phyllser

Grrrrr... just hit a wrong key and lost my whole post AGAIN!! So, I'll start over!! My scale has me at the same weight as the first day of our Christmas challenge, BUT, my official TOPS weigh in yesterday had me up 1.4 lb for the last week. So I upped my ticker for the first time! I WILL be DOWN next Wed! We missed Water aerobics last Friday because of the wind and then Christmas day, so we are short on exercise this past week. We came close to skipping this morning because it was only 45 degrees and very windy AGAIN this morning. But we toughed it out anyway, and it felt good. We made it through the hour and then scampered to the hottest spa... that some of us call the "lobster pot". I simmered in there for almost 45 minutes! My doctor would probably disapprove (BP), but it felt good. Trying to talk DH in to letting me buy a "waterwarmups" top online to help keep me warm on these cold windy mornings! He thinks it's too much money to spend when my weight is going down. I think it'd be worth it to keep me warm even if it only fits for the next three months while we're down here in the desert. Everyone seems to have weathered Christmas quite well. Not too many temptations around here. We went to potluck brunch at the chapel here Christmas morning... I stuck to the egg casseroles and avoided the coffee cakes, etc. Went out to dinner that night and had turkey dinner. Probably the potatoes, gravy and dressing I ate accounted for my 1.4 lb gain the next morning! I didn't eat the rolls and took two big slices of the turkey home with me.. but I DID enjoy the potatoes, gravy & dressing!! I guess that was my Christmas treat!

Wanted to add my two cents to the vitamin issue... I've started using Centrum Chewables... might be Centrum Silver Chewables... and find them not bad at all. I use the chewable Calcium from Costco... Viactin or something like that.. so I chew up the two of them at the same time and it's pretty okay. I had some liquid vitamins right after surgery and I somehow managed to gag that down until the bottle was empty! I'm stubborn... paid too much for them to dump the bottle down the drain! Now I"m having trouble getting my Vitamin B Complex down so I guess I'm going to go back to the liquid stuff from Target. Duh!! I was there today and forgot to get another bottle! Costco B-Complex goes down okay but then makes me really sick to my stomach. Karri... you could get some of that unflavored whey protein and add a tbsp or so to some of the things you can get down. It doesn't have a bad taste either and would give you a little boost in your protein intake. I don't believe it... after all that wind we had yesterday, sounds like its getting whipped up again out there. Yikes!! Not again!!

Wow!!! We are up to 500 pages!!! Just got back a little while ago from Christmas Eve candlelight service, then cruised around the park on my scooter taking a few pictures of the Christmas lights. Pictures are a little blurry.. no tripod, but our next door neighbor... professional photographer, was out, too, and she's going to share her photos with me. So now we're having a quiet Christmas Eve by ourselves. I'm enjoying reading the posts from this evening...and I'm recording "It's a Wonderful Life" to watch in a little while. BUT I wish I had just ONE Christmas cookie!! I LOVE the SMILEYs, Janet!! Our daughter might come down for spring break week in April, but definitely not before. GS moved back home and she doesn't want to leave him home alone. He's 19. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

God Bless you and hope you have a GREAT Christmas!! I can definitely relate to the emotions! Sunday was my day to boo hoo all day because that was the day our oldest daughter and her family were to arrive. Then they had to cancel their plans. I was so much looking forward to having family down here with us for Christmas!!

You look great, kiddo!! Impressive, Jackie!!We are all really getting in to these Smileys, aren't we???

My message went away!! As I was saying when I was so rudely interupted.... that was a great accomplishment, teacher girl, to LOSE all that weight while unfilled! Can you remind me why you had to get unfilled??? I'm old and I forgot!! There are too many pages to try to go back and find it! LOL

We'd rather sleep in our own bed in our RV, too. We put in a sleep number bed last summer, too!

We'd rather sleep in our own bed in our RV, too. We put in a sleep number bed last summer, too!

I'm so sorry, Kathy. That must have been very hard. Snuggle in with your DH & kids and enjoy your Christmas as best you can under the circumstances. God Bless! Keeping you in my prayers.

Janet, You did great with the cookies!! You're right... when I do taste something sweet, it seems really super sweet. Not that good. Lady at the Street Fair was giving out samples of "pastry chips" that she makes. I tried two... I could go for the raspberry ones, but knew it was not a good idea. DH bought a bag of raisins and they even tasted too sweet. And he thought they were way too juicy. He wants to dry them out some more! I did have one bad thing... one of those hebrew national hot dogs... didn't eat the roll, though. Eating it without the roll was kind of like peeling a banana.

HaHa..yes, typical male! And it wasn't his fault, right? In fact, it was probably yours.... you left the door open!! I think we got to the street fair around 10:30am. Wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be. Didn't find much. Bought a Mexican Train game. I've been wanting to learn how to play. I think we were there until about 1pm, then stopped at Wal-Mart on the way home. Yes, AGAIN!! WE forgot the Crystal Lite yesterday... Wally's brand. That was my fault because I was supposed to go pick my flavors. The Crystal Lite tastes too sweet.. I like the store brands. Albertson's is good, too. Good to hear from you, Chim!! We miss you! Don't stay away so long! You're not still working a bazillion jobs, right?? Merry Christmas! Hi, Brandy! Good report on your doctor appointment, too! I definitely seem to lose a little fluid between fills. My last one was Oct. 29, but I'm doing pretty good now so holding off for a while. May see Janet's doctor while I'm down here in the desert. Merry Christmas to all of you!

OH, I forgot to mention the gas. I didn't really have a problem with it. I was all stocked up on Gas-X and only used it once or twice. The shoulder pain was there, but not excruciating. I think it took about a month to completely go away, but it wasn't very intense.

You should be able to get a replacement, right? If you can still read the numbers on the card, it shouldn't be a problem. I'm not going to make the exercise challenge either. Missed yesterday because of the bad weather. I think we're going to go down to the pool when we get back from COD. But, we'll have to fit in some extra exercise because only 3 classes next week.

Hmmm.... to tell you the truth, I copied them to use in emails so I never tried to paste in to a post, but I just did and it won't work!! So much for that idea!

Oh, boy! Lots of questions! That's what we're here for. Surgery will last about an hour, then recovery room, then most seem to spend the night in the hospital, but I went home late in the afternoon. Recovery time...first day or two you will be sore, but many are going back to work in a week. I took it easy for probably two weeks, but it was really a pretty easy time for me. Some say they have to sleep in a recliner for the first several days because of soreness at the port site, but I had no problem. I was just very careful in lying down. You will be on liquids for at least a week, then progress to mushy for about another week, then soft for a week and then regular food. Find a Protein drink that you like. I use EAS from costco. I also bought a Magic Bullet blender which came in very handy during those first few weeks (and you'll have to go through that routine every time you have a fill, but probably only a day or two at each stage). I used the Magic Bullet to mix my Protein drinks, to make "mush" out of things like Soups, Beans, etc. And we still use it for a lot of things... DH likes to use it to grind our coffee beans, for instance. I'm sure your doctor will have you meet with a dietician once before surgery and you'll be briefed on exactly what regime your doctor wants you to follow. You'll be having servings of about 1/2 cup 5-6 times a day. Your first fill will probably be 4-6 weeks after surgery. You need that long for healing and for the swelling to go down.

Forgot you are an AOL person... yes, I'm sure you're using their browser. Once you get used to one browser, it's hard to switch. But Mozilla Firefox looks and acts a lot like Internet Explorer... except it lets me watch videos!! Funny story! Our oldest daughter did about exactly the same thing, probably about 20 yrs old, just before she got married. And I think her daughter, our granddaughter, had a similar experience a couple of years ago. NOISES IN THE NIGHT!! We have 10 grandchildren... half in their teens and then these little ones. And our little 4 yr old, Charly is ALREADY addicted to video games. He gets it from his Dad. That's the sil that works for Microsoft. They always have the latest & greatest XBox.. that's what he works on.. the video, music, etc. interface. So Charly has been around them forever. I call him our little 4 yr old geek grandson!! It was hard to shop for him for Christmas. I asked DH... what do you buy for a 4 yr old GEEK???? Is everyone else out shopping, too??? Quiet here lately.

They just go away. Some months ago, I painstakingly downloaded each individual one to a "clip art" folder on my computer so I'd have them somewhere else other than on the web.

I've been online, but playing on "jibjab" all night. I've been so frustrated because every time someone sends me a web-based video, like from YouTube, for instance, my browser security won't let me see it. I do my best to stay loyal to Microsoft because my son-in-law works for them, but I changed my default browser to foxfire tonight and I've been playing online with videos all night! They have some free videos that you can put your own pictures in. So I uploaded a bunch of pictures and made some funny videos.. snowball fight & Christmas Tree. Fun. Okay, I was bored!! My oldest daughter tivos amc every day and watches it when she gets home from work. First day of winter tomorrow. Enjoy your cookie making. If it's not windy we're going to go to the COD. Haven't been there yet since we got down here. Well, except for the day when they were shutting down because of the wind storm.

I've been online, but playing on "jibjab" all night. I've been so frustrated because every time someone sends me a web-based video, like from YouTube, for instance, my browser security won't let me see it. I do my best to stay loyal to Microsoft because my son-in-law works for them, but I changed my default browser to foxfire tonight and I've been playing online with videos all night! They have some free videos that you can put your own pictures in. So I uploaded a bunch of pictures and made some funny videos.. snowball fight & Christmas Tree. Fun. Okay, I was bored!! My oldest daughter tivos amc every day and watches it when she gets home from work. First day of winter tomorrow. Enjoy your cookie making. If it's not windy we're going to go to the COD. Haven't been there yet since we got down here.

I got it!! Now if I do it a few times I won't forget again!! I know that's the 2nd time (at least) you told me how to do it!! We didn't sleep well last night at all... the wind was really howling all night long. And in the middle of the night I was really hungry and I thought of you!! But I didn't get up because I couldn't think of anything in the refrigerator that was worth raiding! We have Santa hats on our two big rear view mirrors outside. So the next door neighbor came knocking on the door this morning with one of the hats in hand and said "Your Santa came down our chimney!" I'm surprised our satellite dish was still standing, but DH says he has the tripod mega anchored with tent stakes! Guess the wind wasn't blowing that bad on your side because when we went over to the Sam's/Wal-Mart in Rancho Mirage.... NO WIND!! Hope you're having a great time at your party this afternoon, and making EXCELLENT choices!

Getting a dog was great strategy!! An admirable decision!! Good for you. Now you HAVE to walk! I wish I had something to make me go to Water aerobics when the wind is howling like it was this morning! We stayed in! Too cold and windy, so no exercise today. Besides, I'm trying to get rid of this sinus crud that is STILL hanging on!

Hang in there, Kid! Soon it'll be over (THE HOLIDAYS)!! Went to Sam's today and the samples were all healthy.. I had one shrimp, two bites of pork loin, two bites of apple/chicken sausage and a small piece of a sandwich. Not too shabby and that was my lunch. We can do it! You're doing okay!

Susan, Also check out christian-bandsters thread... I think it's Christians with a small "c". There was another site for Christians that sort of faded out so someone started a new one and it's been pretty active.

:welcome2::welcomeB::welcome2: Susan, Glad to have you visit here. I think you will find this a site where you can vent, share your ups and downs, ask questions, etc. Hope you'll consider this one of your lapband favorite threads.