Good Morning Everybody!

Good morning, all, Sounds like everybody is "up and at 'em" today! Traci, I so identify with your trip down memory lane with the ice cream. I hope that you are feeling better and really do get that walk in today. I am doing well since surgery. Have lost 18 lbs since the 15th and 40 since I started the pre-op diet in July. I really am starting to feel better. I actually tied a shoe yesterday!!! Major accomplishment. Get to start pureed foods on Oct. 1st. Looking forward to it. Be well, my friends, and as ever, I am glad you are here. Julie

Hi Julie - Wow! You're doing great! How about the walking? I imagine/hope that that's getting easier, too!!! Did you ever think you'd say you were looking forward to pureed foods? Just remember, anything can be pureed!! Be creative. Take care, Teresa

Good morning y'all! I was an early bird to work today but not here. Glad to see everyone so chipper and chatty today. I just love this group. Tia, you are hilarious. You think of the funniest things. Mo's cats taking over?...had me laughing. I also love the q-tips comment, Mo. I have never heard of that before but it really gave me a funny picture in my mind. What a good nickname. Tea sounds wonderful, but I am working as well. Julie, sounds like you are doing wonderful. 18 lbs in just a couple of weeks and 40 overall is fantastic! It's fun to see the scale move in that direction, huh. Traci, I hope you are feeling better today. I get nausea with my dumping and that same very tired feeling. I also get dizzy and light headed, shakey too. Not a fun thing. It seems to happen with the most random things. I can eat a cookie and be fine but eat a cup of cereal or a serving of chips and I am done. I try not to pu**** though and the feeling that I get just isn't worth it for the food. Terry, hows the porch coming? Don't work too hard today. You are staying on track so well. I am not too busy today. Only two meetings and I had to prep the first one at 7:45. My daughter will get her class ring tonight. She is so excited. I never had a class ring so I am living vicariously through her this time around. I tried out some curves tennis shoes from Avon. They have two different pair, and the blue ones are not comfortable. I think the bottoms are too hard and feel like plastic. The tops are nice and soft and flexible. I have to have soft insoles though so I will have to try the other ones they have. I really need new tennis shoes. I hope everyone has a wonderful day. Hugs, Robin

I've worn nothing but Nike's for probably close to 25 years until the last time I decided I was in the mood for new sneakies. I ended up buying a pair of cheap ones (I think they are Champions) at Pay Less. By the time I put my prescription orthotics in them they work just as well as the Nike ones for MUCH less. I'm not sure I'd do that without the orthotic inserts but it worked for me. Hugs, Mo

Hey Robin - I'm soooo glad to have found a group of friends who appreciate my sick sense of humor!!!! Wait till you meet my brother, he's the same way and we get into sooo much trouble at family gatherings!!!! Oh, that's so sweet about your daughter getting her ring! When I got my ring two years ago , we used to turn our rings - once for each year, for instance, I graduated in 1985 (crap - did I just say that out loud???!), so we turned it 85 times, I think. And, if I'm not mistaken, the first turn was supposed to be by your date at the ring dance. Of course, I didn't go, who wanted to date a fat girl?, so I think my Mom may have turned mine the first time. It still burns me that I didn't have a date - what I wouldn't give to be at that weight now!!!! If there's a dance, I hope she has a wonderful time! If not, maybe the ring turning could be a new tradition for her. I had a heck of a time finding new sneakers - I used to have to wear SAS Comfort Shoes, which while extremely kind to my bunions, cost $$$$$ and looked like big, clunky, shoe boxes! I did find a pair that are pretty comfortable from Payless, but if I wear them too long, my bunions kill me!! That's probably surgery I'll have to consider down the road - ick!!! Alright, have a great day!! Tia

I gotta chime in here...darn work, gets in the way of life...hehe I have been partial to EasySpirit Sneakers for several years. I got 4 pairs back in March (figuring I would wear them as I wore the pairs out)...well I go to put the first pair on (mind you I tried on all 4 pairs when I got them back in March) and they are too big now! I can't figure it out. They're not too big for casual wear, but for working out - my foot slides back and forth and up and down and it hurts, so I had to get some new ones. Anybody wear a 10 1/2 medium width? So last week, that was part of my shopping extravaganza - I got 5 pairs of sneakers (4 sketchers, 1 easy spirit). The skechers are okay, but the insole is not as comfortable as the easy spirit shoes. I'm thinking about getting some Dr. Scholl gel insoles and see if that makes a difference. I have also recently purchased a few champion brand from payless. They're okay, but I wouldn't attempt to work out in them because they do not give enough support. Don't feel bad Tia, I didn't have a date to the ring dance either (but I went with my friends and had a blast). Funny thing about perspective and weight loss. I weighed maybe 5-8lbs more than I do right now when I got my ring in 11th grade (back in 197#$%%..mmbl..mmbl...when the Dinosaurs roamed the earth...hehe...1979 if ya'll really want to know) and I thought I was huge then....now that I've lost 129lbs, I feel like I'm..well, I'm not ready to say the "S" word (skinny), but kinda thin Robin, the porch is coming along, thanks for asking! It is under roof. I believe the contractor is awaiting a final inspection of the framing and then they can put the soffit (ceiling) in. It's taking longer than I thought it would, but at least it's moving along. I haven't paid the contractor any money (he is a friend of the family) yet. I do want it to be done because I'm tired of sweeping dirt off the concrete pad and inside my front door from them doing their thing. Hey, maybe we should have a formal get together (WLS Prom) at some point in the future. We could wear formal dresses and have a ball doing what we maybe missed out on in the past. I missed my Jr. Prom because I didn't have a date. I sat at home alone that night and cried my eyes out. I made sure I went to my Sr. Prom. I had a good time, but my date was a platonic friend. It was okay, but definitely was not the night of my dreams. Okay, back to work....duty calls... T

I think the WLS Prom would be a great idea...I didn't go to my prom. I had the tickets, limo, dress, date, the whole shebang...then my boyfriend of 4 years dumped me the night of the prom. So, needless to say, I didn't go. My mom kept pushing me..."Go, hang out with your friends, you'll have fun...." But, I wasn't in the mood. I think my whole high school era, I only went to 3 dances. And from what I remember, being the "fat chick" wasn't fun at dances. I do go to my annual firehouse's installation of officers party. I have learned that even when you are fat, dancing can be fun...helps when you are drunk too!! Come this January at the party, I don't plan on being the wall-flower though. I want to dance and have a good time...funny thing is that, I now volunteer with my ex who broke up with me on the night of prom. He hasn't seen me in over 3 years, guess he will be surprised. I will have to make sure that my current beau watches over me in case my ex gets ideas up his sleeve! Les

Hey Les - Yup, missed you last night. It was a good meeting, not a lot of attendees, but nice nevertheless. DVR's wife is now part of the office staff - did you know that? She's the support group coordinator and a real sweetie!!! I told her how much I just love him, and she was so appreciative. The next meeting's on October 18 at 6 - from now on, all the support groups will be from 6-7. I CAN'T/DON'T dance - again, think Elaine from Seinfeld jerking her thumbs and feet out - NOT a pretty sight!!! Also, I make it a point NEVER to drink with people I have to see the next morning - like co-workers. Make sure you rub your wonderful progress in your ex's face - for all of us fat women!!!!!!!! He'll be sooooo sorry! If you haven't had alcohol since the surgery - STAND BY! You are now officially a cheap drunk. I had my first drink, a 'rita, at 10 mos out, and WHAM! I don't remember the next two hours!!!!! Knocked me on my butt!!!!! Wine kind of did the same thing about a month ago, but it did help that I chased both glasses with giant glasses of water. The one thing I didn't like was that drinking made me not pay as close attention to what/how I was eating as I should have, so I quickly reined that in!!! How're the tootsies???? Tia

Well, at most of the school dances, I went with a group of friends - of course, it helped that we poured Jack Daniels into soda bottles and took them into the dance - God, we were stupid!!! I didn't attend the ring dance or my junior prom (I worked that night, but I was sooo lucky to have some of the girls attending stop by to SEE me on their way to the prom - wasn't that nice of them?!! I cried the rest of the night, too!!!) I did attend my senior prom with my boyfriend - I was so risque then, I was 18, dating a younger man of 17!!!! I hate to sound like a wet blanket, and it's not that I don't love you guys, but I'm really struggling with the whole dating or lack thereof thing, and I don't want to attend a "date function" without a date; I'd just be reminded of past occasions when I didn't have a date. Does that make any sense at all???? Like New Year's Eve - I hate that holiday, along with Valentine's Day - hate 'em, hate 'em, hate 'em. I love Christmas because I think it's all about families, but to me, there's something so pathetic in me trying to go to bed before midnight on New Year's so I don't have to hear everybody celebrating, or worse, envisioning everyone else in the world but me with someone. At our support group meeting last night, our speaker was a licensed social worker who had lost 150 pounds with wls, was a year out, and commiserated with a lot of what we're going through. However, she did say that dating is tough, whether you're overweight or not. Sorry, I don't necessarily buy that. None of my thinner friends are single. I may get flamed for this, but you know I'm opinionated, so here goes - I truly believe that a man will date an ugly woman before he'll date a fat woman. A woman could be a two-bagger, but as long as she's thin, she's in. God, I sound so witchy saying that, but that has just been my experience. Well, now that I've thoroughly depressed myself, I think I'll go shopping on qvc.com!!!!!! Tia

We could have a girls night out prom...beleive me I am always looking for a reason to get dressed up and it have NOTHING to do with my boyfriend. Les