Driver's License weight!!!!- and Happy Birthday to me!!

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!!

After many many MANY YEARS of attempting and trying and failing and trying again, today on my 54th birthday, I have finally reached my driver's license weight!  

I remember filling out my probationary driver's license form as clearly as if it was yesterday- I remember being at school, I remember where I was sitting, who was sitting near me.  Apparently I was excited by this whole event.  I remember thinking to myself, even at the age of 16 that I wanted to be 150- and I thought that was a little much, but that was fine.  I was NOT 150.  I was more like 157 or 158- something to that effect.  And I remember planning to lose weight to get there.  Who would ever have thought that it would take this many years to get to this place.  

Yes, people, my driver's license STILL says 150!  I have never had to or did ever change it to a more realistic number, and I am so glad I never did.  That number- a stupid number- has driven me to this day.  So as I sit here bawling over it on the couch, I am very happy and very proud.  This journey has taken me since December 21 of 2010.  The day I decided I couldn't go through my life with my knees hurting any more.  With the rolls on my back touching each other when I sit on the couch.  That even if I could lose 10 FREAKING pounds, it would be better than nothing.  I knew I had to get going before the first of January, as we all know that New Year's resolutions do not work!  I don't do them, I start my adventures well before that!  

I HAVE to take the time to THANK my friends over on the loseit web site.  If it hadn't been for that community of people, people who really get it, who are uniquely familiar with this kind of journey, who are there to support you, to cheer you up, to laugh with, to MEET!, to give you advice and you get to do the same for them- I know I could not have done this.  Of course my family and local friends have been fabulous, too, I count my blessings daily,, but without that loseit support, I would not weigh 150.2 pounds today!  It is only a number but baby this is a wonderful one!

So here is to you- Allyce, Barbara, Marie, Samara, Gary, Richie, Leanne, Billy, Cheri, Connie, Jenny, Molly, Jenni, Phyllis, and the rest of my Mean Honey Badgers, Jamie, Bean, Petunia, Mark, Pif, Rudy, Kendra, Randy and a whole lot of others who I feel bad that I can't name all of you individually, but like I said, I'm sort of crying here. THANK YOU!  For putting up with my whining, for dealing with my perpetual good outlook on life, for letting me share small parts of your life.  

The other big factor in this is my dearest friends at Triple B Health and Fitness!  Brian, Lori and the kids have been so supportive, so helpful and so inspiring.  Triple B has indeed helped make me what I am today- way lighter than I was a year ago when I joined!!  Thanks to them, especially Lori and Brian for telling me what a great job I am doing, how I am making such fast progress, how they have seen changes starting way back when I only had a month under my belt!  Those little kind words motivated me hugely!  THANK you!!!!!  I'll be there in a while to give you hugs!  :) :) :)

Time for more coffee, to write another canoe blog post, to wait for the sun to come up so I can walk and to see if I have a picture on the Channel 9 weather!  Lol.  Then time for the gym, for lunch with my friends, for texts and emails, for a happy birthday to me massage!  Hopefully time will find the children calling their mother, and the MA taking me out for dinner!  Then tomorrow I will get up in a new month and with this new number and start things all over again.  145 here I come!  

quickie post

I never got the next big post out, because I had so so many pix to edit.  So here is a smattering of things to come!

The whole group at the Sandy campsite

Snack, water and sunscreen break

Portaging

Rose out on the rocks

So it did rain a bit!

Amazing plants

River plants

Maybe a little oversharing here!

However, this is meant for my Loseit peeps, so if you are NOT one of them, feel free to read this, but know that it is not a boundary waters post, per se!  That would be the next post down!!  and eventually up!

So, one of the goals of this trip was to really test my strength and endurance and I really did do that!  It was such a good time.  I found that I have lots of both of these things.  I also discovered that the trip helped me identify the way that food truly does fuel the body!  It sounds odd, but to feed yourself when you need the boost, to drink so much water when you really need it and actually feel your body use the nourishment to accomplish a task is amazing.  I felt so WEIRD eating such high fat and calorie foods.  But it was obviously needed, since I lost 1.6 pounds this week.  Which was a lot considering the percentage of my weight.  I am able to identify when I am truly hungry.  I really get it!  it was also interesting to eat those high calorie foods- like trail mix- in the environment in which they were intended.  I don't think that it is a great afternoon snack for a sit down job, but really worked well after canoeing for 1.5 hours, with another couple hours until lunch!  Interesting things to think about for me.

So for my own weight loss- I lost the 1.6 pounds, hit the amazing 70 lb weight loss total (WHAT????) and am only 6 pounds from my goal of 145.  I AM ONLY 1 POUND FROM MY DRIVERS LICENSE WEIGHT!!!  THIS IS EPIC PEOPLE!  When I do, I will share that story.

I also measured myself yesterday and I discovered a 29 inch waist.  SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!!!!  MORE from the land of EPIC.  I have few shorts that don't fall off me anymore!  :)  Guess I'll use a belt.

Well, I have to go to abs class, I will continue this with a boundary waters post later.

I can't believe that it is almost the end of birthday month!  Incredible.

Until later today, truly I mean it when I say be a joy-giver and smile!  hugs to all of you!

Here's the story..... of a sunny lady

Who's been working out so very very hard....
(sing this to the Brady Bunch song)
With one thing on her mind, a canoe trip,
that's even farther north!


So in order to avoid much pain and muscle peril
(I know there are some sketchy parts to this song- sue me)
She lifted weights and ran her knee to death.
But still she portaged everything  she needed
And kept up with all the rest!


The camping trip....The camping triiiiip
This is the beginning of the Debi camping trip!

Now wasn't that fun?

So in the spirit of the Brady Bunch, I will introduce you to the cast of characters which are sort of loosely divided into a couple families.

First there is our fearless leader- Pat!

Pat is claimed by all of the represented families.  He found lots of similarities and many ways to connect with us.  He is a vegetarian (yay us!!!), he comes from a family of 5 children- as in that is how many children Penny has, he is from the twin cities area, like Rose and Penny.  He loves artsy people!!!  Yay me and Penny and Rose and Emily and Nathan!  And Pat.  He is patient beyond belief and has discovered how nice it is to have 3 moms on a canoe trip, 2 of whom will move mountains and firewood to make themselves some nice coffee in the morning, no matter how much it has rained the night before!

Yay for coffee in the morning!!

The Meschke Family:

Penny and Nathan-

The Kutz girls, aka the Frazier Family and the Mad-Art teacher!-

Rose, Emily and Debi-

There are also a couple of other groups here- first of all the boys!  They hung out together a bit and were pretty funny and had occasional fits of silliness!

AND of course there are the personality twins- Penny and Debi  We are art people, photographers and I guess you could say outgoing??

See the third foot? That is Penny trying to help me float!

The giggling and laughing was pervasive!

Yay for coffee!!!

Canoeing partner

Matching pink thumbs for our "injuries".  My pink thumb is clean, because I had just lost the dirty one....

We also had a few different canoeing partners!

Pat and I began together, couldn't stay together!  I was needed elsewhere!

Rose and Penny began together, but I ended up switching canoes with Rose

Emily and Nathan mostly canoed together!  

Canoed together later in the week!  We rocked it OUT!

Awesome partners. Emily canoed like a pro by the end of the trip.  she did GREAT!  And so did Nate!

Rose and Pat were good partners!

We got a lot of chatting in!  :)

There was another family who was supposed to go on the trip with us, but they unfortunately were unable to come.  That did give us a little extra room for an ART PACK!!  Yessiree, folks, we had a half a pack of art supplies..... go figure!  :)  And so the trip was named "Watercolor Mosaic" and also "Pat's Art Camp".

Painting

Painted mountain scene

Printing tshirts with leaves

Pat learning to print!

Printing tshirts on a sleep pad!

Using cedar to print

Pat's shirt

painting

Painting

There is so much more to tell, but I am running out of time tonight and I am getting very sleepy.  The next installment to come tomorrow!

Until tomorrow, be a joy giver!

Boundary waters: False starts and hesitation

I am not sure how to progress in this story.  I could do this by day, I could do this by subject, I could do this by campsite......  so many ways.  So hard to choose.

Breath-taking sunset - belies the miserable night sleep that followed!

Rose and Emily

Misty Morning

Oatmeal, baby!!

Amazing rocks

Towering trees

Pad Thai for supper

T-shirt printing

All bags of food came with inventive and amusing descriptions!

SO I will think about it a while, let it flow and until then here are a couple pix to get me started, and hopefully to find just the right angle!  Or at least one that will be entertaining.

And I hope you can find a little joy here!