Hello November

Time to blog!

It's been a busy past few weeks.    Gavin's football season ended.    The record wasn't good enough to progress further than the regular season but they were predicting that.    He did play a bit in the final game against Urbandale.    He was actually happy to be done with football though which was a little odd to me but I think the wear and tear was actually wearing on him.    He's happy just lifting weights now most mornings.    He'll likely do track in the spring. 

We had his senior pictures taken on October 24th after school.     We started out by Saylorville Lake and the weather was great.   He took a lot of outdoor shots.  I didn't take any pictures with my phone as that seemed inappropriate.    It was quite funny to see how many photographers were out there taking pictures of other seniors and families.    We then went back to the studio and oddly enough the alley in the back of the building had some more good outdoor shots.   We ended with him wearing his football jersey for indoor shots.   We should have his proofs in two weeks.   I will admit I had my first emotional moment out at Saylorville while watching him pose for his pictures.   I got a touch sad that he's almost done with school.

I am quite excited for my weekend travels.    I am leaving for Winona, MN after work to spend some time with Nicole and her husband.    I haven't seen their new house yet.    I see it as my mini-vacation before I am bombarded with insane grading.    I've kept up decently with two of my ISU classes and both of my DMACC classes.     I have a ton of things to grade for my elementary-ed course at ISU.   Like 200 items to grade.    It sounds like Nicole's making supper for us Friday night and we are going to a museum on Saturday.    The original plan was to go to a state park to hike but the weather looks crappy.    They are having a game night on Saturday that I'll probably stick around for and I'll head south on Sunday morning.    I think I am coming up to Waukon again the following weekend.    Sounds like Dan and Jude may come up with me too.   

A couple weeks ago I went to a show in Des Moines called The Naked Magicians.   It's an act that originated from Australia.    I was uncertain at first but my friend Jess talked me into it.   She was planning to attend with coworkers and asked me to come along too.    It's actually a really good magic show.    They do well with that.   And yes, as they proceed, the clothing comes off.   They can't show everything in the USA but you get the drift.   It also has good sexual humor too.     We had a VIP package so we got our picture taken with them too.   

Sidenote related to the picture above....so I almost stepped on the guy's toes next to me.   I said something like "Whoops, I don't want to step on you."   He looks at me with a straight face and says "Don't worry it's not long enough to hit the ground."   Well done sir, well done. 

The meal we had before the show was great too.    Had some great salmon and tomato tortilla soup.

Speaking of eating.    I got carried away in the last 4-6 weeks with eating junk food and not watching my calories.   For the first time since surgery prep, I gained some weight.    I am in the most risky period of time for people with gastric surgery.    People get happy with weight loss and progress and are most likely to gain weight 9-18 months after surgery.   The good news is I got back on track with protein intake and scheduling meals so I lost all the weight already.    I have healthier snacks available.   Honey crisp apples have been a godsend.    I have my year check up on November 20th.    Now that I lost weight, I am back to a weight I've been stuck at for months.   I still need to lose about 50 more pounds to reach my personal goal. 

Last but not least, I had a dentist appointment this morning.   My teeth are officially straight!   She took time to take the "buttons" off my teeth that were used with retainers over the past year to move my teeth.     They re-scanned my teeth so retainers could be made that I wear at night for the rest of my life.    I'm still wearing a set of retainers to keep my teeth in place.   Still paying off the braces but at least my teeth are done moving.    I'll have less dental appointments too. 

That's enough for now!