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About this blog

THE SWEET SPOT My journal on my expedition to Bandlandia and my adventures there. I plan to stay forever (been to Onederland many times, but I never stayed long). Join me!:see

Entries in this blog

 

5/8/10 Blog Updates and I need input for the Book

Here are some blog updates. Remember, anyone can read these and you can comment under the 'anonymous' choice if you don't have a Google account (just keep pushing the button after you post and it will give you a word verification.   As you know, I'm now working on trying to write a LB book (after a year of messages from all of you suggesting it LOL). I would really appreciate it if you could send me some information (you can do this here, or with a PM, comment on the blog, or via my email) as I go along...I routinely ask questions so I can gather input for the book as I want this to represent all our journies as much as possible. The two blogs marked with * below, are where I need some input currently. THANK YOU! -BG Blog here: THE SWEET SPOT   5/7/10 Lock Me Up...I'm a Smuggler! (Patio projects) *5/5/10 Pre-Op Process (Dr. Clearance & Testing) *5/4/10 Pre-Op Process (Self-Pay or Covered) 5/3/10 Of Mice and Men (and Brother, Sisters...and Parents) (Helping Parents get ready to sell their home 4/27/10 Happy Birthday! 4/24/10 Don't Have any Wild Parties...(going home)
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5/8/10 Blog Updates and I need input for the Book

Here are some blog updates. Remember, anyone can read these and you can comment under the 'anonymous' choice if you don't have a Google account (just keep pushing the button after you post and it will give you a word verification.   As you know, I'm now working on trying to write a LB book (after a year of messages from all of you suggesting it LOL). I would really appreciate it if you could send me some information (you can do this here, or with a PM, comment on the blog, or via my email) as I go along...I routinely ask questions so I can gather input for the book as I want this to represent all our journies as much as possible. The two blogs marked with * below, are where I need some input currently. THANK YOU! -BG Blog here: THE SWEET SPOT   5/7/10 Lock Me Up...I'm a Smuggler! (Patio projects) *5/5/10 Pre-Op Process *5/4/10 Pre-Op Process   5/3/10 Of Mice and Men (and Brother, Sisters...and Parents) (Helping Parents get ready to sell their home 4/27/10 Happy Birthday! 4/24/10 Don't Have any Wild Parties...(going home)
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4/23/10 My Bandiversary vlog and Updates!

4/21/10 152 (lbs.) 4/22/10 Happy Bandiversary! (my first vlog...come 'see' me!) 4/22/10 HEY WORLD (best LB day EVER) 4/23/10 Thank You Note (a thank you from my Band/Port for attending the party)   All here: http://bandgroupiethesweetspot.blogspot.com/   Happy weekend all! -BG
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4/20/10 Blog Updates

Sorry, I'm behind on the Updates...too busy this month LOL!   4/7/10 The Chasm That Is Now My Belly Button   4/7/10 The Black Hole 4/8/10 Gen's Request for Monthly Numbers 4/9/10 **PLEASE READ** 4/10/10 Feel the LB Love 4/17/10 I'm Back 4/18/10 Who ARE you People? 4/19/10 Book Input; Your 'Moment' 4/19/10 Book; Why you chose LB? 4/20/10 New Sig   All here: http://bandgroupieth...t.blogspot.com/   *Don't forget, anyone can comment...just use the anonymous button under comments and keep pushing post to get the word verification
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4/9/10 To My Followers...(part II)

When I moved the blog the end of January I made a deal with myself...I'd get rid of my funny pics (I thought that was the only reason people followed me) and if people were still interested and if I was still getting comments and emails about writing a book, then I'd try it...yes, you heard that right. To make sure I didn't chicken-out, the week I moved the blog, I told my DH what I was planning...he was very surprised, but he'd support anything I do. More shocking to me than rapidly reaching those 100 first followers (and the horror of the before pics) was that the very first week on Blogger I got comments again about writing the book...the very same day I got an email from one of my LBT friends, Diane about writing a book...it was like I was getting signs...I told her the above and that I was going to try it...something about saying it committed me to the process. I told a few other friends who had contacted me (one was Lena, my LBT supporter and a published author, thanks GF) who supported the book idea as well. I spent my extra time January researching book writing, and making several outlines and then writing a few portions.   Here's the thing...by February I had so many Followers that I was finding it impossible to read/comment on others blogs and write the book. I decided that I was new to Blogger and that I needed to show the same support to others that I'd done on LBT so people could get to know me and so that I could give the support that was the reason I moved here. By March I could hardly keep up with all the blogs (on LBT there a lots of bloggers, but most of them are more like 'posts', short questions), here there are so many wonderful articulate bloggers and I wanted to read and support them all.   I've gotten three months into this blog move and now I've want to keep the promise that I made. I hope by now that you know me and that you know I don't want to stop supporting you, but I need to devote more time to this. I hope you won't desert me if I can't be giving you the support you need all the time. I'm not going to disappear, and I plan to keep blogging…I'm hoping to ask for your help with portions of the book (like TOM and post-band TOM changes…hysterectomy here). I want your opinions because I so value them. I don't want to represent just my opinions, but all the ways that others approach their band journey as well...as you know there are lots of choices we have to make along the way and no one way is the right way...just knowing all the choices would have helped me a lot.   So here's where I am now...I hope that I still have your support and for those of you that don't know me well yet, I hope you'll believe me when I tell you what my friend Diane told me last night when I was freaking out over what my new Blogger friends might think...that I'm doing this for all the right reasons. I really feel so blessed to have my LB and especially to have all the support and knowledge I've gained along the way. I really want to try and pay-it-forward to as many LBers as I can and that's the reason I'm trying this. After a little research I can tell you it's going to be a very long process (maybe a year), that 99% of book ideas submitted never get published (but I'll give it my best shot), if you want to make money being an author is not the way to do it. You know it would be a very limited audience of we LBers, and again, I'd just be thrilled to ever get this published.   I'll need your help and support more than ever along this new path I'm taking. I know by the time this is finished most of you will be at maintenance and won't need this information, but I hope you feel like I do that this LB journey has been such a learning experience that for the newbies just starting a book that they'll be able to relate and turn to might just make their journey a little easier. Thanks as always for listening. Here goes that 'publish' button...
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4/9/10 To My Followers...(part I)

I'll apologize now for the book length of this post. I have to break it down into part I and part II. It's the hardest post I've written yet. I'll thank you in advance for reading it…thank you.   I seriously didn't even know what a blog was until I stumbled upon a section of them on LBT as I was beginning my LB research. I think blogging is kind of like our LB journeys...we all have to figure out what we need and what works best for us and do it. I started my blog the same way I started my LB journey...I had to learn to put me at the top of the list for once. I selfishly (allowed myself to take the time) started a 'journal' (blog) for me where I could document my journey and research things I was interested in along the way. Journaling is something I've tried to do at several other points in my life (yeah, my whole family had gratitude journals one year), it always ended as fast as it started, but it intrigued me. I looked at the blogs on LBT and it seemed like a 'safe' and tiny place where only a few people even commented on blogs, so I really expected to just be writing for me. I can't tell you how surprised I was when people started to comment and how much I appreciated all the things I learned from other LBers helping me. It soon became such a wonderful and unexpected support system for me and when I got Banded, I tried hard to pay-it-forward and be there for others. There are a group of us that are/were long-term bloggers there, but mainly there are/were lots of soon-to-be or newly banded bloggers needing help and support. The comment I loved to get was that 'whenever I need help, I know I can count on you to answer'. I was so thrilled by my LB results even at that point and all the support that I'd gotten...I felt like I had been saved and helped in so many ways that would impact my life forever.   I've tried to be honest about my happy, but not so perfect life and my not so perfect LB journey. I write whatever I'm feeling that day and I try to write with the same voice I'd be speaking to myself with (yes, some days I talk like a crazy person, and I have lots of days where I just want to laugh, but that's me too). I think the biggest compliment people can pay me in my blogging is for them to say that I've said something they've been feeling, they've learned something that will help them, and that they feel like they know me...because you know what? They do.   As I came to my Blogiversary last Fall I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I wanted to continue paying it forward, but several other Blogger's on LBT had been encouraging me for awhile to move to Blogger (and so did others on other WL sites I visit now and then) and they told me that I'd be able to reach more people looking into the LB (Kathi was my main Blogger promoter, thanks GF). I was a little nervous about it as I knew that others were following me on LBT (even though there weren't 'followers' I could see by page hits that I had over 70,000 page hits in a year). Let me stop and say here, that I'm just stating facts…anything that might sound like a 'brag' is SO not me (most know that I'm a super humble person), but you never know how things come across when you write. Anyway, as the Holiday's drew near I looked into it more and decided that it was a good idea and I'd move the blog after the New Year.   I made another big decision with my blog move. I decided I'd move my blog without any of the funny pics I loved to use that made me laugh. I decided I'd focus more on my LB journey and less on my day to day life and the silliness that is me (no, not taking that completely out, but there was a point to all this seriousness I'm getting to, so hang with me here).   I know this is the scariest blog I've ever written (oooo spooky). I'm not a woman who generally gets scared about what I do (OK, you know I am scared of the dark still, but I have no control over the Boogie Man...yet). I've given presentations in front of hundreds of people and never batted an eyelash. I think I've shared that in the past, I've sometimes had trouble pushing the 'publish' button when I've gotten a little deep here, but I've learned over time to trust that the people who love me may not always have the same viewpoint, but they'll respect my honesty and that I've shared mine...and more times than not, more people than I'd ever imagine feel the same way and were grateful that someone articulated it. Let me say that again...I've learned to trust my readers...that's important...I don't feel scared anymore publishing any post...except now I'm nervous again...just a little.   I'm wondering if those that have been following me for a long time have seen at least a little change in me since my move over to 'Blogger'. Maybe it's just me, you know how we tend to magnify things when we know we're hiding something (yes, I have been). You see I know that there has been a change, because I know there's been one.   You see, I decided with the move that either my blog would peter out or I'd be trying to do something more to pay-it-forward. Let me go back and tell you that from the very first weeks of my blog I had people sending me private messages telling me how much they enjoyed it, or felt the same way and soon I was getting lots of messages telling me that I needed to write a book (again, I'm just stating the facts). I was flattered, but laughed it off saying I'm no writer, but thanks for the support. Here's the thing, even a year later I was regularly getting Private Messages, emails or Comments with people telling me they'd read my whole blog start to finish and that I needed to write a book (many during their recovery and let me just say...reading my year of blogs is a big feat...I'm sure it's longer than any book...you know I can't describe unpacking the gauze in my belly button without five paragraphs LOL...it totally amazed me how many people did this).   I started to think that maybe there was a need for more information out there from a Bander's perspective. I've looked at the LB books and all of them are written by Drs.; there's one that's written by a LBer and her Drs. but a lot of it is also from a medical perspective. I think you'd all agree with me that this LB journey has been so much huger than any of us originally thought it would be...I've gotten so much more from others going through their journeys than any LB Dr. will ever know (unless they have one). I think there's so much more that can be shared that would help newbies just starting out than what our Docs tell us. The fact that I had so many people reading my whole blog tells me that there's a need for this information out there.
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4/6/10 Blog Updates

4/3/10 Easter Crazy 4/4/10 In My Easter Bonnet 4/5/10 The Secret To Weight Loss 4/6/10 OK You Scale Whores, Get Out your Spreadsheets   All Here: http://bandgroupiethesweetspot.blogspot.com/  
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4/1/10 Happy Bandiversary Bunnies!

WOW what a year we've all had! Can you believe this is our Bandiversary month already?   Remember all the nightmares of insurance approval, and no sleep the night before LB surgery because we were so excited; It was almost heaven taking that first shower after surgery! We had some work to do, learning how not to be a couch potato anymore. Then we had to learn how to eat right. and prepare healthy food; but pretty soon we were losing weight and had to buy new clothes; Sure there were a few unpleasent changes, like bathroom schedules; but also nice ones, like being able to wear a bathing suit again; Happy Bandiversary Bunnies! It's going to be one wild party; and watch out for all the candy at Easter!
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4/2/10 Blog Updates

3/22/10 7 Habits...Or Maybe 70... 3/23/10 Namaste 3/24/10 Tell All 3/24/10 I Died 3/25/10 I'm Coming Back Home (Parent's Move) 3/28/10 Prepped and Ready to Go 3/29/10 Surgery Update 3/30/10 A Bouncing Baby GB   3/31/10 b***h and Whine 4/1/10 Up 19 Pounds...and NowI know Why!! 4/1/10 Stiletto Award 4/2/10 My Crossover Addiction   All here: http://bandgroupieth...t.blogspot.com/
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3/21/10 Blog Updates

3/15/10 Funky Chicken 3/15/10 Porthole 3/16/10 Celebrities in WL Denial 3/17/10 Sugar Doll Award 3/18/10 Weekday Dish 3/19/20 Enquiring Minds Want to Know 3/20/10 7 Fun Questions 3/20/10 Welcome Spring! 3/21/10 Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants   All here: http://bandgroupieth...t.blogspot.com/
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3/13/10 This Week's Blogs

- Telling - Wednesday Words (Misc.) - The Incredible Shrinking Woman - Endoscopy Schmendoscopy   Enjoy!   All here: http://bandgroupieth...t.blogspot.com/
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2/26/10 Goal!!!!!

Yes, I FINALLY reached goal!!!! It's all gravy now!   Blogs this week Here: http://bandgroupiethesweetspot.blogspot.com/   -Lookie Here -Linner- Sides and Snacks -My DH has an addiction -We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming -Really? Nobody?
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3/3/10 Blog Updates

Sorry, I'm a little behind with all of you as I've been having some issues (gallbladder, etc.). I'll get caught up today!   Here are my blogs about what's been going on, another nutrition blog on sweets, and my gift for reaching goal. Enjoy! Oh, and don't forget ANYONE can leave comments (just chose the anonymous and write your name so I'll know it was you, and just keep pushing that post/publish button, it's stubborn and takes several times and a word recognition). -BG   I'm Stoned: 3/2/10 I'm Stoned ~ THE SWEET SPOT Sweets and Sugar-Free: 3/1/10 Sweets & Sugar-Free ~ THE SWEET SPOT Dizzy Blonde: 3/1/10 Dizzy Blonde *Update* ~ THE SWEET SPOT My Sexy New IRS Friends: http://bandgroupiethesweetspot.blogspot.com/2010/02/22810-my-sexy-new-irs-friends.html
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2/24/10 Protein First

Blog today on nutrition/protein, here: http://bandgroupiethesweetspot.blogspot.com/2010/02/22410-linner-protein-first.html
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2/19/10 Nutrition

On request, I started a series on my nutrition. First one is on my breakfast and second on vitamins/supplements/and meds.   Here: http://bandgroupiethesweetspot.blogspot.com/
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2/16/10 Before/After

I finally posted my Before, During, and almost After pics. Enjoy... Here: http://bandgroupiethesweetspot.blogspot.com/
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2/16/10 Before/After

I finally posted my Before, During, and almost After pics. Enjoy... Here: http://bandgroupiethesweetspot.blogspot.com/
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2/12/10 Ticker Pics

I'm slowly updating my ticker pics with more photos from each 10# loss. 2 new photos today here: http://bandgroupiethesweetspot.blogspot.com/
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12/5/08 Urodynamics

Sounds like a new exercise program…or maybe a high-tech company name?…Oh NO….look closer…Uro…nope, not the currency in Europe…uro as in Urologist!:party: Taking my cue from a fellow blogger (‘cause I can’t just write this out, it will sound too horrific)…Sing it with me, to the tune of “Jingle Bells”…   Went to the Urologist Wires out the gazoo:ohmy: Catheter up the front And up the rear-end too!:eek:   They fill up your big bladder You feel like you’re gonna blow:crying: They ask you to cough, and then they say “Tell me when you’ve got to go.” :wub:   Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go right NOW! Im’ gonna pee on your floor and then you’ll need a towel! Oww! :biggrin: Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go right NOW! Im’ gonna pee on your floor and then you’ll need a towel!:car:   Yeah… “Oh what fun” (not) I had this morning…Three years ago, after putting up with stress incontinence for years (three kids did me in) I had surgery (only one I’ve ever had) with both a bladder sling and a hysterectomy in hopes of correcting this issue. Although initial results were good, it slowly failed and over the next year I was back to where I started.:biggrin3: Well, it’s taken me awhile to go back to my Dr., but in this year of “getting me healthier” I decided to see what they could do. I met with my Urologist last month…if you remember my “I peed my pants” blog…he said “You’re the first patient I’ve had where this failed…you’ll have to leave by the back door so you don’t scare my other patient!” Ha-ha:laugh:…I would have laughed, but then I might PEE MYSELF!:scared2: Now don’t I feel special! So today I started the testing process again…not much embarrasses me (I know, obviously) but “Urodynamics” testing is a treat…I think you’ve got the picture from my song, but picture standing on a towel and holding a million tubes and wires (coming from all points nether-regions) throughout the testing…cough…bear down:blush:…’nuff said. Next week I get to go through the “scoping” process again…yay me…photos! I’ve had some other issues over the past few years with other failed treatments and I know that’s got me more nervous about the LB process…I’m feeling a little jinxed…like if something can go wrong or fail, it’s going to happen to me!:wub: But I’m an eternal optimist (as Mr.SA says) and my cup is always half-full (or in the case of this morning 1.7 liters…yes, they measure...eeeww)…so here’s to the LB! Bring it on the testing!:thumbup:
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11/16/08 Why I won?t be asked to bring dessert this Thanksgiving

I can’t cook…sure I can follow a recipe, when I want to…but I’m WAY too creative:idea: for that (my gift is art). I have delusions that I’m a “foodie”…but only if you’re describing someone who loves good food. The problem is I’ve never taken the time to really learn and now I just don’t want to (you’ll see why). I’ll blame this primarily on my mother. She had 5 kids, 4 girls and she never taught us how to cook…didn’t want us in the kitchen actually. Ohhhh my mom’s a great cook…wonderful meals every night, appetizers even, on Sunday nights. Sure we made fun of her serving us cow’s tongue with raisin sauce once (what did you think kids would say about a giant curved tongue with raisins stuck all over it…I still swear it had taste buds…we were ROTFL:lol::smilielol5::wub::huh2:)…I think we made her cry. She would only break her form on the rare occasion she and Dad went out…frozen potpie night.   When I got to high school I had taken home ec. so I was allowed to try. I decided baking suited me well and I was good at it; even tackled filled éclairs once. So I branched out…I started adding my own spin to recipes…big mistake…my first memorable one was Jell-O with raisin bran cereal in it…let’s just say the raisins did fine…it was the flakes that were memorable.:ack2: :puke: I got married and continued the adventure. Once I was given the task of bringing the cake to a holiday. I had a box of candy canes. :idea:Candy canes…buttercream icing…what could be better together I ask you? I crushed them into chips and added them to the icing. Let me inform you…candy cane chips in icing turn into mainly gross wet slimy goo with sticky centers that get stuck in your teeth (kinda like the Jell-O flakes).:cool: By now I was developing a reputation in the family.   Another holiday I was tasked again with a baked good. I decided on apple pie...I was going to show them all this time! I researched recipes and found the best homemade crust and apple filling recipe I could find. I bought my apples from the local orchard even. Now, how to dress it up…I found a photo in a cook book of a BEAUTIFUL looking apple pie! It had a lattice top with fluted edges…I’m and art ed. Major…I can sculpt like nobody’s business! There was even a tiny apple with leaves all made out of crust sitting in the middle…oooo.:w00t: I was going to need to make a lot of crust for all that! The photo of the pie was a beautiful golden brown and it was shiny! I researched that glaze. I made my pie…I had so much crust my woven lattice (pinked edges- my addition) top crust was almost solid…I couldn’t even see the apples down in there, but I knew it would be delicious…it was glazed so many times it shined and the tiny apple in the center looked almost real.   I entered my parents house to ooos and ahhhs…I beamed. We finished the holiday meal and now it was time for the pie. My mom brought it to the table to serve and I couldn’t wait. She started to slice into it…what’s this…it’s too hard (maybe this is like pottery I’ve made…too much glaze?)? No worries, Mom smiles nothing phases her, and she goes to the kitchen for a big serrated knife. After a great deal of sawing she finally breaks through…I’m now hearing sniggers all around me. She lifts the first piece and I see it…the filling is sitting nicely on the bottom crust, but as she turns it sideways there’s a giant space between the filling and the top crust, which is so thick with all my lattice that it’s still hanging in the air like a triangular diving board! Full laughter now. Let’s just say I went home with almost all the pie (my mom had a backup dessert…she’s learning).   Now here’s the worst part…I threw the beloved pie into the trash can behind our apartment, wanting to forget it forever. Trash day came and went, almost a week went by and my husband came home one night beckoning me to come out back. Just a few feet beyond where the trashcans are is the drive by which many in the apartments use to park. What was that in the drive?…damn those trash men for spilling…yep, there it was:sad2:…my beloved top crust still looking perfect, still so shiny…didn’t it rain yesterday? I left it there.:leaving:Since then my DH Mr.SA, has embellished the story (and to think I married him for his sense or humor). The story now goes, and he swears it's true, the next day it had tire tracks:driving: going over it that didn’t even break the tiny apple with leaves on top. Of course I have to hear about every failed recipe each holiday (I’ve only shared three here, but they have much more ammo).:w00t: I’ve offered to bring something for Thanksgiving this year…I’m still waiting for the call back.:cool: ...I'm starting to collect post op recipes now.
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