Blog Hop ... And a Prize!

Welcome to the September Blog Hop! Celebrate the beginning of fall with me and my blogger friends by hopping around, visiting our sites, and entering our contests! There are no limits - you can enter the contest on every blog. With over 40 blogs participating, that's over 40 prizes you could win. Just click on the links below to move on to the next blog.

On this blog, you can win …




This is my new cookbook, which contains over eighty delicious, mouth-watering recipes. The best part? They're all low in sodium, although you'd never guess that from the taste. So take care of your heart while being nice to your taste buds.

I do need to make a quick clarification - while these recipes are healthy, I didn't lose my weight by following this cookbook. I've gone off grains, fruits - basically all carbs, which is a pretty strict diet, in order to get my weight off. So while the cookbook is a great resource, it's not the exact tool I'm using. :)

Would you like to win this prize? You just need to do two things.

1. Become a follower of this blog.

2. Leave me a comment in the trail and tell me why you'd like to win this prize.

That's it! You are now entered. The contest ends on Saturday night, September 24th, at midnight MST, and the winner will be contacted shortly thereafter. Please either leave your e-mail address in the comment trail or make sure it's visible through your profile so I can contact you to tell you that you're the lucky winner.

Now go visit my other friends ...


September Blog Hop Participants

1. Tristi Pinkston, LDS Author 2. Joyce DiPastena 3. I Am A Reader, Not A Writer 4. Mandi Slack 5. Michael D. Young 6. Six Mixed Reviews 7. Pam Williams 8. Laurie Lewis 9. Kristy Tate 10. Marilyn Yarbrough 11. Stacy Coles 12. Kristie Ballard 13. Lynn Parsons 14. Pushing Past the Pounds 15. Sheila Staley 16. cindy Hogan

17. Jamie Thompson 18. Jaclyn Weist 19. Cathy Witbeck 20. Secret Sisters Mysteries 21. Tamera Westhoff 22. Tina Scott 23. Lynnea Mortensen 24. Danyelle Ferguson aka Queen of the Clan 25. Jeanette A. Fratto 26. Bonnie Harris 27. Melissa Lemon 28. Mary Ann Dennis 29. Stephanie Black 30. Jane Still 31. Janice 32. Laura Bastian

33. Tamara Bordon 34. Betsy Love 35. Maria Hoagland 36. Amber Robertson 37. Debbie Davis 38. 39. Christy Monson 40. Carolyn Frank 41. Rebecca Birkin 42. Melissa Cunningham 43. Emily L. Moir 44. Ronda Hinrichsen 45. Lisa Asanuma 46. Joan Sowards 47. Jordan McCollum 48. Diane Stringam Tolley

Learn more about September Blog Hop here.
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Another Skinny Picture

My mom came over this afternoon to take some pictures of me for Facebook and whatnot, and took this one. I honestly thought that for as big as I am, I'd have to lose at least fifty pounds in order to see a difference, but I'm really seeing it now, at 33.5. Hooray!

A Skinny Picture!

This is the skinniest picture taken of me in a long, long time ... I just had to share it. And I think it's very appropriate that I'm eating a salad. :)

I'm just so tired of hating every picture of me ever taken. When my mom took this one and showed it to me, I actually squealed.

I've decided to post a picture of me every month. That way, when I see you all again in person next time, you'll still recognize me. :)

A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That ...

This blog post is going to be a little bit celebration, a little bit whining...

Let's start with the good stuff. I am now down 33.5 pounds. Yes, you heard me right! I can hardly believe I'm even getting to say that. This is the most weight I've ever lost. Before, my record was twenty-seven pounds, back when I was doing the Healthrider for half an hour every day and practically starving myself. But then I got pregnant, and that came to a stop. I'm really excited about this loss. I feel smaller. I can't even explain what it's like to feel smaller. I honestly thought I was going to be an obese woman the rest of my life.

The whining ... I've been hit by some health problems, and they've both kept me from being the person I've wanted to be this week. It's hard to feel productive when you're lying down with ice on your foot because once again, you've thrown out a bone (I do that every so often) and because you're overstressed. I had a bad day today with my oldest son - we ended up in a fight, which always stresses me out even further. And when your doctor tells you to avoid stress ... it's stressful to avoid stress, you know that? :)

But at any rate, the weight is still coming off. I now look forward to going in to the doctor's office if for no other reason. I'm still spending a lot more time there than I want to - with all of us being treated, it takes a long time - but I have something concrete to look forward to each time.

And when I hit 40 pounds lost, I'm treating myself to a pedicure! I've never had one!

This Week's Update

I'm quite delighted to announce that my weight loss now totals 27 pounds. That is so epic ... can I just say?

Challenges this week ... staying full enough. Because my diet doesn't allow any grains at all, I'm trying to stay full enough on meats, seeds, and vegetables. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. I've pulled out some of my husbands cookbooks that he collected back when he was doing an alkalerian diet, and I think those will help me broaden my horizons a bit. In addition, Sabine lent me her book about the primal diet, and while I've been too busy to read more than the first chapter up until now, I'm delving into it with a vengeance this week to learn all I can.

So it's a process. A very slow process. :) I'm now off caffeine, which is awesome, although I still miss it. I'm still candy and dessert-free since June 13th, which is something I didn't think I could ever do. And now that I'm off caffeine, I'm sugar-free.

Believe me, I've had my moments of feeling picked on. My husband and I went to the Golden Corral for dinner the other night, and right there in front of me was the most delicious-looking chocolate layer cake. It was hard to fill up my plate with salad and meat and ignore the cakes and the rolls, but you know what? I did it. And I'm really proud of myself.

Right now we're making plans to go to a movie as family for Halloween instead of trick-or-treating. The kids are excited about it - we don't go see movies very often - and I hope it makes it up to them that they aren't getting a whole bag of candy. That would be the worst thing ever for them right now.

Until next time ...