lisacaron

Hi Friends!!! The next meeting of the NYC/Long Island Bariatric Pal Support Group will be held on November 1st from 2PM till 4 PM at The Atrium at 805 Third Avenue. The building is on Third Ave between 49th and 50th Streets. The Atrium is at the back of the space on the lower level. Looking forward to seeing all of you next weekend!!! If your stressing over Halloween...Here is a little reminder and some low calorie fun alternatives!! 5 Ways To Scare Off Halloween Candy It’s getting cold outside, the leaves are falling, October is drawing to a close — sounds like a good time to chow down on a heap o’ Halloween candy! Not! While Halloween can be a fun time of the year, it can wreak havoc if you’re trying to lose weight. Just a few wrong choices or one too many of the good, old “But they’re so tiny. One more won’t hurt!”excuse will be enough to send you screaming off the bathroom scale on November 1st. Here are 5 tips to help get you through Halloween with your waistline intact. (I did have “don’t eat any candy at all” as a first tip, but figured I’d be run out of town by an angry mob with pitchforks!) Read The Label If you’re going to indulge, at least know what you’re getting yourself into. Read the label on the bag of candy to find the serving size and the amount of calories. The amount of calories alone may be enough for you to stop overindulging. If not, you could trying cutting back on that amount of calories with your other meals. Granted, you’ll end up replacing good nutritious food with pure sugar — definitely not something you want to do on a regular basis! But if you’re otherwise healthy, it shouldn’t hurt just this one time – within reason, of course… Out of Sight, Out of Mind If you’re giving out candy, buy it as close to October 31st as possible and store it in a hard to reach place (or have somebody hide it). Having all that candy in the house is just too tempting. And you definitely need to follow this rule if you’ve ever had to go out and buy more candy because you ate most of your giving-away candy before Halloween. When it comes to the workplace, avoid people who put out candy or look away when you pass by that overflowing bowl of candy the well-intentioned receptionist has put out. And if YOU are that well-intentioned receptionist, take pity on people and move the bowl out of sight. Keep the Wrappers in front of you! Because it’s so easy to mindlessly pop Halloween candy into your mouth with no end in sight, keep every single wrapper so you know how much you’ve had. Your mind may say you’ve only had three mini-bags of M&Ms, but a big pile of wrappers won’t lie. Eat Only Your Favorites To me, there’s no point in taking on the extra calories of something you don’t like or only like a little bit. If you’re going to have Halloween candy, then you may as well enjoy yourself by eating only your favorites. Save calories by turning your nose up to anything else. Eat Protein This tip is a bit tricky. Eating protein will help counter-effect the rapid rise in blood sugar from all that candy. But you have to keep in mind all the extra calories you’re eating. Try to eat a piece of candy with a meal or a healthy snack. (I can hear a chorus of “Yeah, riii-iiight” just about now, as mini-chocolate bars are gobbled down across the country with nary a healthy food in sight… Well, don’t say I didn’t try to make you eat healthy!) If you decide to go all out with the Halloween candy, watch out for cravings after overindulging. You may come crashing down hard after the sugar rush and experience intense cravings. Whatever you do, don’t reach for more candy! Instead curb cravings with these 5 little words: Distraction Get your mind off of the doughnut and onto to other subjects. Leave the room if you have to. You can’t distract yourself if the doughnut is staring you in the face. Out of sight means you won’t be thinking about it. Take a short break. Start reading a book or working on a difficult project. The odds are you’ll completely forget about the doughnut, candy bar, or whatever food siren is calling to you, and the craving will disappear. Distraction is a great tool for your weight loss program. Delay Delay the gratification. Give yourself permission to have some candy in 20 minutes. 20 minutes is long enough that the craving for the candy will pass but not so long, an hour say, that waiting seems pretty much impossible. If 20 minutes passes go ahead and eat a few bites of the candy, then wait another 20 minutes before you finish it. Drink Substitute a long cold glass of Water. The water gives your mouth something to do besides eat — plus the water will fill you up. Even though it’s only temporary, the feeling of fullness is satisfying. If you’re craving sweetness, add a splash of fruit juice to the water. Vary your beverage choice if you like, just be aware of sugary drinks like sodas and juice. Don’t add extra calories! Disgust Another way to curb your craving is to picture the candy for what it really is: fat. Ugly wobbly, slimy, disgusting fat. Fat that plans on sticking to you for awhile… a long while. Go to the grocers and ask them for a pound of fat trimmings from beef. That’s what the candy will turn into once you give in to the craving. A pound of fat takes up more space than you might realize. Freeze that pound of fat. Whenever a craving hits get it out of the freezer so it reminds you of what you’re really eating. Dance Dance instead of eating the candy. If you’re too embarrassed to dance that’s okay. The point is to exercise for a bit instead of eating. Take a walk, climb the stairs, or break out in a set of jumping jacks. The results are two fold, you’ve added a bit of calorie burning to your day and you’ve avoided the candy! Get out there and do the Monster Mash!!! Can't wait to hear your scary tales next Saturday!!! Happy Halloween!

Hi Friends!!! I am sorry to do this at the last moment, but we are going to have to reschedule this weekends meeting to next Saturday. I pulled the hamstring muscle in my leg this morning at the gym! Ouch ouch and more ouch!! All appears to be OK and it's just a sprain so I have a lovely knee brace and working on staying off of it this weekend so it can heal. Looking forward to seeing all of you next weekend!!! If your stressing over Halloween...Here is a little reminder and some low calorie fun alternatives!! 5 Ways To Scare Off Halloween Candy It’s getting cold outside, the leaves are falling, October is drawing to a close — sounds like a good time to chow down on a heap o’ Halloween candy! Not! While Halloween can be a fun time of the year, it can wreak havoc if you’re trying to lose weight. Just a few wrong choices or one too many of the good, old “But they’re so tiny. One more won’t hurt!”excuse will be enough to send you screaming off the bathroom scale on November 1st. Here are 5 tips to help get you through Halloween with your waistline intact. (I did have “don’t eat any candy at all” as a first tip, but figured I’d be run out of town by an angry mob with pitchforks!) Read The Label If you’re going to indulge, at least know what you’re getting yourself into. Read the label on the bag of candy to find the serving size and the amount of calories. The amount of calories alone may be enough for you to stop overindulging. If not, you could trying cutting back on that amount of calories with your other meals. Granted, you’ll end up replacing good nutritious food with pure sugar — definitely not something you want to do on a regular basis! But if you’re otherwise healthy, it shouldn’t hurt just this one time – within reason, of course… Out of Sight, Out of Mind If you’re giving out candy, buy it as close to October 31st as possible and store it in a hard to reach place (or have somebody hide it). Having all that candy in the house is just too tempting. And you definitely need to follow this rule if you’ve ever had to go out and buy more candy because you ate most of your giving-away candy before Halloween. When it comes to the workplace, avoid people who put out candy or look away when you pass by that overflowing bowl of candy the well-intentioned receptionist has put out. And if YOU are that well-intentioned receptionist, take pity on people and move the bowl out of sight. Keep the Wrappers in front of you! Because it’s so easy to mindlessly pop Halloween candy into your mouth with no end in sight, keep every single wrapper so you know how much you’ve had. Your mind may say you’ve only had three mini-bags of M&Ms, but a big pile of wrappers won’t lie. Eat Only Your Favorites To me, there’s no point in taking on the extra calories of something you don’t like or only like a little bit. If you’re going to have Halloween candy, then you may as well enjoy yourself by eating only your favorites. Save calories by turning your nose up to anything else. Eat Protein This tip is a bit tricky. Eating protein will help counter-effect the rapid rise in blood sugar from all that candy. But you have to keep in mind all the extra calories you’re eating. Try to eat a piece of candy with a meal or a healthy snack. (I can hear a chorus of “Yeah, riii-iiight” just about now, as mini-chocolate bars are gobbled down across the country with nary a healthy food in sight… Well, don’t say I didn’t try to make you eat healthy!) If you decide to go all out with the Halloween candy, watch out for cravings after overindulging. You may come crashing down hard after the sugar rush and experience intense cravings. Whatever you do, don’t reach for more candy! Instead curb cravings with these 5 little words: Distraction Get your mind off of the doughnut and onto to other subjects. Leave the room if you have to. You can’t distract yourself if the doughnut is staring you in the face. Out of sight means you won’t be thinking about it. Take a short break. Start reading a book or working on a difficult project. The odds are you’ll completely forget about the doughnut, candy bar, or whatever food siren is calling to you, and the craving will disappear. Distraction is a great tool for your weight loss program. Delay Delay the gratification. Give yourself permission to have some candy in 20 minutes. 20 minutes is long enough that the craving for the candy will pass but not so long, an hour say, that waiting seems pretty much impossible. If 20 minutes passes go ahead and eat a few bites of the candy, then wait another 20 minutes before you finish it. Drink Substitute a long cold glass of Water. The water gives your mouth something to do besides eat — plus the water will fill you up. Even though it’s only temporary, the feeling of fullness is satisfying. If you’re craving sweetness, add a splash of fruit juice to the water. Vary your beverage choice if you like, just be aware of sugary drinks like sodas and juice. Don’t add extra calories! Disgust Another way to curb your craving is to picture the candy for what it really is: fat. Ugly wobbly, slimy, disgusting fat. Fat that plans on sticking to you for awhile… a long while. Go to the grocers and ask them for a pound of fat trimmings from beef. That’s what the candy will turn into once you give in to the craving. A pound of fat takes up more space than you might realize. Freeze that pound of fat. Whenever a craving hits get it out of the freezer so it reminds you of what you’re really eating. Dance Dance instead of eating the candy. If you’re too embarrassed to dance that’s okay. The point is to exercise for a bit instead of eating. Take a walk, climb the stairs, or break out in a set of jumping jacks. The results are two fold, you’ve added a bit of calorie burning to your day and you’ve avoided the candy! Get out there and do the Monster Mash!!! Can't wait to hear your scary tales next Saturday!!! Happy Halloween!

@@flmommyof2 I agree with what Labwalker wrote. You need to call your insurance company and find out what they require. Then you can speak to your Dr. about it directly. Sometimes the office staff like to play God in the office as if they know it all and are infallible. Don't rely on that, check for yourself get the requirements directly from your carrier and then speak to the Dr. about what is required. If the doctor is requiring you to lose 22 pounds prior to surgery be sure that it's not a requirement for him to operate, and if it is ask him why it is. Good luck let us know how it goes.

@RJ'S/beginning I'm sorry but I refuse to let anyone be condescending toward me. At least we took matters in hand and tried to make things better for ourselves. You could be having complications from open heart surgery would that be met with such snarky comments and uninterested behavior probably not. I also wonder if Mr. Obese Dr. was looking you up and down because he was interested in surgery for himself, and embarrassed about it. I often find that when people are uncomfortable, they cover it up with jokes or sarcasm or down right rudeness. So shrug it off and if you are not being treated well by someone and being taken care of properly then you need to start biting back and being a bit snarky and rude yourself and get the treatment and respect that you need. You are paying THEM to take care of you, and if they are not doing a good job fire them and find someone who will girlfriend! You deserve to be happy and healthy!!

Thank you, your a sweet heart!

@@toveylapgal don't be down. The great thing in my opinion about Lapband surgery is that you get all your learning right up front. You learn to balance your lifestyle and your weight loss and your new band buddy from day one of surgery. RNY paitents and sleeve patients are forced from day one to modify eating but over time they can start to increase their intake and the result of that can be weight gain. The reason for this being that they did not slowly learn to change their diet and lifestyle but were forced to do it as a result of surgery. With the band you have a good 4-6 months of solid learning, adjusting and modifying. The band is also adjustable so when you feel you are getting off the rails you can quickly adjust., All the learning that I gained in the early months and the first year of banding have helped me to change my entire way of living and associating with food and exercise and overall health. Recently I had to have my band nearly emptied and all the Fluid removed due to a stomach dilation from medication I was on. Having no restriction it in the past it would have been easy for me to gain 20 pounds in a month. Thanks to all my learning and lifestyle changes the whole month without a fill I actually lost weight and did not gain. The weight loss was not HUGE but it was not a gain. I just had a fill yesterday to put some fluid back in. They don't put it all back in at once...so I am still going with the flow until I reach that sweet spot again. As for eating after fills...every one and every Dr. is different. The important thing is to do what feels right to you. You don't want to go back to solid foods and get stuck. It will take some time for the fill to settle in...so go slow with it. Try liquids for a couple of days, then move to mushy then soft then full solids as you can tolerate it. If you find that you move to a phase or your already in a phase and things are a bit tighter then go backwards and go to mushy etc. Just watch your portions in doing that because when we consume the slider foods it's easier to eat more then it is when you have to work at chewing and swallowing as you do with solids.

@@Mojo56 I really like what you said about having total confidence in your surgeon. That is really one of the keys to success for any one of us. While I am banded with plication, and have never had diabetes that is me. Had I been in your shoes I would defiantly have asked my surgeon and discussed with him and the rest of my medical team what the best surgical option for me was. I have other digestive as well as coronary issues and so this is what I did for me. I consulted with all the doctors on my medical team, and together decided that the surgery I had was what was best for me. Now my hubby is diabetic but controlled without insulin. He has reduced the amount of medication needed to keep that control and lost a great amount of weight, however he may always have an issue with being diabetic as it is genetic in his case as is HBP for me. Having had one coronary episode I am ok with the fact that I may always need medication to control heart rate and blood pressure. Knowing I have taken the "stress" off my heart by losing the weight is literally a weight off my shoulders! Thank you for providing the explanation on this surgery, it sounds very promising for treatment of diabetes, Let us know what you decide and how your doing with your surgical journey.

@@nervous46 Yes agreed. If you would share more information we might be able to assist.

@@flmommyof2 first let me say congratulations on making healthy lifestyle choices for yourself. Second let me ask you why you feel that you are venting? I am not seeing much negative here, you are walking and eating right, and it's good news not to have co-morbities like diabetes and HBP. If you have sleep apnea the good news is that with weight loss you might be able to clear that up and not need a CPAP for very long, and getting one now will help you to get some much needed rest in the mean time. Keep walking and working on the program you have going, take it easy and try not to overdo it you won't want to hurt yourself and no matter what the outcome you have already started taking better care of yourself so Hooray for you! Keep going!!

@@toveylapgal Why do you think you are overeating? Are your portion sizes too large? Are you eating again within 2 hours of your last meal? When you have an adjustment to your band it can take up to two weeks for the effects to be felt. That said, even after a couple of weeks you may still be feeling hungry. Hunger is something we need to identify and understand. If you are hungry for food and your body needs fuel to function then you need to eat. If you are hungry and you don't know why...then you need to ask yourself what is driving the hunger? Try a bottle of Water while you work on that and see if when your done you are still hungry. Is it head hunger? Coming from boredom or frustration or emotions or anger or worry...? Or is it legitimate hunger body needing some fuel to function? If it's the later then go ahead and eat something. If it's with in only a few hours since the last time you have eaten then you more then likely will need a little more fill put into your band. It takes a while for the band and you to find your proper adjustment and as life changes so can the restriction in your band. I think of it as an ebb and flow and there are some days where things are a little tighter and days where it is looser and foods move through much faster. Don't worry, your on the right track. Here are a few helpful guidelines. Take a least 20 minutes to eat your meals. No more and no less. Set up a timer on your phone if you need to to help you get used to that time frame. If you are eating over 20 minutes then you are eating into your next meal. After 20 minutes walk away from the table or food and move on to something else. If you find that you are hungry in an hour or two after eating then consider speaking to the Dr. about additional Fluid being added at your next appointment but give this fill a chance to settle in. If you are satisfied for at least 3-4 hours then you just might be in a good place and not need another fill. Try to pre portion out your foods so you eat that and only that amount. These beginning months can be rough, but you can do it!!

That it adjusts to fit me and my lifestyle.

@@Ceradad Your off to a good start because you have your head back in the game! That along with the tools you have already is a winning combination! This is a great place to come for support, and sharing. Hope to see you posting often, and hearing how your doing on your journey!!

@@chellede Your doing well. Don't stress it, you are going to lose and you are not that far out from the surgery date. TOM and sodium and 101 other things can cause weight gain on a scale. You could go the gym and have some lactic acid in your muscles and see a bit of gain so don't weigh ever single day. Once a week maybe hide the scale all the other days. Try to stick with what your doc told you so that your compliant and keeping your pouch at the right size. Take your time to eat what ever it is and enjoy the aroma, texture and flavor of the food. Keep up the good work!

@@TraceyZK Your doing great. Stomach bug aside don't let that take you down from making positive changes in your life. If you are not better in a few days you can push the date a bit. Talk to your doctors and let them know that you are having this stomach bug they may tell you to stop the pre-op until it passes as you are losing your nutrients as quickly as you are putting them in and if you are on a liquid pre-op diet I have some news that usually liquid in can result in liquid out...so check in with the doctors and be sure of what's going on for you. Sometimes what we think could be a stomach bug could also be an allergic reaction. Are you using shakes or anything like that for food supplementation? Please give the docs a call to be sure it's just the stomach bug. I had this issue with the slim fast shakes, they did not agree with me at all. Feel better and let us know how your doing OK?

@@cindy1025 If you give the site a little search you will find all kinds of very useful information on what to try and buy etc. The answer are pretty subjective to taste and personal preference. Stay compliant with your Dr. orders is what I would stress to you. Have something every hour on the hour, even if it's sips of Water between Protein shakes, yougurts, fat free sugar free puddings and Soups. Try to stagger the items that have some "constiatncy" to them as your meals between the shakes and the water. If you stay busy you won't even think about being hungry and you will keep your tummy and mouth doing something while you are drinking. I found that premiere Protein Shakes is what worked for my hubs and I. Both pre-op and post op but it's subjective. I don't mind the chocolate muscle milk light but he hates it. Good luck!

Yes is the answer to this. It does. When you are chewing and having to break down foods even in your mouth you are putting a tax on your digestive system which is at this point trying to heal from what is MAJOR surgery. We take it lightly because we are in and out of hospital and we feel pretty good and hell we are hungry. So your traveling? Grab a to go shake and eat it there are pudding cups and applesauce and yogurt and every diner has Soup. There are even mini blenders the size of a cup you can take along. This is not hard but it's not easy if you were not ready for this surgery why have it? If your not going to be compliant and work with your tool then you are going to suffer for it, the band does not care it is a bit of plastic and metal in your gut. You have to care enough to take care those parts of your body that can not be replaced. So be compliant and you will be rewarded with weight loss and health, fail to do so at your own risk.

This was funny to read the subject. I have to say since my face and cheeks deflated my nose is bigger! Always thought I had a kind of Cookie Puss (carvel ice cream cake) nose. Profile it's a very Roman nose but from the front Cookie Puss all the way.

I'm sorry all that said I would address all these issues with your doctors. I am speaking from personal experience here. As I reached my green zone and all was right in my lapband world one tiny thing like getting sick put me over the edge. So eating became much what you are describing and no this is not normal. Sure everyone is different but your choices of cupcakes or chicken breast are kind of a no brainer right? Chicken breast good for you cup cake not so much. So to lose weight and be healthy we can stand on our head jump left right sideways turn ourselves inside out we learn new ways of doing things but a forkful of nothing should make you sick. Not chewing...OK big bite...OK but that happens once twice we learn we don't do that again. If this is a regular occurrence check with the doctor. I ran right to my Dr. the minute things started feeling stuck for me. I was not vomiting but I was not able to eat and having issues similar to your description and low and behold as they did the barium swallow I had a dilation and my pouch was extended over the top of the band to the point of having to have just about all the Fluid removed. Now 4 weeks later I am hoping that it's all better and some fluid can go back in...and I can stop living in banister hell dieting to try and maintain my loss thus far. This is not why I had surgery. I could have done this without the surgery...as I am learning 4 weeks later that I can and I will eat that whopper if presented with the opportunity and the hunger. So see the doctor and see if just a tiny un-fill will do the trick to save you this route. It's not fun and in the end if things don't resolve and heal in there...I could be losing the band all together and I would really not be happy! So you can be as compliant as they come and still experience trouble. My advice is cut trouble off at the pass and check with the doctors and go from there. All the best to you.

@@BandedKT Holy cow you have been through the mill with this procedure! I had one of my wound sites get infected and open up. It happened about 2 weeks after the surgery. A tiny bit of stitch was left in the site and it sits right where my waist band sits, the seat belt covers and my desk at work hits. So it was doomed from the start. It healed up pretty well didn't spread to the point of what you had to go through! It weeped right away, but I lathered it with bacitracin at the first sign of feeling a hard lump under the incision and feeling warm around it. I didn't even wait to see the Dr. and about an hour later that sac under the skin came up to the surface and weeped out. I saw the Dr. on Monday and it was pretty much clear and just told to watch it and keep it covered. It did take a while to heal due to the location and moving around but it did. I'm sorry you have had to go through so much. When they did the port wound and cleaned it all out did they ensure that the port was connected and working well etc. When they put Fluid in are they able to tap it to pull some fluid back into the syringe before putting more fluid in? That's one way to tell that it's working. Keep in touch here this is a great place for support when you really need it. Many of us have gone through bandster hell. I am going through it again now...I had to have fluid taken out of the band due to a pouch dilation and yes I am hungry hungry again and even more hungry the more I go to the gym....I'm trying to stay on track and eat all good things and band size meals but admittedly that is VERY hard and the first 3 weeks I was OK but this week...is HELL. I ate a whopper! OK I have not eaten one of those in over 2 years! Bun and all friend!!! NOT good. In fairness I was starving after running around all day and lost sight of stopping to eat something healthy, and driving through to get the boys something was just too much for me and I ate it! Yep...did I feel guilty after? No..and I don't now either...but I still don't want to fall back into that fast food easy habit. I need to have some fill put back in and it just reminds me why I had this surgery to being with. If I could have lost weight alone I would not have needed surgery, so after 3 weeks of being strong I succumbed. I won't beat myself up...I'll just pray along with you that when we see our Dr.'s we can get past this feeling and start losing!!

@@Den I'm sorry...I have to be a bit harsh here with you!! What are you doing????!!! You just had major surgery!! You started taking prescription pills that you got from....? Did the doctors that operated on you give you that script? You seem bound and determined to hurt yourself and not help yourself and I fear that you might do just that irreparably. Government B.S. aside YOU need to take responsibility for yourself and your health! Stop looking for scape goats, and easy fixes. This is your life! Take control of it! Why do you want to lose weight? If it's for health reasons this is a bad way to start my friend. Make a appointment with your doctors office, tell them what is going on. Don't just wait for them to reply to you, if they don't respond GO there and be in their face until they see you. That is their job, your job is to be compliant with what they tell you to do for your health and well being. Now stop and make that call take that ride or what ever you have to do to get yourself back on track here and stop hurting yourself!!

I just put all the candy in a big bucket and leave it on the steps for Trick or Treater's to help themselves. When it's empty it's empty. I live on a dead end street set back from the road not very far but it has worked for me in the past and it avoids having those things in the house.

The holidays are not a good time for me either not at all!! Starting in October every year I have 4 out of 5 kids birthdays, my nieces birthday and then the gotta get a gift for everyone holiday...and have huge bills to light up the universe holiday I am wondering and thinking that the best time for people is probably going to be March..April...just before all the Spring Weddings and summer fun starts. Maybe before the Spring breakers start their bookings so we can find some reasonable fares.

So I think we will give it some time to see where on the map we all are and then I will share that information and we can start throwing around some places and once we agree on the location we can start tossing around some dates. It's going to take a little time, I'd like to give everyone a chance to get in on it and an opportunity to share their suggestions etc. So far I'm liking all the ideas but I'm spoiled and love the spa and Vegas and just about everywhere

@@Jyoyonomore I am so glad to hear that you are doing well!!! Keep resting and don't worry we will see you next time, and as an added bonus I will post attachments to all the handouts and other items that we share at the meeting so you and sleevee won't feel left out at all!! Perhaps we will even get a group photo to send to you all to say Hi! Well I know at least Liz, Ken and I will be sending one!!!

Good Sunday evening everyone! I hope you all had a nice weekend. It seems that fall has returned to NY this weekend, and I must say I am finding it enjoyable as the it complements the time of year. Just a reminder: The next meeting of the NYC/Long Island Bariatric Pal Support Group will be held on October 25th from 2PM till 4 PM at The Atrium at 805 Third Avenue. The building is on Third Ave between 49th and 50th Streets. The Atrium is at the back of the space on the lower level. We have a few seasonal things planned and some information to center around the upcoming holidays. We have also planned a bit of a treat, for this meeting. I don’t know how many times I’ve stood in front of my closet and complained that I had nothing to wear. Despite my wardrobe overflowing with shoes, tops, dresses, and jeans, I still become weary of repeatedly wearing the same pieces. It’s a problem that I know many of us have dealt with. Too bad we don’t all have unlimited budgets to buy new clothes and accessories whenever we need to. If your wardrobe is in desperate need of an update – but you don’t have the cash to head to the mall Liz and I thought a clothing swap might be lots of fun! It is one way to share those special items that we all have hanging in our closets like gowns, and jackets, and suits that no longer fit us but we just aren't ready to hand over to the goodwill bin just yet. It provides us the opportunity to share our treasures with even one more person who will be able to cherish and use it again even if it's just one more time. There is one catch to this though!!! You will not be required to bring any items to the meeting! If you would like to participate we ask that you take photo's of the items you would like to swap via some type of digital media and send them to Liz or myself. We will create printed photo pages that we will be able to view at the meeting and anyone interested in an item will be able to write their contact information on the page and make arrangements with the owner to make the swap. Owners you may choose to send the items in the mail, meet the exchanger for coffee or simply bring your one or two items to the next meeting and make the swap then! So friends what do you think? Is this something you might want to take part in?