Hi Everyone

I just got back from a vacation in colorado. It was cold but lovely. I'm hoping I didn't gain my typical 4 pound vacation gain!

Here are the pictures if anyone is interested.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/valerie...751250/detail/

Val, Great pics. I sure hope you had a good time there. It looks beautiful.

Petra, Haw are things going? I hope you are settling in and that everything has calmed down. Are you happy?

Things here are crazy. I'm not sure I can do this managing thang. I had no clue how much babysitting adults need! I'm working and working and working and never seem to get anything done. I'm soooo stressed out. Mainly it has to do with one person, who is only contracted to work at the store thru Dec. I'm hoping I can deal with it until then. We'll see. Other than that, I had a Dr appt yesterday and things aren't great. they will give me the byetta I want to try, but I have to consistantly do a diary and 3x daily blood sugar testing first for 2 weeks straight. then go back for another visit that I can't afford grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..... :shrug: I've got to shake these Blahhhhssss.

I'll check back soon. Hugsssss to you all. Dee~

Hi again girls,

I don't know if any of you can help me, but last year (i think) I posted a recipe for a fake eggnog made with sf van pudding. Did anyone save that recipe? I'm having a real craving lol.

tia, Dee! :grouphug:

Hi Dee,

You can make it till December. Hopefully it will be less stressful with that person gone! Sorry I didn't save the eggnog recipie.

Hi guys...

Dee hang in there! wont be long before Dec is here! well, got my last 2 papers back i wrote for my classes, a 92 and a 97 :carrot:

weight loss? ehhhh more like a 60 lol

Val loved your pics!!! how are things going for ya?


Petera how is the new job?

still havent gotten an answer on the new/used shack think the landlord is BS'ing me... sigh...

I am like u dee work is stressing me out MAJOR!

Hi everyone

I hope you all had a good halloween! I ate too much candy but my hubby is bring it to work tomorrow so it will be gone. I skipped weighing in last week because of vacation. I'm so hoping I didn't gain any more vacation pounds.

I can't believe it's november already!

Peeking in. Where is everyone been hiding?

I'm cooking thanksgiving dinner here. Hope everyone is well!

Heya Val :hug:
And any other PIC who pops on in here!

Good luck with the dinner Val. LOL I'm remembering last year you went to in-laws and she had like a 4 lb chicken for 7 of you??? Or something like that lol. I miss not cooking holiday dinner for the big crowd . It's been 7 years since mom passed away on Thanksgiving. Lee and I were talking about it last night- Wow it just seems like it was last year. Anyways, as usual I'm working that day again. We trained the owners how to run the register yesterday... YIKES it's just gonna be me and them (and the husband and mother of one too hehehehe). Then Lee and I off to Windsor-about 2 hours away for football and dinner at some friends house. I'm delighted at the invite, but is it awful to feel like I'd rather stay home and kick back?????

OHHHHHHH I started on the Byetta last week. In like 2 days my blood sugars went from low 200's (morning fasting) to 145-155!!! I'm so excited. I'm hoping to be off the Actos when I see Dr. next week. The Byetta is killing us financially @ another $200. month (on top of the needles, Metformin & Simvastatin) and they don't get samples to give me but I've decided I need to be healthy. NOW to get my butt in gear and diet and exercise to get those sugars down more.

Ughhh, I had my pic taken yesterday presenting a turkey to a lady who won it in a drawing at the store. OMG Ladies, I look sooooo huge! I am so huge :shrug: It really didn't help that the lady was only about 4'9" either but what a shock it is to have it right in front of me. How come I don't see it like that in a mirror??

Anyway, I hope you all have a great holiday. :grouphug:

Dee~

Hi Dee! Good to hear from you. I"m glad the medicine is helping. It's so frustrating about health care in America. The cost of preventative medicine is so much cheaper then taking care of a major problem in the future.

I don't know if I ever told you this my grandmother was a double amputee from diabetes. I'm almost sure with the proper medical treatment this could have been avoided. :(

I'm glad you're doing what you can to stay healthy even if the cost is high.

hi guys... hope everyone had a good turkey day!

Hi Curly! How are you doing with everything?

I'm so sad the curves right by my house closed down but I'm not surprised. $40 a month was just too expensive for what they were offering :(

Hey Curly!!!!! :hug: LTNS. How've you been doing?

Val!!! :hug: Too bad about your Curves. I didn't realize they were so expensive. Yikes!! Also, thanks for the encouragement. I didn't realize about your grandmother. It's really an eyeopener.

I went back to the dr. and he said I could stop taking the Actos and see how my bs does. Hopefully it will remain down cuz that's another $230 month!!!!! One of the side effects of the Byetta is a loss of hunger, but that hasn't happened to me yet..... however because of the time restrictions of the timing of when to take the med vs. eating I'm more aware of what/when I'm snacking and am now down a few pounds. Plus I don't want to go back on the aforementioned mends either ;) .(Hmmmmm did that make sense to anyone?? lol...) Anyway- lalalalalala

Off to work. I hope you all have a great op day!!!

:grouphug:

Dee~

Hey guys, sorry I've been missing in action. The new job has been more interesting than I can even begin to tell you. The whole thing blew up about the third week I was there. I am going to stay a psychiatrist and work in the hospital in their geriatric psych unit and also go to some nursing homes. They still have not redone my contract yet but hopefully we will get that done soon. I am liking this much better than the VA. I particularly like the freedom. The VA has a military flavor to it and everything is very regimented. I feel like an adult again and people trust me to do my job.

I do have some sad news. Buddy got very sick and last week I had to put him down. It was not a pretty sight. He could barely walk by the time I got him to the vet. In fact, he couldn't get out of the car. I had to go get someone from the vet's office to help with him. Kobe and I miss him very much. There is no perfect dog but he was close.

Hi Petra!!! Nice to hear from you again.

First, let me say I'm so sorry to hear about Buddy. I know he was a member of your family. He (and Kobe) actually became a member of "our" little family here too. :hug: I sure will miss some the the stories you used to post about him.

Hmmmm I'm curious now about the "blow up" lol. But whatever happened, sounds like everyone moved on and you are happy. Geriatrics can be so rewarding! (My favorite nurse/nutritionist/diabetic counselor has moved out of that role, and now is dealing with geriatrics and hospice. She just loves it. But I really miss her.) Glad you like it! I'm even more happy that they let you practice what you know without the leash so to speak. Good luck GF!

My numbers are still better, not great. I'm going to ask my dr to put me to the 10mcg with my next refill and see if I improve more. I know that exercise and being more careful with my diet would make a huge difference too...... :shrug: gonna get down and do it soon. My weight has started dropping tho- down 13 lbs to 231 yesterday!!!! I'll be back into the 220's by next week if I keep this up.

We went to the Store Christmas party Sun. night. I won a $100 Target gift card!!!!!! Hehehe... the last thing I ever won was 2 tickets to Elton John and Kiki-Dee in 1974. They gave away all kinds of gift certificates, a 27" flat screen tv, a karaoke machine and a laptop computer!!! It was fun.

Nothing else exciting to post now.... I hope you are all doing well, and VAL~~ Stay warm and safe. I'm reading you peeps and getting the nasty weather again.

Loves, Dee~

Thanks Dee. I was starting to wonder if anyone still posted here.

The short story about the job is that I found out they weren't completely honest with me when I called here about a job. There was also a full time psychiatry position available and for reasons that are still a mystery to me, no one bothered to share that information with me. If you look at my resume, it is clear that I am FAR more qualified to be a psychiatrist than an internist and no one who is thinking clearly would try to put me in an internal medicine practice IF you had a psych job available. I found all this out after the fact and I will probably never get a straight answer about what was motivating particular individuals to behave this way.

This then created a whole other set of issues because the way my contract was written when I was hired is not how it would have been written if I had been hired as a psychiatrist up front and then they had to decide what to do about that and still be fair to the other psychiatrists, etc. What a mess.

I am thinking about getting Kobe a new brother or sister after the holiday. He is obviously very lonely. Of course, I will get a rescue/shelter dog.