SherryW

Awwww I miss all the fun out here in New England. If anyone visits this area definately let me know I'd love to meet ya! Just got done wrapping all the gifts....put them under the tree. Now....gotta clean my office and bedroom before the weekend and I'll be set. WHEW! Never ends does it ladies? So....TOM is overdue and it's really causing problems weight wise grrrrr. I'm not sleeping well at all...feel really tired...and just don't have time to give into a nap or two. Oh well....this too shall pass. In the meantime...that scale is my enemy right now grrrrrrrrr

Most welcome and you two take a wonderful picture! You look Awesome!

You are very welcome. Well...spose I need to get off this thing and wrap those presents piled up UGH. Dang I should of bought more gift bags hahahaah

Hey Kat - Send on over to me home email and I'll be glad to resize them for ya :girl_hug:

Bean - glad you're feeling better...hope your doc visit went ok. Betty - You're hand is still bothering you? Have you had it looked at. Cindy - 3 days...wowza that's amazing how fast it's going. Darcy - Ewwwww on the kiddo getting sick. Hope she's feeling better. Oh and 9 boys plus my own and THAT was the end of those kind of parties lol. Eilene - How are you? I miss ya! Mandy, Allison, Kat, Patty, Pat, Anne.......hope you're doing well. Wrapping.......oh my that has to begin for me. Tonight I bagged all the pretzels MY GOODNESS I made alot lol. Hugs!

Hi everyone...yeap I planned the weeks activities but, with help. I run the activities committee and have about 8 other helpers....but...of course I have to make sure it all runs smoothly. I know I know I can't say no lol. Today was the bake-off so I was running around trying to find judges that didn't bake lol. I baked last night at the last minute.....banana mini chip bars...they were pretty good for my first time making them and I won 2nd place lol. No prize but, hey it was fun. Lots of goodies there. Had to order 30 pizzas for tomorrow and get the chocolate squared away for Wed and Ice cream for Thursday. Good thing I'm retaining fluid so my band is tight this week lol TOM should be making an appearance soon but, it's decided to wait a while I guess. I've over due probably because of stress. (Noooo I'm not pregnant or as my DH would say.....it's someone elses lol)

Does Lucy Ricardo come to mind when you see this picture hahaha. I asked mom if she wanted to have a chocolate fight...kinda like the dish cloth fight we had when I was younger. I remember washing dishes with her and I put suds on her nose so she put them on mine, I then took a handful and put it on her cheek and she chased me around the house with a wet dish cloth, I ran out the front door and the screendoor slammed shut just as she threw it at me hahaha. The water went everywhere! Anyway....she said we should play a trick on my DH and call him down after we painted our faces with chocolate. Of course....there wasn't much on our clothes lol We had a great laugh and DH snapped this photo. (Man I need to give that sweatshirt away it's just hanging but it's comfy hahaha)

Popcorn also sits ok with me but, I try to avoid those really hard husks

Chrispy told me I should post my picture so here it is. I hope you're all doing well and all set for the Holidays. I wish each and everyone of you a very Happy Holiday Season!

Hi MyPov, The day before I cried because I kept asking myself "what are you doing to yourself" but, then I kept thinking I've tried everything else and failed. This was a tool that was going to help me continue past the plateaus that caused me to fail before. It will limit my food until I get a handle on it myself etc. Then I was feeling great and concentrated on what I had to bring with me to the hospital and went to bed. I too had to get up at 3am to leave the house for 4am and be at the hospital at 5am for a 7am operation. I just kept telling myself, I'm worth it and went with it. It was the best thing I ever did for myself! Good luck in the AM. Let us know how you're doing.

According to my food lists with my own physician Chili is a mushy. Lots of protein in it too. Enjoy!

Hi Anne..yea those are ornaments but, not all of them lol. DH forgot a box up in the attic and it's just too late to bother now lol. I love your tree! Thanks for the compliment on the picture with DH I got the blouse at Lane Bryant on sale..whew! You can resize pictures by going to the file where you have it and right click on the picture. Look for "Open with..." and click it. I usually choose Microsoft Photo Editor. Once it's open right click on the picture and click resize....I usually use "small" and click save. The new picture will be labelled the same but, will say (small) next to the name of the file. Then use that one to post to threads Hope that helps. Hugs Sherry

Hello my friends, I feel like I've been a stranger lately and I apologize for that. Things are the usual nuttyness but, I'm always reading and checking to see how everyone is doing. I just baked something different for tomorrows Bake-Off at work. The recipe was on the back of the mini-morsel bag and it's called Banana Mini Chip Bars. The smelled great coming out of the oven but, I can't cut them until they cool completely. Which means I'll be running around tomorrow morning lol. The guys were disappointed because they thought I was baking for them. I told them if they taste good, I'll bake them some tomorrow. They love my banana bread so many they'll like these. Mom and I made the chocolate dipped pretzels today. MAN it's hard to find pretzels that aren't all broken up. Anyway we used 4 huge bags of the medium weight pretzels and 3 bags of pretzel rods. We used dark chocolate and milk chocolate with holiday sprinkles. Tomorrow we'll make the small pretzels with white chocolate drizzled with green and red chocolate. I also made some hand dipped jumbo cashews, cashew bark and cashew clusters. After the white chocolate pretzels are done we'll have to bag them all. I got some clear candy bags and curly ribbon to do that. I'm making those for my employees for Christmas and Mom is giving them to her friends. I also thought I'd put together a platter for DH to take to work and a tin for my neighbors across the street. I also have to put together my gingerbread houses. I bought two kits to make them...lazy that I didn't bake my own but, I like how the little houses look I posted a picture of DH and myself on our picture thread. Chrispy told me I should lol. I actually like this one so that's amazing lol. If you only knew what I went through to buy an outfit Why is it even after you lose so much you don't like yourself in anything? I was so down on myself until my mother slapped me upside the head lol. Poor mom lol Dragged her everywhere to help me. She was awesome (by the way...she also puts up a good chocolate fight while making pretzels lmao). She was great and really helped me get some confidence back. Must be because TOM is around the corner. Bean - I do hope you're feeling better now. Have you seen a doctor? Did you finally finish your tree? Cindy - My goodness your retirement is coming fast isn't it congratulations. Sounds like your party was alot of fun and I think that's great! I saw TransSi concert 2 years ago in Providence, RI and it was great! I knew you were going to enjoy it...and what new seats! Lucky girl! Betty - sounds like you were really busy this weekend. Flowerbeds.....worked on em...wow...wish I had your energy. You know I was bitten by a spider once while working in the yard. It bit me in the ear and it swelled up like a balloon. The doc could see two tiny bites so she put me on something....can't remember what. I can bet that's what happened to you. That would definately make your joints achy and hand swell up. Definately have that looked at if. Have you checked for bite marks? Eileen - How are things going? Is your boss going to be there all week this week too? I'm not able to post during work because I constantly have people in my cubicle. I can't wait to have my office, we're waiting for the furniture to come sometime in January. Long drawn out process UGH. My mom is doing great, thank you for asking. She's been more upbeat lately, probably because I'm keeping her very busy lol. She really doesn't like the holidays but, I think it's because she gets so disappointed with my siblings. She really wishes they'd call her or visit but they don't. There isn't anything I can do about it. When they've visited a few times, I've always given them their privacy and not bugged them unless they called me downstairs. So that's not it...I have no clue why they are the way they are. I can only love my mom the way I always have right? Is DD ready for Christmas? Are you? Darcy - How are you feeling? How many kiddos slept over your house for the party? I did that one time for my son...he had 9 other boys sleep over and here I was a single mom at the time. UGH...The kids just wouldn't go to sleep. I finally had to turn the lights out at 3am and say that's it go to bed lol. Then a few were up at 6 and woke up the others. UGH Nothing like feeding 10 teenage boys! Never again I told him lol Hope yours went well. Patty - Anything more on your surgery process? Are you all set for Christmas for your boys? Hope you're doing ok. Pat - Where are youuuuuu. Did you get your tree? Is it decorated? Can we see it hee hee Mandy, Allison, Anne, Dianne....HIDEY HO ho ho hows it going? I've hogged enough of the thread for now....this week starts Holiday week at work. You know who is the Chair for the Activities Committee so here is what is planned: Monday - Bake Off Tuesday - Pizza Lunch Wednesday - Chocolate Day Thursday - Ice Cream Sundae Day Friday - Italian Lunch Prizes are being given away each day with 10 being given on Friday. I can't tell ya what yet just in case someone from work reads the thread lol. Chat with you soon Goils! Hugs to you all!

Chrispy told me I should post this after showing her. This was taken Friday before we went to DH's company Holiday Party.

Cass...I'm 10 months out today and still can't eat bread without having indegestion from it. Looks like you're taking after me. lol. If you don't mind...what type of enzyme tablet did you end up with? I bought some Papaya tablets but that didn't help with bread it does help with proteins though.

Cute one Mandy lol Vegge - I saw my surgeon today and I told him it seems that I get Acid reflux just before my period is due. I think it's because I retain fluid and it makes things tighter. He explained that if things are too tight that the acid can't freely flow back down to the lower stomach portion. He said if it happens more than just this time of month and more than 2 days in a row that I probably need a slight unfill. You definately DON'T want to fool around with this. Call your doc. Let him/her explain to you the complications that can happen if you have it too often. I got pretty scared and will definately watch it for myself. Good luck and I do hope you feel better. I use the Tums smooth melt tablets and they help me quite a bit.

Laphappy...congrats on your surgery and don't get discouraged by the weight gain as it is due to the surgery. You'll loose that pretty soon...just think of all the fluids they pumped you up with! Those fluids don't flow easily out until you're up and about walking around. I had bruising as well and although my port site was sore at first it healed rather quickly. For me it was the incision that is up on your left by your ribs that took forever for me to feel ok with. I asked Dr. Jones and Angi why it hurt so much and they told me that's because that's the site that most of the work is done through in regards to moving your liver out of the way and putting the band around your stomach. There is alot more in and out motion in that area and that spot took me over a month and a half to finally feel normal. I had a hard time getting up and down for about a week and a half as well. No surgery is easy peasy and your body thinks it went through a train wreck lol. One day at a time. Hello my other BIDMC gals! I went to see Dr. Jones today and met Scott. DH and him hit it off both being military of course. My DH was on Submarines for 9-10 years so they talked alot about that stuff. I liked the fact that he asked alot of questions and gave me answers for stuff I had. Example...I sometimes have acid reflux. Seems mostly when my period is due and that is when my band is tighter too. Dr. Jones says....if I get that 3-4 days in a row I need to probably have a little fill taken out as it's not good and can cause other problems. If I throw up too much it causes something that brings on memory loss too? I told him I seem to only throw up once a month and again it's usually when it's close to my period and I think it's because I don't realize how swollen my body is...eat like I'm used to and BINGO too much too fast BLECK. I need to learn still to slow down even more. Anyway....Jones was very happy with my weight loss and said he doesn't need to see me for another 6 months unless I call them with a problem. I asked if I felt I needed a fill could I call he said yes but, if I'm getting acid reflux that could be that I have too much fill and if I lose more weight and it adjusts itself so I'm not getting it anymore then that means I'm at the right level of fill. Soooo I stay where I am fill wise...and see him in 6 months Ohh and OMG I hit 75 pounds lost today Yippee Skippee.....3 more pounds to ONDERLAND!

OMG.....***squint squint***blink blink***....is that right? I hit 75 pounds today!...wasn't sure I was going to make it the way I seemed to be hungry yesterday. Now lets see if I can keep it there or lower it through the holidays Couldn't do it without you gals..thank you for all the support you've given me, I truly appreciate it!

Congratulations Cass!!! Thats fantastic news and do let us know ALL about the wedding plans as they come along. Cindy...wowza girl time is flying by! I've got the next 3 days off to clean the house, finish up the Christmas shopping and get it all wrapped. Hmmmm already got tomorrow planned though UGH. Dentist in the a.m. then to the bariatric doc in the afternoon. Don't think I'm going for a fill considering I just lost my dinner BLECK! I think TOM is around the corner and things are tighter than I thought and BINGO grrr just hate that. liquids for me tomorrow I guess. So maybe I'll get the cleaning done in between visits. Problem with going to Boston for my bariatric appointment is it's at 2:30 have to leave here at 1, see the doc and the nutrionist then head home during commuter traffic...won't be home until after 6pm. LONG DAY! Oh well I'll have two more after that Hope everyone is doing well. Miss ya all...sorry I haven't had time for personals but, I'm thinking of you all.

Dr. Jones told me my surgery took an hour but I was in recovery for about 2.

Thank you everyone of course Jake decided that Jenny's red bandana was better than his so he ripped it off lol. He's unreal...loves to chew. My tree is finally decorated but now I can't find my Angel topper or my tree skirt, I guess there is another box in the attic. Well it ain't happening it's staying the way it is lol.

ok are ya ready? ..........drumroll please.......rat ta tat tat......MY TREE IS DECORATED...but errrr can't find the tree skirt or angel for the top..as Charlie Brown would say GOOOOOOD GRIEF!

This one has plaid on it too but it's Burberry London. I think it's too florally and I'm going to end up with a migraine. I just dropped Greg off at work at the mall so I went into Macy's and squirted myself with it to see how I do today. I can't find Givenchy's Organza Indecence anymore. No one is carrying it and from what I'm told they aren't going to make it anymore. Go figure! UGH. I tried an Avon one last week and BINGO headache so that's out. Not sure I'm liking this London...seems strong to me not a clean, fresh, femininy smell.

OMG Eileen what the heck where they thinking? People have candles out during the holidays etc. What makes these gals think kids won't try this stuff? I mean the guy just showed them how you can do it and not get hurt!!! ERRRRRRRRR that was pretty stupid! So the parents spend the afternoon telling the kids how it's a trick and the man had special clothes on and how he coated his throat with special stuff...heck make something up so the kids don't do it. That's so scarey!! I'm still iffy on keeping the perfume though....I wish you can try the stuff on for a day before buying it. I'll be ticked if I have it on and end upwith a headache. Ya think I could open it enough to squirt it once today and get away with it?

Thanks Eileen...I just hate having my picture taken but, DH insisted plus we couldn't get those two to sit long enough together in front of the tree without kissing or chewing on each other lol. We got Jenny the reddish one first...then I went to buy fish and bingo Jake came right up to me with those puppy eyes and I couldn't resist. They get along great and have fun together so if I overlook all the fur all over the place I'm ok lol. Lets just say we go through vacuum cleaner bags almost like going through toilet paper around here lol. I bought them Christmas sweaters with blinking lights and santa hats hmmm wonder how long before they rip them off each other lol