phyllser

Yeah.... grandkids are the greatest!! We'll be heading south soon, so we'll be really missing them for the next six months! We used to have a cat that liked to pee in piles/baskets of clothes!! I'm glad this one doesn't do that! She is spoiled, and hypersensitive! TMI, but she got diarrhea last week the minute she saw our suitcases come out when we were getting ready to go to Canada! Give me a break!! I guess she thought we were leaving for another three weeks! I read an article by Consumer Reports recently and I know one of the TVs they recommended was the Vizio HDs. I know Costco sells them, but don't know who else. They're fairly inexpensive. We have a 42" Samsung LCD that we've had about a year and a half and we really like it. I trust Sears for large appliances/TVs, etc. Before i picked out this TV, I had bought one at Best Buy. Then I had second thoughts and cancelled it. The guy had just applied too much pressure and talked me into something I wasn't sure I wanted. So I went across the street to Sears and found a better deal.

I sure understand your frustration, Rosie.. and Don & others! And I sure feel BLESSED, because I had no such requirements or waiting period! I had my first appt with my surgeon in May of last year and had my surgery 7/20/07. They didn't even require a psych consult?! They used cardiology workup I'd had the previous August. Nutrition consult was about the extent of my required preliminaries! Go figure!! And this was a fairly large bariatric practice/clinic doing a LOT of bypass and LapBand surgeries. I didn't realize how quickly I was able to get through the process until I started reading all your posts! At the time, it seemed to me that I was waiting FOREVER!! My heart goes out to all of you playing the waiting game!

Good Morning, Bandsters! Where is everyone this morning??? Can't believe I"m the first to post and it's after 9 a.m.!! Nice sunny morning here, though a chilly 56 degrees. We spent yesterday at youngest DD's... watched the three little ones while they went to a movie and had kids fed and dinner ready for the four of us when they got home. It was a fun day, but busy. We ususally take the kids to the neighborhood park, but it was just too chilly yesterday so they played in the backyard. Little Thomas gets his pronouns kind of backwards, so he kept asking Grandpa, "Can I come out and play with you??" He wanted Grandpa to come downstairs and push him on the swing. Or he says, "Can I help you??" if HE needs help! Another good one is "Can you sit on my lap??!" He's a cutie! Oldest was excited to be starting 1st grade today, but Charly didn't sound too enthusiastic about starting kindergarten! He mentioned it briefly. Oh, 6 yr old also showed us a gold dollar coin that she found under her pillow after putting her tooth there.... she's missing her bottom teeth. So I asked her if she thought I could get one if I put a tooth under MY pillow. She thought about it a minute and then said she knew where there was a tooth she could get me, in her Mom's bathroom!!! So I asked DD about that and she sheepishly admitted she still had the wisdom teeth she had pulled some years ago... saving them for some reason!! I told her if she is that much of a "pack rat" now, she is going to be in serious trouble in 20 years!! I didn't get the tooth... have no confidence in the tooth fairy in this house!! Which somehow reminds me..... DH, who is as tight-fisted as they come, bought me a VERY expensive bottle of perfume when we were out shopping at the Navy base the other day. I had given him a little card sprayed with what I wanted many weeks ago....he found it and bought it! WOW!! I love it! There IS a Santa Claus!! Cat pooped on a throw rug in the bathroom this morning, near her litterbox, which was clean... because she was mad that we left her all day yesterday! She's a snot! Hope everyone is having a great week.... new week, new month, school starting, etc. I changed my ticker even though we didn't have a weigh in because of the holiday this week. I used my Wii Fit weigh in instead. I'm finally a hair more than halfway to my goal. Though I may change it when I get there. I didn't make my exercise goal last month because we were gone until the 12th and then gone again last weekend. DH is trying so hard to lose, too, but I keep telling him about 100X a day that the scale is not going down because he's not eating enough calories. So yesterday he splurged a little and sure enough, the scale was down for him today!

You're TOO MUCH!! Well.... today you can have your "kayak and heat it, too!" HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Ears are doing fine. Did I tell you that after Linda & I figured out that my old hole in the right ear was out of alignment with the left, I went and had another one put in on the right side that was better aligned... so I have one extra hole on that side now. That was after I got to Buffalo... found another "Piercing Pagoda" at the mall. THEN, my youngest sister was with me that day and a few days later she decided she was going back and get a little blue flower put in at the top of her ear. It looked so cute that the last day in Buffalo I decided to go get one, too... a little pink flower. That's really the only one that is still hurting a little. She told me that since it's in cartilege I can't change it for THREE MONTHS! The others can probably be switched out now if I want to. After we got home, we were out to lunch with youngest DD & three youngest grandchildren. Thomas, almost 3 yrs was sitting next to me. Halfway through lunch he says, "Grandma, there's a BUG on your ear!" Glad to see you back, Beth!! Arms are an issue! I'd post a picture I took on our Mall of America trip... Janet & Linda comparing bat wings... but that could get me in trouble!! :thumbdown::biggrin::wink2::biggrin::biggrin:

Karri, and ALL the rest of you teachers, I just found a newspaper clipping that I cut out several years ago that I thought I'd share: "A disgruntled school teacher turned in her resignation with the following comment: "In our public schools today, the teachers are afraid of the principals, the principals are afraid of the superintendents, the superintendents are afraid of the board, the board members are afraid of the parents, the parents are afraid of the children, and the children are afraid of no one."

Didn't realize we had so may New Yorkers here!! I grew up in Buffalo/Cheektowaga.

South of Houston... like towards Galveston?? We spent a couple of days there two years ago... before and after Panama Cruise. SIL's sister lives there on Lake Houston. Nice area, but I don't like the humidity!

Do you have your own espresso machine?? I wish I did... especially for the RV because the only palce I have down in your "neck of the woods" is Starbucks & I don't really like their lattes. My little place across the street is my favorite! I do a 16 oz, sugar free, fat free, triple shot almost every day. OMW..... it's getting darker and darker by the minute! We're supposed to get a cold front this afternoon and snow level is coming down to 5000 ft this weekend! DD better stay in CA a few more days but she says she's heading back north early tomorrow morning. Rain & clouds are moving in fast! And it's supposed to get windy. Maybe WE'RE going to get the hurricane!! I'm SO hungry... and it's not dinner time yet! And DH just fixed himself a huge bowl of popcorn!! It smells great, but not my favorite thing!

We'll certainly keep you in our prayers!! Keep us posted when you can!! Maybe she'll cook you up some alligator!!??

We should go on a road trip!! I wanna do that too!! We have a map of the states on the RV door and there are just too many states that still need to be filled in!!

NAH!! It's highly overrated!! You can live without it!! HONEST!!

I guess you could have worse nicknames than "RASH GIRL", but, that's kind of rude, I think! Anyway, in my humble (Ret. RN) opinion, doesn't sound like shingles to me if it doesn't hurt. Shingles is extremely painful. Glad the hydrocortisone is helping and hope they figure out what it is soon!! Like I've told you, I've had recurrent problems with skin rashes over the last 10 years or so and had MANY dermatology consults to NO AVAIL!! In fact, PA in a walk-in clinic was one of the few medical people who ever gave me anything that helped. With me, I always had the impression their thinking was.... "Oh, she's fat.. it's HEAT RASH!" So there never was any real effort to figure out what it was.

Yeah!! I wanna go too!! I can do crab or lobster without the butter. Don't miss it at all, in fact.

Marinade for the steaks... my favorite is Jack Daniels, if you can get it in your little town! :biggrin: Comes in a packet with a zip bag. It's realy good. Scallops can be grilled. A couple of minutes on each side is plenty. I like to season them with a little Old Bay seasoning. You could marintae them in something if you want to... maybe something lemony. Lemon, tartar, and you'd have to have ketchup if I were coming!! But then I put ketchup on everything. Another thing I like to use wehn BBQing is Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce. Souds like a wonderful plan! Don't know how anyone could not be pleased with your choices!! Salmon patties, filets, brats and scallops!!??? Sounds wonderful to me!!

Hmmm.... I LIKE that idea!! That bag I got at QVC at M of A is a real keeper! I know... more like a knapsack, but it holds everything I need and it's fairly compact! I love it! McCain... Yeah, I have mixed feelings about his pick. She's young, female, conservative :wub:....very strategic on his part, but pretty inexperienced! Is she ready to be president if something happens to him???? But, then Obama is also pretty inexperienced.:crazy: This election year scares me in so many ways!! :wub::biggrin::eek::biggrin::eek::biggrin::eek: I think it's time for my cruise around the neighborhood. OH, DH is over cutting DD's lawn again... 5 acres, so he did half yesterday and went to finish it very early this morning, before I got up. So I had to cook my own breakfast. Yeah, I should've stuck to a protein drink or granola bar because I burned my omelet! It was yucky!! See... I'm not only spoiled, but may be losing my touch!!

Yeah, he's a KICK!! We're a real comedy routine!! He's all noise, really! I think most of it was an act!! And he DID like my lentil soup!! And some of it meant to intimidate me... to keep me out of HIS kitchen!! :biggrin::tt1: It won't work!! Good for you, Janet!! You slept in (a little) this morning!! Can't believe your vacation week is over already!! (Well, not counting the weekend.) I bet you're glad this is the last day of THIS week, Karri!! Sounds very frustrating! Glad your food issues are resolving!

I agree...call your doc's office. That's an awful long time on clear liquids!! Full liquids would allow you some thin creamed soups, maybe some tomato soup, cream of wheat with a lot of milk in it, etc. Protein drinks... the Slim Fast is high in calories, and I think sugar content, so that's probably why they are telling you no. I used E.A.S. protein from Costco (you can find it in other places... I think RiteAid carries it). You're going to get awfully discouraged, I'm afraid, being that hungry for three more weeks. And, yes, I think all of us have experienced that hunger you're talking about... some may have just forgotten! That time until the 1st fill can be miserable... "Bandster Hell"! You will get through it, but sounds like maybe you & your doc need to come up with a compromise as far as what you can have!

Yeah, I want to see the pictures, too!! He liked my soup!! He just got a 2nd bowl!! And he apologized for flipping out about the messy kitchen!!

Have you tried eating small amounts at frequent intervals? I was told 1/2 cup about every 3-4 hours. That worked well for me. So sorry about that rash! I have had intermittent problems with persistent rashes, but not recently. I don't know what MRSA looks like, or even if it has a particular "look", but I doubt that is the problem. One thing that has worked very well for me is Naftin Gel. It's Rx only, though.

Congrats, Grandma Linda!! That is exciting! So..... DH went to cut DD's lawn this afternoon. SO.....#1 I did my Wii exercises while he was gone. #2 I decided it was a good opportunity for me to COOK SOMETHING without his interference!! So I made a big pot of lentil soup!! BUT.... he came home just as I was finishing and he threw a fit because I dirtied up HIS kitchen!! GIMMEE A BREAK!! It used to be MY kitchen!! How did I let this happen! He threw a big old fit, slamming and banging things while he cleaned it up!! It wasn't THAT bad!! I told him it wouldn't have been such a mess if I didn't have to work at warp speed to get done before he got back! He would've taken over! I just poured myself a glass of wine and let him fuss and stew! He had it all cleaned up in less than 10 minutes so it couldn't have been that bad! Beans boiled over while I was on the Wii!! So there was water under the burner.... he says a CUP of water!! BIG HAIRY DEAL!! :biggrin::biggrin::cursing::biggrin::thumbup::biggrin::sneaky: I don't think so! Isn't he a kick!!??

I hear ya!! I think it's taken me ALL summer to get the last 10 lb. off! I was hoping to hit the 100 lb mark this summer, but not yet~!

You are RIGHT ON!! It didn't take me that long, but I, too, had to be very diligent with my phone calls, etc. to get my surgery date!

Probably the closest I've come to living in a small town such as that is living on various military bases. So I had to smile because I remember some of those things happening in a few places.... especially Minot ND!! Oh, MY!! :tt2::eek::thumbup:

I don't care for breakfast either. If DH didn't fix it for me every morning, I'd probably be drinking protein drinks or having a granola bar or protein bar of some kind with my morning coffee!! Bananas do not agree with me at all. I like them, but they don't like me and upset my stomach. Even a little slice of banana bread will give me a belly ache! Have you tried Chamomile tea to help you sleep?? It's great! Years ago, my youngest DD used to fix me a thermos of hot tea every night that I had to work night shift at the hospital I was working at. One night she accidentally fixed Chamomile instead of my usaul lemon & I struggled to stay awake ALL night long!! It works great! HOT??? What is that?? It's 60 here this morning & DH just took the screen out of our front door so we could leave the big door open without freezing our butts off!