piercedqt78

Good, simple, healthy, what more can you ask for??? ~Mandy

I can't buy off season stuff yet I am not at goal so I don't know what size to get....one day soon I will be. ~Mandy

I do liquids in the morning. Nothing solid until around 12:30, I am just too restricted for solids in the am. I have 1.6 in a 4.0 band. I was up to 2.0 and have to have some saline removed, I was having reflux and difficulty keeping down solid protein. I had some removed and feel much better but still tight in the am. I am going to see the doctor again in a month or so and will consider a slight fill then. As for the original post, I was told the 10cc band would be too large for my stomach. ~Mandy

Can you pay a higher fee to see an out of network doctor? If so call and talk to the current doctor and explain to the office the situation you are in, maybe they will work with you. If not ask for a referral from them, they should understand that insurance issues cannot be avoided. ~Mandy

I did a soak in private hot tub the same day as a fill with no problem. I just made sure to wash with anti-bacterial (liquid dial) after I got out. I would pass on a public hot tub or spa but a private one should be fine. ~Mandy

Hugs from here too....people can be real assholes. Just remember that you are the better person for not attacking back. I am sure that Karma will bite him in the ass..~Mandy

Remember that beans are loaded with protein. That is where about 75% of my protein comes from. I live on beans. My favorite thing is a bag of pintos (dried) in the crock with some veggie stock (onion, celery and carrot). Let them simmer all day on low. I serve rice or corn bread for the family, I just eat the beans with a slice of raw onion. Guess my southern roots are showing? I love them, then I drain then and pruee them and eat them like refrieds. ~Mandy

Cassandra, I hope that all is well with your surgery. I would ask to have the doc paged if they are gone for the day. ~Mandy

Don't you just LOVE those kind of deals???? I bet the purple looks fab on you too. You have the perfect skin tone for purple. ~Mandy

I too love the thrift store in my area. The girls there say I am renting my clothes. I buy them, wear them for a few months and then donate them back to the same place. It's good for the tax credit and I get new clothes for each size. I have come across some really nice things there, my fave jeans are from the resale shop, $3. WooHoo!! When I get to goal, I want to be on What Not to Wear, then I can get all new clothes. ~Mandy

This is actually false, here's more information: http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/batonrouge.asp

wal-mart carried aloe juice also, it comes in several sizes, buy a small one and make sure you can stand the taste. I prefer mine really cold. ~Mandy

Cute kid story before I am off to bed. Abi is convinced the cat gave her the pox. She can't remember the word polydactyl so she called him a teradyactyl. So my teradyactyl gave my kid chicken nuggets. I listed 30 items on ebay tonight, I am pooped. Night all~Mandy

There is an entire history from my hubby's mother/grandmother of the year mom. His parents divorced when he was 13, and his brother was 16. His brother lived with mom and my hubby chose dad. Mom was an alcoholic (brother is too), a chain smoker and very abusive to my hubby but his brother could do no wrong. Now that has transfered to the grandkids. The brothers kids are great, she spends time with them, attends soccer games and school programs. My daughter gets overlooked every year. I prefer it that way, she is not loving and kind like a grandma should be. She is overbearing and short tempered. She threatned to spank Abi a few years ago and I told her if she ever spanked my child I would press charges. We are her parents and should handle the punishments. We don't spank her, she gets her hands slapped or she gets timeout. Spanking simply doesn't work with an ADHD child. She says that is a cop out for us not wanting to be more firm with her. We have the pleasure of seeing her 4 times a year, the 3 kids b-day and the week before Christmas we all get togehter at my house and exchange gifts. I have the holidays in my home, I hated being taken to family's house after opening our gifts as a kid so I don't make Abi do that, we spend days before the holidays with extended family and friends. Then Christmas afternoon is open house around here. I make enough desssert for about 75 people and there is usually one a few small things left over. I tried to make a relationship wih DH's family. (they have never been a close family) and it worked for a while. Then 3 years ago Abi was getting old enough to understand what the gifts were, and what home means. So I put my foot down and said that holidays would be in our home, we could do other days with family. My wonderful DH's grandma tod everyone I was a black sheep and she disowned me and hubby. I was told that unless I planned to spend the entire day at her house I wasn't welcomed there anymore. She actually told me that I could not see my family on Christmas, Thanksgiving, or Easter. I told her she was being unreasonable and that is when she disowned us. Fastforward about a year, I was working in a very busy tattoo studio that was being put on the market for sale. She and her roommate decided to buy the place and allow me to run it, they were going to be there only to collect money and handle paying the utility bills. I worked for them for 8 months. I was expected to stay at the same salary, and commission rate but now work extra hours, do all the supply shopping, and clean the shop twice a month on my days off. When I asked for a raise or some help with the cleaning and shopping (these were never my job before) I was called moneyhungry and accused of trying to run them into the poor house. I worked 3 nights a week, 5pm to 10pm and sat from noon to midnight. I got $200 a week plus commission. My job was to manage the artist, order all shop supplies, help customers, do light cleaning and work the front counter. I made 50% of my piercings (industry standard is between 35% and 60%). I tried to talk to my MIL and her partner and explain that I was having to drive to my mom's house to care for Abi, and that was also taking serious time, and gas money and the shopping was also costing me gas money and time. I also had to pay for everything and wait for the end of the week to get reimbursed. I was totally stressing out, losing my hair, and my blood pressure was going through the roof. I started hating my job, a job that I had for 10 years and loved every day that I worked. One day my home phone rang and it was the busines partner, screaming about the price of papertowels, saying I was spending too much. I told her the comfort of the customers was very important to me and she said that the money was more important. I told her I quit and have never been back. The relationship with MIL has never been the same. She stood there crying while I packed my things in the shop. The partner called the police to make sure I didn't steal anything from them. It was such an ugly situation, I have never forgiven her for allowing the partner to treat me the way she did. She never defended me and never tried to make the situation better. Things are always tense now, and I suspect they always will be. I love my husband and can't understand how such a cold hearted woman could have raised such a wonderful man. I am gald to have him in my life and my mother loves him like a son. He says that he is the luckiest man in the world. He has a great MIL, and he always says I got the short end of the stick with his mom. Now that you know the story, you can see why her behavior is not surprising at all. It just sucks for Abi has to suffer. I have a girlfriend that is older and she treats Abi like a grandchild, and also a neighbor that loves her too. She is lucky, she has several people in her life that make up for the lack of a real grandparent on that side of the family. Sorry to ramble, but I feel much better now. ~Mandy

Hey guys, I survived the shopping trip with my MIL and SIL. They are close and I am sorta the outsider. To give an example, my MIL keeps the SIL's kids overnight 3 times a year, for each of their b-days and for their wedding anniversary. I ask her to keep Abi for hubby and I to go to dinner for our anniversary and she asked if we would be back within the hour. We had to go local on a weeknight, she said we would get in and out faster than on the weekend. I feel so loved. So at Toys r Us I asked what she wanted to spend, I picked out Abi's stuff alone while they shopped and then pushed the cart in her direction and ask her to label them this time. Last year my niece got all of her own stuff and several of Abi's gifts as well. She promised to make it up to Abi but never did. The other kids got 10 or 12 gifts and Abi got like 6. Like I said we are made to feel very loved there. Abi told my husband that she only has one grandma, my mom, he was a bit pissed about that. I told him if she would make any effort to spend time with her she would feel differently. MIL came to Abi's b-day party and stayed for about 20 mins, she didn't even wait for lunch to be served. She had other stuff to do even though I sent her an invite 6 weeks early. Go figure. Then I come home from shopping to find Abi covered in the Pox. When the er doc asked what we thought that problem was when he first came is Abi announced she had the Chicken Nuggets. LOL. I am surviving the week by getting ready for the holidays, maybe I will even put up the tree friday. I am also listing stuff on Ebay... ~Mandy

Those are amazing. Wish I could have been there. And you are looking fab dahling....~Mandy

I can't make it, my daughter has a horrible case of CHicken Pox and I can't leave her with a sitter. The doc says it will last 7-10 days so I am sure we will still be itching on SUnday. I am in for the next one for sure. ~Mandy

Have you called Inamed? They make the lap-band and have a list of doctors and the hospitals that they work with, maybe they can check the list for a military hospital? ~Mandy

I use Dr. Brian Lahmann at Silver Cross Hospital in Joliet Il. ~Mandy

Is it possible to put your port somewhere else? Maybe the other side of your body so you could let the first place heal and get a port at the same time? ~Mandy

My kitty is cuddled up next to me, reading LBT. I think he might do well with a band himself, but I already love every ounce of him. I'm glad that we waited a few weeks to get him. He was actually at the shelter when we went last time, and we didn't even look at him. We really needed the time to grieve. I am starting to feel better now, I was able to talk about my Hobbes kitty boy today without crying. Hey, I'm making slow progress, but at least I am getting there. I have had a rough week, I got into a huge fight with a very good friend (the one that was staying with me) after he went home and now we are not speaking. It sucks, we have been friends for over 10 years, and now a stupid girl is making waves. I was there for him when she broke his heart 3 years ago, I just can't watch him go back to her to get hurt again. When I expressed my concern he got defensive, and things went wrong fast. Then I had to go shopping with my MIL and SIL today, fun, fun, fun. I survived that to come home to a child with......you guessed it....Chicken Pox. We hav been to the ER to confirm it. She was itchy last night but no rash. This morning she had 2 bumps, I thought they might be flea bites from our new kitty. Then my niece called while I was shopping and said she had a few more places on her, I had her put some cortisone creme on them. By the time I got home her back was covered and they were spreading to her chest and sides. I called my mom and she said that with the chicken pox vaccine she should only get a few pox. She has waaay more than a few. I took her to an urgent care center (small ER) and they confirmed it is Chicken Pox, and said without the vaccine she would be one big walking pox. So, to recap, a fight with my friend (like a brother), shopping with the In-laws and now the Pox. Great week huh???? At least I got my kitty. Anyone got that box of Calgon??? On a happy note, I found those bath cubes that everyones grandma used to have in the bathroom but never used. I use them and love them. I found those in green tea and tea rose, woohoo! I am going to lay in the bath until the water gets cold. Talk to y'all tomorrow. ~Mandy

I'm in, let me know what time and I will be there. ~Mandy

yes the kitty will be inside, he is declawed and it is way to cold here for him to be outside. He is really great with the dog but my other kitty is really unsure of him. I am sure that in a few days time they will be buddies, but that takes time. I am off Christmas shopping with my MIL and SIL today, wish me luck. ~Mandy

My sofa is one of those that has 2 recliners, so the cushion he is on is actually 1 1/2 cushions. There are actually 2 Mickeys on him, the second one is up by his shoulder, see it? ~Mandy

Here is the Mickey....