I'm going to take the pledge.

I will not buy a single piece of clothing in June.

This does not include underwear (which I need) and shoes (which I need).

But I have got to put on the brakes on clothes.  There are two things going on here. One--I have a few things I wear a lot because I like them so much. Two--I have things I've never worn. (See One.)

And I'm spending too much money that is way too easily justified. But I'm shopping to make myself feel better sometimes, and I'm denying myself future pleasures. Don't I want to be able to buy things that are cute or newly trendy next fall? Next spring? Without feeling guilty because I have so much already?

So I'm not going to buy anything new in June.

Maybe I'll even wear some of the stuff I haven't worn yet!

I had a friend who died because she fell and hit her head while on blood thinners. I'm with you on this one. If there are reasons, yes, you do what you have to. But as a routine? Not MY routine.

I've already had my surgery, over a year ago. If I had blood thinners it was in the hospital and I don't remember it. I was only there one night.

A thirty day standard sounds extreme to me, too.

I was told to walk, yes.

I'm so glad they found your problem in time for you--and now, for your girls.

Not as unusual as it sounded then. Thanks!

Tears in my eyes--of joy and of envy, for that magical year!

A friend who got her sleeve six months ago told me her clinic routinely has their patients give themselves injections of blood thinner for 30 days after surgery. She said that since they started that, they have had absolutely zero issues with blood clots.

The odd thing is after over a year of reading these boards I don't recall anybody ever mentioning probs with blood clots, or taking injections to avoid them.

Anybody?

The main point of interest to me were the financial disclosures.

Thank you so much. I appreciate your confidence and support. What I'm thinking is that it will take a load off my shoulders. I had said I'd bring three different cookies. This is a "tea" we're having so variety is everything. Pretty little things. And I think what I'm going to do is go to Whole Foods (wonderful pastries, and no additivies, made with real ingredients instead of chemicals, etc.). Pick out two different "pretty/fancy" cookies and buy them. And then make one batch myself from a family recipe. Not pretty, just delicious and my mom's recipe, which will make everybody feel loved. We miss my mom.

Dough will still be an issue. Heck, the cookies will be, too. But I am going to get my friend to take the cookies today (it's at her house) so they are out of reach, and then use good old fashioned will power when I bake the family recipe.

Listen to Raven. Seriously.

And think of this as a secret weapon. You will probably be dropping weight really well without doing the abdominal stuff. I never did any at all. I hardly did anything, not being a work-out person. I did walk sometimes. (I'm not saying "do what I did," just saying, the surgery works, trust it.)

And then remember that by the time your weight loss wants to start slowing down--whether that's a few weeks or months from now-- you have a weapon to pull out of the closet--kick up your workout plan and catch it by surprise!

Part of the problem--actually a large part of it--was the dough was too dry and crumbly. (Glad I tested it first.) I'm no baker but I added a little milk hoping to get it to at least stick together and it did, very heavy and thick, and I wasn't sure whether it would work. I needed to test it, but it had to be chilled before I could. And once chilled, it was so very hard, I was pretty sure this wasn't right.

What all this means is that from the beginning it seemed like a batch of disaster that wasn't working and I was pretty sure I was going to have to find another recipe and start over. And I just kept sampling and eating. I am relatively certain (relatively) that had it been okay, I would have kept following directions and baked the cookies instead of staying at the dough stage so long.

The only other time I made cookies that you roll out and cut into  shapes, I was following a video on youtube and they turned out perfectly. I'm going to do the same, find the video and follow it, and do this, instead of using the recipe here that I made a mess for me.

But aren't they cute?

Not wanting to stir controversy, but can anybody point to links that explain what happened from the WLSFA side?

I know nothing about either org but have seen enough about it this morning following links from Melting Mama to want to see more.