Struggles.........Struggles...........

I am not the biggest loser as yet..........but still trying. The inches are coming off, sloooowly. Last weigh-in and measurement taking found me at 24.5 inches and I seem to be waivering between 9 and 12 lbs. My goal is to have lost 15lbs total by the end of this month. That would be right on target with losing 3lbs per month. For me...........that would be a miracle!!!! I don't know why it is taking so long to lose the pounds..........but I guess just maintaining is better then nothing AND hey, I didn't gain the weight fast.......it crepted on and it probably will creep off too.

In my previous blog I mentioned that the husbands car broke down, well it is fixed now to the tune of $272.........yikes. I just don't know why it costs so much to fix a car. Would we be better with a newer car? Or, keep the old and pump $$$ into it. I don't know. I don't know if I could handle driving a brand new car, as I would not know how to act!!!!! But then..........I could learn very quickly.....lol.

Not much happening, excercise tomorrow, pay some bills, and make some cards. I think........I was invited for an outing on a platoon????? Sounds like fun, if I go I will let you know about it when it happens, if it does. So have a great day.
Louise

HERE'S MY COOKBOOK~~~~YAY!

Here it is .................pretty cool huh? Was thumbing through it and found a neat cabbage recipe, have not tried it yet but when I do, will certainly report on it. So here is the first recipe from my new cookbook:

1 cup cabbage, 1 tablespoon parsley, 1 package diet sweetner (I will use splenda), 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, 1 package IAW chicken or IAW beef soup (you can use boullion cubes), Caraway seed to taste.
In a small sauce pan combine all ingredients: cook over medium heat until cabbage is tender. (Approximatley 10-15 minutes) Serves 1 person 92 calories, 6 gram carbohydrates, 0gm of fat, 17 gms protein. Note: The cooked cabbage was very good, I would cut down on the splenda and not so much pepper......totally forgot the parsley. I better try it again, as we have alot of parsley growing and I still have some cabbage in the refrig.

Bad news for the day, the husband just got home from his trip to Green Bay. The car broke down.....alternator problems he thinks, plus the bearings are going out. Sometimes I hate old cars cause they just drain you of all your money. We still have a big bill at the service station where we have our cars fixed. Both of them are old, mine is a '96 and husbands is a '94. I wish we had the money to invest in a new car but that is just not in the budget. Oh well, "se' la vie'" what will be, will be.

Getting kind of nervous about these swine flu shots that just may become mandatory to take. Have you been keeping up with all the different ingredients that are included in this vaccine? I have a deep concern as to why they are forcing this on us and want to pump all these poisons into our systems.............hummmmm.........I wonder if the president and his family and "all the kings men" will have to take the swine flu vaccine or is it just "US SUB HUMANS" Sorry, I have been reading alot of stuff lately that makes me wonder. Just how really free are we????????? Go to http://www.freedomfighterradio.net/ for the ingredients for the Swine flu.

I am going to close this blog for now and find that website you can go to that actually has all the ingredients in the swine flu vaccine...............you will be shocked!!!! To say the least.
Louise

Labor Day.......and Chicken Soup.......

Today was Labor Day and I labored at Dollar General today doing the Switch out of Summer Promo Cards to CHRISTMAS, THANKSGIVING AND HALLOWEEN!!!!!!! Oh my goodness, is it that time already?

I met a little (about 4ft9" tall) old lady today, her name is Eileen and she is 85yrs old. She wanted to tell me about a card she bought a while back, it was called "A message from Heaven" and she felt her husband (who died 16 years ago) was speaking to her through it. She had gotten the last card and had hoped who ever ordered them would get some more. She was told at the checkout counter that I come in every Wednesday. Today she came in not knowing I was there and told me about the card. I said perhaps it was God speaking to her through the card and she said "oh yes" and I said God gave her a hug from her husband and she said "oh yes" from there we started talking about God. Turns out she is a bible scholar with a few degrees. It was quite the blessing to talk to her although I really did not have the time and had to get back to my work. It was one of those encounters that you just know it was God ordained and that I was supposed to be there today, not exactly sure why, but if it was just to be encouraged............it was well worth the time for me being at Dollar General laboring on Labor Day!!!!

It was also kind of nice to know that all my work is not in vain that someone actually got blessed by the cards I put up every week for the last couple of years.

Nothing else much happened today. Made some wonderful chicken soup today. Here is the recipe:
I baked one whole chicken in the oven with potatoes and carrots and Emeril seasonings for about 2 hours. We had a nice chicken dinner Friday night and Saturday. Then I turned what was left of the chicken into SOUP. Placing the rest of the carcus into a pot of hot water and cooked for a couple of hours, put in some Watkins chicken base soup, then let it cool down before putting in the refrig.

Tonight (Labor Day) I took the chicken out of the refrig and out of the pot. Deboned the chicken and put it back in the pot. Cut up one small zuccihni, carrots, added onion powder, paprika, and about 1/2 cup of spegetti sauce and some egg noodles and let cook for a bit, took off the burner and "wah la" a very tasty soup, JP really liked it alot............really have to remember that recipe.........well now its in my blog and will be archived............must change my title to........there....'Labor Day......and Chicken Soup..........." calorie wise......I don't know what the calories are, just too good to count.

Well, I think I will close this blog for today. Tomorrow is another day at Dollor General, have to do the audit on the reading glasses and sunglasses. And then on to exercise at "Inches A Weigh"......I am not too sure I lost any weight as I don't do alot of exercise on the weekends. Well, hopefully I will have lost a pound.

Have a good day................Louise

♥I WON♥I WON♥

YES, YES...........I won a cookbook from "Inches A Weigh" YAY!!!!!!! I am so excited!!! Here's how it happened. I had been wanting to get the cookbook, which costs $25......one of the counelors said, "Louise why don't you wait and see if you can win the cookbook as there is a contest starting, and one of the prizes is the cookbook?" I thought..........oh, so long to have to wait........but waited, I did.

The contest consisted of a baseball diamond and every pound you lost, took you to either 1st base, 2nd base or 3rd base, or 4 lbs gave you a home run!!!!! I only managed to get around all 4 bases ONCE.........never quite getting around again. Sooooo, that meant I only had 1 entry in the box. Yesterday was the big day and names were picked and, and, and, TA DAAAAAAA.......I won the cookbook!!!!!!!

Well, now I should have some fun making new recipes for JP and I with the Inches A Weigh cookbook. Next post, I will show you what my new prize looks like and perhaps I will give you a tried and true recipe...........I will be like Julie, who tried all of Julia Child's recipes in her french cookbook.................I will try all the recipes in the Inches A Weigh cookbook and give you a full report.....lol!!!!

Talk to you later, have to get ready to go collect my prize~Louise

September 3, 1918

This will be short...............every year, on this date, I think about my earthly Father. He would have been 91 years old today if his life had not been cut short by a heart attack at the age of 42. Sad, I still miss him after 48 years. I sometimes wonder, had my dad lived longer, would things have been different? Would I have been in a different place, spiritually, physically and mentally? I will always wonder.

I loved my dad very much, the sun rose and set on him. Oh well, life does go on, with and without people you love. You try and do the best you can with what you got and just keep going. I've kept going, but there has always been that little part of me that will always miss her daddy.

Have a great day!!! Told you this would be a short one.
Louise

♥♥♥Beautiful Day Today♥♥♥

I love this time of the year......and to make it even better the weather is gorgeous today..........almost heavenly!!! But alas I have to get ready to do a few jobs today, going out and about in the traffic...........sometimes I like to just stay home, can find lots to do and then there is always going into my little studio to make a few cards, which is what I did last night..........here's a picture. This was a "unique technique" using alcohol inks on one side of a piece of vellum then stamped the image of a lighthouse on the other side of the vellum, embossed with black and gold embossing powder. Layered vellum on white cardstock and punched two holes on the side and ran ribbon through the picture. Again layering on black cardstock then on the card, embellishing with gold stickers. Turned out really nice, although it is hard to see in this picture. I want to make some more cards like this, but I need to fine thicker vellum for this project, thin vellum does not work well. Curls up.

I found this wonderful cookbook at Savers (a second hand store)the other day....Graham Kerr~The Galloping Gourmet~1970 vintage cookbook for 99cents. Has some wonderful recipes in it. There were a couple I thought I might try.........like maybe the Beef Stroganov, London Broil and Mushroom Salad sounded good some of the other recipes were very complicated. But then guess that would be the fun of making it.

Did you get a chance to see "Julia and Julie" do go, it was really fun to watch. Heard yesterday that Julia Child's cookbook "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" is the #1 best seller because of the movie. Alas, I am on a waiting list at the library to get her cookbook. Julia cooked with alot of Butter and Cream........yikes........lots of calories for sure. I would like to try her beef stew........of course that was not the "French" word for it...........on this tv program they said they figured one serving of this wonderful, succulent stew had 993 calories in ONE serving. Now I don't know if that was a cup or two cups or what.......but Julia used real bacon chunks, butter, cream and of course meat and vegies AND MUSHROOMS!!!!! I love mushrooms, and they are good for you too!!!

Well, I think I better close this blog for today, need to get ready for work, only have two jobs today, but they are in opposite directions. Dollar General in Kaukauna is a round trip of 16 miles, so I will be gone most of the day, if I get ready now, and get out of the house by 1:30, I could be home by 6:00pm or so.

Well, you have a great day and keep looking up!!!

Louise

Making Progress..........

This will be short and sweet today.........

Got measured and weighed at "Inches A Weigh" I lost 2.5 inches in one month.........YAY!!! I can feel it as my clothes are feeling less snug and I can bend down. This is a good thing, I would recommend "Inches A Weigh" to anyone wanting to make a change in their life.

As for the weight.........mmmmmm..........still stuck at the loss of 12 lbs.........but that is good too! The weight councelor said I am eating TOO many almonds...............but I can't stop eating them!!!!!! "You can only have 10 almonds per day" she said.............I would like to eat an ounce at one sitting, cause they are so good when I need and want a "salt fix" if I can't have chips, this is the next best thing. But alas, she said "almonds with NO salt"..........she is taking the fun out of it!!!!!!

I was just reading the other day about how you should only eat "living" food, no processed foods anymore!!!!!! NO, NO, NO! Fruits, vegies, nuts, eggs, meats, (now a vegetarian would not like to hear that one.........but I will eat meat, cause GOD made ALL things GOOD)

Anyways, I think I would like to try for 5 lbs in September, that will be my goal and another couple of inches, hopefully my weight October 1st will be a success.

I saw a wonderfull blog today..........the girl does wonderfully, beautiful drawings, here is her blog address: http://www.nicominixturner.blogspot.com/ and her Etsy store: http://www.specimenjars.etsy.com/
I think I will start trying to sketch alittle this winter, that sounds like fun...........get back to my roots.

Well, I am closing here, you all have a great day!!!!
Louise