Baggz--is that YOUR garden? LOVELY LOVELY LOVELY!! I guess in Texas it gets way too HOT for pansies in the summer, but doesn't get too cold! Mine survived several snow falls a couple of years ago.
Surely the swollen lymph gland in DD21 is DOING ITS JOB and containing the nasty side effects of root canal. Sorry you have so many friends who are struggling. It can really wear one down, can't it?

Chin up, Cowie--- they can't get you down without your cooperation! (but boy do I know what you mean about "not wanting to feel this way again."

Kiwi -- So sorry your SUV's have been totalled, but SO GLAD that your loved ones have not. Thinking of you.

I would certainly appreciate it if everyone would check in. I have nada new to report but would like to hear what you're up to. And soon.

WELL!! I took ds for a golf lesson at the course in St Andrew's by the Sea--very lovely day it was---extremely windy but warm and a lovely fresh breeze coming off the atlantic--- sissy and i are taking her kids on a weekend trip to nova scotia----my friend who has the lovely cottage i post pics of sometimes---his wife is not doing very well but it will be nice to all get together as we usually do----guitars and singing and some imbibing and beaching ===='beached whaling it' for some of us=i have been very touchy and grouchy and am wondering if i can blame it on the MENTAL pause---i feel all pmsssy alot of the time even though i am not pms----IT REALLY PI$$ES ME OFF !!!! I DON'T LIKE FEELING SO CRABBY FOR NO APPARENT REASON----and that is why i conclude that God cannot be a woman--why would she ever torture us like this?"???

You are quite right, we are slipping down the page for lack of posts! We must remedy this immediately.

I had a physical yesterday, and when I described the fact that I've been feeling nauseous and, um, digestionally dysfunctional, the doc scheduled me for a gall bladder ultrasound. I'm looking up gall bladders.

I also got info to attend a weekly weigh-in program. I have gained weight since last year. I blame my gall bladder.

Kiwi

Absolutement! I am entirely in favor of blaming absolutely everything on it. I suppose eventually it will wear thin as an excuse, but for now I think it's quite legit.

St. Andrews is lovely. We went there pre-DD. Never stayed at the big place, though.

We are thinking of going to PEI sometime this month. DD and BF want to go horseback riding (actually I think NB would be ideal for that, but ) and DH wants to take his parents for a trip. His mom has relatives there.

NS sounds like a good time too. I've never been there.

I'm car shopping. Blah.

Kiwi

I have been reading and somewhat doing the Maker's Diet which is not critiqued here. Basically, it's eating kosher. Old testament food EXCEPT he explains it and it's very interesting. Por ejemplo, I don't like shellfish and HE SAYS you shouldn't eat that becasue when scientists want to see how polluted a body of water is, they examine the shellfish which suck up all the contaminants. And ... I actually feel pretty good. Nothing has improved in my life but I'm in a much better mood and I credit it to eating food with nutrients. Today, I ate salad ... and a salmon salad .... and some kifer ... and some Sunkist with pomegranite juice in it ... and some choco chip cookies. So see ... much of that was very nutritious. Homemade salad dressing with good things in it that I won't go into. Yummy.

This job I interviewed for today was soooooo wonderful. What can I do? ?

Baggzz: Your travels and even golf lesson for DS sounds lovely.

A friend has challenged me to walk (rather than "just" do Curves circuit.) It's about 75 at 3 am (yikes! WHY am I awake...)... so it's not inspiring to walk during the day's heat. But sometimes I think walking on an 18 hold gold course would be very pleasant. Wish it didn't cost so much.

Kiwi-- You were, I believe, intentionally vague about your symptoms that prompted the MD to mention GALL BLADDER. All I can say is that when I was a much younger woman I had the feeling I was impaled on a stake that went from my sternum and through my intestines. The removal of orange, spiky gall stones variously sized as big as olives, down to pepper corns, down to gritty salt-crystal sizes was a HUGE reliefe. Even back in the pre-laparascopic surgery days!

Oh, I know why I'm awake:
1) I saw the breast surgeon yesterday and he thinks the change in the lump is within normal limits. Apparently the bigger the breast, the longer it can take to "settle down" after surgery/chemo/radiation. He talked about it still changing in 20 years... I'm going in tomorrow for an updated mammo and sonogram to confirm his belief that the surgery left "necrotic fatty tissue" which may or may not have morphed into an "oily cyst." Yuck. But definitely better than tumors.

It is all TOO easy to regain weight. I think in the past 10 days I undid about a month's work. Bleah.
But thanks for your support.
Below is the fun I had today.

My friend in California had her gall bladder removed recently. It was no big deal, she said. Went through belly button and was home the next day.

I agree that it's really easy to gain back weight. Whoosh, it sticks to my butt

ohhhhhhhh painty i love the colours in your painting!!! yummy plum and periwinkle,burgundy and purple!!lovely!!! i want a grape. kiwonkers----there are stables all the way from maine to pei-===i am sure there are nice ones on pei----my dd the horse fanatic rode at a place in Fundy National Park i think----want me to find out where??? when are you going???? be careful on pei--another tourist from Quebec {father trying to save his son---his son made it to shore safely} drowned in a riptide like george {5 years ago this month}---last year a 44 year old man from Maine drowned in a riptide {father of three}---they do NOT post signs warning of the serious danger on the north side of the island----only at the supervised beaches are you remotely safe ---especially in august when the surf is stronger and also when the moon is full-----

Does this diet include Maker's Mark as a beverage?I like contaminants.Kifer? That's not a food, that is an actor on "24"

Well, just in an effort to be polite, y'know. Haven't had any pain, that's why I don't really think there's anything to it.

Glad your news from the breast surgeon was pretty good. I didn't know there was a "settling down" period, but us full-breasted ladies sure have all the fun..

I was reading about that surgery, Cowpeach, which is apparently not such a big thing, as you said. What I didn't like was that one of the possible outcomes is chronic diarrhea, and that would be a case of frying pan--->fire, so I'm skeptical.

Thanks for the advice, Bagz, I will keep that in mind. We probably wouldn't be doing much beaching anyway, what with the in-laws. Might be interested in that riding place, though!

Elbow hurty, must stop typing.

Kiwi

I can not understand why no one has sent me postcards. Shots, as you don't remember but I do, promised to. Is this so hard? Anyway, I'm depressed. It would be hard to convince me to have gall bladder surgery. Aren't gallstones a result of diet? So I would want to find a corrective diet. But I am depressed. Really. Am. I just can't stand thissssssssssssssssss

I was going through a box of old stuff from college days and found a postcard of the New York Thruway system. It is long and narrow, but not really odd shaped. Unless you find a rectangle odd. I saved it because I love postcards of places that are kind of anti-scenic (like the bookstore in Dogpatch). Tomorrow I'm thinking we will wander up to the Moose Place while DD is working so maybe there are some odd postcards there. Remind me. Moose-shaped would be odd.

I'm no help on depression. But they say helping other people makes you happier -- you could help me shop for a car!

Heck, I don't even feel like doing that.

Maybe Dr. Phil could help:
Kiwi

I am up to no good, as usual. Going to a birthday party tomorrow and staying overnight. It will take me about 2 hours to get there on the train but I have no idea where I'm going. Somewhere north west, I think. My l'il baby friend is turning 30 and needs moral support. There will be people there I don't know. Aunts and grannies and stuff. Wheee.

I am STILL fat. I was planning on loooosing some weight in the past two weeks but managed to gain instead. Bleh.

It makes me feel better to see you all posting. Please keep it up. Kiwi I will love you MORE if you send me postcards. Any kind. I thought this job yesterday was so wonderful that I want it even if they don't hire me. Know what I mean? I would use that as a goal if I could hold out. ....... Just having trouble holding out.

No, not really