Week 4 and half way there!

I am very excited to be at the halfway point in my recovery stage! This past week I have been out and about keeping very busy. It feels great to not be glued to the couch anymore. Last Friday we went and saw Harry Potter 7 Part 1. While it was a great movie the lack of caffeine was evident when I was yawning at the 8:45pm start time. Sad to say, my bed time has been 9:00-9:30pm for the past month. Either way I had a great time meeting up with Kellie, Karl, & Kirsten for HP7.1. On Saturday we walked around Ikea, Target, & Costco. Although the highlight was when Mike and I stopped at Jamba Juice for smoothies for lunch. My cap was leaking down my cup and instinctively I went to lick the side of the cup. Whoops! I don't have access to my tongue! LOL. Mike certainly got a kick out of that!

I have also had 1 success and 1 failure in the soup department. I was very excited to make a delicious vegetable stock. I used vegetables that I have never eaten or diced before. I ended up using YouTube video clips to learn how to cut leeks, ginger root, and parsnips. I am really enjoying cooking and preparing my meals. It definitely beats the monotony of eating Ensure for every single meal. With my vegetable stock I was able to prepare 2 soups. The first soup was a Potato and Roasted Garlic. Unfortunately, I left the potatoes in the stock too long and it turned into mashed potatoes. However, I still ended up eating the soup which turned out more like potato water. YUCK! The second soup I made was a Cream of Onion. It turned out beautifully! It was made with butter, onions, dry vermouth, stock, bay leaf, and cream. The soup was deliciously buttery with a nice onion flavor!

Yesterday I had my doctors appointment for the week. As before, everything is looking great! I am down just about 23lbs and the doctor is predicting that I should be at 190lbs when I see him again in 2 weeks. Maybe being wired shut during the holidays is a good thing!

Speaking of holidays, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! This year Mike and I are hosting Jack, Laurel, Grandma, & Papa for the holiday. We are cooking a turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoe casserole, corn, and White Bean Soup (for me). While I am going to miss diving into all this delicious food, I am just keeping focus on my recovery and I will enjoy having the family over to our place for our first Thanksgiving. I am thankful for a successful surgery, great family, and good health. I am also thankful for all of your support through this process, and with the passing of my Mom. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!!!