green

That sounds mighty fine to me. :biggrin1: I love to meet for drinkies and a band-friendly meal. :hungry: (I've never thought that belief or lack of belief was a reason to like or dislike anyone. )

I am an atheist. I find it quite impossible to believe in some sort of sky daddy. My father was an atheist and both my brothers were, too.

Good luck to you, Claramae. And :eek: from Green. Keep on posting. How did your first fill go?

The other folks who posted gave you excellent advice. Do join al-anon. You will learn a great deal about how and why the alcoholic behaves like she does. You must remember that alcoholism is a medical issue as much as anything else for it is a physical addiction. Many substance abusers start abusing because they have pre-existing psychiatric conditions which cause them to feel bad. Depression is the most common of these. Through their substance abuse they are in effect self-medicating. They do this in order to feel better. This works, briefly - and then things get much, much worse - and of course the abuser develops a physical need for her booze or dope. It sounds like your daughter is a mess at the moment and as long as she is a mess you will be unable to communicate with her. She seems to have a lot of anger which she has focussed on you. AA not only helps people to stay sober, it also helps people to examine the role which their addiction has played in deforming their relationships with their family and friends. If she can stick with the programme I am sure that you will have your daughter back. By going to al-anon you will meet a lot of people who have been hurt in much the same way as you have. You will learn not to blame yourself and you will lose the guilt. This seems like it will be a very healthy move for you, Claramae. Afterall, you have already got your band and by now you will have had your first fill and have learned that it is no big deal. You are already making big changes in your own life and that's a good thing.

Yep, we are moving into that cosy time of the year. (By the way, I am another atheist. How do I change my info in order to announce this?)

Sometimes I wear bare feet in my boots or shoes. This gives me the excuse to buy really good quality ones in order that I won't get blisters. Congratulations on your weight loss, Michee.

Oooh, I had a real lot of trouble with body issues and self-loathing when I was young. I finally got all that stuff sorted out and began to feel very self-confident and then a few years later I became post-menopausally fat and now I am back to sorting my body issues out all over again! Life continues to be a learning curve, eh.

Yup, but that is just me. :phanvan I just hate wearing shoes. I always have. I don't even like wearing socks. I own a pair of really nice down-filled slippers and a pair of sheepskin slippers but I almost never, ever wear them even though we live in an old house with hardwood floors. My husband is the opposite from me. His feet are super-sensitive and he always has to have them covered up. The soles of my feet feel like dog's paws and the soles of my husband's feet feel like the hands of a wealthy woman. :Banane30:

Those are brilliant! LOL! Thanks so much for sharing. :biggrin1:

Maybe this decision was based on the fact that they feel that many of the female stars - Julia Roberts, Gwyneth Paltrow, Michelle Pfeiffer, etc - are "ageing out" and all the young ones are a bunch of irresponsible drunks and druggies. Or maybe they mostly make action and horror movies, not female star friendly genres.

I am usually very pleased with our system of universalised health care but the above report is absolutely true. There has been media coverage of this situation inside of Canada. I cannot understand why this serious problem isn't being fixed ASAP. Afterall, Canadians are having babies and some of 'em will be preemies.

I am not fond of fruity drinks; too sweet for me. I prefer scotch rocks or a very dry wine.

Congratulations, Bandiva. I think that you have done a splendid job.

Yep, the weight issue is a loaded one because on one hand we do want to lose weight in order that we can blend with the rest of the folks out there and yet we also do want very much to be liked, admired, and respected for the people that we are, and not feel that all of this will be given to us or withheld depending on this shallow business of how many pounds of meat we are carrying.

Ugh! I never thought of that! And my mum never learned how to drive so he did it all. :help:

My father was one of those Canadian snowbirds who was also the driver from hell. Riding in a car with my dad was a terrifying experience. :fish2: He never got into accidents, however. I think it was because his driving was so bad that other drivers stayed clear of him. :rolleyes

And in fact we save our best humourists for ourselves; we elect them into office. Come to think about it, you Americans do the same.

Ahem, it wasn't that they had to go to the USA in order to do something with their talents, it is actually part of the Canadian stealth invasion of the States. :heh: (Oops! Now I've said too much! Stupid Green....) :nervous

Hah! Green loves this song. She feels that encapsulates Kanadian Kulture in just a few witty verses. (Nobody understands Canada better than Weird Al and the South Parkies, eh. :heh: ) Thanks for finding this. :kiss2:

The forces of Politickal Korrectness have been active in Ontario, Canada for some years now. We certainly are a multi-cultural society but it is also true that many of the original and still dominant folkways of our culture do involve Christian-based activities: Christmas and Easter are and have always been big celebrations in both Canadian and American culture. They are also holidays which have long since joined the category of cultural folkways since many, if not most people choose to Celebrate these paid breaks from work in an entirely secular fashion; they do this by eating well, decorating trees, swapping presents, and eating chocolate eggs and rabbits. As you can see, these two holidays have come to be secular holidays and devout Christians are none too happy about that. Of course these holidays were originally pagan holidays and had been co-opted by that new cult, Christianity, as it was seeking to expand and draw in new converts. But none of this matters anymore. In the paranoid, politikally korrect state which Ontario, Canada has become the state will resort to goofiest of measures to avoid mentioning such words as Christmastime or Christmas holidays. School teachers always suffer the most during these annual games of it's not Christmas and it's not Easter.

Ha ha. I have received a lot of comments on my loss of weight over the past year. Many folk want to know if I am well. They blurt this out without showing any sensitivity and this makes me feel badly for those of us who have lost weight due to illness. People do notice. Although I was one of the lower BMI bandsters people sure did notice and I found this to be a mixed blessing. It is nice to know that people notice that you are losing a little weight. It is horrible being treated like a former freak of the week who has suddenly been judged as one who has managed to miraculously re-enter the human race due to pounds shed. I was a lower BMI. I didn't really think that anyone noticed. It seemed that everyone did. That hurt a lot.

I thought I would give you all an update on my major facial surgery. As I believe I have already mentioned, since my surgery (which took place 2 Mondays ago) my life has been one filled with suffering, humiliation, and regret. But now I am at the point where I don't have to rely on the major pain meds anywhere near as much as I used to and much of the swelling and bruising has diminished. My head is now in the land of normoloid. My eyes still do give me the allure of a grrl who has Down's Syndrome. This comment is certainly not meant to be construed as an insult to anyone. Those individuals who do have Down's Syndrome do tend to be much nicer and happier folk than that the nasty, sour, cynical, and cranky Green. I also have bruising around the neck; in fact I do look like I survived a strangulation attempt. Indeed my neck and head have been covered with bruises, swellings, a grotesque array of spectacular shunts and drains. What is the effect of all of this? Well I chose a team which is top of the line and yet I will confess that I found myself sinking into a state of near panic (good drugs will never allow a grrl to skid into straight into Panic City). The surgery was awful. The first few days of my recovery were a nightmare. I was near blind, thanks to the blepharoplasty, and I hurt so awful bad. On the plus side was that the surgeon and his team were on my case. They were monitoring me daily. This was stressful when I was feeling my worst: I wanted to be left the hell alone. I am now on my way to recovery. I seem to have lips, something which was not available on either my maternal nor my paternal side of the family. This is cool. I did ask for a set of lips. It also seems that I might just end up with cheekbones, something which has never been part of the genetic deck of Green ancestors on either side. I am still oh so sore and I am certainly not ready to leave the house except in Muslim drag but today I did show up at the clinic in order to have my final stitches removed. I've been looking forward to this. I can't wash my hair all that easily and I sure as hell am tired of sleeping in the pharoah position. My head hardware, a mix of staples and basteing thread, has been driving me nuts for some days now. I have even been picking at scabs and this is absolutely verboten. It seems that messing about with scabs can lead to scars. This is where Green confesses that she has always been a fiddle-fingers and that she used to claw at her chicken poxies. Anyhow, it seems that I am now doing a fine job of recovering from this truly horrible surgical experience. My post-op nurse has declared that she is truly pleased with my progress. I have told her that she has been a fine and sensitive companion throughout the trauma that one experiences when one choses to lose one's face in order to find oneself plunged into New Youth & Cuteness. This can only happen once one leaves the Land of Pain, Personal Humiliation, and Fear. So it seems that the swelling is going down and the bruising is disappearing. "You're doing good,' says Nurse Lori. "You're doing real good." "Aw, gosh, thanks!" says me. I like to feel that I am a star pupil. And then I ask her, "hey, it seems that I have cheek bones now. Do ya think they are going to stick? "Ya know, my family was actually quite attractive but both sides were entirely difficient in both cheek bones and lips. It sure would be fun to have cheekbones and lips, wouldn't it?" :eek:

LadyHR, it strikes me that you better get a defill ASAP. And the recommendation for the anti-nauseant meds to be in the form of suppositories is an excellent one. I know that I have mentioned this before but in France certain prescription meds do come in the form of suppositories and this makes sense - so much easier on the digestive tract, eh? Indio, it strikes me that you are making wonderful headway with your weight loss and the band. Congratulations. And thank you for being so supportive of and interested in the rest of us. As for you ladies who are suffering from ruined lower joints, etc, I think that it is fantastic that you have hopped aboard the bandwagon and that you are investigating water-based exercises. I had an overweight friend who had initially ruined her knee in a workplace accident. You know how these things go: the more immobilized you are from your initial injury the more you gain weight and this immobilizes you still further and so you gain even more weight. Because of her relatively young age the specialists did not think that she was ripe for a knee replacement. She did discover something called aquabics which appears to be aerobic exercises performed in water. Working out in water removes all of the intolerable stresses which gravity normally provides from those damaged joints. This means that these joints are not only protected from further damage but that, generally speaking, the body gets a good work-out.

Now I've got a new problem. To whom should I come clean about my facelift? I've been skulking around the house wearing sunglasses and a headscarf and my next door neighbours are becoming very, very curious.... Of course they know everyone on the street! And up at the local mall folks think that my husband has got himself a nice muslim girl.

Oh Ingy, I feel for your sense of doomedness and if I wasn't an atheist I would be saying to you "Good-bye," and "Hello," and "I'll see ya on the other side of the moon." You see, it is still less than two weeks ago when I myself had major facial surgery. I am still suffering Big Time and I often wonder if I were just too, too vain and too stupid for words when I opted for this surgery. For sure, the surgery was a brute - 9 hours on the operating table - and yet here I am, still alive and energetically cynical. My hunch is that you are gonna live. I am still living even though I am suffering a big bunch. Ouch! sez Green.:think