I'm here to help...

[Apples2 19]

I should add...PLEASE...nobody take offense to my guesses and not poking fun at anyone. Just being silly.

You know what, Arlene? I would have filled their bottles with the cherry coke!

[1day at a time 2]

Melissa.....I'm going to put a challenge out there to you. Try to eat like you are eating today for one entire week. See how you feel about things at the end of the week. I will bet that you have more energy and a better attitude toward getting everything back on track.

Just reading Laura's last post on how she did her shakes for a week and it got her to thinking straight again about her food plan made me think of you and the struggles you have been posting about lately.

Do you think you can do it? I bet you can...Good luck!

Thanks for thinking about me I am so hungry or I think i am I have been some low cal Baratric Soup it is very good and my shakes I feel like food though. oh I did do runny oatmeal it is like being in banster hell kinda.

And If I sold time shares I would never make money LOL I am not a seller at all. My first job was working at Dairy Queen.

[Apples2 19]

Great...I have 7 siblings. 5 sisters, 2 brothers. Oldest male, 6 females and youngest is a male.

In this day and age you could have seen your boss in court. Sorry you had to experience that at your young age.

[Apples2 19]

Thanks for thinking about me I am so hungry or I think i am I have been some low cal Baratric Soup it is very good and my shakes I feel like food though. oh I did do runny oatmeal it is like being in banster hell kinda.

And If I sold time shares I would never make money LOL I am not a seller at all. My first job was working at Dairy Queen.

Ooops...should have put your name on the Tasty Freeze instead of Debra!

Sorry you are experiencing hunger, Melissa. Hang in there.

[1day at a time 2]

Ooops...should have put your name on the Tasty Freeze instead of Debra!

Sorry you are experiencing hunger, Melissa. Hang in there.

Thanks Apples you are on a role with the posts today

[Apples2 19]

Thanks Apples you are on a role with the posts today

Just junking up the thread!:thumbup:

[Charlene K 1]

Apples, I love your guesses. No offense here. Yep, should have filled their bottles with coke......lol. I think it may have been cherry flavored.

I am putting my mom in skilled nursing tomorrow for rehab. She may be there twenty days......it's a medicare thing and a good thing. I hope they don't cut that out. She will get stronger and be able to go back to her apartment.

Sorry gang......I haven't read many of the posts. Great, I did read yours. I hope you get your asking price.

I hope y'all have a good evening. Me, I am a Survivor fan.

I did have two shakes today and ate chicken twice......not bad. I weigh in on Friday.

[ifyourstomachoffendsyou 1]

I had kids ask me to tutor them in high school. Unpaid. My dad kept getting me awful jobs in high school. Clerk at a drycleaners--only 14 yrs old. Had to get a permit to work and to work after 6 p.m. Trained by girls a couple years older than me, didn't tell me about some things, got left on my own one evening, couldn't find something for a customer who complained, girls had been ditching me when we all went out for a treat after school before starting work, my mom called the owner, I got fired.

Man, that was a blast from the past. My dad also made me waitress for my uncle, clerk in a drugstore, and waitress at a drive-in. Awful awful jobs that I was not at all cut out for. Owner of the drive-in was incredibly abusive. My uncle was a sarcastic pri**, and I couldn't remember all the details at the drugstore. I got fired. I had a great summer job every year as a lifeguard that I loved but it wasn't enough for my dad. I had to work during the school year, too. All he did was make me afraid of getting a job and being able to keep it. I felt so incompetent.

Man, these are very old, very bad memories. Thankfully, on my own I learned I was a very good teacher. I also volunteer taught swimming lessons through my teens right into my 30's. Then I got into teaching part-time and, with a 5 yr hiatus doing public relations/publicity/development, I got back into teaching full-time at RCS and have been there for 10 years now.

If anyone ever asks me to clerk for anything I wil run screaming for the door. The same thing with anything administrative or desk-bound in nature. Gives me the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it.

Cheri

[JeweI 2]

My first job was wiping butts too, Baby butts. I was a nanny for 3 children. I loved it. Now I can't work with kids. They get on my nerves. Groups of them atleast. I can handle up to 2 at a time but beyond that I just can't focus on what needs to be taken care of. I was a teacher's assistant when I got pregnant. I decided I had had enough and became a "stay at home mom". In quotes because I still had jobs but made sure Jacob was able to be with me. I sold Avon, Made Jewelry, Worked as a Nanny and even took him on my paper route with me. Worked with a baby on the hip. I raised my brothers and sisters. Now that my son is older it is the first time I haven't had a baby on my hip since I was 7. I am enjoying having more independence, Jacob can dress himself now and bath himself, brush his teeth. It frees up time for me to use the bathroom by myself, get dressed alone, even shave. I do miss the baby dayse but I won't wish these days away.

I got a 95% on my pig dissection exam. I just took it this morning but my grade was posted by the time I got home.

I had my fourth fill yesterday and am feeling it. I have had hiccups the past 2 days every time I eat or drink.

I am not suppose to be eatting but I want food so bad. My doc wants me on Protein Shakes till tomorrow evening. I want to eat everything in the house. It has really gotten out of control. I feel like I am in binge mode but I can only eat so much. Doc says I am relying on food for my emotional needs. So maybe school stress is getting to me or the therapy bringing back things I want to forget. I am not a crier, I am an eatter. When I went for my fill yesterday they were really concerned about the way I looked. Kept asking if I was ok. I heard them out in the hallway saying I didn't look ok. They sent the therapist in. She started talking to me and before I knew it I was crying. I think my visit to my brothers stirred up some bad childhood memories. He likes to talk about everything we went through and let me know he appreciates all I did for him. I never talk about my mom and stepfather but what happened with them has been the subject of too many discussions lately. All I know is right now I need to stop eatting. I am gonna get in the shower, brush my teeth and call it a day. I will finish my extra credit work in the morning. Thanks for listening.

Welcome froggie. I was banded Jan '10. I have had 4 fills since surgery. There are some wonderful exsperienced banders on this thread so ask away.

[phyllser 3]

PICS:a pic of Nelson with his friend Sarah- swimming in our pool.

Nelson getting ready to climb the rock wall at the school picnic. (they face painted his face with the blue avatar nose) LOL

Always enjoy your photos! I love to take pictures and I love to look at other people's pictures!

SNACK ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!! Found a new snack. Some of you might turn your nose up at this but this is something I've been eating lately and maybe some of you might take a liking to it. Pickled eggs. 75cals per egg. You can eat them plain or slice and eat with mayo or FF mayo.

Just reading Laura's last post on how she did her shakes for a week and it got her to thinking straight again about her food plan made me think of you and the struggles you have been posting about lately. Do you think you can do it? I bet you can...Good luck!

Pickled eggs??? Yep... I think I'll be one of those turning my nose up! I don't care for much of anything if it's pickled, especially in dill. I don't like the taste of dill at all.

Shakes... I wonder if you could make a Merlot shake? ?

HAHAHAHA!!

Well, your guess was right on with me! Nurses' Aide in a nursing home. If you don't count all the babysitting I did in the neighborhood prior to that. Yeah.... wiped butts, etc. And, I too fell in love with those old folks and that's what prompted me to decide I wanted to be a nurse. I had several "favorites"! One lady who had cerebral palsy. She was very picky about who took care of her and she liked me. She even came to my wedding. Then there was one who had her feet rubbed every night with lanolin cream, and sometimes I came in on my days off because she loved the way I massaged her feet.

I have a good story about my first day on the job. I was assigned to one of the "experienced" nurses' aides. I was to follow her and help her and learn what the daily duties were. So... first thing in the morning, we were to go room by room and put fresh ice Water in everyone's water pitchers. I observed and assisted about half way down the hall before she let me go in to one room by myself. I came out with what I thought was a stainless steel water pitcher. But, my "mentor" burst into laughter and told me that what I had in my hand was the man's urinal!! He probably didn't want ice water in that!!! HAHAHAHA!!

There was an old Italian lady who didn't speak any English and she and I got to be good buddies. She'd see me coming down the hall and she'd do a little dance for me. And she'd talk to me in Italian.. she taught me to say "NO CAPICE"... don't understand! So she'd talk and I'd say, "NO CAPICE" and she'd giggle and keep talking!

Apple... sounds like you had a VERY busy life even as a 13 yr old!!

My first job was as a nursing assistant in the nursing home near college. I fed/bathed/wiped butts. I adopted all 60 of the residents as my grandparents. (All 4 of my GP had passed when I was young). Loved that job! OK... what other first jobs did people have? Tells a lot about a person I think. ; )

Hadn't thought about it until you mentioned it, but all 4 of my GPs had died prior to my nursing home job, too. I just absolutely loved that job! Makes you wonder, doesn't it? I especially missed my maternal GM because she used to take the bus out to our house in the suburbs and I'd walk down to the bus stop and wait for her to get there and walk home with her. Don't remember my maternal GF.. he died when I was about 3 yrs, I think. And paternal GPs were German... didn't speak a whole lot of fluent English so my relationship with them wasn't as close. My most vivid memory of my paternal GM was that she'd give us a warm smile and give us each a quarter, but didn't say much! Sat in one corner of the LR and smiled a lot and listened!!

Thiings are so different these days. We grew up in close proximity to our GPs.. I did, anyways. And there were frequent get togethers with all our cousins at GP's home. But our kids grew up across the country, basically, from our parents. Society is so much more mobile these days and our kids don't get to know their cousins as well.. and other family members. I was so touched that our daughter-in-law decided that they would spend spring break week this year back OUR home town in Buffalo NY to visit my Mom and family and DH's family. I guess she gets it! In fact, both of our daughters have gone back for a week or two in recent years. It means a lot to me that they do value those relationships!

Laura...my first job was also a butt wiper and dietary aide (not at the same time, LOL). I started working at our local hospital/nursing home attached at the tender age of 13. I will have you know that I was proud to earn that 83 cents an hour!

School would let out at 3:20. I would ride my bike the mile home, whip a meal up for a family of 10 and into the oven, (way b/4 crockpots came into existence), change into my white uniform, ride my bike 1.5 miles and be to work by 4pm. Would help with meals for the 30 bed hospital and 40 bed nursing home. Prepared the patient trays in the food line, filled the tray carts and then delivered the carts to the floor. We would go to the patient floor with a list of patients that were unable to feed themselves and spoon feed them.

2 weeks after I started this job, I was sent to feed Mr. Pikert. He was propped up, eyes open, and the Soup just ran out the corners of his mouth. Decided that Jello might work better for him. That wouldn't go any farther than his tongue. About that time the head RN walked in the room with a mortified look on her face and said "Poor Mr. Pikert passed away about 15 minutes ago...so sorry" and promptly closed his eyes and covered him. Now, remember I was 13. Oops!

After getting done with running the dishes through the dishwasher for hospital and nursing home, I worked as an aide on the patient floor. That's where the butt wiping came in.

At 8pm I was done and on my bike (or hoofing it) another mile or so to help my brother clean the local bank 5 nights a week. No pay with that job. Boy was I stupid. He got the paycheck and laid on the floor and watched TV in the bank president's office and I cleaned and scrubbed. He's an A-hole to this day. Terrible thing to say about a sibling, but, will say it again. He's an A-hole to this day.

I also mowed with my brother during the summer months. We mowed the bank, the cemetery, the church yard, and many yards in town.

My mother had a dept. store so I was the housekeeper. Good ole Johnson paste wax was applied every Sat. by me to EVERY floor in an 8 bedroom home.

All of the above pretty much took up 24/7 and no time for socialization. Pssst...I've made up for it!

That just makes me tired!! Don't know how you did all that, even at 13 yrs old!!!

[Apples2 19]

Well Phyll...I left some of my "jobs" out of that list on purpose. Had to make it believable....I also sewed dresses and outfits for the teachers and others in town. My mom had fabrics and patterns in her store. Ppl would come in and pick out fabric and a pattern and let me know when they needed it. Lots of nights at the sewing machine till midnight.

I also spent a lot of nights after working at the hospital and bank taking care of five children that lived a couple of houses down on our block. Their mother worked the 9pm till closing at the local bar. I would grab my books and head over. Get the kids bathed and to bed, do my homework, watch Johnny Carson and fall asleep in the chair until the single mom got home about 2:30. She was a wonderful mother to her children and so good to me. She always had special treats for me. I still remember her homemade rolls and the old fashioned tapioca pudding.

Also, for years I took my study hall the first hour of the day. My Uncle Bill would pick me up at 7am and I would open my mother's store and do the cleaning from the day b/4. I would work till 9:30am and run up to the school which was only a block away. I worked split shifts at the hospital on Sat and Sun. On the days I did not work at the hospital, I worked the store. Really never thought much of it at the time. It was just life.

You and Laura talking about how much you loved your nursing home residents made me have a good cry. I have always been drawn to the elderly. I do think it comes from having a very loving GM that lived right across the street from us and having elderly great-uncles (3 of them all single men) that took an interest in each one of us 8 children. All of them including GM and a great aunt would have done anything for our family.

And, yes, it is difficult having your children in other parts of the country. I panic sometimes when I think that once (or if) youngest ever gets married, I will not get to see their family because I do think that because of his profession, they will not live close to us. But, I feel what will be will be and we will make the most of what comes.

Well...my pickled eggs are feeling bad. Not your thing either, huh? Think I will go eat one of them.

[Apples2 19]

My first job was wiping butts too, Baby butts. I was a nanny for 3 children. I loved it. Now I can't work with kids. They get on my nerves. Groups of them atleast. I can handle up to 2 at a time but beyond that I just can't focus on what needs to be taken care of. I was a teacher's assistant when I got pregnant. I decided I had had enough and became a "stay at home mom". In quotes because I still had jobs but made sure Jacob was able to be with me. I sold Avon, Made Jewelry, Worked as a Nanny and even took him on my paper route with me. Worked with a baby on the hip. I raised my brothers and sisters. Now that my son is older it is the first time I haven't had a baby on my hip since I was 7. I am enjoying having more independence, Jacob can dress himself now and bath himself, brush his teeth. It frees up time for me to use the bathroom by myself, get dressed alone, even shave. I do miss the baby dayse but I won't wish these days away.

I got a 95% on my pig dissection exam. I just took it this morning but my grade was posted by the time I got home.

I had my fourth fill yesterday and am feeling it. I have had hiccups the past 2 days every time I eat or drink.

I am not suppose to be eatting but I want food so bad. My doc wants me on Protein Shakes till tomorrow evening. I want to eat everything in the house. It has really gotten out of control. I feel like I am in binge mode but I can only eat so much. Doc says I am relying on food for my emotional needs. So maybe school stress is getting to me or the therapy bringing back things I want to forget. I am not a crier, I am an eatter. When I went for my fill yesterday they were really concerned about the way I looked. Kept asking if I was ok. I heard them out in the hallway saying I didn't look ok. They sent the therapist in. She started talking to me and before I knew it I was crying. I think my visit to my brothers stirred up some bad childhood memories. He likes to talk about everything we went through and let me know he appreciates all I did for him. I never talk about my mom and stepfather but what happened with them has been the subject of too many discussions lately. All I know is right now I need to stop eatting. I am gonna get in the shower, brush my teeth and call it a day. I will finish my extra credit work in the morning. Thanks for listening.

Welcome froggie. I was banded Jan '10. I have had 4 fills since surgery. There are some wonderful exsperienced banders on this thread so ask away.

Jessica...sending you a cyber hug. It's OK to break down and need ppl to talk to. Continue to talk and get it out. It's the best thing you can do. That's what therapists are for. I saw mine every week for 4.5 yrs and when I start feeling that those memories are infiltrating, I check back in with my head doc. It's difficult to get rid of it sometimes...especially with, as you said, talking about things with your brother.

I see you as highly functional and you need to know that you have that professional to rely on during times like this. :thumbup:

[Apples2 19]

And Phyll....Yes, you can make a shake out of Merlot. Just make sure to not ruin it with too much ice. You would hate to screw up the alcohol content!

[ifyourstomachoffendsyou 1]

Apples, I stand in awe. How much of all that was your idea and how much was just demanded from you?

[Apples2 19]

Apples, I stand in awe. How much of all that was your idea and how much was just demanded from you?

Actually, Cheri...about half and half. I put a lot on myself to stay busy and not have to think of the "things" that were going on in that house. In a way, it saved me and made me strong. I don't know if I was born a "survivor" or if it was self-taught. Either way, work is something I have always used to keep the "demons" at bay. I guess in a way it was my way of molding myself and a form of self-validation. Was always told I was not worth the spit on the sidewalk. But, I proved them wrong.