Apples2

Hey Nazzy....we are having somewhat of a "heat wave" here in MN. Has been in the 30's the last few days. Even got out to play with the dog in the year yesterday for about an hour. The cabin fever had set in and was nice to not freeze the fingertips while outside.

Jessica....just try to keep in mind what your doctor said about these next few weeks setting the tone. You can do this. Just keep sticking with the high-protein foods and completely stay away from what you should not have. Try to munch on raw veggies when you feel you need something. I know it's tough but just think how proud you will feel about sticking to it through this extra tough period of time until you get to your sweet spot. When you feel that food is taking over your thoughts, get out and take a short walk, pick up a book, go brush your teeth or rinse with mouth wash, go take a bath...anything to switch your mind off of snacking or eating too much. Are you going to be able to make it for a visit when us girls are in FL? You haven't talked about it for awhile and I was just wondering. Would be nice to meet you. Cheri...have a nice day off. Sounds like you have some fun planned.

Mornin' Gang...Nothing like a good night's sleep. To bed a little b/4 10, read for a bit and slept till 5am. Up and at 'em and ready for the day. 2 loads of laundry done, livingroom picked up and dusted, 3 boxes packed to take to DS, and basement bathroom cleaned. I can hear DH's CPAP so he must still be sleeping. Always takes him a couple of months after harvest to catch up on his sleep. NYSparkle...nice, informative post. Thank you for sharing. Always nice when we can get to know someone. You've been through a lot and you should be proud of yourself for taking the steps to a new and healthy you. As far as recipes go, look online for some of your favorite recipes but type in low fat or low sugar when you search. Or, make a trip to a book store and browse the cookbook aisle to see what you can find. Good luck with your psych eval. Don't be worried about it. Just be honest and up front and you should do fine. Happy to see you are pouring over things and learning as much as you can ahead of time. Hopefully you will soon have your surgery behind you. Sounds like you have already changed your way of eating and are strated down the healthy path. Not sure what is up today. Gotta fit in quite a few things around here and then try to get to town for a tanning session. If I tan a couple of times, I have a base and a little color. Cuz..............my butt will be planted in the lounge chair by the pool, as I stated b/4. Meredith...watched both news stories about your friend's mother. Poor family. Good goin' on the house. Hope everything falls into place for you and that you can move in soon. Have a great Monday!

Allie...thinking of you today. Good luck and wishing you the results you are hoping for! Take care of yourself.

Hey Everyone....hope you all had a great Sunday! The first thing I need to say is: Go Vikings!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Great....I agree with the sexy houseman thing. Heck, DH wouldn't even need to be necked...just a toilet brush in hand and I would vote him in as sexiest man alive. Linda...hope you get your wish and can take off from work another week. And, my wish for you is to get a good night's sleep and for it to continue the rest of the week. Maybe you should try to get up at 5 when you wake up and stay up. That seems to work for me. I make myself then stay up until my reg bedtime. I would bet it's remnants of pain killers messing with your sleep and Great's too. Just a flying guess. Hey Eva...sounds like you had a busy week and weekend.. ...let me know what you think of your Pilates machine. Laura...have a nice visit with your family. Hey Julie....hope you also sleep well tonight. I am so thankful for no aches or pains ever. I couldn't say that 18 months ago. Spent 1 1/2 hours reading in the tub, talked to a friend on the phone and now it's popcorn time for the three of us...puppa always has his own bag. I know I've left some of you out...not intentionally...just wanting that popcorn. Hey Meredith????? How's GM????

Welcome Helen, Every doctor is different in what kind of pre-op diet they require their patient to do. You might want to give your doctor's office a call and have them provide you with a list of foods. There are quite a few of us on this thread and I'd be willing to bet that most of our diets were different. Always best to check with your own doctor. Also, the pre-op jitters are pretty normal. There's the surgery, the wondering of what will be after, how a person will handle being banded. We have people in all stages on this thread and it might help you to have a place to go for support...such as this thread. If your doctor did provide you with a list of foods, let us know what those are. Also, make sure you have a list of what it required after surgery. In the mean time, try to do as much studying as you can about the lap band and what is to come. Lap Band Talk is a great place to find information. This thread is a place where you can ask any question and will most likely get an answer. Come back and tell us a little about yourself, etc. Good luck!

Mornin' Girls... Just stopping by to say "hi". Busy day. I know Sunday should be a day of rest but today is a working day for us. Have stuff that needs to be completed b/4 we leave a week from now. All our crop info and acreage reports need to get to the insurance agent (hours and hours of work), and in the middle of doing it, I decided to defrost a couple of freezers. Plus, going to finish the rest of the packing. Sorting in freezers cuz want to take homegrown MN corn fed beef to youngest DS. Will fill his freezer. One thing he cannot get used to is the taste of grass fed steaks. He usually eats buffalo. Anyway, that's my day. Hey Party Girl...oops...I mean Janet. Everyone deserves space on the dance floor once in awhile. Happy to see you went out and had some fun, got flirted with and were peeling guys off. Way to go!

Melissa's Birthday?????????? How did I miss that? HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEAR MELISSA HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!! Hope it's the best birthday ever (well, I guess the day you were born should be considered the best birthday ever..lol) SEE YA IN FLORIDA!

I lost 54lbs in the 8 months prior to my surgery. IMHO it was the best way to prepare for what was to come.

Mornin' Arlene...was just on the way out the door and noticed your post. Janet posted her chicken caccitori (sp?) recipe a few pages back. I sounded reallly good. Here's one I make: Spray pan. Oven at 350. 4 chicken breasts 4 cups fresh brocolli (can use brussell sprouts cut 1/2) 1 cup FF mayo 1 pint FF sourcream 1 tsp cumin 1 tsp curry powder 1 cup brown rice 1 can low fat Carnation evap milk Bake for 1 hour Gotta go!

Great..have fun on your fish shopping day! Hope you find the purse of your dreams. We didn't get out of school to go to religion classes, silly girl. We had continuous religion classes! Hope you will get back to where you want to be on the fills. I am thinking that this one you had, you most likely won't notice? I guess one never knows. Not sure what I will do today but know I need to get out of the house. I did not even stop outside yesterday. I think I will go tan to begin with and then maybe head to Walmart for my weekly. Maybe go to the resale shop in that town too. Hope you all have a great Sat.

Julie...if you like something hot to drink once in awhile, try the SF Alpine cider. Got it at Walmart in their coffee/cocoa aisle. DH watches his sugar and a cup only has 15 cals. When I make it, I add more water as I don't like anything too sweet. Our day has been full of company reps at the kitchen table. Needed to buy our chemical for the year. Got the job done. I am such a witch to say this but I like having my house to myself some days.

Arlene...I think there are about 20 cals in a Tbls of that SF creamer. DH puts an envelope of SF Swiss Miss and that has 20-25 cals also.

And, forgot...yep, we had the cigar boxes. My dad and grandpa smoked them. They HAD to because they needed to keep 8 kids supplied with the boxes

Messy Girl....not sure whether she would be in heaven or hell...All I know is I spent some time back then wishing some of them to the latter. And the stories they told! Remember the horror stories about hell? And, going to hell if you played with Lutheran kids?

OK...I suck at this...sorry

This was in my monthly bariatric newsletter. Great advice on how to live day by day:thumbup:

We had two classes that were taught by laic ppl. Third grade and sixth grade. With going to church every morning at 8am, we were requried to wear a veil. The most traumatic school year incident for me was forgetting my veil on day when I was in third grade. Mrs. Campion just reach up her sleeve, pulled out a USED wadded up Kleenex and bobby pinned it to my head. I cried the entire mass. Then after mass I had to kneel in the corner of the classroom for an hour and read the bible OUT LOUD. I was devastated. Everything they did back then was shame based.:thumbup:

Deb...missed where you stated you are at 51lbs lost now. Congrats. You are moving right along. Great...good luck with your fill! No unfills!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK...aerial photo would not load and found just a shot from out by the road of part of the farmsite...summer photo

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For stupid sake....I think I got it this time:ohmy:

OOPS:redface: Wrong photo. That one was the guys doing their tile prep.

Deb...sorry to hear that you will not be making it to FL. Hoping that next time you will have enough notice to fit it into your schedule. Those prices on tickets can be all over the board, can't they? I have a credit card that builds airline miles. I am so used to not paying for tickets. I check into prices once in awhile for flights out to Atlanta where our youngest DS lives. Sometimes they are so cheap you just have to go and other times they are triple. I am attaching a photo of my youngest DS's project. One of them anyway. He was 12 when he bought just the frame for a '67 Pony Mustang and finished it at the age of 15. He would do body work in our shop for others to earn money to buy original Mustang parts. He even sat in the basement for a month recovering seats in blue and off-white leather. It turned out really nice. We have it stored in a storage van on our farm. He will take it when he is settled for good. During his teen years, he also fully restored a '66 Falcon, a '66 Galaxy and another car (can't remember the model). He was working on building a new Shelby Colbra and was about 3/4 done when he got called to duty the day after 9/11. Other DS restored an old Ford pickup and drove for years. I still see it trucking around town with a young kid driving it. Soooooooo...the talk at every meal at our house had to do with rebuilding vehicles and engines. Was so good for them and has helped them take care of their vehicles in "real life". Also included an aerial photo of our farm that youngest DS took when he flew over the farm. Things have changed and buildings and bins have been added since then. I think photo was taken in '03.

The bag I buy has 1.8lbs and makes 15 servings. I have the little 1 cup Glad storage containers and put oats in them for freezing. I would say that they would keep for 2-3 months in the freezer. I take them out of freezer b/4 bed and they are ready to go. I also put the frozen ones in microwave on the defrost setting for about 5 minutes. I do add a little water or skim 1/2 through heating in the microwave. It's a good way to do it cuz you are not making small little batches. Easy way to always have them on hand.