green

Actually, although my personal experience as another lucky Canucki has been quite different from that of Tommy O, my advice is the same. You must consult an accountant. My Mum died a year and a half ago. She left a considerable estate and the bulk of this will go to my brother and myself. I also own property but I have been off work and have been receiving a small disability benefit at this time. I am now in the weird position of being worth - on paper - a hefty chunk of money indeed and yet I am receiving government rebates because my income is such that I "look" poor. To add to the irony of the situation, my company has just offered my a nice chunk of change and an enriched pension in order to accept early retirement. I went for it and will be officially retired as of the first of December. Certainly none of this was done deliberately and none of my rebate cheques amount to big bucks. Indeed I was able to survive on my measly long term disability pension cash because I had been able to put away money for a rainy day and because I have a wonderful husband who is working, and because my mortgage is paid off, I have no children, and I have rental income. Lucky me. Let us now look at my colleagues, younger families, ones with mortgages, kids, and a couple of vehicles. I had a good job. My monthly take home disability pension pay is what I would have taken home, had I worked a bit of overtime, in one week. And then, in a gruesome way, I guess you could say that I got lucky; I lost my Mum but fell into a state of financial "freedom." This is my story and doesn't apply to all those other hard working folks with their families who are out there. Green is very aware that she is a lucky girl in many ways. It is important to pay attention to our fellow families. It is important to understand how strong the safeguards that pin them up are. This is a community issue, I think.

Oh yeah, the wars on.... I believe that I have mentioned in at least one previous post my mistrust of sloganeering. I was kinda lucky. My father who had come from a hated minority (he was Jewish) and was a survivor of war-torn Europe taught me when I was very young to distrust all political slogans, whether they originate from the left, right or the middle of the political spectrum. It seems that many Americans are satisfied when their government announces that they are launching a war on something or other. What does this actually mean, however? If, for instance, the war on drugs means that those individuals who use marijuana, a widely used soft drug and one that is no more malign in its effects than alcohol, are clogging up the legal system, diverting manpower who would be better served elsewhere, and that pursuing these individuals is proving to be expensive for the taxpayer, well then, ya kinda got to wonder where the sense is in this war. And what about this war on poverty? How do you propose to win the war on poverty? It strikes me that this issue of poverty is exceedingly complex. There are those who fall into the category of the deserving poor and these are individuals who were doing okay but who stumbled into a pit of bad luck. In this category are women who have married the wrong men and who are now single mothers. There are also families whose primary breadwinners have seen their jobs outsourced to developing countries. And there are families where a member, possibly the breadwinner, has fallen ill, either to a physical or a mental disease. But there are many of you who choose not to recognise that this category of poor might exist. You don't want to be taxed. You figure that the poor are not your problem. (If God actually liked these guys they wouldn't have become poor in the first place.) Oh yah, and then there are the bums, the people who are lazy, shiftless and no-good, and who have been living off the rest of us for generations now. How should we proceed in our treatment of the poor? (It might be logical to convert these bums into pet food but I don't think that this will be allowed.) And what about the war on terrorism? The invasion of Afghanistan made a certain amount of sense. Afghanistan was sheltering a number of cells of al Qaeda and refused to give these up. It should be noted that our friend, Pakistan, has regions that are rife with the Taliban, al Qaeda, and their supporters. It would have made more sense to attack these regions of Pakistan than to have invaded Iraq.

What is sauce for the goose is not necessarily sauce for the gander when it comes to us human beings. You are doing the right thing by giving your marriage a second shot and maybe this will work out. It has for many of us. It is, however, important for you to understand that this may not necessarily work out for you and if it doesn't you should in no way feel that you are at fault or that you have failed. I would not like to see you beating yourself up. I think that you are very brave and that you are doing a fine thing for your family by choosing to give your marriage a second chance. I think that you need to rest and I am pleased that you are now on antidepressants. I myself am on antidepressants by the way. It has been my experience that depression can seriously damage one's ability to function, even to sleep, and to view one's situation with clarity and a degree of emotional detachment. In brief, the antidepressants will help you get the break from this situation that you need. The medication will assist you to quit your own internal physical and psychological downward spin. Counselling, joint and individual, will also help both you and your husband figure things out. Perhaps you will decide that your relationship is valuable and worth saving, perhaps it will assist you to see that the relationship is unsalvageable. Who knows? What is certain is that you will be able to do this when you are healthy and in good shape. As always, I send all my best hopes and wishes to you.

Yah, a wrecked rotator cuff is really painful and takes forever to get fixed; the physiotherapist and two of my friends who have suffered from it themselves have told me this. Shot knees seem to be something that are plaguing the baby boomer generation, BJean. It has become an increasingly requested operation up here in Canada and it seems that it is placing some stress on our health care system. There are often longish wait times for this operation depending on where you live and the people who need replacements are in a lot of pain, not to mention kind of handicapped, during the waiting period. Moreover, the new knees only last about 20 years. My mother had her knee replaced when she was in her early 80s. I will never forget the day. She had her operation on 9/11. I was at home worrying about her when my tenant called from work to tell me that a plane had flown into one of the World Trade Towers. Her office was in a flap over the news but they had got it wrong: they thought that it was a light plane and that it had been an accident. I turned on the television that morning, something that I never do. You can well imagine my shock. This is something that we all shared that day. I spent the day worrying about my mother and worrying about America. It was the most surreal day of my life. BJean, you will be pleased to hear that my antique Mum quickly healed from her knee surgery though not without much pain and cursing during her sessions of physio.... A binge of blue cheese, Woodys! What a way to fall off the wagon! I lurv blue cheese! I lurv all strong cheeses. Cheese is what made Green fat! The French boyfriend taught me how to make a lovely blue cheese vinaigrette. *sigh* I have an unopened bar of crumbly Danish blue lurking in my fridge right now. It has been there for awhile now - since before my banding in fact - and I know that this chunk o cheese is calling to me. It would be mighty nice done up with slices of potato and olive oil and then baked.... And Fall is the season of comfort food.... This green girl needs more saline solution. Although I feel no restriction I have been making a point of chew, chew, chewing my food before swallowing. And I have been paying some attention to what I eat and how much I eat. This is a deliberate move on my part. Because I sense no restriction I am so afraid that I could slip back into gorging platesful of food. Wow! This has been a long post from Green, eh!

This is a most interesting post, Carlene. Thanks.

Thanx, kiddo, for the support. It's true that I can eat anything. I want and need more saline!:help: I paid 16000 Cdn bucks for this gadget to help me get normal! It's a good thing that I am scheduled for another fill this Tuesday. I will get to find out how much I weigh at the same time. Then it's off for physio for my torn rotator cuff, the problem that prevents going to the gym and working on my abominable abdominals.

Congratulations on the NSV!

Clinton had oral sex with another consenting adult, one who was not his wife. How did that affect the United States? How should that have affected anyone other than his own family? Indeed it was the Republicans that opened up this to the general public with the help of the taxpayers' money. BuSh chose to enter into a war with a country that did not have strong ties with al Qaeda, and did not have weapons of mass destruction. He chose to do this unilaterally against the advice of the international community. The result has been that the American economy is in ruins, many people are dead or damaged, and the Middle East is now destabilized. Iran, a religious state and one that is openly hostile to the West, was held in check by its natural enemy, Iraq. Now Iraq is in disarray and Iran claims to be developing nuclear weapons of mass destruction. And America's status in the international arena has fallen to an all-time low. How does the damage that this president has done compare to Clinton's lousy blow job?

Sounds nice. Where did you eat and what did ya buy?

There is this issue of the deserving poor and those whom we might consider undeserving. Though some people may be stupid and lazy and stunningly inept at taking control of their own lives, there are also those individuals who have landed in the quagmire of poverty through no fault of their own. I believe that many of these people might be women who have married the wrong men, had children with them, and then find themselves in the position of being single mothers. Their former husbands are deadbeat dads at best, and perhaps abusive mates whom they are seeking to avoid. Sometimes folks end up in poverty because of the death of a mate, or because mental or physical illness strikes down a family member. If this individual is the chief breadwinner, well, the economic life of the family will be even more bleak. Sometimes people end up falling on hard times because the job market for their skills ends up drying up. These poor souls can't find work. They live in the rust belts of America. It is certain that there will be more nice people drifting down into the ranks of the poor over the next few generations. It is cheaper for big businesses to off-load work off shore, you know. It strikes me that all policies and attitudes that have to do with the treatment of the poor should be examined carefully. (I myself am often in favour of workfare programmes even though this pits me against many of my fellow left wing nuts.) I do think that the wealthy should be taxed more than the working class poor or the middle class. Our basic needs are all the same: we all use the same amount of toilet paper, etc. While those who work harder or know how to operate the system to their advantage should defintely be rewarded for their intelligence and for their efforts, I do not see why the discrepancy needs to be as great as it is at this time.

Let's none of us give up. After all this damn gadget cost us all lots of loonies.

Welcome aboard, Dame J.

I think that I tore my rotator cuff (my shoulder) when I was at the gym. Now I am in a lot of pain and it is taking forever and a lot of sessions of physio to heal but I really miss going to the gym. *sigh*

My husband doesn't like Hollywood type bodies, either. This works out well for me. But I got the band because my weight was driving me nuts. I felt embarrassed and humiliated by it.

My own mother suddenly died a year ago this past April. She died two months to the day after my brother, her youngest child, died not soon after he had been diagnosed with bowel cancer. Both deaths had badly damaged our small family. Both deaths were unexpected, too. One thing that my mother had done before she died was keep her Will up to date. This made life much easier on my surviving brother and myself. It was in the nature of a gift from her to us. It also got me off my butt and into a lawyer's office after a lifetime of procrastination. Yep, thanks to my mum, my mate and I finally got around to drawing up our own Wills. When I say that this is probably one of the best gifts that you can give the next generation, I am speaking from experience. It turned out that I ended up with the executor's job for my mother's estate although it was previewed that my brother and I would share the job. This is a tough job and certainly one that I didn't want. The clarity of her Will and the fact that she had left her estate in good order has made it easier however.

Thanx for the kind words but I dunno.... I suspect I've hit a plateau and I can eat bread without trouble. I am feeling very confused at the moment to tell the truth.

At my last weigh-in I had lost 15 and a half pounds. :clap2: I now weigh 180 lbs, so yah, I am in onderland. TLBC has told me that my ideal weight is 150 lbs. I agree with them. I am in my late 50s after all. People my age look kinda scrawny and haggard if they get too skinny.:peep: I am still wearing 3X sweaters but I can now wear 16W jeans again. My arms and legs are thin but then I tend to gain almost all my weight on my torso - just like my mum. This is why Green can look exactly like a sausage.:hungry:

Shopping!!!! Yippee!!!

Yep, That were me. From the age of 25 until the morning of my lapband op I didn't know what I weighed.... That's like over 30 years! Now I get a weigh-in when I go to the TLBC for a fill and so far that has been twice.:rolleyes This means that I've been relying on NSVs to tell me the news. My clothes are definitely baggier and I can put them in the dryer now.:clap2: And I can get into a couple of pair of jeans that I had sort of outgrown. :biggrin1: My gut is smaller than it was but I have yet to see my waist. (Oh waist! Where are you??) :peep: The best thing is that my boobs now stick out farther than my gut!!:bananapowerslide: I don't know whether I have actually gone down in clothing size, though. I think my big waist and broad shoulders kinda interfere with that.:phanvan The other NSV is that everyone has noticed that I have lost weight. :clap2: I need to lose some more and I suspect that I have hit a plateau. *sigh*

Congratulations on your weight loss, Jimboss! Mmmm, melted cheddar.....:hungry:

I adore cheese and put it on everything I ate including salads. I spent a lot of money buying the good stuff: except for cheddar every cheese I ate was imported from Europe. Cheese was what made me fat!

If I were you I would submit a letter of appeal to Yukon. In it I would stress that New Brunswick does recognize and cover this procedure. But first I would get in touch with Dr Joffe at the TLBC about your problem. It seems that he is working hard to get the Province of Ontario to recognize the lapband. It would likely be in his interests to help you with your fight with the Yukon for if you are successful in getting the Yukon to recognize the validity of this surgery then that improves his chances with Ontario. He could provide you with all the medical data proving that this procedure is healthier and less invasive and yet just as effective as a weight loss method. You will need his technical data in order to back up your appeal. I would write him a letter that goes something like this: Dear Dr. Joffe, I am writing to you in the hope of receiving your assistance. I have heard that you are currently engaged in discussions to have the Ontario Health Insurance Plan recognise the validity of Lapband surgery. It is my understanding that as of this time only the Province of New Brunswick will cover the surgery. I live in the Yukon and I have been refused coverage but I am currently appealing this decision. It occurs to me that you might be able to provide me with medical data that would back up my claim that Lapband surgery is as effective as other weight loss surgery methods and yet less invasive and thus a healthier option for the patient. Of course, if my appeal is successful, you will be able to advise the Province of Ontario that another Canadian jurisdiction now recognises the validity of this procedure. Thank you for any assistance that you may be able to provide. Yours truly, Anyhow, that's just my suggestion.

From all that I have heard running a presidential campaign is very, very expensive and many of the major contributors are big business interests. This would imply that whoever has won the office has already mortgaged it out.

I need a scale first. :help: Todate the only times I've been weighed have been at the TLBC.:phanvan lol. My posts do look really boring, though. There's nothing on them except typing.:notagree By the way, congrats on your ticker, eh. I see that you are close to onederland.:clap2:

Thanx, Yoda. It is just that I feel no restriction and that I can eat bread with no aggravation that leaves me feeling freaked out!!