Random Thoughts

Things are tight right now and buying groceries keeps going up and up. I have spent time in front of the cookbook in the past trying to only buy what I am going to use payday to payday but I tend to mess this up a little bit.

I live so ridiculously close to the grocery store that I am changing the way I shop a little bit. This will also help me with my exercise routine (blogged about that on my exercise blog http://tawnasplan.blogspot.com/2010/08/going-to-grocery-to-lose-weight.html ).

I am going to go day by day or every other day and only plan 1-2 big meals. I will then walk, either by myself or with kids, to the grocery and only by what I don’t have at home to make the meals with. This way I am not going into the store with a big list and getting tired and mad by the end, and not caring what I put in the cart.

I have some old receipts and will calculate what I have spent in groceries over the past 3-4 months and after I shop day by day for 2-3 pay checks I will see if I am saving any money.

The other part of this plan that seems to intrigue my decision is the lack of snacks I will be able to fit in the stroller or in my hands as I walk home. If I can’t carry it I can’t buy it.

The other day my daughter sat in the back of the double stroller with a big watermelon on her lap. It looked hilarious but she did not mind because she knew she got watermelon when we got home. This made me happy because it was a healthy treat!

I will see what this saves me, hopefully some cash!

Answer:  It is 11-3-2010 today

I saved about $125 per month shopping every other day and sometimes everyday.  I have pretty much no snacks int he house which has helped with my weight loss and this has helped with my child and husband not eating all night long.  I am going to continue to shop this way, it has definitely helped!

Yes you read that correct, I will be going to the local grocery store to lose weight. I now live less than a quarter mile from the grocery store and have been walking there and carrying my groceries home almost daily.

It has been rather nice to be so close and because I am walking either by myself or with a double stroller with 60 pounds of kids added to it, it gives me a good work out.

Two days ago I went for a gallon of milk and they were on sale 2 for $4. I could not pass up the sale so I bought two and walked home with 2 gallons of milk and about 4 other small things in a bag. Even though I am so close I could feel it in my arms when I got home.

This way I get to eat and burn a few more calories preparing my food. What a novel idea eh? (that is my Canadian side screaming out for a minute)!

I ventured into another cook yourself thin faster recipe yesterday…chicken meatballs. They were not as good as the kebabs I made last week but still tasty, but missing something and I am not sure what. I was skeptical about posting the kebab recipe but found lifetime TV posts the recipes on their site so since I am giving them credit here goes.

1 lb chicken-both light and dark meat

1 cup fresh wheat bread crumbs

¼ cups skim milk-although in the book it does not tell you to put it in, hmmm typo?

1 large egg

1 small onion chopped fine

¼ cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

2 TB parmesan cheese

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

1 14.5 ounce can crushed tomatoes-fire roasted.

So pretty much blend everything but the tomatoes and cheese together and bake them in the oven at 450 for 10 minutes then poor the tomatoes on top and bake more. I baked till the chicken hit 160 and then took it out and it continued to go up to about 160 degrees F.

I put it on top of noodles even though the book suggested crusty bread. I was hungry from moving boxes all day and needed the carbs so I boiled whole wheat spaghetti noodles.

They were good but are missing something. Anyone else want to try it that knows how to cook, and tell me what it needs? I would love to make them again. Here is the picture.

All measurements in inches
          
         5-17-10                                  8-19-10         Loss or Gain
Bust: 42 ½                                       42                   L- ½
Under bust: 37 ½                             36 ¾               L- ¾
Waist: 43                                         42 ½               L- ½
Hips: 46                                           45                   L- 1
C-section scar
(measuring around body
where scar is located): 44                43                    L- 1
Thigh (1): 26                                   25 ¼                 L- ¾
Arm: 12 ½                                      12 ½                 L or G- 0

My total inches lost in 3 months = 4.5 inches.

I am not going to kill myself over this as it is a loss so yay for me! Of course I would have liked to have seen this faster but with my vacation weight going up and down and lack of exercise this is a huge step and making me less depressed to see a loss period.

The moving with the leg and arm weights is definitely helping. If I could squeeze in some other weight lifting such as the dumbbells and some jumping jacks I am sure this would be double. We will see if I can add that and get this same inches loss in half the time.

BUT I am definitely happy about this loss!

You know…doing normal house work with the added weights would more than likely give the same results.  I will continue with the weights when I am done unpacking just doing my normal stuff around the house.

I blogged earlier this week in my other blog about buying the warranty for my alternator for my car at http://tawnassecret.blogspot.com/2010/08/always-buy-lifetime-warranty.html

I am learning that it is worth the money for warranties as I have another success story.

I bought a hair straightener from Sally’s Beauty last year and the manufacturer, of course, only offers a 1 year warranty. Sally’s offered me and extended 2 year warranty and I took it, it was only $8.99 for the $69 straightener.

Let’s just say it was the best $8.99 I spent as I just used it. The straightener died 2 weeks after the manufacturer’s warranty, go figure. I called the number that Sally’s gave me and shipped the straightener back and got a gift card for the full price, minus warranty price, and went into sally’s and got a new straightener, FREE!

Here is the best part. It just so happens that they were having a special on the specific straightener I wanted. If you bought one at regular price ($69) you got a FREE travel straightener. Also, I signed up for a public Sally’s card and actually got both straighteners’ for $59.

I did pay extra for a warranty on both the regular and travel straightener but it proved to work once so why not do it again. So I guess you could say I spend $8.99 to use a straightener for just over a year. If it happens again, I am covered again. I may never have to fork up full price for a hair straightener again!

This post was from 6-10-10 and I just noticed it was still in “drafts.”  Opps!

Today was the second attempt of the city’s Sheriff’s sale on our house and this time the second time was the charm I guess. We have not heard if the house even sold yet but it did happen.

I am trying not to get stressed about it but reality is stressing me out anyway. I called the Sheriff’s office today and asked how I could find out if my house was sold and they told me to call back and gave me a number to call and of course no one answered at all and the web site is not updated. I realize that we are being foreclosed on but how hard is it to answer a phone and let people know how long they have to be in their home? Very frustrating!

Hopefully we will find something out tomorrow.

Well it is only going to cost us $3 plus tax to fix my car! Whew! It is the alternator that we replaced last year and we just happened to be smart enough to pay a little extra last year for a lifetime warranty. We already have the new part but need to buy a bolt because the old one is stripped. Not so bad.

I seriously did not stress too much about it as I usually do. I knew we did not have the money to fix anything expensive and I just let it go. I am going without a car until the weekend as my husband does not have time to fix it before then, but I will take that!

Glad it was not more!

So my paper chain worked to get my daughter to stop sucking her thumb and stop sleeping in our bed are still working even after the rewards are over, whihoo!!

We took her to see Toy Story 3 in the theatre on Sunday after 8 full nights of sleeping in her own bed and it is Tuesday now and she is still sleeping in her own bed. I love this paper chain idea. It has worked for both the thumb sucking issue and the sleeping issue. I have blogged about both in case you don’t know what I am talking about.

We are finally getting some sleep and some alone time!

I decided to get my cook yourself thin cookbooks out again. I love the recipes in them but with the moving and traveling I had to take a break from them for awhile.

There are 2 cookbooks, cook yourself thin and cook yourself thin faster. I used the cook yourself thin faster for the swordfish kebabs last night and mmmmm, they were awesome.

I learned how to roast my own red peppers and that was cool. The sauce was amazing. I watched the lifetime TV cook yourself thin episodes and this got me excited to try out the recipes. Most of them actually taste great. The other great thing about them is they give you the calorie count for everything so it is easy to watch your consumption.

I have attached a picture of my kebabs before and after they were cooked. I had cut way to many vegetables to I just threw the extra vegetables on the pan and cooked them without the skewer and they turned out yummy.

I would definitely suggest the cook books. I will post more recipes and pictures down the road as I make them.

Having the laundry room in the basement may seem like a pain in the butt for most people but I an thinking this is a novel idea for my exercise routine. I have ran up and down the stairs 6 times today just for laundry and it is only 1:45pm. I still have half a dozen trips to go I am sure.

I could actually feel my legs burn on the last couple trips so I know it is working. Maybe everyone should bring their laundry over so I can do a dozen loads a day and that could be my work out! I could add the leg and arm weights and make some money washing clothes and get a tight butt!! Just a thought!