What's Going On?

Ever wonder exactly what websites your kids are visiting while they're online? Or wanting to make sure that your hubby is steering clear of those girly websites? Do you think that the only way you can know what is going on is to stand over everybody's shoulders while they're online? Wrong! Why not invest in spy software to find out exactly what websites are being viewed on your computer.

You can find software like this at eblaster.com. They offer several different versions of spy software. One version, called eblaster 5.0 will actually capture incoming and outgoing email messages, chats and instant messages then immediately send you a copy. This software also records websites visited, keystrokes typed, files downloaded and programs that are launched.

If you want to make sure that your family is safe while online, I highly recommend getting some spy software to keep an eye on things.

this is a sponsored post.

I snuck a peek

I really figured after all the junk that I'd eaten this weekend that the scale would be cruel to me this morning, but when I hopped on I was pleasantly surprised to see a loss. My official weigh-in day isn't until Thursday so I'm not going to post the exact amount that I'm down just yet, but let's just say it is looking good.

My son is feeling much better today and is back at school, which is good because although he wasn't bad to have home (he slept for the most part) I needed my alone time today. I've gotten a lot accomplished this morning and I know if he'd been home that I would have delayed doing any of it for fear of either waking him up.

Today has started out well diet-wise. I'm back on track and feel that today I will stick with the NS program for every single meal even if it kills me to do it. This is where I had problems last time on NS, going out and not eating on program. I just can't do that this time if I want to reach my goal. I've got to have more willpower and more brains when I do go out to eat. And if I can't eat sensibly when I'm out at a restaurant then maybe I just don't need to be eating out at restaurants!

Ok, meals for today:

Breakfast-
NS cinnamon granola bar
1/2 cup skim milk (dairy/protein)
1/2 grapefruit (fruit)

Snack-
5 crackers (carb carried over from breakfast)
1 pack of fat free string cheese (dairy/protein serving)

Lunch-
NS black beans and rice
fat free cottage cheese
salad
1/2 cup strawberries

Snack-
1/2 cup strawberries

Dinner-
NS Hamburger w/ lettuce, tomato and mustard
green beans
salad w/ tomato, olives and ff dressing
1/2 cup butter beans

Dessert-
NS double chocolate almond cookie

Sunday

Ok, I really stunk at following NS today. With having to set our clocks ahead an hour, I started out later with my day so I just had the NS peanut butter granola bar, 1/2 c. milk, 1/2 c. grapefruit juice and a slice of toast. Figured I'd just eat a light breakfast since it was only about 2 hours until lunch.

Well, hubby decided that he wanted to go shopping so off we go. He swore to me that we'd eat somewhere for lunch that I could eat sensibly. Where do we end up at? Taco Bell! Now, I know that you can order pretty much any item off their menu "al fresca" style which lowers the fat and calorie content, but still. I ended up just ordering two of their soft tacos and a diet cola. It didn't fill me up at all. We went to a few more stores then brought everything home. Hubby then says for me to go back out to the car. He had a surprise for me. Ok. The kids stay home and off we go again. This time we end up at the movies. Great. I've no problem with going to see a good movie (We saw Wild Hogs...so funny), but I'd not brought my NS snack and I was still hungry from not eating much at lunch. Hubby ordered popcorn and I ended up eating 1/2 of it before I even realized it. Movie Popcorn=No! No! in Lisa's book. After the movie, Hubby said we'd go get something at Subway. Ok, I can handle Subway. I can eat healthy there and this will also fill me up. good. So, we drive down to the Subway that is closest to the theater. it's packed. Hubby doesn't want to wait so we drive across town to another Subway. It's closed. Grr!!! By now, my stomach is growling loud enough for hubby to hear it and I'm also getting nauseous from being too hungry so I growl at him to just stop at the next restaurant that comes along. Well, that just happens to be RALLY'S. Ok, not the best place to eat, but I'm going to pass out if I don't put some food in my body soon! I order the spicy chicken meal, small, with diet cola. When I get it, I toss the bun out, scrape off as much of the mayo as possible and inhale the chicken patty. I feel better after that and slow down to eat the small fries. Well, didn't have to worry about me eating too many because after only the third one, I bit into something that was just awful! it was so bitter, I still don't know what it was. I immediately spit it out and dumped the rest of the fries. I guess that's one way not to go overboard on eating junk. By now, I realize this is just a bad eating day on my part and I should just stop and not even try anymore. So, once we got home I just drank a big glass of water then go to bed, telling myself that I'll do better in the morning.

NS...Day 3

Well, weighed this morning and am actually down a pound already from my start day so I guess the pizza and cappuccino didn't do too much damage. I'm back on track today.

Breakfast-
NS blueberry pancake (delicious)
1 egg, scrambled
1 slice toast
1 serving blueberries on top of pancake

Snack-
1/2 cup fat free cottage cheese

Lunch-
NS chicken stew w/ barley (it didn't look the greatest, but tasted pretty good. I added a couple shots of tabasco sauce to give it some kick)
salad w/ ff cheese (dairy/protein serving)
1/2 cup grapefruit juice

Snack-
1 pear

Dinner-
Ate out again tonight, but I ordered off the kids menu and had no dessert or alcohol so feel pretty dang good.

In about an hour, I have my nephew's birthday party to go to. I'm going alone. My son is still not back to 100%. His fever came back today so he's just laying around. I don't blame him at all. I just hope he's feeling better by Monday so he can get back to school.

Deal or No Deal

My favorite game show on television right now is Deal or No Deal. I just love Howie Mandel and all of the fun and excitement he brings to the show. I call in every week with my guess to which case has the $10,000 in it too.

I love this game and have always thought it would be fun to play it online. Well, imagine my excitement when I found out that Winzy.com has a free version of the Deal or No Deal game on their website. Granted, you don't win any prizes with this game, but they do have several others on there that you can win prizes by playing. I'm going to go play a game right now. Open the case!

this is a sponsored post.

NS...Day 2

Alright, day one is behind me and it actually wasn't too bad for the beginning of a diet. I wasn't hungry except for one time and that was just because I waited too long between meals. Once I ate, I was stuffed and fine the rest of the evening. Today has started out great. I've gotten in two glasses of my water, ate my NS breakfast and walked on the treadmill. Here's my menu so far. I'll update later on:

Breakfast-
NS scrambled eggs w/ veggie sausage crumbles (yummy!)
1 egg (protein, I added it to my ns entree to give more bulk to them)
2 spiced apple rings (fruit serving)
5 small melba crackers (my carb serving)

Snack-
1 container vanilla fat-free yogurt

Lunch-
NS mashed potatoes w/broccoli (had this last time and still just as yummy)
bumblebee tuna fillet, teriyaki flavor (protein serving)
salad
2 spiced apple rings (fruit)

The rest of the evening was a total bomb. We ended up going out and although I didn't eat like I usually would, I did end up having 3 pieces of supreme pizza then stopped for a mocha cappuccino afterwards. I'll weigh in the morning to see how much damage I did. Hopefully not a lot.

What's going on?

Ok, there is something going on over at PayPerPost and I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out what it is. I've read a few different blogs out there and there are some pretty good rumors floating around as to what this big announcement of PayPerPost's is going to be, but here is what I think it is.

So, since PayPerPost deals with online advertising maybe the big announcement is going to be that they will be offering more opportunities for us smaller bloggers. I know I wish there were more opps out there for me to take. Since my blog doesn't have a whole lot of readers (hence a lower PR) I don't qualify for a lot of the opps that are posted now. Or maybe it will be that the advertisers will be paying even more money to us little bloggers who type our fingers to the bone to help advertise their products. That would be sweet! Hmm, maybe Ted is announcing his retirement and they are appointing Colleen the new head honcho! Cool, a fellow postie in charge. Awesome!

Well, whatever the big announcement is, I'm sure it will be fantastic news. I look forward to hearing what it is soon. Hopefully they won't be keeping us in suspense much longer.

Nutrisystem....Day 1

Even though today has been pretty hectic (had to take my son to the dr. Fever of 102. Diagnosed with tonsillitis), I started following the NS program. So far, so good although I've not gotten much water in. I was afraid to drink too much while out running around for fear of not making it to a bathroom in time:)

Anyway, this is my menu so far for today:

Breakfast-
NS strawberry toaster pastry (this is a new product and although it isn't bad it's not the greatest. Very dry and not sweet enough)
1 hard boiled egg (my protein serving)
1 piece of toast w/ spray of ICBINB (my carb serving since I have more then 100 lbs. to lose)
1/2 cup of grapefruit juice (my fruit serving)

Lunch-
NS cheese tortellini (very good. I don't remember them having this when I was on before, but the menu said it isn't new. Maybe I just missed it)
1/2 cup ff cottage cheese (my dairy serving)
salad w/ mushrooms, tomatoes, cucumbers, ff cheese (my snack dairy serving) topped with ff ranch dressing
2 spiced cinnamon apple rings (my fruit serving since I have more then 100 lbs. to lose)

Afternoon Snack-
2 spiced cinnamon apple rings (I should also have a protein/dairy serving now, but used it at lunch)

That's it for now. I've not thought much about what I'll be having for dinner yet, but that's the nice thing about the NS program. I dont' have to worry about what to have. It's already made for me, all I have to do is heat it up, add some veggies and salad and there ya go. Voila! Now, I DO already know what I'm choosing for my daily dessert and that is the new NS chocolate chunk almond cookie! The picture of it looks just yummy and from the feel of the package it is a fairly good size cookie at that. I'll let you know more once I have it, but I'm really hoping it is as good as I'm hoping.

Update:
Dinner-
NS meatloaf w/ mashed potatoes (another new item, very good although could have been bigger)
1/2 cup green beans (my veggie serving)
2 spiced apple rings (my fruit or salad serving)
5 green olives (my fat serving)
1/3 cup butter beans (my carb serving since I need to lose more then 100 lbs.)

Dessert-
NS white chocolate chunk cookie (I was right, it was delish! Again, could have been bigger, but that's the whole point of NS, isn't it? Portion control!)

My food is here!!

My really nice UPS guy just delivered my new shipment of NS food. I've not opened it up yet, but will here in just a few to make sure all is there and then try to find somewhere in my already crowded kitchen to put everything.

I've been debating on when to start the program and I think I'm just going to go ahead and start tomorrow. Even though it is a Thursday, I'm afraid if I wait to start on Sunday or Monday that I'll have lost all motivation that I have now. Besides, I'm anxious to taste some of this "new and improved" food that everyone on the NS boards have been raving about. From my last stint on NS, I know some of the food was delish while other things weren't so good. I'm sure this is how it will be again, but I'm hoping that it's more good then bad. I want to have the biggest majority of food possible so I don't get stuck in the rut of eating the same things over and over again.

Ok, off to unpack everything.

Dad's birthday

The month of March is full of birthdays in my family. My mom, my niece, my nephew and my dad's birthdays all fall within the first two weeks of the month. I've taken care of gifts for everybody on my list except for my dad. He is very hard to buy gifts for because he has pretty much everything he'd ever want to have. I've been searching though and think that I finally found the perfect gift for him. He doesn't do it often, but every once in awhile he'll get to invite his guy friends over for a game of cards. So, I thought why not get him something poker related and then it clicked. How about some personalized poker chips? E-Pokerchips.com offers all kinds of poker products from the nation's top manufacturers at discount prices. I think this will be the perfect gift for my dad. Who knows, maybe with these cool poker chips, his guy friends will want to come play cards with him more often.

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What a day

What an eventful day this has been. I'm glad that it is almost over and hopefully tomorrow won't be so busy. Like I said in my earlier post, I got my new car today. It's awesome, btw. But let's start from the beginning.

My list of things to do today was 1)take the kids to school, 2)go to the bank and get the check for the car 3)go pick up my car. Sounds simple enough.

It didn't end up that way. First, I did get the kids to school, came back home and started in on things I needed to do around here. then hubby called and said that he wasn't going to make it home in time to go pick up my car and I needed to find another ride over to the dealership. Hmm, ok, I'll call my mom. She's always home and would gladly give me a ride to pickup my car. I call, but unfortunately my brother has already hit her up to babysit my nephew. Darn. No ride from her. I call my sister-inlaw, but she was called into work today. Strike 2. then hubby calls back and says that his mom would take me over, no problem. Great. That's taken care of. I call the bank and let the loan officer know that I'll be in around 1:30 to sign the papers and pick up the check. I get his voicemail and leave a message only to have him call me back later asking if I could come in an hour earlier instead. No problem. So, I finish things up here and get ready to head into town when the phone rings. It's my son's school, he's sick, can I come pick him up? So, another snag in the day. I go pick him up, calling the bank on the way to let them know that I'm going to be a little bit late. No problem. Pick up my son, take him back by my mom's so she can watch him while I get all my running done then back into town to the bank. When I walk in, the receptionist tells me that now the loan officer has a customer in his office and it's going to be a good twenty minute wait. Great again. I patiently wait and finally get in to see him. Afterwards, I call my mother in law to meet her and drive over to the dealership where I sign all the papers and then officially drive my new car home. Get back to my mom's, pick up my son, and come home. My son immediately comes inside and goes to bed. He's got a fever of 101 and a headache. I really hope it isn't the beginning of the flu. he's been in his room all afternoon and evening. We'll see how he feels when he gets up in the morning, I guess.

So, after several delays and unforeseen events, my day is pretty well done. Tomorrow will be a new day and hopefully a more relaxing one.

Teeth Whitening

After many years of drinking coffee, tea and sodas, my teeth aren't the whitest that I'd like them to be so I've been debating on having one of the Dentists in my area do one of the whitening procedures they do now, like the in-office whitening procedure. With that procedure, the dentist puts a bleach gel on your teeth then shines a bright light on your teeth. This causes a chemical reaction to occur allowing the gel to penetrate the teeth and get rid of the stains.

Some Dentists also offer at-home whitening too. With this procedure, the dentist fits your teeth with a tray and sends you home with a milder bleach solution which you use over a period of weeks or months. This procedure does take longer though and has less noticeable results.

I'll be checking into the different options out there to find what will work best for me.

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Chargin' On

Over this past weekend, I found my new car. If you don't remember, we were looking for something for my daughter but after several test drives of junk, hubby and I finally decided to just give her my car and get me a new one. Anyway, over the weekend we test drove a Dodge Charger. After just a couple of miles, I was hooked! Hubby even liked it and that is a big thing because ever since we've been married, he has despised every single one of the cars that I've owned. They're either too small, not enough power, wrong color, etc.

Anyway, after the test drive we played it cool, took the car back and got some numbers from the salesman. We told him we'd think about it and left. All evening, we discussed how much we were willing to give for the car and was it something that we really wanted. It sure was! I have driven a "mommy car" ever since my kids arrived on the scene and I'm ready to get back to my fun, sporty cars that I love so much. So, Monday morning I called the dealership and talked them down almost $1000 from what they'd originally quoted, called the bank to get my loan in process and now am going in today to pick up my new car! I'm psyched! As if you couldn't already tell:)

The pictures I have posted are pretty close to what my car will look like. It's a 2007 R/T and the color is TorRed, a very shiny, bright red that looks awesome! I've already told my daughter that she probably won't be driving my new wheels and also told hubby that the only time he'll be driving is when we're all together. I know what he'll do by himself (hot rod!) and he doesn't need to be doing that. We'll see how long this lasts, but as of now I'm holding my ground. I also had to explain to my son why it was OK for mom to drive such a cool car. At first he wasn't too thrilled by the idea of his mom in a sporty car. He argued up and down that I should stick with a mini van or family sedan. Even when I told him that I used to drive a Mustang before he came along, he just wasn't seeing me in a car like that. Thankfully after much discussion, he caved in. plus the idea of his possibly learning to drive in it when he gets older helped a little bit too.
So, I'm back to a sporty car (even if it is a four-door, it still seems like a sporty car!) and I am going to be lovin' it, lovin' it, lovin' it. Now to go pick it up. If you don't hear from me for awhile, it's because I'm out driving my new toy!

Shipment is coming!

I checked online today and NS says that my food should be here tomorrow. It's coming via UPS instead of FedEx this time around which is good. I don't have anything against FedEx, but my UPS driver is just the nicest guy around and I love to have him deliver my packages. He's not too bad to look at either, but don't tell my hubby that I said that:) Anyway, I don't know if I'll start NS as soon as my food gets here or if I want to wait and start out a fresh, new week that way. My nephews birthday is Saturday and I know I'll have to at least eat a small piece of his cake so I don't hurt his feelings. When I start NS, I'd almost rather go at it 100%. Not saying that I'd eat a ton of cake at this party, but I think in the back of my mind, I'd be telling myself that I already screwed up and then just go hogwild on food the remainder of the day. Hmm, the more I think about, the more I will probably just wait until at least Sunday to start the program.

Starting Over.....Again!

Ok, I've been debating this for several weeks now, but finally took the plunge over the weekend. I placed another order for Nutrisystem and as soon as I get my food, which should be some time this week, I'll be restarting the program.

If you don't know my story, two years ago I started the NS program and lost 43 lbs. within six months, but then the holidays came along and somewhere along the line I lost all my motivation and went right back to my prior bad eating habits. I eventually stopped using NS and promptly put those pounds back on.

I've tried losing weight on my own, but just haven't gotten it right so I'm hoping that by restarting NS that will be the extra motivation that I need to get back on track. I think just knowing that I'm paying my hard earned cash for their food will help, but they also have an awesome bulletin board that lends some excellent support when needed. My hubby is also eating healthier so hoping that helps me defy the temptations of junk food too. As far as getting back on the exercise bandwagon, that might be a little bit harder to do. I went to the mall this weekend and wasn't even able to walk around the whole thing. I only made it halfway before my legs were burning and I was gasping for air. So, I'm NOT in the best shape. Not to say that I won't be exercising, it just might not be as full speed to begin with as I'd like. I will just start out small and work my way up. Seeing progress will be a good motivator, I'm sure.

So, wish me luck in my new, no my renewed, endeavour! I'll be listening for your cheers:)

Visual DNA

I found this while surfing online tonight. I thought it was interesting so decided to post it here on my blog.

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Run Away

When my kids are yelling and screaming at each other, I like to daydream and pretend that I'm a ski instructor on the slopes of a far away mountain range. I picture myself teaching kids how to go down the bunny trail without falling or instructing teens how to catch some air on their snowboard. Then at the end of the day, I am enjoying some hot chocolate by the fireside. Today is one of those days. Maybe I should start looking for some property in bansko in Bulgaria. It is located in the beautiful Pirin mountain range and is the most popular ski resort in Bulgaria. Of course, it would probably help if I knew how to ski beforehand.

In Like a Lion

I meant to post yesterday on this, but it was so stormy here I was afraid to plug my computer in for fear it would get struck by lightning. Stormy, stormy beginning to March so guess the saying In like a Lion held true for the day. I always wondered where that saying came from, but after searching online for something it seems nobody really knows. It seems to just be one of those things that parents, grandparents and great-grandparents said and passed down. In like a lion, out like a lamb. I hope the latter holds true for the end of the month. I'm ready for some lamb-like weather:)

Internet Access

Many of you know that I recently switched to wireless Internet service. This just means that my Internet service is now provided by a local area network that uses high frequency radio waves rather then wires to communicate between nodes.

When I first started using the Internet, I had to deal with dial up service because it was the only option here in my area. It was super slow and I lost my connection at least once every time I logged on. When I learned that there were finally other options to choose from that would work in my little corner of the world, I decided to start researching which would give me the best High Speed Internet Access. One of the websites that I found some great information on was www.dsl.vc. This website talks about all the different types of Internet access available and explains a lot of the things that you need to know to make an informed decision on what service will work best for you.

As for now, wireless is about as good as I can do, but there is a local company who says they'll be starting up satellite service in our area this summer. I don't know if I'll switch over to that once it becomes available or not. I'd definitely want to do a bit more research on the subject first.

Nervous Breakdown

I thought I was going to have one last night. For my son's birthday, he received an IPOD and ever since he has been online each evening, downloading songs onto it. Well, last night something went wrong and he completely froze up his IPOD AND my computer. After rebooting, my computer didn't want to come back on. Not good since all of our business information is on this computer! I sat in here and messed around with it for about an hour. When it finally came back on, the screen was blank! No programs showing up at all! I could just feel my stomach knotting up because all I could think about was having to try and remember our over 2000 customers, their addresses, billing information and our inventory. Sure, I have the program backed up on disk, but my head wasn't thinking about that at the time. I was just peeved that my computer was on the fritz. Thankfully, after several tears, screams and frustrated yells, my computer finally came back to life, all programs exactly where they should be. My son, who has sworn to never touch this computer again, was very thankful that he hadn't made his mom have a nervous breakdown too. We still don't know what happened, but do know that from now on the music downloads will be done from my laptop instead of this computer. That way if something goes wrong, I've not lost vital info. Whew!