What Is It About Del Taco????

Hey Ya'll,

I just have a gripe to make here, but it is only with myself!!  With my last Fill (#5), I have noticed that I do have some restriction (hallelujah!!).  But since I am up most of the night, and don't get out of bed until somewhere between 10am-11am most mornings, I find it hard to eat very much, too early!!

On the days that Walt is working from home, or doesn't have to go in until after lunch.  We usually go out to eat, and it is usually at a fast food place.  Because Walt loves Del Taco, and it isn't expensive, we do tend to eat there at least 1-2 times a week.  The problem, is that every time we have eaten at Del Taco since my last Fill, I have had to spend at least a half hour in the ladies room, slimming!! 

I don't get it.  I am eating hard shell Tacos for god sake!  It's not like I am eating something that can easily block my stomach pouch.  I can easily chew up the hard shell into tiny pieces, so it shouldn't be a problem.  So why can't I eat 2 hard shell Tacos, yet I can eat a whole Cheeseburger from Carl's Jr (at the same time of day) with no problem, including the bun, so long as I eat slowly, and chew, chew, chew???  

And at night, I rarely have any trouble eating, so long as I am careful.  So I guess that I will have to experiment some more there.  I think that I can eat 1 Taco without getting stuck, so next time, I am going to eat just 1 Taco and a cup of Refried Beans.  Time will tell......

In other events today, not too much happened except that we completed our Post-Filing Credit Counseling Self Study Course online today.  It is the next to the last item we had to accomplish before our Bankruptcy could move forward.  The last step is to actually attend the Trustee Meeting in May.  Then wait for the Bankruptcy to be discharged.  Whew!!  This Course was a bit more comprehensive than the Pre-Filing Course was, and was to take a minimum of 2 hrs to complete.  And we had to complete it together.  Today was not the day for me to try to read, concentrate and retain the information necessary to pass the test!  I say this because today was one of those days where I needed to take an afternoon nap!!  But I managed to get through it anyway!

By the time we were finished, it was dinner time and both of our stomach's were growling!  So we decided to walk down to our local pizza joint to get some Spaghetti and Meatballs, then walk home!  And of course, the entire walk back was uphill, as usual!!  But this time, I made it without too much pain or trouble.  So I am happy about that.  Yes, I can still eat Pasta!!  So why not some lowly hard shell Tacos? (tap, tap, tap of the fingers on the desk)  LOL

Tomorrow we leave early in the morning to drive to the San Francisco for Walt's Specialist Appointment.  Cross your fingers that this Doctor thinks his problem is nothing too serious!!  And of course, I will be taking my crochet bag so I don't have to watch Walt weaving in and out of the heavy Bay Area traffic!!  I will let you know what they say later.  So, till next time...

Aloha My Friends  :)

Emily's New Purse!!!

Hey Ya'll,

Just a quick post to say that I finally finished my first Crocheted purse!!  I made it for my Granddaughter Emily.  It is a Puppy but I made it in her favorite colors of Pink and Purple!!  I can't wait to give it to her, I just hope that she likes it.  What do you think?  This is the first animal I have attempted so far!

By the way Ya'll, how do you get your cute signatures on your blogs?  I cheated and did it the hard way, like signing a piece of paper, taking a photo of it, then uploading it into the blog, but there just HAS to be an easier way!!!!

Aloha My Friends  :)

A Shout Out To A New Follower!!

Hey Ya'll,

I just checked in and noticed that I had a new Follower!!  They are going by Bubbalouieuk.  I would love to Follow you too, but I am unable to find a blog for you.  If you would like to leave me your information, I would love to Follow you!  But either way, I would like to say thanks for Following me and..."welcome to my nightmare".

Aloha My Friends  :)

Drazils BYOC Edition 5

Hey Ya'll,

I have been gone for a day or two, you know how it goes...so much to do to get ready to move out of our home and...so little time to do it in!!!! But I wanted to touch base with everyone, and let you know that I am thinking of ya'll, all the time. You can ask Walt!!!

We are in the midst of figuring out what we want to do with our furniture, etc. We can't take the majority of it with us as we will be living the nomadic lifestyle in a large 5th Wheel (eek!!). So we are trying to give most of it away to family and friends. However, it is turning out to be harder than we thought! After all, who would turn down such great furniture?

But either they already have their own fairly new furniture that they love, or they just don't have the space needed to use our "huge" furnishings!! But luckily we still have at least 6 months before it becomes critical to get rid of it. It's just that Walt wanted to have about 95% of what we weren't keeping, out of the house within the next 4-6 weeks! Yes folks, that would mean that we would be living in a fairly empty house until we moved!

Yesterday, after I finished a painting session on Aggie's painting (yes Aggie, I am still working on it, and I am almost finished!!!), I spent a couple of hours working out in the garage with Walt, sifting through about 32 years of paperwork!! Yes, most of it was from Walt's prior marriage so far. We managed to get through a bunch of boxes, but we still have many more to get through. We were trying to sift through as much as we could yesterday/last night as our City was sponsoring a clinic where we could take in E-Waste (for free) and Shredding (for a nominal charge) today!!

If I had had my way, we just would have taken the whole lot down! After all, if we hadn't needed it up to now, we probably never would!! And anything within the last 8-10 yrs is still in the house! But Walt didn't want to pay for any more than we had to, so we had to sift through each box, piece by piece so we only took papers that needed to be shredded. If it was anything else, we can take it to the dump later on!! So that is how we spent our day yesterday!

So, now on to Drazil's BYOC Questionnaire!!

Name a career you would NOT want to do and tell why.

Anything that had to be done outdoors!! I do not sweat, and because of this I am highly susceptible to Heat Stroke! So I avoid the outdoors as much as possible. Unless I am in a pool or in the shade! Of course, there are many jobs that I would not want to do, but so long as I am not having a Heat Stroke.....

2. What’s the best present you ever received for your birthday?

I've had so many great birthdays, that it is hard to pinpoint just one down! So I am going to list the favorite one that I gave myself!! I took my daughter Christa, to Hawaii when she was 16. Just before our family moved from Southern California to Northern California. It was just the two of us and we had a great time!!

3. This is from Amy W. (I had a request to copy her question and ask it today in
BYOC) (Hope that’s okay Amy)

What do you hide behind?

I was not over weight while young. In fact, I didn't become overweight
until about age 30. But then it was all downhill from there, and a
constant battle for the last 25 years! What I have always hid behind (and this was also while I was young and not overweight) "was others". I was always on the shy side, and unless I was with some really close friends or family, I was the "wall flower".

I always preferred to just "disappear" into the back ground. My goal was to "not" stand out in a crowd. And I never wanted or want to be the "leader".

4. Where were you born?
Southern California

5. A little twist on this one..usually we ask – what blog
spoke to you the most, stuck with you, had the most effect on you
this week? This week I’m adding to that which comment may have affected you greatly? Sometimes a blog can lead to amazing comments and they deserve their own claim to fame here in this question.

I really haven't had much time to read the blogs this week, so I guess the one that really sticks out to me is Amy W's and her thought provoking post yesterday, regarding what it was that we hid behind, or was our coping mechanism.

So that is all for tonight. Till next time...

Aloha My Friends :)

A Proud Member Of Boobs At Heart

Hey Ya'll,

Just a quick post to let you know what has been happening.  First off though, I wanted to say that due to our current financial situation, I will not be able to attend the First Annual Boobs get together!  However, I do consider myself one of the club, so I am proudly showing the Boobs Decal on my blog.  However, if anyone thinks that since I am not actually attending the get together, that I am not qualified to show the decal, let me know and I will remove it from my side bar.  But I do feel like one of the Boobs in my Heart.  I truly wish that I could have attended.  I am holding out hope that I will be able to attend the next get together with ya'll.

We went up to Reno last Friday the 16th for my 5th Fill and it does appear to have given me some Restriction, at least for now.  We shall see how long it lasts!!  But at least I know what Restriction feels like!!  So far I have slimmed nearly once every day!  The most embarrassing one being at a local small family owned Mexican Restaurant!

I could feel it coming on, but I knew that a woman was in the only bathroom!  I was waiting for her to exit the bathroom, hoping nothing would occur before.  I was doing well, when all of a sudden I felt the urge to burp.  We all know that burping usually helps and means that the food is either moving down or getting ready to come up.

Well, this time it was coming up!!  I started to burp and realized that it was slime.  It kind of spewed out and I caught it in my hand!  Luckily, it wasn't a huge amount (yet).  But I am positive that a man sitting across the Restaurant facing me saw it!!  I was horrified that someone saw me expel the slime!!  Luckily at that time, the woman came out of the bathroom and I spent the next 30 minutes in there slimming!!  I almost didn't make it to my Surgeon Appointment!!

Remember I told you that my Doctor (OBGYN) wanted me to get a second opinion on the Lump she found in my Breast?  Well, because of our financial problems at the moment, we figured that since the Mammogram and Ultrasound came back ok, we didn't need to go to the Surgeon as well.  Well, my Doctor called wanting to talk about it, and when I didn't return her call, she sent me a letter requesting I come in for a recheck.  So we decided to go ahead and go back in.  She said that the Lump was still there and she really felt that we should get the second opinion to be sure as the Mammogram/Ultrasound doesn't always pick up Breast Cancer.

So we agreed, and went in to the Surgeon Monday the 19th.  He said that he felt it wasn't a true Lump, but (and I am not sure what he said) he said it was something like hardened fat from where the bra lies tightly under the Breasts.  Or something like that.  But since I have dense, lumpy Breasts, he wants me to come in again in 5 months for a recheck and another Mammogram/Ultrasound 5 months from then.  Walt figures that he will probably want to check me every 6 months since I have a family history of Breast Cancer.  But at least he feels the "Lump" is nothing to worry about.  Whew!

Our next Doctor Appointment is for Walt on the 30th.  Remember that I told you he was having some problems?  Well, I never actually told you what was going on with him.  Mainly because I wanted to wait until he felt ok with it being put out here in cyberspace, where any and all could see!

He has been having problems for some time (like years), but for a long time, we thought it was me!  What has been happening is, when we make love, we found Blood.  We assumed it was me for the longest time.  It has been going on for several years (at least 2-3).  At first it was just a small amount of blood, and not every time, so we weren't too concerned.

But lately, it has been happening every time we made love and the amount has been substantial (we even put a towel down on the bed to protect the sheets, and take the towel with us when we travel).  We finally determined that the blood was in his Semen and only in his Semen, not in the Urine.  He has been to the Doctor several times for it and the Doctor didn't think it was anything to be concerned with at first.  But since it has continued and has gotten worse, our PCP decided to send him to a Urologist.  The Urologist did some testing on Walt's blood and of course, every time that he goes in, they do a Urine test.  There is NEVER any blood in the Urine!  It is just in the Semen.

So the Urologist has had Walt on a Medication that was supposed to cause the bleeding to stop.  But it hasn't and the Urologist said that he has never seen it continue after using this drug (especially after taking it for several months)!!  He wanted to do a CT Scan, but the Insurance Company refused to approve it, saying there wasn't sufficient evidence that warranted the CT Scan!  So he had Walt continue using the Drug, to no avail.

Now he has decided to send Walt to a Specialist in San Francisco.  He figures that if the Specialist says the next step should be a CT Scan, then the Insurance can't turn it down!  So we will be going to San Francisco on Friday the 30th.  My biggest fear is that it could be Prostate Cancer, but Walt is under the impression that it isn't anything to worry about, but should be checked.  Hopefully we will find out soon, I am definitely concerned but trying not to think the worst!  Has anyone out there had this experience with their significant others?

Well, now that I have put everything out here that we are or have been concerned with, I guess I will go for now.  Till next time...

Aloha My Friends  :)

A Big Shout Out To Mary !! :)

Hey Ya'll,

I just checked in and saw that I had a new Follower!!  Her name is Mary, and I believe her blog is: Being A Winner By Being A Loser.  Mary, if this is not your blog, please let me know so that I can go check yours out and correct my information!!  So...."welcome to my nightmare".

Aloha My New Friend  :)

We Finally Met!! :)

Hey Ya'll,

I'm sorry to post so many times in one day, but I just had to say that my short get together with Alexis was fun!!  We met at a local Frozen Yogurt Shop nearby.  Alexis is exactly what I expected her to be like.  Very sweet and easy to talk to, even though we were both a bit nervous.  I think that if we had more time, or could meet more often like Amy and some of the girls in Florida do, we could easily become friends.  But then, I already do consider my Blogger Buddies my friend already, so we are friends!!  But you know what I mean...now don't ya'll think she looks amazing?  Am I ever going to lose my double chin?  LOL

Alexis, I hope that you had an easy trip home and it wasn't too stressful driving to the Airport, etc.  Also, I didn't realize that Jeff wasn't going to be there with us, or I wouldn't have had Walt come with me.  You might have been more comfortable with just me.  But we both want to thank you for the Frozen Yogurt, we did not intend for you to buy ours!!  If anything, we were going to buy yours!  Oh well, I just hope you enjoyed meeting me as much as I did meeting you.  If we ever get up to your neck of the woods again, I will let you know, and maybe we can meet up again.  But this time I'm buying!!

Again, I hope you had a good trip home and please tell Jeff thanks for letting you visit me,
Aloha My Friend  :)

I Get To Meet Alexis!!!

Hey Ya'll,

Well Alexis, The Swenson Family, came to my neck of the woods, and we will be meeting her and Jeff today before they have to head back to the Airport to jet home!!  We are so excited!  I finally get to meet another Bandster!!  I just hope that I am not a disappointment to them.  We are after all, 27 yrs older then them!!  I will post a photo of us together later!  Till next time...

Aloha My Friends  :)

A Big Shout Out To Leslee !! :)

Hey Ya'll,

I was just checking in and saw that I had a new Follower!!   Her name is Leslee, and her blog address is: Life Of Leslee.  She was Banded on March 7th of 2009 and could use some support!!  Please check out her blog.  :)  So Leslee......"welcome to my nightmare"!

Aloha My New Friend  :)

AFTERNOON QUICKIE and DID I SAY I WANTED RESTRICTION?????

Hey Ya'll,

I found this on Joey's Blog, Volume Control.  I thought is looked fun, so here goes!!

Friday, April 16, 2010

Afternoon Quickie {BYOB}

1. If you ever won the lottery – what’s the very first thing you’d do?
Pay off all our bills, plus my families bills, allow my DH to retire forever and travel the world to visit all my blogger friends! :)

2. What is your favorite curse word? 
Is "Jesus Christ!" a curse word? I agree with Joey, it's my fave. I also say, God Dammit too.  I use profanity more in my blog than in real life.  I was brought up to NOT use profanity, but if I am pushed too far, I might actually say the F word, which Walt loves to try to make me say!

3. What is your favorite holiday and why?
Christmas is my favorite because I just love the giving spirit everyone gets into.  I love all the Christmas Carols, Christmas Lights, Colors, Smells.  The best of all, the smile on kids faces.  My second favorite holiday is Thanksgiving.  Because I love bringing the family together and having some great traditional, and some not so traditional food.

4. What turns you on?
Nothing, I am a cold fish (just joking!).  I love to cuddle with my DH.  Laying in his arms and talking.  But what really used to turn me on, was when I used to work for the Franchise Tax Board on the Swing Shift as a Key Data Operator.  I worked nights, he went to bed early and left for work by 5 am!  So we really didn't get to see each other except to say, hi and goodbye until Friday night!  I used to key at work with my radio tuned to a station that played love songs.  By Friday, I was so horny, just thinking about him, that I was ready to rip his pj's off!!

5. Whose blog spoke to you, stayed with you, meant the most to you, stands out to you this week and why?

There are so many great postings this week that it is hard to pick just one or two, but I do have to agree with Joey that Julie's post, The Wonderful Adventures of Julie and Sammy, was particularly sad and brave.  I also felt for Amy in her post.  Watching her vlog just brought tears to my eyes!!  I am so glad that she will be going to Chicago!  I just wish I were going too!!

Well, today Walt and I drove up to Reno for my 5th Fill.  I was told last time that I had 5.6 cc's in my 10 cc Band, and it didn't give me any real Restriction.  I was expecting her to only give me .5 this time as they are really conservative in Fills.  Since I only lost 1 lb in the last 4 weeks, she decided to give me another .6 cc's.  But when she withdrew the fluid from the Band, she said that she had a really good flow and she brought out 5.5 cc's and didn't extricate all of it.  So she is now estimating that I actually have about 6.5 cc's!!


In the past, I was always able to eat right after the Fill without any problems, other than to be careful in what I ate, and to eat slowly.  This trip, we met our Brother In Law for lunch before we drove home.  He wanted to meet at BJ'S Brewery so I ordered a bowl of Spaghetti with Marinara Sauce.  I have eaten Spaghetti before with no problems.


NOT THIS TIME!  I was careful, and ate slowly, but obviously not slow enough.  I only ate about 5 bites when I realized that I was going to be stuck.  So I excused myself, and spent the next half hour in the ladies room Slimming!  Oh well, it could have been worse!!  So for dinner tonight, I ate a can of tuna which is about 1/2 cup.  So....I guess you can say that I finally got what I asked for!!!  Restriction!!!  YEA!  Let's see how long it lasts!  Till next time....


Aloha My Friends  :)

A Big Shout Out To Gail !! :)

Hey Ya'll,

Just a quick note to say welcome to my newest Follower.  Her name is Gail.  Unfortunately, I don't know what her blog address, is as it doesn't pop up when I click on her photo.  If you are willing Gail, please give me you blog information and I will Follow you too!!!  So..."welcome to my nightmare".

Aloha My New Friend  :)

Fill #5 Tomorrow!!

Hey Ya'll,

Just checking in for a quick post.  Tomorrow morning we leave to drive back up to Reno for my 5th Fill.  This trip we do plan on staying overnight as the weather will be nice!  The forecast for tomorrow is 71-72 degrees.  Perfect Capri weather!  Here's crossing my fingers that this Fill is the one!!  Well, I will go for now, I can't think of too much to say tonight.  Of course, saying that, odds are that I will think of something later and have to do a double post!!  Till next time...

Aloha My Friends  :)

A Big Shout Out To Jessica !! :)

Hey Ya'll,

I just wanted to make a quick post to welcome my newest Follower!  Her name is Jessica and her blog is, The Misguided Adventures Of A Five Foot Foodie.  She was recently banded on 03/31/10, so please check out her blog and say hi!!  So..."welcome to my nightmare"!!

Aloha My New Friend  :)

Thank You Everyone!

Hey Ya'll,

First off, I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of you that made comments on my post yesterday and gave me such love and hope for the future!  I will try to respond to all of your comments, or questions.

To begin, I have to tell you that I totally broke down and cried reading all of your comments.  I really felt the love and compassion from each and everyone of you.  And I appreciate that not one of you were judgmental in your comments at all.  I am so relieved that ya'll understood our circumstances and offered us hope for a brighter future.

I was not expecting some of you to come forward and give me your Bankruptcy story too!  But it helps to know that others have gone through it and are better off now that you had.

Lonicera (Caroline), no I do not work.  I had to retire back in 1996 due to Medical reasons, so I do not work.  At least not at a physical job outside of the home where I get paid.  I own an LLC Company that my husband works through.  So I have to keep up on all the paperwork for the Government, Taxes, etc.  So I work, but not for money!

Yes, it is a total feeling of relief to have made this decision and to have it started.  Just knowing that it will soon be over is a relief. 

Our 1st Creditor's Meeting is set for May 21st.  If the Trustee feels that everything is on the up and up, and no red flags are there, he will give the go ahead.  He also will be letting us know at this meeting if he thinks that we have some possession that he can sell off.  Under the Bankruptcy rules, we have a certain amount of money to "use to protect" belongings.  We are using our "protection money" to protect our Truck and Gold Wing Bike.  So if the Trustee doesn't want to deal with trying to sell off anything else we have, then we get to keep them and do as we please with them.

From this date (May 21st), the Creditor's has 60 days to contest the Bankruptcy.  If they don't contest and want further information, then the Bankruptcy will be Discharged.  During this time, the Bankruptcy protects us from the Creditor's actions.  Once the Discharge has been granted, then the CRV will most likely be repossessed.  I will continue to drive it until this time.  Also, this will be when the Bank that holds the Mortgage, will begin Foreclosure on the house.

We were told by our Attorney that we would be stupid to move before we had to.  For one thing, we will be able to save up the money we would have been paying for rent to buy our 5th Wheel.  And, we found out that until the Foreclosure is complete, and the house has been sold at Auction, the house is still technically ours! 

Foreclosure can take 3-6 months and selling at Auction can't be done until a minimum of 21 days (or a month, I forget which) after Foreclosure.  Then, if it doesn't sell at the first Auction, they have to wait another month to try again, etc.  So that means that we should be in the house for at least 4 months from the Discharge of Bankruptcy (plus the 3 months prior to end of Discharge), making it a minimum of 7 months, and it could be as long as a year.  But we are expecting it to sell in the first Auction as the house is really nice and in a nice area.  Not to mention all the upgrades we made to the house!!

As Jen, from "Jen's Lap Band Journey" said, I may need to change my blog name to something like "The Traveling Bandster"!  I will have to consider it for sure!

Well, I am sorry to continue on with this same theme, but I wanted to thank everyone for all of your love and support.  It really shows how much our little community cares for one another.  I really rely on all of your comments and support each and every day!

Alexis, from "The Swenson Family", I would love to meet you when you are in California!!  Let me know if it is possible.  If not, I hope that you have a great trip visiting your family!!

Aloha My Friends  :) 

The Toughest Post So Far

 

Hey Ya'll,

This will be a very personal post and it has nothing to do with the Lap Band or Weight Loss, so if you want to skip this post, I understand.

As I said, this will be a really tough post for me as it is very personal.  But I feel that it will be very beneficial for me to put it all out there.  If for no other reason than to get it off my chest and out in the open.  We have been dealing with this for quite some time now, and it has been very hard not being able talk about it to others.  I feel that we have been in the closet so to speak hiding our problems, and now we are coming out of the closet and airing them for all to see!!

I really hope that this doesn't change the way you, my fellow Bandster's feel about me/us.  This is something that many people feel strongly about, and may look down upon those of us that find ourselves in this predicament.

Yesterday, we filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy.  It was the last thing that we wanted to do.  We did major research and had all the options given to us by our Attorney.  We did of course consider Chapter 13 as one of the options available to us, but due to our advancing age and circumstances, decided that it wasn't the best solution for us.

Before you think that we are just using this as a way to get out of our debts, please don't.  We tried to work with the Banks that hold the 1^st and 2^nd Mortgages, as well as the Credit Card Company's, to try to get our payments under control.  But they refused to work with us.  After all, we were making the payments!

Probably the thing that started the ball rolling out of control, was one of my Credit Card Company's.  They raised the way they figured my payment amount.  It caused my minimum payment to triple in amount!! We're talking like from $300 to $900 per month (and this with a very low interest rate)!!  I had never been late with a payment, nor had I missed one!

So I called them to find out why.  They said that because of so many other accounts with higher balances defaulting, they felt that they needed to raise the payment amounts on accounts with higher balances, so that they would be paid off sooner!!  They refused to keep my payments at the agreed upon amount.  Up until this point, we were making at least the minimum payment if not more!   This of course happened shortly before the new law went into effect last year keeping the Credit Card Company's from screwing us over for no reason.  So they were penalizing me for others defaulting!   I had 2 different Credit Cards through this Company, so this happened to 2 of my Credit Cards!

Well about this time, Walt's income went down as well.   Our income has dropped by over half in the last 2-3 yrs.  He contracts with the State of California, and I'm sure that everyone knows the problems our State is having.  This put us so far beyond our income, that we began to default on everything, or at least paying way late!  This is when we started to look at what we could do. Only then, did they start to try to make different arrangements!!   But by then we were only able to pay the necessary bills like electric, food, water, etc.  If they hadn't been so unreasonable, when it could have helped us to work our way out of it, we may have been able to avoid Bankruptcy.

Like many that find themselves contemplating Bankruptcy, we never thought in a million years that it would happen to us.  After all, Walt is extremely well educated, with two separate degrees. One in Computer Science and the other in Chemical Engineering, plus a Master's Degree in Computer Science.  He has had great jobs, with great pay.  But we, like many other's, took advantage of the housing boom a few years ago, when our homes were worth double what they are now.  We refinanced our home to make the many upgrades that were needed.

We upgraded all of the bathrooms in our home, plus repainted the house inside and out (we painted the interior ourselves), and replaced all the carpeting with tile or wood flooring.  The only room we hadn't remodeled yet was the Kitchen.  We were planning on upgrading it in another year or two.  Plus we had our pool built so that I could have something to exercise in.  And due to my medical conditions, I needed warmer water, so we also had to add Solar Heating.  So just about every penny that we refinanced was put back into the house!

Then the housing downfall began, and our home is now upside down in value by about $125,000!  Not to mention the rest of the debt.  So after many months of soul searching and research, we came to the conclusion that this was our best and only solution.  We feel like we let ourselves down by allowing ourselves to get into this situation.  But now, all we can do is hold our heads up and continue on with our lives.  This along with Walt's smaller income has put us in our current financial problems.

We do not plan on using Credit again.  We plan on purchasing by cash.  We are adopting the philosophy that if we can't buy it with cash, then we don't need it.

We will be allowing the Bank to take back the house, and we are also giving back my Honda CRV.  This is why I am getting my Motorcycle license.   So that when Walt needs to drive the truck, then I can get around on the bike and vice versa.  We will also be saving up during the time we are waiting for the Bankruptcy to discharge, for our future home on wheels. Thus, no need for the CRV.  We cannot pull the CRV and the 5^th Wheel, not to mention the bike!  One of us may have to drive it while the other tows the 5^th Wheel as it is!!

Walt has been trying to convince me to downsize to an RV for years!!  He has wanted to live the nomadic life forever.  So now, we are planning on doing it!  We will be purchasing a used 36'-40', 5^th Wheel that we can live in and pull to wherever Walt accepts work.  He has hopes to be able to find work in different States, allowing us to travel and see the Country while earning an income at the same time.  We may or may not put down roots along the way.  Walt's jobs usually last anywhere from 3 months to 3 yrs.

So for now, we have to wait until we attend the 1^st Creditor's Meeting to find out what, if anything, they want to try to take to sell off.   Our Attorney believes that they won't want anything that we have, since it is so hard to sell.  Unless they can get at least $500 for each item, they won't bother with it.  So once we have the meeting, we have to wait another 2 months to see if any of the Creditor's will be disputing the Discharge.   If none do, then the Discharge will go through and we can breath a sigh of relief that it is over, and we can get on with rebuilding our lives.

So, if you have hung in here this long, I hope this doesn't change the way you think of me.  I am still the same person, though much more humble.  I know first hand how easy it is to get in over your head.

So, till next time...

Aloha My Friends

Happy Anniversary My Sweetheart

Hey Ya'll,

Today is our 17th Anniversary.  This is our story.

I was born and raised in Southern California and Walt was born and raised here in Northern California, so our paths didn't cross until much later in life.

My family and I made the decision to move up to Northern California in Summer 1990.  I was 35 yrs old starting over in a new town, and a new area of the State, for that matter.  Talk about a change!  In the past, if we moved it was always still in the general area that we lived in, so I didn't have to learn my whereabouts in a new town!  But this move was different.  It was exciting and terrifying at the same time. 

We didn't arrive until after midnight as my dad was driving up all of our earthly belongings in his Diesel truck.  Obviously, I had to follow him in my car as I had no idea where we were moving to!  So we decided to sleep in a Motel until morning, when we drove to the house we had rented.  I followed my dad, sister and brother-in-law from the Motel to the house.  We were all sharing a 5 bedroom house (my parents, my daughter and I, my sister, brother in law and my niece) here in the Sacramento area.  My sister and I went to the local store to purchase food for lunch, and believe me, if she wasn't with me, I could not have found my way back to the house!!  That day, I bought a street map of the area so that I could learn my way around!!!

Since I knew no one in town but my family, I decided to join a new square dance club for singles that was starting in September (I know, go ahead and laugh).  But I met a lot of great people, who were also getting into the Western Dance craze of the time.  I love to dance, and back then I still could.  So I was dancing both styles, dancing about 5 nights a week!!  Talk about great exercise.  After a few months, I was a pretty good dancer and was considered an Intermediate/Advanced dancer.

My friends and I always went to this particular Country bar the same night every week, because they had a fantastic competition Dance group that was sponsored by the bar.  We loved to go watch them practice before the bar opened for the night.  The bar was called The Yellow Rose (it is now a nudie bar!!).  They also taught beginner dance classes there on Mondays (I think, or maybe it was Tuesdays).

This particular night, which was in May of 1991, Walt was there in the dance class (it was the last class of the series).  One of my friends had met him at a different Dance bar in a different town so he came over to our group and she introduced him to all of us.  I had seen him dance and wasn't impressed at all!!  Yes, I was a dance snob!!  He was way below me in experience.  LOL  Not to mention that he had hair longer than mine pulled back into a pony tail!!

But for some reason, he took a fancy to me and asked me to dance.  Now I am one of these people that hates to hurt others feelings, so I agreed even though I didn't consider his dancing good enough.  Once on the dance floor, he still didn't impress me so I tried to stay away from him the rest of the night!!!  But like I said, something about me intrigued him, so he came back the next week hoping to see me there again.

I was, but I was there with a different friend.  A male friend, but not like you are thinking!!  He was at least 30 yrs my senior, but he was a really sweet man and a great dancer, so I met him there sometimes to dance and talk with him.  We had this running joke that if he were 30 yrs younger, he would ask me out!  I said if he were 20 yrs younger, I would accept!  I spotted Walt walking in, and realized that he was walking straight to our table!!  I thought OMG, not again!!   But he came and sat down anyway.  We started talking and I realized that I really enjoyed talking with him!  We talked practically all night and we have not been apart since!!

We started to take classes together and he improved a great deal!  We really enjoyed dancing together.  I found out his dancing problem, he just doesn't hear the beat properly.  So he easily got off beat.  When this happened, I would start to count it out to him again until he had it again, until the next time!!  LOL  But we did get really good, so long as I counted out the steps to him.  :)

Walt likes to tell the story that he picked me up in a bar!!  Which of course he did, but he always forgets to mention that I wasn't there drinking!!  I never drank, I always drank Diet Coke!  But this is his story and he is sticking to it!!

We moved in together by August of 1991, my dad was horrified.  This was happening so fast!  I met him and moved into our first apartment together with my daughter Christa within 3 months!!!  We were married 1 yr 8 mos later on a April 13th, 1993, a Friday the 13th!!!

So, that is the story of how we met and progressed to marriage, I hope you enjoyed it.  We have now been together for 18 yrs, 11 mos and married for 17 yrs!!  Here's to the next 25!!  That would put me at 80 yrs old, and I am not too sure that I want to live to be more than 80!!

And here is a photo taken of Walt shortly before I met him!!  He had shaved his scary beard and mustache, and his hair was pulled back into a pony tail.  His dad had taken this photo shortly after Walt had gotten out of bed and looked like he wanted to kill someone!!  So he wrote the "Wanted-Dead Or Alive" on it and gave it to me.  Trust me, if I had met him looking like this, I wouldn't have giving him the time of day!!  I would have stayed as clear of this maniac as possible!!  LOL

<3 <3 But I do love you my sweetheart!  Here's to another 20 plus years!!  <3 <3

Till next time.....   

Aloha My Friends  :)

I Have A Confession To Make :(

Hey Ya'll,

I am really unhappy and upset with myself.  But I am getting back on track now and Walt told me I should fess up and admit my back slide!  I am not proud of myself and because of this, I have been embarrassed to admit my downfall to you guys!

So here it is.  I have been eating whatever I wanted, which is ok since I am not on a "diet".  But...I have been eating much more than I should, and I had gained back up to 200.8 in the past 2 months!!  :(

But I am getting myself back on track, and so far I have lost back down to 197.2!!  I guess the super hard weekend I had getting my Motorcycle Training helped.  The first thing we had to do in the class, was to prove that we could maneuver the bike around without the power of the engine.  We had to prove that we could completely turn the bike around without power....over and over and over!!  My arms and legs are...can you say, sore?  

Of course, I still need to lose another 6 lbs (eek!), to make my all time low (191.2) since starting this LB story!  I have my next Fill appointment this Friday the 16th and it will be Fill #5.  I am currently at 5.6 cc's in a 10 cc Band.

So go ahead and let me have it, I deserve it!

These are some photos of my latest Afghan that I made for our daughter Kat.  I always let the recipient chose the pattern and colors, especially when they pay for the materials!!!  It measures 7' x 5'6".

Here I am showing it next to my cell phone that measures 4 3/8" x 2 1/4".












Till next time...

Aloha My Friends  :)

Did I Say I Hurt Yesterday?

This photo is for Sandy Lee!!  It is one of me when I first got on the bike and hadn't got my riding legs back yet!  I was terrified and looked it!!  Luckily, I feel much more confident today and can't believe I forgot how much fun riding was.  Click on the photo to make it larger!  Then have a laugh on me!  LOL

Hey Ya'll,

Well, I managed to make it through, and completed the course!!!  Yea!  I was terrified that I wouldn't pass it the first time, and my nightmare was that I would have to take it again!!

The classroom portion was easy.  I do not know the exact score on my written test, but I do know that there were 50 questions, and the lowest score was 47 and of course the highest was 50!!  So that's 94%-100%.  I would have really liked to know if I was one of the 100%'s!  That is the Type A in me.  LOL  But I forgot to ask the Instructor later at the end of the day.  Oh well, at least I know that I couldn't have scored less than 47 out of 50.  Tee Hee :)

Well, I thought yesterday was bad.  At least the weather was ok.  Today it rained with some fairly fierce winds blowing.  Now, did I say that it rained.....I should have said, it POURED!!!  It was about 47 degrees out with winds making the windchill a bit lower and of course the pouring rain!!

I don't have a rain suit, so I became soaked in a short amount of time.  I wore a hooded jacket that was not waterproof but thermal lined, so I thought that with it under a water proof windbreaker, I would at least stay dry on top!!  NOT!  I forgot to put the hood inside the windbreaker so it became soaked through by the end of the day.  I never took off the helmet the entire day, and I was wearing a helmet liner so at least it helped to keep my head dry and warm.

However, my jeans were soaked through!  I could wring them out at the end of the day they were so wet.  I hated to have to pull them down to go to the bathroom, as it was almost impossible to pull them back up!!  And my shoes were supposed to be water proof....NOT!  My shoes and socks were so wet that I squished when I walked.  I felt like I was walking in water.  My feet were freezing.  My gloves were of course, not water proof, so my hands were also soaked and freezing, do you detect a theme here?  I actually twisted the gloves several times during the day and wrung out the water!

Luckily, I had taken a dry pair of pants, shirt, jacket, hat and socks!  Unfortunately, I forgot to bring a change of shoes, but since I thought they were WATER PROOF, I didn't think I would need them.  What I forgot to take was a change of underwear!!  So I completely dressed down to my bra (in the MEN'S Bathroom I might add (with Walt standing guard outside) as they kept locking the Women's bathroom, assuming that there would not be any women in the Motorcycle Class) and put on the dry clothes.  All except for the socks.  Why bother to put on dry socks if they would just get soaked through in seconds.  And I didn't want to keep on the wet ones as they were knee highs, and they would have just soaked the pants legs!  At least this way, only the bottom of the pant legs got wet.

So this is my story and at least I passed.  I really didn't want to have to go take it again!  Walt had promised me dinner after class and was going to take me home first, but I made the executive decision to go straight to the restaurant.  I knew that if I got home and dressed out of the cold clothes, I wouldn't want to go back out!  So we went to the restaurant, and let me tell you, I had major helmet hair!  But the meal was great!  Once we got home, I took the hottest shower I could stand and stayed in there until the water started to get cool.

Well, I see it is getting late, I promised Walt I would go to bed by 11 pm as we have to get up around 5 am tomorrow.  Well, it is now already after 11 pm and I haven't even attached the photos yet!!  So, I will do that and finish this off.  I will be adding most of the photos below the sign off.  Till next time...

Aloha My Friends  :)

If you enlarge this, you can see that my pants were partly soaked already.  They didn't become totally soaked until we had to dismount and remount a few times.  Meaning sitting on a totally wet seat!!

Here you can see my pants were totally soaked!!  Not to mention, my hood which you can see peeking out from the bottom of the blue wind breaker!

Early in the day, not too cold, and still happy.

This exercise was one of the hardest for me!  Doing a crazy eight inside a narrow rectangle!!  I put my foot down which is a no no!!!

This photo was to show the dreariness of the day!  This is actually what it looked like.  I just did my best to make the other photos look better!  Unfortunately, it doesn't really show the amount of water there was standing on the ground!  They almost had to cancel the session due to the unsafe weather conditions!

I just thought the accidental photo effects were kind of interesting.

I HURT All Over!!!

I am the second from the right in the Gold Helmet.  Lucky me, I had to borrow one of their helmets and all of the nice colors were taken!!  But Walt said that the Gold was easy for him to place me, so he could snap some photos!!

You should have seen the face I made a couple of photos before this!  I looked as terrified as I felt!  Maybe I will actually post it one day.  LOL

Riding through the cones that were placed 30' apart on this side of the lot.

The cones on the other side of the lot set 20' apart.

 Left turn cornering

And more left hand cornering!










OMG Ya'll!!!

I knew I would hurt some from the Motorcycle Course today, but MAN-O-MAN!!  I was not expecting it to hurt this much!!!

Well, I made it through the first day and I didn't dump the bike once!!!  Now if only I can get through tomorrow, not dump the bike, AND pass the course!!  I really don't want to have to go back and retake the on the bike training again!!

Surprisingly, I am NOT the oldest one in the class.  Not by a long shot.  But the oldest woman ended up not finishing the day out.  She was having some issues physically and decided to not continue.  So she will attempt again at another class and try to finish it then, at least she will know what to expect the next time!!

I say that I didn't dump the bike, because two different riders dumped theirs!!  One man and a young girl dumped hers twice!  But no one got hurt, not even the bikes!  So they live to be ridden on another day.  :)

Let me tell you, I was petrified at the beginning of the class, but started to get my balance back after the first 2-3 lessons.  But I still did horribly when it came to tight cornering and trying to ride in and out between the cones when they were staggered like a zipper!  I could handle the cones when they were in a straight line fairly well though!!  Maybe I should have a drink first, then I could ride as crooked as I walked!  LOL  Cross your fingers for me that I pass this course and I don't have to retake it!!!

Well, I better go for now, I exhausted and in PAIN!!  So I am going to eat me some dinner and go to bed early with a pain pill.  6 am tomorrow will be here way too early!!  I think that I may have gotten somewhere between 3-4 hrs of sleep last night, so I am hoping for at least 5-6, but 7-8 would be much better!!  So...till next time.

Aloha My Friends  :)

The Time Is Almost Here!!

This is what they look
like when not attached to
the bike!!  So in essence, it makes it a 4 wheeler instead of a Trike, which is fine by me!!









Hey Ya'll,

Just a quick post as I have to get to bed early tonight.  Walt will be waking me up at about 6 am tomorrow so that we will make it to my Motorcycle Safety Class on time!!  Yikes!!!  I am excited and terrified at the same time.

By the way, after seeing my photos on the blog of his bike, Walt wants me to take some new photos of him on the bike.  The ones I posted were taken last year and he has lost weight!!  So he wants more current photos so he looks better!!  LOL

I will see if I can get Walt to take some photos of me on the bike tomorrow in class.  We are not supposed to have any bystanders in the area during class, but since we are friends with the Instructor, and we are coming from out of town and Walt doesn't have anywhere to go but to stay in the car, maybe he will let him come close enough to snap a few photos.  If so, I will post them.

By the way, I looked up the type of training wheels we are planning on putting on the bike so that I can ride it, they are shown in the photos at the top of the page.  We are not planning on paying out a ton of money right now to make it a full time Trike.  This way, we can take them off for Walt to ride, or put them on for me!!  So...till next time.

Aloha My Friends  :)

A Big Shout Out To Genise !! :)

Hey Ya'll,

I have so busy today that I am just now checking into my blog and I saw that I have a new Follower!!  Her name is Genise and her blog is called, Losing My Waist And Regaining My Mind.  She is new to blogging, and her Surgery is scheduled for Aug 23rd, 2010!  So please check out her blog and give her the support she could use in this Pre-Op stage as you know how many questions we have all had in the beginning! :) 

Genise, if you check back in and see this, I noticed that you had some questions in your posts, and I would really like to help you out.  But I have been unable to leave a comment on your blog!!  I will keep checking to see if you are able to fix it.  Otherwise, if you would like to e-mail me at the e-mail address listed on my blog, I will then be able to respond to you via e-mail, and try to give you some answers!!  I already tried to e-mail you via the address on your blog, but it wouldn't go through either!!  So..."welcome to my nightmare"!!

Aloha My New Friend!!!  :)

What Am I Getting Myself Into? Eek!!

Hey Ya'll,

First off, I am apologizing for not posting on a regular basis lately.  We are still going through a lot here and I haven't had much time to blog, and even less time to keep up on everyone else's blogs!!  So please bear with me, I will try to start catching up and getting back to business real soon!!  LOL

So, onward to my post title.  My daughter Christa thinks I am nuts, but when my DH wants something, lets just say that he rarely doesn't get what he wants!!  Anyway, he wants me to get my Motorcycle license!  Now, before you freak out, its not like I have never ridden a motorcycle before, I used to ride dirt bikes all the time growing up.  My family went camping and dirt bike riding all the time, from the time I was about 10 yrs old.  But the last time that I actually rode one was about 37 yrs ago when I was 17!!!

The reason I am getting my license is so that I can ride our Motorcycle when I need to get out of the house, and Walt has the truck.  Let me back track a bit, I forgot to mention that we decided to get rid of my Honda CRV (boo hoo) and go down to only the truck and the bike.  So, in order for me to be able to get out and about when he has the truck, I need to be able to legally ride the bike.

Now the big problem is that the Motorcycle is a BIG BIKE!!  I mean seriously BIG!!  It is one of the biggest, if not the biggest bikes made.  It is a Honda Gold Wing.  It weighs about 1000 lbs and sits so high and is so wide, that the only way I will be able to have control of it is to make it a Trike.  Basically giving it training wheels!!  I can't even sit with my feet on the ground.

Luckily for me, I won't have to take the Riding test at the DMV with our bike!  I don't know if you have this program in your states, but here in California, you can take a Motorcycle Safety Course, and when you pass it, all you have to do is take the Written Exam to get your license.  The course takes up the whole weekend though.  8:30-5:00 both Saturday and Sunday!!  And we will be on the bikes for most of 4-5 hours each day, with the balance being taken by classroom work and tests.  The course is given at a local Jr College and they provide the bikes and helmets.  Our friend teaches the course and he said that he would be sure to pair me up on a smaller, shorter bike since I am only 5'3"!!

My only problem with this is....Walt insists that I wear full riding gear when we go out riding!  I am not one of these people that handles the heat well.  Can you imagine me having to wear a full helmet, and full riding gear (pants/top) in 100 plus degree days?  Now don't get me wrong, I am aware that safety wise, it is not a stupid thing to expect, but I am not looking forward to having, sweaty helmet hair.  Not to mention a heat stroke wearing the full riding gear.  Anyway, I will stop whining about this.  Keep repeating...it is a smart thing to do, it is a smart thing to do.  LOL

So this is what our weekend is going to involve.  I will let you know how I do and if I pass!!!  You know what they say, it is like riding a bike!!!  Once you learn, you always know how to do it!  Let us hope that my body and reflexes remembers how to do it.  After all, this is an almost 55 yr old grandma getting her motorcycle license after all these years.  :)

Tonight, we went for our 1.5 mile walk and it was much more painful than in the past.  Even Walt commented on my walking.  Even walking downhill, I was having problems.  I had stopped taking my Water pills a while back, and my legs/feet have become super swollen again.  I didn't think much of it until we went for our walk.  Usually I just have problems with my feet going numb.  But tonight, I was having pains on the inside of my lower legs, from the ankle to my knees, plus the feet numbness.

I am not panicking about this, but I do have to worry a bit, as my Mom was just in the Hospital for blood clots in the legs and lung.  However, the only reason that I am not panicking about it is that I would think that the pain would be in the back of the calf (the muscle area) if it were to do with poor circulation.  But to be safe, I am going to go back on my Water pills!  I should know better.  My family has bad problems with water retention, heart disease, diabetes, etc.  I retain water so bad, that when I was pregnant, I was put on Water pills and a salt free diet, and I still retained about 8 lbs of water!!!  So to make sure that I don't have problems like my Mom, I need to lose the weight, and stay on the Water pills!!

Here are some photos of our bike.  Walt's pride and joy.  We will be purchasing a Trike Conversion Kit so that I will be able to ride it too.  So, till next time.....

Aloha My Friends  :)

Isn't he cute?  Now bear in mind that Walt is 6'4" tall, so he makes the bike look normal in size!!

We will be adding armrests to the back seat with a cup holder for me.

We have taken off the black holder that was attached to the back when we bought the bike.  The bike will become wider once we add the Trike Conversion.

He is so proud of his bike.  By the way, when I told him that because of the economy last year and the high cost of fuel, I told him that he could by a "Commuter Bike" to ride back and forth to work on.  He bought this "Touring Bike" instead!!

A Shout Out To A New Follower, Darlin 1!!

Hey Ya'll,

Just checking in (doing our laundry today, another 11 load day!), and saw that I have a new Follower!!  Her name is, Darlin 1 and her blog is, Lookin' For Less.  She was recently Banded on March 15th, so please go on over, check out her blog, and give her the support we all need!!  Thanks for Following me Darlin 1, I just found your blog today, and will be Following you too!!  So, "welcome to my nightmare".

Aloha My New Friend :) 

My Band Name and Slime Slime Away!!

Hey Ya'll,

I finally decided on a name for my Band.  I am calling it...Carni/Hank.  It is short for Carnation, my favorite Flower and...my DH's nickname!!  Cami is my ever loving, gentle, supportive, sweet...Band.  Hank is the Supportive, but....Get In My Face Rock, when I need a...Swift Kick In The Ass, to get back on track!!!  LOL  

Just to let you know, I too am having some problems with my Band lately, surprise, surprise!!  I am usually pretty good about my eating and I rarely get Stuck or PB.  In fact, I have only really had 2 PB's, the second one just yesterday!!!  Luckily, as bad as it was, it wasn't nearly as bad as my first one!  You remember the one I had while driving in Nevada?  The one that lasted about 1.5 hours?  Yea, it was BAD!

This one occurred while Walt and I was having lunch at Del Taco.  I had eaten about 2/3's of my Beef and Cheese Burrito (I gave the rest to Walt) and a couple bites into my hard shell Taco, when I realized that I might be stuck!  Ugh!  So I stopped eating, put the Taco down and just started to  talk with Walt.

Within a few minutes, the symptoms of sliming started.  So when I was fairly certain that I would be sliming, I excused myself so I could go into the bathroom.  I was in there for about 30 minutes (thank god no one else came in).  Luckily, like I said, it wasn't a REALLY BAD episode.  Just bad enough to make me not want to leave the bathroom, so that I could stand over the toilet and spit out the slime.  Although at the end, I did finally PB a small about of the Meat.  After that, I was fine and was able to eat what I wanted later with no problems!!!  But my guess is that the closer I get to some real restriction, the more diligent I will need to be to ensure this isn't a habitual thing!!

Well, I guess I should go for now.  I will be posting an update on Walt's Medical problems later.  So....till next time.

Aloha My Friends  :)

Happy Easter!!

Hey Ya'll,

Just wanted to say Happy Easter!! 

Walt and I went for a walk again tonight and our "friend", the local outside cat decided to give us the pleasure of his company for a bit tonight!!  If you remember, this was the cat that scared the bejesus out of me at Christmas time on one of our evening walks when he ran out, out of nowhere to run through my legs, then proceeded to make me love him!!  Anyway, we wanted to walk while we could.  We have been getting rain about every other day lately, so we walk when we can. 

I hope that everyone has a great day tomorrow, hopefully your weather will be nice and you can get outside and enjoy Spring!!  I will post more, hopefully in a day or so.  We have a huge deadline to finish.  Then, Monday night we will be having dinner with Walt's children.  Russ will be in town for the week on Spring break from school.  So...till next time.

Aloha My Friends  :)

A Shout Out To A New Follower!!

Hey Ya'll,

I was just checking in real quick, and noticed that I have a new Follower!!  Her name is, The Fat Chick and her blog is, The Fat Chick Weigh.  I just started to Follow her blog too, and it is amazing!!  So please check it out if you haven't already!!!  So..."welcome to my nightmare".

Aloha My New Friend  :)

Happy April Fool's Day!!!

Hey Ya'll,

Not much to say right now.  Well actually, there is A LOT TO SAY (and you know who you are that I want to say some of it to (DH!)), but I am too tired to say it tonight!  I will leave my talking for another post.  But I just wanted to acknowledge April 1st and April Fool's Day.  Hope everyone had a great Hump Day today, and has a great day tomorrow!!   My day today was crappy!!!!!  But, like they say..."The Sun Will Come Up, Tomorrow"!  Tomorrow will be a better day, I have decreed it.  :)

So...till next time.

Aloha My Friends  :)