Another lurker here - things going well but for once I seem to be at a loss for words.

Big happy hugs to all.

I'm lurking too. I've lost one pound so far of the weight I gained so sort of bummed about that but a pound is a pound.

Annie, sorry to hear about you feeling so down but you DO have alot to look forward to. The classes and meeting with those pre-op patients is so great because you will be helping them not to be so afraid of what they will be going thru and you're showing them the way. It's too bad that your parents are moving too. I know it was hard for me when mine moved away too, but you'll be fine, and you'll have somewhere to travel to for vacations now, and even be able to see Cyn! I know, I'm just trying to be optimistic for ya.

Cyn, get yourself to a real doc. You don't want that whatever is troubling you to linger on. I would definitely ask for a second opinion.

Sharon, I did online dating but it was people that lived close by and I had great experiences. Just let her know to meet in public places, bring a friend and don't let him know where she lives til she's sure he's the one. There's alot of stalkers out there. I had one and it wasn't much fun. Good luck to her!

Well, that's it for me. Have a great day ladies!
Debbie

Hi, I'm beinng 'good' & OP, TOM has gone..HOORAY!!!
It's raining here, sigh & much colder than a couple of days ago. I planted a load of violas in my tubs and wall spaces, they were called something-'sorbet', really pretty lilac/white/cream mixtures.
Well nothing much to add apart from 'WHERE ARE YOU ALL????' xxxxx
xxxxxsharon
ps changed my avatar in case sis discovered my posts on here, she would go potty at me!

Checking in...

Hubby and I went to a movie last night. It was our 16 yr anniversay. We saw watchman, it was ok. I did good till about almost the end then stood for a few cause my GERD was hurting.

i go to the Gyno on Wed, so I am going to ask him what he thinks of her diagnosis. I will also ask for an upper GI!

catherine: everyone is telling me my symptoms sound like gallbaldder.

Annie: Prescott is nice..not as many pine trees as I'd like though.

Tomorrow going to Yuma, AZ. A lady that is a big time $$ in Slumber Parties is going to give us a free show/meeting! How exciting!

happy Easter to all if I dont see you before then

Not alot going on here. I have a bridal shower today for a cousin. Hope the food isnt to tempting.
I have to dip peanut butter shaped eggs into chocolate. MY big kids still get spoiled for easter. I am not tempted by them at all!!

I have been fighting sinus issues for a week and now its turning into chest congestion as well....stupid weather!!

Hope everyone has a HAPPY EASTER!!

Debbie -- What is a peanut butter shaped egg?

12 ounces of peanut butter , 1 cup of butter, 4 cups of powdered sugar, mix , roll into egg shaped peices, chill overnight. dip into chocolate ...my kids love love love them. Kinda like a peanut butter cup.

I think I gained weight just reading about the peanut butter eggs. Peanut butter is a trigger food for me - I won't be trying that one any time soon.

Yesterday we got new fridge, stove, washer/dryer. Lots of exercise involved moving the old ones upstairs and getting it all installed - I can feel it this morning. It's amazing the changes in appliances since we last bought 23 years ago.

I'm a little behind pace to hit 1500 minutes exercise this month - need to step it up. Hopefully it will dry out enough I can mow this afternoon - it's either that or we'll need a goat as things are really starting to grow.

Yesterday I made some bad food choices - from exhaustion. I truly ate very little quantity but high on the calories. I'm looking forward to a nice big grilled chicken salad today - I miss my veggies.

Zelma - was great to see you post. I miss you!

Sharon - have a great Easter with the boys - is there an Easter egg hunt planned? I told Johnnie you were asking about her again - I can hear the smile in her voice. She is gaining a little mobility and hopes to be able to go to the store today in her scooter.

Annie - any update on the job with the doctor? How did the meeting go with the pre-surg people? Hope you are a bit de-stressed and taking a nice deep breath today. Hugs girlfriend.

Time to go watch the new washer - one of the pups is scared of it - I was standing watching it (front loader) and she was right by my side. It started washing and she jumped up on me - afraid it was going to get her. She had been watching her reflection I think.

Move your bodies, drink your water and SMILE.

Hugs to all,
Carol

ANNIE!!! I had to go back and re-read your post after i read Debbie's post. I thought you said your parents liked to visit prescott..not move here!!

I am sorry your parents are moving away from where you are. And I am sorry I forget where you live too!

You can sure visit me when in Arizona!!!!!!

Annie-All I can send are hugs and prayers.

Cyn-When they finally diagnosed me, it was actually a nurse who did. I was a 19 year old athlete. Not supposed to get gallbladder. She was an old army nurse, came in and asked me if it felt like I had been run through with a spear under my right breast. When I said yes, she said, "that's gallbladder. I'll tell your doctor." I went from an all bacon grease Okie diet to being a vegetarian. Until they get it sorted out, eat artichokes and beets. Both help your gallbladder and bile levels for some reason.

OMG GGG, I think I gained weight reading about choc dipped peanut butter eggs and that's not even one of my triggers (the pb, choc is!).

Well Peeps, tis raining and icky here. Just hanging with the fur crew. The grass is growing enough so I have to mow tomorrow when it dries out.

Cyn, until the gallbladder (or potential) is straightened out, do what Catherine says: no fats in the diet at all. No buttered popcorn, bacon, sausage, red meat or anything with fat. Didn't know beets and artichokes were good for it.. nice to know.

Annie, special hugs to you.

Not much else going on here. Making good food choices, but no exercise so no weight loss or gains. *sighs*

Hugs,
Ratkity

Just got home from the bridal shower.I had a half of sand..a few peices of fruit no dip and some cheese cubes..just a few. I also had 5 whole wheat crackers. I passed on the cake..even though it looked great! I came home and got out my laughing cow and celery! I am proud of myself. NOt even tempted by the pb eggs i made. THey are not a favorite of mine..i had much rather had a huge slice of that cake at the shower with all that fluffy frosting.
Married daughter is home for the night and we are about to go and take a long walk. It will be like old times walking with her.
Happy EAster everyone!!

Happy Saturday Afternoon My dear sweet friends. I am always so touched by my special friends here. I truly love you all. Thanks for the kind words and support. I am feeling a bit better about my parents moving to another state. I'm in Idaho Cyn, almost to Canada. They need to be happy and if that is what will make them happy I need to not be selfish.

I think that TOm has so much to do with how I am feeling right now. He is here with a vengence. Joel and I argued sooooo badly yesterday that I was sure I was leaving him. Stupid stuff. He was sure I was leaving him too. So much so that he took 1/2 a day off work to stop me from leaving. Drama, Drama and more drama. We are fine now and hopefully the huge talk and crying I did will all be worth it. I do love him and want us to be okay. We spent the morning shopping for groceries then he wanted to go to a tool store. I walked around Hastings while he was in the tool store. I had some money saved up of my allowance and bought him a Nintendo Wii Race car game. It is the Nascar one. I will give it to him for Easter tomorrow. He seemed interested in getting it so now he will be surprised.

I had a great meeting with those two ladies that are pre-op. They loved my scrapbook/journal and had tons of questions. It was really cool after we said goodbye, I came home and looked on Dr. Pennings Website and they had written how nice it was to meet me and how helpful it was. I am hoping that Dr. Pennings actually reads that as well and thinks it is as necessary as everyone I come across so far thinks.

Well, I have some Orange Spice Bread and some Gingerbread spice bread cooking in the oven and need to take it out. We have invited a couple of people that Joel works with to go to church with us and they said they will come so I wanted to have something to give them with coffee if they actually do show up. lol.

blessings to you and a please have a safe and Wonderful Easter if you celebrate.

Annie

Happy Easter Everyone!

It is a lovely Sunday here at the moment! Mind you, we are expecting 92F, which is a little warm for my liking, especially around the middle of April! It is cooling down the rest of the week, so that will be better. We're not sure what we are doing today, but I would like to go for a walk. Not an 'exercise' walk, but just a nice walk. It will just have to be early, before the heat sets in.

I haven't been too good on the exercise front lately. I was finding that I was getting extremely tired on the days I exercised. I don't know whether I was simply getting lots of extra movement in during the day (walking around the school 100 times!! - well, it FELT like it was that many. Every job I had to do was always at the opposite side of the school to where I was!) or whether the end of term struck, as it was with everyone else, and I was just naturally tired. Anyway, I decided to just reduce my exercise time and I have been feeling much better. I also have other things going on, like 'burning' (tests have shown not UTI and not thrush - so still trying to work that one out) and I have been bleeding, like a period, even though I am on the pill and shouldn't have been. I have changed pills, so may have to wait for it all to settle. I am sure that bleeding doesn't help the energy levels.

Anyway... enough complaining for now.

It was my birthday last Sunday. 47 years old now and still feeling much younger. I actually feel about 30, and ACT about 12 most days, so I figure that is OK. Age has never bothered me and I was actually surprised when my mum was talking about a cousin of mine and said "She is in her early 50s" and I thought, "WOW, I have old cousins". Then it occurred to me that I am chronologically only 3 years away from 50 myself. It is weird that I never really think of my age. My opinion of ages has totally changed. I used to think that 50 was old, and now I know that it isn't, and I will just have to see if/when I actually get 'old'.

I know I have mentioned the choir I teach at school before. This year we have about 75 members, which is a LARGE group, and I wasn’t sure how I would be able to work with a group that size. The ages range from 8yrs to 13yrs. We have a few more boys, which can change the dynamics a little. A few boys have left (thankfully) and the rest seem to be really committed, which stops them messing around. The choir performed a couple of songs at a special school assembly on Thursday, for Anzac Day, which is similar to Remembrance Day. Well, I couldn't have been more proud of them! They just blew me away and I was on Cloud 9 for the rest of the day. They did EVERYTHING that I had asked of them and I got SO many wonderful comments and positive feedback from people who were there. I didn't have time to talk with the choir after the performance, but I can't wait to see them when school goes back so I can tell them how incredibly proud of them I am. You should have seen the smiles on their faces when they knew how well they had done. One mum came up with her son (in Grade 5 in the choir) and told me how thrilled she was. He had a LOT of trouble in previous schools and she was so happy that he couldn't wait to come to school on choir days and how he talked about me all the time. THAT was the best comment I could receive. My aim is to make kids feel special and if I have done that for that boy then I am happy. VERY happy! He has a bit of a reputation for misbehaving, but he couldn't do enough for me at choir times. I am glad he is having such success and gaining confidence in choir. Everyone deserves to feel special about something in their lives.

I still have the weight gain from the holiday, and a little more on top. I sometimes kick myself for not getting it off and for still eating ‘not-so-healthy’ things, but then I also remind myself that my depression med was increased and I have since been put on the contraceptive pill as well, to try to help with the PMS, so I try to be a little kinder on myself. Thankfully, the lessening of exercise doesn’t seem to make me gain weight, and I have lost a little this weekend. I truly believe that hormones are playing havoc with me as I am having cravings like I have NEVER had before. Then, for a week or so I won’t have any kinds of cravings and I will simply eat my usual healthy meals/snacks. It is often at THIS time that I gain weight, then I have to start all over again to lose it. I’ve been playing with the same few pounds for two months now. This makes me believe that there has to be some kind of other factor involved, rather than simply my ‘will power’. I have been seeing a new doctor and have recently reduced the depression meds again. He is also the one who changed my contraceptive pill (from Yasmin to Yas) which he says is even better at helping with PMS. We’ll just have to see how I go. I am going to try to see a naturopath, who is also an MD, to see if there are some natural ‘remedies’ I can take instead of these chemicals.

Oops... more complaining.

I was hoping to get some personal replies in this post, but it is warming up already, so we are going to head out. I don’t even have time to check this post, so please forgive any/all mistakes.
Thank you to those who welcomed me back. I am on a two week mid-term at the moment, so should have plenty of time to post. If you don’t hear from me, just give me a virtual kick in the rear end and tell me to get my act together. I read here every day, and love to see what you are all doing.

Take care,

Zelma

Thanks for the update Zelma! Hope you had a wonderful walk and a happy Easter. It'll be Easter here in about 2 1/2 hours.