green

Yippee!!!!!!!!!:clap2:

I am one of those who thinks that appearance plays a powerful role in the initial attraction between two people. We all have physical types which we prefer; some people like blondes, others brunettes, some like people to be thin and others not. As a species we all prefer people who are healthy and handsome. After we get past focussing on the looks we then get to learn about the personality and this is what really counts in a healthy mature relationship. This is what my husband and I were discussing just the other night. When we met we were both thin and good looking. He still is but then he is 9 years younger than I am. I got fat and turned 57 and then I got the lapband. I have lost quite a bit of unsightly weight and my husband tells me that I am looking good and then he says but I kinda liked you fat, too. You were cuddly that way. The thing is that he means it. What we figured out is that although looks play an important role in attracting two people to each other it is personality and heart that keeps them together as they age and begin to tarnish.

Good luck, Bandiva! I envy you going to Mexico. It is one of my favourite places to visit and go shopping in. And I have heard nothing but good things about the surgeons down there. As for the west coast weather, it seems that you are getting a lot of it! I was watching some film of your latest storm on the news last night. Very impressive. And it seems it did a lot of damage, too. Now you are leaving for warmth and sun and the lapband. Good for you!:clap2:

Wow! That is absolutely amazing! It must have been terrifying while it was going on.

Sex is part of life. For sure a woman who does not want children should get her ducks in a row and take care of contraceptive business. This is what I did. Sometimes this doesn't work, however. Why should a woman be punished or left holding the bag because her anatomy is different from that of a man? What I do find interesting is that those regions which have the least generous reaction towards a woman's right to choose are also those which have the least generous social welfare safety net. Yes, there are those who are the professional poor and who choose to have children carelessly. The children of these people, however, should be given access to a quality education in order that they might break the cycle. My hunch is that it would be a good thing to invest in these kids in the hope that they might leave home and their loser parents. In my opinion abortion is not the issue that people should be worrying about. People should be spending their time, money and attention on the kiddies that are being produced and who are not doing very well. As for abortion, leave these women alone. They already have a lot on their plates without hearing from any self-righteous back seat drivers. Ya want to help kids. Well, there are plenty of them out of there.

Omigawd! Some of my worst hair catastrophes have been from the most expensive hair places. I think that this is because these people think of themselves as artistes and therefore feel quite comfortable ignoring your wishes. My last disaster happened a couple of months before I was due to visit friends in Paris. She gave me a perm. She cut my hair first, then over-permed it, and then I ended up looking - because I have reddish blonde hair - like Bozo the Clown! Yes, I went to Paris looking like Bozo the Clown and I paid about 150 bucks for the priviledge. Ugh! It was one of the low points of my life. Now I go around the corner to my neighbourhood barbershop. This is run by a woman named Ashanti who comes from Trinidad. She is a tiny and very beautiful woman with hair that hangs past her waist. Her barbershop is in the way of a neighbourhood institution and serves a variety of folk: little old Portuguese ladies, teenagers, punk rockers, and people who come in a variety of colours and have a variety of hair needs as a result. I have thick, kinda frizzy hair. I always ask her to give me a blunt cut. A couple of years back I was bored and gave myself bangs. I used my nail scissors to do the job. Ashanti was appalled by my self-mutilation but she rolled with it. And I like the bangs. When I go in she washes my hair and then cuts it. This takes about 20 minutes because I don't want to wait for a blow dry. She charges me 15 bucks and I give her a 20 dollar bill. I never make an appointment and I always leave in a good mood. This is because her barbershop is fun place to hang out in. There is usually 3 or 4 people loitering in the shop and these are always a mixed group of individuals. But they all know Ashanti and they are having fun chatting to each other and joking. I have no idea why I launched into this whole long post but I suspect it is because it is because our hair is part of our identity. Good luck on your hair cut. Let us know how this turns out, eh.

:cry Ever since I got sick with this depression over 3 years ago my way of dealing with stress and anxiety has been by spending hours and hours on the computer. I get nothing done around the house and it drives my husband nuts. :help: At least it stops me from eating, eh.:clap2:

Green sez thanx for the happy relaxed thoughts, Bandiva.:grouphug:

Ah, there used to be a sex shop, Love Craft, in that area but I think that it is long gone.... Alas. The only places I can think of right now are on Church Street in the Gay Ghetto and those cards are kinda specially bent, if ya get what I mean.:grouphug: Nope, Lovecraft is still at 27 Yorkville Avenue. I just looked it up in my Yellow Pages. I would try there. I would think that they are bound to have naughty Christmas cards.:heh:

Christmas Eve at the in-laws and Christmas Day with a friend. Nothing else as far as I know.

Mmmm....Ativan.... So relaxing.

Not old - sophisticated! And don't you ferget it!!:heh:

Good luck to you!

:help: Booze, tranquillizers, antidepressants, and I have my psychologist's phone number on speed dial. And if all else fails,...go for a walk.

You have my sympathy, Wheezy. It sounds like you are going through an unbelievably busy time!

Actually, I stopped growing when I was 11. I got my first bra when I was 9, and my first period less than 2 months after I turned 10. According to medical experts a girl only grows an inch or two after she begins to menstruate. I am 5'6" tall and I am blonde. My parents were both small, slim, elegant brunettes and I felt like the freak of the week when I was growing up. I was not a happy child and thus I find my heart going out to this kid. I suspect that the kid placed an enormous amount of pressure on her parents to have the lipo work; add into this the stress that the family was undergoing due to the father's cancer and you have the recipe for that particular series of events.

Bitter, it strikes me from reading your posts about your life with your mother that you are exhausted and that your emotions concerning your present life and your mother are complicated. This only makes sense; you are between a rock and a hard place and your sib is not pulling his weight, is he? Perhaps some talk therapy might be indicated. You would be able to sort through your feelings, maybe figure out some new approaches to your relationship with your mum, and perhaps learn some distancing or relaxation techniques.... Who knows? It might be worth a shot. (I mention this because my own family life has been a difficult one. I have been seeing a psychologist for some years now and this has been most useful. It really saved my sanity when my mum and my kid brother suddenly died not so very long ago.)

I have a blog which currently has a list of 129 members. Almost all of them who have joined have something they want to sell. My website manager deletes the ones who are pushing pornography.

I live in the heart of a large city. We have a great mass transit system which I use when I don't walk. I never bothered learning how to drive. I do end up waiting to see my family doctor but usually only by half an hour and the same holds true for any specialist. And the shopping, movie-going, etc is great in a big city. I love big city life! One of the problems we do have in this region is really bad smog during the summer months and this is generated in part by people who do drive vehicles. I guess I should mention that I live in a city that does recycle. We have one box for paper, one for plastics and glass, and a bin for all organic garbage including used paper tissues, diapers, and kitty litter. Garden waste is recycled separately and whatever is left over is considered garbage. This is the right move in a city that numbers almost 2.5 million people.

I, too, had heard that Bush had had friendly relations with members of the bin Laden family. It seems that this family is a huge one, numbering well in excess, if I remember my facts correctly, of 50 adult members. They are an extremely wealthy and prominent Saudi family and thus it makes sense that Bush might have crossed paths with them. Big oil was his business, afterall.... Usama is a variation on the name Osama and is perfectly acceptable. I had also heard that all members of the bin Laden family who were present in America at the time of 9/11 were spirited out of the country ASAP and under top secrecy. They were not subjected to the interrogation techniques that many other Muslims who may or may not have had associations with bin Laden and his merry gang of terrorists received. This seems kind of unfair to some of us.

I am very much pro-choice. I do believe that this is an issue that must remain between the woman who finds herself pregnant and her medical support team. Indeed, I am always outraged whenever I hear men weighing in on this issue for this is situation that is life altering for a woman but pretty much academic for men. The truth is that there have always been women who have found themselves pregnant and in the position where they felt that they could not proceed with the pregnancy. Before abortions were legal these women availed themselves of backstreet abortionists or they attempted to do it themselves. Rich women had access to doctors. Their survival rate was much better than those women who were poor. Though I am very suspicious of pro-life cant I did recently read an article in one of my local newspapers that made reference to an article that originally appeared, I think, in Lancet. This piece referred to the negative after effects that abortion seems to often engender. Of course I am aware that this last couple of sentences sound awfully vague. To tell you the truth I read this little piece with a sinking heart because I am resolutely pro-choice. Like Leatha, I have had an abortion. I had this when I was in my early 30s after years of practising very, very careful birth control. I had to practise birth control because it was impossible to find a doctor who would sterilize me. I've always known that I never wanted to have a child. It seems that this may not be the case for many of the women who opt to have abortions. These are women who are simply frightened because they find themselves pregnant at a given moment in time. They are pregnant at a point in their lives when they shouldn't be, and mustn't be. As to where these women stand with respect to the larger issues of womanhood and maternity, these may be very complicated indeed. But the point of legalized choice is this: if a woman feels herself to be so hard up against it that she would resort to a backstreet abortionist or attempt a DIY job, and then render herself sterile or die, well then, isn't it better that a healthy and legally sanctioned option remains open to her?

Hi Blownaway, I am another one who was done by the TLBC gang, the folks who will soon be working on you. Have no fear. This is a very kind and competent group who will be involved with your care. The stitches do dissolve by themselves. I believe that they use surgical glue. Over the incisions they place steri-strips and these will fall off in due course over the next month to six weeks if I remember correctly. I found that the pain from the surgery was easily controlled by the pain medication which they prescribe and I ended up only using half of my prescription. The worst pain came from gas! I spent the three days following the surgery relaxing in bed, reading and napping with the cat. This was a very, very pleasant time for me. I loved having a good reason to lie in bed, I love reading, and the demerol made everything just that much more luxurious. On the fourth day I got up, had a bath, put on day-wear, and was a more or less fully functioning old bat! As for the post-op diet, I found it surprisingly easy to stick with this even though I did go on a pre-op farewell dining tour! I think that one of the things that made it easier was that the regimen called for so many little snacks. It seemed as though I was always hoovering down a little soup or broth or whatever because it was either mealtime or snacktime. Certainly the weight began to come off during those post-op weeks. It was my husband who first noticed and said something to me. I do think that it is a good idea for you to take your mother down to TLBC for an info session and hopefully this will ease her mind about the procedure. Should your mother remain opposed to the surgery you may find yourself between a rock and a hard place. Good luck, girl.

Maybe the stress with Mama Yoda's health has caused him to gain those 8 lbs? And Christmas can be stressful, too.

Bravo, Irish!!!!! :clap2: And welcome home.

When I was growing up rye and ginger was a very popular drink. (Maybe it is an easterner thang....) I only drink wine, Bloody Marys, scotch-rocks, or beer. My husband likes rum and coke and B-52s. Whenever he orders rum and coke and I order scotch-rocks the waiter drops off the rum-coke on my side of the table. Go figure, eh.:omg: