green

Yep, I agree. :bounce:

I am 5'6" tall, currently weigh 149 lbs and have a healthy BMI. I weighed 200 lbs when I have the band installed last September. My prime motivation was simple vanity. Now, because of my particular body type I still wear a size 10 pant and an XL sweater, just as some of you who weigh 20 lbs more than I do. This is because although I am slim in the hips and legs I have a thick waist and broad shoulders. And at my age I don't like to wear anything too clingy! I guess you all have now figured out that I have provided the boring details of my height, weight, and clothing size in order to point out that different people really are built differently. I do believe, too, that some people are built to carry more weight than others. At my skinniest I managed to drop to 129 lbs but only for an hour or so; the 130s were the norm for this grrl. Life did not design me for a career in Hollywood or on a catwalk. What the comments in this thread are saying is that weight is an issue which is both objective and subjective. It may be possible to wear a size 18 or 20 and be a very healthy and happy woman. I did not notice any changes in my health apart from improved cholesterol readings when I lost 50 lbs. My blood pressure was good and remains unchanged. I was as flexible then as I am now. My energy levels are the same. The only difference for me is emotional; I think I look better and so I am happier about myself. I can shop in normo stores and look good in my clothes. I get compliments. Like I said at the beginning of this post, for me it was all about vanity. At the same time I must confess that there is a part of me who still thinks that I am the fat grrl that I used to be. I am finding that it takes awhile for the head to adjust.

I have this theory that those ultra preemies are not only ultra costly at the outset but will also continue to be horribly expensive. This means that both their families as well as our society will be on the on the financial and emotional hook with respect to this biz of dealing with these sad little creatures and their many, many needs. A sad affair and one which is not particularly cost effective given that there is a whole lot of dysfunction going on in this world. Does this sound like a I Don't Care Bear assessment of the current situation? Probably, but that is the end result of cost analysis. Green is kinda mean...........

The Donald comb-over nouveau Napolean style is the most fun of all, sez Green. *malicious snicker*

A most interesting and balanced post, nina874. I sincerely thank you. I am curious to know whether these super preemies grow up to be healthy individuals or whether they will be plagued with health issues for the duration of their lives. Can you advise us on this? Do these babies catch up to the rest of us?

My cat's abortion cost me 35 bucks and I am beginning to suspect that she believes in Hell.

BJean, I used to work in watercolours. Because I had been taking photographs for awhile before I started painting this really liberated me from wanting to make things look "real." These days I mostly work in acrylics but I sure did enjoy working with aquarelles. I would do a loose undersketch in pencil, then draw over this in India ink and afterwards goof with the paints. I always found working in watercolours to be kind of zen, that is to say that what you are doing when working in this medium is making a series of mistakes and then trying to use these to your advantage. You let the paint lead you. I dunno if this makes any sense........? Acryllic is much, much easier for the artist to control. You can paint over your mistakes. I wonder how I would fare if I were to try working with watercolours now? It has been over 20 years....... As for Scrabble and Boggle, I was nuts about these games. I had the computer versions of both which I found much more satisfying to play. There is something about waiting around for someone else to make his move which is very frustrating. Unfortunately my current PC is too sophisticated to accept the software for these games. *sob*

As Mel Gibson, well, he is a disgusting anti-semite!

If necessary I would have had an illegal abortion.

At the time that I discovered that I was pregnant I figured I would have to fly back to Canada in order to arrange for an abortion. Then I discovered that I could arrange for one locally and with less fuss. At that time one could have an abortion upon request in France whereas in Ontario I would have needed, I believe, 3 doctors to agree on my psychological unfitness to continue on with the pregnancy. This would have been easy enough to arrange. Doctors like me and I have had problems with depression since I was a teenager.

What kind of painting do you do? Green wants to know more.

Yup, in Canada we call them Snowbirds. My parents were Snowbirds for many, many years. They went to Florida where they owned a trailor home in an old fogeys' park. It was a great park and the fogeys were real sweethearts. They loved it and I and my mate loved to visit them there. Of course my father was one of the lousiest drivers to ever manage to obtain a driver's permit. Driving with him was a terrifying experience. (Sorry, America!!!! sez Green.) Canadians refer to soda as pop. And to a big case of beer as a two-four (sometimes pronounced "two-fer"); this is because traditionally there were twenty-four bottles of beer in a big case. I hear that now you can get a case with 36 bottles but this is a new development, and nobody calls it a three-six. We call our dollar coin a loony and our two dollar coin a twoonie. We used to have a two dollar bill. We also pronounce and spell some common English words differently than you folks do. And of course there is that eh which I like to use ironically in my posts. tee hee The difference in language gets really interesting when you compare Quebecois to continental French. I once rented a Quebec comedy (set in Florida) for my French friends and they were happy that it came with English subtitles. They didn't understand a word. Nor did I. I learned my French when I was living in France.

I had my pregnant stray cat spayed and aborted at the same time. Does this mean that I am going to Hell?

This is a disputable statement though I do recognise where you are coming from. You are using the argument that if my mum felt the same way that I do I would not be here at this point in time. This is true. I would not be here but so what? While my life has been and still is important to me and while it is true that I have found my life to be both interesting and entertaining the significance and value of my life really is kinda subjective. I have not gone on to have children and so there is no genetic contribution from this source. Nor have I made any major intellectual or artistic contributions to the wealth of mankind. Few of us do. Had my mother opted not to have children I would not have existed in the first place and therefore I could not have been robbed of anything by her choice to opt out of parenthood. Please do not misunderstand me. I think that it is a fine thing when women who want to have children are able to have them. It's just that I feel that some of the arguments which are trotted out in order to support this position really are not fair to those women who do not want to have children. In fact I think these arguments may be kind of judgemental. I guess I find myself an old hand at this discussion. You see, I am 58 years old, I am straight, and yet I always knew that I never wanted to marry, settle down, and have kids. I just knew that this was wrong for me. And I knew that this was true when I was still very small, long before I became a teenager.

I am a Canuck with big problems. I absolutely cannot stand to wear socks and shoes and yet I have never, ever troubled to get a pedicure and my feetsies are, quite frankly, drag queen sized. :omg: Nevertheless, I persist in flapping my naked largies at whomever whenever I can get away with it. I must say that when a grrl is blessed with flippers the size of mine she has no problem angling her way through water. This can be useful.

Chickie, it sounds like you have had a lot of poop flung in your direction. I sure am sorry to hear that you have had to go through this, grrl, but remember, this has nothing at all to do with you and everything to do with that creature known as jealousy. As you can see, you have got a lot of friends on this site. Keep on doing what you are doing. :biggrin1:

Devana, I wanna go sailing with you....... Green is greeen with envy.

Chickie, you are a very chic woman and you have been fabulously successful with your weight loss project. Kudos to you and to Jachut and to NYC Julie and to the others who have done it. As for those of us who have set a more modest goal, well, I don't see anything wrong with that. When these folks achieve their goals they may well re-evaluate and continue on by setting new and more aggressive goals. It all depends on one's individual psychology, I think. The point is that we are all here, banded and working on losing weight. I am 5'6'' and currently weigh in my high 140s. (I do remember being absolutely thrilled, though, when I was told that I weighed only 170 because it meant that the band was working!) I now have a healthy BMI. When I was in my twenties and thirties I weighed in the 130s so I figure that I am at goal. Unfortunately I am defilled at the moment. I have been since August. This is because I had a bad attack of acid reflux, my first ever. My problem at the moment is maintaining. Ugh!

I've never regretted not having any kids of my own. There are some children who I really like but when they belong to others there isn't that stress of ownership....

There was a recent case in Alberta, Canada where a 12 year old girl who had been romantically involved with a 23 year old man encouraged him to help her slaughter her mum, dad and 8 year old brother. Like Art Linkletter said, kids can do the darndest things....

Ca fait bizarre. Je vais fumer une cigarette.......

It is possible that his thirteen year old step-daughter could be lying in order to give him grief because he grounded her and took away a number of her privileges after she went missing in the middle of the night and was later discovered at a boy's house. You said they had further problems after this incident and that he actually went to the police in order to discuss whether giving her a smack was legal or not. It sounds to me like this kid is in a very angry rebellious phase of her life and is possibly out of control. It may be that she is screwing her step-father over only because he is trying to discipline her. Revenge and a desire to hurt him may be her motives. Adolescents do lie, you know, and it is because they are still very immature that they often don't realise the gravity of their actions. This man may be a victim of an angry 13 year old. We simply don't know.

Love the letter, Sunta. Bravo!

A friend of mine had fat injected under her skin in order to take the wrinkles away. This is less invasive, much cheaper, and the recovery time is way shorter. You do have to get a good plastic surgeon, though, as he must sculpt the fat once it has been injected.

Hah! Grrl, we have really been missing your voice. :ranger: In fact we have been talking about you and wondering where you went. It is good to have you back. :biggrin1: Now if only TOM and Carlene would reappear all would be right in the world.