Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all my friends - female and male. At a certain point in time, I am sure everyone has had some "mommy duty" of some kind. So, I salute you and thank you for your generosity!

It's been awhile since I blogged, I know. I am still losing weight, albeit not at a rapid pace, and I am still fundraising for the cure. My teammate, Helen, and I were talking last week about our (so far, non-existent) training schedule. She had a lot of family commitments this week, but we are planning to start training in the mornings before work. I am not a morning person. I have been told that I do not even speak coherently before 24 ounces of coffee and 10 am. So wish me luck.

I am about 30% of the way to my goal of $2300 in donations. There are several ways you can help!

1. If you haven't already done so, please go to my page at Susan G. Komen and donate. Even $5 or $10 will help.

2. Need a magazine? Click here to subscribe or renew your current subscription. When you do, up to 40% will be donated.

3. How about hosting a cooking show or catalog show? I had such great success with hosting a Pampered Chef cooking show, I became a consultant. If you book with me, I will donate a portion of my commission in your honor. You will get lots of free and half-priced items. It's a win-win. Email me at barbara.gisondi@gmail.com to sign up for my newsletter or drop by my website at www.pamperedchef.biz/barbaragisondi.

A great big Thank You to all who participated in the Insider Pages fundraiser. I am expecting the check from Insider Pages any day now.

Thank you to everyone for your support and love. I know we can find a cure for breast cancer and ALL cancer!

Love, Barb

My Weight Loss Journey Began

I just realized that today is March 11th. Last year on March 11th, I spent most of the day at the Barix Clinic in Langhorne, PA for my pre-admission testing. I was scheduled for gastric bypass surgery on March 26th, and I was petrified that my doctor was going to cancel my date. When I went for my initial appointment, naturally, they weighed me. I weighed a lot. A whole lot. A whole lot more than I thought I did. A whole lot more than I ever thought I would. And certainly a whole lot more than anyone should. That was in November 2008. My surgeon, Dr. Pupkova told me I had to lose 5 pounds before surgery. But, instead of losing 5, I had gained 20 pounds.

She did not cancel the surgery, but I was informed that I'd better get to losing. The reason the doctor wanted me to lose a little weight prior to gastric bypass is to reduce some of the fat around my liver. Dr. Pupkova prefers to do this procedure laparoscopically, and without some weight loss, she would have to do an open procedure. Believe me, I didn't want that!

It's amazing what a difference a year makes. Last year, I hoped I would lose 100 pounds. So far, I have lost 126. Last year, I wore size 4X sweatpants. This year, I can fit into one leg (yes, I still have them as a reminder of how far I've come). Last year, I couldn't walk up the stairs in my house or around the block without having to stop and catch my breath. This year, I'm walking 60 miles in 3 days to help end breast cancer. Last year, I wouldn't have even tried!

Thank you family and friends for supporting me and cheering me on!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Well, I am happy to report that the snow on my front lawn is almost completely melted. There's talk of snow tomorrow or Thursday - naturally, I am not thrilled about it. Still, my favorite TV weatherman promises spring is just around the corner, and I am looking forward to being a training walk leader in my area. Of course, I'm not entirely sure what that exactly entails, but when I find out next Tuesday night, I will be sure to report back to you.

So, besides being swamped at my fabulous day job, I have been busy with fundraising for the 3 Day Walk. This past Sunday, I hosted a Pampered Chef fundraiser at my home. By doing the party, I've earned a boatload of free products which I am going to raffle off to help raise the money to meet my $2300 goal. Click Here if you would like help me out by placing an order. If you can't place an order right now, do not worry. I love the Pampered Chef so much, that I am signing on as a consultant. It combines two of my loves - cooking and public speaking. Let me know if you are interested in booking a party. I will donate a portion of my commission to the cause, and you will get a ton of free products. But again, do not worry, I will probably ask you anyway.

Also on the fundraising front, is my team's magazine fundraiser. (Granted, right now the team is just my friend, Helen, and me, but we hope to gain some more Philly Girls for the Cure members during our training walks.) Here's how it works: When you buy, renew or extend your favorite magazine subscriptions on our online store, up to 40% of each purchase goes back to Philly Girls for the Cure! We offer over 650 magazine titles at up to 85% off the newsstand prices and the opportunity to buy online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And magazines are a great gift idea! If you have not already done so, I hope that you will take a few minutes of your time to help support us. Just click here to go to our online magazine store and help support the cause!

Lastly, I wanted to ask for your help starting on March 15th. I am doing a fundraiser with InsiderPages.com and hope to raise $500. Basically, all you have to do is sign up on my page, and write reviews of local businesses. For each review you write, Insider Pages donates money in my name to the Susan G. Komen 3 Day and that money goes toward my $2300 goal. Please take a minute to check it out. This fundraiser runs from March 15th through April 3rd. It doesn't matter if you live in Philadelphia or Florida or North Carolina or even Poughkeepsie , I just need reviews! If you could help me raise $500, I would be well on my way. But wait until March 15th! Insider Pages will only pay for reviews written in our 3 week period of March 15 through April 3rd. I'll be giving away some fantastic prizes - so ask your friends to sign up, too!

Well, that about covers everything. Thanks for your friendship and support!

Did I Really Say I Was in Decent Shape?

The plan was to step up my training this week. Normally, I walk 2 miles at a pace of a 3.7 - 4.0 miles per hour. Then I do some strength training and maybe a few laps in the pool. But, I need to start increasing the walking distance and aim for a pace of about 3 miles per hour. Times I've been to the gym this week? Big. Fat. Zero.

Instead of going to the gym, I have been researching fundraising ideas. Since, I'm already booked for a Pampered Chef party, I called my consultant, and we are going to make my party a fundraiser. If you are interested in some great cookware or gadgets (I love the crinkle cutter!), click Here
for my Pampered Chef party page. Or stop by on Feb. 28th. My proceeds will go to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

I actually have a pretty good excuse for not working out. It's not that I'm too busy with fundraising - it's snow. Last Saturday, we got pummeled with 28 and 1/2 inches. Then on Wednesday, another 18 inches. Now, I'm no math genius, but that's almost 4 feet of snow! It's been kind of hard to get around the city. And that's not mentioning the injuries.

Right, the injuries. Somehow, I managed to throw my back out. Not from shoveling snow, of course. I threw my back out just getting out of bed Thursday morning. Now, I know it probably is from all the shoveling. That snow is heavy. I really have a long way to go in the upper body strength department.

As long as there's no snow, it's back to the gym I go.

My Amazing 3 Day for the Cure Journey

I’m calling my first blog post for my 3-day web page, ‘The Amazing Journey Begins’. Honestly, I’m not crazy about the title. It kind of sounds a little like reality TV to me. Now, I am not dissing anybody who likes these shows. If you are an American Idol or Survivor or The Bachelor or Amazing Race or even Jersey Shore fan, I completely get it. As much as I loathe admitting it, reality TV is a hoot. Where I personally draw the line, though, is the lack of creative vocabulary from the contestants. They all say the same thing… “It’s been such an “amazing journey.” Really? These are the words used to describe acting and dressing like a skank and throwing yourself at some random bachelor or even worse, Bret Michaels?

That being said, I’m sticking with the title, because this does feel like the start of an amazing journey. I’ve never done anything like this before. So, how did I come to the decision to walk 60 miles? I knew I wanted to take on a challenge. First off, I’m in decent shape for the first time in a long time. I’m at the gym several times a week, and once spring comes, I plan to start training specifically for the event. Secondly, losing over a hundred pounds has boosted my self-confidence big time. I’m a little nervous about trying to raise $2300. But in years past, I would have never even attempted to fundraise, not to mention that I couldn’t physically walk 2 miles, much less 60. Thirdly, I wanted to be part of something bigger than myself. As corny as this may sound, I wanted to give something back. I requested a brochure on the 3 Day for the Cure, and after dragging my friend, Helen to the getting started meeting, I signed on.

Since then, I’ve sent out a ton of e-mail, snail mail, and Facebook messages. I’m so grateful for the support of my family and friends. I’ve even reconnected with a few friends from my old writing group (I’ll be rejoining the group this Saturday), and some friends who I haven’t seen since high school. Thanks so much for your pledges, donations and encouragement! So far – it’s been amazing, and my journey is just beginning!

And Bret Michaels? Nowhere in sight.

Wonder Woman has Left the Building

I suppose if you read the previous post, you may be wondering what happened to Wonder Woman. Well, I cannot figure out how to get the blog skin to work. And now, I have discovered that since I've been gone, blogger has changed from an html to xml format. I decided the best course of action was to just find a new template. And here it is... it's from shabbyblogs.com. I consider my decorating style a modified shabby chic, so for now, I am rolling with the shabby blog.

I did write in my last post that I would talk books, but to be honest, I worked so long on trying to get the blog template looking decent that I am now out of creative mojo. Besides that, I have read several interesting books lately... it is so hard to pick just one to blog about. This I will have to ponder.

Blogging Redux

Well, the writing bug has finally bitten again. For now, I am blogging about my weight loss surgery (WLS), books I'm reading and hopefully, new writing projects.

I spent most of the evening trying to get my Wonder Woman blog skin working. Hmmph! It is not looking exactly how I want. There is something wrong with the html code, but I can't figure it out. Funny, this used to be my old blog template - it worked perfectly! Not now, though.

My weight loss is going along pretty well. I have lost over 50 lbs. so far. Today, I felt hunger. I was told that eventually I would feel hungry again. I just didn't expect it to happen so soon! At least a small amount of food now satisfies me. It's not the old tapeworm I used to have in my tummy.

Next time, let's talk books!