Hidden from view

Minced beef, fried up with onions (no added oil y'all!), mixed with a rich gravy and with a topping of mashed potato. Some (piggies) add grated cheese on the top. Bake it all in the oven, and there it is. I added some frozen spinach to try to get in some veg.

So, I'm cooking up some minced beef. Gonna make half chili and the other half a cottage pie. First meal I've cooked since surgery (apart from the family feast). Here's hoping I can eat some. Been existing on protein shakes and not much else. Not quite a whole pig, but it's a start.

Me too - black pants every day of the week. Capris in the summer, long ones in the winter. Just makes life easier. But when I'm thin (IF... I haven't lost an ounce for a week :-() I am going to wear jeans. Oooh! Can't wait!

Hahahaha!

Yay! it's fixed!

Hmm. I think I'm a light summer. Now on to the next website...

Oh thanks GG. Going to that site now :-)

Oh BuggerED! This topic has posted twice for some reason. There are two sets of responses. Need an expert to tell me how to fix it...

Oh BuggerED! This topic has posted twice for some reason. There are two sets of responses. Need an expert to tell me how to fix it...

Wow, thanks Lipstick. That is very kind of you!

I didn't explain properly - I went to Des Moines in 1971. I grew up in the UK. No McDonalds in the UK in 1971! And trust me, they hadn't even HEARD of the golden arches here in NZ until the late 80's. Haven't heard of the other ones - Whataburger? I live (almost) on the beach on the North Shore. Dolphins play in the bay on occasion, and I have seen Orca out there too (3 times in 8 years!). I guess we all have our wildlife :-)

I will feel no sense of loss whatsoever, when I can get rid of my fat clothes. Everything still fits, except my knickers are too big. No-one can see them, and I'm too cheap to by new ones until they reach my diaphragm!

I live in Auckland NZ

OK - looking on a map... I've been to the States a couple of times. Once to Des Moines Iowa on a school exchange (First time I ever saw MacDonalds). Then a couple of times, just passing through. And in July, I went to Hawaii for some sun. Oh, it was lovely! At Christmas we usually have a barbeque - me and my grown up kids, and their spouses and their kids. 11 of us so far. We started out with 4 of us in NZ in 1986, but since then we've procreated!!! (See how polite I am)

You cooked a turkey in OZ? Wow, that's dedication! Weren't you sweltering? Although... all this talk of turkey has made me feel that it should be on our menu this Christmas. It is supposed to be raining on Christmas Day. Nah, it'll still be too bloodyED hot.

So what do you DO at Thanksgiving - you all get together and eat? Any special games? Gift giving? I once went to Disney Land (World?) in LA. It was Thanksgiving Day. The place was empty...

Oh but they are so cute!!!

There are no native animals here, so pretty tame really. Goats and deer have been introduced in some parts, but I've never seen one that isn't behind a fence. Rabbits and possums were introduced years ago, and they are now a real pest. But where I am in the city, we see nothing...

You have deer in your yard? Where in the world are you all?

Gee, it takes a lot longer than 4 weeks to heal! It's easy to forget, because we have such tiny incision sites, but we have had MAJOR SURGERY. You didn't have a tooth filled! Of course you are tired. You need to rest. It's tough that you have to work, especially on your feet all day. It takes at least 6-8 weeks to recover from such major surgery, and some people need 3 months of rest afterwards.

We don't have Thanksgiving in NZ (shame!). I'm originally from England, and they don't have it there either. I would introduce it to my clan here (sounds like great fun!) but it's too bloodeyED hot to cook a turkey! This winter past (June, July, August) I made a midwinter "Christmas" feast. First turkey I'd cooked in over 20 years. It was delicious, so I'm thinking I'll make the midwinter feast a feature of our family calendar from now on.

I'm not suggesting you should or shouldn't. There is more to VSG than weight loss. They don't know why yet, but it does seem to cure metabolic syndrome, fix type 2 diabetes and fix high blood pressure. There's plenty of info on the Web you can read to help you make up your mind, including lots of clinical studies. Those are what I read and they helped me come to my decision.

That's why we need them here! Health care costs way too high, and maintained at a high level because there is no competition.

Oh right. We don't have them here. We have doctors and nurses. The government is trying to change laws to enable a position called "Medical Assistant" but the nursing and medical associations are resisting.

What's a PA? You have different titles in the US of A...