Sadly, Brandy, that is not the case. Most of the time that kind of sound is just background and I can ignore it. It is just part of existence. Then a high pressure front moves in and that background sound gets noisy while people begin to speak in tongues or they have to be in another room to get my attention before they finish what they had to say. It is like being at a continuous cocktail party. I can't understand the person next to me but I can understand what someone says in the next room as if I was wearing an earbud with stereo sound. I think the doorway serves to direct the speech. As for the poor fishies, I have seen their startle response when I drop something beside the pond (or into the pond on a bad day). I try not to be clumsy or use hammers or power tools close by. But, BUT, we live half a block from the practice field of a very large high school marching band and I promise that you know when they start playing. It would be interesting to see a chart of the seismic waves in the ground as they arrive at the pond and what happens to the water. After a while you can ignore the band unless someone hits a really bad note. Even fishies are music critics and they cringe when it happens. Mostly, when the playing is noise rather than music they stay in the large clump of fake plants in the middle of the pond. I think the many small leaves cushion the affect of the sound waves. When the music is rhythmic and soothing,they arrange themselves in rows as if they were in a music hall. At intermission, they break up the formation and go their own way until practice resumes. Weird. I know the formation is related to the music because when the band master clacks the blocks twice for attention, the fishies resume their formation. Once in a while, a fish will go to a different row. I finally figured out they are reacting to a particular instrument beginning to play. Smaller fishies will respond to the higher pitched instruments while larger ones respond to the deeper tones such as the bass drums or an oboe. Snare drums cause the rows to sort of shimmy for a moment. When all the brass instruments join in, the rows stack up on top of each other with the big fish on the bottom and the small ones on the top rows. Fascinating to watch. They respond to hammers and lawnmowers and chippers and weedwackers, drills and saws. They really don't like the saws which make them retreat to the bottom under the fake plants or between the plant pots on the bottom. Hammers make them scatter, fast. For the other tools, only some fish respond so the rows aren't as big and they shift the alignment to the direction the sound comes from. Obviously they are aware of sound. In the dead of winter under the ice, all background sounds must be muffled so I would guess the noise of a hammer or axe would be similar to a gunshot next to your ear especially since water is a good conductor of sound. I know that would give me a bad startle response and an ear ache. Since fishies seem to "hear" with most of their bodies, it must be much worse. Sandy

Good Morning, Wish I was camping with Ekl. I bet she would really push me with that paddle. Reminds me of the time year before last when DH and I were camping and decided to float/paddle down the river. About halfway through, the sky blackened and I could hear thunder in the distance. I am terrified of lightening, especially anywhere near the water. Have had, locally, on 2 separate occasions in the last few years, a young boy struck and killed by lightening, near water. I grabbed the paddle and let me tell you I had an upper body workout that day! I think DH got a real kick out of watching me kill myself trying to get down river and off of the water before the storm hit. It wasn't a bit funny to me. Thank God, the storm turned and didn't hit us. I never could have out paddled it as far upriver as we were. SS, Thanks for the vote for the award. But remember, I only lost 5 lbs last week. The other 2 were from the weeks before. I've also found a big difference in weight with different times of day, different clothes, and after meals. I only go by 1st thing in the morning weight in my nightgown. Counting calories would be too hard for me. I am so lazy. I have found it easier to just forget the bun completely at BK and have the meat in a dish with lettuce, tomato, and mayo. I have to have my mayo. I've never been big on bread anyway. Lots of meals I cook I just forget to fix any bread. Drives DH crazy because he feels he has to have it. But, he will settle for WW sliced bread with butter spread on it when I forget! Harold, How are those eyes doing? Can you see us yet?!?! Sorry we are confusing you with the multiple weigh-in days. Weekends aren't good to me, so it is best to have a day to get back on track before posting an official weight. 48 lbs lost! WOW! Such tenacity! If I can hang in, that would put me right around my goal weight. I shall set my sights there. Peg, 3 lbs! Great job! I can't wait to get below DH in weight. I HATE HATE HATE weighing more than him. That's why I get discouraged when I only lose 1 lb a week now. I think he hangs around high 150s -low 160s. Once I get below him I will be ok with "slow and steady wins the race". Can y'all tell I'm from the "I WANT IT NOW" generation? That's how I got so large. I wanted those 2 big bowls of chocolate ice cream everyday while I forgot veggies and exercise. Now I'm paying for it. Those chest pains were my gift from God to wake me up. It worked! Karen, I'm glad you held steady while being sick. Are you feeling better? I bet you are weak as a puppy. Take it easy 'till you get some strength back. I know what you mean about night snacking. DH eats stuff every night after we get in bed. Can't fall asleep because of all of that eating noise on the other side of my bed! Some nights it's peanut butter crackers, others it's 2 peanut butter sandwiches, chips & dip, whatever he can find in the kitchen. If I can't resist, I will do celery with a very little PB, or 15 or so pistachios (sp?) shelled and eaten very slowly while he pigs out. I try to resist "Roseanne" that is giving Silver such a hard time!!! Helen, Everybody needs some fun with friends occasionally. And to still lose a pound, how sweet it is! Jas, About the WW. If it helps you get where you are going sooner, it is worth the $8 weekly. I did WW for a while once. My meeting was about 40 miles from home, so I quit going. Being right at work would really help you. My friend does it and it has helped her. It's just about finding what works best for you. If you have friends who are doing it at work with you, that would really help you stick to your diet. Nothing like having that up close and personal encouragement. If it would still be you working alone and you can get yourself kick-started, Save the $8 to use at the grocery store on healthier foods and spend the time you would spend at the meetings working out, walking, etc. Check in here more often for encouragement and our tried and true diet tips that have worked for us. As you can tell from the length of my posts, I love to talk. I can talk until you beg me to shut up!!! Have a great day everyone, Betty

Reporting back one month and five days after surgery. The procedure itself was a breeze. I only recalled being awake the last few minutes of the one hour. No pain whatsoever. Just a numbness on the forehead for a few hours afterwards, much less than from dental work! Yes, the one week of strict downward positioning and enforced inactivity was a bore. Never had time move so s--l--o--w--l--y! On the plus side, I got to know of every radio talk show host on air. Waking hours, I alternated between the vitrectomy chair or standing head bent at a railing or slung over the back of the couch like a cat at rest. Vitrectomy chair. There are a number of variations. If you wish to read or use a laptop computer or watch TV (via a small reverse mirror), check out exactly what options are available from your supplier. The chair above comes with a support for reading etc. Plus, the headrest expands so the user can wear glasses if necessary. The one I was shipped had none of these options. Night-time was the hardest--on the vitrectomy pad and head contraption: face down, my hands grasping the sides. I managed two hours at a time, up to four at the end. Never could sleep more than 4 hours altogether, vs. my usual six hours. Great though for vivid dreaming! Vitrectomy sleeping pad. (Velcro connects the pieces.) This is the type I used, except I moved the blocks underneath to the sides so I could grasp them. There are many variations that you might find more comfortable. For instance, I hung my legs off the back of the bed; some pads include another angled pad to raise your lower legs. The second week, I was able to position normally during the day, but had to sleep on my side; I jammed myself onto the couch. mrs. worthy administered the eye drops. Frequently and copious on a strict schedule as little as two hours apart the first day after surgery. But not painful at all. The bubble blocked vision, other than perception of light and dark, for a couple of weeks, gradually dissipating by the end of the third week. The good news: After the fourth followup exam, my surgeon declared the hole repaired. However, full clear (corrected) vision will take a year or so to return, he says. I can drive safely, but reading is all with the other eye. The anticipation was much worse than the actuality!

I have no experience whatsoever with detached retinas, so I will happily get the thread back on track with an update! I don't think I participated in the original honesty thread, so I was about to do that now, but I JUST cleaned up the kitchen before sitting down to browse GW. Our house usually a giant mess (although, admittedly, the kitchen is the cleanest part usually), so this seems a very dishonest honest picture: The empty space above the sink will eventually house some dramatic and colorful art, and we will at some point get a backsplash and glass in our cabinets (hard to see, but all the uppers on the far left wall next to the fridge are waiting for glass). HOWEVER, that is a currently fully-functional kitchen right there, and that is true as of two months ago for the first time in FIVE YEARS. (I laughed ruefully at the comment about who expects a remodel to take a year. Five years and counting here due to some major life and remodeling surprises making for some seriously non-linear progress!) Needless to say, achieving function in the kitchen was the big accomplishment this year. By next year, we hope to be truly done with all remodeling, which still includes: painting/staining all the doors finally finding door knobs I can live with staining and installing the baseboards and door trim everywhere figuring out a backsplash I can live with and installing it designing the glass inserts for the kitchen cabs and getting them made/installed installing floating shelf in the kitchen finishing some touch-ups and trim pieces in the kitchen figuring out a fireplace surround design I can live with and getting that installed finishing the bathroom vanity drawers installing vent covers everywhere figuring out why the fire alarms keep going off, fixing that, and reinstalling them figuring out why the outlet behind the TV is not working going through what remains of our storage/remodeling items, paring then down severely, and finding permanent homes for the rest of the items hanging curtains and pictures! And though I'm not sure non-kitchens are relevant, honesty is, so here is what happens if you pan slightly right from the first picture: And even farther right: :D We are finally painting all our closet doors, and as you can see, everything in the living room has been shoved aside to make room for our saw horse painting set up. Also as the eagle-eyed among you may have noticed, the cat is a fan of our giant pile of remodeling stuff: My husband's and my original plan was to finish remodeling and then have only normal furniture and no piles of remodeling stuff in our living room, but now I am not sure either of us is cold-hearted enough to take the cat's tower of stuff away from her.