If any of you are computer whiz's of sorts and feel like helping a gal out... I've found this new template that I really like but I hate the title and for whatever reason I can't change the font or anything. I've tried creating my own "graphic" using Paint.NET and... yeah I can't figure it out. No matter what I try setting the background as transparent and such I always end up with a big white box with the text over my pretty template :( Any suggestions?

I just finished reading some of the updates on everyone's blogs and Amy W. had an interesting topic that inspired my post for today. She talked about how she works with the people who actually did her surgery and such.
So while I don't directly work with my surgeon's as the actuall operation is done at a private clinic in the city, both of them happen to conduct their clinical practices at the hospital attached to the research centre I work in. I'm not sure if that makes any sense, the "hospital attached to the research centre". Let me clarify. I work as a lab tech in a research centre. This centre is part of the hospital's foundation but in a separate building and really while it is technically part of the hospital its only in name, it close enough to be connected by tunnels so it's kind of like a campus type deal. Anyways, I remember one incident last summer in particular where I ran into one of my surgeons and boy did it feel awkward. The foundation puts on a big BBQ every summer for the employee's and I met a friend of mine their to pick up our free lunch, she was saving a spot in line for us. And who did she happen to be standing in front of, none other than the cute doctor that did my surgery. It was this whole "Oh Hi Dr. Andrew, nice to see you! Yes you've seen me in all of my naked exposed fat glory... Oh and yes I'm getting in line in front of you to pick up my free hot dog, baked beans, chips, soda and ice cream. Have a fantastic day!" So those weren't the words that actually came out obviously but it sure was what I was thinking. This also happened to be back in June when I had little to no restriction and kind of wanted to ask for a refund because yes I could eat all of that and no I wasn't losing any weight.

The other interesting part for me at work was whether or not I would tell people or not. I just happen to be lucky and work in a lab that researches nutrition mostly. Yup nutrition. I was/am totally the black sheep in the crew. Everyone else are masters or PhD students looking to continue in nutrition who have never struggled with weight and always know exactly what to eat but really don't need to worry about it. Several of them also happen to be registered dietitians. So how do you approach the topic with people when you don't know their opinion's on weight loss surgery? You just say "Screw It! This is my life and I'm gonna do what I think is right for me." Or if my grandmother were still around she would say "If anyone says anything just spit in their eye." So I did tell people, and the reaction was good. Mostly curious, how does it work yadda yadda. A few were actually even kind enough to say "I really don't think you need to do this." I still get lots of questions but I'm not afraid to tell people about it. I've since also gone out for lunch with some friends I hadn't seen in over a year and really wasn't sure whether I would tell them or not. I debated it over in my head and at the last second while we're eating lunch this whole "I have a confession" type explanation to my portion came out.
I do understand why a lot of you decide to keep this private but at the same time you will learn a lot about people and their general acceptance of others by being open about it with them. Cause in reality if they are a good friend they should support you regardless of your decision. They should be proud that you are taking control of your life.

On a completely aside note, a co-worker of mine went to San Francisco for a conference for a week. Some how out of my mouth slipped an agreement to take care of his dog for him while he's away. Can I just say that I love MY dog, and wouldn't trade MY dog for anything in the world. But this, this, thing he dropped off at my house is small almost rodent like gets under your feet to the point where you almost kick it across the room trying to walk and farts. Farts so much! My house stinks! Oh and it's ugly! Yes I'm a fan of larger dogs, I tend to think of the smalls ones as rats since my cat is bigger than them but I can usually see the cute part and set aside my preference! It's not even the "You're so ugly you're cute" deal either :( Oh well. I'm getting paid for this as well so I can really complain when all I've got to do is scoop up some extra kibble and hold a second leash on a walk?!?

Ok, so yes I do realize that my posts despite my best efforts always turn into novel like never ending stories/ramblings. I really need to focus and pick a topic about something I want to get out, put out for discussion and leave the rest for another time.

For today I just want to put out there how great it is for me to read all the blogs of all of these strong women. I kind of look to all of you as role-models and a support system. I don't have any real "close" girlfriends. I've got plenty of friends but no one that I really feel that I can go to and ask/say/do anything without being judged. So in the future I feel like I'm going to be exposing myself a bit and seeking some advice. With everything that has been changing in the last year including my self perception a whole other world is opening up and one I've never been part of before. I'm not sure how much of myself I feel like revealing on the internet today so we're just going to leave it at that. There's new stuff going on and I will need advice, and lots of it.

There's just something I can't talk to my friends about and I'm definitely not going to my mother or my sister-in-law. I just don't feel comfortable nor do I know if they will entirely understand how I'm feeling. I love both of them dearly and they have both been strong role-models for me all my life but things have changed. My Mom was never... feminine I'll say. I can't remember her ever wearing make-up unless you count tinted lip balm. So at a certain point growing up things changed and I didn't go to her anymore, I was ten years old when my eldest brother got married so naturally my sister-in-law came around at a perfect time. She had always been the one to ask about make-up, hair and boys. As comfortable as I was around her and still am they have lived in another province for nearly 6 or 7 years now and while she is still my sister that bond isn't quite the same. My parents are moving to another province this summer as well and I'm a little worried how I will make out on my own completely. I suppose I just have to wait and see and there's no point dwelling in the what if's and might be's right? Ok, I'm off to bed to immerse myself in my latest novel (and not written by myself).

So I thought that I would try doing my posts about the house in installments. That way you don't have to dedicate an entire day to reading about only my house, cause that just might get boring for some of you, or maybe all of you. I also created a new recipe today that I thought was fantastic so I thought that I would also share that with you. So here's my newest band friendly recipe:
Red Pepper Spinach and Feta Quiche (Crustless)
By all means go ahead and make a crust for this if you'd like, I just can't tolerate baked goods so I opt for everything crust/carb free to make life less painfull. I really wanted to include a picture of this but alas my camera is dead and the charger lies somewhere in my unpacked boxes...
What you'll need:
1 red bell pepper sliced, chopped however you want to cut it that's fine
2-3 cups fresh spinach (do yourself a favour and buy the stuff that's already washed and prepped in a bag)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup feta cheese
3 eggs
1/3 cup cream or milk
Salt and Pepper
Method: (Preheat oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit)
1. Heat your olive oil in a skillet. Toss in your red pepper slices and cook about 1 minute until soft.
2. Add spinach to skillet with peppers and saute until wilted and tender, again about 1 minute. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper.
3. In a bowl whisk together your eggs and cream/milk.
4. Into a casserole dish, pie plate or whatever baking container you have around (you may or may not want to spray this with cooking spray or something mine didn't stick but I can't guarantee yours won't) place peppers and spinach in bottom. Crumble feta over peppers/spinach and pour egg mixture over top.
5. Bake for 15 minutes at 475, reduce temperature to 350 and bake for an additional 10 minutes or until set and golden brown on top.
6. Enjoy! This made for me 4-6 band friendly portions depending on the day.

House Part 1
I haven't quite gotten sick of telling this story yet and it's been 2 months (yikes) since I got possession. So I originally wrote about having bought a house way back in the beginning of November. For reasons I opted for an extremely far away possession date, 90 days to be exact, mostly because my down payment was being gifted to me by my dad <3 and it needed to be in the bank that long blah blah blah. I digress, so about a month after signing I get a call from my lawyer cause she wanted to touch base and get things started well ahead of time to make things easier. In our conversion she made a comment something like "and you know about everything registered against the property..." At that moment I swear my heart skipped a beat, everything??? As far as I knew there wasn't anything registered against the property! Uh oh! Well it turns out the previous owner wasn't exactly truthful shall we say when it came to disclosing everything about the property and failed to mention that she was pending foreclosure, no biggie right?! I don't know if I told you that when I looked at the place she was there and between myself, my best friend and parents we couldn't figure out if she had some personal problems that needed to be dealt with or if there was more of a drug/substance issue that might explain her behaviour. Turns out that almost a month after the papers were signed her bank issued the foreclosure and a judgment was made that gave the bank permission to seize and sell. Uhmm... excuse me I already bought it?? Turns out that this was kind of the least of my worries. It wasn't until I arrived there on Feb 5 did the real fun begin. The whole foreclosure problem of hers really didn't end up effecting me on the end but it was an indication of how the rest of the transition would go.
I will leave you with that omen and will continue later with the rest of the story. This may need to be done in like 10 installments or something, cause I can't just tell a story I have to embellish it and make it ten times longer :P

to update regularly that is. I feel a little more... I don't know optimistic lately though and I think I might actually make a go of this whole blogging deal. It's hard to do something regularly like sharing your progress when you haven't made any :(
Which is what brings me to the good part. My band is finally working for me! For a while I was really regretting my decision and upset that I seemed to be that one in million that the band just doesn't work for. That is no longer the case. When I last updated I was so excited because I finally found my sweet spot, gained restriction and lost five pounds. I had also entered one-derland and was excited to stay there and keep moving towards my goal.
I figured that if I was going to update I had better have a number for you. So a quick jump on the scale tells me that I am currently sitting at 177.5 pounds. Which is a grand total weight loss of 32.5 pounds so far. So in the past three months not only have I been able to maintain my one-derland status I've lost a remarkable 20 pounds, or 1.6 pounds per week. Right on target if you ask me!
My food intolerance's still continue and I find myself unable to eat cuts of meat (ground is ok), pasta, bread/crackers/cakes and the like, potatoes prepared in any way, and... I'm sure there's other things but I'm drawing a blank. I remember reading some of the blogs when I first got the band/considering and not understanding how one day you'd be fine with foods and the next nothing will go through, but now I get it. Whatever is going on in there it's got a temper that may or may not be very similar to my own :)
Just this past week (on April 1st) to be exact I met a friend for lunch at a deli close to work. I knew that I couldn't tolerate past but for whatever reason the pasta salad looked delish so I had to get some to just try. I also got my fall-back never fail cup of soup just in case. I knew that I could have a piece see how it felt and if it was a no go my friend could eat, she also happens to be 7 months preg-o so I couldn't imagine her saying no to food. Anyways, back to my story not only did that first piece of pasta go down just fine the entire plate and the cup of soup made their way through my band without any hesitation. Now I have not been able to tolerate pasta since I first got the band and really why I even dared to test out the theory is beyond me but what I'd really like to know is why did that plate of pasta salad go down when as I type this I just PB'd less than a tablespoon of rice? I just don't get it and maybe I never will but my band is being a bitch today.
I'll leave you all with that and I promise to update soon cause have I ever got some stories about my new house and all of the adventures that seem to come with home ownership.
~ Les

Again tomorrow! I always have this feeling late Sunday where I start wondering what exactly happened to the weekend. It never ever seems to be long enough. Alas, that's the way the world turns right?
I know I haven't been as diligent on here as I was promising and wanted myself to be but I figure the sporadic update is better than none at all. I had a fill on... ok it was like two weeks ago on a Tuesday and I don't have a calendar in front of me, the 14th or the 15th maybe? I was disappointed yet again to see the number on the scale go up, up and away. I always feel really confident when I go in that this month I have gone done. I need to step back for a second though cause I did go down from my August fill, just not as much as I would have hoped for or expected. So in the 5 weeks between my August and September fills I lost.. drum roll please... 2 pounds. I felt bad for the nurse cause I was sitting there really upset almost in tears I just don't understand! I really need to start journaling my food. I think that my solution lies there. So starting tomorrow morning. Food journal comes back out and I'm gonna get another appointment with the dietitian to go over it. I just read a recent blog entry of Amy's and while I whole heartedly agree with what she was saying about not comparing your weight loss to others I'm struggling with that right now. My surgery date was March 7, its been nearly SEVEN months and I have only lost a whopping 7 pounds since before the pre-op diet. I keep going up and down and up and down. I knew this wasn't going to be easy, but I thought it would help me out a bit more.
On top of making a deal with myself to keep a food journal, I've got to increase my exercise. The easiest way I can think of to do that right now is to get on my Wii Fit EVERY morning for a half hour before work. I know that if I leave it for the afternoon I won't do it.
So those are my two short term goals right now: food journal, and exercise. I'll try to update everyone soon.
~Les