We're Finally HOME!

After 47 days and almost 5,000 miles. Jim and I are finally home in very HOT Phoenix, AZ!

Our motor home is not home though. We left it in Albuquerque, NM to hopefully get fixed. We had spent 2 days in Albuquerque driving and sitting around in the hot car or runny the AC while the shop works on the RV. Every evening we would bring the RV to the KOA so we could sleep. It was just too much for Jim and I let alone our two dogs and cat so yesterday morning we loaded the car with the animals and some of our belongings and headed home. We arrived yesterday afternoon and wished we were still back east in the 70 plus degree temps! Oh my, we had forgotten just how hot it gets in Phoenix!

Heather and family met us at our apartment to help unload the car and visit with one another. It was so good to see our kids once again! Travis is getting so tall!!

Jim and I had not had a shower since Monday and we just wanted to jump in the shower to get all the dirt and sweat off, and low and behold there was not water in our complex until about 6:00pm!! So later on we finally had our showers and felt so much better!

This morning, I woke up around 6:00 a.m. and decided to stay up so we could go out to eat and get some groceries before it reached triple digits and too hot to go out! Right now we are having to get used to the heat again. Jim just said, "I will hate to see our electric bell next month." Why? because we have it set at 72 right now!

Pray that the mechanic can find out why the RV does not want to run properly and it does not cost an arm, leg and a few necessary organs! If it costs too much we will need to get rid of it. Either way, Jim will still need to return sometime next week to get the rest of our things. Hopefully it will be to pick up the RV.

We will have some exciting news to share with you all next week. So until then keep praying!

Thank you again for all your love, prayers, and encouragement you have all sent our way.

God bless.

Hard To Stay on Track - But Won't Give Up!

This past week has been extremely difficult again trying to stay on track. My mother continues to make food that I cannot eat and if I don't eat what she makes she gets all upset. Then my sister was here too and we went out to eat a couple of times at a "home style" cooking restaurant and also a tea room. Many of the foods that are not good for me. Especially my IBS. Today I bought some things I can eat and will make at my moms for the three of us. She is not too thrilled, but I told her I wanted to cook for her too. Hopefully she will like what I make.

I have been able to take walks in between the rainy days. If it's a rainy day then we walk inside a mall or store. Otherwise we enjoy the beautiful scenery as we walk around my mom's or our campground.

I appreciate your prayers and encouragement to stay focused. Thank you so much.

Fitness Friday Update

I have not posted in a couple of weeks.

I am still on vacation. It is very hard to stay on "track" while at my mother's. I am watching my portion control. I am walking, almost every day. Unfortunately, we have had rain for three days now. I did have my mom take me to a mall yesterday for me to walk. My IBS has been acting up because I am not able to eat organic foods. I have been doing the cooking the past three days which has helped.

The walk has been about a 1/3 of a mile... half of which is uphill. I could walk further I believe if it were not for my right hip and left foot. Pray I can find a pedometer (is that what it's called?) so I can measure my walks.

I am praying this rain stops soon or maybe we should build an ark! LOL! I'm a little tired of the rain and dampness.

For other participants please click here.

I'm Doing The Happy Dance!

I may have been on a weight loss stand still, but my body is changing for the better! I had an excellent visit with my endonconologist. My labs were practically perfect! Six months ago I was still on diabetic medicine - three months ago I was taken off the med for a trial run. Today I was told that because of my diet/ lifestyle changes I no longer have to take diabetic medication!!! A year ago my cholesterol was 245. Three months ago it was 200. Today... 187!!! And my good cholesterol is raising!

I am just deficient in Calcium and Vitamin D. So I just have to take extra calcium and D.

I have been off of all pain meds, muscle relaxers and sleeping pills for over a year now. Diet, exercise, over the counter pain meds, and herbs are helping me with my pain.

Also, my heart medication is down to half a pill twice a day! The doctor said that more weight loss and they may be gone too!

I still have my chronic illnesses, but they are not as severer as they used to be.

So, I'm not too discouraged that my weight loss is slowing down, because my body has been adjusting to the lifestyle changes.

So I will continue on, the doctor is proud of my progress and weight loss! I am doing the happy dance!!!

Thank you so much for your continued encouragement and prayers.

God bless you.

Great Dining Out Guides

To view other posts click here http://godspeakstoday.blogspot.com/2009/05/fitness-friday-here-comes-sun.html

Whether you are going on vacation like, or just wanting to go out to eat, here are a few sites that might help you decide where to go and what to order.

Want to Watch Calories When Dining Out?Tips for Eating Smart

Watching calories while eating out? The good news is in today's restaurants you have plenty of options! Here are a few tips from the National Restaurant Association on how to make the most of your dining-out experience.By Sheila Weiss, R.D. to continue with this article please click here: http://www.restaurant.org/dineout/nutrition.cfm

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http://www.healthydiningfinder.com/learnmore/default.asp

http://www.dwlz.com/restaurants.html

http://www.fastfoodbook.com/

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Healthy Fast Food
Guide to Making the Healthiest Fast Food Choices

To continue with this article click here:http://www.helpguide.org/life/fast_food_nutrition.htm

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Nutritional information from popular fast food restaurants
Burger King (PDF)
McDonald’s (PDF) – no specific information
Wendy’s (PDF)
KFC (PDF)
Taco Bell (PDF) – particularly hard to read
Panera (PDF) – 7 pages - hard to read
Chipotle (PDF)
Au Bon Pain
Food With Integrity – More information on how Chipotle is working to improve their food qu

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Fast FoodNutrition Pages
McDonald's
Wendy's
Taco Bell
Subway
Burger King
Pizza Hut
Kentucky Fried Chicken
Arby's
Jack in the Box
Starbucks

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More Resources• American Dietetic Association• American Heart Association diet and nutrition information• FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition• Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network• Fruits and Veggies More Matters promoting fruits and vegetables• Healthy Dining Finder• International Food Information Council• Nutrition.gov• Shaping America's Health• USDA and its Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion

Busy Weeks Ahead - But I am Prepared!

Can you believe the month is more than half gone? Soon school will be out for the summer and everyone will take their family vacations and before you know it school will be back in session!

This will be a very busy couple of weeks. This evening my hubby will be announcing each of the 450+ graduates from the high school he teaches. The last day for students is this Thursday, and Friday will be the teacher's final day. Tomorrow, Tuesday we will celebrate our daughter Heather's 33 rd birthday ( a few days early). Yes, I am that old! LOL.. Wednesday Heather will have a medical test done. Thursday and Friday Jim and I will load up our 25 year old motor home travel across country to Pennsylvania to visit my mother and other family members. Please pray for travelling mercies.

We are excited about seeing family, though we are sad that we will not see my step father Chris this side of heaven. We will probably spend a few weeks with my mother and a week with my sister in NC, and then who knows where we will go. We plan on being gone about 8 weeks. We could get homesick and choose to come home early... hummm..... not sure about that one! LOL... I will miss Heather, Travis and Karl too (they will apartment sit for us)! But it will nice for hubby and I to get away by ourselves (along with our two dogs and one cat). Yes, we will travel across country with 3 animals!

I am not sure how much time I will have to visit with everyone since we do not know if we will have Internet connection everywhere we go. I will try to post and keep everyone updated on our whereabouts. Maybe something like "Where in the country is Michele & Jim"! LOL I might even journal about the difficulties or maybe not, of making healthy choices while on the road and visiting family. Pray for me, as I am adamant on sticking with my lifestyle changes. I like that better than DIET! That's what it really is: Lifestyle Change!

Besides making of list of things to pack and take along with us, I been busy with a few other things that I think would be helpful as one prepares to go on vacation.

1) I am looking up restaurant and fast food nutritional healthy choices. We'll see if restaurants are really concerned about America's health! This will help Jim and I as we travel so we know where we can stop and eat if I don't feel like cooking after a long day's trip.

2) I also contacted my Health insurance company requesting an in-network pharmacy that I can use to get my refills. Now I have the name and address of the pharmacy I will use.

3) I also asked the insurance company for an in-network hospital and general physician just in case one of us gets ill. Also the insurance gave us the website to view other doctors etc for other states that would be considered in-network. So now we have a list of hospitals and doctors we can use and only pay our regular co-pay amount. Hopefully we will not need to use this list, but just in case we have it handy.

4) I made an updated list of all medications and over the counter meds and vitamins. I also updated my family history and doctor list. This way I have them handy in my purse in case of emergency.

5) We updated our contact lists and have those as well.

6) We backed up our home computer and will take the "drives" with our laptops. This way we will have all pertinent information handy.

I hope some of the things I listed were helpful. I just thought I would share some things that most people don't think about when they leave on vacation.

If you have some neat ideas or suggestions for regarding preparations and travel please share them with us. I would love to know if I am missing something important!

Blessings !

Is It Stess?

It has been a difficult couple of weeks for several reasons. Maybe it's the stress of my step father's death a week ago and I am concerned for my 86 year old mother's well being. Maybe it's because I have less than 10 days to get everything ready to leave for 6 weeks or more to travel back east with hubby and animals to visit mom and family. Maybe it's the financial needs or employment concerns regarding my hubby. Maybe it's also knowing that when we return we will most likely be moving again to a less expensive apartment to help with our financial needs. And maybe it's that my fibromyalgia has been in a flare again. Well... whatever it may be, there is added stress, and with that stress I have been in a weight loss stand still for four weeks. Well I can now say that the scales have moved! But the wrong direction!!! Hummm is it the edema that has built up this past week or is it the extra calories I took in this week? Maybe both! Either way, I will not get discouraged. I will persevere! I know I can do this! I BEElieve I Can!!

Pray for me as I get back on track with my weight loss program.