Unfaithful

Wow.

I have been Unfaithful to my Blog. I cannot believe it's been over 1 year (441 days ??) since I posted here. Of course, the last time, was not my finest hour. I'd lost 2 more cats (of 3 that year).

However, I never got around to posting about the cat that adopted me last December !

I was in Crested Butte, Colorado, when my cat sitter called and asked if I knew I had a cat living in my garage. No, I said, I had no clue. She fed it, gave it water, and put it inside my house in a cage, since we did not know if it was litter box trained, etc.

When I arrived home, I sought the cat's owner. I ran a newspaper ad, put "do you know me?" ads with a picture around the neighborhoods mailboxes. I even took it to the Vet to see if it had a chip embedded. No luck.

In time, of course, he worked his way into my life. Quickly. The Vet estimated he was 18 months to 2 years., so quite a bit younger than the one remaining cat I had, Aggie, who was 17 years. She hissed and spat at him, as she was used to being Daddy's Girl, and having me to herself. He never gave up though, as he's never met a stranger. Now they are somewhat buddies, though they still have their moments.

I named him Linc. I was in Lincoln, Nebraska on part of that trip, plus two of my favorite shows over time had characters named Linc. "Prison Break" which ended this past year. And "Mod Squad", which was on when I was young. I just liked the name. It fit. And he quickly took to it.
I had no idea what his name (if any) had been, but then, he now knows it's Linc.

I just returned again from a week in Crested Butte. No calls this time from my cat sitter about any cat in my garage. However, before leaving for CO, I had made arrangements to adopt a 2 year old cat, Chrissie, upon my return. She has a name, shots, already front claws removed, etc. The only thing I had them do additionally was to implant a micro chip. My cats stay inside, but just in case. I did not want to drop her off at my home on the way out the door for 10 days, so I left her at the Vet, but will pick her up this evening upon my return to Sapulpa.

I made it to the lake house last night, after being in Lincoln a few nights back, and in KC for lunch yesterday (actually in Independence). This house seems so empty with the cats not here. They were moved up here mid July, and stayed up here until early December, while I was driving back and forth most days to work. I would still stay in Sapulpa a night or two a week, but my "home" was at the lake. If I had found a cat sitter for up here, I would have left them at the lake, but that did not happen.

So now I have a cat named after a character in "Three's Company", Chrissie.

Christmas is around the corner, and I think I'm ready. I mailed cards when leaving Crested Butte. This year I was instructed to only buy presents for the little kids (is that little by age, or little by how they act ?). So with less shopping (?) to do, I think I'm done. That just leaves putting together the food items I will take Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

But now, back to one of the main reasons I decided to start blogging again. Weight. I've let it slip this past year or more. Oh yeah, I can blame it on many things. Work, and going from our 5 best years ever to such a crashing decline this year, forcing us to cut costs and employees. Personal, having to refinance bank loans on the homes, in order to reduce costs and move banks.
The stress of losing the 3 cats in 3 months in 2008. It's all there for me to blame, and I do it so well.

I started using a personal trainer up here at the lake, and that was going quite well, building up some muscle, etc. He then changed jobs, and now works in Tulsa, still living in the lake area. However, that changed his schedule enormously, as he now works most evenings, which is when we were meeting for the training. I still go in the gym, even in Colorado, and do work out on my own, so that's something I have added to my accomplishments, as I never used to do that much.

While I am still far, far below my highest weight, before the gastric bypass surgery, I have regained some of what I had lost. At my lowest, I was told by some others that I am sure meant well, that I had lost too much. Talk about a license to gaining again. Oh, I am sure that is not what they intended, and that they meant well, but it's all about how one perceives it, and does with it from there. So I've gone from mostly XL sizes, to now sometimes finding that 2XL works better for me. That's still better than 5XL though.

I did, somehow, come back from vacation at about the same weight I was when I left town. That in itself was nice, as I know I ate often, though still mostly "good foods". I only ate out once in Crested Butte, as I did smartly go to the grocery store before I even went to the house, and therefore had food I *had* to eat or let go to waste. Now I will make it through the upcoming Holidays with hopefully no weight gain, and then get back into the groove of working it off a bit at a time.

I did start Nutri Systems last year, though it only works when you eat the foods, and do not add a lot of other food to the routine. I have plenty of it right now, as I did not stick to it all the time, and found myself eating my favorite items, and not always getting around to the ones I did not care for as much, or that took more time or effort to prepare. If I were snowed in at the lake, I would not go hungry, unless I chose to do so. I have plenty of the breakfast and lunch items, though not so many of the dinner items.

I found myself getting way too dependent on Energy Bars and SlimFast. Well, with the recent recall of SlimFast, that cured that habit. I have on occasion replaced it with Muscle Milk however. The problem with the Energy Bars is that they do contain some sugars, and more fats, than I really need or want. But, they are so convenient, especially driving down the highway and munching on them, as though they were candy bars. Recently the 2 brands I prefer both happened to change their formulas, and now have slightly different tastes to them than before.
One is for the better, but to me, the other brand is not for the better. So that will help me quit buying it as often. I've also noticed that with this change, both downsized. Same price as before, but smaller bars. The economy strikes again.

OK, I must admit, Facebook got some of my posting during my absence here, but recent changes there have made it less appealing, etc. The novelty is wearing off of it.

Enough for now. Not sure anyone will read this anyways, since it's been so long since I last posted. Hopefully I will not wait another 441 days to post again. I'm going to try to use this blog to keep myself more accountable on the eating and exercising. Time will tell if it works that way.

Happy Holidays !!

Wally