Good morning from Baltimore!

Good moning everyone!! Hope you're all drying out. The sun is out - the SUN!!! Well, other than Terry and Mo, this board seems to be especially dead recently! Is everyone still ? Not me, been up & at 'em since 5:30 a.m.! ICK! I hate that! Gonna be a long day, too, the girl with whom I share the office (aka THE SUPERVISOR), is off today, so I have to wor****il 5, when I usually get off at 4! But that's okay, the office will probably be quiet!! Drinking my protein laced coffee, and this morning, the scale showed down 2 pounds, so I think I was right, my scale is the ping-pong champion of the world!!!! I would like to lose another 16 pounds by my 1 year on 8/2, for a total of 150, but how can I reasonably argue with -134 pounds? I know, I know, I can't. And I am grateful for what I've done so far, but I want this weight off. Thinking about joining a Curves-type gym called Silhouettes in Rosedale, or maybe just Curves - we'll see! My poor brother, Gary, has a leaking attic roof - I'm telling ya, it never ends for him. The roof is only about 6-7 years old, so hopefully, the company will take care of things. But I really HATE dealing with home improvement people, it seems they never call back - supply vs. demand, I guess. So pray for no more rain for a while. It looks like this might postpone Kaity's birthday party, which was scheduled for next weekend, because he can't work in the yard until everything dries up, which means about 2010!!! Hope no one else sustained any water/flood damage - it's nasty stuff! So what's going on with everyone today? Come on, wake up - share your secrets. If you don't have any, make some up!!!!! Liven up my LOONNNNGGGG day! Have a great day!!!! Teresa

I would love to have someone in the office with me today (while you are happy it is empty!!!)...This is my 8th week of running an office by myself, so I am starting to talk to inanimate objects here in my office...Not much else going on though...I just got approved for my surgery on Friday and we set the big date yesterday. August 10th!!! I can't wait...This has been a long battle for me and I am sooooooo excited. I am so happy that the sun is out. I am in the fire department and the past few days have been a wet hell for us. Maybe now things will calm down a bit!! Sorry I cant "liven up" your day, but I am here to chat!!!

Congratulations on your date ! and best wishes as your WLS journey continues. Hugs, Mo

Hey Mo - Glad to see you're up and at 'em, too! Looking forward to August!!!! XOXOXO, Teresa

Leslie - Congrats! You'll be an "August Baby" with me! Believe me, sometimes, I'd appreciate a conversation with a stapler instead of the continuous office politics that we have here! I'm glad the sun is out, too, but what does it matter? My office has NO windows! I have to borrow THE SUPERVISOR'S windows to see, or I wait for a call from my mailman-brother with the weather update! I'm a DVR disciple, and just love the man! Maybe you can make his 7/26 support group meeting, I'd love to meet you! For now, if you have any questions, post or email away. We're a nice, but small (and getting smaller) group here on the MD Board, and we'd be happy to help you! Good luck, we're saving a seat for you on the loser's bench! Teresa

Good morning Teresa!!!! Oh I can so sympathize with the roof thing. We had the roof let go during a storm in the house in CT years ago. That was a horrid mess. The roof on this house was about 27 years old and we decided last summer to have it done before we had a problem just because I didn't want to be in a position of suddenly having to do it when we weren't prepared. I've been really thankful these last few days that the roof is new. Busy here, 'year end' is approaching Friday and have work and staff to coordinate. I've been crawling around under desks moving PC's around as we play musical cubicles. Moving PC's is not my job but we just have one IT support person in the building at the moment so I offered to take care of it myself. IT appreciates it but my knees sure don't!!! I'm watching it get darker out my window ... I think the sunshine I saw on the way to work might have been it for the day . Have a good one. Hugs, Mo

Mo - Yeah, this roof thing is not good. The contractor said they'll "try" to get someone out today or tomorrow! We'll see! Gary's house is old, and my Dad kind of talked him into buying it, and now, even 11 years later, I think Gary is having buyer's regret. The house has a lot of potential, but Gary has neither the time nor the expendable $$$$ to do anything right now. Thank God for income tax refunds! I'm glad the "end of the year" is approaching, they're going to lift our overtime freeze for a while anyway, so I may be able to live again! I'm getting a visual of you crawling under desks, but I bet it's much easier since the surgery, huh? I had to crawl under the dining room table last week to take a Q-tip away from Molly the Beagle. They and tissues are her favorite snacks, she holds them in her two front paws like a lollipop and rips the cotton off!!! Furry kids!! It was a lot easier to crawl this year than last! I don't have a window, so thanks for the update! XOXOXO, Teresa

It's getting cloudier by the hour here too...I was going to go to the 7/26 meeting, but I have a national test that day and I will have to see how I feel afterwards...It is like 250 questions and 4 hours long! Have any of you tried any good protein shakes? I'm trying to narrow down ones that I like now so that they are tolerable after the surgery...Thanks!

Leslie - We (me, Terry, Mo & Karen) and any others who are interested, are going to have our 2nd monthly gathering on 8/6, probably around noon at Arundel Mills. We had a small get-together in June and had a good time talking about - what else? WLS! Other things, too, but as you'd expect, that was the primary topic! Good friends, food and fun! Please join us if you can, but I know it's close to your DATE!!! and you may have things to do. As for the protein shakes/drinks, pre-op I was drinking an Atkins Advantage for breakfast, which helped me to lose some weight. Don't buy a bunch of stuff now, because your tastes may change and what you can "stomach" now, you might not post-op. Go to www.unjury.com, www.bariatriceating.com, or www.vitalady.com, all of which sell samples. Immediately post-op, when I was on clear liquids, I drank the clear, fruit-flavored Isopure available at GNC - a lot of people don't like it, but it was okay. Once I was on full-liquids, I tried the Isopure powder in Creamy Vanilla, because everybody raved about it. I couldn't stand the smell, the foam or the grit! I tried some others, but again, didn't like them. My taste and sense of texture has changed, and some weird things make me gag!!!! However, now I drink a ready-made EAS Advant Edge in French Vanilla every day, added to my coffee or my chai tea as a creamer. No smell, no aftertaste, and I don't even know it's there. I get them at Wal-Mart, a four pack for $4.97. It's all about experimentation, and again, what you like today, you may not tomorrow, and vice-versa!! Once you get through the different food stages, it's a lot easier! I've compared this surgery ride to a roller-coaster - it's bumpy, fast and you may want to puke, but it is SO worth it and I'm so sorry I didn't do this 15 years ago! Teresa

I will definatly get back to you about 8/6...my mom wants to get together with me on the 5th, so I don't know what that involves but I will definatly keep in touch! Thanks for the info!!