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

Synicalchick, I hope you get your new shoes soon!

*waves*

hello all! i know i have been MIA... after being banded and going back on "real food" i had ZERO restriction and i am ashamed to admit, i gorged. :mad: if i thought i "last mealed" it before... woo...! i never stopped eating. i gained about 10lbs back. i felt so bad about behaving like such a piggy that i couldn't face coming here. stupid, i know. :cry

BUT i just got home right now from getting my first fill. i was actually more scared to get the fill then i was for the surgery. the fill was... unnerving! it didn't hurt but it wasn't comfortable either. :phanvan

i will be a good girl now! i'm changing gyms to the one 2 miles from my house on monday so i have to drive by it every day, twice a day. :heh:

well, i have 3 more days of liquids, then i should have restriction. they put in 2.2ccs. i'm keeping my fingers crossed.

hope everyone is doing well!!!

Oh who am I kidding, I'm just a shoe ho in general.

woot! i hear ya sister shoe ho! i should post a pic of my tower of shoes sometime. my hubby says i have a sickness... i tell him he simply does not appreciate the art of a snazzy shoe. :heh:

We're so calm, relaxed, and accepting over here! Has anyone peeked into the thread that was recently started for the Christians? There is a major difference in the feelings of the two threads!

We're so calm, relaxed, and accepting over here! Has anyone peeked into the thread that was recently started for the Christians? There is a major difference in the feelings of the two threads!

As a matter of fact yes.. I stumbled across it yesterday....interesting:guess

We're so calm, relaxed, and accepting over here! Has anyone peeked into the thread that was recently started for the Christians? There is a major difference in the feelings of the two threads!

Have you come closer to a resolution on this summer internship and stuff?

T

Have you come closer to a resolution on this summer internship and stuff?

T

I am waiting to see if I get a surgery date. I still have a couple weeks before I have to apply, if I decide to go for the internship. I don't want to apply and then find out that I've been scheduled for surgery when I would have to be in Virginia. Plus, I need to talk to my advisor, to see if he wants me to do some more fieldwork for my thesis this summer.

Yesterday I did 30 min on my lunch break which is 1.6 miles according to the people at work.

TODAY however... I went to the park and walked around the lake which is premeasured to be exactly 2 miles. I started it at 4:36 and finished at 5:17 which is a decent clip for a person of my size I think and it took me 5,014 steps (according to my NEW free Chicken Little pedometer that a co-worker gave me out of a cereal box... whatever works man..

What's cool about all this is NO LOWER BACK PAIN! now as far as the REST of my body goes... hmmph

My hubby let me order a Refurbished iPod off of the Apple site for me to walk with (that my ex hubby suggested... I lead an interesting life.. what can I say..)

I Can't WAIT to get that puppy in! Of course, the challenge for me will be figuring out how on EARTH to get music on it off of my computer. I'm so excited.. now I can bust a move to ABBA, Jack Johnson, Simon & Garfunkle, Nickel Creek, Dixie Chicks & Blue October.. just to name a few. I'll have to be careful.. I'm liable to dance my way around the lake when Cecelia comes on.

My restriction is still more than in the a.m. and by supper, though I'm not NEAR what I used to be and I still have to be careful WHAT it is to avoid the dreaded PB I can def eat more by supper time. I've been eating about 1/8 cup of cut up Spring Greens (hubby bought me a Hinkle scissor and knife set) 1-2 cut up strawberries, one cut up low fat string cheese and vinaigrette. It's VERY good. if that's all I'm having I'll add extra cheese for protein, & do about 1/2 cup of greens, or If I have fixed bacon for my hubby I'll cut up a couple of strips of that. Tonight I am fixing one of those Campbell's supper bakes.. garlic something. It comes with pasta and I'll only be able to eat like 2 or 3 pieces of that and the chicken we'll have to see. The whole thing is an experiment. I don't know WHAT I'd do without sFree popsicles. Good for late night cravings.

Ok.. I'm like rambling now. More tomorrow

Cheers!

So here I am, barely able to get out of bed. I just keep getting sicker. I'm calling my surgeon tomorrow to see about the results of my HIDA scan. I hate being like this. I have things to do. Places to go. Homework to do. Stuff to eat. But now its all on hold. Ugh! Though I did just find out I got into the grad school of my choice and I am happy to brag its the number one program in the country for aspiring librarians. At first I was confused because They sent me a letter saying I got in... to the program I didn't apply for (the online distance one). So I sent an email saying I accept but I was a little confused, what about the program I had applied for, the on campus one (I do live in town...). Email back said oh yeah I did get into that, they just sent the wrong letter. So they'll send the right one. That was nice to see.

So I don't really eat anymore. I have one thing every couple of days for nutritional purposes. And I wish I didn't have to, but I suspect its a necesarry evil. Yesterday I had a milk shake with protein stuff in it. I might eat again tomorrow or maybe I will wait until after class on Friday. I'm not sure. Its kind of funny. As I was drinking the milk shake I thought that it probably had a lot of calories and that normally that was the sort of thing I was supposed to be worried about. Not too much of a concern at the moment. Especially since I am still losing weight like crazy. I suppose the don't eat anything diet does that. If this is my gall bladder then they had better take the damn thing out soon. And if it isn't then they need to figure out why I am so sick and fix that soon too!

Class will be done with in a couple of weeks. If I am still sick like this then and no solution then I think I might ask about the hospital at that point. Right now I'm having trouble with the bathing myself and things like that because they take so much energy and make me feel ill afterward. I know my focus on class probably sounds crazy but it is a grad course and so grades are super important, especially bit picture and long term. I'm so sick of being sick...

Sorry for the rant...

So here I am, barely able to get out of bed. I just keep getting sicker. I'm calling my surgeon tomorrow to see about the results of my HIDA scan. I hate being like this. I have things to do. Places to go. Homework to do. Stuff to eat. But now its all on hold. Ugh! Though I did just find out I got into the grad school of my choice and I am happy to brag its the number one program in the country for aspiring librarians. At first I was confused because They sent me a letter saying I got in... to the program I didn't apply for (the online distance one). So I sent an email saying I accept but I was a little confused, what about the program I had applied for, the on campus one (I do live in town...). Email back said oh yeah I did get into that, they just sent the wrong letter. So they'll send the right one. That was nice to see.

So I don't really eat anymore. I have one thing every couple of days for nutritional purposes. And I wish I didn't have to, but I suspect its a necesarry evil. Yesterday I had a milk shake with protein stuff in it. I might eat again tomorrow or maybe I will wait until after class on Friday. I'm not sure. Its kind of funny. As I was drinking the milk shake I thought that it probably had a lot of calories and that normally that was the sort of thing I was supposed to be worried about. Not too much of a concern at the moment. Especially since I am still losing weight like crazy. I suppose the don't eat anything diet does that. If this is my gall bladder then they had better take the damn thing out soon. And if it isn't then they need to figure out why I am so sick and fix that soon too!

Class will be done with in a couple of weeks. If I am still sick like this then and no solution then I think I might ask about the hospital at that point. Right now I'm having trouble with the bathing myself and things like that because they take so much energy and make me feel ill afterward. I know my focus on class probably sounds crazy but it is a grad course and so grades are super important, especially bit picture and long term. I'm so sick of being sick...

Sorry for the rant...

I'm so sorry you are having a rough time!

I'll be thinking.

Kyethra, I hope they find out what's wrong soon. In the mean time, try to stay strong! Just think, only a couple of weeks until your classes are out!

Well, I'm not going to Virginia for the internship. I talked to my advisor yesterday, and he wants me to do some more fieldwork this summer, to try and increase my sample size. So far, he's had people taping shrikes for three summers (I did it this past summer), but we've only got data on 6 nests. With numbers that low, any little bit helps, even if we can only get data on a couple of nests this summer.

Has anyone peeked into the thread that was recently started for the Christians?

Yes, I read it but I stay off of it, because they bossily asked us not to post there. They love to strong-arm people all the time in my opinion.

I laugh so hard when I read some of those posts though. So for me, it's good for a laugh. I don't know why but it just makes me laugh so much when they're like "all things are possible through the LORD!!!"

I'm sorry, I know it's really really mean and judgmental of me. But I can't help it.

And I don't feel so bad laughing at that when the next post states that people like myself WILL burn in hell.

I was at the Cloisters in New York over the weekend, and it struck me how all of the religious art there was from the 1,200-1,500's. And I was thinking about how superstitious people from the middle ages were, and then it hit me: but these are the same images and stories people believe in today! Ancient, archaic nonsense.

I do think some Christians seem to be more judgemental than most Pagans!

And since I don't believe in hell then I guess I'm safe

Well good news-- I got my surgery date for wednesday to take the evil gall bladder out! As long as I am careful to rest in bed and take all my anit nausea stuff and things like that its not so bad. I'm getting kind of hungry since I have only had Clear liquids most of the week, but I'm really afraid to try anything, even a Protein shake or Soup. I think if I decide I am hungry enough at some point I might try a little bit of soup. But I am worried about throwing up esp. since a couple of days ago really nasty stuff that nots supposed to come up was. Thats the sort of thing I need to try and avoid, though if I did have to go the ER and get the operation sooner or something they told me that my surgeon's partner was on call this weeked at one of the hospitals.

My rate of weight loss seems to be slowing down. I guess my body is reaching some sort of equilibrium mode or something. But its really only in the past couple of days that I have noticed I seem to be a little bit thinner. My cheeks, for example, seem to feel a little less fatty to me, and my wedding rings are looser. Not loose enough to have to resize them yet though. Since I have big man hands I'm always glad to see any size reduction there. I have some cute little rings from highschool I outgrew a while ago-- nothing remotely expensive or special, but fun stuff like a snow globe ring and a mini level ring. I'd like to be able to wear and buy more rings esp the fun ones again if I feel like it. Maybe someday, far down the road, I'll even be able to wear chokers or smaller necklaces, bracelets that aren't extra big... well maybe not. I've always had trouble with that stuff. But I did notice that the one online store I use for all my candles and herbs and other pagan stuff has some cute hair clips as well. Those I can wear.

I look at the Christian thread. I feel bad for them. A lot of them seem so conflicted and guilty and stuff. What is with major religions and guilt anyway?

I'm kind of sad that I am going to have stay at home for beltane and the planned rituals to recuperate. My group had planned out a nice one using plants in our circle and making bath/massage oils. A friend and I had talked about going up to wisconsin too since she heard that in the milwaukee area they have a good one. Oh well, theres always next year!

DH also said our plants outside are doing well. Last year I planted a ton of stuff and we put in bulbs, etc. Between my black thumb and the rabbits just about all of it died. But the onions I planted were always strong and still are. And the rhubard I thought wouldn't come back, but it did. Maybe now that there is a direct comparison I can finally convince DH that the burdock type stuff he planted a couple of years ago really isn't rhubarb and will never turn red