Back home - SH4SC check in

Good to be home. My mom's funeral was amazing. First, on Friday morning, the immediate family had a private ceremony at the mausoleum to commit her ashes. We learned a new word - inurnment vs interment when it's a burial. All weekend was beautiful and sunny, just like Mom. We had some family and friends come from out of town. It was a wonderful celebration of a life that affected many. You can read her obituary on her Caring Bridge site.

The service on Sunday afternoon was fully packed at Mom & Dad's church. Well over 200 people attended and they had to put extra chairs up in the back, on the sides and in the aisles. We had 3 full pews for family and the dear friends who traveled from Iowa. It was a very nice service with Mom's favorite hymns. After the service, we stood in a receiving line in the fellowship hall for a full 45 minutes. Several of her older friends couldn't stand in line that long so didn't come through the line, so that was probably a blessing for us, especially my feet in new shoes! We received many nice flower arrangements and many, many cards and memorials. Dad continues to get several cards every day.

My husband and I would walk from the house where we were staying to Dad's every morning, 1.7 miles took around 30 minutes, so I did keep up some activity and did pretty well with my eating except for the night of the funeral and a close encounter with a bag of kettle cooked sea salt chips and a few cookies. Couldn't seem to stop myself, but I'm not kicking myself over it. I think emotional eating is allowed during some difficult times. :-/ I was really proud of myself eating healthy during the travel back and forth to Arkansas. My son and I drove back last night and got home at 3am. I had a cleaning crew come at 9am, I went back to bed for a few hours and I'm thrilled to have a clean house now! My hubby turns 50 on the 1st, so we've got a big party planned for that. Whew! I was surprised that my weight was up only one pound from last week (185 this morning) and I haven't really readjusted after travel, so I'm sure I'll be back in the game next week. The scale at the house where we were staying kept saying 175 and I KNEW that couldn't be right. My dad's digital scaled ranged from 176-184, so I wasn't ready to count anything until I got back to my own scale.

I stayed an extra day to help my sisters go through Mom's clothes and jewelry so Dad wouldn't have to worry about that kind of stuff. It was emotional, but also filled with happy reminiscences. We were grateful we had the past 5 months and we know that the process would have been much more difficult if Mom had passed in November as all the doctors expected she would. We all had a chance to spend time with her recently. God is good. And Mom constantly reflected the love of Jesus and affected all who knew her. She had a daycare in her home for 19 years before she retired and some of those at the funeral were kids she'd kept when they were little. One thing my aunt said was "I wish people would stop saying 'Sorry for your loss.' We didn't lose her, we know exactly where she is and we'll see her again!" So I started telling people that while still in the receiving line. :-D And when people would mention how much they enjoyed her cinnamon rolls, I let the secret out that it's Dad who has been making them for YEARS, but Mom always got the credit. LOL

Now, I need to get off my butt and get sewing. I'm supposed to make skirt overlays for those of us dancing the waltz in the showcase this weekend!

Hope everyone is having a fantastic week.

Oh, and this happening right before Mother's Day with all of the ads and focus in the stores being on gifts for mom - definitely not helping the occasional overwhelming moments of grief and missing her! :-(

Check in for SH4SC

Today's weight exactly the same as last week. 184 so still down just 3lbs for the challenge. Just got a bunch of new clothes in size 12. My 14s are all too big now. HOORAY!

Will be in Arkansas all weekend, no doubt being buried in comfort food. Not sure if I'll be able to get in any exercise, but am going to try. See you all next week. I probably won't be getting online at all over the next several days.

Mom

Well, this morning, Mom went Home to heaven. I have no doubt that she's dancing with Jesus and laughing as she no longer has to deal with muscular dystrophy or ovarian cancer or hearing aids. She will be greatly missed by many. We grieve, but have the hope of eternal life and the knowledge we will see her again. Praise the Lord!

Love this photo of Mom with my daughter Kisa from November 2008.

Monday update

Did my strength training today and when hubby got home, we went for a walk outside tonight and it felt great! Did some interval pacing. The snow is mostly melted and the roads were only muddy in a few places. We saw and heard lots of birds, which was a little weird with all of snow piled up in the yards. But that's normal life in Colorado. :-) One year we had hummingbirds coming to the window while it was snowing. (It was early May!) :-)

The hospice nurse told my Dad and sisters that she thinks Mom will be gone in the next day or two. So I'm making plans to travel. We'll probably leave on Thursday and come back Monday if that happens. My heart stops every time the phone rings. :-P

Different focus

My mom is not doing well right now. It makes me feel like focusing on weight loss is so trivial. But I'm not going to use the strong emotions racing through me as an excuse to pig out.

For those of you who are new to my blog, my mom has advanced ovarian cancer. She's been under hospice care since November, when they found it. The doctors thought she was dying a couple times that month, but God gave us the gift of more time with her.

I've been continuing to do the strength workouts from Prevention, but missed cardio yesterday. Today we waltzed for almost an hour this afternoon. Will get back on the treadmill tomorrow.

Spring snow

This is what our deck looked like earlier. As you can see, we got several inches of snow. The sun did come out for a little while and melted some of it, but then it started coming down again.

Here is a photo of my new "ultimate stability ball." It's made by Danskin. And I found it at Walmart. Definitely works the abs!

It's.........thundering!

There was even a message from the emergency broadcast system on the TV. We're getting pelted. Not quite hail, I don't think. Looks like little snow pellets. Freaky!