Happy Spring to all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi there to all my buddies here. Ladies and Gents. Let check in and say What are your Spring plans? Mine are to play in the garden. I am home now, retired and making a nice garden. I am adjusting to this retirement life. I am also pumping up with my bike riding and I am back down to my weight I was before the foot surgery. How is everyone feeling? I am feeling good..I feel a bit pulling in my stomach and sure hope it has nothing to do with that terrible hernia I had fixed in 2004. My new Disability Coverage begins June 1st so if it continues, I will have it checked out How is your eating doing? I still can't deal with ice cream or fatty foods. I do much less. Yes,,, the crunchies go down well and I just keep them out of my house. Meat is still a problem until it is tender. Pasta is a NO NO for me. Rice also. Anyway Happy Spring to all. Please stop in and just say HI!!! Lorraine ((((((((((HUGS)))))))))) to all.

Hi Lorraine, Sounds like some nice Spring activities.... I'm working now...a school RN and so far, it is not demanding at all....rather slow. I will be off June 1 and I decided to work thru summer school 6/25-7/27. I'll be off again until August 22. Sounds like a pretty good summer considering it's a new job. Not many people (outside of school teachers) start a new job and get the summer off. Granddaughter #2 arrives late July or early August. DH and I are taking our 35th anniversary trip sometime during my time off.....and a week at July 4th in TN winds our Spring and Summer up. My weight is holding at 120-125 and I don'****ch it too much at all. I can lose real easy if I do a lot of yardwork or housework. I can't eat a lot...still yet. My absolute no-no's are: ANYTHING with garlic (instant nausea) Bread (I can only Melba toast) Chicken (yuk!) Rice Ice Cream -- dump city! Oriental food (instant nausea) (except for egg drop soup) Carbonated drinks Tops on my list of foods are: KIND nut protein bars, Cottage Cheese, yogurt, cheese, lobster, baked potato, tomato soup, Wendy's chili, asparagus, salad, Fruitezia (a peach flavored white wine), fresh squeezed orange juice, and EVERYTHING & ANYTHING that is Mexican. Hope you dont' have a recurring problem with the hernia....take it easy. Catch ya' later....Ruthanna (luvitsunnyv)

I'm doing better with sleep. I'm on Ambien CR. The deep REM sleep is just what I needed. But I am still struggling to keep the weight up. I'm 128 and a loose size 4 on the bottom and loose 6/8 on top. My arm skin is that reason or I'd be a 4 there, too. I can't eat a whole lot. I eat like a person who has Celiac, or wheat allergy. I'm sensitive to so many preservatives, especially msg, so no Chinese food, which I love, no frozen diet dinners, can't eat pork as it is bad for any auto-immune disease, but especially CFS. So I eat a lot of wild caught only fish or seafood, white meat chicken dipped in honey mustard Ken's Lite dressing, so it'll go down, same with turkey, venison, Triscuits, and I found these products for people with Celiac, there called PURE bars. They are so GOOD. They have fruit, ground nuts and brown rice protein and nothing else. Nada. They are totally preservative free. I'm also dairy sensitive, so I drink 8th Continent soy milk. I think SILK tastes like skim milk with grass ground up in it. No wonder they use cows as the spokes person. Grass and cows are a perfect choice. 8th Continent tastes like skim milk with a little Cool Whip melted in it and you can get plain which is just fine, vanilla, which is great in tea, or chocolate. My veggies are either fresh or frozen. No canned. Same with fruit. No skins on the fruit. Toxins are a no-no. My hubby can pick me up with one arm. He calls me his tiny bag of bones. I went for a bra measurement and they did a body fat measurement, too, and they had to call the manager because the girl thought she was doing it wrong. The manager did it 4 times on 4 different parts of my waist. I have '0' body fat. None at all. Just loose skin. Not a good thing, if I really get sick. I can't eat any sugar, other than a tiny bit, then I have to be sure to have some kind of whole wheat toast or Triscuit and drink it out right away or 'pain' in the tummy comes real fast. Greasy foods make my IBS so bad I can't stand up straight. And now with Zelnorm off the market, I am having a real rough time going 'potty'. I use a lot of magnesium citrate and flax seed oil just to be able to go once a day. If I don't go once a day, I'm in pain by the night. I'm a mess. But, at least I get to sleep now. And that is making me feel a whole lot better. My grandson's are coming to visit, one over Memorial day weekend, the other, who lives in S.C., for 2 weeks in June. I know I'll be up to both now. I wasn't sure before. I'm going to send in new photos as soon as I can. I look different from the last ones I had done. I was 155 then, and I'm 128 now. Keep smilin' everyone! And enjoy what you have every day.

Hi there Teeny Tenny Nona!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am glad to hear from you. You are so Lucky to have that great husband of yours. I am sorry you have not been well. I was put on Ambien CR and think it is great. I sleep very well now. Loose skin is a problem I deal with also. When and if ever,when time and money click, I may have it removed. I am enjoying my Retirement and my Disability starts in June and my pension. That IBS is something else. I know my sister suffers from it. There are many foods I too can't eat either. Well Teen Teeny Nona Take care. Did you get my email I sent you? Lorrraine

No, I didn't! It probably went into my SPAM. Try this one : [email protected] It's my work one and that's got so many firewalls and things it should go straight through. But it won't take .wmv or midi files, or things like that. I can't do IM either at work. I did upload a photo of me on my pictures on my site here on my album for all to see, as well as one of my daughter and grandson who live in S.C. Nona

Nona, Hi there! I sent you a link to see which is great for Social Security. Here it is. "Social Security Online". I log in with any browser. I use AOL. I went in person when I applied but I created an account to look at anything I need. It shows me the payments and information I did for direct deposit.Remember you can't apply if you are still working so I was out of work then. You can't even work 1 day after the application is in. It was a tough fight but I won. I saw the picture of your daughter and your grandchild and it is a gorgeous picture. Was it done professionally? I can't wait to become a grandmother. My daughter is still not speaking to me so I may never know when Grandma Time happens. I just say my prayers everyday and hope for the best. Take care of yourself! Lorraine

I have a lawyer helping me through the process and I signed up for LTD at my work. If I don't get sick for a year, it'll pay for up to 5 years, including my health insurance. Or until SSI kicks in. That will be all I would need. But I have to stay healthy for at least 1 year. But I am feeling so much better since I'm sleeping. I am careful not to overdo it. I still have someone do my cleaning, and my Joe helps a lot, and I'm careful what I eat. So I'm doing ok. Yes, my daughter's photo was professionally done. Her boss did it. She's a professional photographer herself. She loves to do family and kids. But she does animals on the weekends for extra money. My boys, my grandsons, are the only ones I'll ever have. Neither girls can have any more, and my daughter in law can't have any, so they're it. Take care everyone. Nona