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Stephanie. I just said a prayer for you and will continue to do so. I prayed that you will find the peace that passes understanding; that you will be able to put this in God's hands, and allow Him to show you what He wants you to do. I am praying for people to sourround you with love and kindness so that you feel His presence. Please remember that we care about you.

Am getting seriously depressed today. Inservice tomorrow, CPR re-cert and prep day on Tuesday, and classes start Wednesday. Where the heck did the summer go? I WANT TO RETIRE NOW. Janet, I so feel for you and your whole situation. Candice--you too! We've put in our time, we've delt with unreasonable bosses and demanding clients and selfish coworkers for over 30 years besides raising our own families, maintaining our own homes, and in general nurturing everyone else. I'm eating what I want today because I feel like that's the only thing I get to do for me. Tomorrow I will be controlled by everyone and everything else--including my own body (and my perfectionist Dr. sister and her Dr. husband and their future Dr. gifted children). Today is about what I want. How bad is that?

Oh Janet. Sometimes life just plain sucks--and you've had more than your share of that. I'm glad you felt your could vent to us. You didn't and will not go on a secret eating binge, and that is success. I admire you more than ever! Put work in a box and but it away. Enjoy your weekend. We'll be here if you need us. We love you g/f.

Hi, Just a quck check in. With classes starting and my sister + 6 comming next week , my time for LBT is fading away. I feel so bad. I don't want to lose touch with you guys and I'm trying to keep up with your posts. I HATE THIS TIME OF YEAR. I SO MUCH WANT TO RETIRE. Candice. How's the RV? I thought about you picking it up yesterday. Janet--a great grandma? Can't be! Right--it's "only" the cat! Carla--be strong. This too shall pass. Put the deamons in their place. I'm glad that your dad is stable. Phyl--remember what I told you in Canada. Praying for successful surgery and a quick recovery.

I had an idea today as I was "Putting on my face" as my grandma used to say. Another option for next year would be to go to a spa. You know--a day or two of sheer indulgence. We have one: Destination KOHLER:KOHLER Waters Spa Landing:KOHLER Waters Spa

but I'm sure there are others that may be more affordable.

As you can see, you guys are always on my mind!

Oh Candice, you crack me up! Besides everything else, you're a technical genius too! Is there no end to your talents?

Love Nordstroms! That is far and away my fav. store of all time.

Phyl--there is a bright side to not feeling well!~ 3.5 pounds--GOOD FOR YOU!!! That's got to be inspriing. Thoes new bras aren't going to fit at this rate! I'm just so happy that you're getting our surgery soon. It'll look like you're gaining b/c of all the fluids they'll be giving you, but in the end, you should lose even more plus, hopefully have a lot more mobility! A whole new woman!

Carla--I don't know if this is an option for you, but my church has funds set aside to help people in need. Some people feel really uncomfortable about asking for help, but our belief is that it is the church's responsibility, not the government's, to help people out. I don't know if you have a church family, but if not, there may be another church in your area that can help with groceries, gas, or other living expenses temporarily while you get things straightened out.

Been working on state wide curriculum all day. So much for summer! Tomorrow is Cora and grammy day. Wednesday I'll go to the office and start getting my act together for fall. Classes start the 19th :thumbup:

Karla--We found some good deals for transitional clothes at places like TJ Maxx and garage sales. Your idea of consingment shops is good too. I remember blowing through some sizes and stalling at others. Don't be afraid to try smaller sizes--it's amazing how all of a sudden they fit!

Grrrrr--he's trying to fix the d#!# coffee pot. WHAT A WASTE OF TIME!

Candice--I do believe that we all have our own "Set point" re weight. I know that I'm at mine. Essentially, I have maintained since the first of the year--neither lost nor gained. I know that if I starve and exercise more, I could lose more, but I won't be able to maintain it. I am trying to lose the last 15 slowly, but it is a constant battle. Candice, you are beautiful inside and out. You have georgous skin, and a great personality. You have an amazing voice and you're a great story teller. Peter loves you no matter what. I'd take 176 and be satisfied. IMHO, at our age, a few extra pounds is better than not enough and only God is perfect and you look terrific!

Went to a shower for my sister's (I have two sisters--this is the one that lives here) son's fiancee today. This sister was banded a year ago April. She never wants to talk about how much she lost or anything related, but she must have lost well over 100. Anyway, she did say that she got a 1 ml unfill and has gained some weight back. From the looks of what she ate today, she'll be putting more back on in no time. I feel bad for her. I ate more than I wanted to, but really, no more than a taste of some things. Sadly, I did have some cake :thumbup:

Janet--you are my inspiration. You really look like you never had weight issues--like you've always been a petite little thing who is into to healthy living--not necessarily trying to look like a waif, but just healthy.

Phyl--I think if the pajama pants are loose enough, you should be OK. As far as a bra, you might think about front closure b/c it might be difficult to move about the first several weeks. I only have my mom's experience to go on, but as I recall, she was happy if she could get from her bedroom to the living room of her condo at first. Then again, she had both knees done, so it might be different with one. Hope you can find something you like.

Goodness gracious, what's with the early risers? It's a perfect "Sleep-in" morning! Misty, thunderstorms, drizzling rain in between. If it weren't for the dog. . . She's developed some kind of chronic, repetative noise--It's not a cough as such, more like throat clearing or trying to cough something up, but it's been going on for over a week now. Mel called the vet while I was gone, and she perscribed an antibiotic which is doing nothing. I think I'll have to bring her back if it doesn't clear up this weekend. Meanwhile, there's no sleeping in once she gets started.

We got all but the outer ring of the fire pit down before it started raining yesterday aft. Now we sit and wait. It's supposed to get hot--90's (Janet--stop laughing)--and humid after the rain clears out, so I don't know how far we'll get. My sister, bil, and 5 kids are coming on the 17th, and I was hoping to get it done by then. (Mel needs a deadline. I was going to pay to have someone do it, but old cheep-skates said NO, he'd do it himself. . .)

I'm doing french press too this am, Janet. Time to clean out the old coffee maker--it's taking wayyyy toooo long. Most of the Water evaporates away. Maybe it's time to toss it? We'll see. . .

I have work to do this am. Opened my big mouth, so now I'm committed to do some work on a state-wide curriculum project. I know no one feels sorry for me since I did have lots of time off this summer. I wish I could be as excited about work as Kari is. I used to be. . . The passion is waining as the opportunity to retire and take care of grandbabies approaches.

Not long till the wedding, Candice. When are you going dress shopping? You are going to look fabulous!

Found you! Back from MOA--missed you guys there--not as much fun alone. I did manage to buy a few things. The business part went well--it was a big school so lots of work! It was a weight-nuteral week trip, so that's good.

DH is home, building a deck around a fire pit. I had to help by carying pavers yesterday. This am he's cutting, so there's not much I can do. I'll wander out there later.

Glad you had a safe trip home, Phyl! My mom didn't tell me about the sex after joint replacement part! Hummm--I'll have to ask her about that---NOT!

Saw the RV pics, Candice. NICE!!! When can we expect you and Peter? I'm absolutely serious!!! My sister will be here next week, and Tim's coming home Sept 11 for a week, but other than that, mi casa es tu casa! (Spanish--sorry, I don't know how to say it in french)

Phyl, Like Janet says, "You gotta live life." You're allowed a day or two--you need to build up for surgery--that's a massive assault, and you will heal much better if your nutritional status is good. In fact, you really should be adding some Protein Shakes now--especially if your date might get moved up.

Looking forward to Steph's story! I'm glad you can still see the humor in things, Steph. With all that's going on, you need to laugh.

Janet--I just learned about garlic presses, so we're even!

I was thinking the same thing about next year. With so many of us teaching, I doubt if our spring breaks would be at the same time to allow us to do a cruise before June. On the other hand, I want to meet Denise and Karri--and Karla too, and for sure Steph needs to come! Do we what to start brainstorming other options?

I already miss Nick! The other guy sure has a different personality, and I agree, he didn't do much at all. Clinton sure was flamming--did you notice his outfits? DH was being a jerk, (he was on his best behavior last weekend--now that we're home, it's back to normal) so I didn't get to see the end--did she look good? Hopefully I'll catch the re-run--they show these things over and over. . .

Well, I gotta do more laundry and decide what to pack for Monday. This week just flew--so much to do! Oh, and I'm sure DH will have me working on the fire pit outside. I want it done by the 15th, and DH refused to pay someone to build it, so guess what? It's just a paver circle about 17 foot diameter with a hole in the middle. Simple enough, but a lot of work to lay the base--hauling loads of gravel and sand. . . It's raining now, or he'd be out there!

Oh, oh, oh Candice--Yes, please let us know what you think! Did it hurt? I didn't notice that you had anything going on there, but I wasn't particularly looking for it either. Good for you!

Steph--14? THat's GREAT! You've got time. Seriously, I would have sold Andy to the gypsies when he was 14. Just keep being firm about the limits, but lavish praise any time you can. He'll get the idea, and so will the younger ones. It's not easy for sure, but you will win. Hang in there, mom. We're with you.

Kari--I really think that exercise, Water, and enough Fiber in the diet should do the trick. Try not to depend on laxatives. People tend to become dependant on them, and that's a problem. When we're dieting, it's not all that unusual to only have a BM every couple of days. It's juist another change that we have to get used to. Less in = less out!

Candice--Sounds like the writing on the wall! Time to buy the RV and retire.

Steph, I'm sorry, but I'm a little out of the loop about your Michael--how old is he? From the desperate tone of your voice I'm thinking he's an older teen--16 or 17-ish? That was the hardest time for me. I assume you control access to the car, cell phone, computer and everything except basic food and a place to sleep. Beyond that, everything else in life is a privilege to be earned. I have lived through this. DO NOT ALLOW HIM TO SEND YOU ON GUILT TRIPS. He knows just which buttons to push. You owe him nothing else. If he wants more, he needs to earn it through following the rules. If he ends up in jail, that is the natural consequence of his choices. You do not owe it to him to bail him out. You are not a bad parent, in fact, you are a very good parent. Life is tough; best he learn now that no one owes him a living.

Be strong mama. Two of my DSs aged me considerably, but honestly, 10 years later, they couldn't be better, more productive adults. And when I look at my friends and other ppl, I see that the kids who had tough parents are all doing well. It's the one or two where the parents were always making excuses and getting them out of trouble who are still struggling.

I'm glad you're getting unfilled, but I have a feeling that a lot of your band problems are stress-related. I've found too, that when I'm really stressed about something I can't eat. We think that was Candice's problem too, In fact, I wonder if now that the weekend is over and was such a huge success, if she's finding that she is less tight?

Again, we are here for you, Steph. You are doing the right thing by being tough. You are a good mom!

Hugs, gf!

Kari--Down 2? That's great!!

A little bad news--there was a text message from DD when I got to Chicago. She had gone to the dermatologist last week to have a few moles removed from her back. Turns out that one of them was cnacerous so she needs to go back and have more extensive surgery.

But the good news is that yesterday DS#3 finally got in touch with the people in Minneapolis and it is official! They have six weeks to find a place to live, for DIL to find a job, and get their things moved half way across the country. They are ELATED, and so are we!

Spent yesterday with Cora (took her on a nice long walk), doing laundry, and getting caught up with email etc. I'm going to drive to DD's tonight and go straight to work from there tomorrow morning. Then I have to start thinking about my next trip to Minneapolis on Monday. Yup, my days of reading and sunning on the deck are dwindling away.

Oh, one last thing about our trip: We all fell in love with a lifting, firming cream by Estee Lauder. I did find it in the Duty-free shop in Toronto. (I was a little surprised, but because we were flying a US airline, we went through customs in Toronto--makes sense, I just wasn't expecting that. When we go to Mexico, we don't hit customs until Milwaukee) Did you find it Janet?

Candice--did you check your email today? Mel found something you would be interested in. If there's nothing there let me know ASAP cuz it's important!

Steph, Karla, Kari, Denise: You were constantly in our thoughts last weekend. We tosted you on several occasions, and wished you were with us. Next year guys. . . OK here are some things that come to mind: Candice and Peter were awsome hosts. They so went out of their way to make us feel welcome. Candice had meals planned and kept baiting us about a surpirse on Saturday night. She had rooms all ready for us, wine in the fridge, and a wonderful dinner on the table when we got there Thursday evening (thanks to Phyl and Karri who got there befrore us and put everything in the oven) We sat and chatted awhile and then Candice showed us her quilting stuff and tried to explain it to us. Candice is a natural teacher a great story teller, and even better singer. Kinda like Mary Poppins: "Perfect in every way!"--eh? (she says "Eh?" or "Right?" at the end of her sentences--it's a Canadian thing. . .). I think we got to bed around 1 am?? I don't remember--we did drink a lot of wine.

Oh gosh, what else? We had a tour of Wasaga Beach--a beautiful sandy beach. Not warm enough to go swimming, or even just sit in the sand, but so beautiful to look at. Then we drove into the "mountains" and saw a georgous view of the whole bay. That was followed by a shopping excursion to a ski resort area Blue Mountain Ski Resort, Ontario, Canada

We spent the rest of the evening at the Elvis festival, had dinner, and drank more wine and chatted on Candice's deck.

I didn't take pics. Hopefully others will post theirs soon. I'll let someone else pick up the story here--gotta run. . .

First, "Bye Janet " We were soooo dissapointed when we realized that you were gone and we didn't get a chance to say good bye! We love you, girl, and we'll miss you a bunch! I tried calling you from chicago but I must have the wrong number in my phone--it wouldn't go through. It's too late to try now--you have to be exausted--hopefully sound asleep and I don't want to wake you up. Hopefully you'll check in in the morning and know that we were sending good wishes to you all day.

Janet, Phyl and Tracy, Candice, and Karri: Thanks for a great weekend! It was memorable in so many ways :smile2: Whenever I hear Elvis or hear someone end a sentence with "aye?" I will think of our weekend in Canada!

OK. I'm beat! We had good flights home, but I am drained. Off to bed.

Sorry, I ment karRi! And Kari and I will have a lot to talk about since I lived in Grand Rapids when I was a kid and one of my sons went to college there! I am getting really excited! I agree with Janet, Candice. Please don't think you have to ENTERTAIN us. We'll be just fine. And, by the way, we will take care of dinner on Sunday. We sure appreciate your just giving us a place to sleep and shower!

Sorry, I ment karRi! And Kari and I will have a lot to talk about since I lived in Grand Rapids when I was a kid and one of my sons went to college there! I am getting really excited! I agree with Janet, Candice. Please don't think you have to ENTERTAIN

Same here, Janet. Just tried and couldn't print the boarding passes. . . What time do you leave Palm Springs? Oh, Oh, Oh, tomorrow at this time we'll be there ! I sure wish Steph was comming and Kari, and Karla. . . Next year. . . NO EXCUSES!

I'm comming from Wisconsin where we think 70 is warm enought to swim in Lake MIchigan, and I'm NOT packing a bathing suit!

196! 11 pounds for July?!!! Clothes too loose? I wouldn't call that a plateau! Good job!!!! One trick I learned is not to weigh in too often. Sometimes when you weigh every day or even several times a week is that you percieve a plateau when in fact you're still loosing overall. It's not a linear thing. You can weigh the same for days, and then all of a sudden the scale moves 2 or 3 pounds. Like everything else, we tend to focus on the negative and minimize the positive.

I hope we don't get too much into a health care and political discussion. Being in the medical profession, and working at a free clinic that serves the uninsured, I have a different perspective. Some of the things that I hear that are in the current plan scare me, and I don't understand the urgency with wich this over 1000 page document is being pushed through without time or opportunity for open debate and discussion. I do feel strongly about this, but I don't want it to come between me and some of my very bestest friends in the world!

Hope you slept well, Steph. What a treadmill you're on! If you can't find time for yourself, you'll have to schedule some down time and just say "NO, I have something else that day!" if someone asks you do do somehthing.

Janet, What absoluely beautiful pics! What a treasure! Doesn't hurt that the kids are georgous (and you too).

Good job on the presentation, Phly. Hope you brought a copy of what you wrote up. I'm sure it was inspiring.

Gonna take Cora to a li'l kids Water park as soon as she wakes up from her nap. I would never have thought to do that two years ago. She really is the reason I did all of this--so I could hold her and feed her bottles and do stuff with her that I didn't do with my own kids b/c I was too self-conscious. Doesn't hurt that I'm a gma now and gma's don't need to have perfect bodies anymore, but still, I don't need to worry about what ppl think of my fat.

One of the things that happened at the demo derby is that two other ladies got into a verbal fight about space. One of the ladies was a big woman, and the other one made a comment about it. When I heard that I went off at her. Why do people think it's OK to attack people because of their size? No one commented on the smoking or drinking, or the other offensive things that were going on--but somehow people think differently about commenting on someone's size.

Karla,

You didi it! Yeah!!!! Good for you!!!!! You are now officially in "Onederland!!!! Yeah!!!!

Candice--They use a "Huber" needle. I don't think you can get one at the pharmacy--at least not in the USA. Huber needles are used when accesing ports because they prevent coring of the port which would cause damage to the membrane. Your PCP might be able to get ahold of them for you--or you might try a cancer center where they are giving chemotherapy drugs. It does seem to me, however, that accessing lap band ports is a little trickier than chemotherapy ports. They're imnplaned deeper, seen to move more, and there's more subcutaneous (fatty) tissue to deal with. Most chemo ports are on the upper chest and not difficult to access.

Yesterday was hard. DH, DS and DIL wanted to go to a county fair that had a demolition derby. OK fine, I don't care all that much, but I'm sick of sitting home alone while he does stuff, so I went along. Turned out that there was no room to sit in the bleachers, so we had to stand in a crowd of ppl that were smoking (sorry Janet, I can take it in small doese, but this was not small) drinking, loud, rude, foul-mouthed. The police would come from time to time and clear them out of the asiles and in front of the barriers, but as soon as the cops left, the ppl came right back. Anyway after an hour of that I got sick of it and decided to walk around the fair grounds. Already frustrated, tired of standing, and now hungry, and with plenty of cash, I "enjoyed" part of a Gyro, Nachos and cheese, and a cookie--oh yes, and a couple of Jack Daniel's and lemonaide. After all that, I went back and spent another hour watching cars try to hit each other. The wierd thing was how often they missed or slowed down just before impacting. It was a bore IMHO! So after 1 really good week, I screwed up again. OH well, Today's the first day. . .

Gotta go to work for a bit today to look up some info on students for a reference. Should be sunny this aft,--I might be able to sit on the deck and read a bit. Gotta start watering too in prep for being gone this weekend!