Karen - Sorry I missed you before, I hope your stress eases soon as you don't sound like your usual self.
I agree with the sentiment of the article you quoted. Some people are lucky they never seem to have any traumas or devastating events in their lives, yet these are the people who I find are always the ones complaining or moaning about their lot in life. I have one friend in particular who is terrible for this, she has never lost anyone she is close to, neither her or her family have ever had any health problems, she has lovely kids, both her and her husband have good jobs yet her glass is always 'half empty'! After having sat through a few classes at the school of hard knocks (I've had a couple of nasty health scares my hubby came close to death a couple of years ago with chronic pneumonia, our beautiful baby boy was stillborn 8 years ago-not a day goes by without thinking about him, and my hubby's 20 yr old sister died of meningitis, I could go on but you get the idea) I'm a great believer in 'if it doesn't kill you it'll make you stronger' and you have to make the most out of life and make yourself be positive. Even my hubby who has clinical depression does not let it get him down - if you know what I mean . He lives with it but doesn't let it affect our kids or his work, he says that me making him think positive is better than therapy I'll now be able to tell him I'm just irrespressible!

BrigetJfan - I think I missed you off my last post as well, sorry
I know what you mean about trying to celebrate and still staying OP, I find that if we choose to go somewhere where I know I can make good choices it makes things easier. I'm lucky that I don't drink alcohol so I just have to focus on the food. A nice night out at the theatre is a lovely treat and doesn't involve food.
I have heard a lot of negative things about Gastric band surgery, there are 2 people where I work who have had this done and they have not had good results, very little weight loss and many side affects. It must be awful to go through that then still not have success.

WOW !!!! It must have been a long time since I have posted.. I could not even post today until I logged in again. They usually remember me from one day to the next.

There is NO WAY I can go back and read everything I missed.
And I can't stay today either.
But Thinthinker was nice enough to check up on me and so I figured I better let everryone know I am fine.

I am busy busy busy and just can't seem to find the time right now to post.
Maybe later this week it will slow down.
I am holding my own weight wise... but that is not losing.... just maintaining.

My sister is coping well with her reoccurence of her cancer.
My nephew had CatScan and his cancer seems to be GONE .
I don't remember anything else that you might be interested in. LOL

I do care about each and every one here... I am just truly monoploized by life right now to write. I will make a better effort to get back sooner.
Oh.... and someone needs to start a new thread. I hate posting last and no one will even know I was here.

2Cute ~ See, you won't be last! I will! That way everyone will know you were here! I'm so glad your nephew has good news and your sister is coping well. I know life gets in the way, but hurry back! We miss you!

BridgetJfan ~ Happy belated Birthday! Good for you for being OP thru your big day...I'm pretty bad about celebrating with food. In fact, DH and I will be celebrating two things in the next two weeks, my son's 11th birthday and our wedding anniversary. DS want's to go out for fettucini alfredo - his favorite food. Thankfully, his birthday is on a Wed. or we'd be going to Olive Garden where I'd pig out on breadsticks...the restaurant he picked is almost as bad though but DH and I will be splitting a pasta and salad...smaller than last time we went there. Not sure what's up for the anniversary yet.

Lesley ~ Glad to hear you are now nit-free! I try to have a positive outlook myself. Can't always manage it...but try! I agree with the "What doesn't kill you" philosophy!

Karen ~ Sending good vibes to your sister! Hope she has good news.

Well, I discovered something amazing today...exercise makes you feel better! Duh! I got home in the same mood as when I posted today...tired, sore and crabby! I was also HUNGRY - didn't want to cook and wanted to just call out for whatever. DH was the voice of reason...made me go lay down while he cooked dinner - (What a wonderful guy! ) and then we had some reasonably good food without a ton of fat.

Anyway, after dinner I figured if I didn't get on the I.M. I never would...so I did 12 minuts on the elip. and another 18 or so stretching, crunching and lifting! I feel SO MUCH better! Not as sore and not as tired. Exciting discovery - I should have known it all along!

Well, time to run...but not literally...I'm off to call it a relaxing evening! Have a good one ladies!

Dunno how to close & start a new thread or I would. Sorry.

Regarding the green/blue thing, there are a couple of different brands of quarter scales in the truckstop restrooms. The green is the one I prefer because it seems the most consistantly accurate. The blue is iffy. Usually. But here at the Love's in Richmond Kentucky I think their BLUE scale is Wonderful. It just weighed me in at 280.1 - If I took off my sweater and donated another quarter, I bet it would tell me two-seventy-something. Some lies we can live with.

Garnet, Some families are weird about death, like my mom's. She (in FLorida) kept whining that she wanted to see her brother (in CAlif.) while he was dying, but when offered free airfare on my sisters "air miles" she suddenly shut up. She e-mailed a week after his death. Her own parents were treated with similar coldness. Makes me wonder what she expects for herself, but they've bought spots in a tomb somewhere in Florida, where neither of them has a single family member. Go figure. It makes me feel lonely just to think of.

Lilion, TWELVE minutes on the I.M.! Keep it up woman!! to DH as well for cooking and keeping you from going astray!!

Lesley, Yeah, the embaressment factor. I totally understand. I was at a point where I had to choose either blushing or bleeding, and now I've gotten a lot more comfortable with it, but I certainly understand not everyone is. I'll have to follow up on a colon cleanse, too. Just haven't been pushed to that point yet, although I know I shouldn't wait that long. *** As for bigger and better in the U.S., don't believe it. It's been a while since I was in Europe, but the public transportation in Germany & Austria was incredible compared to the U.S. when I was there. Over there there were beautiful walking trails like I'd never seen before... and come on - YOU'VE got CASTLES! I never got tired of old churches, etc. that had been around for hundreds of years. Here we have disposable housing. And let's not even talk about health care...

Xenigal/Karen - I loved that article you posted by Victoria Moran!! "...Adept at bouncing back, the irrespressible don't see the surface of their lives as solid rock, harsh and unforgiving. Instead, it's more like a trampoline. Sure, they go down; everybody does. But they don't stay there. Rather their low moments propel them to greater heights...." That was great! Thanks for sharing!

BJF - HAPPY Belated BIRTHDAY! I hope it was fun, and your year is a healthier one!! *** on the really sad rate of successful happy surgery patients! I've never had anything other than oral surgery, and that was scary enough. The choice to have any operation is a very personal one, but I would always hope for the best results for every person!! WLS is a thing that definately requires like long commitment, every bit the same as those who lose without it.

2Cute - Good to see you back!

Well, I've actually spent a bunch of time studying over night. However the sun is up and it's time to start thinking about a trip to Curves... it's just a couple miles away. I wonder if I could walk back to the Truckstop afterwards...? Ta-Ta for now. Will check in as I can!