Weight Loss Progress as of November 24, 2024

Weight Loss Update

I’ve come a long way since I first started this topic, when I began my weight loss journey back in May! (first posted about it here in July). I last posted about it here in September where I described how it all works.

I’ve been busy working on it and posting a lot about it in my Facebook group here (which I purposely kept small at the time I created it). I may open it up to more as it’s been only a few of us posting.  I decided to post myself regardless of anyone else posting or not.  Then it would be a place where I document my journey, if nothing else.

I also became active on TikTok (after resisting it for years). That’s where I found the most support and camaraderie. Also where I have learned SO much more about the medication I’m using (Mounjaro), as a miraculous tool in this journey. There are a LOT of us (believers in Jesus) on there too. My need for support and information (I couldn’t find on Facebook without a TON of spam and ads in all the groups I joined) is what led me to look on TikTok.

I’m down 61 pounds since May, and 204 pounds down from my very highest weight ever.

I was SO crazy excited when I hit the 200 pounds off mark last week!

Happy to hit my 200 pounds off mark

I need to take new pictures,  as this most recent one is from July and I’ve lost 34 pounds since then (after a huge plateau after this picture).  In the meantime:

Helen's Weight History to Date

I think I’ll start posting my TikTok videos on YouTube as well and perhaps linking them here on the blog. I know a lot of my followers resist TikTok as I did for so long.

One exciting thing just happened a few days ago. After MONTHS of trying to get accepted to become a TikTok shop affiliate, I was FINALLY accepted into the program!  What this means is that I can promote products from their shop. With every purchase my video leads to, I can make a commission.

As many of you who have followed me for any length of time is aware, my son and I are just barely getting by.  Paycheck to paycheck and then pretty tightly.

Successful affiliate work would make a HUGE impact for us!  I would definitely appreciate your prayers for my efforts with that!

 

A Brand New Gardener

Ponderings of My Predicaments The Great Yellow Jacket Escape

So as I said in my earlier post today, this year I am a brand new gardener!  Most of my friends have gardened way before the age I am now, but I never had anyone teach me when I was growing up.  My mom gardened a little but just as her answer to her teaching me how to can, she’d say, “I don’t have the patience to teach you.”  That was that.

However, with all the rising prices and all the discussions of the pesticides being sprayed on our produce and things being added to our food, (in addition to trying to avoid as many processed foods as I can). Check out how they are adding a coating called Apeel to a lot of the produce to make it look better. There are a lot of foods in the US that are banned from other countries!

I decided to try to grow as many of our own vegetables and fruit as I could.  I kept it small this year as I’m still learning.  I want to try a few different things next year and increase the size of the garden.

I started out by setting up some racks and grow lights in my dining room (that will change to probably the basement next year for sure…what a mess!), some plant heat mats for some of the and started seeds.  I watered and babied and hardened off those things for two and a half months till the last frost date arrived and they were ready to go outside. They were my little green babies 🙂

I didn’t think I would be able to garden the normal way with my bad knees and bad back.  However, after thinking a lot about it and putting my thinking cap on, I came up with an idea that I thought just might work.

I went to Menards and bought about 24 concrete blocks and took them home (in my mini van…yeah, that was interesting 🙂 )  Then I went back out and found some skids behind a garden center they were getting rid of and brought those home (again…an interesting activity, but hey, they were free).  I fit five of them in my van and took them home.  Then I went out and got five more on my way to pick up my son at school.

So after setting the skids up on the cement blocks (see picture below) I had a “platform” for containers to garden on.  This is the result to date:

elevated container garden

It works great because the skids have the open places between the slats and it lets water drain well after watering. (The right side has a cement block that’s cockeyed, but nothing is wrong with it.  I just bumped it with the lawn mower the other day 🙂 )

I also went to TSC and bought four 8-foot cattle panels and…yep, you guessed it -brought them home in my van  (again…that was fun but I did it) and some t-posts.  I turned those into two arch trellises (with the instructions from a YouTube video and another here) by myself (something really difficult to do by yourself, but I’m thankful for these videos. I’ll have to bend occasionally for these tomato plants, but as they grow up the trellis I won’t have to.

I have my indeterminate tomatoes, some cucumbers, and a few other things growing next to it and they are just starting to climb the trellis:

Cattle Panel Arch Trellises

I’m on a new weight loss journey, so all that work led to all that sweat which led to a lot of burned calories 🙂

I’ll hopefully get a few more bags of soil mix to top off some of the tomato plan pots, and there are a few that need transplanted to bigger pots so they have more room to grow.

I’ve spent HOURS and HOURS on YouTube learning how to garden. I have a LOT of gardening playlists categorized to find the videos easily.  YouTube is the widow’s friend 🙂

 

Sick Boy Worried Mom

Sick Boy Worried MomSo this past week and a half I put everything else on hold while caring for my sickie kiddo. That meant no blogging, no graphics work, just sitting in bed next to my sweet boy in between changing sheets, encouraging him to drink something, giving him a steady supply of alternated liquid Tylenol and liquid Motrin.

Have I mentioned that my son is 14 but he has autism? Totally non-verbal. He can’t tell me what his symptoms are, so I have to play junior detective to try to figure out what’s wrong.

It all started a week ago last Tuesday when he came home from school with a note that said he didn’t eat breakfast or lunch.  I knew something was up when he didn’t eat at least lunch.  He’s never been big on breakfast foods.

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