Okay, so now I really have to get serious about posting on this blog or give it up entirely!  It's been a very long time since I have posted.

There have been so many changes since I last posted, I will try to bring you all up to speed.  I had posted that my daughter and son-in-law had informed us that we were going to be grandparents again.  We became instant grandparents when they got married as our son-in-law has a son from a previous marriage and what a joy it is having Kyle as part of our family.  Just a few weeks after that, my son and daughter-in-law came to visit and announced that we were going to be grandparents again.  The two babies were due within a month or so of each other.  Dominick was born on August 8, 2011, and Quentin was born on September 7, 2011.  Both babies precious and healthy.  Time has flown by and the boys are 8 months and 9 months old.  Both so very different, but both so adorable.  Quentin's newest trick is that he learned how to wave.  Dominick has learned to clap.  I am definitely a proud grandma!  How blessed we are.

Last weekend we were all together as we were attending our future daughter-in-law's graduation ceremony at Illinois State University.  Congrats to her on a job well done.  And yes, you did notice that I said future daughter-in-law!  My youngest son proposed about two weeks ago and everyone is so excited for them.  They are planning an October 2013 wedding date.

Another thing I had posted last time was that we had joined the YMCA and were working on getting healthier and losing weight.  Well, that didn't go so well.  In the midst of the excitement of both girls being pregnant and us working out at the Y, I found a weird spot on my forehead which kept getting bigger day after day.  It started out looking like the ugliest zit ever and over a few days grew about to the size of a nickel with somewhat of a bulls eye look to it. Time to see a doctor to figure out what was going on.  One doctor thought it was MRSA and another thought it was possibly shingles.  Either way, I missed a few days of work until I had been on antibiotics for a few days and hopefully couldn't pass whatever it was on to anyone else.  I couldn't see either of the mommies to be either and that was very sad and also a little scary as I had been with them both the weekend before the spot appeared.  After several hundred dollars, tests proved to be inconclusive, but both doctors thought it may have been something I picked up off a piece of equipment at the Y and advised that I wipe down any surface of the equipment I may touch BEFORE I used it since there are so many who don't take the time to wipe down after they're finished.  I quickly lost my enthusiasm for working out.

Fast forward to the end of September 2011 and at a checkup with my doctor I was informed that I was no longer borderline diabetic, but was now full blown Type II and needed medication.  After being borderline for a few years and taking no action to really improve the situation, I was still shocked to the core and burst into tears.  There was no way I wanted to be taking yet another medication!!!!  Consider this my "come to Jesus" moment.  If I didn't make changes, I was going to live out the rest of my life getting heavier and heavier and sicker and sicker.  I had two new grandsons to think of now.  After trying to convince the doctor I was serious about taking charge of my health, the doctor agreed to give me one more chance to prove it and told me to come back in three months for a recheck.  I still wasn't motivated enough to really work at my health, though.  In November I had to take stock of where I was and the fact that through almost two months of trying to lose weight and eat healthier, I had only managed to lose about 10 pounds and was starting to put that back on.  It was time to face the fact that I was not making progress on my own.

I had noticed a coworker had lost weight and was looking really great and asked her how she was doing it.  She filled me in on the program she has been following through a doctor in our area.  Since he happened to also be my gyne, when I was in his office for a checkup, I asked about his weight loss program and he didn't even give me a chance to hesitate, but had his nurse making my first appointment for an assessment.  I had that first appointment on November 9, 2011.  It did start with a greatly restricted calorie intake.  Oh my God, 1000 calories a day!  I was also given a prescription for an appetite suppressant.  I know, I know, many people don't believe in taking a "diet drug" but yet will secretly spend big money trying every supplement known to man in an attempt to have a magic prescription to lose weight.  The first three weeks of this plan were terribly hard and very depressing.  Trying to figure out what I could eat by trying to limit carbs and trying hard not to go too heavy with protein was the hardest chore ever.  I remember going in for a weigh-in and starting to cry with the realization that I will have to watch what I eat for the rest of my life.  But I will have to say that when I went back to my general practitioner right before Christmas, I was down almost 20 pounds from where I had been in September.  The best surprise ever was finding out that my blood sugar had returned to normal and not in need of medication!!!!

I have been following this plan under my doctor's supervision and to date have lost 56 pounds!  Did you see that????  """"56"""" pounds!!  I have dropped 3-4 pants sizes and am feeling ever so much healthier.  I do still have about 15 more pounds my doctor would like to see me lose and I admit I've been pretty much at a standstill for about 2 months now.  Time to get motivated again to get that last 15 pounds off.

I also have a new love in my life!  Quilting!  More specifically, I have discovered a love of fabric and am trying to teach myself to quilt.  I will expand on my quilting experience more in future posts and maybe even get up the nerve to share some pictures of projects I've been working on.

I think I've bored everyone enough today, but did want to catch you up with my life.  I will be back again soon and hope to get in the habit to post shorter and more frequent comments.  My intent is that you will get it all, the good, the bad and the ugly.  After all, the title of this is "Rants, raves and musings", so I have to give you some of that to read.

It's a beautiful day folks, so off to do a little quilting and then some work in the yard.  Pictures later!!  Have a great day!