ifyourstomachoffendsyou

Your throat clearing and soreness is probably esophageal or pharyngeal reflux. Acid is creeping up your esophagus and into your pharynx. Either lose a few lbs or get a slight unfill. You may also be experiencing a cough when you lie down at night. sleep with your upper body elevated. Follow an acid reflux diet. Avoid coffee, tea, acidic foods, chocolate etc till it calms down. Or get you a script for Nexium or something. Arthritis pain can trigger overeating and lack of exercise. I'm making sure I can still take my anti-inflammatory. Cheri

I have to take an anti-inflammatory every day. I take it with food or try to coat my stomach with something. Right now I'm tight from weight gain and am having some trouble taking it. I'm using an antacid when I take it to protect my stomach. When I'm not tight I have no trouble at all. More reason to take these lbs back off. I do supplement with Tylenol extra strength if I need more pain killer. I take half the anti-inflammatory I used to take. Need less with the weight loss. I have heard that Tumeric (spice) is a great natural anti-inflammatory but that doesn't mean it isn't hard on the stomach. Same with Fish Oil supplements. Those are known to contribute to reflux.

Sorry you've been sick Kisti. Jessica, way to go on everything. Seems like your life just keeps coming together. I'm on a toot with the food. Can't seem to stop. Just so sick of eating good for almost 2 years. Don't quite know what to do with myself right now. Facing some big challenges and changes at work. Daughter is so sick. My husband is working on changing up his hours. That might help some. Better weather might help. Been raining and overcast and cold for a few days. Need to find a new hobby for at night. Cheri

LInda, so sorry for your loss. I'm trying to get some time freed up from work next week to spend time with my daughter. This next round on Monday is probably going to be her worst and I want to be there to help her. Cheri

Don't know if I ever said beautiful pic of you and your daughter, Sandi. They were gorgeous. Happy Birthday Eva! Had a tearful or verge of tears day today. Rachel is the last thing on my mind when I fall asleep and the first on my mind when I wake up. I'm hoping to take some family leave time next week and spend the week with her after her chemo next Monday. This will be her final dose of the big time chemo. Each time she's been more and more sick and the aftereffects last longer. Her DH needs a break. And I need to spend time with her. For me. Cheri

Melissa, hope you get the full-time position. Take care of your back. One Day at a Time. Your Mantra. Linda, praying for your DB. Janet, glad you're able to exercise again. Can't believe the vertigo issues on this thread. You and Linda exercise more than anyone on here and Apples runs around doing stuff beyond anybody I know. Gets more natural exercise than anyone on here. Makes me wonder if there's a relationship. Jewel, the new thing in your life is your BC pills. Could they be causing fainting as well as other issues? Are you getting enough Protein and eating it frequently enough? I had trouble during my concert because I went too long without protein. Great, blood pressure meds and other meds can cause pharyngeal reflux. (One of the side effects of my daughter's chemo) So can your band. I would also see another specialist on that node and not take a chance. Any lump is nothing to fool around with. Ask my daughter. Who, by the way, is miserably sick from the chemo. So hard to watch her suffer. One more dose of this heavy-duty chemo, then she switches to "chemo-light." It will attack the cancer from another angle. Tumor continues to shrink rapidly. The best outcome is for the tumor to be completely killed by the chemo by the time of the surgery. Her cancer is so aggressive that that will improve her survival rates to 80%. She has done research on her type of cancer and its amazing to sit and listen to her talk so matter-of-factly about her outcomes. Her cancer has very few estrogen receptors making that line of attack (eliminating estrogen from the body completely via complete removal of ovaries and tamoxifen) not at all effective for her. Laura, how is your dad doing? Apples, I'm so sorry. Hope some of your issues get resolved. Cheri

Linda, we had a temporary principal whose job has devolved to keeping the school open and running and setting it back on its financial feet. He's just now getting to improving the educational climate. It's been one crisis after the other. Meanwhile we've been looking for a full-time principal and we've found one who is an African-American female who has years in the classroom and as an administrator and retired a year ago. I think she'll be able to take us to the next level and start the rebuilding process for the school. She has a lot of contacts in the Roseland community and will hopefully be able to help us increase our enrollment. She and her daughter (who does grant-writing) are already working on bringing us more resources, equipment and students. Yesterday, we looked at a new reading curriculum. A presenter came from the company with materials we could look at. It's the latest research based /standards based curriculum that really works on providing differentiated instruction based on mastery of skills (materials geared to various levels of ability/achievement). It also provides constant assessment to determine which students can move on to harder levels or enrichment and which need more instruction. I was impressed but not sure how I'll fit into the picture. It may be harder than ever to pull kids from the classroom to do academic support. We have fewer specials I can pull them from to do my thing with them. I'm supposed to be supplemental but there has to be supplemental time from which I can pull them. Wrote that this morning. Now I'm back from being at my daughter's all afternoon. This was an incredibly beautiful day and the kids just didn't want to quit playing outside. Skylar seldom has an opportunity to play outside with other kids so I just stayed and let her play. Allowed me to spend time with my daughter and to do some of her laundry. Back home. Busy day tomorrow, too. Cheri

Hi everyone. Got asked to babysit Skylar tonight so my youngest DS could take his wife out for their anniversary. Rachel is still sick as a dog (she now has horrible reflux, her throat and esophagus are burning with it) so I ran out by her and picked up David and Joshua and am having the 3 overnite. I was hoping to have my other DS's daughter, Leah, too, but she is with her mom's relatives because Mom is in labor. So, I may get a call sometime tonight or tomorrow. Last I heard 10 minutes apart but not hard. She's due the 26th but baby is a big boy and she is not a big girl. LOL. My son, his father, was 22 1/2 " and weighed 9lbs. 2oz. I remember when I was 7 1/2 mo along with him there came a day where it felt like he was pushing steadily in all directions (he'd been very active) like he was determined to make more room for himself. Maybe he was turning upside down and it just took all day and he was stuck crosswise but I remember feeling like I was going to split, and the next day I had a brand new stretch mark, the first one that reached above my belly button. I have to say that, unless I inherit a few million dollars, I'm not likely to have PS. It's not just the expense, its the guilt over spending money on trying to repair what would never have happened if I hadn't gained all that weight. The one thing I would spend money on is getting my varicose veins repaired. They are embarassing, very visible (starting to cover my feet), and gross people out. I haven't worn shorts in year but my ankles and feet are totally visible in my flip-flops and capris. I'm just "vein" enough to want to vanish them. I refuse to wear Spanx because they are so uncomfortable. They hurt my band and I feel like I can't breathe. I get cramps. Plus, they are way too hot. I am a heavy perspirer and being hot makes me swell and sweat at the same time and I am totally miserable. And I start to stink. So, I'm finding these really cute bloussy tops that cover the ripples and the mushroom cap from my waistband and disguise the little hanging roll of skin from my tummy. I would'nt need a TT just a panni to take care of most of it, but then I'd want to take the hanging skin on my underarms and then want them to remove or lifting the sagging skin on my sides under my arms (and give my boobs a boost in the process. And then I'd want a thigh lift. And then I'd want a lifestyle lift, etc. The reality is I'm 59 years old, I lost 75 lbs., I'll never look like a teenager, but, dressed, I look pretty good, and I'll settle for that. LOL. Meanwhile all my extra $ go to getting my basement back together and to Roseland Christian School for financial aide to students whose parents struggle to keep them there. OK. I'm done. David wants to play Fishville on the computer. Cheri

Hi all! Not sure what to post!. Just in one of those exasperated moods. My kids IOWA test scores are back and most made progress or stayed the same, but a few I had hoped would show some gains just didn't. I think one girl may actually have switched two of the tests and written her answers in the the wrong place. Her scores made no sense at all. In teaching, with kids who are below the average, you're hoping they at least stay even from year to year rather than continue to regress, which frequently happens in the regular classroom. They need help just to stay even. If they make progress its cause for celebration. I keep track of their percentile ranking from year to year to check their progress. Some of these kids I have their records going back to grade one. Often the biggest gains are in the early years when you can really make a difference. After that its just keeping them making slow progress and not sliding backwards. Over time, most do make progress through about the 5th grade. Then, despite our best efforts, the kids who struggle tend to fall further behind. Frustrating. I have some 8th grade girls who are just now starting to decode multisyllabic words. However, they've been avoiding or unable to read grade level material for so long that their vocabulary and knowledge base is still way behind. That's incredibly hard to make up for. The school still struggles in so many ways. Next year a new principal with her own ideas. I've been my own boss in a lot of ways and I'm hoping she doesn't try to change or control my program. It's one of the things that really works at this school. Food's OK, not great. Rachel has a really bad cold and her immune system is really struggling to cast it off. Her chemo combined with the shot that makes your bone marrow produce more white blood cells already makes her nauseous and her bones ache like the worst case of influenza and stomach flu and now upper respiratory infection you could ever imagine. Went with her the other day to IEP meeting for my grandson David to determine what the school would be doing to help him with his special needs. Rachel informed them that I might be meeting with them at future meetings if she couldn't be there. We discussed how the school could handle any meltdowns and emotional difficulties David might have due to the serious nature of her condition. They have a social worker who has already started meeting with him. He is in a very good school that is providing great services for him. It was humbling and encouraging to know my daughter trusts me with David's educational future, but also incredibly sad to think about why she needs to do that. Cheri

Sandi, you and daughter quite beautiful together.

Melissa, one more thing. Nothing ever changes if nothing ever changes. You can't keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. Some have called that the definition of insanity. You need to be sick and tired of being sick and tired. Channel your anger into doing something differently. Pray, Eat Healthy, Love. Pray, Eat Healthy, Love. Pray, Eat Healthy, Love. Linda, so sorry about your DB. Words aren't enough. Hugs. Julie, glad you're doing better. I understand your fear. To control your cravings do what we bandsters do. Increase your Protein, decrease your carbs. Don't wait for your daughter. Do it now. Cheri

Melissa, hugs. i sent you an e-mail. You're going to be OK. Cheri

Sounds like you're quite techno-savvy. I am not. I'd have to learn how to do presentations. I don't know Powerpoint. I don't need it for attendance or grades because I do supplementary reading and math for grades k-12. I take attendance off the school's site for Title I. I'd go crazy trying to keep up with it otherwise. I do small groups and a great deal of the kid's work is individualized so won' t need to do presentations. However, the LCD projector would allow me to project a downloaded book and the class could read it together and I could highlight things. I'm supposed to be getting a smartboard also and will have to learn how to figure that out. I'm mostly looking at apps that will give kids practice and drill in skills. Thanks for your suggestions. Cheri

Jessica, you are going to have to clue everyone in on exactly how you posted those pictures, which were amazing by the way. Hope you all saw my daughter's family pictures which I reposted on FB. All that gorgeous hair is now gone. But the tumor continues to shrink. I think she got sick from her kids and am going to go read about it on her FB page. So, keep praying for her. Linda, praying for your DB. Go see him. It's an emergency and you don't know how much longer he'll live from the sounds of it. Spent some more time in the neighbor's garden. In the 70's here. I want to keep up with their weeds this year and not wait till they're taller than me. I have four huge garbage bins full of weeds, leaves, and dead plants just from yesterday and today. I am sore! Saw Unknown with hubby. Love Liam Neeson. Tell me about Lincoln Lawyer. Any good? Didn't go out to Red Lobster. Ate popcorn at movie theater instead. LOL. Back to sensible food tomorrow. Starting to hurt all over from gardening. It will get me in good shape, I just have to watch my back.

Hi all, Warmed up today, sun was out, took a long walk, worked on cleaning up the garden, uncovered tulips, irises, daffodils crocuses, mums, hollyhocks all poking up through soil. Tomorrow, sing in choir, go out to eat with gift card, maybe a movie. My DH is having a blast with my I-pad. It's got its good points but mostly its just another techno time-waster. Still trying to find some ways to use it educationally with my students. I like it for downloading and reading books, but that's not real useful for my students. And downloading the books adds up fast. I can text on it but its way too inconvenient to make that a habit. I don't listen to music (except for choir music which I listen to in the car) so the i-tunes app is useless. Don't have an i-phone so synching with that isn't going to happen. My DH downloaded I-pad for Dummies so maybe he'll encounter something actually useful for teaching. Plenty of games but not educational except for pre-schoolers, whom I do not teach. I can watch movies with it, but again, it costs money to download them. Aargh. Maybe I'll contact Apple and ask them what the heck its good for in a classroom that won't cost me money. I did clean my china cabinet today. Haven't cleaned it in years. Very little dust and grime gets in there but I was starting to notice it. Cleaned a few drawers, but basically vegged this spring break. Should have called Sandi but just didn't think of it. Did better with food today, mostly because I was outside so much. Tutored this morning. Back to the grindstone on Monday. I'll really have to sit on the students. They tend to think that once standardized testing and spring break are over, there's no reason to learn anything the rest of the year. Think I'll start playing a lot of my educational games with them as rewards. Cheri

MIDDLE AGE TEXTING CODES: ATD -at the doctors. BFF -best friend fell. BTW -bring the wheelchair. BYOT -bring your own teeth. FWIW -forgot where I was. GGPBL -gotta go, pacemaker battery low. GHA -got heartburn again. IMHO -is my hearing aid on. LMDO -laughing my dentures out. OMMR -on my massage recliner. OMSG -oh my! sorry, gas. ROFLACGU -rolling on floor laughing and can't get up. TTYL -talk to you louder Thought most of you would enjoy this. Cheri

Jodi, there's no shame in needing or asking for help. I remember after I had gone through a divorce and then lost my job, my church asked what they could do to help and I needed major neck surgery at the time. I asked for them to pay for my Cobra. I could handle all my other bills but not that. They paid it, I had my surgery, and I have more than paid that forward in my tithing and in the fact that I have been able to handle a job where all I do is help children. Hope your new guy works out. Apples, you really had me going. Good one. Lots of prayers needed. The Lord bless you and all you love and keep you and cause his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and grant you his peace. Thanks for your prayers on Rachel. She'll be on chemo till July or August, then surgery followed by radiation to prevent any recurrence followed by reconstructive surgery. Very different protocol than what she would have been on out here. She is now a patient at University of Chicago because they are top of the line. They changed her protocol to what their top Dr. feels is her best chance of surviving this. Apparently, once you remove the tumor and lymph nodes you have no way of tracking the effectiveness of the chemo. They are praying that she will be among the 25% whose chemo totally eradicates the cancer, but will do the other treatments prophylactically. One scary piece of info she came back with is that the reason suburban and non-top hospitals misdiagnose or can't diagnose is because most of them have equipment that is at least 20 years old. Remember Rachel's mammogram couldn't "see" her tumor even though they could feel it? Scary, huh? So I didn't make plans to go anywhere over spring break because I thought my daughter was going to need me. Well, she really didn't, she has so many other people helping her. My husband worked the whole time, so mostly I've spent my time reading and eating. Can't keep having such dull vacations. i need to work on getting a more normal life so that i have friends to see and places to go during my vacations. I tend to end up depressed by the end of my vacations. And glad to go back to work. This time I wish I had more time. And money. I'd get the H out of here. Cheri

Melissa--hugs. How 'bout turning all that worry into something constructive? I think some people are born worriers and telling them not to worry is like telling them not to breathe. However, you could research insurance options. You could figure out ways to cut expenses so you can still pay cobra. You could really plan your eating to keep you and your family as healthy as possible while uninsured. You could look for a second part-time job to help pay for insurance. it's important to remember that you're seldom actually stuck. There are always options. Sit down with your husband and look at all your expenses. Be aware of every dollar you spend. Almost all of us spend money we shouldn't or don't need to spend. If you don't have insurance then you need to start a fund to cover unexpected medical costs. It can sometimes seem like it ought to be a right to go out and spend money on fast food and raised thermostats but its amazing what you can save when you really put your mind to it. But your husband has to agree to the spending cuts as well. Women tend to fritter it away on little stuff. Men tend to buy majorly expensive toys or unnecessary items that they think they need. A financial planner might be helpful to both of you. Include your son on the decision making. He needs to understand the sacrifices the whole family is going to have to make. Also, the only cure I know for adolescence is time. Concerta helps with ADHD but doesn't cure hormones. Sigh. Have you ever tried prayer and meditation as ways to get yourself on a more even keel? Just wondering. I tend to do that while I'm walking or driving. I can't sit still and do it. I need part of my mind occupied with automatic activities. Charlene, I understand your need for a system that works for you. Since you like eggs, and its one of the best sources of Protein I see no problem with it. You do show a pattern of adopting various food plans and then abandoning them--the shake thing, the Weight Watchers thing, the 17 day thing. Janet is right. Just make healthy choices most of the time. For you, with your carb sensitivity and low resting metabolism, that means plenty of protein and not a lot of carbs most of the time. Also, you have an unstructured lifestyle where eating opportunities come up unexpectedly--like a chance to go out to eat. Nothing wrong with that, but I find that I'm starting to refuse offers to go out to eat. I'd rather make myself a salad. Now that's a change for me. Nothing wrong with a more flexible lifestyle and unstructured days and nights other than that its not conducive to planning. So I can see where having a plan done for you, like the 17 day thing is very appealing for you. The trick is not to worry about the times you go off it (as long as they're not everyday) and to stay with it most days. It can give you the structure you lack. But vary it more and change it up. You're going to get pretty sick of those hard-boiled eggs very soon and then what are you going to do? Cheri

By the way, you I Pad users. I got one for school with NCLB $. What do you use yours for? I do not listen to music except for CD's of songs I'm learning for choir which I listen to in the car. Other than that I prefer silence, especially after teaching all day. I'm not finding many educational apps for older children. I want free ones of course. Games are good, but nothing where they can order stuff online since its synched with my credit card. Can you use it to download documents? I thought I'd put my crazy school schedule on it and keep it right in front of me to check which class is coming next. LOL. Its going to take ma awhile to get used to.

Stress, stress, stress. My how we are all so stressed. My DH just took himself back to bed because I'm having grandkids dropped off at my house around noon while my daughter goes to Chicago for some more appointments or tests. This is his day off and even though he got plenty of sleep last night, yesterday, and the day before, he thinks he won't be able to get in his usual naps before going in to work tonight at midnight. I can see he's mad at me but I'm basically at the eye-rolling stage and am ignoring him. This is my vacation and I spent the entire day with him yesterday. This is the only day I'll have the grandkids over instead of going to their house because he normally sleeps during the day. I've never met a guy who needs as much sleep or worries about getting his sleep as much as my DH. Great, I'm sorry you are so lonely. Do you think that's really what your trip down memory lane is really about? Do you think it would help you to become a volunteer again or find a part-time job now that you're settled? Or do you like being free to fly places whenever you want to? It's OK to reminisce but please don't get stuck there. You seem to have established friendships already and renewed some old ones. I envy you. When I'm working I have no time for that, just for my family, so when I'm off, like this week, I have no one but family to do anything with and they're all tied down. Fortunately, my grandkids are also on spring break and I'm needed to babysit. My friends are the people I work with, but we all have lives when we're not teaching so we don't get together outside of work. Eva, I admire your well-balanced lifestyle. I'm glad you were able to retire but still find a part-time position to keep your hand in and income coming. You have your projects and school and friendships that also involve your DH. Mine is such a loner that it's actually led to isolating me as well. Julie, what can I say. Mother/daughter relationships are some of the most complex in the world. Especially when the daughter is pregnant. You got the band to save your life and she needs to continue to hear that from you. This isn't about looks, its about living. Looking better is a bonus, but the health is primary. I don't think I'd allow anyone to hold me to a promise made under such duress. However, you do not do well with abdominal surgeries if your past history is any indication. Janet is right. Ultimately, its about making healthy choices. I'm thinking that seeing a counselor together with your daughter about your weight might be good for you and your daughter. Making the weight thing a mutual project was a good idea. Ask your daughter if she wants to be around for her children and grandhchildren. I'd also suggest that you get physical therapy for your knees and so on. Water walking is one of the safest things you can do to regain strength safely. It takes the weight off your knees while still exercising them. Also, percocet is likely to make you unstable and lead to falling again so you want to get off that asap. Strengthening the joints without inflaming them should be your goal to reduce pain. You're probably feeling these pains more now because your primary, overwhelming pain has been taken away. Using this whole situation as an incentive to lose more weight on your own will also help your physical pain. Did you know that every lb you weigh puts 5-10 lbs of pressure on each of your knees? So every lb you lose removes that much pressure on your knees. If you were to lose 25 more lbs it would take at least 125 lbs of pressure off each of your knees. That's what I keep telling myself. Even my 5 lb weight gain is affecting my knees. I can feel it. It's 25 extra lbs of pressure that they're carrying. My fake knees will last longer the less I weigh. Charlene, keep on keeping on. We all have our days of indulgence (except Linda, LOL). Getting back on track asap is the trick. For you, I would think the incentive would be that your FM symptoms are likely to improve as you lose more weight. You've done great, however, and you need to give yourself credit. Our addiction not only hurts us, it hurts the people around us. That's the hard part to remember. Our kids don't want us dead, or incapable of being there for them and their children. Hopefully, our husbands don't want us dead either (most of the time). LOL. Melissa, loved the "Green Things" e-mail. Too true. Hope you're doing well. Tell us more about your counselor. One of the simplest things I've done to automatize my meals is to always have a Protein shake for Breakfast. I buy pre-made because I have no desire to shop for and try to keep ingredients in the house, and as someone who works outside the home I need simple solutions. I have no desire to spend hours in a grocery store being tempted by all the food. For supper I prefer simple foods, like pan frying (in olive oil spray) fish, hamburger, steak, pork chop, and having a veggie on the side. My DH makes any sides he wants that are carbs (like potatoes or rice) for himself. Or I have a salad with mixed greens, cheese, nuts, a little fruit, and a flavored olive oil and vinaigrette based dressing. (Favorite-raspberry). For lunch at work I have peel off cans of tuna or chicken available, or Protein Bars, or Protein shakes to grab as Snacks or meals. I am very much a keep it simple person precisely because I am ADHD. That's why keeping rotisserie chicken in the house is another easy solution. Great Protein, always tender, fix it with various condiments. Take a small mouthful whenever you start craving carbs. Throw in a baggie and take to work. It's the KISS philosophy of food. Keep It Simple Stupid. People like Linda and Apples seem to be able to be around food and cook and bake it for others without over-eating themselves. I am not one of those people. People have to eat what I'm eating or make it and take it somewhere where I'm not around it. It's hard to stop feeling guilty about not feeding everyone around you but it can be done and its an enormous relief to stop cooking for others. You'd be amazed at the reduction in stress. You don't have small kids anymore and your son and husband can easily make themselves a pbj sandwich or something else if what you're eating isn't enough for them. One of the biggest reasons why women get fat is because they cook for everyone else and feel guilty if they don't. That's another reason why I gave up guilt for Lent. Cheri

Eva, Work into the inversion thing slowly, adding 30 more seconds every few days. Sometimes just 30 second to a minute in the morning and again at night. It takes time to slowly learn to relax all your muscles and let the weight of your body pull you straighter and straighter. It does stretch your muscles and ligaments in directions they've not been stretched ever since we quit hanging from our knees on the monkey bars when we were kids. But it surely does relieve pressure on the discs and allows them to gently shift back into place and gradually stay that way. Just don't try to hang for five minutes right from the start. Sometimes, after I've hung for awhile, I lie down on the bed with support under my lower/mid back and under my knees and neck so the vertabrae will settle into the right position after being stretched. Hope that house sells soon without problems. Apples, sorry about your FIL. Hope you find an acceptable solution for his future. Jessica, have a great cruise. You ladies who cook are amazing. I try to avoid it AMAP. Had a great time with my grandkids overnight. Then my husband's kids came over with his DGD and we went out to eat. His daughter is due the last week of May with another girl and so is my DIL with a boy. I can't keep up with them all. Yawning my head off, so g'night all. Cheri

Eva, the feathers story was hilarious. I like the two stage cleaning. Linda, glad about the neck. Hope it gives you relief. I went through various treatments for over a year before they finally did surgery. The herniated discs were too severe and I had so much stenosis and spurring that they couldn't even get the epidural shot into the spinal column. They only removed bone--lots of it. No fusing. My knees and lower back and neck have all been giving me some trouble, nothing severe, but exercise seems to be aggravating it all. I don't want to wear out my fake knees with too much exercise. I want them to last as long as possible. Wish the indoor pool by me was warmer. Water walking would be much easier on my knees and would strengthen my back as well. I used to walk backwards, sideways and forwards the way my PT showed me and it really helped. Wow. Didn't post this and its still here hours later. So I probably missed the most recent. Grandkids are in basement right now watching a movie. Having fun. Cheri

Hi all, Spring break starts NOW!!! I am so in need of it! The kids have been crazy. We had two weeks to try to teach between IOWA testing week and spring break week. And the moon was the closest to earth its been in 30 years! Lunacy (lunarcy) rules. Hope to see my grandkids a lot. Taking several of them overnite tomorrow so don't expect a lot from me. Then Sun. aft we're having Ken's kids over (postponed birthday for him and his son.) I've been doing straight Protein since last Sunday. Did two days of Liquid Protein to drop Water and reduce my cravings. Purge from the carbs. Hard to get through, but after that the solid protein was very satisfying. But I am unable to exercise as much as I'd like. My knees aren't handling it and I've been having trouble with my lower back. The stairs at work have been too much for them and walking a whole hour outside on the warmer days seems to hurt them too. So I'm within a pound of the weight range I wanted to get back to, but without as much exercise it's harder to do. I definitely feel the restriction with the protein vs eating sliders. But the addicted to carbs part of me is really screaming for satisfaction. Think I'll go shopping tonight. I have to start thinking about my trip at the end of June and I could use a few spring things. Have a 30%off at Kohl's. Can't spend much though. Gotta watch the pennies. I despise debt and keep our credit cards fully paid up at all times. Can't stand paying interest. Only on the house loan. Ken will be cutting down to 2 days a week for 4 months in order to not exceed his allowable income since he collects Social. That's a bummer. I can't stand seeing him glued to the TV for 4 months. He really needs some hobbies. Cheri By the way, Jessica, those were fabulous pictures you posted. You make all of us jealous that you could figure out how to even post them on here. You'll have to host a webinar for us all on how to post pics on LBT.

Tonya, I'm not a big Breakfast eater plus my band won't allow me to eat big breakfasts. I drink a chocolate Protein Drink (my fav is Atkin's Royal Dark Chocolate) for breakfast. I avoid all carbs for breakfast like oatmeal or cereals because they expand in the tummy and can cause major stuck issues (which, believe me, you want to avoid.) I can't even eat eggs most mornings because they are the purest Protein and my band is quite tight (or my stomach is too swollen) in the morning. By night I'm much less tight and I eat my biggest meal at supper. meat and some veggies or a mixed green salad with feta cheese, a little fruit, cashews and dressings with mostly olive oil and vinegar and other flavors. Throughout the day I do eat Protein Bars and generally have meat of some kind for lunch. Laura, the whole MidEast/NAfrica thing is scary at the best of times. Such a volatile area of the world. Every time we (the USA) stick our nose in it tends to backfire. Every President has gotten bogged down in some nasty mess there and nothing we do seems to actually make a difference. One nasty dictator gets replaced by another. Corruption follows corruption. Democracy doesn't seem to be able to get a foothold possibly because democracy was birthed and cradled and raised in a Graeco/Roman/Judeo/Christian culture and ethos. Without that common background it really struggles. Not that we've always gotten it right. We have plenty of poor and oppressed in our own country. Sigh...Solutions elude me. Praying for your MIL Julie, you sound like your old self again. So glad the shoulder pain is gone. I know you're scared without the band but we're here to support you girl. More miracles. Rachel's breast tumor is shrinking so fast that they've postponed the surgery tll July and will continue chemo. There's a 25% chance the chemo will be enough to wipe it out. That's what I'm believing and praying. At the very beginning of this thing when Rachel called me for prayer and was considering not doing chemo if the cancer had spread, I told her she had to believe that every chemo treatment was a gift from God and that every cancer cell had to bow the knee to His will. She wrote that on her bathroom mirror. I prayed with her that every cancer cell would be in submission to God and would back off and disappear. I know that God does not always choose to answer prayers this way. I believe this saying: He will make your test into a testimony, your mess into a message, and your trial into a triumph. Sometimes it is the grace with which we fight a losing battle that is the testimony, and the faith we share that God will work all things together for good for those left behind, and sometimes, just to prove his power, he works a miracle. Cheri

Jodi, rage all you want. To be left with all that mess because of someone's selfishness and vindictiveness and have it affect your daughter and jeapordize you financially for years is unbelievable. One thing you should know though, is that the private schools and the summer camps and all the other incredibly expensive things won't matter in the long run. It's you who makes the difference in her life. You can do that with or without money. So breathe. Be honest with Dassi. You don't have to demonize her father but you shouldn't canonize him either. He was human and he didn't foresee the consequences of his actions. You do not have to take the heat if she no longer can do some of the things she's used to doing. In fact, involving her in the decisions as to what can be cut to make your life less crazy might actually be very good for her. Cheri