Good Morning Y'all!

I can't believe I'm the first one here! Hope you all had a nice New Year's Eve.

We had a good time, didn't go overboard on food or drinks.

BB later!

Hi everyone! Spent the whole weekend down with bronchitis and now DS has it as well. He was home from school today with me. We're all on antibiotics now so I'm hopeful this will be over soon. DH is back in SoCal this week so it's just me again. Will catch up with personals soon, but wanted to let you all know I've been thinking about you!

Luv2blab...that's my band anniversay date Congrats on your band date and good luck with your journey.

Darcy - If the recipe is easy peasy its for me especially something like that. If I come across more crock-pot ones I'll be sure to let ya know. This one came from that show Semi-Homemade. My mom got a recipe box full of recipes and that one was in there. It was really easy and delicious. The meat comes out really tender too so it's easy for me to eat.

well time for bed. Sweet dreams yall!

Happy Monday!

I swear, it's a darned good thing that I am not staying for a full week, here. If I ate like this for a whole week I would gain 15 pounds instead of the five I will propbably gain on this trip. *sigh* I will be lucky if I can be at the 295 that I weighed when I was sick by the time I go visit my doc. I am just praying that I have been retaining Water due to TOM and now due to flying. Think good thoughts for me to at LEAST get back down to the previous low poundage before Feb 6th!

Tonight we went to Isabella's in Manhattan. The food was really good. The service was good, too... but the chairs were like torture devices. I guess they don't want anybody to linger over coffee... :]

Betty - Yeah, I probably would have made the effort for that much stuff, too. I never let them put anything down... if they lift it off the spindle, I take it from them! Great job on the exercise!

Darcy - those measurements are important. I was feeling pretty down until I took my measurements last week. I might not have lost a bunch of weight - But I have lost inches... Wahoo! Great work getting to the Y!

Eileenie - See you tomorrow for lunch!!

Mary - I am just keeping my nose clean, my head down, and my mouth shut. That tactic has worked for me for the last 15 yrs - I figure it will work for me now. Stay Warm Chica! :]

Cindy - so are you an E-Bay mogul, or what? You seem to be a busy bee with all that shipping! Yes, Eileenie and I are having lunch tomorrow! WaHoo!

Cass - you go, girl! Keep up the great work!

Sherry - Oh the joy of meetings... ICK. I love 24, too. DH records them and burns them to DVD - that way, we can watch with no commercials. The only drawback is that we only get to watch every four episodes! I have to tell you, the show is so much better without commercials! :]

Luv2Blab - Congrats on your surgery date! Pull up a keyboard and tell us about yourself! Are you a Jersey Girl? Or just a wannabe JG like me?

Anne - sorry you are under the weather! Hope you and yours feel much better, soon!

Well, I have to get a little sleep tonight... Hugs and Love!

I did this last year and it made a cute bracelet and Merrick makes a $1 donation for a great cause. http://www.makethecommitment.org/default.asp

Here is the info I checked it out on snopes.com too http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/charity/merck.asp

~Mandy

Good Morning Y'all!

Well, another day, another nickle.

Mandy - I got my stuff in the mail yesterday for the bracelet. It took a while, in fact I even forgot I ordered it until it came. Glad to see you doing so good!

Beanie - Have fun with Eileen today!

Eileen - Don't let her run off with the waiter!

Darcy - Glad you enjoyed working with the ball! Maybe I was doing something wrong when I tried it, you'll have to give us some hints!

Luvtoblab - Congrats on your surgery date!

Anne - Awwww, sorry you are still sick! I'll send some get well vibes to you!

Cindy - You sound like a busy beaver! I told you when you are home you work harder than you do at work! But.......it's more fun!

Kat - Are you still getting snow? Maybe you'll get to go tubing again this weekend!

Well, got to run, hello to all of you I missed!

Morning all...

Irene... Reading your posts reminds me what a stick in the mud I've become...lol. I used to love to travel... and you know what... I think I still do and just rarely get to do it! HOWEVER... I incorporate eating with free abandon with travel so maybe it is best I just stay at home...lol.

Betty... Have a good day today! My hubby didn't like the ball but I thought it was a nice change from plane ole floor exercises. I think I will buy one even if it is just to improve my balance.

Mandy... Have to go back and check into the bracelet thing.

Anne... Sorry you have been sick! *Hands Anne a cup o hot chicken soup*

SHerry... I am definitely going to buy the ingredients to try that Soup... sounds like an especially good winter recipe!

Well... Going to see if it is warm enough today to finish up my volunteer hours at the humane society. My knee was bothering me too much while the weather was good... and now... the knee feels better and the weather is bad...lol.

Luv2blab... Welcome and congrats on your surgery date!

We Y it again tonight while My DD has her Teens on Weights program. I am really looking forward to being fit and confident enough to take a real class at the Y...like a pilates or something like that.

TTFN

I'm so proud of everyone for all the MOVING going on!!!! I am wearing my pedometer every day, and am really surprised at how many steps I get in every day. I did this several years ago, when I was very heavy, and I barely did 3,000 or so a day...I can tell you I have more than doubled that, and that is on a slow day! It was really eye-opening to see that how much more active I really am, without conciously thinking about it. Cool!

Anne, so sorry you are sick! Bronchitis stinks. I used to get that pretty regularly, and it just saps your energy. Hope you are on the mend.

Luv2blab, good luck with you upcoming surgery...and welcome to the Jersey thread!

Beanie...you have so many great adventures! Hope you are having a good time. Yes, we sell lots of old tools and stuff on Ebay...I am the mail girl.

Betty, have fun at work! I know you are happy for the little bit of sunshine we are getting these past few days!

Darcy, a new mp3 player? How fun! I have one stuck in my closet that I haven't even used...it was always for "someday" and that day hasn't come yet!

Sherry, I have never seen 24, but I KNOW I would LOVE it! I just end up watching the news, because I don't have to sit riveted to it...and I'm always up doing laundry or whatever...I'll just watch all of it on DVD or something this summer. I know DH would love it, too!

Today is a slower day...I hope it stays that way!

See ya'll later!

Eileen....boo!

Hugs, Cindy

Mandy, thanks for the link. I did it.

Good Afternoon,

BOO!

lunch with Beanie was FUN FUN FUN to say the least. Betty no waiters this time but she was flurting with the cooks in the lunch room where she works (thats where we ate). Hussy! Time goes to fast, before I knew it I was late getting back to work heheheheheee.

PAT !!! OH PAT !!!! if you don't get your arse in here I'm sending YOU KNOW WHO to your door ............ dare me?

Well girlies... I gotta run.... the anticipation of the boss running out of his office and catching me here is making my stomach(s) turn, so I better go

I'll try to talk more tomorrow.

Love yah !!!

Eileen ~ Boo back at ya!

Isn't Beanie awesome. That is so cool that you guys got to "do lunch" when you live on different states. How cool is that?!

Folks check out the ingredients again before you make the Soup. I checked my recipe and had to fix the 3/4 cup of onions to 1 cup and the 28 oz of broth to 56 oz or 4 cans. I used 2 of the boxes of broth so it was the right amount sorry about that. Everything else was the right amounts.

I think you'll like it and you're right Darcy it's definately a nice winter soup especially since its in the crockpot.

I just got my bracelet kit too Betty. Gosh we ordered them what....8 months ago? lol

And they are taking orders for this years bracelets. ~Mandy

Hey everyone!!!

Don't have a lot of time, today is my brothers birthday, and we are having dinner here at the house. So I should be busy!!! I also need to get some wood in, by the time DH gets home it is dark, and that is no fun.

My brother turns 44 today. When he was 18 he was in a car accident, that left him with fairly severe mental and physical handicaps. He lives alone, and supplements his SS by working odd jobs, for several people, he is such a perfectionist, he is in quite the demand! He however has the reactionary level of about a 13 year old. Everything is cool, his entire home ( a 2 bedroom mobile home he bought himself), is decorated like a teenagers room. Now those of you with older kids, think back to exactly how argumentative and stubborn 13 year olds can be, and there you have him. He is a loner, partly by choice, and partly because of the mental capacities. He relates to other kids, he tends to irritate and anger adults, same as a teenager does! Mostly by arguing and questioning every word they say!! But he IS afterall 44, so it is inappropriate for him to hang out with kids, and then they grow up, leaving him behind. We live in a small town, and many know what happen. He is active in the church, he keeps the grounds tended at the church, to the point of hand picking up cigarette butts out of the curbs on the street. No one thought he would live through the accident, let alone this long. I do this every year I guess, marvel at what he has gone through!

He was a passenger in a head on crash, and crushed his entire face, every bone turned to mush, and fractured his skull, sending bone fragments into his brain. He also shattered his hip socket, causing the thigh bone to slam into the pelvis, breaking it, and severing the sciatic nerve in his leg. So he has no feeling in the leg. The Dr.'s left him improperly tractioned for too long and the tendons in the back of his leg shrunk, andhis foot dropped, so his leg is in a sitting position all the time, he cannot straighten it. He has a boot built up to allow him to walk in a more normal way. He lost one eye, and all of his teeth on one side. Not to mention the multitudes of stitches, and small bone breaks...he was a mess. The car they were in was an old '69 Cougar, and had a wooden inlay on the chrome steering wheel, and the wood shattered, ripping through his throat, cutting his throat in 2 places, just like someone took a knife to it! And he lost the windpipe between the 2 rips. He was in the hospital for over 5 months, in a coma for 19 days.

No real reason to drag you all down with this, sometimes like today as I gripe about having to cook and clean and get ready for this---I have to remind myself....my life could be SOOOOOO much worse. I can walk, and see, and most of all, I have my facilities that allow me to visit and share, and support, and recieve all the same from you guys. If I could give him one thing back, he would have to limp through the rest of his life with one eye, but he would find life with friends so much fuller. My DH, is such a great guy, he puts up with him, moody, and all, he bought a motorcylce so he could ride with him, he found him a truck and fixed it all up for him to do his yard work out of. And I know my brother appreciates him as much as he does anything, but...I do wish he knew how wonderful having friends, be they in person, or on line can be.

Thanks for being there for me!

Kat

Nice to meet you. My name is Marcy. I live in North Hanover-Burlington County-NJ. I am 34.

I am married and have 2 kids. I work full-time in the mental health field.

I started the lap band process August 1, 2006.

I am 5'10, 287, 46ddd, size 26 pants and 30 shirts. I carry most of my

weight in my boobs, belly, and thighs. I have always been fluffy

but a sexy plump not obsese until after I had my first child. I used

diet pills,sports, and calorie counting during highschool and up until I got

married. After both kids the weight wouldn't budge just kept climbing.

I tried nutra system,weight watchers, counseling, Curves, and an array

of other short term trials. I am getting older now and I'm worried

about getting diabetes, having a stroke, etc. I don't enjoy buying

clothes anymore like I used to. I don't like being out of breath,

having sleep apnea, sciattica, heel spurs, PCOS, etc etc. I am

very nervous about feeling so hungry after this but I am trying to

look forward to the end result.