What a Weekend!

This past weekend, Lisa and I decided that we would actually (gasp) stay home all weekend long! For those of you who know us, you know that this simply isn't how we do things in the Fugate household. Usually on a Saturday, you will find us all joyfully in our minivan, traveling to places here and there. Granted, since it is just a weekend trip, it isn't to some grand, far-away location. But it is at least away from the house.

My poor mother can never understand this. She is a true home-body because she loves to stay at home. There are a lot of people out there who love to stay at home as well. Perhaps some of you who are reading this will agree with my mother. However, ever since Lisa and I have been married...and that is 20 years this year...we have always been travelers. You can't mess with tradition.

Well, leave it to us to try and mess with tradition....LOL! I don't know what got into our heads this weekend, but we thought that it would be a good idea to just sit home and enjoy ourselves. Well, we did sit home....so that part actually worked out. The enjoying ourselves? Not so much!

It all started about half way through Saturday. For me, it was when the walls started to breathe and drip blood. And then there was the demonic voice yelling, "Get out! Get out!" Okay...so maybe it wasn't that bad. Maybe it was more of a whisper than a yell.

At first, I thought it was just me. However, by Saturday afternoon, Lisa looked over at me, her eyes glazed, and stated, "We have GOT to go somewhere next weekend!" I was so happy! I couldn't have agreed more. While it was nice to stay home....maybe for an hour or so....I wouldn't want to make a habit of it! Things like that can drive a person crazy!

Now this isn't saying that we don't love our house. We do! We absolutely LOVE our house and feel very blessed to have it. I'm just saying that we are not the type of people who like to be enclosed by four walls and a roof. We like to be out and about. We are explorers. And I think that Jacob feels this way too. He seemed unusually grouchy this weekend. Maybe he was just picking up on our vibes, or maybe he was truly wanting to get out on the open road. Who knows! All that I know is that I don't want a repeat of this weekend. As Lisa and I say, we can rest later....much, much later!

Looking back on our marriage, I know that this is one of the many reasons why Lisa and I have had such a strong marriage. We have been together so long because we love doing the same things. We both love to travel, we both love to see new places and experience new things, we both love the theater, we both love to read, and we both love to make the other one happy. Now that we have Jacob, we have just added him to the mix. It all makes for one fine family recipe!

In other news, for those of you who are keeping up with my upcoming gastric banding surgery, I went for a full day of tests at Riverside Medical in Columbus, Ohio. During this full-day event, I had my blood work done. I also had a meeting with a psychiatrist to see if I was mentally sound enough to know what I was doing. The doctor was very nice and said that she didn't see any red flags....besides me seeing images of blood and wanting to dress up like my mother and open a hotel. Okay...okay....just kidding. Everything went by smoothly in that area. I guess all of you who have children in my classroom can breathe a sigh of relief. I'm NOT crazy after all!

I also saw a medical doctor for a complete physical who gave me a clean bill of health. A dietician was the last doctor that I saw that day. I have to start a food diary so that I can see exactly what I am putting into my body. She also suggested that we start cutting our food into dice-sized pieces to get used to it.

One thing that is going to be hard for me is giving up pop. I love to drink pop. I did switch to Diet Pepsi several years ago, but I won't be able to continue drinking anything carbonated when I have my banding. The bubbles make you very uncomfortable and can swell your pouch. I have been pop free for over a week now, and it hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be. I have been drinking a lot of G2 and water.

I have to go back and see the surgeon, Dr. Tom, in a week or so. Then we can plan on surgery. I would love to have it mid-February. If not, then I want to wait until mid-March since I have several things that I need to get done in early February. I will keep you all updated!

So....time to get this article posted. The walls are starting to breathe again....time to call in the priest! Or....maybe it is time to plan something to do next weekend. What do you think?

Until next week....class dismissed!