Long time - no post

Back from vacation...back to work. My hubby and I rented a lake house with my sister and her husband last week near Prairie du Sac, WI. The intent was to do a little fishing, sightseeing and relaxing along with catching up and seeing the nephews and their significant others. It is a beautiful area with gorgeous scenery. Bluffs, rolling hills and neat, clean farms dotting the fields. Both Prairie du Sac and Sauk City have around 3000 people or so each, so they are the kind of towns I'm used to.

The fishing turned out to be horrible. One of the locals told us he heard that the fish stopped biting around 10 days before we arrived. My sister and her hubby brought their boat along so we went on Lake Wisconsin a few days to try our luck with no success. Otherwise, we would fish off our dock on Fish Lake and catch the little pan fish, or go paddle boating or using the aluminum fishing boat provided. It was a nice time to try and read a book as there were very few TV stations, much to my husband's dismay.

We took in the local eateries and found some wonderful places along the way. A particular favorite was the Green Acres Restaurant. It seemed like every time we went by there were quite a few cars no matter what day it was. They are known for their steaks, however, I can grill a mean steak and very few places that we go really rival what we can do at home (Morton's maybe, Ruth's Chris - likely). I chose the seafood platter and what a coup! Shrimp as big as I've ever eaten, lobster tail, bacon-wrapped scallops that melted in your mouth, crab legs and fish fillets. My hubby ended up helping me eat it, but wow it was the best. Blue Spoon Cafe was a great place to catch a breakfast and get free Wi-Fi. The Mason Grill & Pub had great food, and the Press Box was a nice place to grab a beer.

On the days when the weather was crappy, we went to Madison, Baraboo, Plain, & the Dells. Visited the local Wollersheim Winery near Prairie du Sac (beautiful by the way). Shopping at the outlet stores in the Dells - so fun. My sister and I both had stupid smiles on our faces as we walked around feeling good about the incredible deals we found. Coach purse for $68, Naturalizer shoes for less than $20 apiece, etc. In Madison, we went to the Essen Haus that our nephew spoke highly of. Lots of beers on tap and available in bottles. My husband is a kind of a beer "snob" in that he likes to try new and different beers. We had dinner there the last night of our stay with my nephew and his wife. My other nephew and his girlfriend stayed with us for 3 days at the house/cabin and it was good to see them too. Lots of changes going on in the family. My nephew's wife is starting her 3-year of medical school and my other nephew is having a baby this fall. It was nice to be able to spend time with them since they are both on their own now.

When we were gone, I asked my parents to check on the house every day and feed the cat since we decided to leave him home this year instead of boarding him at a friends. Dad also had instructions to feed the stray cat "Gracie" a can of wet food if she was around, otherwise leave some dry food out and water. Imagine our surprise when we got back and Gracie had brought all of her 4 kittens over to live at our house behind the deck. She must have had quite a journey bringing each one over...it's a long way from the barn at school where she had them. They look like 2 sets of twins, however, 1 of each twin is a runt. They are almost 6 weeks old, but the runts only look the size of a 3 week old. They are too-cute.

We contacted a lady that runs a cat rescue in St. Marys, but she already has over 100 cats and kittens she is trying to place and doesn't have any room. So, I asked a couple of guys at work and one of my friend's Dad is going to take Gracie and the kittens in a week of two on his farm. He needs some cats and I would like to keep them together. I told my hubby we need to get out of the stray cat-feeding routine because we are just going to compound the problem. I'd love to keep Gracie, but our cat would not get along with her well I'm afraid. I only want 1 cat in the house and right now we are keeping our cat, Stuey, inside all the time since the kittens are around. Not fair to him. But I hate to see Gracie go, she is such a loving small mama.

I met with my lap band doctor a couple of weeks ago by surprise...he was in the office that Saturday doing the office visits. He said I was going wonderful and recommended no adjustment that day as I was losing at least 2 lbs a week with no adverse effects or issues. I don't need to come back until I feel like I'm in need of an adjustment.

When we were on vacation, I actually gained 2 1/2 lbs due to all the "going out to dinner" episodes and grazing during the day. But it came off within 2 days and it's nice to get back to my routine. I was pleasantly surprised it was only 2 1/2 lbs. Last year when we went to Maine, I gained 16 lbs in 12 days. So, the band it definitely helping and as long as I make better food choices, the weight is coming off just fine. Slow and somewhat steady, but the scale is moving in the right direction and that is always an "upper".