I'm here to help...

[llkb4me 1]

Sparkle, welcome....I was back at work 4 days later...but no lifting (supposedly) but I ended up doing a little of that. I was fine. The LAP-BAND® isn't horrible as far as surgery, at least I don't think so. Of course besides my tonsils, it's the only surgery I've ever had and I do not have children. As far as the food, you'll be fine. I cooked a meal for a wedding a week after my surgery (50 people) and really didn't have a problem with it.

Apples, I understand about the "lost" time. After I graduated from college (1993) I was lost because I didn't have that focus. Now I can't stand having my time taken away from me...I have a really hard time committing to anything over a long time. Weird.

Linda, you are doing wonderful with your exercise. I'm really impressed.

Julie, love the tractor. It's really good your DH has interests...beats him sitting around the house watching TV all day. My DH has all kinds of projects too....and most of them are sitting in the back yard...cars, motorcycles, etc.

Laura K....those leaves are really cool. How thick are they? What do you use to paint them with? Boy have you lost a lot of weight, you are doing great.

Laura...have fun in Miami! Hope your Dad starts to feel better and Nels stays feverless. If Nelson is donig good, what will you do while DH is at the conference?

I know I've missed someone, sorry....I'll try and catch up tomorrow. I have FNSC tonight and a hair and nail appointment tomorrow....so I'll me MIA again.

Last night I was caught up in another audio book and didn't check in....sorry.

Hope everyone has a great Friday.

Eva

Eva, I mix the quick crete to a medium thickness, to thin and it breaks real easy when dry. Make a mound of sand bigger than the leaf you have, lay it face down, (the more veins on the backside the better design) use a trowel to cover the leaf almost to the edge. You want it on there thick enough so it will harden and not break. I wait a couple of days or a week turn it over, peel the leaf out, brush it out with a wire brush.

I have used samples of indoor paint, or even craft paint. You make a "white wash" with the paint and Water. If you use just straight paint it will peel off. It will be real running so use a rag and just keep going over until you get the color you want. You can dry brush on other colors after that. I do use straight paint to paint in the veins first. After it is dry I use Thompson waterseal to coat both sides.

Depending on the leaf size they can be birdbaths, feeders or just decorative.

Laura K

[FemmeOne 0]

Hi there, everyone. I'm at work, but I have a few minutes...it's been pretty busy.

Laura K, how artistic you are! I love those leaves...

Julie, nice tractor...I have an old Chambers range sitting in my garage that need restored. It was a project that I started a long time ago, and hope that someday I can finish. I need a husband as interested in old stoves as yours is in old tractors!

Laura, hope your dad is feeling better. And I hope you have a good time in Miami...wish I were someplace warm too!! Actually it hit 40 yesterday and everyone was out walking and running with light jackets on---amazing how warm that feels when it's been below freezing for weeks on end.

Sparkle, I think you'll do fine with the surgery. I was off work for a week, but I really could have gone back on day 5 if I wanted.

Yesterday I went in for a small fill, 3/4 cc. My surgeon saw me and was really enthusiastic about my weight loss...51 lbs yesterday. They told me that was 40% of my goal, and that most people didn't reach that until a year after surgery. So I was psyched up! I only have to be on liquids after the fill for that day, then back to normal foods today. I'm going to really watch it though, and eat pretty easy stuff today because I don't want to get swollen up again and get those bad sticking situations like I was having.

Linda, I really miss it when you don't post as much!!

The other day I pm'ed Apples for info about the Florida trip, thinking that perhaps I could find a cheap flight and come to meet you all. However, those dern flights are just too expensive for me right now. I hope I can make another get together if you do it next year. I'm disappointed, but I still feel like i "know" you all on here.

Hi to everyone else I didn't mention. My memory is so bad, I sometimes wonder how you all remember so much to comment on!! I need to take notes when I read posts!

[Great2BThin 5]

Good morning Lovelies!

It must be fill season, seems many of us are getting fills this week or next. Mine is at 1130 this morning. I finally found my fill instruction paper. I am to have no solids 2 hours before a fill, liquids for 4 to 6 hours after, then mushies the rest of that day. So think I am going out for refried Beans tonight. LOL I was really hoping not to need a fill and learn to live with my band almost half empty but I am starting to get hungrier and hungrier and eating more and more. The 2 lbs I lost after surgery found their way back and I just don't want them to bring any friends with them. I think as I am taking fewer and fewer pain pills my appetite is coming back too.

Deb, if you can sortta do last minute, I would keep watching those air fares. It seems anymore that they fluctuate a lot and flights fill up a lot last minute with cheaper airfares. I think the airlines lower them when they have lots of empty seats closer to the flight date. I fly free with my husbands benefits and that's how it seems anyway. I will check a flight and it will have 50 empty seats then a day or so before the flight be oversold.

Sparkle, glad you are feelilng better about things, it can seem so overwhelming.

Linda, heck I'd enjoy the extra mornings of sleeping in and go cold turkey getting up early for my first day back to work. What do you do again? I forget.

[llkb4me 1]

Deb, Congrats on the 51 lbs. Way to go girl. You are doing wonderful.

Laura K

[Apples2 19]

Deb...sorry to hear that you will not be making it to FL. Hoping that next time you will have enough notice to fit it into your schedule. Those prices on tickets can be all over the board, can't they? I have a credit card that builds airline miles. I am so used to not paying for tickets. I check into prices once in awhile for flights out to Atlanta where our youngest DS lives. Sometimes they are so cheap you just have to go and other times they are triple.

I am attaching a photo of my youngest DS's project. One of them anyway. He was 12 when he bought just the frame for a '67 Pony Mustang and finished it at the age of 15. He would do body work in our shop for others to earn money to buy original Mustang parts. He even sat in the basement for a month recovering seats in blue and off-white leather. It turned out really nice. We have it stored in a storage van on our farm. He will take it when he is settled for good. During his teen years, he also fully restored a '66 Falcon, a '66 Galaxy and another car (can't remember the model). He was working on building a new Shelby Colbra and was about 3/4 done when he got called to duty the day after 9/11. Other DS restored an old Ford pickup and drove for years. I still see it trucking around town with a young kid driving it.

Soooooooo...the talk at every meal at our house had to do with rebuilding vehicles and engines. Was so good for them and has helped them take care of their vehicles in "real life".

Also included an aerial photo of our farm that youngest DS took when he flew over the farm. Things have changed and buildings and bins have been added since then. I think photo was taken in '03.

[Apples2 19]

OOPS:redface:

Wrong photo. That one was the guys doing their tile prep.

[Apples2 19]

For stupid sake....I think I got it this time:ohmy:

[Apples2 19]

??????????????????????

[Apples2 19]

OK...aerial photo would not load and found just a shot from out by the road of part of the farmsite...summer photo

[Apples2 19]

Deb...missed where you stated you are at 51lbs lost now. Congrats. You are moving right along.

Great...good luck with your fill! No unfills!!!!!!!!!!!!

[IndioGirl55 32]

You have deff made me feel more comfortable and squelched my concerns regarding the dates in between all the holidays. Now that this isnt something im going to be obsessing over..ill concentrate now on the getting the CPAP set. I have to go to the sleep center again for this...so hopefully one night this week.

Its funny that you write about your friend who spent most of her time in your church...when I was younger..I also spent alot of time in my best friends church with her...when we were little. Much more fun then my synaguage was. lol

You brought back some good memories! Thanks

Sparkels - You are going to make a great addition to the group - I can tell already !!! :0) Oh I can tell you stories about Starr & I - her parents would talk yiddish when they didn't want us to know what they were talking about - but she knew a few words and I picked up (and was told) what a few of them meant - but now I only remember a couple ;0) old age..

The cpap will make you feel better cuz you will sleep better but it does take some getting use to - I don't have mine anymore since the weight is off..

Hugs on being a widow so young - can we aske when did your dh die and why??

Went to bed with DH at 10:00..... flipped through the channels waiting for my pain pill to kick in but now the pain has just gotten worse... So got up and to another half a pill.... I need to be up early tomorrow as DD got her schedule switched for the day so will get Mimi from 7 - 3...........Not a big deal but I'm used to sleeping till I wake up after being up late...... Just thought I would check in to see what everyone was doing...

NY, glad you are feeling a bit better about things...

Janet, that's a rigid schedule for a fill... I only have to do 24 hours of liquids... then just back to normal..... I'm thinking I need another fill, too..... Maybe .5...... Might get it before Florida...... We'll see what next week looks like...

Well, time for some solitaire and hopefully I will fall asleep soon... night all............

Julie all your guys stories about not sleeping must have hit me last night - was tired went to bed at 9:30 ish then just tossed and turned - finally at 1 ate a pt bar (140 cal) and took a xanax and finally went to sleep - Angel (my poddle for the newbies) woke me up at 5 to potty - but I went back to bed and slept till 8 (when they woke me up again) and you all know I NEVER sleep till 8 ;0) - I'm on my 2nd cup of joe - then going to gym - come home and take down the xmas stuff !!!

See I told you guys my crap is up till the 15th !!!! lol

NY...you sound like you are feeling better about everything. I felt similar when I was told by my doc's office that I just had to wait 3 months for the surgery and then it got bumped up to 6. At first it upset me (1minute) and I accepted. It turned out to be a good thing cuz it gave me or time to wrap my head around what was to come.

My doc has his patients on solids b/4 and after fills. I could leave his office and go eat whatever I wanted. He moves patients up to solids about a week after surgery. They sure are all over the board with their rules.

I grew up Catholic, too. We LIVED at church. Went to a Catholic school...mass every morning. And, come hell or high Water, you were there for every Holy Day. I was taught by nuns and worked for nuns at our hospital at the age of 13. All I know is that they can really pinch! The pinching didn't do any good cuz I grew up to have a mind of my own and strayed away from the Catholic church and it's teachings. I believe but not just everything that is taught.

.

Apples - we have so very much in common - I went to Catholic school from 2nd grade to 7th grade (didn't get invited back for my 8th grade year) We went to church every friday more in school :0) that's where we were when we got the word that JFK died.. My school had a mix of nuns and lay teachers - our nuns were pretty nice - well execpt for the principal - but nothing like the horror stories about catholic schools and gotta say when I went to public school - I was more advanced than them.. We can compare stories in FL ;0)

Julie...hope you got at least some sleep. I did. Felt good. Been up for a couple of hours but DH just got up. I love it when he can sleep in. Have steel cut oats on the stove. Made the entire bag this morning so I can throw some in the freezer. I ate some yesterday but was full for too long. Think I am going to have to leave them alone. I get too full and cannot get cals in.

Sparkle, welcome....I was back at work 4 days later...but no lifting (supposedly) but I ended up doing a little of that. I was fine. The LAP-BAND® isn't horrible as far as surgery, at least I don't think so. Of course besides my tonsils, it's the only surgery I've ever had and I do not have children. As far as the food, you'll be fine. I cooked a meal for a wedding a week after my surgery (50 people) and really didn't have a problem with it.

Apples, I understand about the "lost" time. After I graduated from college (1993) I was lost because I didn't have that focus. Now I can't stand having my time taken away from me...I have a really hard time committing to anything over a long time. Weird.

Linda, you are doing wonderful with your exercise. I'm really impressed.

Julie, love the tractor. It's really good your DH has interests...beats him sitting around the house watching TV all day. My DH has all kinds of projects too....and most of them are sitting in the back yard...cars, motorcycles, etc.

Laura K....those leaves are really cool. How thick are they? What do you use to paint them with? Boy have you lost a lot of weight, you are doing great.

Laura...have fun in Miami! Hope your Dad starts to feel better and Nels stays feverless. If Nelson is donig good, what will you do while DH is at the conference?

I know I've missed someone, sorry....I'll try and catch up tomorrow. I have FNSC tonight and a hair and nail appointment tomorrow....so I'll me MIA again.

Last night I was caught up in another audio book and didn't check in....sorry.

Hope everyone has a great Friday.

Eva

Have fun at you friday night get together !!!

Good morning everyone! Had a great night's sleep -- feeling really refreshed this a.m. Of course being able to sleep in until you wake up is wonderful - I keep thinking I need to set my alarm and get up at 5 so I get used to it, but when I do and I wake up the room is cold and I talk myself into going back to sleep. I am going to be in trouble come Tues. morning I'm afraid.

My dinner last night was grilled (Foreman's grill) chicken made into a salad with spinach, lettuce, Tomato, some black Beans, a sprinkling of fat free cheddar cheese and a few crushed baked Doritos with fat free ranch dressing and a little salsa -- really tastes good when you haven't had anything like that in a long time. Not something I do often, just once in awhile. It's the way I cure my Mexican craving. Hits the spot. Filled me up so much I passed on the popcorn last night.

Kinda gloomy looking out today -- suppoed to be in 30s again -- I do hope our severe cold is over for the year (boy am I dreaming). It's nice to see Patches of green in the yards although it looks so ugly while it's melting -- it is so dirty looking everywhere and all the cars witih all the salt on them - yuck. DH went through car wash and by the time he came home I could barely tell. That's sad.

Janet, yeah, your doc is very strict -- we are supposed to do liquids for 2 days after fill but I never did -- did the rest of first day (except most of the time I do eat my popcorn that same night) and would eat normal from second day on - just chewed better and was more careful for a few days. It's very weird how different every surgeon is.

Hope everyone has a great day. Gotta get going on my exercise and then need to get the house cleaned and GD is coming to spend the night. Busy day. CBL. Linda

Ya my doc is strict - but I am pig headed - I won't follow it - I am afraid of getting too tight been there once - don't ever want to go there again - it's the pits - I think that's why I have kept myself on the loose side - but really more than anything this fill is going to be more mental than physical !!

Eva, I mix the quick crete to a medium thickness, to thin and it breaks real easy when dry. Make a mound of sand bigger than the leaf you have, lay it face down, (the more veins on the backside the better design) use a trowel to cover the leaf almost to the edge. You want it on there thick enough so it will harden and not break. I wait a couple of days or a week turn it over, peel the leaf out, brush it out with a wire brush.

I have used samples of indoor paint, or even craft paint. You make a "white wash" with the paint and water. If you use just straight paint it will peel off. It will be real running so use a rag and just keep going over until you get the color you want. You can dry brush on other colors after that. I do use straight paint to paint in the veins first. After it is dry I use Thompson waterseal to coat both sides.

Depending on the leaf size they can be birdbaths, feeders or just decorative.

Laura K

LauraK - I admire pple who do crafts - sounds like fun - but I don't have much patience for it - if I did them then there would be no time for lbt - that's my craft lol

Hi there, everyone. I'm at work, but I have a few minutes...it's been pretty busy.

Laura K, how artistic you are! I love those leaves...

Julie, nice tractor...I have an old Chambers range sitting in my garage that need restored. It was a project that I started a long time ago, and hope that someday I can finish. I need a husband as interested in old stoves as yours is in old tractors!

Laura, hope your dad is feeling better. And I hope you have a good time in Miami...wish I were someplace warm too!! Actually it hit 40 yesterday and everyone was out walking and running with light jackets on---amazing how warm that feels when it's been below freezing for weeks on end.

Sparkle, I think you'll do fine with the surgery. I was off work for a week, but I really could have gone back on day 5 if I wanted.

Yesterday I went in for a small fill, 3/4 cc. My surgeon saw me and was really enthusiastic about my weight loss...51 lbs yesterday. They told me that was 40% of my goal, and that most people didn't reach that until a year after surgery. So I was psyched up! I only have to be on liquids after the fill for that day, then back to normal foods today. I'm going to really watch it though, and eat pretty easy stuff today because I don't want to get swollen up again and get those bad sticking situations like I was having.

Linda, I really miss it when you don't post as much!!

The other day I pm'ed Apples for info about the Florida trip, thinking that perhaps I could find a cheap flight and come to meet you all. However, those dern flights are just too expensive for me right now. I hope I can make another get together if you do it next year. I'm disappointed, but I still feel like i "know" you all on here.

Hi to everyone else I didn't mention. My memory is so bad, I sometimes wonder how you all remember so much to comment on!! I need to take notes when I read posts!

Deb - did you ck priceline - they have cheap flights..

Good morning Lovelies!

It must be fill season, seems many of us are getting fills this week or next. Mine is at 1130 this morning. I finally found my fill instruction paper. I am to have no solids 2 hours before a fill, liquids for 4 to 6 hours after, then mushies the rest of that day. So think I am going out for refried beans tonight. LOL I was really hoping not to need a fill and learn to live with my band almost half empty but I am starting to get hungrier and hungrier and eating more and more. The 2 lbs I lost after surgery found their way back and I just don't want them to bring any friends with them. I think as I am taking fewer and fewer pain pills my appetite is coming back too.

Deb, if you can sortta do last minute, I would keep watching those air fares. It seems anymore that they fluctuate a lot and flights fill up a lot last minute with cheaper airfares. I think the airlines lower them when they have lots of empty seats closer to the flight date. I fly free with my husbands benefits and that's how it seems anyway. I will check a flight and it will have 50 empty seats then a day or so before the flight be oversold.

Sparkle, glad you are feelilng better about things, it can seem so overwhelming.

Linda, heck I'd enjoy the extra mornings of sleeping in and go cold turkey getting up early for my first day back to work. What do you do again? I forget.

Great I don't think I am to eat before a fill either - dont remember usually they have been in the a.m. not this late in the afternoon - since I have my furlough days try to schedule appts for them but docs off only does fills on certain days - so if I eat at noon by 3:30 --hell 4 by the time I get in the room - the food should be gone...

Well gang its my furlough friday - slept til 8 it's now 9:23 I must hit the gym - so I am going to sign off now and cbl

[Charlene K 1]

Apples - we have so very much in common - I went to Catholic school from 2nd grade to 7th grade (didn't get invited back for my 8th grade year) We went to church every friday more in school :0) that's where we were when we got the word that JFK died.. My school had a mix of nuns and lay teachers - our nuns were pretty nice - well execpt for the principal - but nothing like the horror stories about catholic schools and gotta say when I went to public school - I was more advanced than them.. We can compare stories in FL ;0)

Janet, I went to Catholic school for eight years too. Yep, I had the nun that threw the erasers and chalk at you if you were talking......Or make you go to confession if you pissed her off. I went to mass every school day. I even wanted to be a nun. I thought they were so holy....the nice ones. That notion faded when I went to public school.

I had cream of wheat for breakfast.....then Tilapia for lunch.< /strong>

[JeweI 2]

Well I haven't gotten stuck since the first day. I feel pretty good. I slept on my tummy last night and this morning when I got off of my stomach I had this terrible muscle burning sensation where my stiches are (not the port area, the other stiches). I didn't have any shoulder pain when I ate today. I am starting to feel pretty hungry.

The reason my doc moved me to soft foods so fast is because he doesn't want me eatting mushies. Stuff like mashed potatoes and grits tend to have high carbs and he is passionately against carbs.

Yesterday, I had half an egg for Breakfast, turkey for lunch and chicken for dinner. I am trying to get more Water in me. I know I am not drinking nearly enough.

My husbands boss has been asking my hubby a million questions about my surgery. He is wanting to save up and do it too. His insurance won't cover it though. Everyday my hubby gets to work his boss ask how I am doing lol. Curiosity.

[Apples2 19]

Apples - we have so very much in common - I went to Catholic school from 2nd grade to 7th grade (didn't get invited back for my 8th grade year) We went to church every friday more in school :0) that's where we were when we got the word that JFK died.. My school had a mix of nuns and lay teachers - our nuns were pretty nice - well execpt for the principal - but nothing like the horror stories about catholic schools and gotta say when I went to public school - I was more advanced than them.. We can compare stories in FL ;0)

Janet, I went to Catholic school for eight years too. Yep, I had the nun that threw the erasers and chalk at you if you were talking......Or make you go to confession if you pissed her off. I went to mass every school day. I even wanted to be a nun. I thought they were so holy....the nice ones. That notion faded when I went to public school.

I had cream of wheat for breakfast.....then Tilapia for lunch.< /strong>

We had two classes that were taught by laic ppl. Third grade and sixth grade. With going to church every morning at 8am, we were requried to wear a veil. The most traumatic school year incident for me was forgetting my veil on day when I was in third grade. Mrs. Campion just reach up her sleeve, pulled out a USED wadded up Kleenex and bobby pinned it to my head. I cried the entire mass. Then after mass I had to kneel in the corner of the classroom for an hour and read the bible OUT LOUD. I was devastated. Everything they did back then was shame based.:thumbup:

[Charlene K 1]

We had two classes that were taught by laic ppl. Third grade and sixth grade. With going to church every morning at 8am, we were requried to wear a veil. The most traumatic school year incident for me was forgetting my veil on day when I was in third grade. Mrs. Campion just reach up her sleeve, pulled out a USED wadded up Kleenex and bobby pinned it to my head. I cried the entire mass. Then after mass I had to kneel in the corner of the classroom for an hour and read the bible OUT LOUD. I was devastated. Everything they did back then was shame based.:thumbup: VerticalSleeveTalk Click to visit the largest Vertical Sleeve community online!

__________________

Yeah, that was the place to learn shame and low self esteem. Apples, that is funny. My shame was I was sick for a few days. Sister Burkman( had taught in a boys military school) checked my desk and glue had leaked out of my cigar box (remember them?). So everyday she would ask where the messy girl was....when I returned back to school she shamed me in front of the class. I wonder if she went to heaven?