Merry Meet,

My name is Tracy nickname Gretchen Noel and I am a very spritual pagan. I am 37 years old and the daughter of a Southern Baptist Minister. I live in a different state and my parents, though they know I'm different, do not know of my spiritual beliefs. I have been kitchen/nature witch since I was 25 and do not follow any certain path in particular, but gather differnt things from all faiths and make them my own. I and my husband, for the most part, are solitary (he follows the budda yogi path) but we do have a small 'family' that gathers 8 times a year for holidays.

I think all of our prayers,energies and spells all go to the same place and that no one religion or denomination is the 'correct' one, just that it takes different things for different people and situations.

I am being banded on Tuesday Feb 27th and I am both excited and anxious. I was a size 12 in jr. high and a size 14-18 through high school. I went through a date rape situation when I was 19 and ballooned up to 240. I have been over 200 since I was 19, over 250 for about 12 yrs and over 300 for about 6 years.

I 1st attempted to have this very procedure four years ago but I had health spring and was denied without any hope of an appeal. Last year my company started offering BCBS along with health spring. I didn't change anything, then I found out last fall that there were 6 other people in the company that had switched to BCBS and sucessfully had the procedure SO, I switched this year and as you will see in my signature.. was approved!:clap2:

I am so excited about what lays ahead for myself and my husband. I LOVE to be outdoors and being my size is REALLY a hinderance.

I look forward to hearing from others of alternative faiths or, No faith in particular.

I have created a poll, thought it would be fun. I know there is NO WAY I have remembered all of the different paths so if yours isn't listed..VERY SORRY. Example.. right after I created the poll, I realised I left of NORSE. ANYwho, I'll add it if you ask me to assuming I can figure out how to make changes to the poll. I'm kind of technically challenged.

Blessed Be,

Tracy/Gretchen Noel

awww, i love labs! i was always a big dog person, but my hubby was a cat person... so we compromised on a small/medium dog and decided after a ton of research on pugs. luckily we think they are the CUTEST with adorable personalities. if i had my way, i'd have 3 pugs and 2 newfoundlands. LOL.

i like the idea of baby utensils... i might be making a trip to target! that is such a good idea!

I knew what it was! :girl_hug:

A High-Protien Bar for you! (no cookie I am afraid, we are all good bandsters after all :girl_hug:)

Dude...

What atheist doesn't know bloody everything there is to know in life? LOL

Don't you know? We know EVERYTHING! :girl_hug:

LOL! i've been saying that for YEARS! :girl_hug:

I LOVE your bad spellers line. Made me laugh and slap my leg!

BABY UNTENSILS ARE PERFECT> Went to Target and bought the rainbow color long spoons in a bubble pack.. not only do the colors make me incredibaly happy.. but the portion size of the spoon is perrrrrrect. I also splurged and bought the classic winnie the pooh bowls and plates.

See?? And you are an atheist so YOU should know!

Winnie the pooh bowl and plates, AWESOME! I have a Nemo plate that I bought for my grandaughter, but she has outgrown it, so I use it sometimes now. It is the perfect size plate for the portions I need. And, I love Nemo!

I feel great today. Finally turned that corner.:messenger3:

Yinfec is under control & I can totally sleep on my side now!

Thursday I went to bed (the 1st night I was able to sleep on my side) and I woke up 14 hours later! I needed it.

We have been blessed with BEAUTIFUL GORGEOUS weather today. I'm sitting here at my computer, ate my prune yogurt, drinking my coffee, have the patio door open, birds are chirping, my windchimes are chiming, the smell of burning sage is in the air and all is right with the world. I may even be able to talk DH into walking at the zoo today. Nasvhille has a really beautiful zoo and I have a membership.

I hope no one has been discouraged by my whiny post, I just wanted to be as honest as factual as possible because I like to know what's up before hand.

Now that I'm on the other side of things, I know I've done the right thing and I'm really excited about my future. I have a normal to small sized husband, he married me at almost my top weight, so I'm excited to see where this takes our relationship as we are able to do more outdoor activites together.

We have a Pagan Unity Festival every year at Mongomery Bell State Park here in TEnnessee and we are revving up for that. I'll probably vend some of my tie dye stuff there this year. I"m usually on staff, but stepped down from that this past year, it's amazing how much stuff your weight pulls you out of. I can't wait for next year, I'll be diving head 1st into things that I love but have stayed at home instead.

If anyone is interested in possibly attending the pagan unity festival (open to people of faiths and non faiths.. just no most if not all classes are of pagan religious nature) let me know and I'll pm you the web site. I'm not sure we are allowed to post other websites on here or not. It's a pretty cool festival and it starts Thursday and runs through sunday, with classes and rituals and pagan authors. You can camp in a tent or get a cabin, however, I believe the cabins are about sold out. We ususally have anywhere from 2-400 people attend.

That's all for now... :girl_hug:

Tracy

So glad you're feeling better. I may post my happenings after my surgery, too. I love your sense of humor!

Oh, how I wish I were in TN!!! I would LOVE to go to your festival. Where I am there aren't any pagan festivities (that i know of) I keep searching but nothing yet. Have some fun for me!!!

I have been to a few pagan/Druid festivals around here, as long as you guys do the dancing around the bonfire naked bit, sign me up! :heh:

BWUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA

GASP.. COUGH.. HEEEEEEEEEEHAW.. SNIGGER,, SNORT. GASP

OH MY GOD.. that is so funny. whew.

ANYwho. This particular festival is family oriented and though some festivals are clothing optional.. this one.. thank goddess.. is not. Persons must be clothed at all times.. and trust me on this... IT'S A GOOD RULE!:faint:

Though we haved joked numerous times as, every friggin year it rains.. to all run out nekkid and play at the soap ladies booth. (we have vendors there too)

heh

I have been to a few pagan/Druid festivals around here, as long as you guys do the dancing around the bonfire naked bit, sign me up! :heh:

Hey Laurend,

Well, Yesterday we did it. We went out there and my DH uncovered and bagged/boxed up Peaches. He is resting on the family farm now.

Thanks

Tracy

Synicalchick, I think you should move him, or even see if you could afford to have him cremated now. For the last several years, we've always gotten our babies cremated when they passed away. The Humane Society here cremates them for us for a relatively small fee (like $50 or $75), and we send them through my dad's clinic because his office has an agreement with the Human Society. When my grandmother's cat had to be euthanized, we kept his ashes until my grandmother died and buried them together. Come to think of it, I think Thumper may be in a freezer at my dad's office. He did a necropsy to see what was wrong with him since he went down hill so quickly (literally, I came home one day and his balance was off a little and he died within a week), but I'm not sure if he ever sent him to be cremated. He probably did, but I'm not sure.

Having another great day today... This week starts my working full days.. FINALLY. didn't quite make it last week. Been sipping on vanilla chai protein all a.m. and it's a little after noon and I was hungry so I'm eating my tuna and multigrain crackers. HOLY JEEZ. I'm not restricted really but big bites of tuna are a :eek: NO NO:kiss . I took two large/normal bites with a normal size fork (left kiddie spoons at home) and WHAM:faint: ... kind of very uncomfy. so... must stick with little bites. I have got to get myself trained before the 1st restriction, because as you can see from my previous post.. I REALLY don't care for pain.

T

thanks for the suggestions!!! this is why i love this site!!!

i've been slathering on the oatmeal hypoallergenic lotion and haven't been using the body wash on the rash areas, just in case. i was going to go to the doc today if it was worse... but it looks like it is slowly fading away.

and i DO need to drink more water. crazy thing is, before banding, i was a water-a-holic. my car is littered with empty bottles. LOL. but since banding, i just don't feel like drinking. i'm at about half of what i should be. :paranoid

anyhow, thanks again!!!

I'm having a hard time getting in all my water too. :eek: Before banding I was drinking almost a half gallon a day, after....sometimes I drink 2 - 24oz bottles, sometimes I don't finish the second. :eek:

I go in early tomorrow for the band. I think tonight I might do a little meditation rituatl... just a small salt circle and a candle and myself. I do that sometimes. Helps me refocus. I have a brigids flame candle that I am fond of. Might use that.

My surgery is in 8 more days! I went for preop testing and looks like it is all clear!

I'm so excited, but Kyethra, I love your idea of doing a little ritual the night before. I think its a great idea!

I hope you get this before you go to bed. You'll be great. If you can.. soak.. take a 'ritual' bath and stay in the tub while you let the water out. visualize the water going down the drain as your anxious/worries and pain or any negativity at all. I'll be thinking of you. Please post as SOON as you can.

:hug:

T

I go in early tomorrow for the band. I think tonight I might do a little meditation rituatl... just a small salt circle and a candle and myself. I do that sometimes. Helps me refocus. I have a brigids flame candle that I am fond of. Might use that.