Weston

Coni & Weston, summer 2005, left; newly engaged, May 2006, right.

The boys are adjusting very well to having a new little one around. All three of the boys have been helpful in taking care of their sister, and they keep wondering when Trinidy will be able to "play."

My mom, Kathleen, stayed for a week to help with the boys, housework, and meals. She was very much appreciated! Plus, my sister Adriana has helped out a lot, too.

Trinidy's jaundice, due to an ABO blood incompatibility, finally resolved itself a few days ago. She did not have the condition as severely as Trenton did, so we were thankful for that.

Last Friday, Trinidy had an appointment with a Pediatric Cardiologist at Cook's Medical Center in Fort Worth to see about her heart murmur. She has two minor holes in her heart, as it turns out, but the doctors are confident that both problems will fix themselves in the coming weeks. She goes back in six months to have it checked out again. Otherwise, she is happy, healthy, and already spoiled.

Thanks for all of the warm wishes and kind thoughts.

Angela

In the beginning of 2006 our weight had reached an all time high and it was seriously affecting our health. We no longer had a choice -- something HAD to be done. We chose Weight Watchers and Donna's Internet support group to help us in our journey. We still have a long road ahead of us -- it will be several more months before we reach our goal weights and then a lifetime using the skills we have learned on this journey. We have often been asked, "How are you doing it?" -- so we gave it some thought and here it is.....

A Little Soul Searching: Why do you want to lose weight? What will you gain by losing the weight? Will you feel better? Will your health improve? Will you be able to participate in activities you can't right now? Will you feel better about how you look and have more confidence? Will you live longer? I think our motivations when we were younger and had less weight to lose were centered around looking a certain way or wearing a certain size. As we have gotten older and found our excess weight interfering with our health, activity and general sense of well being, it has become obvious that our relationship with food will have to change.

Our Reality Check: Food is fuel for our bodies (calories) in the form of carbohydrates, fat and protein. Everything that you put into your mouth will be either burned for energy now or stored as fat to be used later. To lose weight we have to either take in fewer calories or expend more energy to burn some of our stores. It's a little like balancing a checkbook. Seems simple enough ... so why is losing weight so darn hard?

Somewhere along the way we lost that concept. We made food an immediate source of comfort, recreation, and reward. The simple fact that there is a time lag between when we eat and when it actually shows up on our bodies as fat makes it easy to disassociate the eating with the weight gain. The heavier you are the easier this becomes -- gaining five or ten pounds for a bigger person becomes a little like throwing a deck chair off the Titanic -- no one's going to notice, least of all us.

We Got Honest: We had to admit that we love food. We love cooking food, eating food, talking about food and sharing food. It's our favorite way to entertain. We love cooking for other people and each other. We also had to admit that it was easier to change the menu than the mind set. We have learned that we can continue our love of food as long as we are responsible in our choices and are always mindful that the nutritional checkbook has to balance at the end of the day. That cake we love so much tastes even better when you eat it slowly, really taste and enjoy each bite. You can have a smaller piece and enjoy it just as long as it would have taken to eat the whole row.

We Took Action: Support, support, support: We can't stress this enough. We are fortunate to have a great group of family and friends supporting each other on the Internet and working toward this goal together. We also joined Weight Watchers and attend every single week. If you're having a tough week then it is the week you most need to be there.

Education: We learned to read labels and figure out exactly what we are putting in our mouths so we can make informed choices. If you're going to pay for it later, it better be worth it!

Accountability: We write down absolutely everything we eat -- even if it was something we shouldn't have eaten. It helps us look back and learn about both our motivations for eating and the consequences, both good and bad, of what we ate.

House Cleaning: This was a brilliant piece of advice from Dr. Phil -- we cleaned out the cupboards and fridge and took everything we shouldn't be eating off the food shelf. Now, even if we have a moment of weakness, we can't get into too much trouble. We replaced high fat, high sugar foods with healthy but equally delicious choices.

Find substitutions you can live with -- permanently. If you don't like something, you won't eat it for long. We are fortunate that there are now lots of tasty alternatives with artificial sweeteners and a whole host of fat free or low fat products that are really good. We have Splenda in our sugar dish on the kitchen table and use it for all of our sugar needs. If you don't like skim milk plain, try getting it in a skim latte at the coffee shop -- a sprinkle of cinnamon makes it a treat as good as hot cocoa! Try new things -- all diet sodas are not the same! Keep tasting until you find one you like. We especially like Stewart's diet sodas and the new Peach Fresca. If your store doesn't carry something you want -- ask! You can also substitute bacon for the higher fat sausages for breakfast. Two pieces of Oscar Mayer Center Cut bacon are only 50 calories. Other good alternatives for some of our high fat habits are Baked Lay's potato chips or even the Lay's Light line of chips made with Olestra (a fat substitute we can't digest). We always have sugar-free Jell-O cups and fat-free Reddi-wip in our fridge for a 15-calorie treat, whenever the urge hits. We have lots of ideas in this area -- if you want more, we'll be glad to share! Drop us a line at dopaerza@netzero.net

Plan Ahead: It's important that we change our repertoire of "old standard" recipes if we're going to have permanent success. We sit down once a week and look through Cooking Light and Healthy Eating magazines and pick new recipes to try. After six months we have found several that we love and have added them to our regular rotation. We make a list and shop for only what we will use for the week. Gone are the days where we would buy a bag of lettuce, only to throw it out when it rotted. If we don't have a salad planned, we don't buy it. We know how many apples, oranges and grapefruits we eat and buy just enough for the week so our produce is always fresh and delicious. We have saved so much money buying groceries this way that we are always able to have fresh strawberries, raspberries and blackberries and find they are affordable now that we aren't buying so much food "just to have in the cupboard in case..."

Increase the Activity Level: You don't have to buy fancy exercise equipment or join a club (unless you want to). Do something you enjoy. We like to walk. We do it when we feel like it -- not because we should. We make it an outing into the city -- we like to walk around a lake in Maple Grove, have a nice meal out and see a movie or shop at Byerly's for special treats we can't get out here in the country. We've recently taken up golf -- it's not nearly as expensive if you want to walk instead of renting a cart! We also have started parking at the far end of the parking lot anytime we're out. There is always a space and those few extra steps each way add up and will make a big difference over time. Garden, dance, clean the house -- it all counts!

That's it, in a nutshell. Does it work? You decide...

Photos © Donnie & Patty Anderson
Donnie & Patty -- January 2006, left; July 2006, right

My Lovely New Kids: You two are amazing. I do appreciate so much what you have sent. It is truly encouraging and should help us face reality ... and get things balanced out. THANKS so very much for sharing. --Mom, the Matriarch

Thank you for the card for Trenton's third birthday. We did manage to have a nice party for him, even with all the excitement of adding a baby girl to the family. Trenton's party was celebrated with a Blue's Clues theme. Of course, all of the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins were in attendance. Trenton had tons of fun playing, eating cake, and opening his gifts.

Angela Stahlecker Roberson
Hico, TX

Thank you for the e-card. I remain amazed at how you publish The Bulletin every week, and still find time to remember everyone's special occasions. Dinner this Saturday night is all we have planned. We expect to have the grandkids this weekend. I'll take a couple pictures of them -- they're more photogenic anyway!

Dan Mellon
Alta Loma, CA

Editor's Note: That sounds great, Dan, but a picture of Nancy and you would really be appreciated, too!

Photo © Barb Dewey
Shawn & Lori Ostendorf receive congratulations, best wishes; left to right: Leona Anderson, Shawn, Rachel Henderson, Lori, Ben Henderson, Beaver Johnson.

A person doesn't realize how far reaching one simple little act of kindness is. We have a very dear neighbor who had a death in their family, so we left a card at their home.

One day the doorbell rang; it was our neighbor with sincere, grateful appreciation for our thinking of them. She handed me a tiny little lily plant in thanks.

We planted our little lily, and soon it was growing so big and had a giant blossom that we never expected, but is a bit of cheer each time we step out our back door.

We didn't realize that it was going to be there year after year, growing with hardly any attention, other than watering once in awhile. It was a lesson to us that when you do something for someone else you get more in return than you ever gave.

Here is a picture of our blossoms again this year.

Roy and Betty Droel

Photos © Betty Droel
The little Stargazer Lily blooms faithfully, year after year.

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EDITOR'S POLICY: If you wish to subscribe to The Bulletin, simply send me a statement of that fact. If you wish to keep receiving it I hope you will contribute to one of the columns that are running in this family epistle (at least occasionally!). My e-mail address is dma49261@juno.com

This Bulletin is copyright Dorothy M. Anderson; the contents are also copyrighted by the authors and photographers and used with their permission, and the contents are not to be used for any commercial purposes without the explicit consent of the creators.