lindata

That sounds terrible. I think phoning the police every time something happens, so it's on a legal record, will help. I can't imagine why a lawyer can't do anything if they are harassing you. Phone a different lawyer. Whatever you do, keep a detailed log of everything - the times/dates these things happened, what exactly happened, write down what was said by who, even videotape if you can get it, or tape record conversations. The more detail, the better, if you want to go to court. I used to type court trials as a living, so I know what a judge likes to see - the more detail the better!!! Have everything documented, every little transaction. If you're anticipating an event, like the one tonight, let your husband go out to do his shovelling, and you go behind him with the camcorder. Then you can tell them you're recording them in the event you go to court. That in itself might stop them - just the threat. Do these people rent? If so, complain to their landlord - on a daily basis.

So I've got a rant to share. I HATE it when I go to a function, (and where I live now most of the chicks are all thin at these things), and they all sit around ME and complain about how much weight they've gained since they had kids. These people might have one, two, maybe three OUNCES to lose, and they're talking in front of big fat ass ME about how fat they are. Like, hello, fat lady in the room, don't you think you're being very rude???!!! I would never call attention to something like that. It's like talking to a quadraplegic about how sore my legs are from jogging today. What's the quadraplegic supposed to say, "I know what you mean?" Why would you draw attention to it?

That's fantastic! That's exactly what it is too - parents not teaching kids any better. Why do kids think fat is such a bad thing? My 3.5 year old doesn't even know what fat means. He once described a lady as a potato. I thought he meant because she was big and round shaped. No, it was because she was a light brown colour with a lot of freckles on her face! That ticks me off too when they ask for race - and I'm white (can I say that?). What difference can it possibly make? I'm going to write "human" in those forms from now on. Good one!

I'll use examples from my past for this. What I hate about teachers: Labelling students. Although, my grade 11 science teacher labelled me as volatile, and that's a pretty accurate statement! Being impersonal. A caring, thoughtful word now and then goes a long way. What I love about teachers: Seeing kids' strengths and pouncing on that. Using humour as a way to teach. Teaching with hands on things rather than just with words -the visual impact. Taking a personal interest in a student and helping them achieve goals (whether academic or not) Words of encouragement and praise. The best teachers stick with you through the years - the things they might have said, how they were kind or thoughtful. Even though I've never personally gone back to thank any of my teachers, the favourites are in my mind a lot - so keep up the good work SueSue!

I love all the good Oprah does but I do admit I can't stand her turn on/turn off drawl. Or how she always chews food and talks at the same time. Swallow, then talk, please! And Gale does it too. Drives me nutso.

spanakopita (sp?) ground up turkey with cranberry sauce

I went to a psychic once in New Orleans and I got shivers from the experience. There were things he just knew, bizarre personal things that he couldn't have possibly known. If they're frauds, they're pretty good at it!

"Amen" to that! I believe there's something out there - whether it's Mother Nature or energy or some kind of higher power. I don't believe I have to sit in a church to be able to talk to my "God". The closest I feel to a higher being is when I'm out in nature - going for a hike up a mountain or a walk through the forest, seeing the miracle of wildlife.

Sniff sniff - I miss Canada. :think As far as religion goes - I don't get why people can't see there are BAD PEOPLE and there are GOOD PEOPLE. It doesn't matter what religion you are. Who cares what God people pray to? Does it really matter? I don't get it. Why are there WARS over this? There are many religions that are way older than Christianity and yet they are not deemed valid by Christians? Why? And vice versa with other religions. I don't get why people can't just practise their religion A, let other people practise their religion B, and everybody just give peace a chance. :kiss2:

YES YES YES! I have always believed in signs, because events just kept lining up for me in my life, depending on what my current interests were. I always found it so bizarre. It was like the stars were aligning or something. My friend and I talk about this regularly, and we're both in that weird "zone" at the moment where things all seem to be happening for a reason to point us to this one spot in our life, like all the energy is being channeled. Okay, I'm stopping RIGHT NOW. I'm starting to sound just a tad bizarre. But, yes, I DO believe in signs.

Why, Georgia Girl, I do believe, I have never heard of chocolate-covered potato chips (*best Scarlet O'Hara voice*). (I'm assuming you're southern with a name like Georgia Girl). Speaking of the south, since I am currently living in it, I went to a X-mas ornament exchange party tonight and, holy crow, you southern girls sure know how to bake and decorate. The house (decorations, and food) looked like something out of a magazine!

I have wondered this same thing. My doc won't give out meds UNTIL I'm actually vomitting. I don't get this. Is zofran something you can get over the counter?

Oh good, I was gonna say WEAR THE 8 .... because ... it's an EIGHT!!

I think I'd probably tell if the person was a) overweight, and b)nice. I would never tell an uncompassionate, skinny biatch, who has never had a problem with her weight, just exactly how I'm doing it.

You're awesome, Mona!

Cagstorm, I think you have something in the gender thing. It seems that guys don't easily get offended at the same things that gals do. I know I would be embarassed if someone came up to me and pointed out the fact I'm fat. I went around for years knowing I was X pounds overweight, but didn't FEEL fat. If I were at a mall and saw myself in a mirror out of the corner of my eye, I thought who is that, then was mortified to figure out it was ME I was looking at. I was in my magic bubble, my fat-free bubble, where in my little world I was still thin and cute, then I'd see a picture of how I really looked and it would all come crashing down. So if some stranger walked up to me, however well-meaning, and suggested WLS, I think I would have eaten myself into a coma. I was VERY lucky that my s-i-l had it done, and explained it all to me. I knew all about bypass, but had never heard of lapband. I wasn't even considering surgery, just thought I was always going to be fat. I had resigned myself to it. But just seeing her transformation, and talking more and more to her, and then doing more research on my own I decided I had to give it a shot. I think just being open about it to people, not necessarily SUGGESTING they should have it done, but just letting the info out that you've had the surgery when people ask how you lost the weight, you'll probably change quite a few people's lives that way, just through word of mouth. And if you REALLY want people to approach you, have a T-shirt made up with your before and after pics on it!

I'm right there with you. I feel like there's absolutely no restriction, can eat almost what I want - although there's still that niggly feeling saying Don't eat that, you'll hurt your band, so I do tend to stop before I eat TOO much, but still it is the same feeling of being, like you said, on a diet and eating small portions and you're starving! I didn't feel that way. They gave me about 1/2 cup of Water, and I slurped it down pretty fast. For me, it went down the same as before my fill.

Well, I HATE to brag (hehehe), but I have another one for you. When my parents were down helping out after my surgery, I tried on a bunch of clothes. There was a shirt that was way too tight to wear - I tried it on tonight and it was ALMOST too big!!! It fit really well, even a little, dare I say, BAGGY, in the waist! I can't believe in less than a month I went from way too tight to almost too loose. AND the new pants I bought a few weeks ago that were too tight to wear, I wore them tonight as well, and they fit good. Oh oh oh, I have another one too. I feel that I officially FIT IN. Everyone in my community (well, mostly everyone) is very petite, and I felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb. Now I'm starting to feel like I'm BLENDING IN!! I don't FEEL so out of place anymore, and that was the biggest thing for me - just to feel like I didn't stick out for being the biggest in the room.

I think the fact that we're having NSV's and being barely a month out of surgery is a NSV in itself! I mean, how many diets have you guys been on where you didn't see any dramatic improvement - or it took so durn long to lose anything, you couldn't remember what you looked like to begin with? We all kick butt!

Well, I admit I used to hate X-mas in my 20's until I had a kid - now I LOVE it. I do believe in Santa Claus, I do! haha I love how it's so magical for kids.

Thank you WASA, this is exactly how I feel but I don't think I could have expressed it quite this well! I don't want to fail, but who's to know if this will ultimately work? So far it has exceeded my expectations. I have PCOS too. I'm not using that as an excuse or a cop out either - but it's a medical fact of life that I have it and it's damn hard to lose weight. So far so good. But will I get to 170 or 150 or 130 pounds? Who knows what my body will allow. I'm doing my best and that's all I can do.

Because I've told people pretty much every time I would start a diet - and the next time they'd see me I'd be the same weight. Embarassing! So this time, my last-chance time, I didn't tell anyone (well, tried not to - it got leaked to a few people by accident). It's the whole extreme thing too - the money and doing surgery. I just don't want people to know I had to go to these extremes to do something that 'technically' can be done on your own. Of course, I don't feel that way, but that's the perception that's out there, that if you try hard enough the weight will come off. I guess if EVERYbody knew that for some people it really is harder than others to lose weight, I wouldn't be embarassed to tell.

After a week or so with the BB, I'm quite enjoying it. I don't always log food - I always eat the same thing everyday and it's always way under 1,000 calories. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the exercise graph and how it shows how many calories you've burned in a day. And I'm constantly looking at my watch to see how many steps I've taken. So it's definitely been worth the money. It's very motivating to burn your goal calories and to get in as many steps as possible.

I have a couple with Jillian (from the Biggest Loser) that are HARD! They're a very good workout. I got them from Lady Foot Locker. I would like to get one like learning to salsa or something like that. Just dancing in place is a pretty good workout - I can feel different muscles working. Me and my little boy dance a lot lately - he's really getting into dancing, and it's so cute to watch him (he's 3.5 years old).

nygirl - I have a king-size pillow and I sleep with it kind of facing my body. So when I sleep on my tummy, it's kind of half propping my tummy where the port is. If I don't sleep with a pillow, I can still feel it. It feels like it's bumping my ribs and is uncomfortable. I have a feeling I'm going to be one of those people who's going to be hungry for 9 months before proper restriction. I need another fill! aaaaaaahhhhh!