BJean

Bitter I've been thinking of you. I picked up a little book at an airport, written by Sandra Brown. Just wanted a quick read on the plane. As I got into it, I found that the story took place at a little college/town in Northeast Oklahoma. (Wonder where that might be?) The herione was from OKC and the young college prof was from Tulsa. The book was one of Sandra Brown's first books, written many years ago, and just republished. It was obviously written during the mid to late 50s. It was pretty funny reading about the clothes and mores of that period. I hadn't read a Sandra Brown in years and forgot she tosses in lots of heat. (The ONLY redeeming quallity of this book.) I wonder if she is from Oklahoma and went to Northeastern? So you still have the pups. None of my friends or me will have anything but a female dog. We just think they make better house dogs. I'm surprised that your males are more popular. When you speak of the mold, is it your sinuses that are so uncomfortable? Have you heard Dr. Oz (Oprah's guy) talk about a NETI? You can get one at the drug store and it is a device used to clean out your sinuses with warm saline solution. I have one and use it from time to time when I wake up with congestion in the morning. Dr. Oz says that over time, our noses aren't able to filter out all the little particles that we inhale and that this NETI thing helps get your nose back in better working condition. For what it's worth. Good to hear from you again!

I would like to be down 12 lbs. and I don't think that's an unreasonable goal at all! My weight on July 9 was 182. I bought a scale that gives information about your BMI, calories needed to lose, etc., and I have put it under my bed because I didn't want anyone to see what my stats were. I'm going to pull it out and get serious! Let's go ya'll!!!! We can do it. I will post some positive thinking words that I read recently. They're helping me and maybe can help someone else too. Good luck everybody!

DDAnne: I totally agree! Life is way too short! And Boo Boo, it may be what letting go feels like. It might also be that you're worn out with all the effort and the lack of return on your investment. Things can get turned around but only if you're both willing to work very hard - together.

karey: I had no idea that there was more than one kind of fill material. I'm glad you brought that up. I'm going to ask my doc about it next time. I got a fill on Tuesday and I went from 2.8 to 3.0. So far I haven't noticed any added restriction, but I have noticed that I am not as hungry. YEA! I'm not sure why lisa is retro-ing her start weight. Are we back tracking to June 9th? I really appreciate you doing the record keeping! Let us know when our actual start date is and then we can all get our weights recorded. I'm all for the Labor Day deadline. BJ

Well Green I am quite envious that you are getting a little nip and tuck. Like I said, I wish I could see a before and after. I'm looking to you for inspiration. You inspire me in so many other ways, why not that one? Indio: You're being too hard on yourself. We all have had similar difficulties. Remember we're all overweight people too. You're probably not very different from the rest of us in why and how you have learned to love eating. I am not sure that very many bandsters go completely without hard times now and again. I've been reading and watching and it seems like almost everyone posts about hitting plateaus and low spots. But that doesn't mean that we aren't successful overall. Is health an issue for you? Most of us have been able to reduce the number of meds we've been taking. Some of us have been able to avoid becoming diabetic or have been able to take fewer diabetic meds. That has to be enhancing the quality of our lives and probably the longevity. Those are darned important factors to consider. They are inspiration for us to continue to use the band and work toward our goals. When I started out, I got so disheartened when I read that someone had a slipped or corroded band that it almost scared me out of proceeding with the surgery. Then I realized that those people were actually very few in numbers compared to the number of people who are so happy with the band that they wish they had done it sooner. I am one of those, by the way. So you may want to back away from the scary stories and stick with reading posts of the people who are just now on the road to getting surgery and they'll be much easier for you to relate to. You'll do fine. Believe me I have had a number of "cleansing" procedures and what I've learned is that when I actually get clean and then fast for a while, I'm no longer starving and craving food. It sounds weird, but it is true for me and others who I have talked to. You may be able to get through the rest of the pre-surgery journey much easier than right now. And if you are still smoking, you might want to share that with your doctor. They need to know exactly what they're dealing with in the OR. Best wishes for a perfect, successful, wonderful journey to bandland!

BTW, thanks from the bottom of my pea pickin' heart, you two... I laughed real tears.

Yes, a tool like the limbo pole is a tool. And just about as hard to master. I mean, how low can you go??? No excuses. Brown hair.

Well this is obviously a emotionally charged topic. It affects practically everyone, no matter which side you're on - if you've chosen a side. I wish we could get our heads together in a non-heated, logical way and teach our "leaders" what should be done that will be fair to everyone. Or at least find a soloution that is not one-sided and that is a relatively simple compromise all the way around. Anybody have any realistic ideas?

Celebs do have the spotlight and get their voices heard when they choose to state their thoughts. Me on the other hand, I have to resort to LBT. I do get your point, Green. There is much wisdom in what you're saying. We do approach the freedom of speech thing much differently than what you Canadians must. We know we don't need anyone to tell us whether or if our beliefs and opinions are right or wrong. We just don't get fettered with the facts, you see. And as long as one thinks it's all right for people to say whatever they think, one doesn't mind people spouting drivel. At least in theory. LR8Bloom: Yes, I have noticed that we are at opposite ends of the sprectrum from time to time, but I think we're nice. :nervous Did you know that Michael Moore pointed out on Letterman a week or so ago examples of ways in which both Bill and Hillary have sold out? Make you like him any better? At least there is always an element of truth to what Michael Moore says - albeit exaggerated at times. But Ann Coulter just says outrageous, hateful things for effect. :lie: She can't possibly expect people to believe her. She likes the controversy and she is desperate to be in the spotlight. I find her demeanor as well as her ideology to be quite repugnant. :huytsao That's why I'd like for her to be muzzled like a rabid dog. :speechles Just my humble opinion.

I expected my rides to cost me an E ticket, but alas, first time around, it was like the Submarine Ride at Disney - shut down!!!

AH HA!! CHEESE!!!!! I KNEW THIS THREAD WAS HEADED FOR THE DISCUSSION OF THE FINER POINTS OF CHEESE!!!! :hungry:

Why thank you, L8RBloom - that means a lot coming from you!

Ann Coulter, majorly! Green, not to take the wind out of your sails, but I have to respectfully disagree with your position that celebrities should shut up and keep their noses to the gindstone (so to speak.) Just because someone has chosen a vocation that causes them to be in the limelight shouldn't keep them from being able to speak to the issues of the day. They are, in some cases, American citizens too and have every right to say what they believe. If the media and other citizens choose to listen, that's their perrogative. We should be smart enough to filter their rants as much as we are able to filter a politician's or a Supreme Court Justice's or our next door neighbor's. I don't believe that there should be a barrier against anyone speaking their mind. It's supposed to be a free country and they shouldn't be treated differently than we are. I find Bono's persona somewhat amusing, but you have to admit that his humanitarian efforts have actually had an impact on some of the most needy people in the world. Willie Nelson is even more hilarious but he has been a big contributor to helping American farmers. Now if you expect me to go on and praise Paris Hilton for her contribution to the needy world of pornography, I won't. And I do think it is completely ridiculous that she is able to corner the market on the paparazzi all the time, but it's her life, her right to do it and my right to ignore it. Ann Coulter, on the other hand, should be muzzled. :heh:

Well yeah but... how do you REALLY feel green? Uh, I know... with your HANDS!! Seriously your post underscores how complicated this issue is and one reason why our Congressional leaders and the White House are stuck in the proverbial muck over it. But I gotta say this... Eva I know you have said that you know how to quit us, but you've taken quite a few bigoted potshots before going along your angry way. That's not fair, although I can't blame you for not wanting to prolong the debate. We aren't, after all, solving the issue here. But we ARE trying to learn a thing or four from each other since we have such varied lives and locales. I do not know the "suburban housewife" who is driven by a narrow experience based existence as you have characterized some women and frankly I find your comments to be way further off base than most of the other posts here. You are pointing accusing fingers and you do not seem to understand the discussion. You are saying people don't know what they are talking about because they haven't experienced it and because they aren't as worldly as you. There is just no way that you can know how how educated any of us are on the subject and exactly how much experience we have relating to the issue. You can only guess by our posts. In some cases I believe you've guessed wrong. Obviously you are very passionate about the subject and we can all understand and sympathize with you. However you shouldn't really dismiss the rest of us as being ignorant and inexperienced, you would be better served to read our posts and get a better understanding of what you are up against when you defend illegal aliens entering and living in our country. Plus you might even get an inkling of WHY we feel the way we do - instead of just insulating yourself from us. You seem to take the position that we dislike the illegals themselves. That just isn't true for most of us.

Let's just hope she's over the "don't make me laugh, it hurts when I laugh, part"

Will this do? :ranger:

Noooooo, that's LIMBO and it was popularlized stateside after some jughead made a trip to the Bahamas.

As they like to say in Texas, you'd cause them boys ta open up a can o' whip a$$ on you! You know to me, NASCAR is somewhat like Pro-Wrestling. I don't know why, because they are physically not alike at all. Maybe it has something to do with the rabid fans?

Thanks, faithmd: I was about ready to turn tail and go skulking back to R & Rs. And I agree, I thought it was a good discussion on both sides. Perhaps you should have said, "test ride" :whoo: instead of "test drive"

Indio: Great! You called your doc and learned that you don't have to starve to death to get ready for the surgery! If you aren't eating a bunch of simple carbs, you'll be fine. You're doing great, by the way!!! Deb: I think I almost could have written your post. I didn't think it would be this hard either. Even though I knew everyone said that it is a "tool" and that it isn't like gastric bypass, I had watched Sharon Osborn and figured it had to be pretty easy. From what I'm learning, I think many of us hit a period of time where we go through what you and I are experiencing. Evidently we'll get past it and get on with the good healthy life we want and deserve! I'm banking on it~!~~! Green: you're a bad girl, indeed. That's why I like you!!!! A rebel, with a cause. I've always been way too conservative and self-conscious to know my own mind. What a friggin' waste of time! You actually weren't all that huge when you started, so your liver wasn't probably blown up as big as some of ours were. I think the reason you are having some tale tell signs of your weight loss lately is because those last 20 (or more?) lbs. came off so fast. Ya think?

tulips: Do we know if Sharon Osborn actually went ahead and had hers removed? Now that she's on TV regularly, we can probably track her maintenance.

Mark, as far as I'm concerned, it IS your personality that makes you so lovable!!! Wasn't it Representative Lindy Boggs?

P.S. Honest answer, please... did I cause the peanut tossing?

I assume you are asking an honest question, Q. If I had not been so silly when I got married and believed all of the pre-marital counseling we had through our church and had not believed what the fairy tales I'd listened to my whole life told me and what Seventeen magazine told me about living "happily ever after," and I had instead done the experincing and investigating myself, I would never have married the dude. I will admit that going through those years I learned a whole lot that prepared me for the success I've enjoyed in my current marriage. However I am sure that I could have had a relationship with my first husband that included all those lessons, without the marriage part. That would have prevented a whole lot of grief and guilt on my part, on my ex-husband's part, and on the part of our friends and families - all of which pale by comparison to the pain and sadness that our child experienced by having divorced parents.

lindata: I had those thoughts too before I got the band. It is an option, of course. However I think that most doctors would suggest that you not touch it as long as you are having no problems. There is always risk with any surgical procedure. The LB hasn't been used in the US that long, but it has been used in other countries much longer. It would be intresting to know how many elective band removals have been performed and to know the reason for those removals. Most of us here at LBT are (I think) relatively new bandsters, so we're all still in the weight loss process and still using the band for all we're worth. I read a post by someone who's been banded since 2005 and has achieved great success - in her pictures she looks tiny. Recently she had a problem and was afraid she would have to have the band removed. She was going to be very upset if she had to have it taken out. Fortunately she didn't, but I'm thinking that even after most of us lose all the weight, we will still feel that we need the band to maintain our loss. I reckon only time will tell.