vessa

Let me first say, I desperatley love my husband and daughter more than anything. Then there's my car...to some, it may be nothing, to me it is so dear. It is the nicest and most expensive thing I have ever owned, I rent and have moved often. I have lived in 3 states (Wisconsin, North Dakota, and Minnesota) and been through some terrible weather, and a bad accident with it. It has survived. My baby is a black 2 door 1985 Buick Riviera with 70,000 miles. Yes, you heard me, 70,000. was a collector car with 40,000 when I bought it. Beautiful motor, minor rust just started on passenger door. Very quiet and depedable. I could go on and on. Anyways, here is my agony. When I was in hospital delivering my baby 2 months ago, EVERYTHING just started going to hell with the car. Minor things, brake lines, wires, etc (obviously I'm no mechanic, not even close) and we ended up paying out about $700, with probably about $400 left to fix that we couldn't afford at the time. So everything was ok for a while (and with just having a new baby, $700 really put us in the hole! We are poor people!) Now a week ago, the car wasn't shifting right...like going into gear, but not, just sitting there reving. So knowing it could be transmission, but hoping it wasn't we got transmission fluid, it worked, for a half hour until I went to kwik trip, put car in park and turned it off to go inside, and it rolled backwards! Nearly hitting a gas pump!!! I was scared to death. And devestated. we barely can afford rent, this was our only car. Now it sits in parking lot, not shifting into gear AT ALL. My husband goes to get a junker today, so he can get back and forth to work. What to do, what to do? We've been told to get rid of it, have it towed and junked for basically nothing...and we've been told to hold onto it, move it with us and repair it next year, when we can afford it. Am I holding onto something I should let go? Listen, I'm not being silly, I KNOW it could be so much worse, my daughter or my husband or both could have been in the car, it COULD have hit gas pump, it might have, it could have, etc. I know I'm lucky. I'm just very dispondant at the thought of getting some crap car when ours is in such good shape, but we are too poor to do the repairs that are a long time coming. I know it's the transmission. That's totally expensive, right? I just want to know what others would do, what would you do? And I really only want to hear from those who really really love their car, you know who you are, and I hope you can understand my pain...I want to do what is best for me and my family, i want to not give up on something i believe in. Sorry for the long-winded-ness and passion for a piece of metal, like i said, this is harder than giving away my cat i had for 10 years. Please help. Need non-judgemental opinions. thanks:car:

Ok, not all the food I eat is cheap, but I have a baby an I am a stay at home mom, while we have one income from my husband. We have roughly $70 a week, sometimes less for food and essentials. I have an aldi's in town, and I do alot of shopping there. I occasionally spend decent cash on decent food. I also realize that poverty is a huge issue in obesity, everything cheap and unhealthy comes in a box for $0.99 I guess I'm saying, I don't have alot of time or money, I cannot make meals that call for 23 ingredients, and no, I do not have orange peel or ginger root in my cupboard, and doubt I ever will. I was wondering if anyone had cheap (like under $10-$15) meal ideas, that are decent so I can feed my husband too. Not a million ingredients would be great! I have a crockpot that I love, and healthy chili is definitely a staple in our house (p.s. anyone have any substitute ideas for the noodles???) I'm just guessing, college people and young parents and singles, what do you do, without much time or money, to eat decent and satisfied?

my younger sister is on heavier side, has bAD mood swings, is losing her hair in batches, has easy time losing weight, but gains it back easier, um ...she also has hair, almost like a man on her chin and neck, I know she hates this...she is only 21...is it possible she has signs of PCOS, i have tried reading about it on the internet, but don't really understan. She is very sensitive about these issues, so i'd like to print off some stuff if she indeed has it. What are the treatment things? Does it cause the hair growth to stop or go away? (I know this would make her VERY happy) Does anyone know of an informative, layman's terms website? thanks:thumbup:

:hurt::ohmy: :shades_smile: :tt2: :sad:

Sorry, but "obamamania" is the stupidest damn thing I ever heard! Like anyone that votes for him or supports him is "caught up" in this tidal wave of hype and popularity. I am getting SO sick of the damn reporters and news networks arguing and assuming over the reasons people support him. Is it some big suprise that people who are not African American or 18 - 23 years old actually believe in what Obama has to say and think he could be a fine presient? Not according to CNN, or MSNBC, or Yahoo, or etc...right? According to them, I am a foolish moron who buys $3000 purses, doesn't worry about Iraq (because it hurts my tiny brain), can't handle the thought of someone other than an old rich white man being president, and only would vote for Obama because he's popular, like Brad Pitt. Forgive me, I opened up Yahoo this morning, and there it was...Obamamania... And as far as the hype over his middle name, since when is Hussein a swear word? How many millions of people have this name? Are we to assume Americans are so prejudice that the men living here named Hussein suffer daily ridicule? I, for one, believe that Americans are far smarter and compassionate than the news and some of our national representatives give us credit for. Shame on them for for assuming that belittling Obama, his ideas, his supporters, and our hope is newsworthy.

went through same thing...still am. there are times i will flip and bitch at my husband for 1/2 hour about the dumbest thing, and I will have to stop myself and apoplogize, it blows his mind. he just laughs, getting used to it. A few months ago, I turned the channel, and watched the last 5 minutes of Armaggedon and bawled my eyes out!

.. [ame=http://youtube.com/watch?v=r5R8gSgedh4]YouTube - Kids' Rock by Tim Hawkins[/ame] ..

when i went in for consult, the physician I seen asked me what weight loss techniques I tried. I had a nice long list to tell him (but not a shred of paperwork) When the clinic filed my paperwork to the insurance company, I'm figuring this is "attempted weight loss programs before surgery" (as I said I had numerous doctors tell me to lose weight). Also, I had to have pyschiatric counseling at mayo (prerequisite to all bariatric surgery there) and regular checkups for about 5-6 months with mayo, as I "prepared" for surgery (longest 6 months of my life, not what I liked, but seems so short now...)I occasionally seen the nutritionist. This I'm guessing is more likely the "supervised diet", as they asked me to keep a diary of foods eaten, and then "looked them over"...so they could chew me out or call me a liar..haha, either way, some do some don't. I called insurance way before i even seen doctor, and since pipsqueak rushed me on the phone so quick, I just asked him to mail me all insurance info regaring bariatric surgery. He did, and I showe them at mayo, and made sure before they finished with me before sending paperwork, I had completed all their requirments. I was approved in 8 days, over the holiday.

i love shimmy too! I have a bad heel fracture, that occasionally slows me down (cannot stand on toes) At first I felt pretty reiculous, but then, GASP! I kinda felt like,"Yeah, I'm sexy, look at me shakin' my money maker", and I will tell you, even when I was thin, I never, ever felt sexy exercising. I suck at it, I'm sure, but good lord, the day I show off learned moves to my husband, he will be so flipped out! Fun exercise that makes me feel sexy and can be new and exciting for my husband? I love it!

i had this same question in a desperate moment, tried looking into it as much as I could. I heard there is a special needle too, not to mention, what if you got all infected or over-filled, whether by port or band, and they had to suck all water out of the band in the hospital, or worse, remove it?

Arghh! A good thread I think. My "not worth it" is buffalo wings. You think after trying and failing NUMEROUS times, I woul get it through my thick skull that I cannot eat these... I swear, I will get an entire box f them (20 maybe?) nuke em' al burning hot, get a ton of bleu cheese, sit down all excited like, eat 2!!! and be miserablely stuck the rest of the day. It so stupid, its a comfort-reward type thing food. Ahhh damn you delicious un-eatable buffalo wings and bleu cheese! I refuse to blend you. ~sigh~

Jeff Foxworthy on Wisconsin If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through 38 inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping that the food will swim by, you might live in Wisconsin . If you're proud that your region makes the national news 96 nights each year because Park Falls is the coldest spot in the nation, you might live in Wisconsin . If you have ever refused to buy something because it's "too pricey," you might live in Wisconsin . If your local Dairy Queen is closed from November through March, you might live in Wisconsin . If you instinctively walk like a penguin for five months out of the year, you might live in Wisconsin . If someone in a store offers you assistance, and they don't work there, you might live in Wisconsin . If your dad's suntan stops at a line curving around the middle of his forehead, you might live in Wisconsin . If you may not have actually eaten it, but you have heard of Head cheese, you might live in Wisconsin . If you have worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you might live in Wisconsin . If you have either a pet or a child named "Brett," you might live inWisconsin . If your town has an equal number of bars and churches, you might live in Wisconsin . If you have had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you might live in Wisconsin . If you know how to say Oconomowoc, Waukesha , Menomonie & Manitowoc, you might live in Wisconsin . If you think that ketchup is a little too spicy, you might live inWisconsin. If every time you see moonlight on a lake, you think of a dancing bear,and you sing gently, "From the land of sky-blue waters,"....you might live in Wisconsin . YOU KNOW YOU ARE A TRUE WISCONSINITE WHEN: 1. Your idea of a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a tractor on thehighway. 2. "Vacation" means going up north past Hwy 8 for the weekend. 3. You measure distance in hours. 4. You know several people who have hit deer more than once. 5. You often switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day and back again. 6. Your whole family wears Packer Green to church on Sunday. 7. You can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard, without flinching. 8. You see people wearing camouflage at social events (including weddings and funerals ). 9. You install security lights on your house and garage and leave bothunlocked. 10. You think of the major food groups as beer, fish, and venison. 11. You carry jumper cables in your car and your wife or girlfriend knows how to use them. 12. There are 7 empty cars running in the parking lot at Mill's Fleet Farmat any given time. 13. You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit. 14. Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled withsnow. 15. You refer to the Packers as "we." 16. You know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction. 17. You can identify a southern or eastern accent. 18. You have no problem pronouncing Lac Du Flambeau. 19. You consider Minneapolis exotic. 20. You know how to polka. 21. Your idea of creative landscaping is a statue of a deer next to your blue spruce. 22. You were unaware that there is a legal drinking age. 23. Down South to you means Illinois . 24. A brat is something you eat. 25. Your neighbor throws a party to Celebrate his new pole shed. 26. You go out to fish fry every Friday 27. Your 4th of July picnic was moved indoors due to frost. 28. You have more miles on your snow blower than your car. 29. You find minus twenty degrees "a little chilly." 30. You actually understand these jokes, and you forward them to all your Wisconsin friends.

Just as I was closing this window, I got it...:crying: My husband would say the exact same thing, I' love to get one, but all he' ever do is hassle me to...:thumbup:

Actually, i feel now like I am eating more normal than ever, except maybe not as much as people around me (but who's to say they're eating normal?) I cannot, even as a child, remember having a normal relationship with food. I don't hate or love or obsess about or dream about food anyomre, I eat cause my belly wants to. (Not everyday, mind you, I 've had years and years of unhealthy habits to overcome). "normal" before the band was half a pizza, a bag of cookies, a huge steak, a pound of cheese etc. Now that food doesn't control my every thought, it is weird, finding hobbies and such, but this is what normal people, do, right? Besides eat?

Oh, this is my song too. And I've lost 100 pounds already once and know how it was...grueling to say the least. But I have hope, with my band. I liken my journey now to, you know, when you're watching one of those reality shows and someone is doing all this crazy stuff in this obstacle race, and they're right at the end, and they lose their ball, or plate, or whatever, and then they have to go back and start over, and everyone else is almost done, and there is this split second when you see this look on their face, devastated, like, "how can I? I gave it everything the first time, I am exhausted." ...but then they turn around and try again. I go through this daily.

If you ask me, it sounds like she's insanely jealous and just being catty and hurtful to you to make herself feel better. (Of course, every woman sadly, is doing everything to lose weight, perhaps she feels you have an advantage and she's seeing green) Women like this, I used to hate, but then I caught myself oing it, (because of another woman's success)oh my! And I felt sorry for myself that I was so petty, I coul'nt be happy for her, and instead acted like a stupid highschool girl. Why do people have to hurt others to make themselves feel better? When a gal is being catty and mean to me, now, instead of being a victim, I think about her an feel pity for her, like, "what is going on in her life that she gets pleasure from someone else's unhappiness?" An then instead of being mad, i feel compassion...and, well, pity for her, then I cannot hate her. (And sometimes I have to do this alot with certain persons, as they continually find fault in everything I do.)

2 weeks! Very unexpected, but very welcome....thank God I got the band instead of the bypass! My doctor never brought up birth control, i think it was because i was a guinea pig for the band at the hospital, one of the first. When I told the nurse, they were really shocked, they said usually body is too calorie deficient to reproduce. Obviously, that is very untrue! But I couldn't be happier, I just had to pick up with my weight loss about 6 weeks after baby, I got another fill (i had fill, but no restriction through pregnancy). I only gained 10 pounds up until 9 months, then I had hypertension, and gained 30 in last month! I looked like a beach ball! But within that 6 weeks after, I was back down to weight before baby.

I was given morphine drip that I got sick and puke off of really bad (the nurse told me alot of people are allergic to it, and I went crazy with it, so i brought it on myself). I got vicodin after, and got sick on those too, but that's me, i've been in rocovery for a long time, and my body just kinda refuses it. My suggestion would be the less you need, the better, as throwing up with a brand new band is not only a really ba idea, but it hurts too. As far as the "pain" i was in, it was mainly where my port was, and it lasted a couple of weeks. More dull and annoying than anything, like, sleeping on it sucked. I hurt a bit right when i first woke up from surgery, but there was this great nurse that sat right next to me in recovery room who every 10 minutes asked how i was, and if i was hurting, she' do something about it right away. My root canals were a worse experience.

Coolcrystal, I got to the point where I hated hate hated tuna, and I ha really hard time eating chicken breast, so I'm kinda always broke, so i go to aldi's an get their canned chicken, it's $1.70 or so a can (great value). I eat it with FF mayo, its got only 4 grams of fat for a whole can (decent size can, takes me 3 meals to eat). I always shred it up really good, and it goes own great. I miss chicken off the bone, but GAWD, if i ever have to smell stinky tuna outta a can again! Also, I take biotin, I can't say it has helped me not lose hair, I haven't lost any, but i have horribly thick hair, like I have to brush it with my fingers because it fro's straight out with a brush. Dn't quote me on it, but I think biotin is a vitamin H! from wikepidia: Biotin supplements and Hair problems Biotin supplements are often recommended as a natural product to counteract the problem of hair loss in both children and adults. There are, however, no studies that show any benefit in any case where the subject is not actually biotin deficient. The signs and symptoms of biotin deficiency include hair loss which progresses in severity to include loss of eye lashes and eye brows in severely deficient subjects. Some shampoos are available that contain biotin, but it is doubtful whether they would have any useful effect, as biotin is not absorbed well through the skin. (it's cheap at walmart too)

I had BCBS of MN too, I went to mayo and they made me go through the whole 6 months, did all the paperwork, an I got the approval in about 10 days. Iremember GAWD I hated waiting so bad! It was forever at the time! Now it is all long past, an it actually was short compared to the trial afterwards, learning new ways to eat and such. Mayo tol me BCBS of MN was fantastic for approval, and the fact that you didn't get denied right off, makes me think they will approve you very quickly when you send in new paperwork, as they will see you are truly commited. Good luck, I know it feels like forever, but everything changes when you got it, so try to enjoy the things you wouln't right now if you were banded (like a huge salad with everything, and some ribs!)

p.s. sorry, my stupid "D" button, is a piece of crap and hardly ever works!

When I first got banded, I was like, "I can eat everything i want in liquid form." Silly I know, but there is this learning period, where you go from one lifestyle to the next, an there is definitely bumps and sneaky bad food waiting for you. You know its bad for you, so great, you're that much closer. I know quite a few naughty foods, one of my weaknessess is hamburger helper stroganoff, i cooked those noodles until they were paste! I knew what i was doing, but confession and keeping the junk out of the house, for me, always was the help i needed to get back on track. I used to eat pizza sauce with melted cheese and sour cream!!! Oh, that's healthy, right? it's in liquid form... For me with food, its always 1 step forward, 2 steps back. But I won't give up, and I stopped hating myself when I mess up (recovery is so much quicker then). Take it from me, I've had my band a while now, and it is awesome when i do what octors told me to (i guess that skinny nutritionist wasn't such an airhead after all!) But I have failed miserably too, for months at a time, lying to myself. But thank Go, when I got it back together, the ban was still there. You're being honest with yourself, that's awesome, I wish I coulda been so true to me when I first got my band. Good luck

I once had a Human Resources guy get all uncomfortable when I asked him about a uniform for this dirty foundry I worked in. He all blushed and stammere, an was like, "well, um..., for your, uh...we should look at men's uniforms, because, ah...of your stout nature..." He was so uncomfortable, I changedd subject quick, but it always still makes me giggle. STOUT, like a teapot, right? Never been called that before.

The worst is when someone offers to buy you and your family really expensive brunch. (especially on a sunday morning after you had a couple drinks on saturday) My Dad (doesn't know) brought my husband and I out for brunch at a fancy fancy hotel, and paid nearly $20 a plate for us. At the end of the meal everyone was trying not to stare at me FORCING myself to finish the 1 plate I got. I will never eat brunch again!

That's a tragedy! And I thought the United States government was bad! There is big press lately about legislature to ban restaurant service for obese people in Mississippi. Its all a gimic, but offensive just the same as government sending boys and girls too young to drink to die in war, throwing drug users in jail longer than murders, and illigalizing and criminalizing a substance that naturally grows in the ground while this year, 1000's more will die from overdoses from perscirption drugs that billion dollar pharmasutical (sp?) companies pay our government big $$$ to pass with a big smiley face on them, for all your cares and worries... I used to smoke, enjoyed it quite a bit. But I chose to stop, for my own reasons, but I totally believe those who choose to use have every right. I've never done anything stupid on pot except sit on the couch and watch dumb movies. On alcohol I was in more than one bad car accident, on perscription drugs I wasted 10 years of my life in misery, pain, and poverty...and on overeating I denied reality until I was physically so sick and unhealthy I had to chose a major surgery to snap me back.