Fibromyalgia and Fat - Tomi's story page 98

[Judg]

LOL @ marking the dollars. Wouldn't work with a loonie...

I stretch my purses out as long as I can too. I hate swapping things around.

Have a great trip and don't worry about the weight loss thing. Sometimes there's not much rhyme or reason to the day to day changes. It's the big picture that counts.

[tomi]

Judg -- whats a loonie?

So its 2:42 am and I'm not sleeping. The alarm is set to scream at 5:00 am. We have to leave for the airport at 6:00 am. I'm going to be wasted tomorrow. I've tried eating something - had protein, probably should have gone for some carbs. Then I shaved my legs and put on my favorite peppermint lotion. Nothing is working. Stupid songs running through my head - and all those pre-travel worries.......... what did I forget? should I bother taking all my supplements with me? (yes) did I take that pepper spray out of my purse? (yes) We need to get seat assignments....... what if they can't seat us together? (we'll survive) I hope my stomach doesn't have issues while we're gone! ........... ugh - doesn't help that hubby is snoring either!

I'm hoping writing it all out will get the thoughts to go away! Maybe I have some games on W w/friends to catch up on.......

I hate having insomnia!

[Pedidoc]

Relax, enjoy your trip, and we all are eagerly awaiting your trip tales when you get back!

[jenn26point2]

Look forward to hearing about your trip! Enjoy!

[Judg]

Judg -- whats a loonie?

So its 2:42 am and I'm not sleeping. The alarm is set to scream at 5:00 am. We have to leave for the airport at 6:00 am. I'm going to be wasted tomorrow. I've tried eating something - had protein, probably should have gone for some carbs. Then I shaved my legs and put on my favorite peppermint lotion. Nothing is working. Stupid songs running through my head - and all those pre-travel worries.......... what did I forget? should I bother taking all my supplements with me? (yes) did I take that pepper spray out of my purse? (yes) We need to get seat assignments....... what if they can't seat us together? (we'll survive) I hope my stomach doesn't have issues while we're gone! ........... ugh - doesn't help that hubby is snoring either!

I'm hoping writing it all out will get the thoughts to go away! Maybe I have some games on W w/friends to catch up on.......

I hate having insomnia!

A loonie is a Canadian dollar. It's a coin, so marking it wouldn't work too well. It has a loon on it, hence the name. We also have a two-dollar coin which we call - wait for it - a twonie. And yes, there were a lot of Loonie Toon jokes when they first came out. You need to travel north one of these fine days...

Have a great trip. I'm sure all your worries will be for naught.

[tomi]

Home............. awe! LOVE being home.

Las Vegas was fun - hubby and I had a great time - but the trip was not without its handicaps. First we checking in at PDX all was well and we were told were checked all the way through to Vegas - had boarding passes through LAX as well. We get to LAX, find our connecting flight and see that our 2:20 flight is now leaving at 3:45.......... UGH! So we find a place to get some food - grilled chicken wraps and fries (sorta primal). So far so good. We get back to the gate and find a place to sit - a very long way away from the service desk. After about 15 minutes I see something on the screen behind the desk that catches my eye ---- something about a gate change for the flight to Vegas - so hubby walks up to read it --- YUP - we are supposed to be at another gate. So - off we go to the correct gate - which is only 200 feet away. As we are sitting on the floor (no seats available) I look at the screen behind the desk........ now our flight has been delayed again and its now 4:10. 15 minutes later, they change it again to 4:20 --- we are now 2 hours behind schedule. They start boarding the plane and say "groups 1 and 2 can board" .............. hum --- our boarding passes don't have a group number on them. So we get at the end of the line......... she scans our passes and says "invalid - go talk to the desk attendant". UGH........ so we go stand behind a man who is trying to change his tickets --- the girl at the desk finally tells him the flight is boarding right now and she doesn't have time to help him change his tickets without delaying the flight --- in the meantime 3 other people have walked up to the desk and pushed us out of the way! The lady taking the boarding passes now comes over to help with the crowd at the desk............ she picks up 2 passes off the desk and says "FAST?" ............. thats us........... we get on the plane with looks of "oh - YOU'RE the cause of MORE delay!" Okay......... off to Vegas!!!

So now we've missed our scheduled shuttle to the casino - so we are now on "first come" basis. Luckily it was not crowded and we were seated easily. We get to the casino (South Point, in case you're interested) - we get checked in and before going to our rooms we go to the event center to register for the buyers show. Then we go to the room and freshen up a bit.......... back to the show, buy a few things - have a few free drinks - eat a few snacky things. Go to bed!

Friday - everything goes smoothly. We spend several hours at the buyers show - have breakfast - eggs and bacon - buy lots of stuff - skip lunch cuz we're still full from breakfast! But I did give in to the canolli and big peanut butter cookies - and oh dang....... now the open bar is set up again! one more drink. Shows over............. we spend about $20 on the slots and decide to go to our room early.

Saturday we slept late and get to breakfast around noon - and my stomach decides it a good day to have diarrhea! We're scheduled for the 2 pm shuttle to the strip and have tickets to the 7 pm Beatles - LOVE show at the Mirage. 2 o'clock rolls round and I'm not about to get on that shuttle --- back to the bathroom! I have spend most of the last 2 hours in the bathroom while hubby watches football. I finally take 2 pills to stop the flow. While were waiting I get out our flight confirmation to check the time and we notice that our returning flight is at 9:45 PM!!! on Sunday. Thats not what we picked while making the reservations on Expedia - we picked the 10:45 AM flight - but, our reservations were for the 9:45 PM -- that would put us back in Oregon at Midnight - and thats not going to work! Hubby starts making phone calls. After getting the run around from Expedia and told it will cost $75 per ticket to make the change and then maybe another charge from the airlines - we decide to call the airlines. We're told ALL flights are booked full. We decide there isn't anything we can do except go the airport early and try to go stand-by on the 10:45 am flight ............ its now 3 pm, and the next shuttle to the strip is here - I'm ready to get on the shuttle! The shuttle takes us to Treasure Island --- PERFECT! Its right next to the Mirage where we need to pick up our tickets at will call by 5 pm. So we go straight there --- only to be told our tickets were for the night before! CRAP - how did that happen? I'm about in tears at this point. We paid $250 to see this show! The girl at the counter asks for our ID and for our ticket confirmation page -- she disappears for about 5 minutes and comes back with 2 tickets............ PHEW! We decide we have plenty of time to go across the street and see the Venetian (I've been there, but hubby hasn't) .......... then we go back to the Mirage and find a place to eat. We ordered 2 starters - honey BBQ wings and Mahi Taco things. Both yummy - and except for the corn taco shell, which was about a 4 inch round - it was completely primal (score)

The show was MAGNIFICENT! Total and complete sensory overload! It was amazing! Very expensive --- but worth it! We wander out of the Mirage into a SEA of people on the strip! We watch the volcano explode at the Mirage - and wander back to Treasure Island just in the time to catch the shuttle back to South Point. We tired! and hungry.......... but its too late for dinner, and there is no place to get anything light, and healthy. We buy a peice of cheesecake (sorta primal, right?) and a canolli and we split them in our room......... Set the alarm and go to bed. I wake up at 5:45 - the alarm is set for 6:00. ............ 6 comes and go and the alarm doesn't buzz.......... hubby checks - oh, its set for pm, not am. Can anything else go wrong? Get up - shower, pack up, check out............ and go to the airport shuttle that we had made reservations on the day before.......... NOPE, we're not on the list!!!! Luckily there is plenty of room. We're on our way to the airport to beg for a seat.

We go to the ticket counter to be told all flights are full and they don't do "stand by" - but if a seat is available at the 45 minute cut off to boarding then we can change our flights for a $25 fee each. Whatever....... either we pay or we sit in the airport for 14 hours! So we waited............ finally they called us up the counter and gave us our boarding passes for a $50 charge to our credit card! We weren't sitting together - but we were on the same plane and heading for home on the flight that we were supposed to be on before Expedia screwed up!

And all is well............. did we have fun? absolutely! Will we go back to Vegas for any other reason except the buyers show? NO WAY! Did I stay primal? no........... but the good thing is we walked MILES every single day - and I stepped on the scales after we got home and I think I didn't gain any weight at all. I'll know for sure in the morning. Its hard to know when I was fully dressed and had just eaten eggs, bacon and hashed browns at Elmers on the way home from the airport. I'll check in the morning - in the buff and then I'll know for sure. I tried to make good choices except for the couple of drinks at the show - and the couple of desserts. It wasn't bad -- I'm not going to worry about it all. In the morning I will be back on track again - and back on my way to goal weight

hope this wasn't too boring! Its always an adventure - thats what we say when things go sideways!

PS - between the 2 of us we gambled $90 on the slots - on our last couple "gambing" dollars hubby hit a good one on the penny slots - won back $78.15 so - we lost just under $12 in Vegas! I don't think we need to worry about being gambling junkies!

[Pedidoc]

Sounds like you had fun despite the Gremlins!

[jenn26point2]

That sounds like what my trip would be like... I always seem to find the bad luck... oh well. At least you had fun.

[tomi]

I didn't want my discription to sound like the whole trip was a mess - hope it didn't come across that way - we just had some hiccups that made it a bit less "smooth" than I had preferred. Overall we really enjoyed the trip - but after talking about it we decided that Vegas is not a vacation destination that we choose freely. We went this time because it was 80% paid for by the company putting on the buyers show. Vegas is pretty much total sensory overload and way too many people for us. We experienced it though - and had fun doing it - just wouldn't purposefully go there again. If the show invites us again next year we'll probably go and just stay at the show venue, and not stay an extra day.

So -- Monday morning - and its time to get back to the task at hand. Eating properly, exercising and losing weight while feeling great! That is my goal. I was right on the weight -- didn't gain a single ounce. Still the same weight today that I was the day we left. I'm very pleased by this and now ready to take the bull by the horns and get back to it!

Yesterday I ate eggs, bacon, hashed browns and 2 peices of sour dough toast with butter and strawberry jelly on the way home from the airport. It was 1:00 pm and my first food in 15 hours. Shame on me for the bread and jelly - but it was very good!!! I had some almond butter and a sweet potato with butter and brown sugar in the evening. (obviously still in vacation mode)

Today the sugar and grains go back on the "NO" list. I don't think I'll have any trouble getting right back on track - if I do I will confess and beg for your encouragement! No food yet today - but the tummy is growling. I'd really like to fast until this afternoon, while drinking plenty of water to flush out my system. Will see how it goes - but thats the plan. Hubby has bible study tonight so won't be home until 9 pm. That means I can cook whatever I want! Its pretty much looking like steamed veggies and broiled salmon tonight. Course I will need to have something for hubby to eat when he gets home. I think I'll throw some beef into the crockpot and just let it slowcook all day. He loves dead cow! I need to use up what was left from last years order - I have only steaks left. 2 packages of t-bones and a package of rib steak. I'm going to put them all in the crockpot and see how it comes out. I will drop in some red potatoes and carrots a couple hours before he gets home. I'll be putting them in the crockpot still partially frozen so I'm hoping they don't get over cooked. Steaks are just thin sliced roast right? so why wouldn't it be ok to slow cook them? Last years meat was a little tough anyway - so this should help the meat come out more tender. I'm added a bunch of spices and putting in a healthy dollup of bacon fat too. That should add some nice flavor.

okay........... I think I will walk this afternoon. Its cold and gloomy outside and it just doesn't look very inviting. If my work was closer I would walk to work - but its like 6 miles away. I've thought about biking it - but its also up a long steady hill - probably a mile of incline - don't think I want to tackle that one.

So - happy Monday everyone! Lets do this!

[namelesswonder]

Let us know how the steaks come out! I have no idea what slow-cooked steaks would be like. On the one hand, many steaks do really well in a marinade so I would imagine slow cooking would be fine. On the other hand, some need fast and high heat to stay tender. I think some steaks are sliced roast, but they might come from different parts of the animal.