Uncategorized

Whew!!  It’s four a.m. And I am wide awake already thinking about what things I need to do for school! Lol!  Yikes!!   As long as I won’t be able to go back to sleep, I decided to take a little time to catch up here.  Bet you wondered what happened to me? Well, it’s the start of the school year and it’s taking me a little time to just get into the swing of things. Last week and this week, I have worked both of my jobs, and I am trying really hard to just stay on top of all of it. You know the drill, work, work, dishes, laundry, pay bills, housework, lawn,  the list just grows.

My teaching career has always been an ever evolving thing.  I never wanted to be the teacher who just pulled out the September folder, and so I am constantly changing, rearranging, and doing new things.  It’s great but has its drawbacks too as you are constantly reinventing the wheel. So getting it all going and keeping up at home is tough.

Read moreI am still here!! And a recipe for chicken veggie soup!

I had a meeting with Dr. Jack on the phone yesterday.  I love the times we get to do that.  Prior to our conversations I email him all kinds of questions I have.  I  ask him about all kinds of things that jump into my head and he patiently explains them all.  I take notes while he talks, and then memorize the things he explains so they become part of my knowledge base.

I could listen to him teach things for days.  He is always researching and learning, and so he has a great deal of new information.

In our conversation yesterday,  I was talking with him about how there are these huge changes that go on inside of me and all of a sudden I realize the difference.  Those are my favorite changes.  A great example is the day I realized that the Hashimoto fog had lifted.  If you never had that brain fog, you are soooooooooooo lucky.  It really is awful walking around every single day in the haze of memory problems, like that feeling when you stumble out of bed with little sleep. I was beyond ecstatic the day it left.

Read moreToday, I feel like I am about 28!

Tomorrow is our first day with students and the end of summer vacation.  Normally, I would look forward to my kids but dread the physically and mentally exhausting part that comes next.  But my new normal is much different now. Totally different!

When I think about this summer compared to last, I get huge crocodile tears in my eyes. I seriously was going to do a video blog, but I started crying every single time.  It has been the best summer I think I have had in twenty five years, easy.  I mapped it back to the last good one I remember, my son was about five.  We spent the summer camping everywhere and my thyroid disease had just started.  Although I was tired, I was able to do a lot of things.  But every year, it got worse.

Last summer….that was the absolute worst.  Physically, I was a mess.  I was sore and uncomfortable all the time.  I lived on Advil and if I walked into job #2 without it, I was in a complete panic.  I could do one big thing a day.  Mentally? I was beat up.  I couldn’t listen to another health care person tell me to eat less or live with the weight.  I hated even going, watching and listening to things that were told to me.  I dreaded getting out of bed every morning because the pain would start.  I knew that the worst had not even arrived yet as more and more symptoms just kept showing up.  I had no idea how I was going to handle more.  And I knew no one believed me anyway.  I was to the place where I wasn’t believing me either!  I was so done.

Read moreThank you Dr. Jack… For the best summer in 25 years!

 Last week was not my finest hour.  I had a stressful day that led into a ton of stressful situations that seemed to just keep compounding.  One day, I would think I had everything under control, only the next day I didn’t even get a chance to regroup, because the next day brought more. And as the week wore on, so did my resolve.  My normal routines were disrupted, I was upset, I wasn’t eating on my normal schedule,  I wasn’t sleeping enough and things just kept getting more challenging,

And then just like that, as surely as the sun rises in the morning, BOOM! The emotional eating monster reared his ugly head, only this time he wasn’t going to be squelched so easily.  It was a day and a half.  And I had been starving all day long.  No amount of food seemed to make it better. Now typically, my appetite is pretty predictable and is usually satisfied by the foods I eat, not that day.

Read moreEmotional Eating Monster?? Defeated!!

Today was our opening faculty meeting,  although many of us have already been to school several times, organizing our rooms, making new things, and getting ready for the Tuesday arrival of students. I have been to my classroom many times in the last few weeks,  but have not seen many teacher friends.  I spent many hours getting it just the way I like it for my new crop of eighth graders.  I work on the third floor, so not many besides my penthouse team friends  trek up that far.

This morning I arrived early because mostly what I have left to do involves a huge time commitment with the copier as I ready materials for the first few weeks for my math classes, and things to get my homeroom rolling.  The hallway was a bit dark and I was walking to where the majority was congregated carrying my box of copies.  “Who is that?” I heard one say as I turned around to see who was behind me, but no one was. Then I realized, the teacher meant me.

What a difference from a year ago…. Impossible to even imagine how I got here! There I was, sad, hurting, searching for answers… Here I am today, happy, energetic, living a great life!  All thanks to one doctor, who had all the answers I needed.

I chuckled to myself as she asked, “Is that Chris?”  because I don’t think I look very different than before summer but I realize that I must look a little different.  People were very nice, using descriptive words like “small,” and “tiny.”  I laughed because I am neither but I guess comparatively to last year?  Everyone complimented my success so far, and loved my new, short and sassy haircut that goes with my evolving new personality.  Dr. Jack has helped me get rid of over a hundred pounds and more importantly, all the baggage that goes with it.  I look better and feel amazing. My Hashimoto’s is nonexistent.   And although I am essentially the same person I have always been?  It’s kind of like I am a new and improved version.  It’s easy to have the energy to be silly, and fun, to have energy and a clear thought process.   The short and sassy hair says it all, and that goes with the huge smile I can’t hide from anyone!

Read moreWho is that?? Is it Chris?

Forgive the hot, sweaty, post workout picture.  So to understand the story, we have to back up.  All my life I have been a klutz.  Clumsy, awkward, like fall up the stairs awkward, bruises everywhere from just living life.  I have no physical ability, never played sports. Always wanted to play, but could never hit, not throw, not jump, not run….ever!  I grew up in a time when there were no certificates for participation, when no one cared if your feelings got hurt because you weren’t in a team, no trophies for showing up,  and the cold hard facts of physical ability were learned at the playground and in gym.

I was the default kid.  When they picked sides for teams! Yeah, I just stood off to the side because I was going to end up not picked but instead that last person a team was stuck with by default because the other kid got picked.   I loved to play!!  I just wasn’t good at anything.  Not badminton, not bowling, not horseshoes, not volleyball, basketball, baseball, hockey….please, I laugh… Zip, nada, zero, zilch!

Read moreMy gold medal, my first sports award!! Everrrrr!!!! Thanks to my inspirations!

Be nice!!  You should never call anyone names.  Is that a nice thing to do??  Would you want someone doing that to you??   Don’t I sound like your mom?

Well, that great lesson that  our moms and dads taught us is still true.  The problem isn’t that most of us call other people names, it’s that we use names against ourselves.  We are unkind, uncaring, and downright mean, to ourselves. So where is that coming from today?

I was on  Facebook today, reading updates, and posts.   As a side note, I love Facebook! I get to keep so many people that I might lose otherwise, busy friends and family, students I taught, great coworkers who moved onto other jobs.  And when I look at my list of collected friends, I am really proud of it! I have great friends and they are all so different! And that makes my life richer!

Read moreIt’s not nice to call people names…. Especially when you do it to yourself…

Dr. Jack has opened the door and there’s no shutting it now!! It all started a few months ago when I realized that so many of my clothes look exactly the same. I got tired of my old clothes that didn’t fit very well, mostly because 102 pounds does that to you. They hung awfully, and looked dated. It looked like I was wearing someone else’s wardrobe and thankfully, my daughter tells me, “Mom! That has to go. It looks bad in you.”

I decided that since I was making all these big bold moves, it was time to gut my closet. I had been hanging onto lots of things that didn’t fit and were just taking up space. I donated a ton to various charities, gave a lot away, and am still going through things that no longer fit me. I didn’t buy much yet because I am not done with the big weight loss and I can’t quite figure out what looks good and what doesn’t. That’s going to take some time. But, I got rid of things that resembled a different time. It’s like a whole new me needs a new me look.

Read moreNew hair! Braver, bolder, sassier!!

It’s getting closer to school season, and I have been making a few things to get ready as well as get into my classroom.  I miss my kiddos, and all the fun I have with them,  but I am returning to school with a new attitude.  I am determined that this fall, things will be different.

This has been the summer of change, and I am squeezing in some of the fun I have had this summer during the school year.  For years I have been all out of balance. School and Walmart require lots of time. But,  I know I need to take time for me, too, during the school year.  Dr Jack? Lesson learned, thank you.

I have had way too much fun this summer to stop, and I have learned the importance of down time.  Dr. Jack gave me that, taught me a very valuable lesson this summer about balance.  I need to make time for all things, including me, not me always being last on the list.  He taught me about how important quality of life is.  Work is essential, but so is taking good care of me.   And, I have to say that in following his advice and guidance, this has been the nicest summer I have had in probably thirty years.  I can’t thank him enough for that.

Last summer, I was done and I mean done.  I was discouraged, beat up, sick,  tired and so emotionally and physically exhausted. I felt hopeless.  But had I known that this was coming, I would gladly relive it! This is soooooooooooo worth what I went through!!

Read moreSummer 2015? Gave up. Summer 2016? Hold me back! Fall 2016? Dare to change the pattern!

  Lots of people ask me if I still keep a food journal and what is in it. Absolutely!! When you start with Dr. Jack he sends you some pages to use. And when I started and began sending it to him, he told me that none of his patients had kept a journal quite like mine. Ha ha…. Again, an example of how this poor man had no idea what he was in for!

I am not comfortable sharing pages from it as it is Dr. Jack’s copyrighted format. But I will tell you about it. With so many people doing bullet journaling these days, mine has actually become somewhat like that.

Read moreYes! I still keep a food journal, and you should too!