Marimaru

I draw, and then usually scan them in and color them on the computer. I haven't done anything in quite a while though.. but here's one of them:

Bellingham/Blaine is where my boyfriend is from. He introduced me to the evil milkshakes. We have to get at least one whenever we go up there now.

I'm in Hawthorne. Kind of halfway inbetween both of you, lol

I don't have the parental stories that DeLarla and Vines do, but I can add into the powdered milk one. We were pretty poor at the time, and so we got to go to the food bank, and we always got all this evaporated milk. My mom used to take 1/2 evaporated milk and 1/2 reconstituted powdered milk and make "milk" out of it. The stuff was nasty (especially considering I didn't like milk anyway). I am very interested in the soy milk tho. I might have to pick some up on the way home tonight. Vanilla sounds yummy.

I would say to give yourself space from this guy, and the girl. It may be the girl who is getting on your nerves and 'causing' your fights with this guy, but he's allowing it to happen as well. The other thing that I would recommend, is getting an apartment by yourself before you get an apartment with someone else. I moved out of my mom's house and into an apartment with my (now ex) boyfriend. He was a little older than me, and so it kind of went from living in my mom's place her way, to living in 'our' place the way he said it should be. When I broke up with him and moved into my own place, I learned how to do things my way, and how I wanted them done, and now I live with someone and there are certain things that I still do my way. He has his own things he can do his way as well. I guess it breaks down to getting your own identity, you know? I was kind of a dork in school and so the only parties that I went to were mine and my other dorky friends', but I've been to a few 'real' parties since then and I honestly don't think you are missing much, LOL. But you may like that scene more than I do once you get there

"more than anyone can handle"? That's so funny. I'm not from Seattle, but I drink coffee like I am. My boyfriend is from North of there, and I went and visited his family and was amazed by the coffee shop on every corner... and of course the Mocha Milkshakes. It would be dangerous for me to live there Starbucks isn't the best coffee, but it's alright, and it's convenient, which is probably the part they are charging so much for, lol.

He probably wants you on liquids incase you swell up. The lump in your throat might be you feeling that swelling, it which case it's probably good that you aren't eating. A couple of days is nothing

I would recommend against saying it was your gallbladder (unless of course you don't have one anymore). If it comes up again later and you decide to tell him, you'd have lied to him first, and that might not sit well if if the relationship is going in a deeper direction. "A surgery I had a while back" would probably suffice. And like the other's have said, he probably wont push the issue if you are half nekkid.

I also would recommend Jello. Lots of people also like air popped popcorn (not the microwave kind with all the added junk). I don't have an air popper, but I plan to get one in the near future.

Congratulations!

I also have the one about the high school reunion. I forgot about that, hehe.

I would get to the doctor for something to help with the nausea. You are still trying to heal from surgery and the dry heaving is NOT good. Feel better

That would be so fun. I actually happened to catch an episode of that show one night, and this girl's wardrobe could have been a mirror of mine, only I'd already made most of the changes they suggested by the time they attacked her, so I guess I don't qualify anymore, lol! For me, I'm really into anime (for those that don't know, it's japanese animation), and there's alot of conventions geared toward it. At the conventions, people dress up as various characters from different shows. I've only been to one of these, and I didn't dress up, because I thought It'd be an insult to the character, but if I ever get to where I want to be, I'm going to pick a character and go all out!

I'm about 13 months out and I've lost between 50 and 55 lbs. I'm on the "slower" end of what they say should be average (1 to 2 lbs per week), but I'm lighter, and I wouldn't have been without the band, and I wouldn't have had the bypass done, so I'd say things are working, even if I do wish they were faster. Sounds like you are doing fine to me

Well, the first 6 weeks are more about healing than losing weight... as are the post op diets. When you go in for your fill, you should see if you can have it done under flouro, just to check things out and make sure they are all in place.

Slow down there! You've lost 10 lbs in about a month and a half. That's great! Most diets give similar results, with more work! Now, what you can eat, and how much, and how much fill it takes to make a difference is WAY different for each person. It may take you a few fills to reach a good restriction level where you are losing at a decent pace. And remember, a decent pace is 1 to 2 lbs per week on average, so you are doing great. See how this fill works for you and whether you are losing weight, and then in few weeks if you aren't, call for another fill. To be honest with you, it kind of sounds like your friend is too tight if she can't eat more than a few bites without getting sick. I had this problem myself, and had just a tiny bit taken out, and am doing much better.

So you've lost 3 lbs in a week? That's fantastic! The goal target is usually 1 to 2 lbs per week, average, so you are really doing well. I think the biggest guideline for fills is: 1) are you losing 1 to 2 lbs per week? (on average, I lose mine in spurts. A few lbs in one day, then nothing for a couple of weeks, so it still averages out). 2) if you are losing that much, is it because of the band or are you dieting but feeling hungry? If you aren't feeling hungry between meals, you are probably fine, but if you are struggling between meals, it might be time to consider a fill. Also, make sure you are getting your Water in, and your Protein too.

All of these stories on here just amaze me. I think the part that gets me most, is that I could NEVER bring myself to say something like that to someone else, be it about weight, race, hair color, ANYTHING! My mom said something to me when I was little, and I really think it's sculpted alot of my life. My little sister did something and ended up stubbing my toe, and I said something to the tone of "can't you be smart?!". My mom briskly grabbed me up and sat me down and explained to me that saying something like that was me telling my sister that I didn't believe that she could be smart. That got my attention, and then she said "If something hurts you, why would you want to turn around and cause them pain? If you feel so bad, why would you want anyone else to feel that way?" So, that's how I live my life. I guess it's a different way of saying the 'Golden Rule' but it stuck with me when she said it that way. So, knowing that, I guess I just can't understand people that do things like this. I walked away because I didn't want him to have the satisfaction of seeing me upset by his idiocy. To add to the story, my boyfriend works with me, and he was there too. Boy was HE mad!!!

Be strong girl! Do not let him whine his way out of this. You need your life to be about YOU right now, and he obviously isn't about that. It's going to be a hard time because you are used to having him around, but you will DEFINITELY be better for having done this.

Thoughts and prayers coming from my neck of the woods. I hope that your friend's surgery goes well, and his other health issues improve shortly there after.

Stress does it, the weather does it, being dehydrated does it, heck, probably the moon does it. For the most part, it's related to water retention, but I don't know why stress does it. I actually had to go get a little unfill because I had a very stressful family thing going on and I just couldn't eat ANYTHING. I was really too tight to begin with and eating mostly mushy stuff, or chowdery soups, but this thing hit and it was liquids all the way. *shrug*

I do some consulting work in the horseracing industry, and was working at at race track one day in a booth training some people. I was talking to a co worker, and I hear "Hey, fat girl! Fat girl!" I turn, and it's this older guy in a wheel chair (who had at least 30 lbs on me anyway) and he says "You wanna know why fat girls always hang out with skinny chicks? It's because they know they'll have something left over when the skinny girl is done!" I didn't even know what to say. I couldn't say any of the things racing through my head, because while I wasn't a track employee, I was a representative for another company, so he was by proxy my 'customer'. I suddenly had a very important phone call I had to make and walked away. I came back a little later when he was gone, and the folks there said the guy was around all the time, and he was always that obnoxious. If it hadn't been a customer situation I might have told him where to shove it.

I didn't have an option either, but it's cool that you do. The only place I've heard of that was a problem was on the braline. There's a been a few women who complained that they had trouble there. Mine is on my waistline to the left about 5 inches from my bellybutton. My doc said he put it there on purpose because it wasn't going to be my waistline anymore!

I don't have any problem with reflux no matter when I eat (it might be better if I DID because of all the night time grazing, LOL). But, there's also people like that that aren't banded. Some people can't eat at night because they'll get reflux, you know? I would say, that since you know your body enough to not eat after a certain time, to avoid the problem, that you'd probably do okay with a little fill if you feel like you need one.

You are going to hate this, but exersizing will give you energy, lol. Beyond that, make sure you are getting in a goodly amount of Protein as well. Protein is the best energy source for your body. My doctor isn't apposed to coffee, so I drink that sometimes, but I really only drink it because I like it, I don't feel any extra 'kick from it' I don't think. lol. Never heard of Chlorella, but I'm pretty wary of suppliments, just because so many of them don't do anything, or are bad for you in the long run. If you eat well, it should pick back up again in time, once your body gets used to not having the 'extra help'.