Outcome from the Cabbage Soup Diet

Ok, so have I left you hanging as to how I was doing with the diet?

Let me just give you a recap of what I have eaten for the past 7 days (yesterday was the last day)



Day 1 : Fruit and soup day. I ate my soup for lunch and dinner and had fruit (grapes, apples, fruit cup, etc.) to fill in the rest of my food intake.



Day 2: Veggie and soup day. I ate my soup mostly this day and had a baked potatoe and small side salad at McAlister's for dinner.



Day 3: Fruit, veggie and soup day. Today was a great day. I had strawberries for breakfast sweetened slightly with some spenda. I had some steamed broccoli (Grean Giant steamers) for mid morning snack. I had my soup for lunch and I had some grapes for my afternoon snack. Dinner was another story, although I started out good, we were out late gettting my new car so we stopped at Red Robin and I had a burger and fries. I was quite upset about this, but came right home and got on that exercise bike to work some of that off. BTW, I weighed myself this morning after only 2 days, and I was down 4 pounds already.



Day 4: Today was bananas and milk. I had 4 bananas throughout the day and drank about 1/2 gallon of 2% milk. (The diet calls for skim milk, but I just can't do that...I always drink 2%). I had my soup for dinner along with a small side salad (a girlfriend invited me out to dinner, and I was good with just the small salad).



Day 5: Today was my favorite. I was able to have steak tonight, so that is just what we did. I had my soup for lunch and we went out for dinner to Logans. I was good though with eating the Logan (I think it's 12 oz, and yes, I ate it all), salad with ranch (again, might not have been the best idea, but...that's what I wanted). I also had a roll, but just 1 roll...which is saying a lot for me because I love Logan's hot yeast rolls.



Day 6: This day was a little more difficult because we were running around all day. I had strawberries sweetened with splenda for breakfast, and then for lunch we went to Arby's and I had a Jr. Roast beef sandwich (about the size of a Crystal burger) and some water. For dinner we went to Sonny's and I had some of their roasted chicken (took the skin off), beans and corn on the cob. I did NOT have any of my soup today because I was not home from 9am-10pm and when I got home that night, I was just too stuffed from dinner and tired to eat ANYTHING!



Day 7: Ok, the final day of this crash diet. I didn't have any soup this day either, but not because I was sick of it. After church we went to Logan's and I had their Logan's Club salad which is HUGE. That completely filled me up (and I didn't even eat all of it). In the evening I made myself and my honey a smoothie (one of the Yoplait frozen kind), and that was it.



As for what I drank during this diet....it was mostly water. I might of had 2 grape Propel's at some point during the week, and a few unsweet teas sweetened with splenda, but other than that...water water WATER!



This morning while getting dressed I jumped on the scale and was down 9 pounds! I am not sure how accurate that is though, because this morning was the start of my monthly cycle, so I might be a little bloated too...but I'm very happy with the outcome. I will be honest and say, I only got on the exercise bike 1 time during this and rode 8 miles. I was just too busy with other things!



I plan on being off this diet for a few days, but since it worked so well, I plan on going on it two weeks straight right before the cruise!

Day 3 (Yesterday) of the Cabbage Soup Diet

Ok, so yesterday was day 3~
This was the day I could combine the veggies and fruit along with the soup. I had a pretty good plan and stuck to it. I had some fresh strawberries for breakfast, some steamed broccoli for a mid morning snack (I premade this the night before-Green Giants steamers). I made sure to eat a big bowl of soup for lunch (I actually had to make another pot the night before because I was running low and knew I would be eating this for 4 more days). For my afternoon snack I had some grapes and of course, I drank water all day long!
I will say that I did snack on a few pretzels sticks here at the office (about 6 total I think), but I felt that it was ok, and wasn't anything major.
BUT, dinner was a different story. My husband and I were out doing some running around and we both were starving so we stopped at Red Robin and had a burger and fries. I AM SO UPSET WITH MYSELF FOR DOING THIS!

BUT....I came home and worked most of that out.

I will say that I got on the scales this morning, although I didn't really want to get my hopes up already...but I was down 4 pounds!!! I am pretty sure most of that was water weight, but that's ok...4 pounds is 4 pounds! AND, it sure helped with motivation.

Today I am on day 4, which is bananas and milk and soup. I will update tomorrow on how the rest of my day goes.

Cabbage Soup Diet ~ Day 2

Ok, so today was day 2 of this interesting diet. I was able to have only veggies and soup today, but was able to have a baked potato with butter for dinner. I really didn't prepare myself well enough to have veggies throughout the day, so...all I had was 1 big bowl of soup for lunch and my water to drink throughout the workday. When I got off tonight, my honey and I went to McAlisters deli and I had a half spud and a small salad (pick two). I must say that I have never craved a potato as much as I did today. I missed my fruit (I was able to have fruit yesterday) and I'm looking forward to being able to have it again tomorrow.






The soup is actually pretty tasty, but I can tell you that only having soup is really starting to drive me crazy AND IT'S ONLY DAY TWO! But I have a goal in mind, and I have that cruise to prepare for which is coming sooner than later.


I have been dress shopping for the formal nights (there are 2 on this cruise) and I want to make sure that I don't look like a cow in the dresses, so finding a good cut is being difficult, but I'm sure I can find something that I like that will look classy and elegant. My husband will be dressing in his tux, so I have to look good! haha


One dress that I am very interested in is this one...

I also like this one...

Anyway, I'm hoping to lose two dress sizes, and because of that, I'm afraid to order my dress too soon, but I'm running out of time!

I'll be back tomorrow to let you know how day three works out!

Cabbage Soup Anyone??

Ok, so it has been crazy in the Carpenter household. I've sold my car, been shopping for a replacement (actually Ken is doing most of that) and we booked a cruise that leaves ONE MONTH FROM TODAY!
Work is going great and everything else is falling into place, but with a cruise only 4 short weeks away...I have GOT to get some inches off so I look good for this vacation! After talking to my girl J, I decided to do some research on this "Cabbage Soup Diet". She told me that all the cheerleading mom's swear by it, so I googled it and found some interesting information. It seemed like something worth trying, so tomorrow is the start of this interesting plan.

The plan lasts for 7 days, of mostly eating this soup (which actually looks a lot like vegetable soup, and smells pretty tasty...along with eating some fruits and veggies, with the addition of some beef toward the end of the week. Hey, if it will get a good jump start, then I'm happy to give it a whirl.

I'll keep you posted as to how it tastes and how things work with it as this week goes along. WISH ME LUCK!

Oh When The Saint's Go Marching In

Ok, love em or hate em, they came to win and they did it! They broke the curse and won the Super Bowl. I am normally not a Saint's fan, because they are in our division, and therefore they are rivals...but I was SOOO happy that Brees was able to win a Super Bowl title.

The hubby was rooting for the Colts because he is such a Peyton fan, and to be quite honest, I like him too, but everyone deserves to win the Super Bowl once, right? AND, they Saint's really did kick some butt.

Now, what about those commercials? There were a lot that I loved, but then again, there were some that really annoyed me. Needless to say, I could have done without all the beer commercials EXCEPT for one. The one with the baby clydesdale horse and the bull. What, you missed it?

Then there was the Doritos commercials...WAY TOO MANY, and many were just ridiculous. But, this was the best...


But this Doritos commercial was a close second...


BUT THIS WAS MY FAVORITE!

Caption This...

I'm a member of a network site just for women here in the Charlotte area.

www.womenofcharlotte.net

I really am thankful for this site because when I moved here from Florida a couple years ago, I didn't have a single friend, and as women...we need girlfriends! It was hard to make a transition into a new city and state with no female friends. Anyway, I was introduced to this site, and through it I have made some really good friends.

The reason I bring this up is because occassionally on the forums there is a "Caption This" post done by the website queen herself, Ms "T". I love these photos and seeing what all the other ladies have to say or "caption" the picture as. I thought, what a cute idea to start adding to the blog, so occassionally I will have a "Caption This" addition to my blog. I can't wait to see what all of your captions are for these interesting photos.

PHOTO 1PHOTO 2
PHOTO 3

PHOTO 4

Snowed In...Cabin Fever

And it was only for 1 day!

We had a pretty bad winter system come through the Carolina's this past weekend. I must admit that I had to eat my words, because on Friday I was sure that we weren't going to get anything that was worth mentioning. I mean during this winter season we have heard, more than once, that snow was coming our way...and nothing. So, this time I thought the same thing, I mean we were coming off of a week of having 60 degree weather!
Then it came....

Most of what we got in our area was sleet. Matter of fact, all through the night on Friday, it sounded like a hail storm with all the sleet coming down. When we woke up Saturday morning, we had close to 3 inches of solid ice. Of course I thought it was snow (I'm from Florida, remember?), but the hubby quickly nipped that thought out of my head. He's from here, and I should listen to him...but sometimes it's hard to admit when he is right.

The poor dogs were slipping all around the back yard on the ice we had, and I have to admit...I laughed about it. COME ON, IT WAS FUNNY...AND THEY DIDN'T HURT THEMSELVES.
Due to the weather, we stayed in all day on Saturday and watched movies. Some of them were kind of stupid, but we watched them anyway. We were trying out the Netflix instant movies online. The hubby just connected a cable from our laptop to our TV and surround sound. I was actually pretty impressed with the quality of the sounds and picture.

By Sunday night they had cancelled all but 1 of our church services (we normally have 3 morning services). All life groups (what we call our Sunday School) were cancelled, which totally stunk, because we LOVE our classmates. But, by 1pm we ventured out to see what the roads were like. Thankfully they had cleared off quite a bit (enough for me to feel ok to drive to work today).

It's kind of funny...I always thought it would be great to be snowed in for a few days...but after the one day, I was ready to get out and get doing something. I'm so glad that I was able to.

They are calling for some more freezing rain tonight, but I'm hoping it won't be anything too serious, because us Florida people don't know how to drive on icy roads. I think this guy must have been a Florida driver!

And I Thought "I" Was in Control of MY Money!

I know that everyone is feeling the economic crunch, and to be quite honest...it's COMPLETELY understandable that everyone wants to hold onto their money as tightly as possible. But I have been warned this week, that MY money that is in the bank...really isn't MY MONEY!

You could have fooled me, because I thought that since I worked for it, and my husband worked for it, that it was ours to use at our discretion (of course after all the bills are paid and Uncle Sam gets his share). Seems like our county tax office didn't receive a payment for one of our auto taxes by the end of last year, and sent a garnishment to our bank for the fee. Funny thing, WE NEVER GOT A NOTICE. We paid the taxes on one of our cars, but didn't get a notice for the other. Well, I noticed on our bank statement online that the garnishment for the taxes had been taken out...that's fine, we owe it, we don't mind paying it. HOWEVER, on top of that, our bank charged US, their account holder, a fee of $100 to "process" the garnishment. ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? You can imagine I was livid, as was my husband.

Here's another kicker, we contacted the tax office, and they admitted they had not sent us a notice of intent for garnishment (it would have been sent certified). They also stated that they had not received any funds from our bank, and told my husband he could come down to the office tomorrow and pay the taxes.

Long story short, we are still fighting with the bank to find out where the money went to since the county tax office hadn't received it, and for the refund of the "processing fee" which is absolutely ridiculous.

Isn't it sad that (1) someone can find out your banking information without you telling them and (2) that you have NO control of your money when it is in the bank??


The tarp funds weren't enough for these banks, now they want to take everything they can from US, the consumer!


I think the only safe "bank" to keep our money in these days is this...

Please Hold… BLAH BLAH BLAH!

Ok, maybe it’s just me, but I am so sick of calling a place and hearing that some old message every time. I know at some point or another we have all heard it…
“Please hold, all of our representatives are currently assisting other callers. Your call is very important to us, so please hold for the next available representative.”

If you are like me, you probably either call the place that has the awkward silence in between the times that the statement above is mentioned…and you kind of wonder if someone is listening in really really quietly to see if they can hear me complaining. OR, it’s always that weird ‘elevator music’ that they have playing. That drives me crazy too.

It’s never a song or music that I really would like to sit and listen to as I’m passing the minutes waiting to speak to a human. THEN it happens…someone comes on the line that I can barely understand…why is that? Because they are usually in India or some other country OTHER than the good ole USA. Listen ladies, I sell Avon…and they are one of the worst about this.
Just once I would like to be the person that doesn’t have to wait. The person that gets right through without ever hearing that stupid message. If I can’t be that person, I would like to meet that person and find out what is so great about THEM that they don’t have to wait. Why is THEIR call more important than mine!
I mean seriously, if my call is really that important to you, why am I on hold for, I don’t know….10 minutes??? Maybe I’m mistaken, but there are a lot of people out there that are looking for jobs. Give them that job to answer those calls. Obviously you don’t have enough people staffed for the phone calls you are getting.
Ok, I’m stepping off my soapbox now. I just had to share a little frustration this Friday morning. I hope that you all have a great weekend.
Muah~

"You look nice today"....as compared to what?

I've kind of been sitting on this for a day now, debating on whether this was "blog" material or what, and obviously you can tell that I gave in and thought I would share this.

Yesterday was a beautiful day here in the NC, and despite the fact that I had to get up at 6:30 to get ready for work, I woke up knowing it was going to be a great day! First off, we were suppose to have a clear day with the temps in the 60s.
Because of this, I decided that due to the high temps, I was going to put on a dress or a skirt. Frankly, I was getting tired of pants & jeans and heavy sweaters.
As for my hair & make-up...nothing special. I actually ran out of time, and just left my hair up in a clip from when I was putting on my face.
Anyway, EVERYONE at work kept telling me how nice I looked and wondered if I was going anywhere for the evening. Of course it's always nice to get compliments (I love them actually ;)), but you have to wonder..."I look nice as compared to what exactly? Do I normally look ugly or not put together?"
I think it's important to look your best and take pride in how you present yourself in public, and this is something I DO take pride in....SO, it kind of makes me worried that I have slacked off on that the past few days...or maybe even weeks. Lord I hope it hasn't been longer than that!

I sure don't want to be picked up by the Fashion Police!

The Change of Tides---In the waters of friendship

Do you remember how your friendships were when you were 5, 10, 13, 16, 21 and so on? It's amazing how friendships change over the course of our lives. As we grow and change, the qualities we look for in friends change too. There is a small percentage of people who remain friends with their childhood buddies, and of that small percentage, the friendship is much different now than it was in the early stages. I remember many of my elementary and high school friends, very fondly in fact! I had some great memories back then, and one of the things I remember from those days was thinking that we would be friends FOREVER!

Sadly, forever doesn't usually happen with those friendships. People grow up, move away & sometimes might even forget why they ever liked you to begin with! Sad...but true!

Thanks to some online social networks like myspace, twitter and my favorite, Facebook, it is easy to get reconnected to those old school friends from years gone by. I love finding out how they have been living their lives over the past decade & seeing pictures of their beautiful families and how they themselves have changed over the years.

Now as an adult woman in my 30s, and after going through some things in my life over the past few years...I step back and evaluate my friends; Those that are true friends, that stand by me through it all. Those that are there and listen (but I can tell that once I've hung up the phone, they have forgotten all about our conversation). And those that "say" they are your friend but you NEVER hear from them and when you call they are always too busy or maybe don't even answer the phone...you know the kind, the one's that are you friend when it's convenient for them!?

I want to share with you an email that was forwarded to me, just yesterday that kind of sums up friendships for us women. When I read it, I knew that this was my subject for my next blog....

CIRCLE OF FRIENDS
When I was little,
I used to believe in the concept of one best friend,
And then I started to become a woman.
And then I found out that if you allow your heart to open up,
God would show you the best in many friends.

One friend is needed when you're going through things with your man.
Another friend is needed when you're going through things with your mom.
Another will sit beside you in the bleachers as you delight in your children and their activities..
Another when you want to shop, share, heal, hurt, joke, or just be together,'
Another , 'Let's fight together,'
Another , 'Let's walk away together.'

One friend will meet your spiritual need,
Another your shoe fetish,
Another your love for movies,
Another will be with you in your season of confusion,
Another will be your clarifier,
Another the wind beneath your wings.

But whatever their assignment in your life,
On whatever the occasion,
On whatever the day,
Or wherever you need them to meet you with their gym shoes on and hair pulled back,
Or to hold you back from making a complete fool of yourself .
Those are your best friends.

It may all be wrapped up in one woman, But for many, it's wrapped up in several..
One from 7th grade,
One from high school,
Several from the college years,
A couple from old jobs,
On some days your mother,
On some days your neighbor,
On others, your sisters,
And on some days, your daughters.


Anway, for me, I've always taken pride in my friendships and tried to be the best friend I possibly can be, even when I felt that I wasn't getting the same in return. It was ok, and although I would like to say it still IS ok, really and truly it's not. I want to know that I am important to my friends, because I feel it's important to let those you care about know they are important to you. So if it's been a while since you have called and spoken to a friend of yours...pick up the phone and call them, or send them a card. Trust me, it will truly be the right decision to make. ESPECIALLY IF THAT FRIEND IS ME! :-)

It's A New Year!

WELCOME 2010
Not only is it a new year, but also a new decade and as you can see, all my previous posts have been deleted…WHY, you might ask!? Because there’s no looking back! If you’re looking back then you aren’t moving forward. And after the year I have had, and most of us have had, we probably don’t want to look back. With every new year, there are always new resolutions, maybe even some that we had the previous year that we were not able to tackle and achieve. It seems that happens to me A LOT!
I have several things that I hope to accomplish this year…one is to get hired permanently with the job I have been temping at since October of last year. Another is to lose weight, and not just some weight, but a lot of weight! I don’t want those that follow behind me to see this…

The last two things that are on my list for 2010 are going to take a lot of work, prayer and determination...and those of you who have found my blog and follow my blog will probably go through these struggles along with me. The first of these two is that the hubs and I are praying to add a bundle of joy to our family. So keep that in your prayers as well, because this is something that is very dear and near to my heart, and obviously something that I am very sensitive about. Lastly…PATIENCE! I hope to really work on my patience. I have always been one who wants things NOW!

This is going to really come into play with the baby making and the weight loss…because these two things obviously will be taking longer than I would hope for them to, but I know that God is in control! He is the only one who can see the full picture, and no matter what… I will continue to show him the Glory the Honor and the Praise!
I hope that you will enjoy the journey throughout 2010. And I pray that it is a great year for each of you, filled with blessings and memories!