Just a quick update. I'm heading out for dinner and drinks with my friend R from College, such a nice guy! I wish he weren't gay.. Anyways, we're going to Joey's since the drink special today is the Super Sonic Gin and Tonic, think a G&T slush, yummers! Not sure what I will have for dinner though. Pre-band I would have gotten the lobster and brie grilled cheese sandwich (yes way! they do make such a thing) but it's been a while and I think that would be pushing it for me.

This week has been rather uneventful in all honesty. Just work, some more work, walk the dog, try and eat, sleep rinse and repeat.

So Jess did this post earlier in the week explaining why she hadn't posted in a while and I could've sworn that I wrote it myself! I could feel the frustration and near desperation in her tone and completely related. I too at times find it very hard to post when I have nothing positive to write about. The old Thumper adage of "If you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all" tend to come to mind for me.

So Jess if you're reading here's what I have to say about your "situation." It will happen in time. Like me you've started your journey at a much lower place (weight wise) than the standard bandster. It might take a few or four fills for things to finally start moving. That doesn't mean that you're doing anything wrong you just need to get your band to work with you. If you recall I was banded March 7 of last year and really didn't start losing much to write home about until December. That's 9 months! But to put it in perspective Angie who started at the same time but had more to lose and is close to the same height has indeed lost a great deal more than more (way to go Angie) but we are sitting relatively close weight wise these days. Please keep this kind of stuff in mind and don't get discouraged! I totally relate and understand and if anything my own discouragement over the past year may have made it that much harder.

**Edit: My bad, Angie is apparently a fantasmical 5'8" or something like that. I can only wish to be that tall!**

What else can I tell you... I finally caved in and went and bought some clothes yesterday. Part of my was holding out as long as possible to avoid spending money on something that hopefully won't fit for much longer :) Having said that though I couldn't tolerate pulling up my pants every 5 seconds anymore. Nor could I handle the fashion statement I seemed to be making that looked a lot like I'd pooped my pants. Genetically I've inherited a rather flat ass so anytime pants get big I get droopy bum syndrome, not exactly fetching. I went to Old Navy cause I figured at least price wise the stuff would be alright. Guess what? I'm a 14 now!!! So I picked up two pairs of jeans, a pair of capris, a blazer and two t-shirts. The t-shirts were actually free, some sort of grand re-opening deal or something. Oh and I got free cotton candy! What a nice treat, I honestly can't remember the last time I even had cotton candy. My new jeans actually fit in the waist, bum and thighs which is very refreshing.

My Mom is moving in with me this week while their hardwood floors get refinished for re-sale, so that should be fun. I've gotten used to having my own house/space and not feeling obligated to talk to anyone. How anti-social do I sound? I also got to bring my cat(s) home last night. I'd missed having her around. The other one (my brother's cat which will move to the lake with my parents) not so much, he's kind of evil. They seem to like the place though, lots of wide sunny windowsills for them to sit on and new hiding places to discover. I'll leave you this fabulously warm Sunday with a picture of my cat, her name is Lekili. The picture doesn't show it the greatest but she's a long haired Calico, mostly white with a few dark sports and orange on the back of hear head. She walks around swishing her tail cause she's a princess and should really have a crown.

And unfortunately I'm not referring to the muscles that for now are still hidden beneath my insulation.

Awhile back when I went for a check-up/fill appointment I had a good chat with the nurse about how in the morning particularly I find that my band is much tighter and therefore I sometimes have trouble getting some substantial, keep you going for the morning type of foodies. I was sitting there all confused explaining and asking "Why oh why?" when she very kindly pointed out to me this natural phenomenon that gets blamed for all sorts of other things but might also hold the answer to my question.

Gravity. Yup. And it makes total sense once she said it! And I call myself a super science geek, pft! So here's your food for thought. As the day goes on where is your fill going to go, down! Gravity pulls it there, so naturally things tend to loosen up a bit later in the day. Now when you get to sleep you're lying down, at least I am, and now things need to shift and level out and re-equilibrate and all that nerdo stuff. So as we're sleeping a certain amount of that fill makes it way up closer to the band and then when we wake up and try and eat the whole "Why oh why?" starts all over again. Really! Once upon a time I thought I was smart but now I'm beginning to wonder if I couldn't figure that one out on my own.

I've got 29 followers now. Hello to Colleen my newest follower! Here's a bit of useless information for you, my parents had considered naming me Colleen. My Mom asked her grandmother what she thought of the name and she replied "We're not Irish." I guess in her mind you had to be Irish to be named Colleen??? Either way it must have made an impression so instead they named me Leslee. Of course with an unusual spelling so that I will be correcting people until the day I die, although I usually don't even give them a chance to try and spell it on their own. For some reason when they ask if it's "i-e" or "e-y" and I say no "it's e-e" they end up writing "Leeslie" so in one breath it comes out "Leslee, l-e-s-l-e-e."

Scales are still stuck at 175. Can't be surprised honestly cause I've not been exercising and my food has been less than ideal. Yesterday I only managed to get down two or three bites of tuna salad for lunch. Thought I would finish it for dinner, up it came after just one bite. I totally don't get it sometimes! It was mushy and moist and laden with extra mayo calories... Who knows. Is it possible that if gravity can effect the band that barometric pressure etc might do something?? Hmmm... I think I need to start working in a lab that researches environmental and external physical influences on gastric band patients. Screw this nutritional research, it didn't seem to help me pre-band!

This week has been going by remarkably fast and I can't believe tomorrow is Thursday already! My Mom is heading to the US for a few days tomorrow and I've requested that she bring back for me: any different crystal light flavours, diet sunkist (we don't have it here, I'm thining it might be similar to C-plus here but there isn't a diet one), diet cherry pepsi and diet cherry vanilla dr pepper... I know I know we're not supposed to have soft drinks. But really is one a week gonna kill me? No! Have a great Thursday all!

A bad blogger that is. I finally got me tv set up and since I've gone a while trying to watch stuff on my computer it was this new addiction of sorts. I couldn't tear myself away from it! Now that I'm finished watching season 1 and 2 of Gossip Girl I should be good for a while... I hope.

A big thanks to everyone for their encouraging words about renovating a foreclosed house. Things are coming along slowly but surely and it's good to know that I'm not the only one who has encountered some "interesting" events upon getting possession of their home.

I stepped on the scale today for the first time in a few days or so and things don't seem to be going anywhere at all. I have noticed that in the last few days I've been ravenously hungry and I had originally blamed this on my TOM. I have since discovered that my body is most likely back to its old tricks of missed "dates."

I had recently opted to stop taking birth control pills for various reasons and being that I never went on them in the first place for actual birth control. I'm a "rare breed" that is a 25 year old virgin and there's no need for me to take the pill for its original intended purpose. I had started taking it when I was 14 I believe so it's been 11 years and it was mostly to help regulate my period, even back then it was wonky, and to help with my complexion. Cause when you're 14 as you know a pimple is the end of the world! My skin had seemed to balance it self out or I'd finally just figured out a skin care regime that worked for me, as for my TOM I was still skipping months after 11 years and countless attempts at finding the right kind of pill and dosage. I'd had enough so I stopped taking them after discussing this with my doctor decided it was the right choice for now.

So since I can't blame my hunger on my TOM I guess this means I need another fill huh? I've got an appointment book in a couple of weeks so we'll see how I am until then. I can always call and get them to fit me in a bit earlier if I can't wait. The thing I don't understand is that some days I'm normal, and by normal I mean good restriction, some days I'm tight and struggle to get food in and then today I'm sooo hungry! Is this just the life of a bandster or is something not right here?

I thought I'd share a picture of me one of the girls took at my fiasco girl's night in. Have a great Friday everyone!

In part 1 I covered that the previous home owner wasn't as forth coming about her financial situation as she should have been considering she was selling the house and could have really screwed me over. In the end it all worked out but not without a few more hiccups along the way.

On the day of possession my Dad and I took our time getting up and making our way over to what is now my end of town. Strangely enough I slept just fine the night before, I thought I would be a huge jumble of nerves and get no sleep at all. My Mom was out of town for a quilting retreat and unfortunately, or fortunately, wasn't able to join us. We pulled up to the house and went to go park in the parking pad near the back lane but there wasn't really any room for a car there. I wish I could say it was because we had a ton of snow this winter and it was all just piled right there but that wasn't the case. What was actually taking up the room was a few sofa's, other random furniture and garbage that the previous home owner (who I think I will start calling C-H to shorten things and I will explain about later as well) decided she had no need for anymore but couldn't be bothered to move.

The trash outside was just the start though... Once we got inside I found my place in even more of a mess than it was when I first looked at it. I didn't think that was possible! I did a quick walk around found more stuff C-H left behind and then found "the note." It went something like this:

I'm sorry that I did not leave the house and give it a proper cleaning as your deserve. But due to financial difficulties, no help and the water being turned off I was not able to. Please accept these household gifts I have left. Thanks much C-H

First off, NO WATER!!! Second, ewww I don't want your gross stuff. Third, let me call my lawyer.

Really I know you were going into foreclosure so your mortgage wasn't paid for at least a year. If your water bill comes quarterly how many times do you not have to pay for it before they turn it off? Luckily we practically live in the arctic so they legally can not turn off gas/hydro in the winter cause you would freeze to death.

My Dad and I started ripping out the carpet and my old neighbor J who runs a cleaning business was great and brought over buckets of hot water so we could at least clean off the kitchen counter and put our bags down.

The city water department didn't show up until nearly 8 pm that night to turn the water back on for me so we kind of had to hang out in the grunge for a while. When it was back on though it wasn't without it's own drama. The dishwasher started filling with water, poured out the bottom, then into the basement at a location where very conveniently the electrical box was located. YIKES! Water was turned back off, plumber called in for the next day.
Dirty house and water drama aside I had high hopes that my hardwoods could be refinished. There was a ton of carpet glue on them but other than that they seemed to be in decent shape.