Gwennaford's Journal

[southernyankee]

Pam, Hi! The important thing is we did it! I'm sure you are as glad as I am to finally get that photo posted! And, by the way, it's nice to see another photo of you. Hopefully it won't be as frustrating or time consuming next time around. It seems the main thing I had to contend with is that my photo was just too large to post. After I cropped it, it was smooth sailing! However, I must again give props  to our Gwen for great instructions. Her post modified on 5/17/09 really did the trick for me....so much so that I not only bookmarked that message, I printed it out and am saving it, folded, inside the back cover of my red book. I just know I will need those instructions again. 
southernyankee

[mrsj]

Good job southernyankee and Pam.  Your pictures look great!  Pam I know you are getting comments on losing weight.  It shows!
mrsj

[Gwennaford]

Hello to all & thanks for stopping by!  MsHeirloom -- WOW ! ! !  You look amazing! ! !  Never never never, hesitate to ask for help.  I'm always happy to hep.  If I can't do it, someone else will bail us both out, so never fear.  This is not only a self-help website, it is also a helpFULL site, too!

southernyankee, so glad we figgered it out. 

NJ - thanks for filling in for me here while I've been away from the 'puter.  I wasn't gone, I have just moved it into another room to free up some space on the dining room table!  Now that the laptop is out of the traffic pattern, it's out of sight, out of mind.  I think of posting my foods every day, but with planning, shopping, unloading, storing, cooking & eating . . .  thinking about posting is about as good as it gets.

I've got to get back on the bandwagon, though.  Nov. 1st is rapidly approaching!

I've been having fun roasting squash & making delicious soups with them. 

We had a wild stormy weather front that passed through Friday -- much rain & blowing -- leaving behind crystal clear night skies that enable fresh arctic breezes to reach all the way down here to paradise!  Beautiful day today -- low humidity, daytime temp in high 60's to low 70's, windy and clear.  Perfect day to fire up the oven & start roasting those punkins! 

Tomorrow -- Pumpkin Beanana Muffins and Pumpkin "Pie".  Also got four pounds of cranberries & some oranges for chopped cranberry/orange/apple salad/relish.  It also makes good muffins.

Loves to all -- The roasted butternut squash & garlic are cooling on the windowsill & the pressure cooker full of great northern beans is calling me to finish the soup!

OOOOHH -- also roasted some fresh beets.  YUM ! ! !

[mom]

Gwen, I can't believe how well you are doing, success in the mobility realm, the weightloss realm and you still have time to create new recipes which rock.  I love your beanana muffins for a special treat, and look forward to reading and trying your relish/with apples, cranberries and oranges. 

[MsHeirloom]

Gwen- You are so generous.  Thanks for your help last time, but I was determined that I could do it (with your great compilation of instructions!)  All your cooking sounds yummy!  I have been enjoying pumpkin and squash, also.  It really feels like autumn in Ohio!  SY- We did do it, didn't we with Gwen's instructions.  I, too had to crop and resize my picture.  I've never done anything like it (pat on our backs).  MrsJ, thanks for your kind words.  I do notice less chins in the new picture.  I cut my hair to celebrate "the new me."  Pam

[crickadoodle]

Ms. Heirloom, you look great! 

[Gwennaford]

Gwen, I can't believe how well you are doing, success in the mobility realm, the weightloss realm and you still have time to create new recipes which rock.  I love your beanana muffins for a special treat, and look forward to reading and trying your relish/with apples, cranberries and oranges. 

Thanks, Mom!  I posted the c-o-a recipe a while ago:  http://www.letsdolunch.com/boards/http: ... 699#p40699

I make a huge batch of it & eat on it until it's gone.  It lasts a long time in the fridge.  I froze a batch of it once.  It's mostly soft when it thaws, more like as if it was cooked, which is still good.  But I especially enjoy the crunchiness of it when it's freshly chopped.  Judie (snowbirdie) told me she grinds hers with an old fashioned food grinder, which makes it very finely textured.  I prefer it knife-chopped into bigger chunks, but it takes a lot of time.  Sometimes I compromise by coarsely chopping the cranberries and orange rind in the food processor and then dicing the apples and orange flesh by hand.

[hopefull]

Gwen, that recipe sounds great! I printed it out and will try it at my daughters in Florida next month for Thanksgiving.
Thanks for all you  inspiration!
Love to read your posts,
Bobbi

[crickadoodle]

I was thinking about Gwen today and realized I haven't see her on the boards lately.  Anyone know anything?  I hope she is doing well.  It's not like her to be away for so long.

We miss you Gwen!

[Bethann]

Grennaford,
I've been thinking of you so much! I have appreciated the advise that you have been given me and have been reviewing it lately and trying some of the recipes that you suggested.
My son would like to have a Christmas when he is home so this next week I am going to try making that cranberry recipe that you have suggested. It sounds wonderful!

Until Later,
Love and prayers from Bethann 

[redkat]

Crickadoodle

How coincidental to see you post here.  Just today, I went searching posts trying to see just when the last Gwennaford posted.  She always has such good advice and so helpful with tickers/pictures, etc.

Gwen,  looking forward to having you back.

Kathy

[MsHeirloom]

Gwen- You are missed.  Come back soon and meet all the new people on board since Roger's great appearance on the 700 Club.  Pam

[southernyankee]

Hi Gwen, I have also been missing you on the boards with your great advice and support! But WOW! Are you busy these days, I'm impressed with all your cooking escapades and have also taken note of your festive cranberry relish recipe. That is one I will definitely be making soon. We don't have fresh  cranberries in the market yet in So. Texas but they'll be along "directly." If I had known 15-20 years ago I would be needing it for making cranberry relish again, I would have kept my manual kitchen grinder. 

Pam, I just love your new photo. Your smile speaks volumes about how happy you are with your success on LDL! Congrats! Well, you are wearing your hair shorter now....in contrast I'm growing mine so I'll have a new look (and fewer pounds/inches, you betcha  ) for our convention. Needless to say, DH hates my hair short but I had to have it cropped last Nov. It had gotten so damaged from swimming that I had no choice.

Hey, everybody! Y'all have a great HaLDL'ween . DH bought chocolate to hand out to the trick-or-treaters. But thanks to LDL I ain't SCAIRT of havin' chocolate in the house. I don't need it, don't crave it, and don't want it either. I have some monster-sized red seedless grapes in containers in the freezer as per the skeleton plan of LDL. And my DH and DS don't like frozen grapes so they're always available to keep my sweet tooth goblins at bay. Frozen grapes work their magic spell every time! LDL is the greatest.

southernyankee

[MsHeirloom]

Thanks, SouthernYankee- Yes, I am happy, thrilled, contented, pleased.....  Thanks for your comments.  I do feel as though I'm re-inventing myself.  Can't wait to see you with longer hair.  Pam

[Gwennaford]

Hi everyone. I miss ya'll.we're good. Crazy busy in a good way. Got a new blackberry, trying to learn to use it. Been getting ready to go to Orlando Sunday on business for a weekm Have to carry all the dialysis supplies. Been mending, ironing, packing loading seems like for a month.

City/church throwing a rummage sale benefit for us on the 7th.So also organizing stuff to sell.
Enjoying Fall bounty & staying true to LDL. Taking puter with so hope to talk to all next weekm
Loves GG

[MsHeirloom]

Hope your trip goes well.  Looking forward to hearing more from you.  Pam

[crickadoodle]

Gwennaford -- so glad you're doing fine.  You sound so busy.  When things slow down for you, it'll be great to hear about all you've been up to.

[hopefull]

Gwen, Glad things are going well for you! Wow you have your hands full.
I will be in Florida for Thanksgiving. Plant City will be thinking of you when I am down there.
hugs,
Bobbi

[Gwennaford]

Hi all! I have heard there are many new people here after Roger Troy's recent TV appearance. So welcome to Let's Do Lunch and to my journal. Feel free to read past pages for background on events and health issues referenced below.

Life and circumstances get in the way sometimes, but journaling is one habit that I cannot afford to ever let slide. It's important to save my life and sanity.

Autumn weather makes me feel nostalgic and melancholy. Invorated but sad for happy times lost forever. Mike says I should feel happy to reflect on happy memories of those times but it doesn't seem to work that way for me in this case. Remembering lost loved ones, youth, and exciting  experiences is not the same as experiencing them in the here and now.

So I have been sad and making some hurtful food choices in response. It hurts to admit it after having been the poster child for wise food choices for so long.

There were two notable occasions when I purposely searched out every wrong thing I could get my hands on. Neil's leftover pizza, fried cheese appetizers, PB&J on white bread, Little Debbie's Nutty Bars, half a carton of ice cream... It was fat free & Splenda sweetened, but still...

Another time was in the hotel when I cleaned out the continental breakfast buffet and took the booty to our room as he was too sick to go down for b-fast. It started out innocently. I ate big piles of fresh fruit with hot tea. Took popcorn with me to make in the room's microwave. All was good until something twisted around in my mind, triggered by a series of events that left me isolated, frustated, exhausted and furious with my mate and some of his colleagues. I started eating all his junk I had stockpiled in the room for his frequent small meals, needed due to his debilitated condition. Corn muffins with butter, bacon, potatoes, sugar sodas... Later big piles of deli meats and cheeses, protein 3x a day...

Now I find myself constantly snitching bites of Cheese-Its, Pringles, mac & cheesen etc. It's not so bad when I have vats of soups made ahead. I will always grab one of those instead of junk when they are available. But I haven't been able to get ahead of the curve since we've been back. Playing pack mule for him and his dialysis supplies to Orlando and back took everything out of me, including my will to live, apparently. Did I mention we had to dialyze in the room every night after he finished his seminars for the day? Every day we were there I spent either dialyzing, setting it up, or cleaning up after it. I didn't even SEE the pool...

Wah wah, poor me and my big sloppy pity party. Hoping that writing to down will get it out of my system instead of allowing it to keep festering inside me. That's what Mike says anyway. My next task is to write angry letters to the two people who made me so furious. I have not often been as mad as I was about some stuff that happened that week. I can't go into detail here because it was about some people's bad behavior that could have negative repercussions on some careers. As mad as I am, I wouldn't want to endanger anyone's livelihood with an angry rant.

Don't give up on me, ya'll. I'm still here for the long haul.

Loves, Gwennaford

[jjelli]

Hi Gwen,  Know how you feel.  Hang in there  and tell yourself  "you are worth it"  Just because others dump on u and make u feel bad, you're not gonna dump on yourself.    I just found out some trouble my friend is having.  Can't believe it.  But is does make me so upset...
I ate two mini candy bars last night and wanted more this am.  but I didn't.  It'll only make me feel worse.  I wish people weren't so evil in trying to ruin other lives.  Stuff had been going on in the work place (which no one seems to notice) and then when my friend does it all
sh____ breaks loose.  And their the ones that get in trouble.  Never fails.  They must have a knack for catching the bad end of the stick.
I just pray it gets cleared up and the others will get their due.  Good luck Gwen.  If you have to put it in your mouth, do it, chew it up and spit it out.  There.  Went in the garbage not on the hips.  jj