Hey guys, let's as many as can get together somewhere, Vegas was a suggestion, and finally meet each other.

Any thoughts?

I would help organize the event.

October 8,9,10 works for me

You guys pick the date since my house isn't moving anywhere. Just tell me when to start cooking! Speaking of cooking, my non-banded friend had me cracking up when I said I'd provide food for the whole bash. She's seen my portions lately and said, "so if like 50 banded people show up you'll have to bake an entire chicken?" Maybe you had to be there, but it was damn funny.

Terry, thanks for the nice message. My dogs aren't speaking to me, and it's breaking my heart. They are so jealous of their new birdies. I tried telling them that they have new brothers & sister to love, but they just look the other way. My body is ready to start walking again, which will get me back on their good side since I take them with me, but I can't seem to wake up any more.

Is anyone else so tired you can't drag out of bed? I've upped my Vitamin and Iron intake. I'm putting raisins in my Protein shake and eating raw spinach every day to boost my iron, but truthfully, I think I know what's going on: I was so sick to my stomach pre-band that I never slept well. I used to get up 2ce to pee, take antacids, eat more, etc. I had very poor quality sleep from stomach pains, acid reflux, etc. Now I'm sleeping hard and simply don't want to wake up!

And Kathy, in response to whether trouble makers will be there, please read my horoscope:

"You've got a certain glint in your eyes that suggests mischief -- and the fact that, if given the chance, you'll definitely be up to no good. Enjoy it!"

Trouble makers R US

So is it officially Oct. 8-10? Vegas still, right?

Lisa that was funny about the chicken. LOL I WILL get my picture on here soon. Cant find one I like yet. LOL. I have a lot of good features that would be hard to show off on such a small picture.

Note the roundness of my head... LoL

Yesterday my nieces were visiting and I hadn't seen them in at least a year. One is 4 and the other is 2. I don't think they have ever really been around heavy people before. The 4 year old looked at me curiously and rather innocently and a bit concerned sounding she said something like, "you are fat." A little later I was taking her to the bathroom. She hadn't seen me standing up since we were all at a table. Suddenly her eyes got all big and WOW'ed and exclaimed,"boy you really are fat!" Since she is only 4 I could not take any offense but her poor mom (my stepsister) was just horrified. It was pretty hilarious. I just confronted the issue with the little girl and made light of it. Told her about my stomach surgery in simple terms to fix being fat. LOL Later she cutely rubbed my arm and told me It was skinny. She is going to give my stepsister a hell of a time growing up. She is as cute as a little pixie and has an impish streak a mile long. Her baby sister is beautiful and so peacefully silent. Their names are Dahlia Rayne and Karia Rose

A little too hippy for me but the names have grown on me. Speaking of hippy, anyone been to the Oregon Country Fair? It is wild and really fun. Thousands of hippies congregate and sell their wares, have many concerts and entertainment and just pure craziness. Look it up on the web. Teresa

Suddenly her eyes got all big and WOW'ed and exclaimed,"boy you really are fat!"

lol - Sometimes it's hard to remember that children that young are not making judgments - just observations. In that vein it is good to be able to laugh at ourselves.

It is disconcerting to hear such phrases, as we are quickly trained by our horrified parents to NEVER make comments about people's differences, which is a shame, in a way. It kind of becomes the "elephant in the room" that no one talks about, whether it's an obese person, a person with disfiguring scars, someone with a speech impediment, or various other physical handicaps.

I love talking about being fat with people - that may sound weird, but I do. I want to educate as many as possible that my affliction is just that - an affliction, a burden, that I have struggled with all my life, and that there are not any simple answers about why it happens or how best to "fix" it. I find most people fascinated to learn what it's really like to be obese, and how I think I got to be this way. At least, they seem fascinated... lol Maybe that's a glaze over their eyes, and not a gleam of interest...

Anyway, my whole point in bothering to tell people about this is to help removed the judgment of people who are MO. I know that realistically, it is IMPOSSIBLE for people to NOT notice that I'm MO! I certainly notice that other people are! And that they're too skinny, or have no boobs, or their boobs are really big, etc., etc. Noticing is not the problem (IMO), it's the judgment that then seems to follow the noticing.

So it is refreshing to hear children who have not yet been taught to judge make observational comments. And I am always surprised at how vulnerable I feel when I hear them...

A thin friend of mine told me that when her son was young, he was obsessed with fat people. He wanted to BE fat!!! I loved that story.

Teresa, it sounds like you handled the situation with grace and wisdom. Kudos, girl!

Hubby & I went back east to visit my gramma. She wasn't home when we got into town, so we went to her senior home, where she was having her lunch. As we walked down the isles of 100 dining seniors looking for her, she looked up and yelled, "IT'S MY GRANDDAUGHER!" Then after a pause and very confused look on her face, she continued, "AND SHE GOT SO FAT."

Hubby lightened the air by yelling, "YEP, IT'S A SIGN OF WEALTH." Grammas are innocent like kids, so he had the whole room believing we were the rich Las Vegas grandkids.

When I was young, it would shred me to bits to be called fat, so it calloused my emotional skin to shoe leather. A bunch of young kids were recently driving next to me, and one started making fat jokes in my window. So I smiled and started flirting with him. He was beat red, pissed and told me he was grossed out, but I told him "you know baby, you wouldn't be checking me out like that if you didn't want some of this." I told him to pull over and give me a kiss while his friends were dying laughing at him. I don't think he'll mess with fat women again.

Good job Lisa, Both of those stories were positively hilarious. When I was in school it was kind of funny because I was teased just as often by other FAT kids as from skinny kids. Never could figure that one out. You would have thought we would have banded together, but no. Best wishes to you, Teresa

So does everyone agree October 8-10? I want to start shopping for tickets. T

Hey, I want to meet everyone too.. So Vegas sound great, Sept or Oct (cooler and more time to save money) If each one of us that actually get to go brought something, then Delarla wouldn't be out anything... That wouldn't be fair to her... So we could either mail her money or show up with something. I would be interested in a discount ticket to fly, or I might not be able to make it, unless I can get the time off and drive, don't know about that since all my sick time and vacation time is used up with the gallbladder sugery in Feb...

Terry, since I'm the only one not having to pay for flight or traveling expenses, I think it's only fair that I cover food. You guys spend your money on expensive presents for me instead, okay KIDDING, I SWEAR!

But really, so far it looks like maybe around 10-ish will come, and I can certainly handle that kind of food. It would be fun for me! Worry about getting yourself here, okay?

xo

You guys spend your money on expensive presents for me instead

How much are purple-slutty gloves???? lol

OK October 8, 9, and 10 -------- VEGAS here we come.