starting to feel a little weak from the bladder infection I had acquired. I was ready to be home too….along with Richard who was biting at the bit
Richard let me drive first. I have my most energy in the morning and I don’t mind driving in traffic. I drove for about two and a half hours from Gulf Shores until we reached highway 55; it goes straight up to Memphis. Richard took over there. I can’t believe I made it for that long without having to go pee. We ate breakfast at Mcdonalds and headed on up to Memphis. I booked a Best Western on the North side of Memphis, just out of town. We arrived around 2:30 p.m. It wasn’t that much further on to home; about 4 hours, but we were getting tired so we decided to cash it in.
We unloaded into the motel room. The airconditioner sounded like a buzz saw. We hadn’t eaten in a while so we found a place called Colton’s to eat. it was just around the corner.
Coltobn’s Steakhouse
We had never been there before. It was a little pricey, but like I told Richard, tomorrow we will turn back into pumpkins, so we may as well indulge.
We don’t usually drink, but we have had a few on the trip. No kids around, it was just us and we didn’t get drunk. Just had one before we went back to the motel to help us relax and be able to sleep.
I ordered a 9 oz. Rib Eye steak. Oh my gosh it was so huge, they had to have made a mistake. Richard ordered a rack of ribs and couldn’t eat them all. We took some of it back with us and put it in the cooler for the way home. As it worked out it was a waste because it all got wet in the cooler…we fed it to the dogs when we got home.
We were up in the morning early and the Garmn said we would be home by 10 a.m.; it was close, we made it by 10:30. I enjoyed going through the hardy hills of Arkansas. It felt like we were getting close.
I was so ready to be home after so much driving. I called and made an appointment to see a doctor. I was able to get in that evening. I started getting a fever. I’m glad it waited until I was home to kick in real bad.
I now am over the infection, have been home for about 10 days and am back at school. Ready to start back in on my Road to health….There is always a road taking you somewhere.
I’ll leave you with this. I wish it could just be wall paper on my computer.
We got up in the morning after reaching Valdosta and called Richard’s sister Ann asking her to meet us at the hotel. We wanted to show her pictures of the family and the only thing we had was my little computer that needed internet access. She has never seen our grandchildren and now we had three more to show her.
After some time at the motel we headed off to Pizza Hut for lunch and tried to catch up with what was going on with our families. It was hard to leave, but we had to finish up our trip so we could get to the gulf for one day of rest and then high tale it back home for the start of school. Both of us start back taking classes at local universities the Monday after getting home.
Old Georgian Homes
Valdosta was a beautiful old town. There were many old houses that must have been registered on some kind of historical registry. There were large trees with hanging moss throughout the town. I wanted to get a sample of it…but never did. I know I’m a sentimental geek, but who knows when I will make another trip like this. When will I ever be able to afford it again. We took it because we currently have the money, but when it’s gone there is no guarantee we will have the resources again. I’m still looking for a teaching job; another reason to get home soon…but not too soon.
DIRTY SURF FROM STORMS
I could feel the bladder infection I knew had been coming on was getting worse. I got some pills to kill the pain and stop the muscle contractions, hoping I wouldn’t actually get sick before I got home and could get to the doctor. I wanted to see the Gulf so bad. It had been almost 50 years since I had seen the ocean up close like this. I wanted to see it and take pictures, whether we landed where there was tar balls or not.
I felt like we needed to spend a little of our money on the gulf to help out the folks that have been having such a rough time of it. I wasn’t disappointed.
ON TO THE GULF!
We had a time getting there. We were using a Garmin GPS to help us get around. The road it wanted to take us out of Quitman, Georgia had a bridge out and the Garmin has a way of rerouting you that will bring you as close to where you can get back on “its” route as possible, even if there is a closer, better way to go. Our map didn’t have enough detail on it so we started in the general direction we thought we should go and though it felt like there was no logic going on we finally got going in the general direction we needed to go.We were delayed for about 30 minutes by a horrible wreck. Someone had hit a large tree on a country road. They hit it so hard it knocked the tree down into the middle of the road. Large trucks and a crew were removing debris and the crashed care while we waited. Then our vehicle started acting up. It wanted to rev up and take off on us. Then it would stall. Once the accident got cleaned up we got going and the car was still acting weird. Not sure what to do, we needed gas so we stopped in Tallahassee. While there I called our mechanic Dan back home and he suggested we go to Auto Zone and have them get a read-out to find out what is wrong then call him back. It was a speed control sensor on the transmission. Great!
GULF ISLAND GRILL
He asked us how bad it was acting and we told him it seemed okay on the road..just acted
up parking. He said, if it acted up bad to get it to a dealer, but otherwise we should just wait until we geot home. So that’s what we did and made it home.
On our way to Gulf Shores we were driving alongside the sea. A was getting more excited as we saw the ocean on our left.
As we actually got to the hotel it was starting to get dark. We hadn’t eaten for some time so we found a little place to eat called the Gulf Island Grill. It had good food…a little pricey at night, but their lunch menu was very reasonable. Lots of atmosphere and good service.
When we checked in we talked to the attendant and he said that the beaches were clean now. Tar balls had washed up on the beach previously, but it had been cleaned up and now it was safe for fishing and eating the fish up to 5 miles out from shore. He told us it was the funniest thing…people were collecting hard tarballs and taking them home as souvineers; a piece of history.
Beach Tractors
At night I woke up to the sound of machinery on the beach. Tractors and little dune buggies were searching the beach for tarballs. They had a machine that was sucking up sand, cleaning it and spreading it out. I think this crew was put out there by BP. On a later trip during the day we saw a huge collection of tractors and dunebuggies at an empty place in what looked like a big meeting of people. This is just my observance. I don’t know the facts for sure.
The next morning I got up and went out on the balcony. The surf was pounding and it was sprinkling lightly. I looked out at the enormity of the water and the sky. It had been near 50 years since I have been this close to the ocean. I wept.
The walkway to the beach.
The Birds Congregate.
Evening Surf
Examining the Surf.
While there I met a couple of people that wanted me to take their pictures. So I did. They were a sweet mother and daughter vacationing from Kentucky. Missouri is pretty close to Kentucky. Their names are Glinda (the Mom) and Tracy (the Daughter).
After I took their pictures, They took mine. I needed proof I was really there.
After the day of Jacob and Roz’s Wedding we headed out early down the road to Georgia. Along the way, Jacob called us and let us know that Roz’s parents wanted to meet us….Good Idea!
We stopped in at a place called South of the Border, South Carolina. It was like an amusement park. According to Wikapedia:
Historic Background
Pedro at South of the Border
South of the Border was developed by Alan Schafer (1914-July 19, 2001),[1] who founded a beer stand at the location in 1950 and steadily expanded it with Mexican trinkets and numerous kitsch items. He had a great deal of success turning South of the Border into a “tourist mecca”[2] because of his location, which was immediately across the border from a dry North Carolina county, and grew his small business into what was, by local standards, an economic empire. South of the Border grew to over a square mile, required its own infrastructure, and had its own fire and police departments. Schafer became reclusive, building a large compound of interconnected houses outside the Dillon city limits. At South of the Border, he kept secret apartments hidden in the backs of restaurants and shops.
Notable Features and People
Part of the film Forces of Nature was filmed at South of the Border. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, originally from nearby Dillon, South Carolina, worked for a summer as a poncho-wearing waiter at South of the Border to help pay his way through Harvard.[2]
We met the Covingtons there and had a good talk about our (now married) children. Unfortuneately we did not get a picture of them. Darn! They’re probably glad.
They were warm friendly people and I was glad to get to know them a little. We found a lot of commonalities in our families.
On down the road we traveling through North and South Carolina as well as Georgia, I noticed lots of cars with bikes on the back; dozens of them. I don’t know where the bike ride was…but there had to be one somewhere.
On the way to Valdosta we came across a place called Jasper’s Porch.
They advertised southern food, and that it was on a nature trail where you could see turtles and alligators. I thought that would be a good way to do some sight seeing and have a meal. Our time was limited in order to get everwhere we needed to be so we headed there for brunch. It was Sunday and they didn’t open until 10:30, so I got out went on the trail which curved around the pond that Jasper’s Porch sat on. It was a lovely trail and I took pictures as I traveled around it. I didn’t see any alligators, but I was told by a waitress there that there is a small one in there that comes up to feed sometimes when the kids feed the turtles.
Once we got to Valdosta, Georgia, we were ready to pack it in for the night. It’s a long way from Annapolis.
As I said before. We got a call the night before our trip started out. Jacob, my son let us know he was getting married. This did not leave us much time for any sight seeing, but we spent time with the new couple and went with them as they ran errands to get ready for the wedding.
Jacob can’t wipe the grin off his face. I am so very happy for him. I couldn’t cry at the wedding, but I am having tears of joy now as I write this.
Roz and Jacob ran off to the Post Exchange at Fort-Meade…a store that holds a little of everything except groceries. You can even buy cars at some of them. Roz got a dress for her daughter and Jacob picked up a pair of dress shoes. He had conveniently just bought a suit a few weeks ago.
We went back to the house, spent some time with them and the kids and then took a trip to the commissary to get supplies to make tacos for supper. Jacob did a good job whipping them up.
Richard and I left and went back to the motel at about 9 p.m. and fell into bed. I was so tired I was naucious.
The Wedding
The next morning we got ready for the wedding and headed downtown Annapolis. It’s a historic district with brick paved narrow streets and historic old buildings. I took a few pictures, but unfortunatly I let Roz and Jacob download the pictures on their computer off my card and it deleted them…so all I ave access to are the ones that they posted on facebook. So I’ll do what I can to illustrate this journey.
Richard and I arrived early. We don’t know are way around anywhere and would be totally lost without the GPS. We had an hour to kill so we headed down to the harbor that was just about a half mile away from the courthouse. We took the chance we’d be able to find a parking place.
It was a neat place that had a little harbor boat that took tourists out for rides. We met a lady named Mary Wilson there who took our picture. I have a picture of her too….just not available at the moment. She told us all about the region and herself. I can’t believe how friendly people are here.
We had to wait for about a half hour before Roz, Jacob and the kids showed up. I didn’t know if you had to be there at a certain time…evidently not.
We took a lot of pictures of the couple and the family while we were waiting for their turn to go into the Justice of the Peace.
Sgt. Fergusen and Roz…friends at work.
Our larger family!
Seven the little one on the seat with his soon to be new Dad and Mom.
They stand together before the judge as they’ll stand now in life. Joined.
The wedding is over and they both cry on each other’s shoulders. Jacob has waited 37 years for the right woman. Now that he’s found her I can’t imagine the depth of his emotion. It has been a long wait son, I am so happy for you. It has paid off to find the right woman.
This is Jacob’s favorite picture. He said it’s a good thing that he wasn’t taking all the pictures…
Today we started out with another meal at the Denny’s classic diner. I didn’t like the breakfast as well as I liked supper. I got a better picture of the inside of the diner though. It really is neat!
After breakfast we took some time to set the Garmin for our destination. The learning curve on this is a slow one. I haven’t exactly got the nack of getting the Garmin to go where I want it to. I can put in the destination, but that doesn’t mean it will go the route I wanted to go. We finally gave up and decided to just go where it wanted us to. My husband was sure for a while it was going to take us to Chicago instead of Maryland, but the exit he was looking at turned out to just be a route to another route that went the right way.
Monte said we were in the foothills of the Appalachians and that they would get bigger as we traveled east. He was right!
Today we didn’t need to get to Fort Meade until closer to 4 p.m. and I wanted to take some pictures so I tried to figure out how we could do that without going off the beaten path too far. We happened across a tourist info center on our way through West Virginia. I asked the guy in there if he knew of anything like that and he suggested we visit a place is called Cooper’s Rock Overlook. We just drove a mile off of our route.
Then we had to walk about 50 yards to get these views:
I got a shot of Richard headed out to the outcropping. It was beautiful. The gray rock where the fence/rail keeps you from falling off is a natural occurence. The rails and rock piers were added later. Several cabins wer built around this area during the great depression with CCC workers. A person could spend hours there investigating trails and visiting the cabins. We got there at totally the wrong time of day for taking photos, but we did anyway.
Part of the overlook outcropping.
Richard standing on Cooper’s Rock.
Me on the edge.
The view from above. Rotten haze is spoiling the shot, but you can get the idea how beautiful this area is.
We got in to the Forte Meade area at about 4 p.m. I would never have found it without my GPS. We had a litte trouble finding the Ramada Inn, Garmin told us we had arrived about a block too soon. I called the hotel and got guidance to the next block. HA!
We showered the road grub off and called my son. He got lost using his GPS finding our hotel, but he finally got there and we had a wonderful dinner at the Olive Garden with Jacob and the Bride to be. If there were any doubts in my mind about him jumping into marraige so fast they are gone now. I loved her right away.
She’s a sweet young woman and they are so obviously in love. They are getting married Friday instead of Thursday, because they just haven’t had the time to plan it out. As they both teach journalism at Fort Meade it is the end of their class unit and the work load was heavy. Add to that they got news that Roz is supposed to be shipped out to Germany in February, which means that Jacob will too if it all goes through. He said that it isn’t written in stone yet, but of course it seems like they have their trials cut out for them already. I know somehow it will all work out.
I hope they can get around it. Jacob and Roz both have already spent two tours in the Middle East. When you get stationed in Europe…it just means you will be getting deployed in either Afghanistan or Iraq. Roz has three kids…. who knows what will happen.
A word of note that I forgot yesterday. Sunday night I got a call from my son. I had been trying to call him to let him know we would be staying with him to save some money. He said…about that. I’m getting married Thursday. What a shock. I knew he was getting serious with a girl, but I thought it would take longer than two weeks to get to this point. I will say he hadn’t just met her. He’s known her a long time. But once they made up their mind….
So this trip is going to be more interesting than I thought. They didn’t want to wait any longer and have a four day weekend. So…we will be going to a wedding staying a day then traveling on. I’m glad I get to see them get married. I want to see all my kids get married…there’s just one son left that’s still waiting for the right woman to come along. It took Jacob 37 years… I can’t believe I have a son that old. But I am so glad he will have a family to share his life with.
We were up early today, but really didn’t get down the road until 8:30. I started driving, but Richard would only let me drive till lunch because I was looking sleepy. I get road weary, and try as I may it mesmerizes me unless I’m in heavy traffic or there is a lot going on.
For some reason, I didn’t think that Indianapolis, Indiana, or especially Columbus Ohio was that big. I took some video as we passed by their skyscrapers. Springfield is now 150,000 people in the actual city, the outlying areas are cuddling up next to the city limits so it is stretching out pretty big now. St. Louis doesn’t seem that big to me either. I am not sure of the population of the other cities.
I used to live on the east coast, but I haven’t even visited there for 30 years. As we started through Ohio I noticed a sprinkling of birch trees through the woods. Oh, I miss that. Maples and birches were plentiful in Massachusetts where I used to live. As we traveled through some of the cities I noticed some really old buildings with unique architecture. Not much of that in Springfield. It goes to show you how much of a difference it can make that some towns are so much older than others. I think I’d really love Europe. I doubt if I ever get to go though.
The temperature in the Midwest has been awful it has been in the 90s for a few weeks now. My poor air conditioner is not keeping up. As we traveled through the Columbus area we ran into some thundershowers. The temperature dropped from 95 to 75 in about 5 to 10 minutes. As soon as we got out of the showers it climbed right back up into the 90s. It was really pouring down for a while…the video doesn’t really show how bad it was. We had to drive really slow and could hardly see.
Denny’s Classic Diner
We arrived at the Best Western at 3:40 and checked in. I called Rev. Monte to let him know we had made it. I am excited to meet him tonight. He’s a friend I have met through the blog-site Open Salon.
Seven o’clock arrived: time to meet Monte and Sue so we headed over to Denny’s Classic Diner. It was a really cute place and had that Diner atmosphere. The food wasn’t bad either.
Monte and Sue were just as I imagined; friendly and warm.
Richard, my husband talking to Monte.
Monte, I caught him without a smile listening to my husband
I know what he means, ’cause most of the little towns I’ve lived in are that way.
Sue is as sweet as she looks.
We learned about the humongous amount ofchicken BBQs they have to go to; because every civic group, church and organization has one and it is unthinkable to not attend. Only as Monte explained it’s not BBQ with BBQ sauce. They fill up a pump sprayer with a mixture of water, vinegar, salt and some kind of sugar and spray the chicken down with it as it is grilled. He said it’s good for the first 500 lbs. or so.
Down home people that don’t put on airs. Sue is originally from St. Louis and Monte from southeastern Kansas.We felt very at ease around them. We got a chance to share stories with each other and they gave us a glimpse of what their life is like in the Appalachian foothills. The unemployment rate in their area is pretty high, but the people there are the salt of the earth.
Our happy little meeting.
Monte is looking forward to some cool weather so he and Sue can get out on their motor cycles again. I wished they lived closer so we could visit more often. I know we would if they did. It was a great time of food and fellowship. I am so glad we met in person. I hope I get to meet some others from Open Salon. Writers are a special group of people.
We managed to get on the road by 8 a.m. We stopped by Wal-mart to get osme ice and water for the road. We headed out to our first destination. Terre Haute, Indiana. We have recently bought a Garmin GPS system and are learning how to use it.
McDonalds in Sullivan Missouri
It was 79 degrees first thing in the morning this morning. I am glad our car’s air-conditioning is working well.
We stopped about 9 a.m. in Sullivan Missouri for a short breakfast at McDonalds.
Mississippi I wanted to take pictures of the arch in St. Louis, but we went through St. Louis at ll a.m. …not a good time of day to take photos.
Arch
Best photos are taken in the morning before 10 a.m. and after 4 p.m. The light just isn’t good for photography during mid-day, so we decided we’ll take another road trip just to St. Louis and do some sight seeing and photography.
You can see the engines lying on the side of the road in this one.
We came across an accident on the east side of St. Louis as we were headed through Illinois. How can something like this happen during the day, sunshine everywhere and light traffic?
The truck is ready to be hauled off.
Some kind of truck his another truck that was carrying some big
engines or something and it crunched the back of the larger truck, engines were all over the road and the traffic was backed up for three miles and building. Thank heaven it was on the other
side of the road.
This is the semi that was hauling the engines.
The traffic backed up for three miles and building.
Day 2:On to Ohio – We get to visit Rev. Monte Cannfield from Open Salon…we will have pics.
Taking a road trip takes a lot of preparation. You have to look your best, so we both went to our respective hair placed to get coiffed.
Richard went to the Barber Shop on Sunshine St.
The Barbershop
It’s an old-style barber shop and it used to be housed in Bass Pro Shop. They still cut Johnny Morris’s hair, founder of Bass Pro. The proprieters, a husband and wife team not only cut hair but also have a country music band and have cut several albums.
Richard before his cut…shaggy. The barber asked if this was his bi-annual or quarterly cut. Richard said, “Quarterly.”
Before picture:
Looking a little shaggy.
Banter in the Barber shop.
Cool old Barbershop
The Final Cut.
My Beautification. Ha!
Paul Mitchell Beauty School
I am cheap so I went to a beauty school to get mine done; never again. It took 6 hours for a trim, color and highlights. I know they are learning, but really!
I went to the Paul Mitchell school.
The Paul Mitchel School
This is a shot of the inside of the school/salon.
I arrived at about 2:30p.m.
The Newbie
This is the young ladie, I can’t remember her name, that started the process. I took 30 minutes just to get my hair washed and for them to put a rinse on it to break down the box color treatment I had on it. Whatever!
Then she trimmed maybe a half of an inch off the back…she didn’t touch the front third of may hair. It took an hour for that.
By the time they got started on the color it was 4:30 p.m.(she had to leave at 5 p.m. and someone else took over. Thank God! I was her first color and the directions she left were absurd. The girl had to go talk to the supervisor, she asked her if that was what she was supposed to do, she said, NO! The second girl assured me that she would make sure my hair would be fine. I said, I don’t want to be bald…that was my biggest concern at this point.
By the time I got out of there it was 8:30 at night. I hadn’t eaten lunch and I was so starving and thirsty I didn’t wait to have someone take an after picture. The color had been on my hair so long that my scalp was burned. I’m still peeling from the chemical burn; not only my head, but my face. If I try to wear makeup, it just looks horrid.
I have had a lot of bad experiences with hair and hair color. This I will never do again. It is not worth it to save $20. For more crazy hair stories check out http://heyoprah.blogspot.com
You’ll see what it looks like in future posts. It looks okay…it’s just the peeling….
Preping the car.
D and R Automotive
We took the car in next to have it looked over. I didn’t want to take a 3000 mile trip without doing this. We also got a change of oil. Dan, from D & R automotive checked over the care and aired up our tires to 40 pounds of pressure. He said we would get better gas mileage. Good to know!
AAA Road Trip Planning
AAA OFFICE
We have AAA which had come in handy for us just in saving on towing charges, but we thought since it was in place we may as well get their help planning the trip.
AAA Service Agent
Our AAA service agent was very helpful. She helped us make reservations in motels that have wifi and and swimming pool in our price range. She helped us plan our route, gave us tons of maps and tour books and advised us on what is the best way to carry your money. We were told about their visa travel cards and she said it is best to carry a mixed wallet of a travel card, a credit card and some cash. She said you should vary where you keep it so if you lose it or someone tries to take it from you it won’t all be in one place. Good advice.
Route Map
Our map was highlighted on a couple different maps with alternative routes marked in different highlighter colors. If we want to make good time we follow orange, if we want to take pictures and sight see, we can go on the yellow route. What a great idea!
All of this prep doesn’t include buying a GPS system for the car and any other incidentals we may need, a couple of days doing laundry and making sure any clothes we want to take are clean and pressed. But for the most part we are ready.
We started cycling the 2nd week in June. My husband and I found a route that was approximately 2.5 miles to ride and we got up and were out riding at 6:30 a.m.
At first we just rode 2 or 3 times a week, after the first couple of weeks we made sure we were out 3 times a week, Then after the first month we upped our route to 3.5 miles and 5 timea a week. Now we are still doing 5 times a week and 4.2 miles. We have upped our speed from 8.4 mph to 9.4 mph on an average. One morning we went 9.9 mph.
Richard could ride circles around me. I slow him down. I think it’s the difference between the muscle structure of men and women.
I say all that to say this: there have definely been some noticible benefits.
The increased circulation has helped my skin. I have suffered with terribly dry skin and I can now feel my arms and they are no longer rough and dry, but smooth and soft.
I have slowly had an increase in energy and stamina.
An example:
On our 30th wedding anniversay we went to the Springfield Nature Center to see if we could find something to shoot with our camera. It was a hilly walk of about a mile one-way. On the way back I was terribly out of breath and wasn’t sure I could make it
back. I had to stop and rest every 30 yards or so. I was done in. My knees were swelling and when I got home I had to lay down the rest of the day to get off my legs and help my knee swelling go down. I definitely had my exercise for that day; but we kept cycling.
By the 18th of July we were babysitting our granddaughter and took her to the zoo.
It was and hour and a half of walking, pushing a stroller up and down hills.
I was able to do this with no problem. I was tired, but I was not breathless.
It was a hot day and all I could think about when we were done was getting cool and something cold to drink.
This was a revolutionary difference.
During the time between the two instances we had upped our mileage on the bike rides and times per week out, but that was all. What is more unusual is that my knees were able to hold up on the zoo trip. I was watching Dr. Oz and he said that for those who have knee problems, a lot of the grinding of joint on joint is due to break down in the muscle that holds the bones apart from each other. I’ve just proved him right. I can now walk and go up and down stairs with less difficulty…still difficult, but not as bad.
Other evidence of increased energy levels:
Yesterday was one of our days off. We started our day with shopping at Wal-mart. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but this can be a work out. The store is large and if you don’t know where everything is you can take several trips around the store looking for
it. I used to have to rest for two or three hours after shopping. Yesterday I came home and rested for a short time then got up and cleaned my kitchen and washed 2 loads of laundry, made lunch and then cleaned out my closet and folded 5 loads of laundry, then made supper. My energy held out all day. I was so jazzed. I just did it. I didn’t have to plan every move to conserve my energy. It was there for the taking.
I want to lose weight, but so far I haven’t lost any. Maybe I’m building muscle, but I am determined to lose two lbs. a week. I am looking for a job and sadly there is discrimination for those who are overweight. I am 290 lbs. I may not look it, but I am. I have a lot to lose. I intend to blog about it at least weekly documenting my progress or not. It helps to have encouragement. I have had a lot of encouragement from facebook friends as I have started biking with my husband. He’s trying to lose weight too, but doesn’t have anywhere near as much as I do. I know this will revolutionize my life too if I can pull it off. Next Post….how I got this way.
This is the semi that was hauling the engines.
We started cycling the 2nd week in June. My husband and I found a route that was approximately 2.5 miles to ride and we got up and were out riding at 6:30 a.m.
What is more unusual is that my knees were able to hold up on the zoo trip. I was watching Dr. Oz and he said that for those who have knee problems, a lot of the grinding of joint on joint is due to break down in the muscle that holds the bones apart from each other. I’ve just proved him right. I can now walk and go up and down stairs with less difficulty…still difficult, but not as bad.
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