15 lbs!

"My name is Beth... and I am a Gastric Bypass drop-out"

"HELLO BETH"

That's not exactly how it went but I was a little fearful of going to the "re-activation" class at Kaiser last week.

There were about 8 of us there... all drop-outs. Not everyone confessed their reason(s) for not staying with the program initially, but it didn't really matter... we were back! (My excuse/reason was a romance-gone-wrong but I won't bore you with the gory details.)

I was anticipating some serious finger-shaking but there was none of that. The nutritionist was quite friendly and encouraging. She reiterated the same stuff covered back at the first orientation I attended (back in July of 2006... head hanging in shame!) and some new facts. The most surprising information was that you were hospitalized for just 24 hours, vs. 4 days like they had stated in 2006. Wow... big diff! They even said that many people go back to work "the next day". YIKES!! I mean, I had planned on getting back to things pretty quick since I don't have any disability insurance (because I'm self employed) but next day? Really? I will take that to mean they really have this down to a science... in and out via a couple holes in my stomach.

I was really happy to discover that I had not gained back any of the initial weight I had lost... YEA-ME! I have 15 more lbs. to lose before I get my surgery scheduled. I can do that right?

I am starting their recommended 1,200 calorie/day diet tomorrow. My goal is to have the 15 lbs. off by the end of February. In theory, I could have my surgery in late March/early April. Pretty exciting huh? Check back for updates. I promise to be better about keeping this secret blog current!

Thanksgiving Divorce

A man in Jacksonville calls his son in San Diego the day beforeThanksgiving and says, "I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; forty-five years of misery is enough".

"Dad, what are you talking about?" the son screams.

"We can't stand the sight of each other any longer," the father says.

"We're sick of each other, and I'm sick of talking about this, so you callyour sister in Denver and tell her."

Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone. "Like heck they're getting divorced," she shouts, "I'll take care of this."

She calls Jacksonville immediately, and screams at her father, "You are NOT getting divorced. Do not do a single thing until I get there. I am calling my brother back, and we will both be there tomorrow. Until then, don't do a thing, DO YOU HEAR ME?" and hangs up.

The old man hangs up his phone and turns to his wife. "Okay," he says,"they're coming for Thanksgiving and they are paying their own way."

Do not underestimate the older generations.
They may be crazy, crazy like a fox. :-)

I Feel Lucky

Had just enough Capt. Morgan/Diet Coke
to sing "I Feel Lucky" with Shari @ the Port Hole!
GO ME! [LOL]

Yikes! I'm 46!

Crazy friends and family helped me ring in my 46th in high style. Well... maybe not high style, but it was time to remember... well... I remember most of it, the rest I fill in with pictures taken to document the big event!

Above is Lori, Sue, Shari & Jamie. I'd show you what they gave me for my birthday but promote this blog as being family-friendly so I better not! ;-)

Rob even made it out... that was a nice surprise!

Everyone had to be photographed in the Martini Glasses that my "daughter" Theresa brought! She came all the way from Clearlake!

Even Cowboy Joe wore them! hehehe!

A BIG THANKS
to everyone for making it such a special day/night!!

Life may not be the party we hoped for... but while we are here we might as well dance!

(I received this via email today)

READ THIS VERY SLOWLY... IT'S PRETTY PROFOUND.

Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine.

I got to thinking one day about all those people on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible.

How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn't suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed? Does the word 'refrigeration' mean nothing to you?

How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched 'Jeopardy' on television?

I cannot count the times I called my sister and said , 'How about going to lunch in a half hour?' She would gas up and stammer, 'I can't. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain' And my personal favorite: 'It's Monday.' She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together.

Because Americans cram so much into their lives, we tend to schedule our headaches.. We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect!

We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Steve toilet-trained.

We'll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet.

We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college.

Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of 'I'm going to,' 'I plan on,' and 'Someday, when things are settled down a bit.'

When anyone calls my 'seize the moment' friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps an open mind on new ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. You talk with her for five minutes, and you're ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of Rollerblades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord.

My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love ice cream. It's just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process. The other day, I stopped the car and bought a triple-decker. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy.

Now...go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to...not something on your SHOULD DO list.

If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?

Make sure you read this to the end; you will understand why I sent this to you.

Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round or listened to the rain lapping on the ground? Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight or gazed at the sun into the fading night? Do you run through each day on the fly? When you ask 'How are you?' Do you hear the reply? When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the next hundred chores running through your head? Ever told your child, 'We'll do it tomorrow.' And in your haste, not see his sorrow? Ever lost touch? Let a good friendship die? Just call to say 'Hi'?

When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift....Thrown away.... Life is not a race. Take it slower. Hear the music before the song is over.

It's National Friendship and FAMILY WEEK Show your friends how much you care. Send this to everyone you consider a FRIEND.

To those I have sent this to... I cherish our friendship and appreciate all you do.

'Life may not be the party we hoped for... but while we are here we might as well dance!'

Before & After

Ok... please indulge me a little more ranting about the whole Back-to-School thing. It's being mentioned this time only because of the sheer volume of paperwork that's involved and the toll it took on my desk. Now mind you, my desk was not a prize to start with.

I run several businesses from home so there are stacks of orders placed, orders pending, orders to be entered, plus one big TO-DO pile mostly of new products to follow up on...

I tend to be a team parent for one sport or another at any given time and there are files and folders for that...

And my personal bills used to sit neatly in a favorite Longaberger basket (because if they are nested in a lovely basket, the bill-paying experience won't be so ugly!) but they have somehow migrated to the "out-shelf" of my Canon printer...

And speaking of printers, I have 2... a Brother Laser for work reports, forms etc. and a Canon Photo Printer for, well, photos!

I have my all-important TV (wouldn't want to miss my ABC soaps while working!)... and my calculator and several shelving bin things, my electric stapler (would rather give up a kidney that do without that), my external back-up drive, my phone/answering machine, and a small plastic lime green crate of "crap" (misc. business cards, photos, old greeting cards, rebate coupons, an empty Starbucks gift card , web sites noted on a scrap of paper that I didn't want to loose track of, etc. etc.).

All these items are VITAL to the success of my business! [HA!]

Well toss on top of all that, about 100 pieces of paper (all colors) related to Scott and Chelsea's new year at school. Some needed to be signed. Some just kept for future reference. Some tossed. Some to be laminated (like the # to Chelsea's counselor and emails for her teachers!) and some I'm not exactly sure why I received them... something that the State of CA required we signed proving we got it. Give me a break! I reached my crap-limit (yes... I really do have one) and I got busy cleaning! I mean cleaning, dusting, monitor shining, file creating, folder swapping, cleaning!

Here's what the "Right side" of my desk looked like after being bombarded with about 10 tree's worth of paperwork from school:

"Right side" AFTER cleaning:

"Left side" BEFORE: (where the hell did that cowboy hat come from??)

"Left side" AFTER: (HUGE difference huh?)

I suppose I could look on the bright side... all those papers floating all over my desk FORCED me to dig until I found a wood surface again. I found all sorts of "treasures" such as a Birkenstock catalog I thought I had lost (LOVE my Birks!), a couple of NetFlix DVD's that I've had for probably 2 months, a water bill that was now over-due (oops... we're bathing in the pool for a couple days kids! Ha!), and the supply list for Scott's class... good thing my own office supply inventory is close to that of Staples! :-)

Now let's see how long I can keep it this way!

The Secret ~ The Laws of Attraction

Have you seen The Secret?

I've watched it 3 times now and inspirational words of wisdom are still being presented to my brain that I don't remember from the earlier viewings. It's so full of info! How could anyone possibly process, retain, and implement all of it? (It doesn't tell you that! Ha!)

The Secret is all about The Laws of Attraction. Now, when I hear "The Laws of Attraction" I think... ROMANCE and LOVE... not friendly love, but you know... "hubba hubba I want you baby" Love! (The kind I'm currently in search of!).

The Secret explains that the Laws of Attraction applies to EVERYTHING; People (friends, business partners, romantic partners, etc.), and Things (material things big & small, business opportunities, travel, anything!) and Money (duh!) and even Health.

WHAT DO YOU WANT? The sky's the limit!

Just ASK THE UNIVERSE FOR IT!