That's What I Love About Sunday.......

Today started out early as the chirrens were supposed to sing at both services, with Sunday school in between. Girl wanted to wear a grass skirt ( and she has several to choose from) but we negotiated a settlement and she wore a big floral print muu muu style float dress with hot pink slides. I guess she gets that from me. Not sure.

Boy got to acting strange and wouldn't sing in the second service. I'm not sure why because he did a fantastic job in the early one. Go figure - the one where family comes to see him do it, he chickens out. Girl did a great job, but then with her "dance and drama training" I expected no less.

After a quick clean-up of the living room, starting some laundry, cleaning kids rooms and a few other little chores, Girl and I took a little nap ( for about three hours) . OF course, she "wasn't tired at all." Ha!

Since we are spending so much time in the backyard because of the pool, we bought a mondo grill earlier in the summer and we use several times a week. Tonight, we cooked a few steaks and then after everyone ate their dinner, I made some s'mores for the peanut gallery. They dearly love them and had been begging for them all day. I had planned on building a fire ring this summer so we could do them over a real fire, but so far it ain't happened. You know, one of those roundtuit projects. Maybe we can do it before fall. Honestly, just the thought of a real fire with it as hot as it is sorta makes me sweaty.

Right now, the people are in the pool splashing around and washing the s'more offa their faces. If I could have a quart sweet tea, it would be the best day in recent memory!

Thoughts for the day

From May 08 issue of Body and Soul Magazine:

1. When you commit your dreams to paper, you give them a place to take root.
2. Be mindful of where you put your attention. The shape of your life will follow.
3. When you view your health as nonnegotiable, your priorities naturally shift.
4. Positive change starts with truth, and no one knows it better than you.
5. You're more than just what you do for others.
6. Before you react to an emotion, first consider its source.
7. Learning to let go begins with understanding why you've been hanging on.
8. Do more than understand stress reduction; put it into practice.
9. There's no way to grow without taking a few risks.
10. Setting boundaries doesn't keep others out. It defines where your life begins.

Aldi - Bargain Groceries, great quality

Like everyone else in the world who is NOT a millionaire, our family is really trying to do what we can in cutting back on our spending to account for the increase in fuel costs to get where we need to go. I had known about the Aldi stores for several years, but never regularly shopped there. Now, I go there weekly and buy only very few special items at the other grocery stores and I haven't been to Wal-Mart in over a month. Monumental!

Prices are great at Aldi - generally 30-50 cents cheaper on most things, sometimes several dollars difference. Honestly, I think a lot of the products are the same as the "name brand" because the labels are very similar, just the words are different. I especially like their coffee, dairy products, lunch meat, and snack foods. They have a limited fresh meat selection, but they do have a lot of frozen stuff to choose from. Veggies are a little slim, but those can be had elsewhere. I don't use a lot of canned goods, but they do have about everything you would need. Their bread is really good and they do have some specialty bakery items.

I have been shopping there for about 6 weeks straight now and have never spent over 100.00 at any time. Together with the co-op stuff we buy each month, that makes our grocery bill even out to about 600.00 a month, which is 200.00 less than I used to spend. I think that is pretty good for a family of four with lunches being made every day and includes detergents and other household necessities. Of course, I could probably pare it down more by making more tea instead of buying soda and making the kids eat regular yogurt instead of those fun tubes, but some of those convenience items are WORTH the extra cost.

You do have to "bag your own" at Aldi , but that really isn't so bad. I save the bags from each time and re-use them as I can. I usually just pile all the stuff in the basket, then sort it into bags when I get to the car rather than stand there in the front of the store doing it.

The quality of everything there has been quite good, but I have found one thing that I didn't care for and that was a raspberry vin salad dressing. I am sure that there are those who would like it, but again, I really enjoy a huge bold flavor, and this one didn't have it. I'll probably doctor it up and use it in a chicken marinade or something, but not on salad again.

The guy there today told me that there is a Collierville location opening soon - that one might be even more convenient for us!!!!!

Big hair

Remember when we all wanted to have big, flowing, blonde hair like Farrah? I was one who always tried to get "wings" but never could get beyond "fro". I have always had curly/frizzy hair and I don't know why I thought things MIGHT be different TODAY. Last night after we went out to dinner, we strolled into the Fred's across from the restaurant. Now first of all, Fred's is an entity unto itself. It has a particular feel ( like maybe I am over dressed if I am wearing a tube top and flip flops) and smell ( not sure what the smell is, but they all smell the same). Anyway, I needed some dishwasher detergent and on the way over to look at that, I spied a set of old fashioned hot-rollers. Had to have them. Had to. I was thinking, " Maybe now that I am older and my hair is longer, I can get it to do something other than a Sammy Hagar impression."
In the bag and to the house they went.
So today I got home from work and decided to play with the rollers. I got home from grocery shopping ( at Aldi - I'll rate that for ya later) and the weekly PetCo run too late to really take a "good" nap, so I fired up the rollers and went to work. I rolled it all just like I used to way back when, sat on the bed and took off my nail polish whilst they were cooling. I was drinking some USTWPBY&L ( unsweetened tea with pink, blue,yellow, and lime) and feeling quite Farrah-like. Let me be gentle with myself and say that after the rollers were out and the thing finger-combed into place, well........I have only seen hair that big on Hee Haw when Tammy Wynette when she sang D-I-V-O-R-C-E. Funny how you remember moments in TV history like that. I think I can get some good use out of the rollers for the girl kid, but I guess the sleek, flowing , beautiful shiny Farrah-hair is still beyond my grasp.

Restaurant Review- Hazel's

Tonight while the young'uns were at VBS, Baby Daddy and I decided to go out for some dinner 'cause I didn't go to the store today and I didn't have anything thawed out and because it is Friday and honestly, I am tired. We decided to go to a little family place down in Old Town - "Hazel's". It looked really crowded when we pulled up, but was suprisingly spacious when we went inside. The server who greeted us said, "Yaw jes sit whare-ever you want. Thas the smokin side and this is the non-smokin side. " So we strolled past the stainless steel pie cooler with the glass front ( filled with mile high pie) and got us a seat. Everything was pretty utilitarian, but very clean and neat. There is the pretty typical country decor - magnolia pictures and such. The "waitress" was quick to hustle over and get our drink order. I had , of course, unsweetened tea. I will say a big bonus in their favor was that they did have pink, blue and yellow sweetener, which made the unsweetened tea taste almost as good as sugar tea. ( Most places only have one or two of the three and it really messes me up). BabyDaddy had water, so he had no comment on the drinks.

I ordered some FGT's ( that is fried green tomatoes for y'all not in the know) and was anxious to see how they compared to the best ever ( Lulu's or at home). The tomatoes were good, but they served them with some sort of sauce that was sort of a cross between ranch dressing and tartar sauce - kinda bland for my taste, but then I like stuff to nearly punch me out. With a little WOW they would have been great. I may have to send them the recipe anonymously , of course.

BabyDaddy ordered a seafood platter with some fried shrimp, catfish filets, and two stuffed crabs. It came with fries and slaw. He slurped it all down, so I reckon it was good. I got the fish plate with two catfish filets and turnip greens and cole slaw. ( fiber is my friend). I am a harsh judge when it comes to catfish, because my own little Daddy cooks it the best of anyone I have ever known, living or dead . The fish tasted ok, but the two pieces I got were a little thin and maybe because of that they were cooked a bit long for the thickness. I like it a little bit crunchy, though, so it was passable. I loved the greens - just the right amount of pork essence ( ok, fatback) and salt and I thought maybe a little bit of heat. I didn't try the hushpuppies because I had already had the fish and I didn't need to overdo on the carbs. My daddy makes good hushpuppies too, so there was no point in eating those and adding to my carb load.

When the server came back and asked about dessert, my diabetic conscience immediately said, "No thanks, I am full. " Baby Daddy said that he wanted some pie, so she rattled off the choices......lemon meringe, coconut cream, apple, and pecan cobbler. I ain't never heard of pecan cobbler - not sure how that one would work, but my teeth are rotting just thinking about it. Anyway, he got the coconut, and started smacking away. So , to save him from himself and for the sake of the review, I had to have one little taste. It is good that he was down to the last bite when I jumped in with my tea spoon, cause it was awesome. Down-home places always know pie. They can't make fajitas wortha durn, but pie- they got. That little Carb Devil that is always sitting on my shoulder was about to knock my little Atkins Angel to the floor. I might have fought him for that pie if I had had a monitor with me to see exactly how much I could have without going too high. I only got about a half teaspoon, so I guess it was ok.

When we got the check, we popped up to the register, said "Hey y'all " to some folks we knew from church who had wandered in, and then paid the bill. It was about 30.00. That was with crabs AND pie! Great value, good food, great service. The impression I got was that I had walked into Mel's diner, only Southern style.

I hear they have good breakfast too, so we will certainly be going again, and maybe take the kids next time!

The answer to an Age -old question.......

Do cats like to swim?

Uh, no.

Pics from VBS

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!!!

Whooo hooo! It's Friday! Of course, I don't know why I would be excited except that I won't have to make lunches tomorrow or get the kids up and ready to go anywhere. I still have to go to work, but it will be only half a day.

On the news this am, there is a 3 year old who is a member of Mensa - someone that smart is freaky and scarey if you asked me. She is incredibly cute, but still, wow. She said her first words at age 4 months.

Well, time to get the hair under control and put on my new ebay dress that I got for 5 dollars. My whole ensemble today will be worth less than 10.00.......it is really a challenge to make the dollars stretch, but when it costs 60.00 to fill up my little suv, we all need to be trying to save where ever we can!

America's Greatest Dog

I am watching this "reality" show called America's greatest dog. The stars for me so far are the bulldog, "Tillman" ( because the dog is funny) and "Star" the brittany spaniel ( because her owner has such a gentle attitude toward her). Some of the participants are JUST LIKE people I have seen in the hospital as well as in the pet store and in training classes.

Yeah! Bill and "Star" won tonight! That is so great........ and they tossed the giant schnauzer out because the owner was a wench with her.

Oh well......I have to say that everyone thinks their own dog ( or their own kids) are the greatest, just as they should. I know I think mine are!

Day Off

Today we spent the day at the zoo and my nephew's ball games. I didn't make it to the game tonight because my kids had to be at VBS and Norm was still working when it was time to drop them off. I pick them up at 8:30, then we will be having a "pool party" here with the family and the stray members of the ball team who want to come. I boiled a big mess of shrimp today and have some corn and potatoes RTG. We have a bunch of tube lights strung around in the yard, so we should be able to see pretty well in the dark.

Right now, I am watching Alton Brown demonstrate how to break down a crab. I prefer to just buy it "already did," but I guess if we lived where the beach beetles were common, I'd need to practice a bit. Blue crabs only yield 15% of their body weight in edible meat.....no wonder it is so expensive! I love Alton Brown!

Should I????

I have been thinking about doing a "colon cleanse". There are a jillion of them out on the market, no way to know which one to try. From what I have read online, they definately cause excitement after you have been on it a few days. Oh well....I gotta think on this a bit more!

Cool and Zesty Salad Dressing

Tonight I had my second "big salad" of the day and had to choose either ranch or italian dressing. I voted no to both and searched the cabinets for another candidate. I found a forgotten bottle of "Grandma's Cool and Zesty Sugar Free Salad Dressing" way back in the back of the top shelf. I remember buying it, but not sure why we didn't eat it. Hmmmm.....

Anyway, I gave it a try and was pleasantly surprised. It is a sweet vinegarette with pretty mild spices. I think it would be good on a cucumber and onion type salad, or maybe as part of a cole slaw.

No sugar, but a lot of oil. I liked it, but maybe not the best choice for a plain lettuce and tomato salad. The bites of onion and peppers in my salad were great with it, but it was a little bland with the rest of it.

Great Dessert Recipe

Ok, I can't have this anymore, but some of y'all can. Only thing I might change on this is that I might make it with pound cake instead of Angel food, but you could probably use any cake you want. Maybe even TWINKIES??????

~Strawberry Cheesecake Triffle~
2 (8 ounce) bars cream cheese, softened
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 cup regular or lower-calorie sour cream
1 teaspoon EACH pure vanilla extract AND pure almond extract
2 quarts fresh strawberries, quickly rinsed in cool water, patted dry on paper towels, stemmed, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons sugar
1 (12-ounce) container Cool Whip or 1/2 pint heavy cream (whipped with 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspon vanilla)
1 angel cake, torn into bite-size pieces (homemade or storebought)
Additional Cool Whip for the top
Whole strawberries, cut into fan-shapes
Fresh mint leaves
.
In large bowl, blend together cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth.Stir in sour cream, vanilla and almond extracts. Set aside. Combine strawberries with sugar and set aside.Fold Cool Whip into cream cheese mixture.Fold angel food cake gently into the Cool Whip mixtureIn a large glass serving bowl, layer in this order:1/3 of the strawberries, 1/2 cake & cream mixture, 1/3 strawberries then the remaining cake & cream mixture.Add the remaining strawberries to the top.Top with extra Cool Whip, if desiredDecorate with fan-shaped berries and mint leavesCover and chill at least one hour.
.
Notes:
Try mixing regular flavor Cool Whip with Strawberry-flavored Cool Whip.Substitute heavy whipped cream for the Cool Whip, if desiredUse fresh blueberries or peaches in place of strawberries.Krogers makes a delicious sour cream-flavored angel food cake that is good in this dessert.

Mere Words....

Sometimes, mere words are not enough to express how we feel about the world around us.

There has got to be a reason for craziness.......

Is there a full moon tonight???????

I Miss Sweet Tea!

Here is an excerpt from my new favorite magazine, Garden and Gun. It is like Southern Living, with an Edge.

"Sweet tea is the devil's brew, blood-sugar-wise. A glass of sweet tea is around 22 percent sugar, twice that of a can of cola. Add to that the ubiquitous free refills one is accustomed to getting with sweet tea, and you're looking at enough sugar to choke Augustus Gloop. When you drink sweet tea, your body starts to pump out insulin like water from a fire hose. Then, you have the caffeine. Which stimulates your adrenaline. Which confuses your metabolism. And keeps you from feeling sated, as one normally would after swallowing that much sweetness. Only a select few can eat seven pieces of cheesecake at a sitting, for example. But nearly everyone I know nods and says, "Just one more" when the lunch lady comes around toting the clear pitcher with the rubber band snapped around the handle.

Say what you will, but sweet tea is the real hillbilly heroin. To say Southerners drink sweet tea like water is both true and not. True because the beverage is served at every meal, and all times and venues in between—at church and at strip clubs, at preschools and in nursing homes. Not true because unlike water or wine or even Coca-Cola, sweet tea means something. It is a tell, a tradition. Sweet tea isn't a drink, really. It's culture in a glass. Like Guinness in Ireland. Or ouzo in Greece. "

I came across this article in Philadelphia, Ms while at a veterinary conference and immediately decided to find it the minute I got home and file it in my "Cool stuff to keep." So much of what it says is true! I do truly miss a big fat glass of swwwweeeetttt tea with crushed ice and a little piece of lemon ( or lime). Like I have said before, diabetes really busts the fun balloon!

My grandmother used to make her tea so sweet that you could see the swirls of melted sugar in the pitcher if you held it up to the light. She always made two pitchers for a Sunday dinner and had them waiting on the side table with a "tea towel" over the top.

In the past, people who had to have unsweetened tea were pityed ( not sure how to spell that, but it is pity in the past tense) and provided with whatever artificial sweetener was lingering behind the garlic powder. Now, there are lots of artificials that are not too bad, although I have found that the perfect tea or coffee compilation is : one yellow, one blue, and one pink. Sometimes two of each if it is a "route 44" size cup. The only bad thing is that they all come in different count boxes and it is near impossible to make them all come out equally in the end. OCD anyone?????

Read Garden and Gun.....it is a great magazine and really does give a great "pitcher" of modern Southern life.

Fat me, newer me

Here's a picture from about a year ago, and one taken about 4 months ago.......I had lost about 40 lbs in the second picture, so take 10 more offa that and add about 3 inches of hair and you can tell what I look like now.

The cute puppy is our little Mini Australian Shepherd, Bindi Su. She is a psycho as most herding breeds have the potential to be. The flowerdy dress is a real muu muu

from Hawaii that I bought at the thrift store for 4.00. Girl picked it out and with a rapturous look said, " Mama, isn't this just gorgeous? Since it wouldn't fit her, I bought it for me and now it has become a big joke. I wear it around the house, and honestly, I like it. I now see why old ladies wear what we used to call "dusters". Maybe I'm and old lady now.

My hair is looking almost like an albino rastamon right now- gotta go glue it down before the grandparents arrive.

Dramatic weight loss

I just got an e-mail from a friend who wanted to know EXACTLY how I have lost all this weight. Well, it is not too hard to explain how and why, but it has been hard to do it.
Basically, it started in December when I was cramming chocolate dipped shortbreads in as fast as I could. I decided that since my sister had recently been diagnosed with diabetes, that I should check my blood sugar. Well, needless to say I made my own diagnosis.

After a trip to the doctor, the drugstore, and a diabetes education class, I came up with a way of eating that has really worked for me. So far I have lost 52 lbs and have gotten my glucose under excellent control.

So, these are the "rules" I came up with. They are not really specific for any of the "diabetic diets" that are out there, but if I had to say it is fairly close to the SouthBeach diet, with some modifications. I don't measure portions so much anymore, but I did at first.
1. Get a book that lists calories, portion size, carbs, fat and fiber
2. Eliminate as much "white food" as possible. Exception is cauliflower - help yourself to that.
3. Establish a short list of "taboo" foods that you can't have at any time and learn to deal with it. On my list are: sweet tea, watermelon, fruit juice. These all make my blood sugar skyrocket , so I just choose to eliminate them from my choices. I drink as much crystal light, tea with splenda, water, and diet coke as I want.
4. Don't buy things that you are not supposed to eat. If you have to have a cookie, buy them in the sugar free form, then freeze them. Take only one serving out of the freezer at a time and eat it. The inconvenience makes overindulgence less likely to happen.
5. Watch portion size until you get a "handle" on how much of what you should have.
6. I aim for 3 meals and 3 snacks daily.
7. At meals, I usually have a protein and about 15 grams of carb from whole grains, then whatever vegetable I want. Obviously at breakfast, I am skipping the veg, and often I don't do the carb then either.
8. Snacks are limited to 15 g of carb, no matter what they are. You HAVE to either consult your book or read the label to figure this out. The before bed snack may be the most important because it will keep your liver from pumping out extra glucose during the overnight "fast".
9. If you are faced with a situation where you HAVE to eat something you really shouldn't, just eat a couple of bites and eat a lot of a "safe" food with it. I was able to eat Mexican at a party by having my fajita without the tortilla and I even had a tablespoon of refried beans and a margarita and my glucose was still less than 100 after the meal. I had a bit of key lime pie too, so I really felt like I participated and was not deprived.
10. Biggest rule: test, test, test. Did I say test? Since everyone is different, the only way to tell what foods you can tolerate is to test about 1 hour after the beginning of a meal. I found that sugar-free, fat free yogurt with fruit makes me have BG of 140 or so. If I am going to have a glucose of 140 once in a while, it is going to be as a result of something I REALLY enjoy, not a stinky dinky diet yogurt! I test three times daily at different times.


While this plan for me was mostly to control glucose, it has dramatically helped me to lose a lot of weight over a short period of time. My loss has slowed WAY down now, but I feel good and am doing well otherwise. Hopefully, I will be able to lose 20-25 more lbs and be off my diabetic medications.

I do exercise moderately too. Of course, you know that I am what I call an "oppositional exerciser", meaning that I will do it, but I complain the whole time. I have been taking belly dancing classes ( on a break right now) and I ride an exercise bike anywhere from 2-6 miles every night. I don't believe I burn up enough calories to account for any weight loss at all, but I feel like it sets my metabolism up higher and it curbs hunger.

Well...there it is. Hope it helps!

I think I'm addicted!

I honestly think I am addicted......to chihuahua dogs. I have always had a co-dependant thing with dogs, but I have just become obcessed with these little rat-dogs. This morning, Dixie ( the former starving stray, turned empress of our kingdom) was under the covers with her bottom sticking out near my head and started wagging her tail, "dusting" my face with it. I asked her to quit and she just wagged harder. Then the cat jumped off the bed and got on the nightstand and started picking my glasses up and dropping them, repeatedly, so that I would get up. I think they were in cahoots about it. This little cat never seemed that smart, and she is 10 years old! It may have something to do with the fact that she LOVES the new food and was ready for a refill of the big bowl.

Girl and I were talking about the dogs the other day and she said that she thought we needed "just one more little baby , 'cause Allie is all grown up now." Well, you just never know! ;)

One More Product Review before bed....

Ok, I know it is freaky to keep reviewing salads, but here I go again. I picked up the "Fresh Express Caribbean Chicken Salad " kit at Schnuck's this am and had it for lunch.

Extra cool packaging with the little chips of mango and tortilla in separate compartments from the chicken. Dressing was in a cup that fit into the lid as well. The greens were nice and crisp. The chicken didn't really have much island flavor, but the mango vinagrette made up for it. I would have loved ot have had a big slice of purple onion in it because I think that goes great in a sweet dressing. Price was 4.99 which isn't too bad. The package said that it was 14 g carb per serving and there were 3 servings in each kit. I find it hard to believe that there are three lunch size portions in there because I ate the whole thing very easily. I 'm sure most of those carbs came from the dressing and the mango chips . There might be 3 servings if you planned on having a sandwich too.

Overall I would give this one 5/5 stars for packaging and convenience, 3/5 for taste , and 3/5 for nutrition because of the 42 g carbs. Maybe they could try and make the dressing with some splenda! Hmmm...sounds like a recipe challenge!