Princess in a not so Fairytale World

Purex UltraPacks

2012-02-02T10:57:00.000-08:00

Purex has a new product coming out shortly! UltraPacks! I love using the little tablets or pack of dish detergent for my dishes and have thought for a long time that they should do this for laundry soap. Now they have! I always worry that I am using too much or too little. With the ultra packs, everything is pre-measured. It is really a great invention.

The best part is...soon they will be coming out with coupons and putting them on sale! We all know that when a new product hits the shelf, that is the best time to stock up!

So are they worth stocking up? Sure! They work as well as liquid Purex. I still find that I need to add Oxy Clean to my laundry, but that has more to do with the fact that my water is more brown than clear because of the well. Over all they work well. They don't seem to have a strong smell, but none of Purex products ever do. I do wish I could wash my clothes with Purex and have them coming out smelling like Tide. I love the smell of Tide. They are great for families that have kids who do their own laundry. No mess! Unless you get them wet. Use dry hands to reach in the bag! LOL I made that mistake with dish detergent packs one time!

I was given Purex UltraPacks to try as part of the Purex Insiders Program. All opinions are my own.

I'm not feeling much like a princess....

2012-01-30T08:56:00.000-08:00

I'm too young for this! I got the fat gene, so that is enough burden for me to carry! This isn't what I had planned for my life! I hate doctors, being sick or tired! I work for a doctor that sells natural health products for people who have cancer, so I am immune! I have been trying to wrap my head around all this, so I'm just going to blog about it and let it all go.

Two weeks ago, I went to the doctor for my annual check-up. I am very consistent about those since I have PCOS and need a prescription for my Metformin and Prometrium. During the breast exam, she found a lump. She assured me that it was probably just a cyst, but to be sure she was going to have me do an ultrasound and mammogram. I have had a couple of mammograms since I turned 40. They are no big deal. When I left the office, I scheduled the mammo and ultrasound for the first available which was a week later.

I pretty much was sure by the time that I walked into the imaging center that this was a cyst and that since I started taking the Prometrium it was shrinking. This was going to be a breeze...at worst, they will want to stick a needle in it to remove the fluid....at best, it would go away on its own and life would go on. The mammo went as they normally do. Polite conversation between me and the tech. We talked about the fact that both of us had taken Clomid. Mine worked the first time, hers did not work at all.We talked about the weather. She finished up and sent me to wait for the ultrasound.


Do you see the cow jumping over a rock?

Now I will confess, I am a total Google geek. If you want to know anything about anything, I can google it and find it for you, so I had googled breast cyst and watched a video of The Doctors where a woman with a cyst had an ultrasound and had a needle aspiration of the cyst. I knew what a cyst looked like. I knew what it was smooth and rounded. It was dark and solid. So, when I went in to have the ultrasound, I positioned myself so I could see the screen. I joked with the woman that this wasn't going to be as fun as a pregnancy ultrasound. We chatted a little and then I looked at the screen. Most ultrasounds that I have had, the tech never said anything about what she was seeing. They won't respond generally even if you ask. When I saw what looked like a cow jumping over a rock, I said, "That isn't fluid like a cyst, is it?" And she actually responded.... "No, it isn't." I said again, "That isn't a cyst?" "No" she replied and then told me that she was going to go let the doctor look at it and that he would come back and talk to me.

A few minutes pass and the doctor and tech come in to talk to me. He introduces himself and says that he has looked at my scans from today and from a year ago. He says that there was no indication of a problem a year ago, but now there is something there. He tells me that he is going to call my doctor and let her know and that she will probably set me up with a biopsy within the next week. They asked me if I was okay several times and if I had any questions. I asked them how big it was. I told them that God was in control of this, that He has a plan for me and that it would be okay. They gave me a file with my scans in it to take to the surgeon and told me that they hoped this all worked out for me. I got dressed and took my file and left. I text messaged my sister and told her, called my mom to see if she would watch my daughter when I had my biopsy.

When my doctor called, she told me what the radiologist had already told me. She gave me the names and numbers of a couple of general surgeons and then said, "Good luck with all this." Good luck? Oy!

My appointment with the surgeon is Friday, February 3rd, so I have a whole week to make myself crazy over all of this. Which I have done successfully! I have told a couple of friends and asked them to pray with me about it. Most say the exact same thing, "Oh, it is probably just a cyst! I get them all the time!" Then when I say that they ruled out it being a cyst. They sullen and agree to pray with me.

I don't know the future. I don't know what all this will mean, but I know that I am not going to go down without a fight. If this is cancer, I will do everything in my power to beat it. I don't care if it means losing a breast or my hair. What is important is that little girl in that picture. She is my only child and I love her more that words can express. While I know that a diagnosis will be hard on the adults in my family, they would move on, but that little girl needs a mother. I will fight for her.

The Grace Effect

2012-01-13T10:46:00.000-08:00

What They Say:
“Simply defined, the ‘grace effect’ is an observable phenomenon—that life is demonstrably better where authentic Christianity flourishes.”
What does Christianity give us beyond televangelists, potlucks, and bad basketball leagues? Not much, according to the secular Left. The world, they say, would be a better place without it.
Historian and Christian apologist Larry Taunton has spent much of his career refuting just this sort of thinking, but when he encounters Sasha, a golden-haired Ukranian orphan girl whose life has been shaped by atheistic theorists, he discovers an unlikely champion for the transforming power of grace.
Through the narrative of Sasha’s redemption, we see the false promises of socialism; the soul-destroying influence of unbelief; and how a society cultivates its own demise when it rejects the ultimate source of grace. We see, in short, the kind of world the atheists would give us: a world without Christianity—cold, pitiless, and graceless.
And yet, as Sasha shows us, it is a world that is not beyond the healing power of “the grace effect.” Occasionally infuriating, often amusing, but always inspiring, The Grace Effect will have you cheering for the courageous little girl who shamed the academic elitists of our day.

My Take: When shopping for a book I don't normally read the introduction, because, honestly, I don't see the point. Sorry, my author friends! The exception to that is when I am reviewing a book. I try to read every word on every page, so when I started reading the introduction to The Grace Effect I thought, "Oh great! a book that reads like a theology course. Time to break out the dictionary!" I WAS WRONG!

The Grace Effect is a charming and sweet story about the adoption of Sasha, a little Ukrainian girl. Once past the introduction, the story was a heart-felt true story of a family opening its arms to a little girl from halfway around the world. I was touched, because our family is planning on adopting.The author uses the story of his daughter Sasha to teach how God's grace touches our lives.

My favorite part was in chapter 3 when the author explained that good works are not in the nature of atheists. It isn't that they can't do good works like Christians; it just isn't in their nature.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Last Snowman Standing!

2011-12-16T17:37:00.000-08:00

Photo by Fungalhorde

Always on the look out for new and interesting things to do with my homeschooler, I found a cute little game over on Math Wire called Last Snowman Standing. We did not have the cute little snowman beads that they used, so I pulled out a bag of jingle bells. Had I thought of it before, we could have made marshmallow snowmen to play with and then eaten them at the end. We also changed the rules and played it so the person with the most bells at the end won. I enlisted the help of my husband to play with us and for 30 blissful minutes, my little girl who has developed a distaste for addition added numbers on the dice. I won the game against my daughter, but lost to my husband. Oh well... We also learned to make tally marks! Tomorrow, we are going to play the same game only subtracting the smaller number from the larger. She had a great time! I love teaching when they don't even know that they are learning!

Purex Triple Action

2011-12-15T12:21:00.000-08:00

How many loads of laundry do you do in a week? I have a friend who is a working mom who does all their laundry on Saturday. She like me had 3 people to do laundry for, but unlike me she works a full time job away from home. I got to thinking about it and while it would be wonderful not to have laundry in the washer every couple of days. It just isn't feasible for me. I don't have that many towels or night gowns. I have one night gown that I love and wear all the time. So, I do laundry all week long.

I don't like letting dirty clothes lie in the hamper too long. Down here in Louisiana, 80-90% humidity is the norm, so hanging a towel up to dry just doesn't work too well. It will mildew long before it will completely dry. I hate musky smelling towels. My trick is a cup of vinegar in the wash with the towels to neutralize the odor.

As a Purex Insider, I received a free sample of their Triple Action laundry detergent so I could write a review. I love the smell of Purex Triple Action Mountain Breeze! But laundry detergent isn't just about the smell, it has to clean too. Triple Action does that and because it is Purex, I know that it won't clean out my wallet too.

Want to try it yourself? Purex is offering free coupons for one of my readers. Leave a comment with how many loads of laundry you do in a week's time and if you do all your laundry in a day or spread it out.

All the opinions expressed here are my own.

Win a Free Better Homes and Gardens Subscription

2011-12-07T15:17:00.001-08:00

As a Purex Insider, I am excited to share with you one of our BIGGEST giveaways ever -- 20,000 FREE subscriptions to Better Homes and Gardens magazine!

20,000 random winners will enjoy a whole year of smart, approachable articles from BHG. The entry form is live now
through December 20th at www.purex.com/bhg.

Check it out for yourself and look for my review of Purex's new Triple Action laundry detergent...coming soon!

My new Kindle Fire

2011-12-04T12:39:00.001-08:00

My husband told me to get myself a Kindle Fire for Christmas, because he knows that I have been eyeing them since Amazon sent my an email announcing them several months ago. I have long said that eBooks were the way to go, but something inside of me loves the feel of a new book or finding hidden treasures in an old book. I love picking up a used book to find something highlighted or a note written in the margin, something that says someone else was here and was touched by this. Bibles are the best. I love looking in people's Bibles. They are filled with wisdom of the ages and when God speaks to the reader they highlight, underline and notate! My other issue with eBooks is the inability to share them with friends and family. I personally love using Paperback Swap, but eBooks don't offer. My other issue is that many eBooks cost as much as print books which doesn't make sense to me. Granted eBooks require computers and software and hard drives to store them on, they don't have to be printed and shipped. They can't be shared like a print books either, so it seems to me that they should cost a little less. But all too often, they don't. In fact, some cost more than the paperback version. It doesn't make sense to me. So, maybe, I have been on the fence about eBooks. When I was in college, I would have loved to have eBooks instead of regular print books. Lugging all those textbooks back and forth to class was a pain. Even for kids, I think a durable eReader issued at the start of school with all their textbooks on it would be great! Sure, some kids are going to lose them, break them or damage them, but they will do the same thing to a textbook. That is where personal responsibility comes in. You break it, you buy a new one. You lose it, you buy a new one. If your parents can't afford to buy a new one, we will find you a job around the school that you will do until the debt is repaid.

Anyway, off my soap box! I love my new Kindle even though every time I try to play with it I have a 5 year old in my lap taking it over. We downloaded a new game called Where's My Water? by Disney. I must say it is really cool! As my little princess put it, "It is a game that makes you use your brain." It requires you to figure out how to to get water to Swampy the alligator's bathtub by digging and passing up various barriers.

I love the battery life on the Kindle Fire. My child, husband and I have been playing it for hours without plugging it in. Since I have never had a Kindle, I don't know how long the battery normally, but compared to my cell phone the Kindle Fire has excellent battery life.

So, what do you think about eReaders?

The Lucado Inspirational Reader

2011-11-27T07:47:00.001-08:00

I have been a Max Lucado fan for years from his adult writings to his children's books, so it is no surprise that The Lucado Inspirational Reader did not disappoint!

I was expecting a devotional style book, but this is more short little snippets from his various writings. The book is broken up into chapters that focus on specific topics, so it is easy to find something that will speaks to your situation at the time.

Lucado is the kind of author who makes you feel like you are sitting in his living room sipping tea while he tells you of his love for Christ. It is a comfortable and charming book that would make a great gift for someone or yourself.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Keepers of the Faith - The Proverbs 31 Lie - Category Details

2011-10-11T19:59:00.000-07:00

Keepers of the Faith - The Proverbs 31 Lie

I came upon this article today about the Proverbs 31 woman and just had to share! It is well written and really blessed me! Check it out!

Gabby God's Little Angel

2011-10-05T19:44:00.000-07:00

This first book in a delightful new series offers a comforting message for young readers—God loves you very much and is always watching over you!
What little girl wouldn’t love her very own guardian angel? Parents and children alike will be won over by this humorous tale of Gabby, a guardian angel in training who has much to learn about taking care of God’s little ones. Her new assignment is to protect a young girl named Sophie, but Gabby soon realizes that watching after Sophie is a bigger challenge than she had expected! After a close call while riding her pony, Sophie learns what the Bible says about guardian angels: “He will put his angels in charge of you. They will watch over you wherever you go” (Psalm 91:11 ICB).

My Take:
Gabby, God's Little Angel is a sweet little book introducing Gabby a little guardian angel. It is a charming story with beautiful illustrations! It reminds me of a Christian version of Fancy Nancy. My only complaint (and this may totally be because I have the ebook version) is the variations in the size of the font are confusing for young readers. I would love to see the book to see if it makes more sense than it does on my cell phone's eReader. I can't wait to read more tales of Gabby!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Just in Case You Ever Wondered

2011-10-05T12:47:00.000-07:00

A timeless children's classic by best-selling author, Max Lucado, that reinforces the love of a parent.
There are certain words that every child longs to hear . . . affirmation of unconditional love, promises of support, and words of encouragement. Just in Case You Ever Wonder wraps your children in its tender message of love, comfort, and protection, showing them that as they grow and change, you'll always be there for them—whether it's "monsters in the closet" or hard times when other kids are mean. Beloved author, Max Lucado, helps express unconditional love for a child—simply, powerfully, and forever.

My Take:
I bought this book for my daughter several years ago from Goodwill, because I love Max Lucado books. It was the best $1 book I have ever bought! So, when it was available in ebook form, I jumped for joy! This book expresses love from God and parents in such a way that it has become one of my daughter's favorite bedtime stories. The reassurance that even when she has a bad day, that she is loved and valued is one of those things that every child needs. You and your child will grow closer by reading this one together! It is a great bedtime story!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Thank You God for Blessing Me!

2011-10-05T12:01:00.000-07:00

Meet Little Hermie—the cutest baby caterpillar in the garden! Little Hermie’s thankful heart shows toddlers how to be thankful for God’s blessings.
Little Hermie is thankful for everything God has given him. He goes through his day thanking God for his many blessings in this adorable board book with flocking on the cover!
With over 5.5 million brands units sold, the new Little Hermie books open the wonderful world of the Hermie & Friends garden to an entirely new audience.

My take:
Thank You, God, for Blessing Me by Max Lucado is an adorable little board book for toddlers! It teaches kids to be thankful for everyday blessings and God's presence in their lives. My daugher, who loved the Hermie book, God's not Finished with me Yet, liked this book although it was a little on the young side for her sophisticated five year old self. It would make a great gift for the toddler in your life.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Do you Zentangle?

2011-09-26T19:46:00.001-07:00

Need a break from the world? Try zentangle.com. These patterns are called Jonqal and Opus. It is fun!

Turning Your Day Toward God: Right from the Heart

2011-09-21T19:34:00.000-07:00

Book Description:
For people on-the-go who want a daily dose of God’s truth for their life.
You want to spend meaningful time each day with the Lord, but about 10 minutes into your day the demands of life distract and pull at you, and threaten to overshadow your plans for quiet time. Pastor Bryant Wright lends helpful guidance for staying focused on God’s Word and applying it to your daily living. His to-the-point messages set the tone for living as Jesus lived, no matter your circumstances.
Setting aside just a few minutes each day with the Lord can change your heart. The condition of your heart can change your day. And the outcome of your day can change the course of your life for His eternal glory.

My Take:

Right from the Heart is a beautiful gift devotion book! The pages are beautifully printed through out! It is a great little devotion for starting your day. The single page devotions are a quick read. The focus is God in our every day lives. It is everyday application for life! If you are looking for an easy read, Right from the Heart is for you!
Disclosure: I was provided with a copy of this book through my membership with Booksneeze to help abide in a complete and honest review of this book. All opinions expressed above are complete, honest, accurate and 100% mine.

Stumbling into Grace

2011-08-16T19:10:00.000-07:00

What They Say:
Humorous yet poignant stories from Lisa's life help readers relate to spiritual truths found in the life and ministry of Christ.

Stumbling Into Grace is the diary-devotional of one woman's honest, ongoing, bumbling journey of faith and how she finds encouragement through a deeper understanding of Christ's time on earth. Within each chapter she alternates her often humorous memoir with stirring portraits of Jesus and his own encounters as recorded in the New Testament.

Both intimately relevant and refreshingly inspirational, this book will help readers to jettison the theological misconceptions, guilt, shame, and hypocrisy they struggle with, exchanging them for a vibrant, passionate relationship with Christ that results in a more abundant, joyful life.

My Take:
I laughed and cried! Lisa is funny and easy to relate to her life. I found as I was reading this book, I was posting quotes from the book on my FaceBook feed. For example:

"....since the beginning of biblical history, people of faith have attached rules and conditions—far beyond the directives God gives us in Scripture—to our belief systems. The heavenly Father’s precious children—filthy scoundrels all of us, apart from His mercy—seem intent on making each other miserable......more from the book I am reading!"

It seemed like the God was using the book to speak directly to me where I was that day. The daily journal entries really helped me to learn about myself too! If you are looking for a devotion, check out Stumbling into Grace!

I would recommend this book and give it 5 out of 5.

Disclosure: I was provided with a copy of this book through my membership with Booksneeze to help abide in a complete and honest review of this book. All opinions expressed above are complete, honest, accurate and 100% mine.

A Couple of Chunkies!

2011-08-16T16:26:00.000-07:00

I've been creating again! This Mona Lisa is a special request, so she will be off to Oklahoma! The butterfly....she may have to live with me for a while! I really like her!

A Sunday School Challenge turns into....

2011-08-15T12:57:00.000-07:00

These are going to Aunt T.

Butterflies are made with copper.

The paper was hand marbled.

My daughter was given a dollar in children's church and asked to invest it and bring back the return on the investment like the parable of the talents. Well, we had invested in some garage sale art supplies the day before, so we decided that her investment would be what was spent at the garage sale. I contacted her aunt and uncle and asked if they would be willing to buy some art from their favorite (only) niece. They both agreed. :-) So, my little princess and I set about working on creating some original art to sell. Since my sister loves to write and send cards, we decided to make her a set of blank cards that she could buy. We made 2 sets, because we didn't know exactly what she would want. She decided to buy the set with the flowers, so the other set is going to be put up on eBay! Here's what we came up with!

I was going for a more abstract look, but the little princess made butterflies out of the copper mesh and wires. I think they are very cute, but may not be very good for mailing! She had a great time!

Funky Fridge Magnets

2011-08-14T18:17:00.000-07:00

I'm doing a swap on ATC's for All of hand-made fridge magnets! Here are three that I created.

Life Is a Verb.

Dog: It's what's for dinner

Copper

Artist Trading Cards!

2011-08-13T18:38:00.000-07:00

I have been playing around with artist trading cards. They are small and fun....and people trade them like baseball cards, so even if no one will buy my art....I can say that my art has been distributed all around the world! LOL

Well, today I went "garage sailing" and scored some great copper mesh, wire and sheeting! The box also contained shrink film....I love the way these turned out. I can't wait to play some more!

Strike It Rich With Pocket Change by Ken Potter and Brian Allens

2011-08-09T15:48:00.000-07:00

Have you ever picked up a book thinking it was one thing, only to find out it was something totally different? Yeah, reading subtitles is important! Maybe I have been too focused on saving money lately that I ordered this book without reading the subtitle, but I was pleasantly surprised.

They say:
In late 2007 a collector found a double die cast 1969 Lincoln cent piece in a plain brown roll of coins. That penny was auctioned in early January 2008 for $126,500.00. To the untrained eye, that penny might look no different than any other. But in their concise and informative book, Ken Potter and Dr. Brian Allen give you all the tools you need to spot mint errors and turn small coins - ones you may have in your pocket right now, or that big glass jug at home - into big cash. They distill their years of collecting experience into simple chapters like 'Age Does Not Equal Value', 'Tools of the Trade', and 'Where to Sell Your Coins' that show you step-by-step how to spot and sell these treasures.

My take:
While not all error coins will bring big money, it might be worth a second look at the coins in that coin jar. Potter and Allen have filled this book with lots of photos and examples of what to look for in error coins. They give you specific directions on how to store and care for your coins. What amazed me was that the coins that are in this current book aren't ancient coins that my mom has tucked away in her safe deposit box, but coins that were struck in my lifetime. They also deal with the myths of coin collecting like all those wheat-backs that Mom hoards! Sorry, Mom! While I don't expect to be buying a magnifying glass and scanning my coins before using them, I might take a second look now and then.

Check out this book! You might be surprised by what you learn about that jingle in your pocket!

I received this book FREE via Booksneeze for the purpose of this review, and no other monetary compensation was received. All opinions are 100% mine.

Art happens when you....

2011-07-02T19:32:00.001-07:00

Stop worrying about what others think!

This is my next installment into my art journal. I totally wish I had stopped worrying about what other people thought of my art before, but now I am at a place in my life where I can relax and create totally for my enjoyment. I have also discovered the joys of mixed media. If I don't like some thing, I now know that I can just cover it up or cut it out or re-gesso it!

Freedom!

Art Journaling!

2011-06-24T07:48:00.000-07:00

I love contests! And I absolutely adore looking at mixed media and people's art journals. So, as I was looking at Journal Artista's blog the other day. I stumbled across an art journal stencil contest. I decided to give it a go, but sadly, I had gotten rid of all of my stencils a few years back when stenciling went out of style.

So what do you do when you don't have a something and you "need" it? Go shopping? Not on Dave Ramsey! I found a card stock cut out in my scrapping supply that had the shape I wanted and used it! This is the page that my 5 year old and I worked on together. I had this little drawing that she had done when she was 4 that I loved and wanted to do something with....honestly, I have lots of little drawings that she did laying around that I want to do something with!

This is the little artist with what I thought was her finished project.....Again, I was wrong! The little artist got my embellishments and decorated a little more!

Well, since this is easy enough for a 5 year old...I decided to try it! We are leaving later today for a our anniversary weekend get-away, so I wanted to do something about travel and relaxing! I found this super cute word art from Digital Scrapbooking Place.

We are going to the bayou's of Louisiana, Avery Island where Tabasco is made and maybe a little fishing for my husband. I wanted this page to remind me of the bayou, so I picked greens, blues and browns. I used the same chipboard cut-out that we used for my daughter's, but I used a bracket.
I used a vellum butterfly, but had a little trouble with it. For some reason, vellum doesn't seem to like acrylic medium. The butterfly kept trying to fly off the page! Maybe I'll look for something different to glue down vellum. Any suggestions? Thanks for looking!

My new menu planning board

2011-06-02T18:26:00.000-07:00

Ugly picture in a perfect frame from a garage sale.....$1
Scrapbook paper, ribbon and decorations.....free....given to me by a friend
Letters....$3.49 from Michael's
EXPO marker....on hand
This idea was borrowed from Recycled Interiors. She used fabric which would have prevented the seam that I have on mine, but it isn't too noticeable.

Lori Ann invited you to Dropbox

2011-06-01T06:10:00.001-07:00

Lori Ann wants you to try Dropbox! Dropbox lets you bring all your photos, docs and videos with you anywhere and share them easily.

Get started here.

- The Dropbox Team

To stop receiving invites from Dropbox, click here.

Daddy Dates

2011-05-27T10:26:00.000-07:00

I think Greg Wright may have stolen this idea from my dad! Not really, I think that God speaks to godly men when they truly seek Him. I wanted to read this book specifically because my father "dated" my sister and me. It is a concept that my parents came up with when we were kids and honestly, it works! My sister and I both have high expectations of what a future spouse should be. Hers are so high, she never plans on marrying, but don't blame that on the dates.

I remember people looking at me strangely when I would tell them about "dating" my dad, because our world doesn't understand the concept of dating to connect with a person on a deeper level, but rather our world sees dating as a means to an end. (While I'm talking about this, if you aren't "dating" your spouse, you need to commit to doing that too!) This book is filled with ways to understand and communicate with your daughter. Wright is humorous and heartfelt in his accounts of his experiences. It is an easy read that will help not only fathers better communicate, but is a great read for moms too.

Oh, and if you are a single guy looking for dating tips....pick up this book too! Follow his 2 rules of dating, no dinner and no movie...come up with something original that she would like to do that doesn't involve staring at something other than her and you will do well with women!

I received this book FREE via Booksneeze for the purpose of this review, and no other monetary compensation was received. All opinions are 100% mine.

Money Secrets of the Amish

2011-05-25T09:42:00.000-07:00

When I asked for this book, I was thinking it might tell me to go off the power grid and start canning my own food that I grow. Well, since I'm a blogger and manage a web-based business, going off the grid was out and my small garden doesn't provide enough to survive on all year.

But that wasn't what this book was about at all! Money Secrets of the Amish is practical advice for the everyday "Englisher" (anyone not Amish). Use it up! Wear it out! Make do! Or Do without! De-spoil the kids! Don't Eat the Marshmallow! Shopping second-hand! Things we all know, but need to relearn and put into practice more often.

My favorite idea is in the chapter on Rethinking Gifts. The author, while not willing to go completely Amish in gift-giving, implements the principal of the three wise men: "We each get something we want, something we need and a surprise!" What a great way to curb the gimme's during the holiday!

Some books, I read once and then pass along, but Money Secrets of the Amish is one book that will be used as a reference in the future!

I received this book FREE via Booksneeze for the purpose of this review, and no other monetary compensation was received. All opinions are 100% mine.

God's Promises for the American Patriot

2011-05-18T18:54:00.000-07:00

For months now, I have been listening to the news talking about all of the conflict in America. We have political conflict, racial conflict and class warfare. We have arguments about the direction of our country. We have large group of people who fear the financial future of our government. On the other side stands a group of people who seek to have the government level the playing field for all people, sometimes at the expense of those who have worked hard to get ahead.

Then I heard a commentator say that the conflicts we now face are not the worst conflicts of our American history. The Civil War was. Then God led me to this quote from Abraham Lincoln in God's Promises for the American Patriot:

"We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!
It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness."

It is so true! If you have someone who loves America and is looking for quick daily devotional, this is a great gift! When I am done with it, I plan on sending it to a soldier with a thank you note for their service. What have you done for your country lately?

I received this book FREE via Booksneeze for the purpose of this review, and no other monetary compensation was received. All opinions are 100% mine.

May Budget Challenge!

2011-05-01T12:13:00.001-07:00

Do you ever feel that your budget is out of control? I know I do. Even though we are saving money and not using the credit card. I still feel like we could be doing more. So, this month I am challenging myself to write it down! I want to know where the money is going this month.

So, is any one willing to do it with me? Anyone up for a budget challenge? What if there were a prize at the end of the month? I'm not going to say what the prize is yet, but I will come up with one if someone join me!

Secret Words

2011-05-01T12:05:00.001-07:00

Want to get your little one excited about reading? Try secret words. Create a note, flashcards or sentence with white crayons on white paper. Then have your child revel the message with ink made of food coloring or water color paint. With Easter right around the corner, why not write words on your eggs before dying them?

How to be a perfectly polite princess!

2011-04-11T19:44:00.000-07:00

What They Say:

A fun guide book for God’s little princesses.
What does it take to be a princess? Sheila Walsh has some important answers to share for every little girl. This trendy design features black & white line art and a two-color pink and black interior. The art will tie to each how-to topic in the book—how to make the best pink cookies, how to wear a tiara, how to earn money at home, how to care for a royal dog, how to be respectful, how to use good manners, how to help Mom, how to follow Jesus, how to act like a princess when things go terribly wrong, and many more.

My Take: This is such a sweet book for little girls! It is cute and funny. Some of the advice is silly and made me think...really? Does my child need to know which type of tiara best fits her face? But honestly, it is well worth it.

I have a 5 year old, so I'll be reading this to her or will put it away for a few years. I think this would be a great addition to my home school curriculum in a few years!

I love that the book isn't just manners and etiquette rules. There are crafts, quizzes (little girls love quizzes) and other activities. It has recipes and party tips. There is even a chapter on using the phone and internet safely and politely!

This isn't your grandma's etiquette book! Check it out!

I received this book FREE via Booksneeze for the purpose of this review, and no other monetary compensation was received. All opinions are 100% mine.

Seriously God, You want me to "rest?"

2011-04-06T06:58:00.000-07:00

What They Say:
To rest does not mean to cease all activity.
Bestselling author Dan Allender presents an insightful and fascinating look at the origins and purpose of Sabbath. Serving as volume three in The Ancient Practices series, Sabbath examines the key issues of this oft-misunderstood day of the week.
This "day of delight" as instituted by God has become a dirge for millions of believers. For many, it is simply a break from the busyness of the work week. So, what keeps us from properly understanding, sanctifying, and celebrating this important day? Allender looks at not only the history of this discipline, going all the way back to ancient Israel, but also at the modern manifestations and misunderstandings of its practice.
Allender bases his premise on the Hebrew word for rest, Menuha, which is best translated as "joyous repose, tranquility, or delight." It is through this lens that he resurrects this lost definition of what it really means to rest.
A volume in the eight book classic series, The Ancient Practices, with a foreword by Phyllis Tickle, General Editor.

My Take: In our lives, we often take for granted our days off. We rush, rush, rush all week long and then when we don't have to "work", we fill our weekends with birthday parties, kid's little league, shopping and housework. But one of the Ten Commandments tells us to, "Stop! Take a day off! Spend time with God and enjoy His presence and the presence of your family."

Seriously God, You want me to "rest?"

Yes, God wants us to spend a day doing nothing, but enjoying Him and our family. "Well, I go to church on Sundays....doesn't that count?" Reading this book I started to think about my church experience and ask myself am I really taking a sabbath on Sunday. The answer was no! As church secretary and nursery director, my Sundays are anything but relaxing. My husband and I have commented on the fact that so often going to church feels like another day at the office for me. People don't always realize that I'm there to worship too. I'm sure our pastors feel the same way.

So, what to do? My husband and I have set aside Saturdays as our Sabbath. It is a time to play. Enjoy one another, our child and God. We spend quality time together and have become so much closer. Honestly, this book was life changing for us. Read it!

I received this book FREE via Booksneeze for the purpose of this review, and no other monetary compensation was received. All opinions are 100% mine.

And the winner is......

2011-03-30T11:56:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I'm terrible at this contest thing, but I do have a winner! The first number picked was #4, but since she is outside of the USA, I picked again and the winner is

melicity said...: Hmmmm...my favorite money saving tip is pretty old-school. I just clip coupons from the Sunday paper and try to match them with sales from the grocery ads. :) Congrats on the freebies! It's always nice to get something other than bills in the mail! :); March 7, 2011 3:07 PM; Thanks for playing along! I will be posting a Purex Crystals free coupon and Johnsonville sausage giveaways soon! Thanks!!!

Johnsonville Sausage Meatballs

2011-03-30T08:24:00.000-07:00

So, you may have been noticing the fuzzy picture of the meatballs on my blog lately....with no words? Well, I'm a member of SheKnows and was selected to try Johnsonville Italian Sausage and share some coupons with you all.

I'm going to admit something here. I don't normally buy Italian sausage. I don't normally cook with it. I love the stuff, but my husband can't eat it. He has a very delicate stomach and any thing that has spices can give him a terrible time. But, free is free, right? So, I signed up and was selected. I made the Johnsonville Italian Sausage Meatballs. You can click the link for their recipe. I did alter it for my husband's sake. I replaced a little over half of the sausage with ground beef to cut down on the spices. It was still delicious! I have also taken to adding a little Worcestershire sauce to my spaghetti sauce which really makes it rich and meatier.... I don't know why, but Worcestershire makes every thing better!

So, here's your chance to score some coupons! Leave a comment and I will pick two people to get $1.50 off Johnsonville Italian Sausage coupons! Be sure that I have a way of contacting you if you win!

I love freebies!

2011-03-07T13:23:00.001-08:00

Doesn't everyone? My mailbox was full of freebies today and I want to share. Look at the loot! I got a box of Quaker Oat Squares, Lanican Chafing Lotion, a coupon for a free Lean Cuisine and.....If you are a Blogger and haven't signed up with shespeaks.com, you should. I just got 3 coupons for free Johnsonville sausage to try, recipes, a coupon for a free jar of Rinaldi tomato sauce an 5 $1.50 off coupons to share. Sadly, the closest place to buy the pasta sauce is four hours away! So, I'll send the pasta sauce coupon and a $1.50 off sausage coupon to one lucky blog reader who leaves me a comment about their favorite money savings tip. The contest ends Friday! And will be selected by a random number generator. Good luck!

Some of my New Favorite Blogs!

2011-02-16T07:00:00.000-08:00

I'm on a savings kick! Aren't we all with this economy, trouble in the Middle East and the general uncertainty of life lately? Besides that, TLC did that Extreme Couponing show last month and got me thinking....Why do I pay for toothpaste? I mean really, $5/tube for the sensitive stuff that just gets spit out?

I used every excuse in the book before...I don't have time! We don't have any stores that double coupons. We don't use the stuff that they have coupons in the paper! Well! I'm here to tell you that I was wrong! We do have one store that doubles on Saturdays, up to 70 cents and Kmart has double coupons from time to time. I have also decided that it is worth it to try new brands to save money. I also learned to work the sales like a pro!

Yesterday, I went to CVS to get the Colgate Sensitive toothpaste that is on sale this week. I broke up my order into 3 transactions, so I didn't spend as much out of pocket. Here's how it all went down:

Transaction #1

Colgate Sensitive $3.79 -$1 coupon (Q) ...Received a $3.79 Extra Care Buck (ECB) to use on my next order
Ladies Speed Stick $2.99 - .50 Q ...Received a $2 ECB

Paid $5.91 OOP (out of pocket)

Trans #2
Colgate Sensitive - $3.79 - $1 Q ....received $3.79 ECB
2 pack of Reach toothbrushes $3.99 - $2 Q ...received $2 ECB

Used my $ 2 and $3.79 ECBs from the first transaction

Paid $0.03 OOP!

Trans #3
2 Emerald Pecans which are on a buy one get one free (BOGO!) $3.89 minus a $1.50/2 Q

Used my $2 ECB

Paid $0.59 OOP!!!

My total out of pocket was $6.53!!!

So where do you go to learn how to do it?

The Krazy Coupon Lady
Hip2Save
We Use Coupons

Start there and be prepared to be amazed!

Start! The Bible for New Believers, NKJV, a review

2011-01-19T17:44:00.000-08:00

Book Description (What they say)

Start! The Bible for New Believers, NKJV was developed to help those beginning a brand new life of faith to place their trust in Jesus Christ while refreshing the foundations of the faith for longtime believers. START! is designed to take the hand of a new believer, or perhaps a believer who does not know their way around the Bible as they ought to, and lead them through. All of the notes are written to be understandable, conversational, and friendly while never assume that the reader knows what all the words mean. Start! The Bible for New Believers focuses on basic discipleship with articles and devotions on subjects including prayer, Bible study, church involvement, sharing your faith, and discovering God's will. Core biblical themes are introduced at basic levels of theological sophistication and presented in very simple language. Features include: · Grow entries, revealing key disciplines of the Christian life. · Know articles, exposing the core beliefs of Christians. · Live messages, focusing on various aspects of salvation. · Learn notes, providing mini-commentaries on key passages for spiritual growth. · Topical Index to articles and Scriptures · Secrets to Spiritual Success from the General Editor Greg Laurie – a crusading pastor and author who has impacted over four million people with the Gospel message, and seen well over 340,000 people come forward to make professions of faith in Christ.

My Take

The Start! Bible is a great resource for new Christians. The NKJV is a great bridge between the traditional King James Version and our modern language. The Start! Bible starts with the plan of salvation and Secrets to Spiritual Success. It ends with What Every Christian Needs to Know about God and Jesus. It also has a topical index. Each chapter contains an introduction which sets the stage for readers to better understand where the writer is coming from. I love that chapters are broken up with subtitles that help new Christians find their way in the Bible. Key scriptures are printed in bold, large fonts. Know, Learn, Grow and Live sections provide application.

The Start! Bible would be a great Bible to provide new Christians or for ministers who work with new Christians.

I was provided this book for free in exchange for my review through the Thomas Nelson Booksneeze program.

I am a Promise!

2010-11-04T07:02:00.000-07:00

Just sharing some of the cutest kids in the world!

Heaven Is For Real!

2010-11-03T05:59:00.000-07:00

Book Description from the publisher:

A young boy emerges from life-saving surgery with remarkable stories of his visit to heaven.
Heaven Is for Real is the true story of the four-year old son of a small town Nebraska pastor who during emergency surgery slips from consciousness and enters heaven. He survives and begins talking about being able to look down and see the doctor operating and his dad praying in the waiting room. The family didn't know what to believe but soon the evidence was clear.
Colton said he met his miscarried sister whom no one had told him about, and his great grandfather who died 30 years before Colton was born, then shared impossible-to-know details about each. He describes the horse that only Jesus could ride, about how "reaaally big" God and his chair are, and how the Holy Spirit "shoots down power" from heaven to help us.
Told by the father but often in Colton's own words, the disarmingly simple message is heaven is a real place, Jesus really loves children, and be ready there is a coming last battle.

My Take:

Born and raised in a Baptist preacher's home, I was always taught to be skeptical of anyone's near death experience, so it was with skepticism that I approached this book. I was pleasantly surprised though. I'm the mom of a 4 year old, who like Colton, has been in church her whole life. I know what she knows about the Bible, because for the most part, I'm the one who taught her. The descriptions of Colton are far from what is contained in the preschool Sunday school curriculum. Beyond my own skeptical nature, this book is a wonderful testimony of God's love and faithfulness. It was uplifting to read. It is thought provoking and emotion invoking!

As I was curled up in bed reading, my 4 year old came in and curled up next to me and said, "Read to me, Mommy!" So, we laid in bed together reading about Colton's heavenly experiences. She loved the book which got me thinking about her imaginary friend, Inky. Could Inky be an angel or the Holy Spirit? We never know what children are able to understand in the spirit.

Check it out for yourself! I would love to hear other people's take on it!

My next book review will be Start! The Bible for New Believers. I can't wait to check this one out! Here's a sample for you!

I was provided this book for free in exchange for my review through the Thomas Nelson Booksneeze program.

Menu Planning...trying again!

2010-11-02T19:41:00.000-07:00

I'm terrible about meal planning which means that I end up going to the grocery (WalMart) 3-4 times a week. I know...crazy! I know that if I would shop for two weeks at a time, I would save money and stress. So, here I am trying again!

I have created a list of meals... actually, I borrowed one from here and personalized it for my family. I have shared it via Google Documents for everyone. I printed out the list of meal ideas and the menu planning form from the about.com site. I'm the type of person who likes to work on the computer, but really want something in writing when it comes to menu planning, so I laminated both the meals list and the menu planning form. I have a Vis-a- Vis marker that I'm using to write on the laminated pages, so I can wipe them clean and make new plans. I like that I can mark out meals on the list that I have used, so hopefully we can get some variety in our meals! Currently, I'm focusing on planning suppers and weekend lunches, but eventually I hope to plan breakfast lunch and supper. One thing I should have done is print the menu planner on both sides, so I could plan an entire month at a time.

Looking at my plan for the next week, I will need to go to the grocery this weekend to get bread and milk, but I can do that at our locally owned grocery or dollar store, rather than running to WalMart. We'll see how it goes!

So many thoughts...so little brain to think them...

2010-10-13T17:28:00.000-07:00

Ready for an emotional one? It was June. The summer garden was starting to produce; the heat starting to become more oppressive by the day, when I get an email from my aunt who lives about 800 miles away. Her daughter has three children in foster care, and the social workers are talking about taking them away permanently. The state wants to know if anyone in the family would like to take them in to their home. We've been through this before with her first child. To say the least, it was ugly, lots of hurt feelings and broken relationships. I was glad to be 800 miles from the epicenter of it all, a bystander, not required to choose sides...Here we stand again though, this time, I'm in a different place in my life. I have a child close in age to the kids. I'm in a stable relationship. I'm financially secure. And the question is being asked...Will you?

After a much too brief discussion with my husband, who I was positive would say no, we agreed to take the two little girls. All this was dependent on the court's decision to end my cousin's parental rights. The little boy would go with his uncle. We just don't have room. We have 2 adult children, one living with us, one in college, and a little girl.

At heart, I'm a planner, so my first response was, "We need bunk beds! We need money to travel 800 miles to get our new girls! We need to save all of E's clothes that she grows out of for the little one. What am I going to do about homeschooling? What about my job? Taking one little girl to work at the office is one thing, but 3? My car! How am I going to fit 3 car seats in the back of my car??? Three teenage girls? We need a gun! College??? Weddings?" LOL I know, I totally get ahead of myself sometimes. Thankfully, I have a wonderful, procrastinating and often pessimistic husband to keep me grounded. While I'm shopping for bunk beds online, he's certain of God's provision and the government agencies' lack of organization to get any thing done in a speedy manner.

Fast forward to 3 weeks ago, God shows Himself in the circumstances: 1)I got a letter from an organization that I had worked for over the summer that was unable to pay me. The letter said that they knew that they owed me over $1000 and that they would be paying me by November 15. Thank you God! Won't that be a wonderful Christmas bonus? Yeah, I think God had other plans, because a few days later, 2) I got a call from my aunt. Social Services wants my information, so they can start doing background checks. They have a court date and hope to be ready to be able to give us the kids in December. There is still the possibility that another chance will be given to the mom, but right now it isn't looking good for her. 3)My brother, Mike, was given a set of bunk beds. He didn't know what to do with them, but decided to keep them in case someone needed them. Isn't it amazing how God works?

My husband, the pessimist, is afraid that I'm getting too excited, that I'm going to have my heart broken if this doesn't happen. He doesn't know that if this doesn't work out, I'm thinking we should go through the foster care classes and look for other little girls that need a home. Honestly, I will be terribly devastated if something happens and we can't have them. I know my aunt is grieving right now with the possibility of having 2 grand daughters move 800 miles away. I feel for her. I can't imagine losing my child, but my heart is already in love with two little girls that I have never even met. I always thought that E would be my one and only. I thought God was done with me. Now He's opened up this possibility in my heart, and I'm afraid to believe that it could be real. That I could be mama to three little girls! Please God let the answers come quickly...I don't know if I can stand waiting!

Adventures in Booga Booga Land - Volume 1 (DVD)

2010-10-12T16:17:00.000-07:00

This week I'm reviewing a kids' DVD for Thomas Nelson's Booksneeze program.

The introduction episode introduces us to the Marty the monkey and Gerard the Giraffe. Each adventure relates to the parables of Jesus. Episode 1 conveys the parable of The Workers in the Vineyard with its story of how Marty and Gerard get a job and learns that the boss, Stan, can be generous to others who don't deserve it. Episodes 2 portrays Marty and Gerard as the Wise and Foolish Builders. The final episode, The Lamp under The Bowl, features our heroes building a lighthouse and keeping it lit. These stories are appropriate for early elementary aged children.

I watched the DVD with my 4 year old daughter. Personally, it lacked substance for me, but she loved it. The animation and silly situational comedy reminded me of several cartoons that come on the kids channels that contain such questionable material...think cellulose in pants. There were instances of minor violence, Marty's improper use of power tools and Gerard's using dynamite to explode the rocks, but over all it was nothing compared to what is found on TV. I didn't find it offensive, but then I don't leave power tools laying around for my daughter to find.

The lighthouse episode totally lost me. It was unclear what the light was that Marty and Gerard were catching in the bottles that eventually provided light for the lighthouse.

Overall, my child loved it. She watched it over and over again which is honestly the true test of a good kids DVD.

I was provided this DVD for free in exchange for my review through the Thomas Nelson Booksneeze program.

Roasted Vegetables...my version

2010-10-10T18:49:00.000-07:00

Had someone told me that I was going to be loving eggplant, mushrooms, zucchini and squash this time last year, I would have laughed at them. But one of the advantages of being on WW's is that you learn to try new foods that you would have thumbed your nose at before.

While shopping at one of my favorite health food stores, I decided to try something new, their Roasted Veggie Sandwich with Havarti. Being the good WWer that I am, I quizzed the lady at the counter about the contents of the sandwich. Mayo? No, Veginaise. How much? 1 teaspoon or less. Oil? A small amount of olive oil to roast the vegetables. How much cheese? one slice. All the while I'm calculating points in my head...Bread 3, Cheese 2-3, Veginaise 1, veggies 1. The sandwich was excellent! So much so, that the next time I was in the store I saw that they sell just the veggies all roasted up by the pound! I contemplated buying some until I saw the price $8/lb!! Wow! So, I decided that I would attempt making my own. This is what I came up with: Yummy!

Roasted Veggies

POINTS® Value: 1
Servings: 5

Preparation Time: 20 min
Cooking Time: 60 min
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Course: side dishes

Add and subtract vegetables based on your personal taste. The balsamic vinegar adds a sweet and tangy note to the roasted vegetables. A serving is about 1 cup.

Ingredients


	3 cup(s) cooked eggplant
	1 cup(s) cooked zucchini
	1 cup(s) cooked summer squash
	1 item(s) bell pepper(s), chopped
	1 cup(s) cooked onions
	1 Tbsp olive oil
	1 cup(s) cooked mushroom pieces
	1/3 cup(s) balsamic vinegar
	1 tsp table salt
	1 tsp black pepper
	1 cup(s) cooked chayote fruit

Instructions

toss all veggies in vinegar and oil. Salt and pepper to taste. Roast covered at 350 in a 9x13 pan for one hour or until veggies are fork tender and onions are fully cooked.
Serve hot or cold.
This can also be made into a sandwich on whole wheat bread and Havarti cheese.

Starting over...

2010-09-27T19:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I've updated my weight on MyFitnessPal.com and decided to start over. One of the things that I loved about WW's was the online food journal. Since I'm not a member, I can't use their site any more, but MyFitnessPal.com (which is free) allows me to keep a journal. This site has calorie info which is great, but also carbs and protein info which is very important for the Insulin Resistant Diet. There is a place to keep exercise info too. Here's my day:

September 27, 2010

Foods	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Cholest	Sodium	Sugars	Fiber
Breakfast
Cream - Half and half, 2 tbsp	39	1g	3g	1g	11mg	12mg	0g	0g
Sugars - Granulated (sucrose), 2 tsp	33	8g	0g	0g	0mg	0mg	8g	0g
Egg - Large Egg/ 2 Points, 2 Egg	140	1g	10g	12g	424mg	140mg	0g	0g
Lunch
Hillshire Farm - Deli Select Smoked Ham, 6 slices	60	2g	2g	9g	30mg	670mg	1g	0g
Kraft Deli Fresh Slices-Revised - 2% Swiss Cheese, 1 slice	70	0g	5g	6g	15mg	50mg	0g	0g
Natures Own Whitewheat Bread - Sandwich Bread, 2 slices	100	23g	1g	5g	0mg	230mg	3g	4g
Doritos - Tortilla Chips, 11 each	150	17g	8g	2g	0mg	180mg	1g	1g
Cheetos - Cheetos Crunchy - Small Bag, 0.5 Package	80	8g	5g	1g	3mg	145mg	1g	1g
Blue Plate Mayo - Real Mayonnaise, 0.5 Tablespoon	50	0g	6g	0g	5mg	40mg	0g	0g
Dinner
Beef - Sirloin Steak , 6 oz	375	0g	8g	56g	150mg	168mg	0g	0g
Potatoes - Russet, flesh and skin, baked, 0.5 potato medium (2-1/4" to 3-1/4" dia)	84	19g	0g	2g	0mg	7mg	1g	2g
Laughing Cow - Light Original Swiss, 2 Wedge	70	2g	4g	5g	20mg	520mg	2g	0g
Butternut Squash - Roasted, No Salt, No Fat Added, 0.5 cup, cubed (140 g)	41	11g	0g	1g	0mg	4mg	2g	2g
Sugars - Brown, 1 tsp packed packed	17	4g	0g	0g	0mg	2mg	4g	0g
Snacks
Nabisco - Ritz Crackers--Original, 10 crackers	160	6g	9g	2g	0mg	270mg	2g	0g
Slim Jim - Small Snack, 8 grams/0.28ozs.	40	1g	4g	2g	5mg	123mg	0g	0g
Philadelphia Cream Cheese - Cream Cheese 1/3 Less Fat, 2 tbsp (31g)	70	2g	6g	2g	20mg	140mg	2g	0g
Stonewall Kitchen - Hot Pepper Jelly, 1 TBSP	35	9g	0g	0g	0mg	5mg	8g	0g
Blue Bunny - Bunny Tracks Ice Cream, 1/2 cup	170	18g	10g	2g	20mg	55mg	13g	0g
TOTAL:	1,784	132g	81g	108g	703mg	2,761mg	48g	10g

Exercises	Calories	Minutes	Sets	Reps	Weight
Cardiovascular
Walking, 2.0 mph, slow pace	313	60
TOTALS:	313	60	0	0	0

I did go over on my calorie count, but I did pretty well on my linking and balancing. What is missing? VEGGIES!!! I know! I need to focus on increasing my fruit and vegetable intake. That takes planning and prep work. So, that is my assignment for myself...more fresh fruits and veggies.

Today was a great day over all. The weather has cooled off and is lovely. My daughter and I decided to have a picnic at our local state park. We had a great time playing on Lake Pontchartrain's beach and walking around the park grounds. I did forget the sunscreen, so both of us are a little pink tonight. Walking in sand is a great way to work out those legs though. It was really lovely. This is what life should be...spending time with family and enjoying the beautiful world God has given us!

Next >>

2010-09-24T10:41:00.000-07:00

Have you ever used the Next >> link at the top of Blogger blogs? It can be quite informative! I did it today on my own blog which as many of you know is mainly about weight loss and my life. So, what did Blogger deem appropriate to follow my blog? See for yourself...

LOL, Yup! The Foodhoe Files! Yum! Now I want steak wrapped in bacon and slathered with herb butter!

Weight Loss/Gain Update

2010-09-23T10:28:00.000-07:00

Ok, so, I've fallen off the weight loss wagon and am having a terrible time getting back on board. It all started with a plateau back in April/May. I got stuck. Ok, I got tired of fighting the battle. I got tired of telling my flesh, "No!" I was just tired. In June, my WW leader attended a spiritual retreat and came back feeling that God wanted her to quit leading WW's. This did not help my desire to give-up on WW's. I have spent over a year and $640 in membership fees at WW's. I was tired of it all. So, when my leader quit, I quit. Sure, she and I promised to keep in touch, continue to encourage one another, and check-in...It hasn't happened. She went back to school and I got busy with life in general.

So, I have blown it lately. I have gained 15lbs. and stopped exercising. In my defense, it is really hot down here in Louisiana and I have been battling with my asthma lately. Honestly, it is no excuse. I know how much chocolate has passed through my lips lately. I know how many times I could have picked up the free weights and worked out. I also know that it wouldn't kill me to walk around the block a few times.

So, here I am confessing to you all. I don't have the money to do WW's any more. My doctor told me that I really need to be doing The Insulin Resistance Diet instead. I have bought the book and read most of it, but I'm having trouble with starting it. Part of me feels like if I flunked out of WW's, how can I expect that I will ever succeed at the IR diet? Anyway, I'm going to do it. I think that I need to pull out the log book though and keep tabs on just what I eat too. I need some accountability in this area.

I have searched for blogs and info about it, but am not finding much. 3FatChicks has a HUGE forum post about it, but I'm way too ADHD to read the whole thing.
Anyone tried the Insulin Resistance Diet?

What God Really Thinks of Women

2010-09-23T09:53:00.000-07:00

Standing in the book section of my local Wal-Mart, I'm browsing through the selection of Christian literature. As nursery director, I spend most Sunday services in the nursery. I love doing nursery since my child is in there, but miss out on hearing God's word in the service. I was really excited to hear that our church was starting a new women's Bible Study only to find out that it was scheduled on a day that I have to work (at the church), so I can't attend. Our Tuesday night Bible study has been put on hold, because several members are not able to attend. So, my heart went searching for God's word and came across What God Really Thinks of Women by Sharon Jaynes.

It starts off with a discussion of what the world thinks of women. The author gives an in depth account of the history of the Bible and how women were viewed. As I was reading the introductory chapters, I just had to share the quotes from Aristotle, Socrates and Plato with my husband! We had a good chuckle about the male chauvinistic ideals of the past. The pharisees of the Jesus' day prayed everyday, thanking God that they had not been born a woman! Wow! How must that have made their wives feel? My husband, even if he had these thoughts, knows better than to say them aloud.

Sharon Jaynes is a true storyteller! I loved the way she made the reader step into the world of each of the women that Jesus spent time with. Being able to experience Mary Magdalene's face-to-face encounter with our Risen Lord at the tomb brought new understanding of how Christ loves me personally.

As the daughter of a retired pastor, raised in a church where women were to be seen and not heard (except from the children's ministry wing, the insights in this book have given me a new outlook on where God wants me to be in my future ministry.

What are you reading currently? How is God speaking to you?

I blew it today!

2010-03-08T19:53:00.000-08:00

Yup, I tried to be so good, but temptation got the best of me. I started out with my healthy oatmeal with ground flax, brown sugar and almond butter. Good stuff! When mid-morning came, I grabbed the 0 point Progresso soup which I ate the whole can, so that comes out to be 1.5 points. At lunch time, I grabbed a yummy spinach salad with grilled chicken that I had made the day before.

So, you ask with all these healthy choices, how could my day have turned south so quickly? It started with my child handing me half of a Little Debbie brownie. Well, there was the trip to Wal-Mart. Someone had put peanut butter M&M's right on the end of the register for me to grab! And was it the small bag that would have limited my intake? No, it was the big bag. These are a total target food for me and I should have never picked them up. But I did.

Then I stopped at Starbucks for a tall nonfat mocha which is still 3 points. Then my dear child, who has been sick asked me to get her a cheeseburger. So, a dash through the Burger King drive through and 2 Whopper Jr's with cheese "magically" appear. One for her and one for me! 10 points right there. I should have just gotten her the cheeseburger, because she flipped out that there was "salad" on her cheeseburger.

Something also, got into my head that said, make apple dumplings for supper? What???? What was I thinking? So, anyway, I burned up all my weekly points today, and am hoping that tomorrow will be a better day!

How can I teach my child healthy habits when I'm scarfing down peanut butter M&M's?

Finding Peace In The Midst Of The Storm

2010-03-05T18:41:00.000-08:00

A friend asked me to write on this topic for her. I decided that I would post it on my blog for others struggling with the storms of life:

Hmmmm...my first thought is that Peace is not something that you find. It is something that you either have or don't. Our peace comes from Christ, the knowledge that no matter what is happening around us at the moment, God is still on His throne. He is in control and knows the best for us.

We live in a temporary world, but because our spirits are eternal, we confuse what is happening today with the eternal. We think that there is nothing in this world that is eternal except the gospel of Christ, but we as humans living in a temporary world are hardwired for the eternal. We think that the problem we face today is so terrible that we can't go on, but don't realize the problem is temporary.

My peace comes from the fact that I am not alone in my suffering and problems. And nothing that I am experiencing is new. Everything that is happening in my life has happened to others before me.
Hebrews 12:1-2 - “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

My faith and actions determine what will happen next. I can allow my life to thrive in Christ or I can be destroyed by Satan. It is my choice. Yet even when I mess up and don't make the right decisions, God is able to work that out too.

All things work together for the good of those that love the Lord and are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

God knows your name. He knows who and what you are and He loves you anyway. That is the peace. He wants what is best for you. That brings peace. His hand is always open to you. His desire is for your best. Jeremiah 29:11. If only we will take His hand, He will lead us through the storm. That is true peace.

Quit fighting Him. Release the strongholds that are surrounding you. Free yourself to worship Him in a way that you have never done before. All He wants is for you to love Him as much as He loves you. He wants your praise and adoration. You have to completely give Him your all. You have to lay down your life, your illness, your panic attacks, your desires to Him. You have to ask Him to heal you completely, then accept that He has done it and never concern yourself with it again. All too often, we ask for healing. We pray fervent prayers asking God to take away our suffering. Then, we walk away from the altar with one eye looking back at what we asked to be healed of. We pray and then walk away thinking, "sure hope that worked." That is not faith. God doesn't work like that. We have to believe it. COMPLETELY. Give your life fully to Him and watch what He can do.

Over a year ago, I asked God to heal me of my obesity. I believe that God could have gone zap! and the excess weight would have fallen to the floor, but He didn't. I believe that God is doing a work in my life that takes time. He is molding and shaping my mind as He molds my body. He is teaching me obedience through this experience. Do I believe that God is answering my prayer? Absolutely! Do I believe that God even cares if I weigh 150 lbs or 339lbs? Absolutely! He cares because He loves me. If it matters to me, it matters to God. I am His child and just as my heart breaks when I see Ellie cry, God's heart breaks when I cry. That is where my peace comes from. From knowing that God loves me so much that He will not let any thing happen to me that I can not handle. No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. 1 Cor. 10:13

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thess. 5:23

I'm a Loser!

2010-03-03T20:39:00.000-08:00

Yup another loss! I didn't need the Post It note after all! I lost 1.6 lbs this week. I had even told my leader the whole bit about steroids and antibiotics. I'm thrilled.

The meeting was good. We talked about avoiding boredom in both what we eat and how we move. There were lots of great ideas this meeting!

Food finds to try: Quaker Oats True Delights Blueberry Multigrain Crisps, Whole Grain Couscous, Thomas Bagel Thins, cheddar popcorn seasoning and Pirates Booty Popcorn

Exercise ideas to try: Geocaching, WW's 5K Challenge (starting in April), check into classes offered at our local park.

Any other ideas that I should try? What ideas can you guys come up with?

Thanks to Sarahnaut on Flickr.com for the use of her photo!

Post It Note Tuesday

2010-03-02T20:39:00.000-08:00

Friday, I ended up in the doctor's office with a sinus infection. Not only a sinus infection, but also my asthma. I haven't had a problem with my asthma in ages, so the asthma really took me by surprise. Anyway, the doctor prescribed me an inhaler, inhaled steroids, an antibiotic and steroid pills. I have heard from other WWers that the antibiotics and steroids can mess up weight loss. So, here's my post it....

Down .4 Pounds

2010-02-24T18:59:00.000-08:00

Yup, even though my scale at home said I had gained 2 lbs, the WW scale smiled upon me and said I was down .4 lbs! WooHoo!!!

We had a great meeting today about making our kitchens WW friendly. Have I mentioned how much I love my new leader? She is great! Very down to earth and loves interaction from members! Sad news today, Emilee, one of our newest Lifetimers is moving to Alabama. Her 87lb weight loss is such an inspiration to me. She was always full of new recipes and food finds. She will be missed.

I found a new blog to share with you all. Big Bottom Blogger ROCKS! Any woman that is willing to photo her booty and post it on her blog gets my vote for "blogger who bares their soul." And I love this quote from her blog, "Each day....I will work on overcoming my addiction to food and indolence. You can cheer for me if you want...but don't put me up on a pedestel for crying out loud!!! It is lonely up there....and is such a far way to fall! From now on...I want to be on terra firma with everyone else who struggles with this journey on a day to day basis. Deal?" Check her out!

Success! and Clean Eating

2010-02-18T20:23:00.000-08:00

Stuck in Plateau-ville and growing frustrated, NO More! My leader suggested that I stop eating the WW bars, FiberPlus bars and other packaged foods for a week and see if that helped.

I did. I focused on "clean eating" for one week and am happy to report that it worked! I lost 4.4lbs even though we ate out 4 times last week! I still picked carefully on the menus, but WOW!

Maybe those health nuts who eat almond butter and oatmeal and fresh fruit and veggies actually do know what they are talking about? I'm trying it again this week and we will see what happens!

I even picked up "The Clean Eating Diet" book at Wal-Mart to get some new ideas. Still counting points though...WW has helped me lose over 50lbs, so I'm not giving that up either!

They also have a clean eating magazine that I'm going to check out!

Anyone else do the clean eating thing?

Thanks to Let Ideas Compete on Flickr.com for the photo!

Meal Planning Monday

2010-02-15T17:52:00.000-08:00

Since I have been struggling with this plateau, I have been asking myself what was I doing before that I have not been doing lately. One of the things is menu planning. So, I was hanging out in the blog-o-sphere today and came across this super cute monthly menu calendar at Controlling my Chaos. After spending a few minutes working with it in Photoshop, I have come up with my menu for the rest of the month. I challenged myself for the remainder of February to eat out of the freezer with the exception of milk, bread and fresh veggies. I'm planning on socking away the savings from grocery trips to try and do a big once a month shopping trip to cut the budget as well as my waistline!

What are you doing to save money and calories?

Offically in Plateauville

2010-02-12T18:24:00.000-08:00

Well...it is official, I have hit a plateau. 10 weeks with plus or minus 2 lb weight gain/loss. My leader, Heather (AKA the world's greatest WW leader...my title for her), noticed that I was extra emotional during the meeting. She stopped me to find out what was up after the meeting. I told her I was frustrated, because I wasn't going any where lately. She looked at my book and declared...yup, I'm in Plateauville. Interestingly enough, my old leader showed up at our meeting this week too.

So, what to do? Heather suggested that I cut out all empty calories like the FiberPlus and WW's bars and focus on "real" food. My old leader grabbed a WW's TurnAround Eating Guide and suggested that I focus on higher protein. So, I'm trying their suggestions.

My husband suggested that I up my exercise, but since I'm nursing a cold this week that is not happening.

I'm also wondering if the emotions might be due to PMS. Since I don't have regular periods, it is hard to know if or when one will happen. Lately, they have been coming more regular, twice within what would be considered a normal time frame. So, if it is going to show up on time...it could happen in the next few days and that would explain my emotions...then again, it may not happen... Oh, well....

Well, here is what I'm holding on to in the mean time... This was my family Christmas 2008. And here is my family Superbowl Sunday 2010...

Losing it again!

2010-01-20T19:51:00.000-08:00

I can officially say that I have earned my 50lb weight back! Total WW loss is 50.8 lbs. Total loss 80lbs! I am thrilled! I weigh less now than I weighed in high school!

Well, I did go to the doctor about my knee. As it happens, my knee was feeling fine when I went, but I did tell her how it was feeling. She did a though exam, was able to hear the grinding noise. She was concerned about my weight loss, but I assured her that it was intentional. Strangely enough, she acted like she was surprised that a person could lose 80 lbs in a year's time. She did blood tests for both my insulin resistance and arthritis. The blood work came back great except for the sed rate was too high (35). Based on my sed rate, she did some further testing that came back ok.

My insulin level which was 29 two years ago is now 10.2! My A1C was 5.2 which is well within normal levels.

Anyway, she didn't have any suggestions for my knee other than take Naproxy Sodium or Ibuprofen. Oh well...

Another gain, will this ever stop?

2010-01-07T18:40:00.000-08:00

Yup, after hitting my 50lb loss, I have gained 3 lbs of it back. I know I haven't been totally behaving myself, but still it is frustrating since I have really kicked up the exercise routine in the past couple of weeks. But I will not quit! Onward, I go!

Another disappointment this week is the 5K that I signed up for on Saturday. I signed up with my sister and a friend, but the weather has turned dangerously cold and is not expected to ease up until after Sunday. So, it looks like my group is not going to participate.

I also found out today that I have degenerative arthritis in my right knee and possibly a torn ligament. The doctor didn't seem concerned about it and told me that while I shouldn't run, walking the 5K would be fine. Since I have been running recently as part of the Wii Active 30 day challenge, I may have been causing more damage to my knee. She gave me some exercises to work on to build the strength in my legs. I'm hoping to get this knee out of pain, so I can do another 5K soon.

Frustrated and Going to the Doctor

2010-01-04T20:00:00.000-08:00

I am so frustrated with my TMJ and knee that I finally broke down and scheduled an appointment for Thursday. My knee has been bothering me for about a year or so now. I never went to the doctor before about it because:

I'm a chicken
I didn't want to hear, "Well, if you weren't 339 lbs., your knee would feel better."
Last time I complained about my knee, the doctor gave me a big old shot right in the joint...that was about 15 or more years ago...did I mention that I'm a chicken?
My general practice doctor, a woman who I loved, moved to another city about 2 hours away last April and I got a great letter from the clinic stating that my doctor was no longer with the practice and that I was going to have to see a male doctor that I don't know...did I mention that I don't like change?

So, here I am at 259ish and about to walk a 5K in a couple of weeks. I have majorly kicked up that exercise program recently in preparation and just can't ignore the pain and sounds that my knee is making. So, yeah, I might hear, "Lose weight" when I go. I may have to deal with a shot. I know I have to deal with a new doctor, but I'm doing it.

I'm also going to discuss my TMJ. I don't care what they have to do to help me with my TMJ, but something has to be done. I first found out that I had TMJ a couple of years ago and was prescribed a muscle relaxer and Naproxen. I ran out of drugs about 5 months ago and haven't really needed any thing more than ibuprofen. I do yoga to relieve stress, eat soft food, avoid overusing my jaw and taking OTC meds. I gave up singing because of the pain, then was asked if I would sing for the church's Christmas program...I agreed and have been in pain ever since. Something needs to be done!

So, I'm off to the doctor on Thursday, scared that I'm going to have to defend my weight, scared that I won't like this new doctor and basically just frustrated about losing my old doctor. It is no wonder that obese people don't go to their doctor? I think that I'm more afraid of going now than when I was blissfully oblivious to my obesity. So, do I let them know that I have lost 80lbs in the past year? Or should I call my old clinic and ask them to send my file over? I don't know what to expect and that scares me.

Wii, Wii, Wii all the way home!

2009-12-28T20:09:00.000-08:00

Well, I am still loving the Wii. So much so, that it is almost a battle around my house to get time on it. My husband wants to Wii. My daughter only wants to Wii when I want to Wii, and so it is a struggle to Wii around here.

I did go out and buy myself a new game, The Biggest Loser. Has anyone tried it? I paid $40 for it at GameStop and to be honest, I'm not terribly impressed. It is very serious and the trainers say the same thing over and over again. I get the repetition from the Fit Plus game that I paid $20 for, so I guess I was hoping for something better from Biggest Loser. Maybe I haven't played it enough, but if it doesn't improve, I'm going to be putting it up on craigslist soon.

What are your favorite Wii games?

Starting Over Again!

2009-12-25T17:28:00.000-08:00

I quit Weight Watchers! Yup! I lost 50 pounds and quit yesterday. Yup, I have over 100 more pounds that I need to lose, but I quit. Nope, I didn't cancel my membership and I didn't tell my leader that I was quitting, but I quit.

The good news is....I'm starting over today! I think when a person has over 25lbs to lose that is what they need to do. They need to reach a goal and celebrate their success. Tell themselves, "WooHoo! You did it, now you can quit!" Then start back up the next day, knowing that they succeeded at losing 25 lbs before and they can do it again!

When I look at my weight and think about the monumental task at hand, I can't help but be frustrated. How can I possibly lose a total of 189 lbs...and that will just get me to #150. Which while that is in the "healthy BMI range" and will qualify me for Lifetime membership, it is at the upper levels of the range. I can tell myself, "WooHoo! You have lost 50lbs on WW and a total of 79lbs!" But there is always a "but". But you need to lose 110 more! But you still aren't there yet. But you have never been below 180 lbs since puberty!

I'm tired of the Buts and I'm tired of my butt, but that is off topic....So, I quit!

And I am restarting again; focusing on the next 8lbs which will be another 10% off and ultimately the next 25lbs!

Yay!!! 50 lbs!!!!

2009-12-23T21:05:00.000-08:00

I hit it on the dot!!! 50lbs! Gone!!! WooHoo!!!

The subject of our meeting was toot your own horn, so I'm tooting!!! I'm also wearing my 25lb ring/weight thing and 50lb. ring/weight thing on a necklace. Too much??? I don't know....But they sure are pretty!!!

We had a great meeting today. We had a new leader who was great only to find out that she won't be with us in the new year due to childcare conflicts. So, we will have to break in another person in January.

The highlight of the day came from my 3 year old who attended the meeting with me. She was telling her aunt about her day and was asked what the WW meeting was about. She said, "I don't know, but they talked about their toots." LOL

WoooHooo for the Wii

2009-12-18T21:12:00.000-08:00

Our family decided to get a group present this year! We bought a Wii with the Wii fit. My daughter and I brought it home and with my husband's permission, we ~~wrapped it really pretty and put it under the tree~~... Ok, so we opened it right up and got to playing it. We had to test it out right?

I will admit that when these came out, I was very skeptical. I mean who would imagine burning any calories playing a video game. I am or was VERY anti-video game. Who has time to sit around and play games? Not me! I'm too fidgety to do all that. The Wii is different people would tell me. Yeah, right! Now, I'm one of those Wii believers!

I love it! Between the four of us, we Wiied for over 6 hours! I did yoga, strength training, aerobics, balance exercises, bowled, played golf and tennis. It was great! I also tried out the boxing. That sure felt good too! I'm going to have to remember that when I get stressed!

So, tell me...do any of you have a Wii? What are your favorite games? Do you work up a sweat on it?

Just 1.2 lbs to go!!! (until I get my 50lb weight for WW's)

2009-12-16T18:17:00.000-08:00

WooHoo! Today was a great weigh in day! I lost 2.2lbs and realized that I am 1.2lbs from my WW's 50 lb weight. Can I do that this week??? I think so. I'm going into this week totally positive about it. I'm going to focus on activity and counting my points this week and hope for the best! What a great Christmas present to myself a 50lb. weight would be!

Thinking about this week coming up, I only foresee one challenge. We are having a Christmas program at church Sunday morning in which the staff serve up cookies and punch to the congregation afterward. I did volunteer to make hot cocoa and punch instead of baking cookies this year. I really don't need to spend several hours in the kitchen baking cookies. I am also going to make fresh mozzarella and bring crackers.

How is everyone else doing?

My Quest for More Veggies!

2009-12-08T15:46:00.000-08:00

First off, I don't get paid or anything for posts like this one. If I ever do, I will say that it is.

Rouse's, our local grocery store, had a sale on Dole salad kits this week. Complete salads for $1. The points range from 3-4 points per serving. Each bag has 3.5 servings. I'm wondering who is going to eat the .5 of a serving? Hmmmm

Photo by Flickr user VeganWarrior Anyway, they have several different flavors to choose from. I picked up the Caesar, Asian, Autumn Splendor and Hearty Italian. I have not tried the Asian yet, but hope to soon. Here are my reviews on the others:

The Caesar was good. The shavings of Parmesan and Romano cheese were HUGE! Some of them were over 3 square inches. The croutons were tasty, but the dressing had too much vinegar for my taste.

The Hearty Italian was pretty good. I like the cubes of cheese and salami. The dressing fell short for me again. I am not a wine drinker and don't like super yeasty tastes, so this dressing was deeply offensive to my palate. I ended up making my own Balsamic vinaigrette dressing and using that for my salad.

The final salad was the Autumn Splendor which isn't listed on their website. It contains lettuce, pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, croutons and a pumpkin vinaigrette. This one is a home run! I loved it! From start to finish, it was perfectly balanced and just what I wanted to go with my vegetable soup. I only hope that this isn't a seasonal salad, because I will be very disappointed in the springtime.

Dole has a whole line of these salads out that I can't wait to try. I hope to find the Winter Jubilee in my grocery store soon. I am a huge blue cheese fan.

Each of the salads also come with this funny little packet of seasonings. Although I haven't done a comparison all together, they all seem to be the same thing. They do help the bits of salad that lack dressing. I love that all the pieces are in separate little pouches, so I can mix and match what I want on the salad. It is very convenient.

One of the things that is really annoying to me is that the nutrition label lists the nutritional information as all one thing. Since I tossed the salad dressing on two of these in favor of my homemade dressing, I had a huge debate as to how many points each of the other components were. Even on the pumpkin dressing that I loved, I didn't consume a whole serving each time I ate it, because I had plenty of leftovers. If they don't want to use up label space with the nutritional info for each of the components, they could at least put it on their site, which is another one of my issues. While I understand that they are trying to be cutting edge with their site and make fruits and vegetables seem cool, their site sucks! We have the highest DSL speed offered, but their site drags. I click, I wait for the animated lady to look at what I'm doing. Just give me the info already! I can't imagine visiting their site on my parent's cable modem or my sister's DSL light.

My plan for the month is to eat a salad and/or vegetable soup for one meal every day to help account for those holiday meals where the calorie counts are stacked against my weight loss efforts.Anyway, what are you doing to keep your holiday plans from sabotaging your weight loss plans?

December 2009

2009-12-02T15:31:00.001-08:00

December 2009
Originally uploaded by tenlittlefingers2littlehands

Here is a new progress photo! Watch the slide show at the top for all of my progress photos

A Thanksgiving Gain...1.6 pounds

2009-12-02T15:08:00.000-08:00

I knew I was in for a gain this week even before I stepped on the scale this morning. Last week, I lost 2.6 lbs, so I just knew that this week was going to be bad. It always seems to happen that way.

So, was it self-fulfilling prophesy? or the simple facts of knowing how my body works? I'm not sure, but I am up 1.6 lbs. this week. What is strange is that I no longer have the defeatist attitude about it that I once did. A month ago, I would have been ready to throw in the towel and give up. I mean really, Lori, you have been over 275 lbs. your entire adult life. How can you ever expect to lose weight? Who are you kidding? Besides you are comfortable here at 260ish...let's just throw in the towel, save the $40 bucks a month and spend it on chocolate. Anyone else have that little voice in your head? Maybe it is just me, but I know that I must silence that voice or I will end up back at 339 or more!

Well, this gain is only temporary. It will be gone next week and hopefully, it will take some of its friends with it. I am (with the gain) 3 pounds away from a new WW milestone of 50 lbs. So, off we go to see if I can do it this week!

My tip for the week...eat more veggies!!! Looking back at my meals this past week, my fruit and vegetable servings were seriously lacking. So during our meeting today, we talked about food finds and one of the ladies talked about these Green Giant Just for One vegetables. They are zero or 1 point servings size portions. They steam in the microwave in their little package for 2 minutes. It is a great little snack or an addition to a frozen dinner. I bought the Cauliflower & Cheese Sauce, Broccoli & Cheese Sauce and Broccoli, Carrots & Italian Seasoning today at Wal-Mart. At $2.98 for a 4 pack, I'm not thrilled with the price. I tried the Cauliflower & Cheese Sauce today and seasoned it with a little Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning. I must admit that it was very tasty, and I'm not a huge fan of cauliflower either. For the points, they sure didn't skimp on the cheese sauce.

Well, now I'm off to check out everyone else's blog and see how we are all doing! Have a great Wednesday!

Not Me Monday

2009-11-30T04:49:00.000-08:00

It's that time of week again and I'm here to tell you what I've NOT been up to these days!

Well, I did not eat too much for lunch on Thursday like I'm sure that all of you didn't either. After polishing off all the turkey leftovers on Saturday, I did not cook a turkey breast in my slow cooker and force the entire family to again consume turkey so soon after Thanksgiving. (My parents let the turkey breast thaw and it had to be cooked, so technically it really isn't my fault...I could not let good meat go to waste, right?)

On the subject of turkey, I will totally not be cooking yet another one on Sunday for our church holiday dinner. And then again for Christmas, New Years, Valentine's Day and Easter! When I can get meat for 40 cents a pound, I can't help myself. No, we totally did not somehow end up with 5 whole birds and a breast in our house in a matter of a few days.

Speaking of food, I am not sucking down 5-6 one liter bottles of water every day in hopes of flushing all the sodium and extra food from my system before I weigh in on Wednesday for fear of gaining this week. I did have a great weigh in on Wednesday and don't know how things will fall this week.

I did not eat a handful of butterscotch chips just because I wanted the Tupperware bowl that they were in to put something else in it tonight after I had run out of points.

After teaching a Sunday school lesson about Greedy Pete, the little boy who got greedy and ended up having spots all over his face from catching the Greedies, I did not tell my husband that the next time our little Butterbean got greedy, I was going to tell her that I am seeing greedy spots on her face. What kind of mother would do that anyway?

And about the chickens...I did not spend my holiday swapping out the nest boxes for the old buckets that I used first in hopes that they wouldn't poop in the buckets like they did the milk crates. I also didn't swap out the metal roosting pole for a 12 foot 2x4 just because the Backyard Chicken website said that they would like a 2x4 better and I was worried that their little feet would be too cold on the metal pole. I am not that into my chickens that I would go so far as to do that....or maybe I am.

Thanksgiving is a memory, but the leftovers live on...

2009-11-27T18:11:00.000-08:00

It is over! I survived. Yes, I ate too much. Yes, I need to hop on that bike and get some activity points in before I weigh in on Wednesday. My first focus though is getting back on my water. Seems like for the past couple of days, I haven't been drinking as much water as I normally do. With all the salt in the Thanksgiving foods, I need to flush the sodium out of my system before I hit the scale again.

For Thanksgiving, I set the table with the red table clothes, our china and all of my holiday wares. It was lovely. I made sure to put both a dinner plate and salad plate in each spot, so those of us who are dieting could use the smaller plate and fool our eye. It totally worked! Well, it worked for my sister and I. Some of the men at the table thought that the salad plate was for the over flow of what wouldn't fit on their dinner plate. I threatened to photograph a couple of their plates, so I could post it here, but they wouldn't let me. Even so, I think my total dinner was 20 points, but I did eat a light breakfast and supper. I did eat the pecan pie...I know I shouldn't have, but I did and I finished it off today.

The great thing is that even when I mess up, I can start again tomorrow. Today's failures don't define me anymore. It is what I do each day that makes a difference.

Lost 1.2 this week!

2009-11-18T10:13:00.000-08:00

WW loss total 46 lbs.
Total loss 75 lbs.
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Lost 2.6 lbs, but. . .

2009-11-12T13:06:00.001-08:00

IMG00345-20091112-0817
Originally uploaded by tenlittlefingers2littlehands

Since I gained 3.4 last week, I'm still up by .8 lbs. Funny thing was...even though I lost 2.6, the WW lady who weighed me in didn't say anything but, "OK, I got you." I had to grab my book and look at it to see what had happened on the scale! I was so scared that I had another gain. That is what they do when you gain. They say, "I got you." or "OK, you can get down." When you lose, this lady in particular normally gives a thumbs up and tells you how much you are down.She is normally much more positive.

Granted, I know I'm still at a net gain over the past 2 weeks, but hey...I still LOST! I'm proud of my loss too! Sure, I have a net gain for 2 weeks, but let's look at the past:

4 Weeks - loss of 3 lbs.

12 Weeks - loss of 8 lbs.

24 Weeks - loss of 25.6 lbs.

Since starting WW in March - 44.8 lbs.

Since starting my weight loss journey - 73.8 lbs. And that is based on their scale...mine says that I have lost 77 lbs.

I have gotten back on the horse! I have picked myself up and am focused on my goal. I'm going to do this! I set a goal of 10 lbs by Thanksgiving. I am currently 4.8 down with 5.2 lbs to go. I have 2 weeks. I am NOT giving up! I can do this! I will do this. Honestly, I just have to keep the same 2.6 lb loss that I had this week.

The other thing is that I do just what I think she was doing. I tell myself, "Sure, you lost 2.6 lbs this week, but you gained 3.4 last week." I rob myself of the success of the loss, because I'm still focused on the gain. Sure, I tell myself that I have let go of the "failure" of the gain, but then when I have a success, I don't really feel like I can celebrate it, because I'm still behind where I was two weeks ago. It is really stupid of me. I'm still ahead of where I was one year, two years, ten years, even twenty years ago, so today I vow not to beat myself up about it. I vow to keep things in perspective and focus on the future.

I'm sorry that the WW lady wasn't thrilled with my loss, but I am!

Also, here's my November progress photo. Note the little princess in the photo blowing up a swimming float! I'm not seeing a huge difference month to month, but the progress photos really help me see it.

Flickr

2009-11-12T13:05:00.001-08:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Bad Blogger!

2009-11-09T16:48:00.000-08:00

I'm terrible! Not only have I not posted in a couple of weeks, I have not been keeping up with all my blogging friends! I promise to do better. That said, life has been crazy around here!

Yes, we do have a tropical storm in the gulf that we are watching. Yes, it is strange to have one pop up in November, but not too strange. We have had them in December. Ida appears to be heading to Mobile/Pensacola, so we are good. We are getting some winds and rain, but nothing major.

I lost 2.2 lbs a couple of weeks ago, but gained 3.4 lbs the week of Halloween! I need to get back to my focus. I need to go back to eating more fruits and vegetables. I need to get back to riding the bike. I know what I need to do, but just don't have much motivation right now. Anyone else ever feel that way?

The Difference a Year Makes

2009-10-19T19:25:00.000-07:00

Both of these photos were taken at the Lacombe Wild Things events. One was October 18, 2008 and the other October 17, 2009. What a difference a year makes! 75lbs lighter and a whole lot healthier! Can't wait to see the 2010 picture!

A gain this week and Aunt Purple's Cooking

2009-10-14T10:15:00.001-07:00

I hate to admit it, but I gained .5 this week. I think I'm about to get a gift from Mother Nature, but since I have PCOS, I never know when I'm going to have a period. Hopefully, this gain is just water. Time will tell, but I'm going to stick to the plan and know that it works.

Another recipe site for losers! Check it out and let me know what you think. I'm thinking about making the pumpkin dump cake for our Bible study group next time. http://www.auntpurple.blogspot.com/
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Something Fun!

2009-10-14T06:56:00.000-07:00

Go try out Wordle!

Not Me Monday

2009-10-11T19:09:00.001-07:00

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Hmmm...let's see what have I not been up to this week. I was awaken early Sunday morning by a phone call from my mother saying that Dad was unable to urinate and they were taking him to the ER. I did not listen to my mother and decide to take my 3 year old with me to the hospital instead of sending her with her daddy to church. I mean what kind of crazy woman takes a healthy 3 year old to a hospital waiting room. I did not pull one of her Christmas gifts out of the closet and stash it in my purse for when she got bored. As expected, she loved the Hello Kitty art set. Furthermore, I did not explain to my 3 year old on the way over that Poppa "was having trouble tinkling" and needed to go to the doctor to get help. She, of course, did not announce loudly and repeatedly in the waiting room, much to the amusement of the other folks, that her Poppa was having "tinkle troubles."

I think that is enough confessions for this week! How was your week?

WW's Grandma's Pumpkin Muffins

2009-10-11T18:25:00.000-07:00

While shopping the other day, my little Butterbean found a little pumpkin in the produce department at our local grocery store. We have a rule that when we go to the grocery store she can pick out anything from the produce department to buy as long as she will eat it when we come home. She picked out a pumpkin!

So, I searched the Weight Watcher's website and found Grandma's Pumpkin Muffins recipe. We baked the pumpkin and then put it in the Magic Bullet to puree. We didn't have any eggs, so we mixed all the wet ingredients together in one bowl and all the dry ingredients in another bowl and waited for the chickens to lay. I used 2 whole eggs instead of the egg substitute. Normally, I would just measure out egg whites to equal the amount of required egg substitute, but I sold 4 dozen eggs yesterday and was short. I also didn't have any nutmeg, so I skipped it. Next time, I will make sure that I have the nutmeg and egg whites. I like things a little sweeter too, so I might add some Stevia to the batter. I might go a little wild and add some orange zest in too. Mom uses orange juice in her pumpkin pies and they are delicious! Over all, they were very moist and good. Daddy refused to even taste them, but Butterbean loved them! We are taking a couple to church tomorrow to share with some friends. Here's the recipe:

Grandma’s Pumpkin Muffins

POINTS® Value: 3
Servings: 12
Preparation Time: 18 min
Cooking Time: 25 min
Level of Difficulty: Easy

Nothing says fall like the spice trinity of pumpkin, nutmeg and cloves.

Ingredients


	1 spray(s) cooking spray
	2 cup(s) all-purpose flour
	1 Tbsp baking powder
	1 tsp table salt
	1 tsp baking soda
	1/2 tsp ground cloves
	1 tsp ground cinnamon
	1 tsp ground nutmeg
	2/3 cup(s) unsweetened applesauce
	1 cup(s) canned pumpkin
	2/3 cup(s) sugar
	1/2 cup(s) fat-free egg substitute
	2/3 cup(s) fat-free skim milk

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Coat a 12-hole muffin tin with cooking spray. Line with cupcake wrappers if desired.
Combine flour, baking powder, salt , baking soda, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl.
Combine applesauce, pumpkin, sugar, egg substitute and milk in a medium bowl; mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon.
Add applesauce mixture to flour mixture and mix until completely incorporated.
Pour batter into muffin tins so each hole is about 2/3 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Yields 1 muffin per serving.

Notes

We use both cooking spray and muffin wrappers to prevent any batter from sticking to the top of the pan but you can use a nonstick pan instead, if you prefer.

Got a Gas Grill! Grilled Chicken Leftovers?

2009-10-09T20:17:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm totally frugal and this post may really bother some folks, but I'm going to make a confession and it isn't even "Not Me, Monday!" I have been wanting to get a gas grill for some time and have been looking on Craigslist and in the stores for one to go on sale. It seems like every time I find one for a decent price, we don't have the money at the time. So, a few weeks ago while out on a bike ride with my little Butterbean, I noticed that the neighbor up the street had put a stainless steel gas grill out for the trash. I went home and told my husband, who knows that I am not ashamed to pick up other folks discarded treasures. He was unmoved. I think his exact words were, "You don't even know if it works." Well, my dear friend and fellow treasure hunter, Pam, happened to stop by the house that night. I told her about the grill, and she agreed that we just had to run up the street and bring it home. Yes, we did some late night curb shopping. Yes, we rolled it down the street right past the Sheriff's patrol car that was parked in front of the house next door. Yes, I cleaned it up really well, and it sat there for a couple more weeks waiting for me to get some propane to test it out. I know some of you would never stoop so low as to take a gas grill off of the street, but I figure that I'm just doing my part to keep it out of a landfill...Yeah! That sounds good! I'm environmentally conservative, green and all those other buzz words that are being used today. I'm not cheap. Okay, yes, I am, but still...

Tuesday night, Pam loaned me one of her tanks which I took and filled up on Wednesday. My hubby helped me set up the tank and I tested her out by grilling up some hamburgers for my stepson and chicken breasts for my lunch today. It works!!! Tonight we at grilled chicken! I made three breasts, one for supper and two for leftovers for me and thighs for everyone else. I cooked the thighs with the skins on them and then pulled them off at the last minute to put BBQ sauce directly on the meat. I dropped the skins on the ground for our dog, but I think the chickens may have gotten more than the dog did.

On Sunday, I'm going to get my husband out there cooking hamburgers and hot dogs. I wonder how my turkey burger will taste grilled?
I'm so excited, because I love grilled food. I love having grilled chicken, because it is so useful! I'm planning on making chicken quesadillas tomorrow for lunch. I ate grilled chicken salad today. We could do grilled chicken on our Weight Watcher's Alfredo or chicken fried rice. I love chicken salad, but am not too keen on using mayo, even the light kind. My husband isn't big on casseroles, but I could do a pot pie for him. How do you use your leftover grilled chicken? Any great recipe?

New Laws Requiring Calorie Info on Menus

2009-10-08T20:02:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot of discussion about the new laws on the east and west coasts of the USA that require chain restaurants to list calorie information on the menu. The hope is that people will use this information to make healthier choices. This is specifically true for lower income families that tend to frequent fast food joints, because the food is cheap and plentiful. Now the research has been done and it doesn't look good! When given the caloric information on the menu, the average meal contained more calories than before the information was put on the menu. This doesn't bode well for those of us who would love to see the calorie counts on menus in the future! For me, it would really simplify eating out. Sometimes, I don't plan ahead and don't have time to do the online research only to find the place I'm eating doesn't have any nutritional information brochures.

I have a new plan for reducing the waistlines of Americans...instead of putting the calorie info on the menu, let's charge by the calorie! One cent per calorie would work fine! When faced with the choice of a McDonald's Double Cheeseburger with 440 calories ($4.40) or a Premium Bacon Ranch Grilled Chicken Salad with 260 calories ($2.60) which would you choose on a budget? How about the Burger King Double Whopper with cheese for $11.50 or the Veggie Whopper for $3.30? I think if charged by the calorie Americans would make healthier choices!

Another loss!

2009-10-07T11:42:00.001-07:00

Lost .8 lbs. this week! I'm thrilled, because this past weekend could have gotten me off plan! How did every one else do this week?

We also talked about spending 2 points on snacks and how to earn 2 activity points. 2 points is about 100 calories, so what are your favorite ways to spend and earn 2 points or 100 calories?
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Real Food!

2009-10-06T06:20:00.000-07:00

I love that with Weight Watcher's I can eat real food as opposed to boxed meals that some other plans require. Sure prepackaged meals are great for portion control and convenience, but I like real food. For example, this weekend I went on a ladies beach retreat. We ate out on Thursday night and Saturday lunch, but the rest of the time the meals were prepared by different ladies in the condo. If I had to eat boxed food while everyone else ate the meals prepared for us, I would have been a very unhappy woman. I blew through my weekly points over the weekend, I'm sure, but I also know that I got a good walk in on the beach both days we were down there. I did watch my portions though and tried to eat the healthy options, but Saturday we ate at Lambert's Cafe and I ate until I was miserable! I mostly ate the vegetables and took the chicken home as you can see from the picture. They give you a whole breast, but do cook it without the skin which is great! I had chicken salad made of the side that I had eaten off. I'm not sure what to do with the other half, maybe quesadillas today for lunch? Next time I go to Lamberts, I'm ordering the Veggie plate. It is a choice of 4 veggies/side items plus all the rolls and "pass arounds" you can eat. Honestly, the chicken wasn't that good; the green beans, cucumber and onions, fried potatoes, cabbage and fried okra were much better than the meat. If you like country/southern cooking, Lambert's is the place to go! We will see Wednesday how it all went.

How was your weekend?

Not Me Monday

2009-10-05T08:51:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did not make my husband go bra shopping on our Wednesday night date night, no matter what he says! I would never do that even if he is great at finding the right size in a sea of wrong sized bras. I surely don't think it might be, because he is a computer geek. I definitely would not then talk about our not going bra shopping at Bible study the next week with three other ladies and a man.

I certainly would not feed my precious child PB&J on waffles because we ran out of bread, repeatedly until I was able to get to the store, several days later.

I am not now known as "The Chicken Woman" by the newcomers to our church, because I do not offer free eggs to anyone and everyone that will take them. No, my ten hens do not produce way more eggs that our family, extended family, friends and neighbors can eat. I also have not harassed my husband repeatedly about making sure that he lets out the hens and collects the eggs while I was away this past weekend.

Wednesday Weigh In, a Challenging Weekend Ahead and the Biggest Loser

2009-09-30T20:31:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to report a loss today. I'm sad that it was only half a pound, actually .6 of a pound, but still it is a loss. I wasn't expecting much since I normally have a big loss followed by a small gain or no loss. Maybe the bike riding kept me from having a gain this week.

This weekend is going to be challenging for me though. I'm going on a ladies retreat to Orange Beach, Alabama this weekend. The ladies have teamed up to prepare meals for the weekend and we are going to go out to lunch on Saturday at Lambert's Cafe, Home of the Throwed Rolls. I'm planning on ordering the grilled chicken, because how can I go wrong with chicken right? HA! That is what I thought when I ordered the grilled chicken at supper tonight at Vera's Seafood Restaurant in Slidell, LA. The menu said that it was grilled chicken breast with BBQ sauce, mushrooms and topped with cheese. What it was though was a perfectly healthy chicken breast swimming in grease. Don't get me wrong, it was delish! But I don't know why they had to ruin a perfectly good chicken breast with grease. What is funny is that when I ordered the vegetables that go on the side, I specifically asked if they were prepared with oil or steamed. I also ordered my salad dressing on the side. I just assumed that a grilled chicken breast would be a low fat choice.

I will ask the wait person at Lambert's before I order how the chicken breast is cooked and request that they use a minimal amount of oil in cooking. I hate doing this. I hate to feel like I'm being high maintenance or picky, but I need to know that I'm doing the best for my body and I love catching those "Throwed Rolls", so I need to save some points for one of those. How do you handle eating out? Do you feel like you are giving the wait staff the fifth degree?

Where are my Biggest Loser fans? I absolutely love this show!!! Sadly, I don't love exercise enough to workout until I puke. Do you find it inspirational or frustrating knowing that what they are living is not real life?

Recycled Wardrobe!

2009-09-30T08:42:00.000-07:00

On Monday, Merry Perennial posted about the conflict we losers have with getting rid of all of our fat clothes while losing. So often, we have gained and lost and gained again that we hate to get rid of the clothes just to have to buy new fat clothes. Let me give you a hint...find someone bigger than you to give the clothes to or better yet, someone bigger who is on a weight loss journey too. Then go out and find someone who is your new size and on a WL journey to be friends with. :) You don't have the guilt of getting rid of clothes, because you gave them to someone who needs them and you can still be cheap because someone is giving you clothes. Win/Win! Except for the skinniest of your group who has to buy all the new clothes, so she can give her clothes to you! I'm in this exact triangle of sharing right now. I just wish that my friends had my taste in clothes...my skinny friend is old enough to be my mom and my larger friend is a total tomboy. Oh well, the clothes are free!

Not Me Monday

2009-09-28T11:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

So here goes...I would never run screaming into the house at my husband to come kill the snake out by the chicken coop. I had a snake try to climb in my shirt on stage while doing an animal show at Disney without flinching, so of course seeing a snake near my sweet hens would not send me screaming like a girl. Not me.

I absolutely did not tell my dear Butterbean that if she did not stop whining that she wanted more gumballs, I would leave her at home the next time Mommy decided to go for a bike ride. I mean what kind of mom buys her child sherbet with gumballs anyway.

I do not get so obsessed with every pound lost that I do not get on the scale two and three times a day especially after going number two, just to see if there is a major, miraculous change in my weight, not me!

So, how about you? What are you not doing?

Sunday Bike Ride

2009-09-27T17:13:00.000-07:00

We rode the bike to the trail head where there is a small park. Butterbean loves to slide on the wavy slide. Although she did get a little bored on the ride over, it was worth the trip. We stopped at the "quickstop" (a southern term for gas station). Butterbean got a sherbet and I got a water. I contemplated getting an energy bar or beef jerky, but did not want to pay the price in both dollars and points.
We hopped back on the bike and rode home. Both of us tired, she started whining about half way home. I stopped the bike and threatened to leave her home next time if she didn't stop. She did, and before I knew it she was telling me that the rhythmic humming of the bike chain sounded like music. She sang "Mary Had a Little Lamb" for a mile or so. She was asleep by the time we turned onto our street.
Total distance today 8 miles.
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Lost 2.5 Pounds This Week!

2009-09-23T20:21:00.001-07:00

I'm so excited! I got another 5 lb. Star! That makes a total of 41 lbs. doing Weight Watchers and 70 lbs. total! I also took a 8.56 mile bike ride.
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My new exercise buddy!

2009-09-21T18:32:00.000-07:00

She keeps me pedaling!
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Virtual Me!

2009-09-21T09:13:00.001-07:00

Prevention Magazine has a virtual model program to help you visualize you current weight and goal weight. I did it and here is my model. I must admit though it doesn't look like my actual body so much. I think they are being overly nice, by not photographing real people at my weight and putting it up there. My body has more of a rolling shape with lots of bumps and lumps, but it is really nice to see what I could look like. The pictures are in the following order: Starting weight 339#, Current 272# and Goal 150#.

Have you tried it? What are your thoughts?

Nanny state snatches kids for being too fat

2009-09-21T07:33:00.001-07:00

Nanny state snatches kids for being too fat

Shared via AddThis

After reading this news article, I feel completely conflicted. Prior to getting on the Metformin and starting Weight Watchers, I would have been completely angry and saddened by a government that would take away the kids from their parents. Now, I'm conflicted. As a fat person who has a medical problem that took 37 years to diagnose, I know the pain of having a medical condition that causes weight gain that can't be controlled. On the other hand, I found out what the problem is, got serious and started working on the problem. Losing weight isn't easy, but it is possible. So, I'm conflicted. I can't imagine being deemed an unfit parent because of my weight or because my child was obese. As a fat child of fat parents, I can't imagine how the children must feel either. I'm trying to change my family tree by losing weight. My desire is to teach my child healthy habits that will follow her through her life.

What are your thoughts? How does this story make you feel about your weight loss journey?

Lovely Blog Awards!!!

2009-09-11T06:39:00.001-07:00

I want to thank Downsizing Doc for giving me a Lovely Blog award! She is truly an inspiration to me!

Now for my awards in no particular order:

VID 00007-20090910-2011

2009-09-10T18:12:00.000-07:00

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Junk Drawers Every Where!

2009-09-06T13:05:00.000-07:00

One of the ladies in my church has a daughter just 5 months older than my sweet lil one and the other day her child was wearing the cutest little pillowcase dress. I found this lovely blog by Susan Petersen with information on how to make a pillowcase dress. Anyway, the one my friend's little girl had on was black with gold ribbons, a perfect little New Orleans Saints dress! So, I decided I had to do this too. I found an adorable print pillowcase at Dollar General today. (Did I say that I wasn't going shopping yesterday? Well, I had to anyway, because Butterbean has lost all but her black patent leather church shoes. I ended up at the grocery too, because we can't go all week without milk.) Anyway, I got home and got out the sewing machine and found ribbons that would match and started setting up to sew. I realized that the foot of my machine is missing. I remember my dear child playing with it at some point in the past year and taking it away from her. I remember putting it in a junk drawer for safe keeping, but for the life of me, I can't find it! I actually ended up running to a sewing store and spending $5 on a new one. I did get the dress made as you can see from the picture of my little one. I used ribbons instead of the bias tape, but the concept is the same.

My problem lies in the fact that I don't have just one junk draw; I have several! I have drawers, baskets, boxes and bins. Organization is a mystery to me! I read an article recently about organization and how it related to obesity. Yes, Organizing Guru Pet er Walsh has even written a book about how clutter makes you fat.
Watch CBS Videos Online I'm going to request his book from my local library and see what it says! Maybe I can tame the junk drawers!

On the other hand, Freud said that such disorganization, like obesity, can also be aggression towards others. So, maybe I'm just being aggressive toward my family? Nah, because my husband loves me fat and all. He doesn't love the clutter, but then again, he doesn't do anything to help get rid of it either.

So here is a little informal poll: Do you have a clutter problem along with your weight problem? Do you feel it is an aggressive act to be disorganized?

Progress Photos

2009-09-06T12:19:00.000-07:00

I have been asked several times for progress photos, so this post is going to be an ongoing post with my progress photos all in one spot. It makes it easier for me to see the difference in my body this way. Here they are so far with dates for each.

Food Find! Dove Miniatures Ice Cream

2009-09-03T16:02:00.000-07:00

I have a new secret pleasure! Actually, it isn't so secret if I'm sharing with Butterbean and blogging about it. Yum! My daughter and I found these at Wal-Mart. They are individually wrapped, so perfect portion control! The serving size is 5 piece s, but one is just enough for a chocolate fix. Sixty calories, four grams of fat and one gram of fiber makes them one point wonders!

They also sell a milk chocolate variety pack that has vanilla and chocolate chips, but I'm dark chocolate kind of gal.

Butterbean and I both like the ones with chocolate ice cream the best. What is your secret pleasure?

1 Point Potato Soup

2009-09-03T12:39:00.000-07:00

I LOVE potato soup. My mom always made a potato soup when I was growing up that had potatoes, onions, Velveeta and milk. (5 points/cup) I love it, but really the points aren't worth it to me. So, I have been hearing about this one point potato soup made with country gravy mix for a couple of months, but never could track down the recipe. Yesterday, my sister called and asked if I had seen this recipe. She gave it to me over the phone, so I made it this morning. I put the ingredients in the WW Recipe Builder and was pleasantly surprised with the 1 point per cup count! With just one point per cup, I can add a little grated cheese and bacon or faux sour cream (fat free Greek yogurt)!

So, here's the recipe!

1 30 oz. bag Ore-Ida O'Brien Hash Browns with peppers and onions (my sister doesn't like onions and peppers and used the Southern Style Hash Browns, but I love the onions and peppers)

2 cans of fat free chicken broth

1 packet of country gravy mix

Put hash browns and broth in the crock pot and cook on low for 4-8 hours. Mix in the gravy mix into the crock pot and cook 10-20 more minutes. Serve with grated cheese, sour cream, bacon or green onions.

Be sure you count any points for the add-ins!

Weigh-in Wednesday

2009-09-02T08:39:00.000-07:00

Well, today is my weigh-in day, but I have a child with a 102 degree fever. So, do I run to town 10 miles one way, sick child in tow, to weigh in and just skip the meeting, or do I skip it today and see how she is feeling tomorrow? She doesn't act like she is feeling badly since she has taken her medicine. The doctor's office said that since this has only been going on since Monday that they don't need she her unless she gets much worse. I think they are super busy this week. I guess we will just stay home today and see if she is better tomorrow.

Besides that, I'm not seeing any change in my home scale this week, so there will probably be no change on their scale. I really wanted to lose 2 lbs this week, so I can hit my 40 lb. WW's milestone and my 70 lb. overall milestone. Funny thing is if I do hit the 40 lb. loss, I want to do it on a regular meeting day so I can celebrate with my WW buddies! I don't want to celebrate with a different group. If someone had told me that I would feel this camaraderie about the people in my meeting back in April, I would have laughed at them, but I have the best group of folks at the Wednesday meeting!

Hope everyone is having a great week!
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Playing Refrigerator Survivor this Week!

2009-08-30T17:54:00.000-07:00

Here lies the entire contents of my refrigerator: Sam's Choice Cola (the men's) Bar-S Franks (again the men's), an almost empty sippy cup of milk (Butterbean's), various types of cheese, match stick carrots, bok choy, eggs, Oroweat Sandwich Thins, parsnips (bought for the fruit and veggie challenge at WW, still hanging in there -Anyone have a good recipe?), ham, bologna, turkey pepperoni, canned biscuits, iceberg lettuce, coconut milk, assorted condiments and pickles. My freezer is better stocked with chicken breasts, pork loin chops, ground beef, some leftovers and such. My pantry has the normal canned stuff, ramen noodles (my stepson swore he'd eat them, but hasn't), popcorn and cereal. So since my husband is going out of town tomorrow for the week, my stepson is going to be staying with his mama and I'm going to pack my daughter off to Grandma's on Tuesday morning until "one of starts to miss the other" (which for me will be Wednesday, but she can go much longer)...and the budget is rather tight this week anyway, I am going to play Refrigerator Survivor this week! The idea is to eat what is on hand without going grocery shopping for the entire week. Sadly, I know that I will have to make a stop on Tuesday for some produce, because I just can't survive on canned and frozen all week long. I'm so excited! It is going to be like when I was a single teacher waiting for the end of the month to get my paycheck!

We have also decided to do a book study on Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover at church starting in October. I read it this past summer and have been trying to get my husband on board with the budgeting and saving. He has FINALLY agreed that it is something we need to do seriously. So, we are going to get the book and workbook for each family who is interested and start the class in October. I'm thrilled! Not so much about having to live on a budget, but about getting control over our spending and starting to save money. Refrigerator Survivor fits right in to this, because in the past when my husband would go out of town, I would just end up eating out all the time instead of cooking. I'm going to keep a running total of what I am saving by eating at home this week and put that into our savings account or maybe my bicycle account, since I haven't had any serious inquiries about the treadmill on Craigslist.

I'll try to post some of the creative meals that I come up with this week and let you all know how it goes!

I'm with Garfield on This One!

2009-08-29T22:19:00.000-07:00

Sorry for it being so blurry, but I guess those Yahoo! comics folks don't want people stealing their stuff. It says: First box, "Ah!" Second, "Eggs!" Third box, "Now where's the nest with the bacon?"
This made me smile because a) I have chickens and have carried and dropped many eggs like this and b) who doesn't like bacon??? Hope everyone is having a great weekend! My stress levels are slowly going down. I think, or maybe I'm putting Keeven's advice into action and managing it.

Chores and Stress Eating!

2009-08-28T07:55:00.000-07:00

After having a wonderful day on Wednesday, it ended with a bang or rather an argument with my husband concerning his son who moved in with us a couple of weeks ago. While I'm not a neat freak, I do like things clean and tidy which seems to be impossible with a three year old and working three, yes, three part time jobs. Enter a 20 year old step-son, who leaves dirty socks, t-shirts, shorts, games, empty soda cans and candy boxes in my living room. On top of that, the yard isn't mowed and the dishes in the sink are overflowing; both chores that my son and husband are avoiding. I tell them, "If you get up from eating and go do the dishes immediately, it takes about 15 minutes." They ignore me. We used Chore Buster to divvy up the chores and since I do all the cooking in the house, I only have to clean the kitchen once or twice a week. Personally, I'm all about deadlines, but neither of the men in my house are. I feel like chores should be completed ASAP and not be put off. "Do what you have to, so you can do what you want to do." is my motto. Anyway, it has been determined that if I have a problem with my stepson, I am to complain about it to my husband and let him handle it. Any suggestions on how you handle chores in your house would be deeply appreciated!

So, with all the stress at home, I have been stress eating. Today is day 3 in my week and I have 16 flex points left for the week. I'm going to have to behave myself this week. I have got to get back on schedule. Tonight we are having dinner at church which normally throws my week off. I need to learn to stay in my points when eating other people's cooking. Anyone else struggle with this?

Update! The yard appears to have been mowed!

2.2 Pounds More!!! Gone that is!!!

2009-08-26T11:59:00.000-07:00

WooHoo! I'm down to 271.8#! Only one more and I will get another 5# star. I just live for those stars! I know it is just a silly gold star, but it represents something to me. I heard of one WWer who would buy a 5# bag of sugar every time she lost 5# and would put it on her counter as a reminder of what she had lost. While that is kind of a cool reminder, I'm not sure that I want to waste counter space on (currently) thirteen bags of sugar. By the time I hit my ultimate goal that would be a LOT of sugar! If only I could afford gold bars. I could put them on the counter. They are more dense, so they wouldn't take up as much space and in the end, I would have a nice little nest egg. As of today and at today's prices, I would have $1,043,368.32 of gold in my kitchen and you know what? That is about the right value for the weight I have lost.

My! aren't I Little Miss Sunshine today? Yuck! What is up with that! I guess I'm just pleased with my losses so far. I'm averaging 1.7# per week which I'm happy with. On the home-front, I'm ready to beat my twenty year old stepson for not doing his share around the house, but other than that, I'm in a pretty good mood.

Oh! While I am thinking about it, do you like prizes? I do!!! Prior Fat Girl has a giveaway going on for a cook book and apron. She has a couple of really great looking recipes on her blog from the cookbook too. Now, go to her blog and check it out, cook you up some chicken or fish, but if you win...ok, I'll still be happy for you.

God is blessing us! I just had a knock on the door. A lady that I met through Freecycle just came by to drop off a bike and a scooter for my daughter! I'm so excited! My little girl has been saving up for a bike for a long time now. I'm so excited to be able to give her one in the mean time while she saves up for a bigger one in the future! God is good!