Scary Before Coffee: A Random Thought

This sign is right next to the coffee pot

I really love my Hubby's coffee and so on this Sunny Friday as I start my day - just let me tell you that this sign is SOOOO true.  I wake up and hit the bathroom and shower first, then the coffee pot.

Pot is 1/2 gone and have you looked at the time!  

I will just about empty it as I take at least 2 travel mugs with me in the car to drink on the way to work.  Now here's the really strange thing, it's DECAF coffee!!!  I don't like the shaking that regular coffee gives me I just love the taste of coffee, so it Decaf but I will drink almost all of it.  Hubby makes the best coffee!  Busy day and busy weekend - we are suppose to be up in the low 60's!  I may get rid of the rest of the snow and find that other snowman decoration that I put out side.  I lost the snowman under the snow.  LOL!   Have a great weekend and enjoy life.   God bless you all.

Buying Low Carb: Where I Go.

 Strawberry Short Cake from the weekend.

I've been asked where I get some of my low carb products. Well, for the most part I eat real food just like you. Bacon, eggs, butter, steak, hamburgers, salads, heavy cream, all the stuff you eat.  There are some things that I have on hand that are specifically designed for us living a low carb lifestyle. Not all of the things I buy are bought locally because I live in a pretty small town and even the larger city near me doesn't carry some of the items I want so some of the items are bought locally and others I get online.

In my fridge, I have a few Atkins low carb shakes. I can get the chocolate and vanilla ones at my local Hannaford Grocery store but my favorite, the Mocha-Coffee Latte I find at Wal-Mart in the big city of Manchester. I don't have a shake every day but when I'm running late, or am going someplace where I know the low carb choice is lacking or may be limited, the shake helps me to stay full so I can get by on just the appetizer or cold cuts and cheese. So in a pinch, the shakes are great! It's always nice to have a safety net.

I also have a few low carb bars and chocolates in the freezer. Russell Stover carries a line (albeit a small variety) of low carb chocolates and Atkins carries the peanut butter cups I like.  I like dessert! Some days I NEED dessert!

If I'm in a Target store, I grab the Archer Farms Sugar Free vanilla and caramel syrups (I wish they carried the chocolate). Because I'm not there a lot I will pick up 4 of each flavor.

For the other stuff I go to Lindas Diet Delites online store. I get my breads, bagels, chocolate syrup,  Carbquick baking mix and several of my desserts here. The service is great and I get it one day after its shipped. There is an added fee if you are getting perishables because they add in an ice pack. If I'm ordering in the fall, winter, or early spring I don't add in the ice pack but if it's late spring or simmer I do and the ice pack is still partly frozen when I get it. Shipping price is very reasonable as well so you will not get robbed just to get the items to you. You get a tracking number so you can follow your package and Andrew will answer your emails really fast (I think he sits by the computer all day). I really like the company and the website is easy to navigate. If you are thinking of living low carb, check them out. They also carry a large selections of low fat and Gluten free items as well.

So that's where I go to get the items that continue to help me stay slim. With it all written out it looks like I spend all day shopping. I don't. When I go to Wal-Mart for other stuff, I pick up my low carb items -same thing with Target. I keep a wish list at Linda's and when I'm ready I simply move it to my cart and checkout. When I'm at the grocery store, I'm just like you.  While I'm there I add my low carb items to the shopping list. I feel great and with all the extra working out I'm getting in, I can add a few more carbs to my diet ----I think I'll have dessert tonight. 

If you order any specials items online, which web sites do you go to? Have you ever bought your groceries online? Where did you buy them? How was the experience?

Wednesday Hodgepodge: April's Edition

This was really a fun set of questions and after the last 2 days at work I really needed a good easy fun hodgepodge. Joyce how did you know that I could not do any deep thinking at all.  Click the button and join.


1. National Read a Road Map Day falls on April 5th. Would people say you have a good sense of direction? Do you rely on a GPS when you drive somewhere new? When was the last time you used a map?

Well, I can get lost in a grocery store!  Stop laughing, I did get lost in a grocery store. We were in a Super Walmart and I had to use my cell phone to call Hubby and ask him to find me in aisle #12!    I have absolutely no sense of direction at all and the family comment has always been that I keep going until I either run out of gas or come to an ocean! Whichever comes first! I am known to show up someplace and when I tell people how I got there they comment "You can't get there from where you were?" Well I found a way, but don't ask me what it was because I don't know.  I don't use a map because I can't even tell which end of the map is up  and believe me I have called where I am going to tell them I am lost and looking at a tree.  A TREE! I live in the country folks - we have lots of trees around here!  So Yes I use a GPS all the time!  My Tom Tom has a very nice Irish accent thank you, and if he told me to turn right, now! I would turn right into a TREE!

2. What's your favorite cookbook?

Google!  Really - I Google a lot to find ways to create meals that are both low carb and low fat (they are NOT the same at all)  Don't we all Google!

3. What painting would you like to "walk into" and experience? Why?

Image from Google

OK so it's not a painting but look at all those sunflowers and the blue sky and it looks warm with not one spot of snow or cold, or chimney smoke from a fireplace (or the chimney). It looks like SUMMER! That's why.

4. What annoys you more- misspellings or mispronunciations?

OK this is easy, I'm dyslexic so I'm not about to find misspellings (mine or others) so it would be the mispronunciation.  Then there is the issue of dialects and regional accents!  You know those with a southern drawl pronounce "pee-can" while the northers' pronounce it "pee-cawn"; "to-may-toe", "to-marr-toe"; "po-tay-toe", po-tarr-toe" - "Let's call the whole thing off"

5. What is something your mother or father considered important?

Always have clean underwear! I'm not sure where she though it had to be kept but every time I walked out the door I heard the warning to make sure I had clean underwear.   I always thought that if I was in a accident, clean underwear was the least of my worries!
   

6. Do you like or dislike schedules?

Not only do I like schedules, I LOVE schedules. I love knowing that my day is planned and that I have stuff to do, places to go and people to see.  Now, I don't want to be so booked that I am exhausted but I really like a schedule and have a calendar that I pack with all sorts of things.  

7. Let's have some fun with National Poetry Month (that would be April)...write your own ending to this poem-

"Roses are Red

Violets are blue..."
I see a Bee so 

                                                                   Winter should flee!

Incidentally if you'd like to read the history behind that little ditty you'll find it here.

8. Insert your own random thought in this space.


My brain is fried - my thinking has died - random thoughts could not be bought so I'll just sit here and cry and now say "good by!"!  HAPPY POETRY MONTH!

Home!! What a wonderful word it is!

                                   

Whenever I drive Home from someplace, the time seems to go by faster than when I drove to that place. Something is comforting there, something is special about going "Home". I love being home, going home and staying home.  How about you?  Does the the word "Home" just do something for you?  Now combine that feeling with a song about Home and you have todays post.

Do you ever hear a song that makes you cry because it touches your heart? I bet you do. I love Celtic Thunder and on their Heritage Album they have a song "Home from the Sea". It's one of those songs that tells a story about volunteers that go out on a stormy night to rescue a boat of people trapped in a storm.  It's a story about grace, fear and love for both the ones on the shore and for the ones trapped out at sea. I can't help but see a spiritual example here.

The sea blows us up and down and to and fro. Sometimes we are at it's mercy and can only hope to ride the storm until it settles down. I know there have been times when I felt tossed about and water logged. Haven't you?

Many in our church are under Satan's attack. We have several members with cancer, strong marriages in trouble, children lost, husbands out of work, moms worn out, money problems, health problems and heart problems. Yet we also have "volunteers" out to rescue them. We have people who take others to doctor's appointments, or visit them in the hospital. We have people who collect food and give it to those who really need it and in May we will have a "Give Away Day" which is like a yard sale but without the sale. We have people who cook and clean for others and we even have some who get together to be prayer partners. And let's not forget those who have Bible studies with others in order to save there souls or to strengthen new Christians. We have Volunteers who agree to house teens who are up for a teen retreat while others who cannot house them, cook and feed them at the retreat instead.

I have prayed a lot and asked God to keep Satan away but after hearing this song I think I need to pray for the rescuers, the "Volunteers" who have their own concerns as well. Volunteers often have fears to deal with, such as - "Will I be laughed at? Will I be able to really help? This is hard, I really don't know that much, and I don't know how to help!" These are just a few of the fears that volunteers face but still, they go out to help because, as one line in the song says:  "There are souls to save".

So when you pray for people you know, please say a prayer for the "volunteer" who is helping. They need it too.  

Weekend Review - And the 400/800 Mile Challenge

On April's Fool's Day I woke up to this! It was no joke - we got creamed and Hubby even got into a accident on the way home from work. He told me as he got home that it was good that I was staying home. The roads were terrible in our neck of the woods but he was OK. Our Wonderful neighbor drove by and stopped to pulled his truck out of the snow bank and followed him home.  Anyhow, it was a mess so I stayed home and cooked.

Wendi over at My Heart is Always Home had a "Kitchen Day" last day and made some really good looking things to feed her family. So I copied her idea and preheated the oven.

First thing I made was Low Carb Carrott Cake - Hubby and I each had one big piece and the rest are in the freezer for, you know,'Whenever".

Low Carb Banana Cream muffins made in my little cake pan was next and most are now packed in the freezer as well.  The house sure did smell great.  Breakfast Friday Morning was sausage patties and one each coffee cake and muffin.  A real treat for sure.

We are having company this weekend and so I really wanted/needed to clean our family room. I got 2 walls done - cleaning the walls, pictures, bookcase, floor, and books on the bookcase.  It was a huge project and there are still 2 walls to go before the company arrives on Friday night!  

Saturday it was 50!  YUP! We went from 30's and snow to 50 and partial sun in 24 hours. Becke and I went for a walk, did our shopping and Spring Cleaned the master bedroom. It's all sweet smelling and polished. In fact it really looks good!!! Don't you just love sleeping in a freshly Spring cleaned Bedroom? 

I also finished up for the week of the 400/800 mile challenge.  Biking is still my best way to get in miles and even did 4.25 miles in 15 minutes!  My lungs were really hurting at first but they recovered on there own without my having to use either of my inhalers!  Proof that they are getting stronger.  So for the week I put in 48.01 miles - putting my Year To Date Miles at 560.02!  

Sunday was THE BEST of the whole week (I know Sunday is really the start of a new week but you know what I mean). Why was it the best, you ask?  

We grilled for the first time this season!  Chicken basted in Italian Salad Dressing, with grilled peppers!

The very 1st (of many I hope) Strawberry Shortcake

And Ground!! Real ground - Now I need to start raking.

So how was your weekend?  Any special meals cooked or gardens planted?  Do tell!