Altered Valentine Mailbox from Target's $1 Spot

Love is in the air!!

I hosted a swap this month where the participants were to alter a mailbox found at Target's $1 spot. They were also to fill it with all kinds of little goodies like lip gloss, nail polish, candy, ribbon, stickles, buttons and the like. The ladies did such a great job! It was a really fun, inexpensive & fast swap. The photo is of the 3 mailboxes I altered.

This is a great idea for the sweet hearts in your life!

Disney Honeymoon Mini Album

What do ya'll think? Isn't it just cute as heck! I was hired by a friend to make her sister and new husband a mini album. They honeymoon at Disney World. This was the first time I made an album w/binding on both ends. The album is only 6x10 but because of the way it opens up, I was able to make layouts to hold 4x6 photos! Which is rare in mini albums. The trick was in the way the album pages folded into itself.

Here you see 4 large photos can fit in this one layout.

I had fun making "Mr. & Mrs" love pages. That was fun!

Now I'm on to finishing some swaps. I am making dish towels, cards, an altered board book and a pin cushion jar. I'll also be posting photos of my 2010 calendar. You will love this idea, it'll hold all the years keepsakes so you don't have a pile of kids art work, cards etc laying around.

Oh! Also, check back because I'll be sharing the best best idea for ribbon storage!! Ya'll are going to LOVE this idea!!!

I had to shop for new clothes yesterday. Yahoo!

So I *had* to shop for new clothes yesterday. I was hoping I could wear my pants until I got down to a size 22 pant but my "bigger" pants were looking terrible. No matter how tight I made the belt, I just couldn't cover up all that fabric.



These pants were the biggest I've ever owned. They are a size 50 or 52 in men's. They fit a little big before but not like this! The shirt is a women's 28/30. It was a little big but not at the arms. I had to let the little button loose on the arm cuff open because it was so tight on my fat arm. Now I'm swimming in both! My other clothes are fitting this way. But I'm being so stubborn and I don't want to spend a lit of money on new clothes when I have to turn around and down size. I'm cheap, what can I say. LOL

The new outfit, the white shirt is a 20/22. It's a little snug but I figured I'd fit into it eventually. And the jeans are a 24. I could get into a 22 but they were too snug and if I dried them, they wouldn't be comfortable.

So, about the band.

I haven't had my band filled yet so I don't have a very good restriction in my eating. It's sheer will power that is keeping me from gaining weight. Ack! It's not easy let me tell ya.



When a surgeon puts the Lap Band in they leave it empty so the stomach can heal and get comfortable w/this band around it. Some people get nausea or a feeling of sea sickness because the stomach is shocked. So surgeons don't want to put the filling (silicone) in for a few weeks. Depending on the surgeon, one way go 3 weeks before they get the band "filled" or up to 6-8 weeks. Which is really really hard because their is nothing restricting one to go back to their old eating habits. They totally can in that time period and no one wants to gain the weight back they worked so hard in shedding up to this point. This time period is called "bandsters hell" because it's really hard not to keep eating the way one did.



Having that said, I've been doing pretty good. I'm eating but just keeping my sugars down to nothing, low low carbs and no to little fat. So I eat low fat cottage cheese, weight watchers dinners but the serving size is less than 1/2 cup, a lot of crystal light and fat free Greek yogurt. That's about it. No caffeine, it not only keeps you dehydrated but it's also an appetite STIMULATOR! Um, that's not what I want! LOL



I go in for my first fill of the band at the end of Jan. But for now I've not only kept my initial 3o lbs down but I've lost another 4. Woot! Woot!

The BEST Low Calorie Asian Shrimp Recipe

Hello everyone!

So I have the best, seriously the best Asian Shrimp Recipe to share with everyone. It only took 30 mins to make & it's from Weight Watchers! So it's low sodium and low calorie. Oh yeah, oh yeah...that's even better, right. To eat yummy food that isn't going to attach to your thighs for the next 3 months. ;-)

I'll give you the recipe and then give you my alterations & ideas to change it up a little if you'd like.

Ok, here ya go:
Asian Shrimp, Snow Peas & Rice
Makes 6 Servings
(3/4 cup shrimp mixture over 1/2 cup rice = 284 calories) woot woot!

1 1/4 cups worth of chicken reduced sodium chicken or veggie broth
1 tbls cornstarch
1 tsp vegetable oil
3 garlic cloves, minced (pre-minced garlic in a jar...I'd say about 3 tsps, more if you like strong garlic)
2 carrots, finely chopped
2 cups of snow peas
3 tbls reduced sodium soy sauce
2 tsps Asian (dark) sesame oil
1 3/4 pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined (frozen shrimp is fine, just run hot water over them so you can peel &/or pull the tails off.)
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
3 cups hot cooked long-grain rice

1. In a small bowl combine 1/4 cup broth & cornstarch; stir until cornstarch dissolves. Set aside.
2. In a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat, heat the veggie oil then add the garlic and saute about 1 min. Add the carrots & another 1/3 cup of broth; cook 2 mins, then stir in the snow peas and another 1/3 cup of broth, the soy sauce and sesame oil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered until the snow peas are tender crisp..about 5 mins.
3. Add the shrimp and the last of the broth, 1/3 cup. Cook, stirring occasionally. Just until shrimp turns pink...about 3-4 mins. Increase heat and bring to a boil. Stir in the cornstarch/broth mixture you had set aside, you might have to restir this mixture because the cornstarch might settle a bit. Add the crushed red pepper. Stirring frequently, until thickened...about 2 mins.
4. Serve over rice.
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I'm telling you this was so fast to make and very very yummy! The entire family was licking their chops after they were done. *That* good!
So what I would change or add....
We like garlic so I added about 2 more tsps more of the jar minced garlic. I also added a tbls of the crushed red peppers on top of the required 1/4 teaspoon. We like spicy so that just made the sauce so very yummy. I would suggest adding other veggies to change it up. Like broccoli, fresh green beans, sugar snap peas sliced zucchini...just to name a few. If you want it to be even less in calories/fat, change the rice to brown rice.

Wendy & Phoenix told me they would love to have this often so I'll change up the veggies according to what ever is on sale/in season.

Hope ya'll enjoy this recipe. Please leave me a comment if you like it or any changes you made to make even yummier!

Thanks for dropping by!

30 lbs just melted off!!

December 5th, 2009


December 28th, 2009

Can you tell a difference?????

I found my cheekbones ya'll!!! LOL

And you wanna hear something else funny? So because I was getting fatter and fatter; for photos I would have to purposefully open my eyes wider like a nut job just so in photos my eyes would show up and not be itty bitty slits in my face. So tonight when I was taking this "update" photo, I did my usual. Oh Dear Lord! The photos came out like psycho chic! So I stopped the bug eyes and wow, you can still see my eyes without me doing silly camera tricks!

I know I know, it's only 30 lbs and on us big girls; it isn't *that* unnoticeable. I seam to be losing more weight in my thighs first than my face but I know several of you are wanting to see results. So here ya go! ;-)

Now on to issues with the Lap Band for those of you curious. I saw my nutritionist today and because I was driving that meant no pain meds for me looking back, I should have taken some chewable Tylenol. Well, lesson learned. Anyways, my nutritionist is so awesome because she isn't just about weight loss, she's about my over all health and like me & Wendy agreed that 7 weeks of an all clear liquid diet is very very unhealthy.

See some surgeons vary in their requirements of pre-op and post-ops. For pre-op some docs want 24 hours of liquid diet, others a week and then there is mine that wanted 2 weeks of all clear liquid diets with only 500 calories a day with 2 protein shakes. That's how I lost 18lbs in 2 weeks. This doc is very unusual in his standards. But I really needed this surgery so I was willing to do what was required of me. It's vary dangerous to do such diets. Thank goodness it was a short term goal! I would have never made. As it was on the 12th day I was in the kitchen just boo-hooing while Wendy was cutting up chicken & asparagus for her and Phoenix's dinner. I was dying. As much as it killed me the reason for the strict diet was to shrink the liver. The liver is above your stomach and for a surgeon to get to your stomach they need a less fatty liver. When we gain or lose weight the first place fat goes to or comes off is the liver. I didn't want to risk my surgeon nicking my liver or anything going wrong when I could have done something to prevent it.

As for post-op again surgeons rules vary. Some surgeons require 2 days of all clear liquid diet after surgery, others a week and again my doc is extreme and he wants 1st week of post op to be clear liquids only; IE sugar free jello, water, crystal lite, watered down fruit juices & broth...that's it. Then the same liquid diet but this time we can add protein shakes for 4 more weeks. Then onto soft foods. The reason being that your stomach is very annoyed and irritated so you have to go easy on it. Also, you don't want the stomach moving around too much because the "band" cold slip and you have to go back into surgery to fix it. And we don't want that. My surgeon however wants rapid weight loss and his 5 week rule of liquid diet is to get the best results quickly. Be warned about your surgeons, they are there to get you what you need and want. They are not nutritionists, so be careful.

Most insurance companies require you see a nutritionist to be approved for the surgery. I highly recommend you KEEP seeing your nutritionist for months on end AFTER your surgery as well. They have your best interest and can give you a well balanced diet that you can follow. Having that said, my nutritionist was able to give me a great path to follow on a "mushie" stage of foods that I can eat that won't make my band shift by making my stomach work to hard to digest. Nor will she starve me. As I have told her and she agrees, my main reason to getting this Lap band was to stop all the ailments I was getting being obese as well as warding off diabetes, sleep apnea etc. As it is I'm pretty pissed I lost an organ, my gall bladder due to high fatty foods & processed sugars. This is my fault and I don't want to lose any more body parts because I can't say no to Frankies Pizza! So although the weigh loss is great and is fun, my goal is to be healthy and even losing 30 lbs is pretty darn cool I'm really concerned how fast I lost it; 20 days-a little more than a pound a day. That's not healthy and a bit extreme.

So now my diet consists of high protein foods because I cannot eat an meats for at least 1-2 months. Fat Free Greek Yogurt (has 14grams of protein a serving), Fat Free cottage cheese (VERY high in protein) and low fat/low sodium soups. And my favorite Kashi oatmeal. Yum. How am I going to continue to lose weight? Because my servings are 1/4 cup. It's not a lot. So at the end of a day, I've only had six 1/4 cups of food which equals 1 1/2 cups of high protein foods. That's it. So yeah, the weight will still melt off. I just don't know if I'll be doing a pound a day. But that's ok, I'm eating and not fainting from starving.

Ok, it's time for a snack...1/4 of cottage cheese w/a teaspoon of sugar free apple sauce. You never knew how excited you'd be for that little bit when you've only had jello and water for a week! LOL!!!!

Disney World Winter Wonderland Album

I have made another one of my Disney albums. This was for 2 little sister
who spent the holiday at Disney World! Luck girls!! This album is an 8x8 which I
enjoyed making because it left me a lot of room to play in. I also really loved
loved making it winter/holiday themed. It was fun to get away from the typical
black/yellow/red combo that is typical of Disney albums. I hope you all enjoy
it. Oh and I also made the album in rings versus binding it because Mom is a
scrapbooker from what I gather so I wanted to give her space to add on what ever
else she likes to make the album more unique for her family. :-)

My next album that I'm almost done making is a Disney World Mini Album!! This one was fun too! I'll post pics when I'm done. Check back!

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!
I sure hope your day is full of excitement and joy!

I was finally able to take back the laptop from Wendy so I could blog right quick. ;-) Another lap top is on Santa's list for next year! How do we just survive on just one???? LOL Really, we are one spoiled generation of Americans aren't we? And I'm grateful for every minute!!

So I wanted to jump on right quick and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas as it's winding down here. And share more Lap Band stuff for those of you that are curious.

My incision sites are doing better. They don't hurt much anymore. I don't have stitches, they are just steri-strips. Crazy isn't it? Major surgery where they took out a gall bladder, inserted a band and repaired a hernia and I only need little bandages. Thank God for modern technology and medical advances!!

So what I have painfully discovered is that when you get the lap band done, they pump you with a bunch of gases. It is annoying. It doesn't hurt a whole lot other than it's uncomfortable and tight. It's not very easy to get those gases out of your body. The way to get it out is to walk, walk, walk! So there I was at 10pm last night walking the neighborhood. Oh what the neighbors must think. I also sent Wendy out to buy Gas-X instant strips that sit in your mouth and dissolve. Those can be ones best friend during this phase. The discomfort will go away shortly, don't worry.

Well, this morning Phoenix ran out of bed and found Santa visited our home! Woot! Woot! Santa must have not gotten the email I sent a couple of weeks ago telling him that Phoenix was being naughty. ;-) Phoenix escaped another year. ;-)

Anyways, Wendy & Phoenix gave me this wonderful work-0ut outfit. It's a size 18/20. Yeah, a bit small but I thought; "No worries, I will be fitting into this real soon. Maybe another 2 or 3 months." I am a size 26/28 after all. Then Wendy said, "umm...I don't know, I really do think it will fit you now." So naturally I smile and roll my eyes, "yeah, ok. No need to be mean." Jeez, some spouses right. I guess I should be flattered that she thinks I'm "smaller" than I REALLY am, better than her getting me a moo-moo. So she scolds me and says "just TRY it on would ya!" So, despite the fact that I *know* I'm going to be embarrassed when I cant even get the exercise jacket over my wrists I do it for her sake (and to prove her wrong, because after all it's my body, I know what I fit into or not...) THE DARN JACKET ACTUALLY FIT!!! And it zipped!! A 18/20 fit me! OMG!! The last time I fit in an 18/20 was before Phoenix was born. Seriously, this was shocking to me. I ran and tried on the pants. I was actually able to pull them up without hearing the elastic ripping sound us chubby girls know all to well. Are you serious???? These are an 18/20. This isn't right. It can't be. "Oh but Pete, it is right" said Wendy giggling. She said she noticed my shoulders and legs getting dramatically thin. Which is interesting because I look in the mirror and I haven't seen one bit of change, not one. And the scale still says 277.

This is going to be a great healthy year for our family. Because not only am I changing my eating lifestyle, I'll be changing my family's' eating habits as well. I am the grocery shopper & the chef around here. They eat what I make or bring into this house. I can no longer feed them the crap that I always ate and claim to be a good Mom or that I was caring for their bodies. Was I really? Bringing in pop & chips and ice cream by the gallons? Was I truly keeping their best interests at heart? No not really. This realization does not make me proud, obviously. But what I am proud of is that I'm now truly awake to how I can change and break our poor eating habits. It's never too late to change, never!!

So here's to a healthy & happy 2010!! I hope you all have had a wonderful holiday season!!

Lap Band surgery recovery

I'm home!!!! It's been a crazy 24 hours let me tell ya!

I'm going to go into a little detail here so please forewarned. I want to try to give ya'll a clear understanding about this type of surgery if any of you are curious for yourselves or a loved one.

First of all I started my Lap band journey on May 29th, 2009. I've had to do a series of medical tests from a stomach biopsy, tons of blood work and a psych evaluation. Can you believe I didn't fail that one! ;-)

I had to do the 2 week clear liquid diet. Let me tell you that really pushed it, it really did. Thank goodness it was a short term goal. I'm good at those. I've lost 20 lbs so far. Woot! Woot!

Ok, so yesterday morning I was at St. Francis Hospital in Federal Way at 8 a.m. I was taken back to a holding room for 2 1/2 hours. That's where they start the IV and change into those lovely open butt gowns.

Phoenix & Wendy went out, little man couldn't handle it. He was really really worried about me so I sent them to run errands and have breakfast to help get his mind off of the surgery. But I felt it was important to be honest with him. I don't think it's fair to lie to our kids about possible outcomes. One doesn't have to be blunt with cruelty but we can sit them down and tell them why we are making this choice which includes for our own health and so that we can have the energy to be better parents and so that we can stick around a lot longer. I had to be honest with him, I didn't want something to happen and all he knew was "Mommy was going to the Dr.'s office and she didn't come home." That's so cruel to kids. So, of course he was more nervous than I was. Poor guy. But he and Wendy did a great job running errands and distracting themselves.

Now don't think your going to die on the table, it's not like that. Gall bladder removals have the same amount of complications. Your chances of dieing of diabetes, heart attack or stroke due to complications of obesity by far out number a lap band surgery. Lap band surgery is "elective" where as a triple heart bypass is not. Personally (obviously) being preemptive on such life changes is something this control freak prefers. It also shows our kids we do what we can to take care of ourselves.

Ok back to the surgery part. So after waiting for about 2 hours a nurse came in and gave an antibiotic shot in my thigh. They do this within a 2 hour window of surgery. So I knew I was up on deck. She gave the shot in the thigh because typically it's in the stomach but because they don't know where the surgeon is going to do his thing it's safer that it's in the thigh. So make sure you ask your nurse about this.

After all the intake sort of stuff you do a nurse will then take you to the pre op room. I met with the anesthesiologist and went over all the risks and precautions. The surgeon came in and went over the chart and asked if I had any questions. Waited for maybe 15 mins for the surgical room to be prepared. I was wheeled into the room and there they splayed my arms and I was given something to relax a little. Then the mask was put on and well...that's all I remember. Thank great goodness!!

This was my first surgery so I had no idea the nausea after waking. I was so so very sick. I just can't even explain how much pain I felt. It lasted maybe 30 mins until the meds kicked in. I was very very sore and it felt like I've been in a car accident sort of sore. The incisions didn't hurt at all. I have 8 incisions buts that's because I had my gall bladder removed due to all the foods in high fats and sugars, it took it's toll on my body. I also had to have a haiatel hernia repaired. The hernia was due to the fact that I would over eat, often and would stretch my stomach so much that it slowly was stretching my muscle fibers to my diaphragm. So being over weight doesn't just have it's social complications or the obvious skeletal (back, knees and ankle) issues but there is a lot of internal damage we do to ourselves without even knowing.

After about 2 hours of sleeping off the anesthetics, I was feeling well enough to walk. And this is a MUST. The surgeons will fill you with gases to assist with the surgery and walking WILL help instantly that bloated feeling as well as rushing the burning off of the anesthetics. If you do have the surgery please please walk a lot around the hospital. It will improve your recovery by 100%. No lie.

I stayed the night at the hospital because some insurance companies require that. There are some hospitals that will send you home after a few hours. I'm really grateful that my insurance demanded the over night stay. I really needed it. Throughout the stay I was required to sip A LOT of water to make sure everything was working with the band and to again help expel the anesthetics. Which I was more than happy to do, those anesthetics kicked my butt!

I was released around 11am after a visit from the surgeon. Now I'm at home and I have no appetite what so ever. Weird huh. Its been 2 days since I've had a shake (food) and I'm ok with that. I am to be on a clear liquid diet for a week, no protein. The reason being is because after the lap band your stomach is very very irritated and sensitive so you don't want to make it even more upset. Also, if you have protein you can stretch the top of the hour glass of a stomach which you don't want to do.

So there you have it. I wanted to be sure to share with you all my experiences so far. Especially for those of you considering the Lap Band or are about to have it done. In the end all I can say is the Lap Band experience is like child birth...it's painful and you think this is the most painful thing you could endure and "what the heck was I thinking"...but once a little time has passed and the pain has subsided, you have your entire future to look forward to. And that this was the best life changing event you could have ever given yourself.

I'm so excited for the future, this pain is only temporary. I have done something that not only increased my life span for years but it will have increased the quality of life. And that makes this all worth it! I'm looking forward to being a fun athletic Mom and spouse. I'm looking forward to going on hikes and walks with my family instead of going out to eat. There is more to life than eating fatty foods restaurants. Sure that food is good but that shouldn't be the only reason to live.

Eat to live don't live to eat!