Poodles

Well how did it go? I was out partying with my son at the Fall Fest and missed it. Will try again!

Article: According to McLaughlin & Associates, the governor's race has tightened dramatically, with Independent Carole Strayhorn within five points of incumbent Republican Governor Rick Perry. The Strayhorn Campaign shared its most recent poll with QR this morning. The poll tested 600 likely voters on October 25th and 26th. According to these numbers, the unusually large number of undecideds that other polls were registering early last week has begun to shrink dramatically. The McLaughlin poll says 8.2% are now undecided and a good number have migrated to Strayhorn. A solid 57% of undecideds are women. The four way matchup numbers are: Perry - 31.8% Strayhorn - 26.7% Bell - 21.7% Friedman - 11.7% Comment from Poodles: What we need is more people to come from Friedman to Strayhorn and we will make up those five points. My biggest fear are those people that just vote party lines without thinking first. Although I do believe Bell will be the lesser of the two evils.

Recently a kid came to me and asked me to sponsor a group/dance team type thing at school. I told her I would ask around to see if I would be able to do it. (Because I am no dancer.) When I asked around, most teachers told me that usually the African American teachers sponsored that, and I wouldn't be a good fit for it. This got me to thinking. My family has a multitude of races in it. We have one hell of a family photo album, and I really never think of it anymore. And being on the internet, I never go: "Hello, what color are you?" I know the kids know I could handle it (the race difference), or they wouldn't have asked me. Now the dance part... I don't know. I truly hope that everyone here sees me as a hot pink Poodles, but I was wondering what everyone has come across here lately as far as race is concerned. Do you think we are progressing as a society?

I tried to get a Saturday night chat going, but seems LBTers are out partying. On another chat site they have Friday night and Saturday night Chats starting at 7 PM CMT. I can usually get on around 8 or 9 PM, around bed time. When I was off during the summer I noticed that people are on around 11 to 12 noon. But mostly from the other side of the world... it is their bedtime. Anyway, if you want we can try a Saturday night chat again.

Survive the first three days and it will be easy. Your system has to detox. Stay low carb and that will help. (Low carb liquids). After the surgery you won't want anything and that will make it easy. I could barely drink a cup of Water the first few days after surgery. Get a few ice packs and some broth in a box for after the surgery. You can do it!

Depends on the day. Most days, yes, I regret it. I hate not knowing if things will go down. I hate that the wrong foods go down too easy. I hate that I take the easy way out most days to avoid pain. I hate not being able to eat Breakfast because I am too tight, hate being on liquids after a fill. I was one of those "oh poor people going thru that, but it won't happen to me" people. And guess what... I have first bite syndrome, tight in the morning syndrome, tired of not knowing what to do syndrome, and tired of eating what I can eat syndrome. (As I sit here eating my mushed Oriental tofu for dinner.) Then again, the scale would not budge before and I am losing now. Slowly, but losing. I would also hate to die at 33 from a heart attack, would hate not being able to play with my kid, or walk the mall. You have to remember the band will work, even if you don't want it to. And my band does its job well. I regret not being able to correct my own behavior before and now, and if I knew then what I know now... I would not have gotten the band. But then again it was for my "own good".

Well, I try to keep posting the positive things I see. My step team did their first routine today, and they have been praised all day. Seems to help their self esteem. Now the only problem I am having is getting my girls to do their work... they want to work out their steps instead of doing their classwork!! "Watch this... and this... what if we do this??" Love it!!

Sounds great. I have to try it. I bet if you ad a tablespoon of cream cheese it would taste like liquid pumpkin cheese cake! I love that stuff!

Yes, I can cross my legs now too!!! Yeah for us!

AMEN! I am going with the teachers groups and voting for Carol Strayhorn. I like her views on education, and I respect the fact she was a teacher once upon a time. Even if it was before TAKS, she can understand all we have to do for each and every kid.

Barbara, I had a "threesome" with Ben and Jerry too a few days back. Too good for words, but not too good for my hips. I have noticed my pants getting longer. Weird hugh? Or, maybe my butt is shrinking... and it just makes them seem longer. I have not stepped on the scale in a while, so don't know what is going on there. I have found I have serious head issues when I step on that thing too often. Glad everyone is doing well.

I have been asking around for "band friendly" receipes, and have found some helpful advice. Then my hubby goes: You can eat a full meal at dinner, do you need a fill? So I started looking around. I can not eat Breakfast many days, can eat 4 oz at lunch some days, and can eat a lot for dinner. But most days I eat soft foods, Soups, blended items and such. So how do you know if you need a fill if you follow the tight in the morning open in the evening pattern? How do you know if you have the soft calorie syndrome in this situation?

Honestly I have found you can blend anything, thin it out with broth or milk, and eat it. I have blended flavored tofu with milk and cheese, spaghetti (with meat), soups/stews, chili, cooked veggies... even tried a burger, which did not turn out too well. I have asked for a magic bullet for Christmas. I found fajita seasoning in the spice isle. It was about $3.00. Tried a fancier version of my fishy soup... and found out I am allergic to crab. Yikes!!!! I mixed scallops, crab, and shark with the above ingredients. (Expensive stew)... but about 20 minutes after eating it my tongue started to tingle and swell!!! 4 Benedryl later I was ok... and sleepy. It tasted good though! The only thing I can figure is that REAL crab does not work for me. The fake stuff is great to make the crab salad though! I don't have a lot of time to cook during the week, so I will make a big batch of a few things on Sunday, and then dish out what I want during the week. Check out my "Threesome" thread too, Jack has some great suggestions, like lunch meat and cheese. He says shredded wheat works for him, and I have tried it, but it will not go down cold. I did heat it up with a packet of splenda and a little cinnamon and it went down fine and tasted good. Maybe if all of us tight people put our heads together we can find a menu that will work for us and let us lose weight.

Thought I would post these receipes. They kind of go together. My dearest Jack recommended shrimp salad, so I bought a half pound of raw shrimp. I boiled them whole and thought, hey I can make some Soup. So I did. Took the shrimp out of the boiling Water (which left about 6 cups of fishy water), took the shells off, put them in the blender and minced them. In the water I added two tomatillos, 1/4 small red onion, 1 cup fresh mushrooms, some cilantro, and 1 jalepeno (seeded), and some fajita seasoning. After this cooked I blended it up, and added a little bit of the minced shrimp. Then I cooked some tapalia filets. Served this way: Tapalia filets with 1/2 piece sliced Havarti cheese w/dill melted on, covered with fishy soup. Absolutely yummy and went down without any pain!!! Shrimp salad receipe: Minced Shrimp, mayo, garlic pepper, pickle juice, diced red onion. Yummy!

My favorite slow cooker receipes: Pork Butt Roast with a container of green chili salsa, and two cups of Water. Shred the roast and serve with a little cheese in the soup. Yummy. Also works with country style ribs. Pork Roast covered in coke overnight. In the AM, drain shred, and add in a bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce. Ready for Pulled Pork sandwiches for lunch. (have not tried this post band)

Outlined by age: 8 Mother put me on a diet. No candy, lots of vegetables and fruits. 9-11 Don’t remember… 12 Richard Simmons diet with my Mother. Remember the cassette tapes and book. 13 Macrobiotic diet with Mother and Aunt for about 6 months. Lots of brown rice. 14 Jenny Craig with Mother, I did the program with her even though I was not enrolled. Listened to motivational tapes, exercised, etc. 15 Richard Simmons again. Sweating to the Oldies tapes. 16 Optifast for a month and a half, stopped due to expense. (Oprah did it!) Richard Simmons again. 17 Cabbage Diet that was recommended for heart patients. Grapefruit diet. Richard Simmons again. 18 Herbalife Thermogenic formula shakes and vitamins, even bought a distributorship to get discounted product. 19 Staple in my ear, diet vitamins. Hypnosis with Grandmother: bought self help tapes and listened to them. Richard Simmons Deal a Meal and tapes. Attended OA meetings for about a month. 20 LA Weight Loss for three months, Basically low cal/low fat diet stopped due to expense. 21 Richard Simmons Deal a Meal, Farewell to fat program. 22 Saw Nutritionist told me to eat breakfast. Followed Food Pyramid Diet for a while. 23 Phen Phen with Dr. Pratemerat, Greenville, TX for two months, Richard Simmons again. Tony Little tapes. 24 Susan Powter Stop the Insanity Diet, Richard Simmons 25 Pregnant/Low sodium/Low sugar diet 26 Low Sodium. Did not really diet was nursing mother. 27 DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) 28 Richard Simmons and DASH diet. SAM-e Diet. Nikken diet products. 29 Kashi Go-Lean Diet Shakes, bars, cereal, etc 30 Dr/OBGYN put me on Low carb diet/Tried Atkins, Zone: Whey Protein Shakes, bars, cereal, etc. Fat Fast- Atkins 31 Low Carb Diet/Atkins, South Beach, Thin for good diet (Dr. Pescatore) Shakes, bars, cereal, etc* 32Low Carb Diet/Atkins/Slimfast/South Beach. Shakes, bars, cereal, etc, ADA diet, 33 6 week body makeover (for four days…too few calories.) * 33 continued: Lap band.

Well, I did it. I did it!!!! Went off the deep end and had a threesome with Ben and Jerry (New York Super Fudge Chunk). What I don't get, is that I can not eat meat unless it is ground meat, I can eat firm tofu in small pieces can not eat fresh veggies at all... But a whole pint of Ben and Jerry's went down with NO PROBLEM!!! Would really LOVE it if someone would give me an exact menu on what I should be eating. This firm Protein and veggies does not work for me until dinner time!!! (and sometimes not even then). ***I did have a safe threesome... I used a plastic spoon.

Joe: I have found on very restricted days, the blender is my friend. I have resorted to adding a little milk to my tofu and creaming it together, I have added broth and meat together to make a thick "mush". All of these things work when you like what you have to eat. But then things get old and you have to mix things up. Ice cream comes in more than 31 flavors, and I have attacked more than that too since banding... but know that I need to get back on track. At this point I am willing to do anything, because I am at a stand still and my hubby is getting a little frustrated with my behavior too (ice cream buying and such). We have spent a lot of time and money on this "tool" and I need to work it. If you like fish I posted a fish Soup receipe. And Jacks suggestion of shrimp salad works. I have also made a salad out of the artificial crab meat. Found some crab stew mix at the sea food counter and plan on trying that too. I figure as long as I have my Protein in and feel full that is what I need. Hopefully, we will continue to get more suggestions... as being tight leads sometimes leads to mashed potatoes, stuffing, and ice cream.... oh my... it can also lead us to delicious Soups, salads, and other new treats.

Just an FYI: My Step Team has come together and is doing a great job. Seems that I have actually helped bring other "groups" into the dance team. So I feel great about not letting others steer me away, the other girls may have never joined if I were not the sponsor. We have a beautiful multi-talented team now. Can't wait for us to get it together enough to perform! Oh yeah, and they love to see me try and do the steps!!! Step/jiggle/step!!!!

Jacks fine print from my threesome thread: ">fine print>>>> the management takes no responsibility for the content or conduct of the above posts.... They should not be construed as legal advice, and should not be used as such. Contact your lawyer, and consult with them before taking any advice given on this board......Objects in this mirror, are stranger than they seem...void where prohibited by law... batteries not included... some assembly required....your mileage may vary..." Should also include: Not responsible for broken hearts, total obsessions, and/or broken marriages/jealous husbands. :love: :love: :love:

Totals 1122 528281 Figured out I did some things wrong on fit day. Found the zero carb Protein drink and it brought some of my numbers down. These are my totals for today. Much better I think. Thanks to Jacks suggestions. I can barely get 4 oz of the shrimp salad down at lunch but that carries me over until I can sneak in a bite or two of cheese. Or, I will drink a V-8 during class: sip here, sip there you know. As for coffee, I don't know what else to do. I don't like hot tea. broth only goes so far too, but if I drink coffee I can eat a little lunch. The only hot tea I can stand is rasberry with splenda and a little cream (the real stuff, or milk), so don't know how great a substitute that would be. Although, a Hot Toddy would be a great start to a High School Teachers day....

Totals 1894 83181103 Cals, Fat, Carb, Protein These are my totals from Fitday.com . I did not realize how many calories I have been putting in my coffee... nor the amount of coffee I drink daily. Decaf of course, with splenda, but I add the creamer. And heck the carbs in the Ramen Noodles astound me. Easy, Fast, Salty, and Full of carbs. Will see if I can do better tomorrow. For being tight in the AM, I am sure racking up the calories.

Funny, I have a 2nd grader. I must direct his every move, or he will lie to get out of homework, pretend he is sick to skip soccer practice, and nearly lose an ear rather than wash behind it... so I understand totally. My problem as the "Ditzy Art teacher" is that I need clearly defined instructions on things that are not creative. If the state did not have a list of things required for me to do, we would be off task making paper mache messes and splatter painting the walls... Unfortunately, this band does not have clearly defined guidelines. Everyone is different, every body handles things differently, and food and the eating way of life has been changed forever. Posted a good fishy receipe that works though. Shredded wheat does not work in the morning, but may be a great after dinner snack. Guess my teaching philosophy will convert to my lapband philosophy too. "Modify and Adjust".

Ok, I am back from my Kroger trip armed with the following items: coffee Cheese: Muenster, Havarti with dill, Provalone Meat: Deli ham, turkey, beef, Raw shrimp, ground meat Crackers: Wasa Fiber Rye Fruit: Kiwi, Strawberries Veggies: mushrooms, cauliflower, avacado, tomato, onion Misc: Tofu, Holy Shredded Wheat (original, could not find enriched), Soy Milk, Water. V-8 juice (could not find carrot) Figure I will make a shrimp salad and mince the heck out of it, serve with avacado/tomato for lunches. Bag up a slice of cheese wrapped in meat for Snacks. Will try the Cereal for lunch, may have to blend it, but that will work too. I tried a Wasa cracker when I got in, which was quite good with a slice of Havarti on top, went down with no issue this afternoon. Actually forgot about the world of cheese, but I do enjoy the stuff, and it seems to go down ok. Thanks again for the ideas. If you think of any more band friendly items I am willing to try them!

I loved Effexor, but it caused sexual side effects that hurt my DH. I was taken off of Effexor and put on Cymbalta. My sister is Bi-Polar, and he has found success with Cymbalta as well. That is the main reason I requested it. A side effect of Cymbalta is weight LOSS, so that is good, and I have noticed a heck of a difference in my back pain... as in it is no longer a problem. My MIL says I either don't have it any more, or don't care that it is there. :confused: It has also helped with the sexual side effects, (TMI: I can climax again and become aroused). Good luck!