I am probably still alive, but probably not happy about it.  My MRI results came back in, and to be honest I’m waiting on MY doctor to call back with a plan of attack because the results weren’t great.  The doctor who read the MRI had his plan but he wasn’t aware that I was already seeing one of the doctors there (the very doc who delivered me) and he was aware of all of the wound care that was going on. I brought that up and have been waiting about 24 hours for somebody to call me back.

I know I will probably have to have IV antibiotics but how they will be administered is up in the air.  We’re hoping for home health care and a PIC line rather than a hospital stay, but I want whatever is easiest on my husband.  He needs some kind of a break, although he’d never admit it.  As long as I continue to breathe he’ll never have a break, and I just don’t like being such a burden upon him.  That’s something else he’d never say or admit, but how can it not be true?

So anyway, if I just stop being around for several days they decided to do IV at the hospital.  I don’t know if they have WiFi but I DO know that if I have heavy pain killers I will not be allowed near a phone or my blog because I tend to, um, be crazy. 

On top of all that, our water pump decided to die on us.  Thank God for family is all I can say about that whole experience. 

As you can imagine my nerves are hanging by a thread, and I’m not sure they’ll make it through the rest of the week….and it’s Tuesday!

I have to say that a part of the reason my posting has been quite low this month is partially due to depression.  In fact, I’m sure that it has been.  The month of April is a bittersweet month for me for a couple of reasons, although in the greater scheme of my life as a Christian I should look at both events as  happy events.  Someday I hope I can reach that peace in my heart.

April is a month I used to look forward to every year.  It was a month of celebration in our home,  the month that in 1987 my parents completed our family.  It was the month in which my brother, Ty, came to live with us.  He was a 4-month-old fat, screaming bundle of sweetness.  I remember the day with such clarity, how my parents made me go to school that day while they went to “become new parents” for the second time in their lives to a baby boy.  I remember how I couldn’t wait for him to arrive…and soon after, when sibling rivalry set in, how I would have given him away.  I used to tell people we bought him at Kmart.  Yep, I was a bargain shopper at a young age.  I mean, don’t normal people buy their babies at Sears or something

That little baby has grown into a 23-year-old man that I’m so very proud to call my brother and my friend.  He is successful no matter what he does, a hard working, independent, responsible young man who’s creating a life for himself that I am confident will be nothing but prosperous and happy.  He has a level head on his shoulders and doesn’t make rash decisions that lead to harsh consequences like so many other young people have done; I’d like to think that he’s learned from a few of my own mistakes on that front!  He can stretch a penny til it pops and he’s been like that all his life.  I’m surprised he still does not have birthday checks from my grandparents from when he was a child; he’s always been a saver that could rival Dave Ramsey any day.  I love you, Ty, and I’m so proud God chose the perfect brother for me.  Thank you for 23 years of love.  We’ve always celebrated April 29 as Ty’s “Special Day” typically with cake and ice cream, and of course gifts.  It is a birthday of sorts; he gets the gifts now but we got the gift for life.

The year 2005 was going just like any other year, and we were coming in on the 2ndyear of our marriage.  We were living a couple of hours away from my family, the last time I ever intend to do that, but we were happy.  I was working in a job that paid decently but had wonderful benefits, and we’d pretty much learned by that point that my husband’s main “job” had to be my care because of our circimstances.  We were still having trouble making others realize our reasons for our lifestyle but, well, you do what you gotta do to survive, right?  We wanted to be married, and that’s what we’ve done.

I called my dad on his cell phone one day that I was off during the week in April.  It was odd that I couldn’t reach any of my family at home or on their cell all day, but I never suspected anything was wrong.  That phone call changed my life forever, and that week changed something inside me forever.  It was the first real time in my life that nobody, not one single person, could say or do anything at all to make things better.  My grandmother was dying, and on April 29, 2005, she went to live with our Lord. 

Losing her on that particular day, Ty’s Special Day, was an even bigger blow.  Why God chose that particular day to take her Home  was a true test of faith, and I’m afraid I have failed that test so far.  While I’m aware that Nannie had a wonderful, long (she was 88), usually happy life with her family, I was not yet ready to let her go.  Selfishly, I wanted her here with me.  No, I never wanted her to be sick or to suffer.  I just didn’t want to let her go.    I hope to someday forget some of the details of the last phone call to my dad who told me she was dying, and of the sight of my brother crying.  That’s one sight that breaks my heart more than any other. 

Today, 5 years after that horrific day, I can honestly say I remember old times from my childhood more than I have in the past rather than the thought of her being gone.  I no longer cry every day as I did the first two years she was gone.  This year, her birthday on March 11 was the first of her birthdays since she died that I didn’t cry.  She gave me unconditional love and support, and a lifetime of happy, wonderful memories.  she bought me my first Cabbage Patch Doll.  I spent many hours in her floor when I was “too sick” to go to school watching TV (ahem, cough cough).  She made the best scrambled eggs and the best peanut butter cake ever but probably the worst biscuits   I can say that now without feeling like a horrible person betraying her by saying something bad. 

The song, “I Can Only Imagine”, was played at her funeral at my request.  My cousin Dale preached the funeral and thought I picked a good song.  We can only imagine how good it will be to see God’s facefor the first time, and we can only imagine how it will feel to shed all our worldly handicaps and problems to be in a place where only love exists.  I can only imagine being with her and my Poppy again (my grandfather, her husband); how joyous that day will be!

If you’ve never heard this song, please listen closely.  It’s a beautiful song. No matter your beliefs or your religion, this song will speak volumes to you.   By no means am I pushing religion upon anybody; I’m the last person to ever do that.  I’m simply paying tribute to the 2 people who mean so much to me, and whose mere existence has forever changed my life for the better.

I am working on the grocery ads for the week, as much as I can get finished.  Other than that I will be taking most of the rest of the day off.  My husband has a bit of dental surgery being done that may take up most of the day.  Hopefully I will get a chance to announce giveaway winners, too.

Albertville, Alabama is a very small town that a lot of people have never heard of.  Its also the town I have called home for 30 years.   i don’t even really live inside the city limits, but it is the nearest “big” town near us. It’s a very peaceful place,  and when you’re there you feel like nothing bad will ever happen. 

But unfortunately it did.  Last night, a tornado hit and many, many people lost their homes or had their homes damaged severely by the storms.  My grandparents will be without power for 3 days, but they were just fortunate that their house was untouched.  I just thank God that nothing happened to them.  Schools were damaged to the point that they aren’t sure how students are going to finish out the school year.

I want to let my local readers know that I am praying for you, and if you were affected by this storm please let me know if there’s something we can do to help you.  I plan on donating some toiletries in a day or two once I get them all together and figure out where to take them.   I wish I could do more.  We have a few out of town appointments this week but when we get back home I will be seeing what I can do to help.  I have never seen such destruction and devastation in my life that happened so close to home. 

The video above came from WAATV, and you can almost see the devstation and destruction of the homes and businesses in the area.  I hope that none of you were injured and you all have safe, warm, comfortable places to live until all of your homes are taken care of.

May God bless each and every one of you.

Kristin

 Editor’s note: When you see a long paragraph in italics, it’s a personal story/rant/tidbit you may or may not care about which has little to do with the post, but my mind sometimes drifts into places that are deeper than I intend.  I find myself typing things I probably shouldn’t but someday I may want to read what I was thinking today.  God knows I probably won’t remember it next week!  Those things are meant for me, and if you want to read them go right ahead.  But you can skip over them without losing any content whatsoever.  For future reference, if I find myself drifting into those places I’ll just put this (Warning: Rambling ahead) above the post so that you’ll know there’s places you may want to skip.  I’ll try to keep it at  a minimum but we all know I can’t do that, don’t we?

And yes, I have gotten addicted to crossing out words because it was a function I didn’t have in Blogger, and it’s fun right now.  I’ll outgrow the childish fun soon. Maybe.

Chances are if you’ve watched any daytime TV, or read a magazine lately, you’ve heard about Hungry Girl, a.k.a.  Lisa Lillen.   I first “met” Hungry Girl, author of such life savers like Hungry Girl: Recipes and Survival Strategies for Guilt-Free Eating in the Real World,  when I was watching The Rachael Ray Show.   Rachael is annoyingly perky but the show’s content is mostly useful. I decided to see if Hungry Girl could help me in my journey to save my life by losing my extra weight.  The first step?  Chocolate cake, of course!

Hungry Girl spends her time finding ways to make good food, like cake, creamy pasta and friend foods, healthy.  She even makes “healthifed” versions of store bought snacks and frozen convenience food.  She really got my attention when she started talking about such delicious desserts like chocolate cake.  How in the heck can you take a chocolate cake mix and add pumpkin to it without altering the flavor so much that it tastes like my cooking??  I was curious, because the one thing that keeps me from beating my weight battle every time is sugar.  Well, carbs in general really but my biggest battle is and has always been with candy and desserts.

I am addicted to anything with carbs- pasta, bread, cake, candy….I just can’t say no.  I could beome a vegetarian easily, I could give up (although I failed so far) carbonated drinks, but oh man I’d almost rather lose an arm than give up carbs.  OK, now I will say REALLY fast that I’m joking because the last time I prayed for surgical weight loss my leg was amputated.  Be careful what you pray for because you may get it!  The funny thing was that the leg that was amputated was the skinniest part of my body.  Oh it was a cruel twist of fate…even crueller than the fact that I thought I had AD&D insurance, and I didn’t.  Somehow if I’d been paid $30,000 for losing an already-useless leg, I wouldn’t have been quite as heartbroken.  Money doesn’t, and will never buy happiness.  In fact from what I have seen it does the exact opposite, but that meager amount of money (by some standards) could have turned our lives around a lot.  Oh well, no use crying over it right?  God knows what He wants my life to be but I am really starting to wish He’d tell me.  Or am I lsitening?  Do I know how to listen?  That question races through my mind a lot.  Needless to say that wasn’t a fun time in life so let’s go back to talking about Hungry Girl.

Wow.  That was an ADD rant in full force, wasn’t it?  Sorry!! 

My journey to lose all my extra weight is going to be a long one, and will likely be a slow and bumpy road.  I’ve done relatively well not drinking my calories, other than the occasional glass of skim milk, but Pepsi Max has become my biggest diet buddy.  This is a habit my bladder really wants me to break but that’s a story for the doctor to gripe at me for (and my mom & dad I’m sure).  I’ll kick the soft drink habit eventually, no doubt, but actually starting to lose weight is most important so I re-prioritized my plan and decided to start finding ways to alter my diet.  I don’t drink a lot of soda anyway, because I did kick the habit cold turkey a few years ago. I search for reduced fat or non-fat versions of food I eat.  I was thrilled when I heard the cake tip.  Hungry Girl, will you please take my Maw Maw’s chicken and dumplings and make them healthy without making them taste nasty?  Oh how I wish she’d do that!  Somehow a life without those chicken and dumplings doesn’t sound like a lot of fun!

The Hungry Girl gave such a simple tip on the Rachael Ray show:  add a can of pumpkin, 8 ounces, to a cake mix.  That’s it.  No other ingredients are needed.  She used a Devil’s Food cake on the show.  I had my doubts.  I’m not a pumpkin fan but my husband sure is!  Hey, if it means I can still eat cake I’m willing to give it a try.   I wish we had taken pictures of our cakes but we will next time.  The first mix we tried was French Vanilla and we added just the plain pumpkin to the mix.  To be perfectly honest, I was napping.  Michael did this for me, and surprised me with it when I woke up. It was totally sweet, and I am incredibly blessed.  I was also a little apprehensive of this orange cake.  I have sensitive taste buds.  Translation:  You know if I eat something I don’t like, and I can’t hide it no matter how hard I try.  I was so afraid I’d hurt his feelings and this gesture was so nice of him.  I took a small bite, and was truthful.  I wasn’t sure what I thought.  It wasn’t bad.  It really wasn’t.  I ate another bite, and then  I was hooked! 

We had a hard time finding plain pumpkin.  You don’t want pumpkin pie filling; you want plain ol’ pumpkin, and it took us 2 weeks to find it.  We didn’t exactly drive all over town to find  a can but what we couldn’t get away from a month ago is pretty scarce in your normal grocery store now even at a Super store.  We never really eat cake, at least not cakes we make, but we do always have a mix of some kind in the house.  That is strange to me but it probably had something to do with being free.   Other than the orange hue, the cake just tastes like vanilla cake.  I’m not a huge vanilla-anything fan but it was a good, plain cake.  It was moist, and soft.  I couldn’t taste pumpkin.  I would have dusted it with powdered sugar, since it was a plain vanilla cake, but it reallly wasn’t needed.  Some fresh strawberries and a dollop of Cool Whip Free would have made it perfection!

We bought a devil’s food mix yesterday, and it was awesome.  It tasted rich, sweet, and had the consistency of a cross between a cake and a brownie.  It’s been about 24 hours, and there is  1/4 of it remaining.  What does that tell you?  **It tells me “Move over Daddy, you’re going to have to share your Hero status for awhile!”.   If a 30-year-old Daddy’s Girl bothers you, well, you won’t like me much.  Then again, if that bothers you I won’t like you much either   Actually I pretty much like everybody, or will find a reason to not dislike them.

Wow….my ADD rants are getting worse!  By now, I hope I haven’t lost you. So how does the nutrutional value stack up?  You’re looking at loosing a whole bunch of fat and calories since you are only adding pumpkin.  I’ll summarize the recipe (the whopping 2 ingredients) as well as the nutritional value below. 

Hungry Girl’s Yum Yum Chocolate Cake

1 box Devil’s Food cake mix
1 can Pumpkin (I think we used 8 oz of pumpkin but recipe calls for 15)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  The mixture will be thick but don’t add anything else.  You won’t need it but you’ll have to mix it for quite awhile, thoroughly, by hand unless you have a good mixer.  Bake it until a toothpick comes out clean, depends on your oven.  It took ours about 28 minutes.

I don’t have a cake mix nearby but the numbers are good.  Take the calories and fat from the mix alone (not after the added fat) and add only 145 calories and 1 gram of fat TO THE ENTIRE CAKE!  If  you make the cake according to package directions you are adding almost 1,200 calories and 125 grams of fat.  Um, yeah, that’s without frosting so which would YOU choose?  Even if you just have to put the frosting on it, you’re saving a lot.  Each cake has 12 servings….or 4 if you live in my house.  Michael did say tha tan entire cake has only 45 grams of fat, so if you eat the whole thing as a late-night snack one night on a wild binge you really won’t be sabotaging yourself that badly.  I can honestly say I have never eaten an entire cake, bag of chips or cookies in one sitting but this cake is tempting!

 Now, since Hungry Girl has changed the way I look at cake I thought I’d see if she could help me lose weight.  I have a little Amazon money from Swagbucks searches to play with, so I am going to do a 60-day Hungry Girl Challenge.  I’m going to start February 14, which gives me plenty of time to plan menus and order cookbooks, and download recipes online.  I will be eating NOTHING but Hungry Girl recipes for 60 days, replacing all my faves with HG swaps. 

Here’s what I’m going to do:

1.  Go to the Hungry Girl website and find as many recipes as I can, and make a list of things my husband and I will both eat.

2.  Order a couple of the Hungry Girl cookbooks: Hungry Girl: Recipes and Survival Strategies for Guilt-Free Eating in the Real World, and Hungry Girl: 200 Under 200: 200 Recipes Under 200 Calories.

Lisa is one busy woman.  She has just released the book Hungry Girl Chew the Right Thing: Supreme Makeovers for 50 Foods You Crave, which will be next on my list.  Not only that but she’s got a book coming out in March available for pre-order called Hungry Girl 1-2-3: The Easiest, Most Delicious, Guilt-Free Recipes on the Planet.    I really wish I’d had the creative thought to alter all these great tasting recipes myself!

When I have my 60 Day Hungry Girl Diet planned, I’ll share it with you so you can tell me if you want to join me.  I’ll try to do it allowing enough time for us all to get the books.  The links in this post are all Amazon, because I know a lot of us use Swagbucks and get Amazon gift cards.  This way you can order the books without using your family’s monthly budget!  Books a Million and Barnes and Noble also carry Hungry Girl books.

So, do you want to join me in my Hungry Girl 60-Day Diet?  If I succeed in the 2 months, of course I’ll use it longer!  Are you embarking on a weight loss journey of your own?   Leave us a comment so we can encourage you too!

Have you ever heard of The Sparkle People, a community built of people who encourage one another’s weight loss, have experts who give you the tools to help you lose your weight, and give you ways to monitor your loss and celebrate your loss?  I signed up with them a few years ago but that just blew like the wind along with the weight loss efforts (I say sarcastically) from that time in my life.  Andrea at Mommy Snacks chronicles her weight-loss efforts on Fridays in her Fat Burnin’ Friday posts, and I think it was she who made me think about them again. Well, when I got an e-mail from MyPoints offering me points to sign up again I thought “Why not?”.  These people don’t know me, so I don’t care if they mock my weight (as long as they don’t tell me…I mean I know I’m a blob and there’s only so much a girl’s heart can take).

It’s 3:34 AM and I just signejd up for Sparkle People as I sit here drinking my (non-carbonated) grape Kool Aid.  I just finished my snack of 2 boiled egg whites, which I actually enjoy for those of you who are disgusted.  I’d eat those diet or no diet )  I eat a lot of boiled egg whites on this diet.  I can’t make myself eat the yolk.  It’s gross.  Don’t make me go there.  Scrambled or fried, I don’t think about it.  Boiled, I can’t help it and I can’t eat it.  Eww.  Then again, if I thought about the origin and original form of the majority of my food I’d be a vegetarian, and I like chicken too much to do that.

Wow.  ADD kicked my butt there.  So back to Sparkle People.   I think the concept of that is a hugely great idea and apparently so does everyone else, as long as they’ve been around.  Whether you have 5 lbs. or 50 lbs. or more, like me, to lose, I highly suggest signing up!  I need all of the help I can get, and it’s great to have a community of people who are in the same spot I’m in and who are in need of weight loss like me!  Encouragement from a skinny person with 5 lbs. to lose is nice, and well meant, but encouragement from someone who’s been there, or is still there and working hard, is much more helpful to me!

Sparkle People now have a book!  The creator of Sparkle People, Chris “SparkGuy” Downie is also the author of the new book “The Spark: The 28-Day Breakthrough Plan for Losing Weight, Getting Fit, and Transforming Your Life.” In the book, Downie uses motivational methods, techniques and gives advice for not only helping one to lose weight but to organize and get the best out of one’s life.  Downie believes in Sparkle People so much that he invested $5 MILLION dollars of his own money to make the site better…and completely free.  That’s what appealed to me most back then about Sparkle People, and now…it’s free.  Comparable weight loss “communities” charge a lot of money to allow people the same access to this information and to their experts.  You aren’t charged a dime for this!

The book is selling for about $13 if you’re interested in buying it.  If you decide to join Sparkle People there are some bonuses I think if you buy the book from your membership page.  There are some bonuses to buying the book that come with it wherever you buy it, but to get free shipping you can use your Amazon Prime account  and buy it there.  Try a free membership to Sparkle People first, and see what you think.

The purpose of this post was twofold.  I wanted to tell you about Sparkle People, and also to ask for a favor.  When you go to the Sparkle People site, you have the option of downloading Chapter 1 of The Spark.    When you do this through my link, you’ll be allowing me to gain points.  Each person that downloads Chapter 1 of the book will get me a little higher on their leaderboard, and I will get closer to the grand prize.  It won’t cost you anything but time, and I downloaded it myself out of curiosity and to make sure that it is safe.   It is 100% safe so you have no worries there.  The grand prize is a weekend getaway, which I REALLY need right now so if you’d do this for me I would really appreciate it!  If you’d give my special link to your friends and family, it would be awesome.  You may encourage them to join Sparkle People and enjoy the healthy-living benefits provided.  I think you’ll all enjoy what Sparkle People has to offer.

I want to thank you for standing by me during all of my issues, when I should be doing more for you on the days that I just can’t, and for continuing to come back the next day.

I’m trying to bring you more content and figure out just how to accomplish all that I want to do.  I know I’m getting some design work done, if you didn’t see that before, that will make this site easier to navigate as well as easier on the eyes (although I do like my design), and that’s when I’m going to bring out the forums.  There’s no point in doing the work to get them done now when in a couple of weeks it’s going to be redone.  My husband’s friend Jon is doing the work for us, and he is one amazingly talented web designer so I can’t wait to see what the finished product looks like!

On that note, I think the Target ad was just released so I’m going to go get started on that!

The thought of forever changing the way I eat and the way I live is scary as heck…and that is NOT the word I wanted to use right now when I’m craving a Mountain Dew at 4 AM.  It’s just got to be done, whether I like it or not, if I want to live past 30.  Since I AM 30, I’d like to live a few more years .  Please, God willing!  However I will “divorce” these extra people from my body if it’s the last thing I do!

When I started to think of all the food I would be giving up, it really started to scare me.  Not the giving up food, but the failure that I couldn’t because I am simply addicted to food.  I don’t eat just when I’m hungry- I eat when I’m bored, mad, sad, hurt, anything but happy.  As  you can tell from the weight I’ve put on in 10 years, it’s been awhile since Iv’e been truly happy but this year feels different.  I feel….like I have a new lease on life, and that makes me happy.  I’m home, near the family I missed so bad for 5 years and I have an incredible husband and 2 adoring Chihuahuas.  What more could a woman ask f or?? Kids…yes but that’s not to be and I prefer not to think about that.  I’m sure God has another plan for my life, if only I could pull my head out of the clouds to hear Him.

So anyway, when I started thinking a few weeks ago about all the foods I’d be giving up I thought “Why not just find substitutes for them”.  At least I could try to find foods that somewhat resembled those foods I loved.  At least a few of them had fat-free or lower fat versions I could have as treats.  I found a few that really surprised me how good each one was.  I thought I’d share them with you, just in case you want to start this long journey to a better life with me.

1. Light Lays and Ruffles Original Chips-  These taste JUST LIKE regular chips. I was thrilled, they even have that “greasy finger” feeling that you get when you finish a small bag of chips.  At 75 calories and 0 grams of fat per serving, these so far are the best chips I have found.  The Lays and Ruffles were equally delicious, and of course if you’re going to dip you need the Ruffles.  Now if I could find a good tasting dip.  They’re expensive, so unless I find a great sale and coupons, they’ll be a rare treat and I’ll be portioning them out into smaller bags to keep from overeating- both for my weight and cost!  They’re about $3.50 per bag at Walmart.
2. Healhty Choice Ice Cream- This is quite possibly the best “diet” ice cream Ive ever had.  Again, quite pricey at $2.50 (on sale) per pint but it lasts me days.  The chocolate is all I have tried and it’s delicious.  I found it at Walgreens, I haven’t seen the pints anywhere else.  It also will be a rare treat, but there’s nothing better than a chocolate ice cream cone when I really want to satisfy my chocolate craving.  I know there was only 1 gram of fat per serving but I cannot remember calories.
3. Healthy Choice Mocha Swirl Bars-  I tried these for the first time tonight.  Other than the fact that they are 1/2 the size they look like on the box, they get double thumbs UP!  They are the best, regardless of calories and fat, absolute best mocha ice cream I have ever had.  Now, they only have 1 gram of fat and 90 calories. That’s what I call a perfect treat or dessert!  I’m hoping to score some good coupons for the Healthy Choice frozen treats because they’re expensive but oh so delicious.  WIth my husband and me dieting, snacks won’t last long.  I am more the “mini meal” type of person who will graze all day with small things, and he does both (full meal and snacks) so we’re going to have to stock up double on them.
4. Baked Tostitos-Scoops- Are you seeing the junk food trend in my home?  Are you thinking..”hmmm no wonder she’s so fat?”  Well, yeah, that is pretty much why I’m so fat.  I love my junk foood.   Anyway, Baked Tostitos are totally delicious.  They don’t taste any different than the fried tortilla chips from the grocery store to me, and my husband says that even though he can tell a slight difference he prefers the Baked because of the lack of grease.  When you have your gallbladder removed, grease isn’t your friend!  These come in at 120 calories per serving and 3 grams of fat. That’s a little much for the snacks I plan on incorporating into my diet, so I will probably eat those as part of a meal with a fat free hot dog or sprinkle fat free cheese on them to make nachos.  These cost about $3.50 per bag as well.  Have you also noticed that the healthy junk food costs more than the bad junk food?  Geez, give a fat girl a break!
5. Ball Park Fat Free Hot Dogs- I do not eat hamburgers.  I haven’t since I was 9, it is a texture thing.  I don’t eat sausage either.  I always ate hot dogs when my family cooked out.  I could always eat 2, probably just because they were good and not because I was hungry if we’re being honest.  Also, I only eat all beef hot dogs.  Well, have you taken a look at the fat content in all-beef h ot dogs?  They have 16 grams of fat!!! Each!! When I saw that, I’d just had my last all-beef hot dog ever.  Bad thing is we’d just bought a whole pack.  I had to go in search of new hot dogs, and I already knew I don’t like the 98% fat free.  They taste funky.  Just trust me, ewww nasty.  I did remember that my mom used to cook some fat free Oscar Mayer hot dogs so we started buying them.  They were delicious.  And it happened.  They were discontinued, nowhere to be found in the state of AL.  My world came to a crashing halt.  What in the heck was I going to do without my main food staple?  Never feer fear (middle of the night typos, thought you’d want to see my ignorant spelling), Publix was here!  I found Ball Park fat free beef franks and regular franks.  They are oh so good, yet oh so expensive.  Depending on where you find these, I’ve paid $4.09 per pack or as low as $2.79 on a sale at Target.  Yes, I stockpiled but had no coupons.  However, there are some coupons you can print fo rBall Park hot dogs.  I do recommend at least trying these.  Overweight or not, nobody needs the fat or bad ingredients in a regular hot dog.  Give the fat free a try.  The beef ones are excellent.  I can not and probably do not want to know how they make them fat free, unless it’s jsut beef broth, but the end result is deliciousness.    They only have 40 calories so if I want 2, it’s OK!
6. Bryan fat free jumbo  hot dogs-When we can’t drive an hour to get to Publix, our local grocery store will occasionally have Bryan fat free hot dogs.  Not quite as good as Ball Park, surprisingly, but still great.  I have preferred Bryan over everything else in the past but not on these.  They are great hot dogs, but we pay a little more for them at $4.10 per pack.  I can’t remember their nutritional content and I can’t find it but I do remember they were less than 100 calories and of course had no fat.
7. Ocean Spray Cranberry Grape Juice Mix UP- This product is sold in the same section as Crystal Light.  It’s in a canister resembling it, and it comes in more than just t his flavor.  It’s so good.  It has only 5 calories per 8 oz serving, although I drink a LOT of this during the day.  It is honestly a health reason that I drink so much…it should be water but I OK’d it with the doc for that stuff.  I do not like the taste of water.  This can often be found 2/$4 at Publix, and combined wtih ac oupon can be well priced considering how many servings you get out of a canister.  It’s much more cost effective for us than buying soft drinks, unless it’s at regular price at $3.99.  When it’s regular price, I find another substitute.  This is what will likely replace my beloved Diet Mountain Dew 90% of the time, because I’m stocking up the next time I see 2/$4 and have any coupons.

So far those are my main diet swaps, although I’ve found a few more snacks I think I like.  When it comes to meals I may be in trouble but I think we can come up with some creative chicken dishes. $5 Dollar Dinner Mom has a new cookbook cming out and I’m sure it wil be filled with healthy options!

What are some of your swaps for “bad” foods?  Do you ever still indulge in your favorites or did you go cold turkey?  I’ve gone on diets before, I mean, who hasn’t?  This one is just going to be the challenge of my life…or should I say FOR my life.

One of the problems I’ve found with healthy food is the hefty price tag that it often carries, which was one of the excuses I used to not try to lose weight.  Well, convenience food IS expensive.  Healthy or not, you’re going to pay for convenience.  Plenty of healthy foods, raw veggies and fruits, are reasonably priced and with coupons I can get great deals on foods that will enable me to continue to diet.  That can’t be an excuse now that I’m a seasoned pro at shopping….or at least that’s what I’m telling myself.

Each week, when the coupon matches are done I will post my grocery list for the coming week.  This may be on Wednesday or Sunday, I have yet to decide.  Typically I shop on Monday so that I can get the Publix penny item and use the coupons from the previous day’s paper.  Plus if the item is unavailable I can usually get a rain check.  Those can work out to a great advantage!

My goal is to stockpile enough healthy staples that the only thing we’ll have to buy each week are perishables like milk, bread and fruits/veggies.  I’m blessed in that my grandfather has a garden and often grows beautiful vegetables that he shares with me generously!!  I love sweet potatoes, and he grows them.  I often eat those with a dash of Splenda and cinnamon for dinner.  So good, and so free!  I can usually get away with just a hug to get a big bag of potatoes.  I love him so much, that’s easy to do!

I have more goals to reach and I’ll share those with you along the way.  I am taking this one at a time, at least the biggies, and I want to give you more content than just my weight loss, so those posts will only be once a week and will be short (believe it or not!).

I am also looking for recipes to feature each week. One section of this blog, once I’m home and have had a chance to get the other site going, will be devoted to healthy living.  I’d like to feature a recipe there each week from a reader.  Email me if you want to contribute.  You can reach me at kristinbriannethompson (at) gmail (dot) com.

Thanks for putting up with me and my rambling the last couple of days.  I have a lot going on in my head, and the only way I can remember them or make sense out of them is to “write it down” here.  Your feedback, whether good or bad, helps too.

And I don’t mean my in-laws or husband.  The 2 people I’m divorcing are the pounds of extra weight I carry on my body.  Join me on this journey to make these people stay off of me forever so that I can begin to live again and enjoy life with my loving and wonderful family.

The goals: 1.  Giving up all carbonated beverages.

2.  Giving up all beverages with more than 5 calories.

I’m starting with the 2 goals that are the biggest challenges for me other than chocolate, which I cannot even bare to think about right now!  I was going to allow myself this trip before I started my journey but these are 2 goals that I need to, and can start without any disruption to our trip.

You’re probably thinking those aren’t goals that are really hard to reach, and thinking this may all be a joke.  However, I’m a serious Diet Mtn. Dew junkie!  As a matter of fact there aren’t many carbonated drinks I don’t like.  I could easily live off of them I do believe, and I cannot stand the taste of plain water.   However, it’s tiime I grow up and act like I’m 30 and not 13.  Part of the requirements of the lifestyle one leads after Lap Band Surgery is living without carbonated beverages, and since it’s hard for me to give them up I’m going to do that first.

OK.  So that’s my “foodie” goal for the first part of my challenge.  I am told by psychologists that if you can give something up for 2 weeks, you won’t miss it.  The problem?

True, honest to God addiction.  Caffeine and quite possibly the best drink in the world: Mountain Dew.  Diet, Regular, I don’t care.  If I take a sip the 2 weeks won’t matter   I’ll shatter like glass and drown myself in them.  I really am addicted to caffeine. Among other food, caffeine will be one of my failures along this journey.  I’m preparing for them.  I may not last a day but I will. kick. the. habit.

My plan onf attack? Well, I know a few juice drinks I can drink with 5 calories or less.  I believe Crystal Light fits into that bill but it’s expensive!  I’ll be searching for alternatives that don’t make me crave other things.  I won’t have as much trouble giving up caloric drinks because I have learned to drink diet int he last few years.  Pepsi Max is my latest downfall.  It’s sad. The easiest way to avoid the things that tempt me the most?  Stay out of the stores!  You’re thinking well, yeah you dummy, right?  Well, more on that is coming.

These are true, serious goals for me and I’m not taking this lightly no matter how tongue-in-cheek I am.  A friend of mine had Lap Band surgery recently and learned the hard way that the doctor really meant to stay away fromcarbonated beverages.  I don’t want that to happen to me.

My biggest fear about all of this, and the reason I am starting all of this now, is that I do n’t want this to be something that I try and then I decide won’t work.  The Lap Band can be undone, which can be a bad thing if one wants to undo her progress and go back to her (my) prior bad acts.  That is not the way I want to live.  If I go through the pian and inconvenience of surgery, it’s permanent.  This is the reason I’m preparing myself now to live an entirely new “foodie’ lifestyle.

**These posts are totally non-deal/bargain related, and much more of a personal nature.  I can and will create a new section for these posts if this is something you are more comfortable with.  Just e-mail me at kristin at makingcentsoutoflife dot com (remove spaces, add symbols) and if enough request it I’ll post on another page.

I expect this part of the change to last about 3 weeks, maybe a month depending on my “bumps” along the road.  After that, the food challenge.  That is another hard one but I think I can do it.

I will report my progress to you once a week, unless I need more motivation.  Once I get the forums finished, we’ll all have a place to hang out and you can tell me about your trials and trbulations with dieta nd exercise, and any food demons you have.  Or anything else!  I can’t wait to “meet” some of you I’ve received e-mails from with encouraging words and with such kind hearts.  You dont’ often comment, which I wish you’d do (hint, hint) but you e-mail me with so many sweet things to say and I appreciate them all.

So, do you have any suggestions?  What should I do when a craving strikes and my nemesis stares me right. in. the. face?  Turn around and lave, yes, but can I?  We’ll see.  Every  Monday there will be a post titled “Taking My Life Back”, which is what I’m trying to do one tiny inch at a time.  If you ever want to see if you miss a post (lol I know you care) they will be labeled “Living 2010″.

Thanks for humoring me and giving me a medium to express myself.  I promise the rest of the week, what I have of it to be here, will be about YOU and saving YOU money!! Have a wonderful Monday.

For those of you who start back to work after a long Christmas vacation, be safe, be blessed, and be thankful.  A lot of Americans don’t have a job to go to and their families are suffering.