Finally, someone realized...

how hard it is to open products packaged in that hard plastic stuff! I just bought a car connector thing for my iPod, and it was in that stuff. To my surprise, the back was perforated to make it easy to open! So way to go Griffin! iPod accessories are expensive, by the way.

So my family is having yet another crisis. I have a family member that, for as long as I can remember, has caused the family pain and grief over and over and over again. Yet we keep on loving him (and helping him) because he's family and that's what we do. Which is right and good. But I'm so angry and frustrated at him right now that I'm ready to completely throw in the towel on him. Just give up and cut him out of my life completely. He has more than earned it. And I hardly ever see him - those people who live with and near him have put up with waaaay more than I have. It makes me wonder all over again at how good God is. As angry as I am, haven't I messed up just as much? And he never runs out of love and forgiveness for me. In fact, every time I ask for forgiveness, he forgets my sins completely. Like they never happened! It's truly an amazing thing. So I suppose I will keep praying that my family will have God's love in them to show him, while searching for guidance on the right thing to do. Because love doesn't always mean bailing people out. "because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son." Hebrews 12:6 But it does mean forgiving and not giving up. "Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times" Matthew 18:21-22

I posted earlier about not getting all of my protein in, and Dawn had a good question. She wondered how I was not getting it in when 2 protein shakes should easily meet my requirement for the day. Here's the answer - and when I go to see the dr. for my 1 month follow-up on Tuesday I'm going to double-check on this - my surgeon wants me to eat 3 meals a day and nothing else. He will (grudgingly :) ) allow one small snack mid-afternoon if I have a long time between lunch and dinner. He counts a protein shake as a meal, not as part of the liquids that I do during the day. So I've been trying to eat actual food rather than protein shakes - mostly because I like it better :), but also because long term that's what I need to be doing and what my doctor prefers. So I'm not doing many protein shakes at this point. I have been doing one for breakfast a lot of days, and that's helping. The past few days I have gotten to my protein and water goals, which is good. I worry some that Dr. E. only asks me to get in 40 g of protein, while Pam (the nutritionist) said 60, so I try and go higher than 40 when I can. I have to keep reminding myself that he's the doctor and I'm not.... a little bit of knowledge can be a bad thing :)

I'm still feeling kind of generally run-down and nauseous. Not in a hugely major way, more in an annoyance kind of way. I'm exhausted, but having a lot of trouble sleeping. Last night (now, don't fuss at me. I know I shouldn't do this and am NOT going to do it again - it was a one time thing) I was so tired that I took some of my pain medicine just to help me sleep. It was awesome. I conked out quickly and was dead to the world for 9 hours. I really needed that! I also have nausea medication that Dr. E prescribed for me when I left the hospital, but I haven't taken any of that yet. I think that makes you sleepy, too, and I just haven't felt like I feel bad enough to take it. I'm going to talk to him about all of this on Tuesday,when I go to see him. I have been trying to notice if I feel worse after I eat certain things, and I haven't noticed anything. Just a general feeling worse in the morning.

I'm also in the "Dear-God-what-have-I-done-this-is-insane" stage where I'm totally freaked out and a little regretting that I had the surgery. However, from what I understand almost everyone experiences this at about this point, so I'm confident that it will pass. Probably when I start noticing significant weight loss. I'm still at the point where I can hardly tell. I'm wearing all the same clothes, although they're a little big. But I still feel like 50 pounds down they should be bigger than they are. Patience, Sarah, patience!

My high school girlfriends are coming over today to celebrate two of their 30th birthdays! The one coming from out of town should be here in about 30 minutes. We're going to go to the gym, then probably hang out by the pool if its warm enough. The other two will join us at some point. We'll go out to dinner and then go to Sine to see Sloth Loves Chunk play. I may be biased b/c my friend's husband is the drummer, but I think they're great and I love to go see them. If you're in the Richmond area, you should definitely check them out! (And if you're coming, let me know. I go to almost all the shows!) The only problem, for this old lady, is that they usually don't even start playing until 10:00 - my usual bedtime - and they go until about 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. It's all very rock 'n' roll :) Back to the point, I'm excited to see "my girls" and get to hang out with them. To be fair, 3 of the 4 of us actually live in Richmond, but I only see one of them regularly. We do this several times a year to celebrate birthdays and this year we're all turning *gasp* 30! (Except me. I chose to stay 26 about 4 years ago) So I'm excited to get to hang out with them.

Ok, this post has gotten excruciatingly long and - no pictures. Oh, actually, here's some. This is what happened the last couple of times I've gotten together with these girls:

This time they were all very late and I made them all sign confessions stating such:

This is what they thought of my confessions:

You do get treated like a queen on your birthday!

This picture we staged after she fell asleep. We rock :)

This time we were obviously wild and crazy

Girls, I apologize. I know that some of those might not be the most flattering pictures. But I was willing to make the sacrifice to make the blog more interesting. I know, I'm like a saint. And see how I didn't put your names? No one will ever know who you are.....

Alright y'all. Be cute now.