phyllser

So sorry to hear of this new development with your Dad, Karla! Keep us posted. Thanks! I am really feeling good! Glad you checked in. We all were missing you! Depression.... are you on anything for that??? Might need a checkup on that... may need a change, based on what you're saying about how you're feeling.

I can't tell you how good it is to be back to Water aerobics!! And I did about 15 min on a stationary bike in the exercise room after that today. Later we went to Walmart, so I had DH drop me at Starbucks again... without my scooter. He started to get out of the car and I said, "where are you going???" "To get the scooter out!" I said, "NO! I'm walking over to Walmart!" He forgot that I did that on Saturday! So I did it again only this time, after two days of pool exercise, I felt fine when I got over there and didn't need to go get a scooter! HOORAY for me!! I feel like a NEW person this week! Walked around Walmart for proabably about 30 minutes. I was on my feet walking for close to an hour. Very good for me.. Rested a while when we got home and then made some killer chowder.. so stood at the stove for about 1/2 hour. Standing still has been very hard for me in the past. I think in just two days of exercise, my legs have gotten quite a bit stronger. And got on the Wii to weigh this morning. I was worried about being up because of being on the road and visiting with family/friends for two weeks... eating bad stuff like spaghetti and pizza! But I was down.. a little over a pound, I think. Not a whole lot for 3 weeks, but DOWN! Hope you all had a GREAT day!! We are OVERCOMERS!! We're defeating our worse habits and making major improvements to our lives!

Steph, I have the CD we use for our water aerobics on my computer. I will make you a copy and mail it to you. It's by "Billie Jo" something or other, and very old and you can't buy it anymore, so it's perfectly okay to copy it. The routine we do is three 20 minute segments. The 1st and 3rd are more strenuous than the middle one.. which is okay. Gives you a little rest. And some of the exercises I double time to get more out of it. I threatened Kari on FB that if she didn't report in soon we would come and get her!! She said she'd check in soon! Friends.... last time we lived in WA I had many very close friends. Not so much anymore. I think all of you know more about me than any of my "friends"! I'm fairly close to my sisters, especially the youngest, but I'm the oldest.. which sort of puts me in the position of being the "strong" one, the mediator, etc... which I guess makes me reticent to share anything to personal or to reveal any vulnerability. Do you get what I'm trying to say?? Once this summer I went out for dinner with three neighbor ladies and it was pretty strange. I mean, I enjoyed it, but felt sort of out of place... all three are either widowed or divorced, so single, and, as you know I'm pretty conservative in my views on certain things, and all three of them are quite liberal, so I kept my mouth shut during quite a bit of the conversation. When I'm home, I really enjoy hanging out with Tracy! But there are things you just don't discuss with your daughter! But we have a great time... shopping, meeting at our favorite latte place for a chat, sometimes I meet her at Safeway and help her do grocery shopping for her MIL. I've done things her to try to get in with some ladies my own age... the majority here are older than me! But, it's been hard to break in, so far. I go to "Red Hat" ladies when I'm here, but the group here won't let anyone new in so the group I go to is comprised of about 50 ladies from a bunch of different RV parks. I've been thinking of maybe going to "Jazzercise" before water aerobics because all those gals are in my age group. But... yeah, this is kind of a problem with me too.... shortage of friends to hang out with. Sheez!! I'm writing another novel!! Sorry, but I'm not done yet!! I have to tell you.. I feel SOOOO good! I feel like a NEW person! Exercise this week has made such a huge difference, I might have to cut back on my Zoloft again or I'm going to be flying!! :biggrin::scared2: Just a few barely achey muscles after my exercise yesterday.... butt muscles and arm muscles mostly. I am working it really hard... putting a lot of energy into it. And doing more exercises in the hot tub, too. And today I went on the stationary bike for about 15 minutes after water aerobics. Wow! It felt so good! So.... remember Saturday I walked from Starbucks across the parking lot to Walmart and was so exhausted I had to go straight to the electric scooters when I got over there??? Well, did the same thing today only this time I just grabbed a shopping cart and shopped all over the store without a scooter! I could barely bend my knee when I got back to the car, but that was the first I felt any discomfort at all. When we got back to the RV I was thinking about taking some ibuprofen because the knee was hurting, but I didn't. And after about an hour rest, I stood in the kitchen fro about 30 minutes and made some KILLER chowder!! Yes... Earl let me cook dinner! He chopped celery, onions and a potato for me, but I did the rest... and it was SOOO good! I put in a small can of oysters and almost 2 cups of minced clams that my sister gave me that were frozen, but they were fresh caught by a friend of hers.... Okay, I guess you don't "catch" clams, you dig them up, but, you get the picture. Anyways, it was a great dinner! I used two cans of skim evaporated milk, a little olive oil to sautee all the veggies, so it should be fairly low in calories. Okay, I'm done!! .... Did you check out my ticker??? DOWN! Not under 200 yet... but SOON!! Sorry.. guess I already bragged about that! Do NOT jump on your Wii Fit!! LOL

Don't know how you keep track of CA vs. AZ time! It never ceases to confuse me. Had some interesting experiences when we were RVing in Bullhead City AZ and kept going across the bridge to Laughlin NV!! Like being an hour early to a movie once and not being able to figure out why we were the only ones there!! I basically hate daylight savings, don't see the value or wisdom of it! Think we should just do away with it... either be on that time all the time, or not, but don't keep changing back and forth! So you found your crochet hook! Feeling creative! That's fun! Waiting to see what you come up with. I should start doing that again. Arthritis in my hands is my excuse for quitting! Got to go get ready for Water aerobics!!

What if you kept the garage and made it voluntary??? Wouldn't enough kids participate to put peer pressure on the rest?? I think it's insane that kids should be able to keep their cell phones. Let's get a clue!! Obviously they will abuse the privilege! I think your system is very clever and effective! You're right.... I hate to leave home when it's time to come down here, and I hate to leave here when it's time to go home! I love it down here, I love to be at home. I miss my family in WA... daughters and grandkids, when we're down here. But I miss our life down here when we're at home! LOL!! I've looked at the website Janet sent me the link for, but that's as far as it's gone so far. I'm concerned about the skill of a "skin & tissue harvester" vs. plastic surgeon.... don't know if they use a plastic surgeon, but I would hope so! And with 50+ lb yet to lose, it's probably too soon. But it just makes me sick to look down at my thighs when we're exercising in the pool and watch the flab swing back and forth!! GROSS!! Oh, dear! Hope you don't get too sick!! Have you had flu shot?? We had the seasonal flu shot, but apparently we're too old to qualify for the swine flu shot!! Glad things are going well with Michael and hopefully he'll do well with the change. Sounds like the staff knows what they're doing. Relax, Mom. Got on the Wii scale this morning and I'm actually down almost 2 lb after all that worry!! Still 2 1/2 lb to "Onderland"! Hopefully it'll come off quickly now that we're in to a regular routine and exercising every day. We don't eat out too much down here either. My biggest food enemy down here is too many potlucks! I'm selective and careful in my choices, but usually eat more than I should. And there is always pasta and potato dishes... my biggest temptations!! I need to change my signature and start logging my exercise again, but since it's so close to the end of the month I think I will wait until 1 Nov. I exercised more than it says, but I kept forgetting to log it and then I lost track! Janet, we're posting at about the same time! So I just looked in my email to read your post. Yes, I love my water aerobics! It feels so good. Didn't realize how much I missed it! It's good exercise. I think better than all the PT exercises they gave me. Tattoos... I found this funny birthday card with these two old guys sitting on a porch in their rocking chairs.... and they're saying things like "eagle?? heart?", etc... can't remember exactly, but you get the picture. And then it says "2015, guessing what your tattoo used to be! I gave it to Tracy to give to DGD on her next birthday since she is getting all these weird tattoos we know she's going to be sorry for one day. On her back is a skull with a knife through it and it says "Love Kills Slowly"! YUCK! Don't know where the heck Kari is, but she's been on FB so I guess she is avoiding us. KARI??? Are you there??? Linda, hope you had a good birthday!! Okay, gotta go. Almost time to get my suit on!

Candice, no point in confronting him. He just gets defensive and angry. I don't know what it would take for him to quit. I've gotten so upset with him on many occasions... when I found out he'd been lying about quitting.. Then he gets all teary and shows me that he's throwing away his cigarettes and lighter and tells me it's not worth what it's doing to our relationship... blah, blah, blah, blah. And then before long I figure out that he's smoking again. There was a couple of months last year when he actually gave me the cigarettes and I was to let him have 2 a day. That worked for a month or so, but pretty soon he said he was ready to quit. But actually he was ready to be back in control. It was another pretend quit.. or a short lived one! It was SO good to get back to Water aerobics this morning! That is a good solid hour of great exercise, better than all the PT I've had in the last two months. I didn't realize how very much I'd missed it! Must try to do something like that next summer! I may have some sore muscles tomorrow. I think my legs are getting stronger! Then I did my 30 min. hot tub after that, but found myself wanting to do more exercises, so I did a few that I could do in the hot tub... up on tip toes trying to strengthen leg muscles, etc. Haven't done much walking today. Maybe when it cools off I'll go around our block. Janet, we'll figure something out soon. Are the kids here for the Halloween weekend? And your first Friday off is in two weeks, right? Glad you had a good talk with Karri. Oh, I know what I wanted to tell you gals. We had a telephone conference with our finanacial advisor today.. he's in OK. He asked if we were going to need any cash any time soon and Earl said we were going to need a car before too much longer.. 100,000 miles on ours, plus probably close to another 100,000 towed miles. Then he said we are going to need RV tires soon, too. I could see his mind wasn't going where mine was, so I said "PLASTIC SURGERY"! So we discussed that a little and Jack said that the burn center in OKC sometimes does it free if you are willing to donate the skin and tissue to them for burn victims. Have any of you ever heard of this? He said he thinks the Shriner's have a burn center in CA.

Good Morning! Going to go get ready for the pool and first time back to water aerobics in a few minutes. Looking forward to it. Going to ride the scooter up... too much to carry.... bag with shower stuff and clothes in it, foam exercise thingies, jug of crystal lite! I'll walk later today. Earl is already gone. He gets up there at 8a.m. when the pool opens so he can swim laps before water aerobics (and probably sneak a ciggie!) Yeah, like we can't smell it! Unfortunately, my nose is apparently used to it and often I can't smell it! Have to make hair appointment today. Wanted to do my Monday morning weigh in on the Wii, but it's not set up yet. Earl promises he'll have it ready for tomorrow morning. TIme to see what damage was done during two week travel phase!

If Earl really did quit smoking, it wasn't for very long. Never is. He "quits" just long enough to throw me off... to get me to believe he really quit. I'm too naive. It takes me a while to figure out he really didn't quit. It's been a longstanding game he plays with me. Pretty annoying.. not exactly a trust builder. Glad to hear the bosses are tightening their belts, too! That's only fair! I did several good walks yesterday, then some pool exercise and bike last night. But today... not so much! I did walk almost all the way home from church though.... over by the restaurant. So that's a good long walk. But then we went to Sidewinders for lunch with some friends and I had hot meatloaf sandwich with mashed taters. Didn't eat the bread. We have Octoberfest Saturday night---Halloween night. Haven't really talked about whether we're going or not. It's a potluck, and i don't know what else they have planned. But that's the only thing on the agenda that I know of. Could go to COD next weekend if you want.

Well... my entry wouldn't post and then it posted TWICE!! Sorry!!

Sounds like you had a successful shopping trip! I think the whole furlough thing is a real bummer! They're probably still stuffing their pockets but the rest of you have to tighten your belts! Not fair!! Homemade salsa.... yummy. We canned some quite a few years ago when we had four tomato plants in our backyard and a bumper crop of tomatoes!! It was good... but I like fresh better. I am badly in need of a hair cut... it's been 3 months, I think! I'll be calling my favorite place in DHS for an appointment in the morning! Jerky is a great snack. They were giving samples of Teriyaki jerky at costco yesterday... I had lunch on Costco samples! It was good and I should've bought some. Apples sent me some when I was recovering from surgery. It's long gone, but it was good! Flu shots... they were giving them at Walmart yesterday so I dragged Earl over there and made him get one! I got mine several weeks ago but he was resisting and telling me he wasn't going to get one because they make him sick! NOT!! I worked on my walking yesterday... the long walk in the morning, then from Starbucks over to Walmart and part way through there. Later I shopped at Kmart for about 30 minutes without scooter. And in the evening we went up to the pool and I spent a few minutes on the stationary bike, then did a little pool exercise before hot tub. Pheasat/pork sausage is very good. Not greasy at all.. fairly dry, but tasty. C'mon over before it's gone and you can try some with a glass of wine and some cheese!! Its eaten cold and sliced thin.. I bought a 3-pack of each of the instant Starbucks, to see which one I like best, but haven't tried it yet. Oh, boy!! I have issues there, too. And, don't open a package that comes with MY NAME on it! Earl does that all the time and it really makes me mad. I got a new CPAP machine about a month ago and I was out riding around the neighborhood on my scooter when it came. So when I got home it was all unpacked and already set up on my nightstand!! I was SO MAD! Every little bit of it... accessories, instruction booklets, EVERYTHING was unpacked! Extremely annoying!! Mail, too.... Earl is such a control freak and very little is left as MY domain... mail being one of them! So I hate it when he picks up the mail, or when he opens stuff before me! It's MY job!! Leave it alone!

Next weekend, Darling! If they hadn't changed the routine, we wouldn't be getting confused! I wish they would just do away with it. What does the farming community think about daylight savings these days??? Magic Bullet.... I used mine a lot right after surgery, too, and now hardly ever... BUT, DH uses it all the time to grind coffee. Works great for that! Obsessions: yes... shoes, purses, hats and books!! I told DH how many shoes and purses have been reported because he is always on my case. We brought two cloth shopping bags full of hats with us. Probably another two bags at home. I have to have sun visors (both cloth and foam because I use the foam ones in the pool), and have to have many colors to go with different outifts and different bathing suits, then I like the "newsboy" style hats and I have light weight, medium weight and warm ones for cold weather... like furry (which don't get worn much here in the desert, but... ya never know... and we go up the tram in the winter and it's cold up there!) Interestingly enough, many of my hats had to go to the Goodwill because my head shrunk!! Yeah, I guess I was a FATHEAD!! I lost a roll of fat on the back of my neck and now many of my hats are too loose, and my CPAP mask has nothing to hold on to so I have problems keeping it where I want it during the night!! Books.... we won't go there right now!! LOL Do you believe this big hype on obesity the last few days??? I even heard on the radio that insurance companies may be denying people insurance or making them pay higher premiums/co-pays if they are overweight!! Heard Laura Ingels on talk radio raving on this the other day and wanted to jump through the radio and strangle her, she was being so insulting to overweight people!

Sounds like you had a successful shopping trip! I think the whole furlough thing is a real bummer! They're probably still stuffing their pockets but the rest of you have to tighten your belts! Not fair!! Homemade salsa.... yummy. We canned some quite a few years ago when we had four tomato plants in our backyard and a bumper crop of tomatoes!! It was good... but I like fresh better. I am badly in need of a hair cut... it's been 3 months, I think! I'll be calling my favorite place in DHS for an appointment in the morning! Jerky is a great snack. They were giving samples of Teriyaki Jerky at costco yesterday... I had lunch on Costco samples! It was good and I should've bought some. Apples sent me some when I was recovering from surgery. It's long gone, but it was good! Flu shots... they were giving them at Walmart yesterday so I dragged Earl over there and made him get one! I got mine several weeks ago but he was resisting and telling me he wasn't going to get one because they make him sick! NOT!! I worked on my walking yesterday... the long walk in the morning, then from Starbucks over to Walmart and part way through there. Later I shopped at Kmart for about 30 minutes without scooter. And in the evening we went up to the pool and I spent a few minutes on the stationary bike, then did a little pool exercise before hot tub. Pheasat/pork sausage is very good. Not greasy at all.. fairly dry, but tasty. C'mon over before it's gone and you can try some with a glass of wine and some cheese!! Its eaten cold and sliced thin.. I bought a 3-pack of each of the instant Starbucks, to see which one I like best, but haven't tried it yet. Oh, boy!! I have issues there, too. And, don't open a package that comes with MY NAME on it! Earl does that all the time and it really makes me mad. I got a new CPAP machine about a month ago and I was out riding around the neighborhood on my scooter when it came. So when I got home it was all unpacked and already set up on my nightstand!! I was SO MAD! Every little bit of it... accessories, instruction booklets, EVERYTHING was unpacked! Extremely annoying!! Mail, too.... Earl is such a control freak and very little is left as MY domain... mail being one of them! So I hate it when he picks up the mail, or when he opens stuff before me! It's MY job!! Leave it alone!

Happened a few more times today, too.... once with a good friend! Saw her in costco and she didn't realize it was me right away.... and I saw her YESTERDAY! But... in a crowd today...saw me coming towards her and ...?? Funny! Out at the street sale, too.... neighbors on the next street thought my husband had a new girlfriend! LOL

Hi, there! Welcome! There is an excellent site for you... a mentor's thread called "I'm here to help". This link will take you to a recent post. Then save it by using your "Thread tools" at the top of the page and click on "Subscribe to this thread". Great place for newbies to get questions answered. Any questions, PM me, or anyone else, by clicking on the screen name above the avatar on any given post. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f260/im-here-help-64725/index355.html#post1350317

You need another coffee date... with a nice guy who actually shows up! You didn't give up trying, did you?? I had a good walk around the park this morning, then we went to Walmart. Earl needed an excuse to get rid of me....I think.... so he could go have a ciggy! Like I don't know he smokes! So he dropped me off at Starbucks. My "boyfriend", John (store manager) wasn't working today so that was disappointing. But I got my latte and walked across a very large parking lot to Walmart. By the time I got to the middle of the store I was ready for a scooter so I went and got one. You know.... it's not really my knee that makes me cave in to that.. My hips start hurting and I have walked so little for the last 10 years that I don't have the stamina or strength to walk more than about 30 minutes at a time. Probably if I just sat down and rested for a few minutes, I could've walked some more. But this is a much better place to walk than at home at the condo. There it's just around and around... unless I want to venture down the steep driveway and go over to the shopping center. By the time we go home in the spring, I'll be up to that challenge. Cheer up, Karla. HOpe you find something fun to do this weekend!

Welcome, Tulsa! We lived in OKC/Edmond for over 15 years. Plateaus happen. It'll pass. But you probably do need a fill since you've only had one.

Good Morning! Beautiful morning here in the So CA desert! So good to be back. Arrived yesterday afternoon after a 2 week journey from the Pacific NW visiting family and friends along the way. Did I already say that in a previous post??? That's okay! We're getting old!! :blushing::biggrin::laugh: It will feel so good to get back to our water aerobics on Monday morning. And I'm planning to start using the stationary bikes in the exercise room. PT had me on one this month after my knee replacement... good exercise and I MUST strengthen my leg muscles. Though knee is doing great, I have babied it for so many years that I don't have the strength to step up with it... like on to a curb or step, and always have to step up with the other leg first. I need to get my strength back in that leg. Well, need to get dressed and get out. Street sale today in the RV park, so I'm going to see how far I can walk. These people are used to seeing me cruising around on my electric scooter! I already had a friend not recognize me when he saw me in the restaurant last night... he called me "Skinny Minnie"! Well, I'm definitely not skinny, but I guess I lost enough over the summer to change my appearance. Then I show up walking and not on my scooter and I'm really going to confuse folks!! :Banane20::laugh:

Yeah, can't wait to go to COD!! Maybe next week if I can talk Earl in to it! Hoping Linda might get down this way again this winter, too. Did you get your Coach purse yet? We went to park restaurant for dinner tonight.. had carne asada plate... then came back and slimed! Same thing happend after lunch yesterday. Ate part of a 6" sub sandwich. Not a good idea, but we were out and about with only a few (fast food) choices, so that was the lesser of several evils. Tried the soup, but it was way too salty and I gave it to Earl!

Yeah, had a great trip down here. Nice and warm here. DH got us all set up in no time and we went to the park restaurant for dinner. Knee is doing great and now that we're here, I'm going to get started on the stationary bike and water aerobics, etc.

You could be right about that. I know we are busier than ever since we retired. And some are involved with kids and grandkids... babysitting, etc. We've been on the road for two weeks in our RV, traveling to our winter hideaway! We arrived here this afternoon and will stay put now for a few months. It's nice and warm here in So CA. Cool and rainy at home in WA state!

No... we winter in CA near Janet. Live in WA state.

Quick check in. Arrived at Sky Valley about 2 hrs ago. Earl is still getting things set up, but DirecTV is up and running, as well as telephone(land line) and internet. AC is on full blast so I'm freezing. I guess it's about 92 outside, but it's getting too cold in here! Jacki, sure sounds like H1N1 to me! Sister & BIL had it (NY state) and same exact symptoms you're describing. Again, so sorry to hear about Woody! Bet Twig is feeling pretty lonely. Hope your knee heals quickly! I've had lots of kudos from our neighbors down here already. Say I'm looking pretty good! And impressed to see me walking around the neighborhood!

Candice, So sorry about Woody! Tracy will be sad, too! We both quickly fell in love with Woody! Hugs! Took Earl back to the 2nd hand store... Grandpa's. He was pretty intrigued! He and Jacki were having so much fun pawing through all the junk that I found a copy of the book I've been reading, found a chair and sat down and read a few chapters when I got bored! We went to several other places, too. All I found were an Alfred Dunner top and a pair of Lands End jeans. Kind of tight, but I can get them on. Will wait about 10 more lb to wear them! Went in the pool before dinner, had some wine as some of you already saw on FB, tostada for dinner. Now time to head back to the RV (in the backyard), watch a little TV, read my book. Have to get up early to hit the road. On into Sky Valley tomorrow. It will be a long days drive!

I grew up in Buffalo NY so I know what you are talking about! But... FL... Palm Beach, Palm Springs is CA... don't think there is a Palm Springs in FL. There are a lot of "Snowbirds" in Palm Springs in the winter, but traffic is not nearly as bad as in other parts of CA, or in FL. Haven't been to FL in quite a few years.... lived there in the late 60's for 18 mos. and then visited a few times 20 years later when our son was in the Navy. It had changed a LOT in those 20 years and I can only imagine what it must be like now!

I'm reading a Michael Crichton book right now called "Disclosure"... about sexual harassment, but it's about a tech company... I like techy stuff, but it was written in 1993 so it's kind of funny to read about stuff that was considered "cutting edge" over 15 years ago! Went to 2nd hand store with my friend today.. came home with 5 books and some Christmas cards for $2! We're going to a couple that are mainly clothes tomorrow. This place today had EVERYTHING!! Swimming/exercising in the pool yesterday and today... first time in the Water since we were here in April!! Felt so good! Quick post... just skimmed through your last three pages! Sorry I don't have more time to comment! BUSY!! Don't think there's any chance I can make it to your get together in FL in January. We are going on a cruise Jan. 30, and then Feb. 9 I'm flying home to WA for a few days. Don't think DH would let me go to FL with all these other plans. Would love to meet you gals!