Trying Times

Dont we all have them...weeks that you want to put your head under the pillow and stay in bed for a week? Or is it just me?  I have a 10 yo son who is TRYING to cause me more grey hair than a silverback at the moment.  He has some issues we have been working on for a few years now and sometimes I wonder if all this "talking" to professionals really helps.  It seems to me it gives him a reason to be naughty and reminds me a bit of confessional time at Church...Be naughty, explain your sins and be forgiven.  All very well in theory but to a 10 yo its a get out of jail free card lol.  So I am definatley feeling my 41 yrs this week....School is becoming a nightmare for his teachers, students and him, the school receptionist asked me if he had had his medication (he's not on medication), psychologists and social workers are "do gooding" their hearts out and I still want to get in my car and drive off a cliff!

This has been happening for 4 years now and I am at the point where I have to start thinking about medication.  I have tried so hard to change everything in diets, lifestyle, councilling etc etc etc so this wouldn't be an option but its looking as though we are depleting options as the years go on.

Have any of you been down this path?  I think the idea of medicating him scares the hell out of me, but his behaviour is taking over his life, his teachers life, his brothers life and mine!

Just so you all know he doesnt have ADHD, he had some past trauma when he was 6 that has lived with us ever since.  The elephant in the room subject that is his story, not mine to tell.

On top of all that, the social worker told me its a shame I have to work fulltime as a single mother!  Oh thanks for that little bit of added guilt, as if as single mothers we dont feel enough of that, give me another helping of guilt lady!

ARGGHH!!! Lucky I still have a sense of humour LOL

Meet "Bree"

I am well known for my travelling...only in Australia so far, but off to Vanuatu in September.  I love weekends away and grab every opportunity to go to Melb, Syd, Adel, or Bris every chance I can.  But our Melbourne trips are my favourite....why? Cause its cheap to get there, I know the town well and have an eclectic collection of friends there to party with.  And we DO love to party!!!
Last year a crazy friend of mine Rebecca and I had the shopping trip of a lifetime and decided to buy a wig each...so we could go out incognito (no-one knew us anyway but for the fun factor haha)  We took on a different persona, I was "Monique" and she was "Saffron" and we were from Double Bay Reality on a stopover from Hong Kong hahaha.....
So this trip Karen and I were "Sophie & Bree".......
Its amazing what a wig can do!  They only cost you $50 from the Queen Vic Markets and I must say worth every cent I think! Karen "Soph" is now addicted Im sure too!! Meet Soph....

We had a fantastic weekend and I had a chance to meet up with a man I met in Hobart when he was here on a bucks weekend.  We won $500 at the casino and partied hard!  Let me tell you the 8.30am flight was not fantastic, very quiet and there was vomiting involved!

So moral of todays blog is:  Put a wig on your bucket list....go out in a town where no-one knows you and PARTY LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW....cause you never know...there just might not be!

OH AND I FINALLY WORKED OUT HOW TO ADD EMAIL TO MY BLOG SO PLEASE ADD YOUR EMAIL TO RECEIVE MY BLOG AS SOON AS ITS POSTED :D

Some Men Are Strange Creatures!

As you know, I am a single girl and have been overweight for the majority of my life.  I am now getting attention from men that I have never received before and I must say, as much as I enjoy the attention (who wouldn't) I am disgusted with the attitude some men have!
On Sat night I went up to the Great Lakes for a local band we all love and proceeded to enjoy ourselves as only we can haha.  I was so shocked to have two (not one) men, that I have known for a considerable amount of time (and both have partners) try to put the hard word on me!
Now I like to party with the best of them but I have never in 40 odd years had the reputation of a easy root and was so dissapointed that they would think now that I am "rootable" I would be up for it.  Didn't worry either of them that I knew their partners.
I find this very disillusional ....Are there any decent men left in the world or am I destined for a life of AA batteries?? I finish my blog with this today....what do you think?

Women are like apples on trees.

The best ones are at the top of the tree. Most men don't want to reach for the good ones because they are afraid of falling and getting hurt. Instead, they sometimes take the apples from the ground that aren't as good, but easy. The apples at the top think something is wrong with them, when in reality, they're amazing. They just have to wait for the right person to come along, the one who is brave enough to climb all the way to the top of the tree.

Now Men.... Men are like a fine wine. They begin as grapes, and it's up to women to stomp the s**t out of them until they turn into something acceptable to have dinner with. :)

Live life to the fullest!

My weekends are pretty well known to be full on.  I am very lucky that my boys get babysat Sat nights....I do not feel guilty about this...I have them 24/7 and deserve to have a night off a week I think.  So I usually cram as much as possible into them....You could be dead tomorrow...I want to enjoy my time off!  So I try to get a dance in at least once a fortnight.  I spent so many years resisting the urge to dance as I was scared that everyone would be looking at me saying "look at that fat girl dancing".....A friend pointed out to me once when I told her that, it was a pretty egotistical thing to think that everyone would be looking at me LOL.....point taken, but as a studier of human nature for most of my life, it is a fact that the fat girl will be pointed out first.
Well I have lost weight now and Im making up for it! Last night I had the opportunity to see one of my favourite performers live for the first time.  Donovan Frankenreiter.  His music lifts my soul, it reminds me of laying in a hammock by the beach.  He didnt fail me and I proceeded to lock myself away in my own little world and dance to every glorious note, every casual rythym and every funky riff!  Now I am a 41yo woman in a world of 20 year old glammers on the dance floor and I couldnt give a rats arse!  The funny thing I found last night is the girls around me started imitating my moves and we all had a fantastic groove going on.
Funny footnote:  Album name: Move by yourself LOL

Dance like no-ones watching, Sing like no-ones listening and Love like you've never been hurt!

Donavon Frankenreiter It don't matter

Weightloss

In July 2008 I decided to undergo Lapband surgery.  I knew it would be the answer for me....I had a long and hard road to get to it though.  I went on the public waiting list for the surgery....waited 7 months for my initial appointment, waited another 2 years for the surgery then I got the call I had been waiting for....surgery day the next day...so I booked in, went thru the admission checks only to be told that the doctor who was going to do the surgery QUIT that very morning...well I was a mess.....I cried and then I cried some more, rallied polititians, wrote emails, cried some more, yelled, screamed at receptionists, abused the doctor....but alas I was back to square one.  I joined private health cover that very day and waited another 12 months and underwent the surgery on the anniversary! 

Now let me just say this.  A lapband is NOT a magic wand! You dont wake up the next day skinny (Oh what a shame) It is a long and arduous journey and involves a lot of hard work.  You stop (well I did anyway) eating plates full of food and go down to 3 half (YES HALF) cups of food a day....starting with 6 weeks at least of just fluids and then progressing to mushies (soups and runny vegies)  I didnt mind this so much as I had just about eaten everything on the planet so it was time to stop haha.

I didnt have any support in a real way.  My doctor was only interested in how much weight loss I had achieved, and I think this is a downfall of lapband surgery...there needs to be more care after surgery, my opinion only, because there is a lot more going on than just weight loss.  So I started a facebook page called Tassie Lapbanders.

This little page saved my sanity and led the pathway to some of the greatest friendships I have ever known.  They have enriched my life with their caring, understanding (because NO-ONE understands a lapband like a lapbander) humour and constant encouragement.

If you are morbidly obese, this could be the solution for you, but it should never, in my opinion, be the first choice....exercise (yuck) and diet should be tried first.....We all tried everything from Jenny Craig to ridiculous soup diets etc etc etc.....

I will never be obese again.... The lapband saved my life really.  I am now starting life again 40ish single and starving hahahaha

A photo montage of my weightloss :)

Create a slideshow design

Some of my cooking!

The FAMOUS Jelly cakes.....Curried Bacon and Cheese Pasties......Cream Puff Swans in a chocolate lake...this is why I need a lapband hahaha...mind you my friends LOVE cooking days!

Hello Blog World!

Well hello blog world!  I have never done this before so I hope I am doing it right!  Who am I?  Well my name is Meegan (Meegs) I am 4o (ish) and have been a lapbander now for the past 2.6 years.  Do you want to hear about my journey? Probably not but its a pretty good achievement....I have gone from 167kg to 78kg and I must say I feel pretty damn good these days.  So that has been a major goal for me for nearly 3 years now and I am wondering, other than needing extensive reconstruction surgery (hehe), where does a single 41 yo woman go from here...new goals needed...Dont get me wrong..I have goals still unattained, such as buying my own home and affording a good education for my kids! But they will come.
So a little about me perhaps so you know who it is your reading about.... I am a single mum....always have been....been engaged 4 times (my mum calls me the runaway bride) but never married...which is probably a good thing or I would be divorced 4 times hahaha.... I have had a pretty good career path, now the Manager of a private investigation company (now theres a good read but alas not allowed :D ) have 3 kids aged 19, 10 & 9....live in  ruralish town of Brighton Tasmania and love it.   I would like to be seen as a kind hearted person, who believes in paying it forward, does random acts of kindness and spreads the joy.....although I have learnt from life not to be a pushover and have a pretty damn good right hook :D..... I like to see the best in everyone but am not blindfolded to the bad....Good and evil exist people..its fact.  Did I tell you I am a cooking nut?  I love to cook....I am a real nanna cook though, having inherited my beautiful Nan Venus's cook book and techniches.  She raised me most of my life, which I am eternally grateful for, but sadly died last March and I do miss her terribly.  She did, however, install in me a love of cooking, which is why after her death I began again as it makes me feel closer to her.  I will be thinking of a recipe and I can hear her in my head telling me...too much sugar...not enough flour hahaha....I now sell my (her) jelly cakes to a local coffee shop for a bit of pocket money and they are very popular!
Also I LURVE reading....I love Bryce Courtenay books most of all but also read Nora Roberts (love her trilogys), good old Cathy Kelly for a good chick read, Robert Barrett "Les Norton" books..good Aussie writer and dont mind an autobiography, especially musicians..they make for a great read haha.
Speaking of music, I play a 12 string Kyari acoustic, pretty basically really, but it is a great stress relief for me, when the kids drive me nuts I lock myself in my room and strum a tune or two...music calms the savage beast they say LOL.  I also have a new found passion for shoes...being 90 odd kg overweight most of my life..high heels were never really an option so now I find myself unexpectantly drawn to them....I love my wonder woman boots most of all! (not that I have ever worn them..along with most of my new found passion (pics will follow)
So what now?  I have a pretty good following on facebook so instead of telling my life story there I thought I would share it with everyone else in the world!  Each week I intend updating you all on the goings on in my world..be it weight loss or gain (NO NEVER!!) my week in a nut shell or what my kids are up to (usually driving me insane...anyone thinking of having 2 kids quick.....CLEARLY YOUR NOT THINKING!! hahahaha) or what I have been cooking!  So please feel free to leave me any comments and let me know if anyone is reading this lol

Thanks for reading!  Be nice to people!

Meegs :)