Nothing New Today

No news today....So close but the scale is being a pain in the rear. I got on and weighed in 161.7 once and then twice at 170..I swear my old scale is just messing with my head now. Removing my kiss offer for sure.

I am eating the same. I am not hugely hungry but soft stuff like yogurt and gelato goes down quite smoothly and easily (yes I went out for gelato and it was good). I have been running around so much for work that I have yet to figure out a steady meal plan. I have eaten a lot of cheese and crackers or 1/2 cheese sandwiches because they are safe foods for me and I can eat them while driving or fitting in a quick meal before teaching.

On a good note when I teach I carry a water bottle so I am getting in more water than usual. I am also walking all over my two campuses ...basically with the good there is bad or with the bad there is good.

No TOM yet (not sure if that is a midlife deal or I have just forgotten when I am supposed to have it). My daughter and I keep checking in because of course we are synced up. Maybe thats it..our bodies have gone into wait for each other mode?? :)

xxxooo

2.5 Freaking Pounds Left....Unimaginable Ground Here

This morning my beautiful...wonderful...scale gave me another pound. 166...If that scale had lips I would kiss it. I think I have said it before but anything below 170 is gravy for me. It is coolarific beyond my wildest dreams territory that I have only reached once..one brief week at the age of 16 when I ran each day during lunch and drank a pint of milk for lunch. I then picked at dinner and attempted to eat nothing else all day. I credit this year of eating dangerously with setting up most of my binge and purge eating issues that followed. This was the first time I really dieted and set up the "perfect on" or "just plain off" diet behaviors that followed.

During this dieting period I reached an all time low of 165 and then If I remember correctly ended the week (yes I held this weight for about that long)with a binge. For this week my size 14 A-smile pants became baggy on me and I probably could have fit into a size 12 (remember the size scale has changed since then so that 14 is now a 12 and that 12 would have been a 10 by today's standards). Anyway I did not have the chance to go look for a smaller pair of jeans because I broke the diet one day after school when I took out a bag of instant pancake mix and proceeded to eat 4 very large pancakes with ice cream on top. I quickly regained the hard earned 5 pounds and rolled from 170-175 until I graduated from high school.

Today..my beautiful scale read 166 only 1 pound from that all time low. This time for the first time I am not worrying about a regain or even the loss of a thread of control because my friend the band helps me feel satisfied. Binges are a thing of the past. deep mental and physical hunger are mostly gone as well. I get hungry yes but it is a hunger easily satisfied by a small meal. I have learned to enjoy my flavors in small bites but savored thoroughly and completely in each bite. I view variety as my joy when sampling food. Before quantity is what it was all about.

2.5 pounds until I can say I am normal but really I feel normal now. Normal in that food is a part of my life that I enjoy but not a part that is wrapped in a roller-coaster of joy followed by self-loathing and fear.

2 years and 38 days from surgery and I have lost 138 pounds. that is about 5.2 pounds a month. So...Slow and Steady DOES win...and Patience and slow plodding is possible. xxxooo

Our Own LIttle Mini-Boobs Event

David and Grace and I drove down to Eugene today and meet up with Amanda and her youngest daughter and Debi and her husband. We had a great lunch and talked band, work, travel. We also sent a collective thought and mention to all of those in Chicago and all who like us could not go.

Both of the ladies look GREAT!!! and are very nice and friendly and fun to hang out with for a day. As usual I left without my camera and David's cell phone snap is unviewable. Both Amanda and Debi have promised me a copy of theirs...I will add it when I hear from them.

After lunch we cruised around a new antique store (we missed it a few weeks ago when we were there) and went back to a mid-century antique store. We then went to the most amazing...like really amazing bakery in Eugene (Amanda if you haven't gone you should!) It is called Barry's Espresso, Bakery and Deli. We stopped for a little sweet snack but they also had 6 different soups on the menu, salads, quiches. Every thing I tasted (and I sampled my own choice as well as Graces and David's brought on another one of those food pornographic experiences. I am grateful that there is a bit of a distance between me and this bakery and I would be darkening their door way too often.

All in all a great day.

xxxooo

3.5 Pounds Left

The band saline fairy did indeed provide me with enough to take off yet another pound this week. That leaves just 3.5 measly pounds to go. It is amazing that I get much more excited now about every ounce. I imagine that I had better because this end of the road slog is probably going to be a long one.

I woke up petrified this morning with a stomach ache. I think it was too much snacking at BUNCO (I go play with several of my neighbors). I laid there in bed with my stomach poking sharply at me and started going through all of the devastating scenarios that could be occurring...a slip, my band cutting through my stomach wall etc. The my mind wandered to what that would mean to my weightloss. I did decide then and there that I would beg for and pay whatever it took to get a revision (probably a sleeve) so that I did not have to live life as before band. I did for a bit calculate whether I thought I could keep it off on my own...I don't really think I could.

I got up..had some water and the pain went away. I have had more water and will go off and get my morning coffee (I could probably buy a small piece of furniture with the money I have provided Starbucks this year). I guess I should buy stock as I am single-handedly keeping them successful.

Well I am off-I have a math class to teach this morning (hence no BOOBS for me).

xxxooo

Holy Moly Who Sent the Tight Band Fairy

I am tight tonight-I am assuming that the PMS fairy came and sprinkled saline dust on my band. I can feel the thing gripping my poor stomach with each bite of food.
While the PMS fairy sprinkled and tightened up my band she also left me my own personal appetite monster I think because I have had ginormous cravings for chocolate (sadly I just bought two bags of candy for my math class and they contain said chocolate). I have had a fair number of the delicious and beastly mini candies today along with 2 ounces of cheese, a venti peppermint mocha (i was fine this morning) and 5 tortilla chips. OH and 5 raw Spanish Peanuts.

OK..speaking of peanuts...what the heck are those raw Spanish peanut things anwway..they tasted green..not salty peanutty at all. blech..at lest I am not so hungry or starved as to even like a raw peanut :).

Hopefully the PMS fairy will allow me some weightloss in exchange for my tight band.

Oh by the way again...part of the other reason I was super irritated when I posted about my memory issues was that I have lost my cell phone and the textbook I need to teach out of on Saturday. I am feeling a little better because at least I found the textbook this afternoon. Still no cell phone though.

I will keep you posted on when I lose other stuff...and if you hear conspiracy theory creeping in. I was blaming my daughters for stealing my stuff because they tend to 'borrow' things without telling me. Or I start posting the same thing over and over please send me messages about getting my arse into the doctor for a consultation.

oh by the way..again again...Do you feel the need to sign your blog entries? I have noticed some people do..I feel the urge to sign mine like I have written a letter. My family has a tradition of including xxxooo at the end of all of our letters (kisses and hugs)..Do others of you do that too?


xxxooo p.s. Please someone have some vodka for me in Chicago I will have one for you in Eugene when I meet up with Debi and Amanda on Sunday. We will toast the boobs at Red Robin. man I am depressing myself at how unexciting it sounds next to missing out on Chicago but I know we will have fun and it would be exciting if you weren't having a full on a legionnaires conventions without us (yes I have mental images of you all dancing in a conga line on balconies around the hotel).

This series of xxxooo is for every single blogger who reads this who is not going to CHICAGO---to us...the Stay at home Bloggers (maybe i could make that SOBBS somehow?)

haha oh crap..i must xxxooo

Alzheimers or Old Brain?

Do you ever feel like you are writing the same stuff over and over on here? I think yesterday's post was a repeat of several before it. I have serious concerns about my memory.

-band news-I FORGOT (yes this is a trend for me) to weigh myself until I was dressed. Tomorrow is another day.

And The Bounce and other Crappy Crap

It happened-I saw the signs so I am not surprised. A big drop followed by a super hungry day. Today I up-bounced to 169. my restriction has slipped a bit. I scarfed down another vente coffee yesterday first thing in the morning without a problem. My TOM is coming up though and I usually get a good tighten for a week or so and am hoping that I can ride this fill home to goal. If not...another tiny fill will be needed I think.

My schedule this term is to babysit my grandson on Monday and Wednesday and then work at both of my jobs on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I left at 7:55am yesterday and got home at 8:40 last night. My only rough spot was that I got hungry while I was working in the tutoring lab. I am going to have to work out how to fit dinner in before I get into work. I also teach on Saturday. Friday and Sunday are my days off. Except of course when my boss schedules Friday meetings :)...yup..this week directly following an eye exam.

On the days when I work I love my job. I love that half of it is trying to figure out how best to collect data and analyze it and that the other half is teaching. Last night was teaching 30 future elementary school teachers and hopefully inspiring them to do a great job and guide their students to the exciting subject that math can be.

Ok speaking of eye exams-I have had the worst time with my vision over the last two years. Now I am getting old so I probably has nothing to do with losing all of this fat but...is there anyone out there who has had trouble getting glasses they can both see at a distance with and read and see in the dark with? I already have bifocals but they are just not doing the job. When I read I have to take my glasses off but then I have astigmatism and the words go all wonky. When it is dark (even dim) I cannot recognize my colleagues at work in a hallway 20 feet away. It is very annoying. This will be my second eye exam this year and I am going to a new optometrist. He is in his 50's so I am hoping he will be able to have some insight that my previous young one did not have.

Happy Wednesday everyone.

Down Again but Hungry Today

I dropped another couple of pounds today. I wish the scale would do this everyday! I am doing a grandma babysit while my daughter is off on her first work and class day for the term. I still have a bit of prep work for the class I teach tomorrow night and have been doing that on my computer while my grandson makes a mess :)..he likes to dump out boxes in whatever form they arrive in. So far it has been Grace's shoe bin, her horse play set and his toy box.

I am having one snack after another this morning. I think not having my morning coffee has thrown me off. thus far I have had one choban Peach Yogurt, an ounce of mozzerella cheese, another ounce of cheddar cheese and two crackers. All of these have been chased by huge yawns on my part.

And the Milestones Keep On Coming

I went to my daughters house today for breakfast. She had some clothes saved for me to try on. Ones that looked great on her a mere 6 months ago but she has since shrunk out of. She said I should try them on..I was dubious. Well I now am the proud owner of two pairs of sized 10 (yes 10...10, 10, 10, 10) jeans and then two pairs of the same sized slacks and two sized medium tops and tadahhh finally a sized small cardigan. Ok..I am not completely delusional The slacks were from the Gap and the jeans were Wranglers and stretch on top of it.

During the afternoon We all went shopping to the outlet malls. I tried on a couple of cardigans at Cabi (one medium did not fit while one did but neither of them were very flattering). I went to Liz Claiborne and tried on a pair of dark blue jeans. They fit nicely (sized 10). I found an awesome muffin-top smoothing camisole at Liz Claiborne. A size medium top smoothed my muffin top quite nicely. The camisoles came in white, black and nude however the only size medium came in nude or I would have bought all three.

My dream size...12...my 5 pounds from goal size....10........wow.

Update: On a lark I went back in time (thanks for the idea Kajun Gumbo). This time in 2007-I was waiting to get an appointment to see Dr. Wolfe and going through my pre-visit tests (weight-298). 2008-barfing up a chicken sandwich after driving through MacDonalds and thinking I could drink, eat and drive like I used to (weight-280). In 2009 I was in Dresden on a business trip and feeling pretty smug with myself about my weight-loss (Just in the largest size in the regular section and weight-225).

170 baby

I hit it. the low-awaited never thought I would get her again in a million years. I really thought (130 some pounds ago) that best I would end up at is around 200. It is really cool but there are some pros and cons---Pro...Stamina (I will let you figure out in what ways). Con-I have as of yesterday developed a flappy fold of skin on the bottom of my butt cheeks. They hit the back of my legs in a really annoying way when I walk. pro-i can see body parts that I have not seen in several years. Con-those body parts are pretty wrinkly with melted candle-like skin.

We went downtown today to the Saturday market. It isn't as much fun when what you have in your own garden is pretty much the same thing they have at the market. We picked up a funky little grapefruit sized melon and a bag of Gravenstein apples. After returning our purchases to the car we walked into the shopping district via Starbucks. We looked around the shops, had lunch, walked back up to the historical museum and then home...probably walked 2 miles over all.

While we were downtown there was a race going on called the Oyster race. It sounds really cool...I might log that one in my mind a something to try and do next year. I asked my husband to see if I could badger him into doing it with me. He actually said YES!! I will keep you posted if we manage to put this one together.

Boo Hoo....Titties or Nipples?

Like the others I am bummed that I cannot go to Boobs...The excitement is building but Amanda over Amanda's Waning has organized our own little mini-boobs in Eugene next Sunday. There is a small group of us Northwest bandsters who, for a variety of reasons, are not able to hang with the big girl boobies in Chicago next weekend. We, luckily have a mini-event of our own to go to. We are calling it Titties or Nipples? :) Thus far the guest list includes:

Amanda from Amanda's Waning (of course)
Debi from Hawaii Bound Bandster
and Janelle at Lap Band Living (I Just Found Her Blog Because of This Event!)

It is really a small, casual, and family friendly affair. If you are locating driving distance from Eugene and want to join us please email me or go over to Amanda's page and let her know.

Food Porn? With and Update

I am eating the most delicious juicy turkey reuben sandwich right now. Luxurious toasted bread with caraway seeds, delicious fresh tasting sauerkraut, fresh turkey, tomato, very thinly sliced red onions and exquisite thousand island dressing that drips out with every bite. The bread is the perfect amount of toasted crunch coupled with slightly soggy mush from the sauerkraut juice and dressing....

in contrast I am scared. With every bite I am trying to quell my excitement at such a delicious lunch. My mind and body are screaming at me to take very large bites and swallow quickly so that I can take a another. while my common sense is screaming..don't forget you have a band and if you don't chew the pain will be horrible and if you eat too much you will have to run out of your office and down the hall to a public restroom to PB. My fortitude is being tested...can I listen to my common sense? Can I balance the pleasure with the requirements that my band makes upon me?

After three luxurious bites and as much chewing as my excited senses will allow I forcefully have had to put the sandwich down and push it away....I HAVE to stop and listen....am I full...I knew that I would not hear with that gorgeous sandwich in my hands....it is on the corner of my desk. it still smells so good. I have opened this post in order to occupy my hands so that I do not grab at the sandwich for a few minutes (you cannot type with greasy 1000 island dressing hands)....breathing now....the sandwich is sitting OK. I can feel it in my stomach but I have not over eaten nor, I don't think, have I failed to chew an errant strand of onion or kraut. ahhh my comfortable burps. That means my food has hit band...and better yet is going through.

Ok...I think I have some control again. I think it is important to realize (hence this post) that just because i have had my little band for more than two years does not mean that I have a good grip on food. It is still there. Sometimes the desire to plunge myself into my old friend is very strong. Since my fill last week the desire has resurfaced with a vengeance.

As I have said in other posts I truly believe this is my body weight thermostat fighting to hold onto my weight. This morning I was back down to 172. My clothes have loosened up considerably and I am headed into a huge milestone. I am about to forge all time lows in my weight. From the age of 12 until I was 19 I weighed 170 pounds. Briefly for one week when I was 17 I dropped to 165 pounds. My goal is 164.5 I am in that zone. the stuff of only brief fleeting moments of my life. My body is still fighting..it fights through all of my senses not just my stomach. Right now it is tapping in my mind; screaming at me to wolf some food down and chase down high carbohydrate, high calorie items. My band...my friend...is helping me at least keep the demons at bay. 7.5 pounds to go.

Update-I ended up managing two more bites before I called it quits. It was delicious in every way and 5 bites were enough. I then walked across campus to a meeting and stashed the leftovers in the fridge there. I stayed so full for the next hour and 1/2 that I couldn't really even drink anything. I ended up forgetting the leftovers and came home remaining full (but could sip water) until 9pm. I just finished aobut 3/4 cup of chicken curry soup over the last 30 minutes. My total food for the day:

Breakfast-tall skim peppermint mocha
Lunch-5 bites (focusing on getting mostly turkey)of my sandwich
Dinner-3/4 c chicken coconut curry soup

As a side note-I did not push away that sandwich. It was pure band delivered fear that did it. If my stomach could have taken that bad boy in I would have wolfed it down. Just 5 bites was probably a better experience than the whole thing would have been. It was as close to an orgasmic experience as I have ever had with food.

A New Day and Nicely a New Award

at the the banded lady gave me this award. Thank you! It is fun to watch these awards wind their way around the band-o-sphere among friends.

Answer the question: If you had one chance to go back and change one thing in your life, would you and what would it be?

This is a tough question because like,The Banded Lady (I cannot find a name for you?) I am the product of my life, warts and all. If I Absolutely have to I guess there woulds be two things really-

one that I have lived more in the moment (appreciated myself when i weighed 170, enjoyed my kids when they were young instead of always looking at what I could do better (like weightloss) or what my kids were going to be like or do when they got older or reached the next milestone.

The second-would be to have learned the lesson-that doing something relatively small every day consistently is much more important in changing your life than doing big things perfectly. My whole life I have been a bit of a perfectionist and ended up either trying and failing and giving up or doing things in big chunks at the last minute. I think this failure to attend to the little things is largely responsible for my past failures at weight loss. Now don't get me wrong..I still maintain that the obesity game is mostly about the physical not behavioral..but adding little bits of exercise and changing little things (often band forced) has made a world of difference in how I live now. So much so that I am trying to carry those changes over into other facets of my life.

both of these things I had to learn with experience though. those trials and failures and hindsight are just the blocks that provided me this view from the top of the hill (I believe that is a metaphor for middle age isn't it?)

now to six awardees-I am picking those among my followers or who I follow who have less than 100 followers. These guys are great bloggers and you really should see their progress!

Dee and Kajun gumbo. She has been at this band thing for a while and I have followed her for a long time. I remember her surgery, her frustrations as she worked her way up to a good fill level and now her awesome success with the band and everyday work to share with us her life and band experiences.


Justine and Adventures in BandlandJustine is a fellow coffee drinker (do they have Starbucks in your new village justine?). She lives in the UK and just moved form the big bad city to a smaller village and is planning all kinds of home fix it stuff. I do love to watch the home fix it progress along with body improvements and Justine provides both on her blog.

Rick at Band TogetherRick just had his band installed in July. He has had quite the run around in getting a fill. He is new to blogland but is still losing weight even though he is fill free :) I also hear he works in the wine industry...gotta love a man that knows his wine.

Caroline and Lonicera's Lapband and Other Stories Caroline also lives in the UK and tells the most amazing stories with PICTURES!! She has had her band a while now and she is slowly taking off the weight. I think her doctor just gave her too big of a band because she has had trouble getting a good fill (she is way full of saline)...The weight is coming off though and she will succeed. Caroline is a photographer extraordinaire and includes some of her photos in every post. She also has another blog that his funny!

Stephanie at A New Me. Stephanie just found me and I found her back. She has a very pretty blog (I do love nice backgrounds). She is at the beginning of her journey waiting for approval. She needs all of our support and frankly..It is really awesome to think back to my early stage days and all of the highs and lows associated with that stage of the band game so we need each other!

Doc Sly over at The First Day of the Rest of My Lifethe doc is a fellow bandster and professor working in Education. She is also a fellow grandma. She has become a not so regular blog poster but when she does post they are good ones full of her life in the midwest, balancing work, leisure, health and her family.

Plugging Away

I spent the weekend continuing my quest to organize things. I am diligently keeping up on my new calendar regime. Cleaning house and doing laundry on the weekend and planning our meals for the week. None of it is perfectly accomplished but baby steps are baby steps.

My weightloss is tipping downward again. This morning I hit 173 again (hooray). I was 175 on the doctors office scale. This was all up from last month at this time when I hit an all time low of 171. As usual and going against the opinion of most other bloggers I follow, when I wonder if I need a fill or not I find out that yes I definitely needed one.

I can tell I have had a fill. The food moves through my stoma at a much slower rate than it did before. I was back up to having the ability to eat more than 1/2 sandwich before the fill (always my test marker and I let it slide this time). Now I am back down to 1/2 a sandwich minus a crust. I am good with drinking a milky coffee (12 oz) for breakfast and I do not go looking for food until well after noon.

My last fill before this one was May...that is one long run and I probably should have gone in when I hit 171 a month ago.

BYOC on Saturday

1. If a major newspaper wrote an article about you today, what would the headline be?

You too can create low budget redecorating by moving furniture to new rooms.

I swapped my sofas family room sofa is now in the living room and living room sofa is in the family room. We also had a major house clean. as a back up...

Lady finds restriction..Again ;) the little tightening is working great!! No weight loss yet but my hunger is much quieter.

2. Name one thing you like about being an adult.

Control-I chose what I want to do when I want to do it (of course there are all kinds of compromises...or are they consequences?

3. What was your favorite Saturday morning cartoon when you were a kid?

Hong Kong Phooey and Johnny Quest.

4. When is the last time you told someone HONESTLY how you felt about them?

David, My husband. While Grace was gone we took off in the car and were talking about something (I can't really remember what now) but we were so engrossed in our conversation that we drove right past our exit and kept on going. I noticed after a while and said...wow we have been married for 10 years and we still have enough to talk about that we forget where we are...How cool is that. and we kept on driving.


5. Repeat question: Summarize your week in life and in blogland.

I talked about the busy already. I have actually caught up in blogland a bit as with school and work settling back in I took computer time. Last week I fell behind with all of my running around and biking.

Ahh Sweet Restriction

My two year check up was today..with a new nurse practitioner. She was actually good. Whenever they have pushed me in with a new person (not my dear old surgeon Dr. Wolfe) I get a little angsty. It has never..until today...gone well. I like the new girl (even though she is quite a youngster). She did the old are you eating, do you have acid reflux blah blah..asked me if I was wanting a fill and bingo bango popped the needle in and viola I was filled. Not only did she get that so often troublesome needle right into my port but she actually did it twice as the first .5 cc fill was a tad too much. She backed out .2 ccs and I am now running at 7.8 cc's of fluid in my little bandy.

So back to the check up..I am good. on the low end of protein but in the normal range. At the low end of Vitamin D but in the normal range. At the low end of iron but in the normal range....This is the story of my life actually. I have always been at the low end of everything in blood tests. It is my weight that was always high.

I told my girl Maggie (that is her name) that I was hoping to get the last little bit off so I could feel 'normal' on the bmi range for once in my life. I told her I didn't care if it even lasted for just a day and that I would evaluate the wrinkles and figure out if I liked it but wanted to give it a try. She said with only ten pounds between me and it I should be able to get there no problem. :) I like a positive response..yes I do.

So back to the fill..she put in the .5 ccs, I asked for my first cup of water and it went down. The second..not so much...it caught a really big air bubble and did a bit of a sit. I asked to have a skosh(I love that word said with a North Dakota/Canadian accent) taken out and she popped that needle back in and sucked it out. This time she left the needle poking out (soo freaky for some but I thought it looked kinda funny...like me as a dart board) and I drank down another cup of water successfully.

I came home via Starbucks (they really should pay me to advertise for them) and although of late i have been drinking venti (I know bad Tina...bad bad) sized drinks I bought a tall skim peppermint mocha. It is here beside me almost an hour later half finished but still warm....Goal weight...here i come!!!!

Sweet 100 Award

1. Thanks to Cara at The Dash for giving me this sweet award! It is better than cake or candy :) of course While I was typing Debi at Hawaii Bound Bandster also nominated me for the award (wow a double whammy).

2. Now 10 things I love:

1. The energy losing weight has helped me find.
2. My family
3. My friends
4. My new jobs!
5. My swanky new office (I built new bookshelves today and sat at my desk..there is a door and everything!!)
6. My bike
7. SUMMER
8. Shopping
9. Traveling
10 Knitting

3. Ten of my favorite blogs (but i am going to list in order the most recent 10 people who commented on my posts)....I follow those who comment. Although I use this blog gig to as a reflective journal of sorts, I do love to hear what people think. I love to get advice, just a 'hi how are you doing' and even a 'you are full of crap' every now and again.

so...in order:

Liz..you know who you are and you do not have a blog but you basically commented in person tonight at the school party.

Caroline at Lonicera's LapBand and Other Stories. I love it that you leave comments and I totally love your blog-filled with your life, photos and the band.

Debi at the Hawaii Bound Bandster Ok she nominated me for the award too but I am listing the commenters in order and she earned her spot :). Debi's blog is bright and summery. She talks band and life and occasionally shows us her beautiful paintings.

Colleen at This Time I mean It. She lives in New York and is working her band steadily (Down 60 pounds!!). She has also chimed in to meet up with me/organize something while I am in New York in October.

Stephanie at A New Me I just started watching her blog. She is on working the sometimes long and frustrating job of getting approved. She can use lots of support from Old-lapbanders and new.

Cara at The Dash-yup she also

nominated me for the award-She is my pal in Perth..We swap pictures as we pass by each other seasonally-When I was headed into Spring she was headed to Fall...and so forth. My favorite season is on her side of the earth now :)....I need pictures!!


The Draz....We all know her. We all Love her. She is the queen party host in blogland.

Nola She takes cute pics of her doggies. She manages a Candy/ice cream shop!! She lives in Tazmania and she tells the greatest stories in her blogs. And she is working like all of us to work the band.

Miss Vickie at the Queen Bee's Lapband LifeI just found her but she is a great commenter :) and she is rocking her band!

Tessie Rose at Band Me BabyTessie Rose is an excellent commenter! She also has a coolarific profile picture. I love the looking over her glasses all knowing look about the picture. Tessie Rose is an excellent poster who always includes great pictures in all of her posts.

And additionally-Amanda at Amanda's Waning. Amanda is a fellow Oregonian and a fellow bike-rider. She is rocking her band and writes really thought provoking posts.

Summer is Over and Back to the Grind-

The last week run up to the start of another school year should have been relaxed (oh and we sure did fit in a bunch of fun) but it seemed a bit crazy at the end with quick preparations for school on Tuesday. My oldest daughter took my youngest off for a week providing David and I a glorious child free week to celebrate our 10 years of wedded bliss. We had a wonderful time at home (after the bike ride weekend) just being grownups. We had coffee out late at night. We went out to lunch and downtown for an art show. I enjoyed every minute of our time together. I guess the marriage will work for at least another 10 years :)..knock on wood.

Grace came home at just before bedtime on Monday night. David and I cleaned her room before she got home(you know those kind where you manage to filter out all of the bits of paper a child of 9 manages to stuff into corners). In the end it took three garbage bags and a large box to give away before we had things tidied up. We rearranged her room a bit to give her a new fresh start to her new year and new/old school (she returned to our neighborhood school this term..long story that I won't get into here).

After a couple of outfit try-ons and a quickly put together lunch we were ready for the next day. She went..she liked and I went off to work.

At work I proceeded to spend the day running around getting my employment papers filled out, parking passes purchased, checked surplus for bookshelves and then ended up getting permission to go to Ikea to buy some. I ran my fool backside off, ran home to pick up Grace after school then drove out to Ikea to pick up the shelves then back home just in time for bedtime.

Today after a mammogram appointment it was back to work to lug the very large and heavy bookshelves out of my car and to the elevator and upstairs to my office. I had some help but I tell you those boxes are HEAVY!!!!! I then left my oldest to study and took my grandson on a bit of a campus walk to the main office of my department to turn in my receipts, then coffee then home for his nap (he is heavy too)...

While Grant napped I cut cheese and prepared food for a wine-tasting fundraiser my daughter was organizing. I don't think I have told you this but my second oldest daughter is working as a campaign manager for a nearby local representatives race. I offered to donate the food for the fund-raiser and of course got to attend the event :)..the wine was tasty. Grant woke up and we dashed to pick Grace up at school then my oldest daughter at the train (she was studying with a classmate and took the tube closer to home)...finally after a trip to costco for some extra bits we loaded up the car, dropped Grace off with my oldest daughter for the evening and headed out to the wine-tasting party.

The party was a new experience for me as although I have strong political leanings I have always limited my active politics to voting only. It was interesting to see how fund-raisers work and hear about the process by which candidates work their way up to running for office. It is an expensive business but I came away feeling like working with local politicians probably has a greater impact than voting as you really see your actions put to work. Now don't get me wrong..I'm not going to run out and start knocking on peoples doors any time soon :)I'm impressed by the process and OK with my daughter working in the business as experiences go.

On the weightloss front after a regain of 6 pounds over the past month I am now bobbing down around 174 again. The last two days of running around have meant little time to eat and thus a loss. I am hoping I can get closer to 171 before my appointment on Friday as I think I am going to ask for a little tweak of a fill. I would really like to be at goal when I go to New York in October. I want to buy my goal wrap dress in New York! For some reason I seem to thrive on crazy.

New York Tickets Purchased-Hotel Reservations Made

Does anyone in New York want to meet for lunch, Dinner, coffee or a late night drink? I'm in town from Thursday Oct. 21-Mon. Oct. 25.

My plans for this trip are:

1. Do the conference thing
2. Do the socializing with conference colleagues thing
3. Meet a few New York banders
4. Buy my goal weight wrap dress
5. shop some knitting stores
6. buy some more small (well small for me) clothes
7. Enjoy the wonderful city of New York
8. Walk my arse off.

BYOC

1. In the spirit of back to school time - what is your favorite school supply?

Well...I love school supplies too...I love all things supply-ee. Personally my big purchases this year were calendars (one for my purse, one for my fridge and a project book to take notes in during meetings)...I also bought some colored sharpies. Usually I woulds say engineering graph paper is my fave but I am on an organization kick at the moment (math geek=graph paper :))

2. Assume your house is on fire and the whole thing is going to burn to the ground and your loved ones are out and safe….and you have a few minutes to grab 5 things. Just five. What would they be?



1. my pictures of when the girls were young
2. our passports, birth certificates etc.
3. The server (all of our digital stuff is stored here)
4. nope only three things....the rest is replaceable.

3. In the spirit of my new found love on vacation – what is your favorite drink – alcoholic or not?

Vodka Mojito..hopefully from the McMinnamins.

4. When is your birthday (if you want to say, no year needed) and what is your Zodiac sign. Does your sign match your personality?


Valentines day is my birthday :) I would say for husbands it is the toughest birthday to have...all that expectation rolled up in one holiday birthday :)

Aquarius women are androgynous in nature with well-balanced male and female energy-sounds good to me..im not a girly girl thats for sure.. Their highest value is friendship, not love. So don’t get confused if you are deep in courtship and she’s still referring to you as her best friend. Yup friendship is more important.

Love
It is important to realize how loyal Aquarius women are because it is not immediately obvious. She may not be with you very much, but her affections are steadfast and you are always on her mind (don’t expect her to tell you that)I agree. The best way to fall in love is through a mental connection where you appreciate her mind and share a vision for the future.for sure She is not interested in dwelling on the past or even the presentOk I disagree with this one. We de value history and only have to look to the past to figure out what we are doing today. Aquatian women have a knack for turning romance into friendship, and you will find that she is inclined to keep you at arm’s length though you are very special to her. I don't know about this one...sure the friendship thing is a good idea but I don't think my ex husband would call me his friend.

Work
Aquarius women need to work around electrical equipment, on the Internet, or with something futuristic. In general, they have little interest in the past or any kind of emotional or heart connection.Horse pucky..I use technology but I am a teacher and history and emotional connections are what doing that is all aobut. They prefer to work with concepts or at arm’s length through a cool medium such as e-mail, text messaging, radio, or cell phones. There is not an Aquarian woman in the world who wants to be told what to do. I hate teaching online classes...so not true.If she makes the mistake of working for someone, she has to be handled with kid gloves to avoid rousing her rebellious side.Ok totally true..if someone tells me I have to do something I usually do the oppotiste Be prepared for some eccentricities and idiosyncrasies. She can make a brilliant contribution if allowed to do work her own way. A female Aquarian boss is likely to be absent a large portion of the time, either mentally or physically. She will want to deal with you in an abstract way and may prefer to leave instructions on your desk or your cell phone rather than give them to you in person. The best use of Aquarian energy in the workplace is harmonizing groups. Aquarius women are happiest when they have space to be an individual in a group of strong equals.I like collaborating but not sure if I would rather leave a note or email.

Spirituality
Aquarians channel higher truth. They link the present to the future. Their best spiritual approach is to be an open channel for higher vibrations. They are dedicated to the advancement of the species and serve all intelligent life forms. Highly developed Aquarius women have the ability to not just meditate but be meditated. Creative visualization and time travel may prove very enlightening. I am a scientist....so no religiosity here.

Shadow
The mad scientist is Aquarius energy out of control. An Aquarius woman gone bad is the creator who rejects her own creations as imperfect and ugly because she lives in a fragile world of ideals. Dedicated to the cause of humanity in general, she can be completely oblivious to the people around her and may be impossible to get along with. Aquarius females can ignore the plight of their own husband and children to serve a “higher” cause. Their need to be shocking can be disruptive and serve no purpose. Ok maybe this one hits a little too close to the truth...but i am working on it

5. A little spin on my repeat question. I usually ask which blog or comment stuck with you and why? You can answer that as usual or how about just giving a summary of your week or how you feel about blogland this past week or anything you noticed…does that make sense?

I have not been a good reader this week-I have done some drive by reading but I have a lot of deadlines at work and took my little weekend away. The Jack Sh*t Getting fit was my highlight post as I am struggling with what maintenance will be and whether I am in it or not.

My difficulty this week is heading in for my two year check up and wondering if I need a fill. I slammed a muffin today and have been on a sugar crazed fest all week. My restriction has gone away but when I was on my bike I had trouble swallowing water...makes no freaking sense.

New York Advice and meet up?

I am going to be in New York from October 22-25 for a conference. If anyone is interested in meeting up for drinks or dinner I am your girl. I will have some blocked out times due to conference meals and such but we can negotiate :)

I am currently looking for apartment rentals as I am hoping to share a big (nice) place with friends who also attend the conference. Right now there are five of us. Does anyone know of a place to look? Any advice will be appreciated!

Tina