bitteroldhag

I am past menopause so estrogen is a distant memory. I think I have more testosterone these days. At least, my sprouting beard seems to indicate that. I'd rather have estrogen. But I don't crave carbs. I eat candy and other carbs but I don't just go crazy. Maybe it's a good thing to have completed menopause. The downside is that I have to pee constantly and wear a Poise pad, just in case. Also I have wrinkles I didn't have before, and I think I'm starting to stoop a little. Being a woman is a bitch, don't you think?

I never broke a scale but I broke my brother's stepstool. It was rated for 200 pounds and I weighed 220. The damn thing just collapsed and I was hanging on the cabinet with my stomach. It really bruised my stomach. I immediately went out and got a little ladder rated at 300 pounds, but I started thinking of doing something about my weight about then.

Jack -- You are tooooo old. This is a great link. It's amazing how really bad much of that music was, isn't it? I downloaded all my favorite songs from the old days on iTunes and I note I tend to listen to classical music instead of the oldies. Am I senile or what?

Pooh, Pooh. If you are craving junk food, have some. You won't be able to eat that all that pizza or those hamburgers. You'll be sick if you try. So try it. You'll learn what to avoid and what you can eat. I sometimes order a medium pepperoni pizza from Pizza Hut. At the most, I can eat three pieces and the dogs eat the rest. It becomes a waste of money and/or expensive dog food.. I do like potato chips and eat them sometimes though they don't like to go through the band. My idea about the band is to be able to eat what you want, just not much of it. So go ahead and order a pizza. See how much of it you can eat and you'll probably decide to save the money in future.

I agree with the Canadians. I don't ever put bumper stickers on my car because I once had a University of Louisville parking sticker on my bumper and it rusted out. Since then, no bumper stickers.

Since I am now under the 200 pound limit, I figure I should be attracting men. I'm not. So I question the 200 pounds limit.

I was the fattest person in my department and didn't like to have pictures taken of me. I was sick of trying to find clothes large enough that looke decent. I didn't fit into the desks in class which made it difficult to talk to the kids. I'd just had it with being fat. I have only lost 37 pounds so far, but I have hope that I'll lose some more. I weight 183, down from 220, and I can fit into smaller clothes. That makes me happy. I weighed 185 when I had heart surgery in 1993 and lost 20 pounds then, I hope to get back down to about 165, but if I don't I'm still glad I got the lapband.

I saw it and was alarmed that it took that poor girl so long to find a doc who knew what was going on. I think a lot of people have physical problems that translate to obesity, but the docs don't catch it. I have a low normal thyroid but the docs have never taken my thyroid into consideration. I think low normal might indicate a low thyroid. Who determines what is normal anyway? We had the lady with the 93 pound tumor in Tulsa. She went to multiple doctors before a couple of them figured out that something was wrong. Poor thing. I don't really trust most medical people. So many of them are scientists and not real physicians. They are obtuse about possible problems that the lab reports don't show.

God, I hate you people. I'm single, but one of my students got me some candy and some really awful perfume for Valentine's Day. That was really sweet of her. Last year a male student got me some Aveeno hand lotion. I'd give anything for roses and a nice dinner with a loved one, but I have to find that special man before that happens. Meanwhile, I'll be happy with students who love me.

Mary -- You might want to have some other things checked like your thyroid and stuff. But this can be very slow. I have lost two pounds in the last 4 months. I'm not perfect and don't exercise except for taking care of mother, but I barely eat anything and I still don't lost weight. So it's different for everyone. Keep your chin up.

Good for you! I hope things are going well. It's nice to be a veteran.

From a conversation book I've had for years and years... What, if anything, is too serious to joke about?Really nothing. Humor makes things easier. I don’t like jokes that put people down personally. But that isn’t humor. That’s being cruel. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one quality or one ability, what would it be?I think I’d like some psychic ability. Not a lot, but some. I’m extremely curious and always want to know what is really going on. Whom, if anyone, do you envy enough to want to trade lives with them?No one. I’m happy as me though I’d really love to be a TV interior decorator. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what woud it be?Mother would not have slapped me for something my brother did. Also she would have been less of a spy and let me be myself, not what the neighbors thought I should be. 5. If there were a public execution on tv, would you watch it? No. I’m against executions. How barbaric. Would you rather arrive at a party underdressed or overdressed? Overdressed. I love to dress up. What's more important: actual experiences, or the memories that remain from those experiences? Probably the memories. I’m glad I did a lot of things so when I’m on my deathbed, I won’t have missed much. In real conversations, do you tend to talk more or listen more? I talk. If you had to chose one, would you rather be blind or deaf? I’d rather be deaf. Loud sounds bother me. I note that Mother who is pretty deaf can turn off her hearing aid and sleep like a baby. Meanwhile, I have to listen to the neighbor kid bounce his basketball ad infinitum. I just hate bouncing basketballs and those loud stereos the kids have. Well, the numbers are screwed up, but I answered. What fun.

In a heartbeat.

I PB a lot since I got my band filled to 4.5 cc. I eat too fast or don't chew enough, and I have a PB. There is also sliming. I spit up a lot of slime before finally throwing up whatever I have eaten in the wrong manner. I think the slim is the esophagus trying to get things down, so it produces mucus to help food slide down. If I do as TOM says, and cut food in chiclet size, I don't PB. I can't eat in the morning, so I drink a protein shake and wait until about 2 to eat solid food. After that I can eat pretty well. When I get closer to my goal weight, I intend to have 1/2 cc removed from my band so I won't PB. At 4 cc, I can eat bread and everything! At 4.5 cc, I can't, and I have to chew each bite about 30 times to make it more or less liquid. But sometimes I PB even then. Because PBs are esophageal spasms, the food tastes just the same coming up as it did going down. It's not like vomiting stuff up with stomach acid in it. I think PBs may be associated with stress because when I'm really stressed out, I tend to PB more than when I'm relaxed. Hope this helps.

Very cute, but I just say f--k you to men. They don't have to guess what I mean.

I have 7 animals. My dog Jasper is often called Jaspito (I have a thing for Spanish names), Wooter is Wootito, Sergeant is Sarge (he's named after Sergeant York) and Ozzie is Oz much of the time. He is named after Ozzie Nelson of 50s sitcom fame. They know their names so I don't want to get carried away, but Wooter is getting so fat I call him Bear sometimes. The cats go by their names which are Nose, Minnie Kate and Spot. Nose has a fancy name--Cyranose--but I really named him Nose because he has half of a Hitler mustache on his nose and I didn't want to call him Hitler though he is sort of like Hitler. He's a terror. He's also called Noseola. Minnie Kate is named that because the neighborhood kids brought her to me and wanted to call her Katie, but I already had a cat named Katie, so we compromised on Minnie Kate. Minnie is skinny and always has been, but I also call her Minicita. Spot is named that because I just wanted a cat named Spot. She's nearly 17 now and cranky and mean. She eats pounds of Laxatone which tastes sweet but is supposed to keep hairballs down. She doesn't throw up much so it must work. I also call her Spotwin. Nose eats a little Laxatone but throws up hair everyday. Ozzie has mange. Sarge can run about 25 mph when he's chasing my car. Jasper has arthritis (he's about 14 years old which is old for a middle-sized dog). Wooter just lays around. That's my idea of a good dog but he drools when someone is eating--sort of like Hooch -- long strings of drool like shoelaces. I also call Minnie Kate the Heatilator because she's really hot when she gets under the cover with me. With a cat like her, people in the past wouldn't have needed a warming pan. I also have mother whom I call Mother. I got over calling her mommy in my teens. My brother calls her Mom. She doesn't care what we call her as long as it's not something bad. I don't have a nickname and never have except for the summer I was known as "Hocks." I just lend myself to a nickname. Alas.

I had to take mother to the emergency room during the superbowl so the only commercial I saw was the one with the Dalmatian and the Budweiser wagon. I loved it. I watched the Snickers commercial and it is hilarious. But I have to say that herding cats is the greatest Superbowl commercial ever.

TOM -- Only you could compare breasts with cars. I am a "small" person in the boob department and I'm glad. My roommate in college was a DD and she had grooves in her shoulders and the things hung to her waist then! They must be awful now unless she finally got the long wished for breast reduction. On the other hand I went to a spa in England with this woman who was 52 and looked about 25. She had perfect boobs! I was stunned. Apparently she's done isometrics for her boobs for about 30 years. Personally I thought she'd had a boob job, but her friends swear she hasn't. It's not fair. True, I'm almost 60, but my boobs look like those little purses people carried in the 19th century. I just glad they aren't bigger because they'd be hitting my knees. I think boobs are seriously overrated.

No. I put some music on my Dell and can't transfer it to my iPod. I have a Mac which I used to put some music on the iPod. I have 53 songs on my computer and about 10 on my iPod. I just buy the songs twice which isn't too bad since they are only about a dollar. I hope someone who is tech savvy answers this post.

I also sleep with a fan. Everyone I know sleeps with a fan. That could be because we live in the South, but my brother who lives in Colorado sleeps with a fan. If my fan goes off, I'm immediately awake. That happened last week when the electricity went off for an hour in the middle of the night. I may have been the only person who was aware of that. I still used it as an excuse to get to work late.

You devil you.

Thanks for this advice. I have already decided to quit giving her money, and I will cash the check as soon as possible. This is a new wrinkle for me since I've never dealt with gambling addiction before. I hope she'll move back to Texas where they don't have all those casinos. Thanks.

I have a problem. My friend is a gambling addict and just hit me up for $1600 which, stupid person that I am, I loaned to her. She already owes me $700 from nearly a year ago which has never been paid back. She did pay me back $300 that she borrowed recently. The $1600 really hurt my checkbook, but I didn't know what to do when she asked me for it. I checked with another friend whom she owes about $3000, and she says that when they go to the casino (we have Indian casinos in Oklahoma), my gambling friend, M, is there before they get there and is still there when they leave. I hate to lose my friend, but I will not give her anymore money. I spoke to another friend who is a former lawyer and a 12 stepper about this and, since I have a signed check for $1600, she suggested that I check with the bank on Wednesday which is when I was supposed to be able to get the money back or to simply cash the check on payday. What do you all think? I am convinced that I cannot save my friend from gambling, but I know that when gamblers hit bottom, they often commit suicide. My other friend say that if M. commits suicide it's her decision, not mine, conveniently forgetting that I saved her from a suicide attempt several years ago. I don't think I could take the guilt. I don't know what to do although I have resolved not to lend M anymore money. I know the friendship will wither, but that's okay. Obviously she isn't much of a friend. I'd appreciate any advice since I've never faced anything like this before. Thanks.

In past wars, it took about 20 soldiers to support one combat soldier. Maybe we'll get lucky and the surge will be support soldiers.

Well, I'm wrong. If you press just about F anything it will fix the problem. I forgot the F2 and pressed F6 and it worked too.