bitteroldhag

I haven't read this whole thing which is a smear on Gore, but I'd like to buy a hybrid car. I can't afford it! It would cost about $20,000+ and I can't afford that. I'm for a BIG tax break for hybrid cars so ordinary people could afford them. Without that, I don't have much hope. The old Cadillac I bought on eBay works for Mother, but it's really expensive because I have to buy premium gas. Still, we don't drive it often, and I worry that the battery will go dead or the tires will go bad because we don't drive it much. But it works for mother who will be 87 in June. What are those of us who are caregivers supposed to do? Go broke?

Wheetsin, I love you. You state the real reason to be an English major -- you can communicate in writing! We have noticed that students who are studying business and other majors at our university are not required to be able to communicate in decent English. I think this affects their ability to be hired. I remember being in a bar in the 1980s and talking to an accountant who was bewailing the inability of the new hires to write. He pointed out that accountants don't just do the numbers, but they write the annual reports, and the crop of graduates at that time couldn't do that. I'm afraid that hasn't improved. People just don't understand the importance of clear written communication. Thank you, even if you aren't a teacher.

Kity -- Super duper! I'm all for ESL teachers. You are so important! I suspect you won't believe that but it's true. Good luck on your doctorate. It's hell getting a doctorate, but it's worth it in the long run. You are definitely a winner!.

Well, I had a spirited defense of smokers but it disappeared. Laurend, lighten up. Not everyone is perfect, least of all us fat people who smell. Didn't you know?

I have yet to see actual scientific proof by a neutral party that second hand smoke is bad for anyone. In fact, the original smoking experiment with dogs who smoked solidly showed no bad effects on the dogs. As a chain smoker, it's clear that this experiment was flawed since smoking does affect smokers with COPD and lung cancer. However, I have not seen a convincing study that shows that second hand smoke creates more problems in the general population which suffers from exhaust from cars as well as other irritants. I do not recommend smoking, but as a smoker, I'm getting pretty tired of the Gestapo tactics to keep us away from others. One of my former students lives in Taiwan and he said that a Swede there pointed out that people in the U.S. can't smoke in bars. Taiwan is more liberal that we are. I'm sort of tired of a few people deciding what all the people will do. If you don't like to be around smokers, go someplace else. Don't try to force your opinions on others. That's not true democracy. That Hitler's Germany. Clearly, I'm an unrepentant smoker.

I have had an abortion and never regretted it for one moment. I was too immature to have a baby and the father ran out on me. I never answered my letters or calls. He didn't care. So I was left with the fetus. I hadn't even graduated from college at the time. I had no other choice because I knew that I couldn't give a baby a decent life. I didn't have decent life for myself at that time. In my opinion, other people can just butt out about abortion. It's a choice the mother makes, and I don't think others should, or could, possibly make that choice for the mother. However, if people insist on stopping abortion, I recommend that pro-lifers pay for the mother to have the baby as a surrogate mother. The going rate for surrogate mothers is too little. I recommend at least $500,000. Then pro-lifers should adopt the baby, and raise it since it is their responsibility. No child should be sent to an orphanage. This should only apply to women who didn't mean to get pregnant. If they did want to get pregnant, they should raise the kid. Above all, no male should have any opinion on this. When man can have babies, they can have a say. Until that time, they should butt out because all they contribute is sperm. They don't go through months of bodily discombobulation, and they don't have to take care of the baby once it is born. I get a little irate about people trying to decide what one should with one's own body. It's your body! Screw them! Make pro-lifers pay and adopt.

Holy smoke! What is it with young people and tattoos? I wouldn't even consider a tattoo. Okay, I've thought about a lady bug on my boob, but I didn't do it. It hurts! Then there's the problem of infection though I have to admit that I had my ears pierced by my roommate in college with a corsage pin. I wish I could live long enough to see all these tattoos sagging when the kids are old. I think one's butterfly may turn into a dragonfly when one is 70. I think it will be hilarious to see senior citizens with flames on their calves. Whoo hoo hoo.

I was banded by Dr. Rodriguez in Monterrey, Mexico, and it was wonderful. The hospital was better than any hospital I've even seen in the U.S., and the nurses were great. Dr. Rodriguez was also very good as was his team. We stayed in the Hilton and it was quite nice and the people there were used to dealing with bandsters. The only problem I encountered is that the seats in the lobby of the hospital are a little deep for recent stomach surgeries and American Airlines was crummy. But I felt like a queen during this procedure and I liked that. I paid $9,000 for the queenly treatment in Monterrey.

Congratulations! Welcome to the band. Be prepared to lose some weight in the next few months.

musicmom-- Public schools are mess. Any student can make a complaint and the school board will always assumes the student is right. How ridiculous! There are about 1% of teachers who deserve complaints. The rest are just trying to help students I wouldn't teach in a public high school for a million dollars a year. Good for you for trying.

What sort of law keeps the People from knowing what's going on/ We're paying for this little adventure. I feel that the stockholders ought to know the truth. I appreciate the guys on You Tube who are explaining how my dollars are being misused. Frankly, I can't afford it.

Well, I support your political beliefs, but the real point is that in this country, we should be able to voice our beliefs without having people rant at us. I think this guaranteed by the Constitution. But some folks don't think the Constitution applies these days. I think it does. So screw those folks. Don't get your feelings hurt. You are standing up for the Constitution. I'm going to bed now.

I'm old so I don't get hit on anymore. When I was young, I was thin and got hit on all the time. I didn't like that. I think you are doing very well and it's great you got your degree. On another topic, I went to the dating sites and saw some old fat men who were cute. I like old fat men. I may check some of these sites if Mother ever dies and I have a life again. Thanks for the info.

I'm a little late for this discussion because I've been having computer problems. But my solution for the abortion problem is that anti-abortionists should simply pay women who are denied an abortion for having the baby as a surrogate mother. I think the going rate should be about 1/2 to 1 million dollars plus medical expenses since having babies is very dangerous to the mother's health. After the baby is born, the anti-abortionists should adopt the baby and raise it. That would be another, oh say, $100,000. This would relieve the birth mother and help the baby. I think that people who want to punish a mother should be willing to ante up and take the unwanted kids into their own homes. Otherwise, their argument is specious because they want a lot of unwanted kids to be born for their own reasons, not the reasons of the mother. Her reasons for abortion may be quite specific and reasonable, but the anti-abortionists want to regulate her body. Though I am long past the age of having children, I still don't think other people should determine what should be done with one's body unless those people are willing to pay the price. What I see too often is retribution for having an unwanted baby. Therefore, the only reasonable alternative is for anti-abortionists to adopt and pay for unwanted children. Therefore, women who are bearing unwanted children should be considered surrogate mothers and paid accordingly. In my opinion, this would put paid to the abortion debate. Long live men who want to rule women's lives.

After losing 40 pounds, I can feel my port when I'm standing up, but not when I'm lying down. Weird! Since I don't intend to get to be really skinny, I hope to lose 20 more pounds and leave it at that. At that point, I think I'll be able to feel the port pretty well though I still have quite a lot of fat on my stomach area. That seems the be the last to go away.

Welcome to Oklahoma. I have lived here much of my life and have never been in a tornado. It depends on where you live. If you live near Oklahoma City I'd get a safe room. I live in eastern Oklahoma and we don't have much trouble with tornadoes since they tend to break up when they hit the hills. I would go for a safe room since basements are not common here and can flood in the torrential rainstorms we get, not that we've had a lot of them lately apparently due to global warming. However, I have been in rainstorms that were so heavy that I had to pull the car off the road and wait until it died down. I couldn't see beyond the hood of my car. I don't have a safe room or a cellar. But my grandparents had a cellar. They lived in Macintosh county which is prone to tornadoes. I live in Cherokee country which is not. So it depends on where you live. If you live in flat country, definitely protect yourselves. But I have noticed that lately tornadoes are more common in the deep South, Kentucky, Tennessee and the midwest than they are here. We also have excellent weather alerts here just in case. In fact, if bad weather is around, the TV stations keep everyone informed and they tell us when to take cover. In Oklahoma, if you hear a siren go off, take cover. I was in Missouri once and the sirens sounded on a perfectly clear day. I was freaked out and went to the motel office to ask if a tornado had been sighted. They said the siren was a fire alarm. Here, if sirens go off, we get worried. A key thing to know is that if the atmosphere turns green and you can't hear any sounds, seek cover. I was in a tornado in Louisville, Ky, years ago and I noted that the atmosphere turned green and we couldn't hear the expressway which was about 1/2 block away. That tornado did some major damage in Louisville, though not to our area. Also if hail is bigger than 1/2 inch in diameter, take cover. Tornadoes produce large hail. But we haven't had much tornado trouble lately. So welcome to Oklahoma. You're going to like it here. People are so friendly and kind and the weather is generally good except it's hot in the summer. My recommendation is to quit worrying about tornadoes and get a good air conditioning system.

I have noticed that I wear everything from a 14 to an 18 and some 20s depending on the manufacturer. Someone said that it would be nice for women's clothes to have the same size types as men's clothes. Men can just get a shirt that fits around the neck. I have to try on all sorts of sizes to find something that fits. I have a Pendleton jacket that is a size 20 and fits just fine. I have a Leslie Fay suit that is a regular 18 and fits perfectly. I also have a bunch of size 16 pants that fit and some 14 jeans that are perfect. I have blouses ranging from XL to 2X and they all fit. It's really weird that women's clothing lines can't come up with a standardized fit. But I notice that Alfred Dunner clothes are very large. I can wear and XL in Alfred Dunner clothes while an 1X in the same line are too small. This is strange. Of course, the selling point is that I can wear smaller size clothing in Alfred Dunner clothes which I like, but it's a lie. I really wear somewhere between a 16 and an 18. I'm thrilled to be down from a 20-22. Someday, I hope to wear real size 16 clothing. That will be a red letter day for me but I need to lose more pounds to do that.

Who is Courtney Love?

I am opposed to people who force their religion on others. Cab drivers are there to drive people to destinations. That's their job. If they don't want to do that job, quit. I also really despise pharmacists who refuse to sell women birth control pills. These pharmacists should probably own their own drug stores which explicitly state in their advertising that they will not sell birth control products. That can cut down on religious objections because many customers will not go there. If I owned a drug store and a pharmacist refused to fill a prescription on religious grounds, I would fire him/her. That interferes with the bottom line. If the cab drivers are self-employed and want to interfere with their own incomes, let them do it. But I agree with Carlene that they should immediately have to go to the end of the line and wait for an acceptable customer.l

I smoke and have sinus trouble. This is very helpful with body odor. I can't smell much at all. When I was in beauty college years ago, they gave me a woman with terrible body odor. I couldn't smell a thing. Later, the other students asked me how I managed to do this woman's hair, but it was no problem for me. I quit smoking for a year about 14 years ago, and I noticed a lot of bad smells. I started smoking again, and the smells miraculously disappeared. Now I'm the one who smells due to smoking. People are pretty polite about it, but I know I smell. Too bad. I may smell bad to them,but no one smells bad to me except one student who apparently never took a bath. He smelled so bad that even I noticed it. He dropped out of school though, possibly because he smelled so bad that he was lonely. Baths are good.

I'm a picky eater which is weird for a fat girl. I cut off all the fat on a piece of round steak and cut out anything that looks weird, like blood veins or whatever. You can read the tags on the meat at the store and it will say bottom round or top round. Either one will work. I simmer the smothered steak for about an hour to 1 1/2 hours on the top of the stove until it's fork tender. You stick a fork in it and wiggle it around to see if it sort of breaks up. If it does, it's done. Take it up and let the flour fry down so you get to eat the brownings which I scrape off the bottom of the skillet. Make sure you cover the steak while it's simmering so that it steams. I find that covering stuff while baking it or simmering it really tenderizes it which makes it easier for me to eat. Also cooking stuff for a long time at low heat tenderizes it, so when I bake something, I usually allow about 1 1/2 hours of baking time. When I get the brownings out of the skillet, I make cream gravy. Gravy is hard to learn to make, but once you get it down, you can do it. You keep about 2 tbs of grease in the skillet (I pour the rest in a coffee can to use later) and add about 2 tbs of flour or more to make the roux sort of like melted caramel. Then add a cup or more of milk and stir it around when it starts to boil. Salt and pepper the gravy to taste. This gravy is criminal, it's so good. I have to make it because Mother demands it. I then put the gravy over the smothered steak and eat it. The idea of smothered steak is that it makes it's own gravy which it does, so you can take it up when it gets tender and is surrounded by gravy. But that means you can't eat the brownings. Mother never gets the brownings since I scrape them all up and eat them. But if you don't particularly care for grease and flour, just serve the steak with it's own gravy. Be sure to put plenty of garlic on the steak before you cook it as well as salt and pepper. I think garlic is God's gift to mankind. I make pork chops by putting them in a baking pan with about 1/4 cup of water and letting them bake for about 1 1/2 hours. Then I take them out and broil them for a few minutes to brown them. They are very tender and good though somewhat dry. So I usually make some sort of veggie to mix with the pork chop when I eat a chiclet sized piece of the pork. I absolutely love Stouffer's cheese potato bake which comes frozen and serves 2 people. It works really well with pork chops. I also like their Harvest Apples which are good with pork. I sometimes make a small pork roast by putting it in some tin foil in a pan and dumping a can of sauerkraut on it. Seal up the tin foil and bake it at 350 degrees for about 1 1/2 hours. You can then open up the tin foil and let it brown. It doesn't taste like sauerkraut. It tastes good. The Harvest Apples are good with this. I don't make much chicken anymore, but one recipe that really tenderizes chicken is Maryland Country Captain. It's a lightly curried chicken dish with tomatoes and onions. You can probably find a recipe online. I use my Betty Crocker cookbook from abouut 1962. I highly recommend old Betty Crocker cookbooks. You can always make the stuff less fattening and the recipes taste really good. Another thing I like is ribs from the grocery store. I get the cooked baby back ribs which are cheaper cooked than they are raw. Then I cut the rack of ribs in two so they'll fit in the pan, brush a little more barbecue sauce on them and put a little water (maybe 2-3 TBS) in the baking pan with them and cover the pan. Cook them for about an hour and they will be really tender. I put a little more barbecue sauce on them and broil them for a couple of minutes because I think barbecue sauce should be slightly burned to taste good. This is because my Dad always burned the barbecue sauce. I absolutely love these ribs. You can do the same thing with raw baby back ribs. Just brush some barbecue sauce on them, add a little water and bake them for about 1 1/2 hours or so and proceed like the bought ribs. I like to cook though I find it boring to cook everyday. So I experiment to see what I can eat. Hope this helps. Cooking can be really fun and intellectually challenging. Be prepared to screw it up at first though. I have learned to eat burned things. If it's too burned for me, the dogs will eat anything.

I find that bran flakes provide a lot of comfort for me since I'm old as the hills and need lots of fiber. I have trouble eating fresh vegetables though I eat cooked vegetables, but bran flakes will provide daily comfort every time.

You can drink, but not too much. Avoid gassy stuff like champagne unless you want to be anti-social because it causes major gas. Still wine is good and, of course, brandy which is based on wine. Also watch for really acidic drinks because they can burn all the way down. But a few glasses of wine or something shouldn't hurt you if you are healed up. Enjoy the weddings! You are going to look really good when you attend them.

I'm not as perfect as these other folks. I have lost 40 pounds in about 10 months but I don't do the exercise and I eat anything I want. I eat too many sweets but I plan to stop that soon. I also will try to exercise some though I absolutely loathe exercise. My back has developed some problems that exercise can help I think. That's just due to age. Even though it has cost me about $350 per pound lost, I would do it again. I have problems with PBs (projectile belching) but that's because I either eat too fast or don't chew enough. Most men lose weight pretty easily with the band and the plus is that you have such a small stomach you don't gain the weight back unless you work at it. I have cellulite on my stomach! I'm thrilled. I hope to lose 20 more pounds. I'd say go for it. I have not regretted it. But get as much info as you can about it so you don't go into it blind. Be aware that the first day after surgery hurts. You have a lot of air that has been blown into your abdomen and it takes a while to get it out. But I was feeling pretty perky in a couple of days. I went to Monterrey, Mexico for my surgery and it was great. The doc is an expert and I've never been in such a fancy hospital in my life. I thought I was rich. The worst part of that trip was flying on American Airlines down there and back. Be sure to ask every question you can think of on this forum. We've been there and done that. By the way, welcome to the forum.

I have discovered smothered steak. It's probably fattening but I can eat it. To make it, you take some round steak and cut off all the fat and crap. Then salt, pepper and garlic it and dip it in flour. Put some grease in the skillet and brown the meat then pour in about 3 cups of Water and let it simmer away for a long time. The meat will get really tender. I always let the water boil away and scrape up the brownings and eat them. They are the perfect mixture of flour and grease. Then I make gravy with the leftover grease and I mean to tell you this is good. I learned to make this from my mother and aunt, good old Okies who can cook. I like to make this because it is really good and is Atkins sound. Also the tenderizing of the boiling is wonderful because I can eat this stuff without PBing.