That is the only reason I can think of for it not to be on there. Did you choose the vegetarian plan? Anyways- eat a sandwich! It consists of two slices of regular sized sliced sandwich bread and your choice of deli meat. No cheese. You can have lettuce/tomato/onions if you'd like as well as the allowed condiments. Enjoy! Marie

No change today so 4 pounds in 5 days. At least I stayed the same and didn't go up. I am pouting, though. It is the first day I didn't lose. I know I have to stay realistic but that instant gratification is awesome. I am definitely one who needs to see results quickly (which I have). I am happy and satisfied on this diet, though. I don't feel grumpy and deprived. I always feel better on low carb but I just can't eat that way all the time. I think that is why this is good for me. I admit though, the day that was hardest for me was when I got a banana shake and orange-pineapple smoothie. That was the only day that got even a little rough. A guess a few carbs makes me crave more carbs. Keep at it everyone. I noticed that no one posted on the "who has not lost weight on fat loss for idiots" post. That's encouraging, too. Marie

I weighed in at 158 this morning from 162 on day 1. So that's 4 lbs in 4 days. I am a little shocked and trying to keep my expectations realistic but I am really encouraged. Seeing that quick loss is really an inspiration to keep going. I keep telling myself that even if the 4 lbs is all I lose that is still awesome. Dh just got home from Germany so I have some chocolate waiting for me when this is over. I think I might bake some fresh bread and probably have a Mikes' with some chips and salsa. I'm not really craving anything yet. My eating is usually fairly restrained ( I just haven't been able to lose) so I am hoping I don't go off the deep end on my cheat days. I'll be wearing shorts that didn't fit me before the diet on those days so hopefully that will be a constant reminder :) keep up the good work everyone! Marie

but I started that other thread with the question about fruit day. I am on day 4 today. I am down 3 lbs in 3 days. I'm really only looking to lose 10 lbs (though 15 would be great) so 3 lbs seems like alot. It has been relatively easy so far. I didn't even get very hungry on day 2 until evening. I am trying to stay at it and keep expectations realistic so I don't get discouraged. I'm telling myself if I am just down 3 lbs at the end of the 11 days that is still the most diet success I've had in a long time and it feels good to have the cravings under control. Low carb always helps with that but I just can't stick with it so this seems much more manageable for me. My dress pants I only wear on Sundays are much looser this week so I'll take that as a good sign. So I weighed in at 162 on day 1. I am at 159 on day 4. I'd be a happy girl at 150. Marie

My dh used to work at Blockbuster in the evenings from about 6:00- 12:00 or 1:00 am. It was quite humbling because people he worked with at his day job (he was in IT) would come in and he would have to scan their videos. He now is an online instructor for college science courses. It pays much better and he does it at night while we sit on the couch and hang out. He also used to do online tutoring. I respect your dh for being willing to take on the extra work. So many I know have dhs that won't. It has helped our family so much. Marie

and my kitchen is stocked with "legal" fruits for the day. I saw a loss of 1.5 this morning (I know, I know it's water, etc.) but it has been a long time since I saw the scale move at all so psychologically that is a big help. I have two extra little boys spending the day with me and the 4 neighbor boys are home from day care today. Hopefully I won't be too short on patience because of fruit day :) Thanks for the encouragement. Hope everyone is doing well with it. Marie

I know there is another thread going but honestly I cannot figure out how to follow threads when they get that long (I technically do know how to but find it difficult). I started today so tomorrow is my fruit day. Of course, I am already looking forward to my sandwich. I am wondering if those with experience have any tips on getting through this day. I am planning on my sandwich for an early dinner (maybe around 4:00) if I can wait that long. I know I'm going to want it for breakfast!! Any tips for getting through the day tomorrow? How is everyone else doing? Anyone else exercising besides the walking that is recommended? Thanks, Marie

I couldn't think of a good subject line. My 9 yo ds, while not sick all the time, seems to pick up every illness while the other 5 of us stay well. Frequently he gets a stomach bug/ fever while no one else has any symptom at all. He is very thin which is not characteristic of our family. (Dh, baby dd, and I are chubby, ds 11 and 6 are more muscular/ athletic). This kid is just plain skinny. Which I know is not a big deal but plays into my thinking that something is just different. He is also my irritable/ sensitive child. He does bounce back fairly easily from these things and is an athlete so he is physically strong but he seems to pick up every little thing. I am wondering if I might be seeing the symptoms of some auto immune disease or food allergy or something? I'm not sure what to think. I do not have confidence in my pediatricians. They are very hands off and would laugh me out of there with these types of questions. (I know I need to find different docs but that's another issue). Does anyone have an insight? Any ideas as to what might be at play that I could research some? Am I just insane for worrying about this? Thaks, Marie

does anyone have a website/ book recommendation for getting started? We would likely borrow most things to give it a try before getting into a financial committment to it. Is there a "camping 101" resource out there? What I feel like I need is basically a list of essentials and tips? I loved it when I was a kid and dh was an Eagle Scout so it's not a totally foreign concept but still new to us. Thanks! Marie

about the issue with cleaning garbage cans on a different day- that stuff is hard for me, too. Another issue is that we are gone all day on Thursday for co-op. I purchased the schedule in the format that has daily chores down the side and the whole week on one page. That way I can loosely follow the schedule but my goal is to get them all accomplished before the week is out. So I would just clean the garbage cans on the day that worked for me and check it off even if it wasn't the correct day. I plan to absorb the Thurs chores into the rest of the week once co-op starts back. That seems doable as most of the chores are not time consuming but just things that it is hard to get around to. It would not work for me to have separate pages for each day. It would be too hard for me to work ahead or to go back and hit something I missed. Seeing the whole week on one page is more doable for me. Ah, the ongoing quest for getting it all under control :)

I think I read somewhere that it goes to $4 in July. Not sure. I bought it recently anyway because I thought it was worth the $8 even for half a year. I like it so far. Marie

How does this work in your house? I am trying to get the household management routine in place over the summer before adding schoolwork back in. I do OK with the household but I can and want to do much, much better. I like the cleaning calendar/ checklist from motivated moms. I'm trying to figure out how to best implement it. Do you do it all in one chunk of time or do you scatter the chores throughout the day as you have time? How much time do you think it takes if you do it all at once? I have 11, 9, and 6 yo helpers who can do many things on the list. I'm trying to decide how to do this. Before school or after school? How long should I build into our schedule to get this done? What works for you? Marie

we are dealing with a gifted/ motivated athlete who happens to be the most responsible kid I've ever met. We are pursuing his sport to the maximum we can locally. By that I mean that we drive 30 minutes for practices a couple of times a week and we drive up to 4 hours for weekend tournaments 7-8 times per year. We have "joked" about moving to another state with the best baseball around but would never really consider that. We have 3 younger children (well, one baby) who we are also supporting to the maximum locally but they are limited by their own abilities so they are not even at the highest level of local competition. If they could compete at the higher level we would do our best to support that too. Luckily for us it doesn't seem they have the ability or motivation to require it. We have decided we can sacrifice some family time for this and some $$$. We could likely take a nice little vacation every year for what goes into this but we are not really giving up much (maybe eating out, other entertainment). I ask him often if he wouldn't rather we buy a camper and spend our weekends together doing that and I get an emphatic "no". He really wants to do this. It is good for him. I would not do it if he were not so hard working and responsible for his younger siblings, housework, etc. I would not move for this. Too many variables. He could lose interest, get hurt, max out his potential, etc. He can quit anytime now and we're all okay with that. Not sure what the exit strategy would be for him if we went so far as to move our family for it. As far as things not being equal for siblings. I'm okay with that as long as the others don't have something they want to pursue at this level and most kids really don't. My younger boys like to play but would not want to work so hard. I think when one sibling has a special need it is okay to meet it as long as everyone's needs are being met. We don't make the others miss out on things so the oldest can do his thing. One of us will stay behind just to get them to stuff even if it is a birthday party or something. Good luck. It can be tricky and tiring. I've learned not to judge other people's decisions on these things. Marie

it is optional. Parents get to decide before the end of the year whether or not they want to "loop" with the same teacher. Seems to work best when there is an option. Most parents usually opt to stay with their teacher.

but some of the other suggestions are much more fun. Now I'm wondering if my mother knew it by another name and changed the name to clean it up... Marie

price was reasonable and I think I'll find all kinds of uses for these. I like to bake and think they will be good for transporting cupcakes/ cookie cakes/etc. as well as hot pizza. I bought some cardboard rounds, too. I am hoping to use those under the pizzas and then I can reuse boxes. Seems like alot of waste to use and toss those big boxes constantly. Thought I'd post in case any one else was interested. Thanks. Marie

I just use my bread machine and the pizza crust recipe from the booklet that came with it substituting half whole wheat flour. I let the dough rest in the fridge for a day or two (seems to improve the texture some). I stretch it out on a pampered chef pizza stone and throw whatever pizza or pasta sauce I have on it and whatever toppings are hanging around. It's nothing special or super healthy. It just seems healthy compared to the fast food pizzas (seem to be baked in a pan of butter) and I can use fresh ingredients. And it is cheap ( I buy cheese in bulk). Kids like it better than the chain places and tell people their favorite pizza place is "Mama's Kitchen". I saw people bringing in Little Caesar's to the pool today and I thought "hey- I can do that!"

I make cheap/healthy/yummy pizza and was thinking how great it would be to take it to the pool for lunch over the summer or how easy it would be to take to a friend's house for lunch. However, transport is an issue with homemade pizza. I want to buy some pizza boxes. Maybe those cardboard rounds too and then I could reuse the boxes sometimes. Any ideas where I could buy these? Or any other brilliant ideas for transporting a large pizza? Marie

I think Aldi's prices are the same or better on most things I've compared. I just started shopping at Aldi's and my thought was that the prices were similar without having to buy such big quantities. If you were hooked on brand names (which you aren't if you shop Aldi's) then maybe Sam's would be better but for the things we buy you'd still do better at Aldi's. I don't buy much meat or produce at Aldi's but I've found that I get better prices shopping sales at the regular grocery stores than at Sam's for those things. Sam's is good for ground beef prices. You can check prices on many items on the Sam's website. Why don't you look on there and compare with Aldi's on the things you buy the most of? When I first started at Aldi's I would sit down at the computer with my receipt and check the Sam's prices to make sure I wasn't overpaying. Good luck. Marie

we're taking June off and have been "light" since April. We'll start back in July. Hopefully those plans won't get derailed. I like to keep going year round with a short break in June but I think it is just fine to take summer break. The kids could probably handle it but I so, so, so, so need a break! have fun, make the most of the break and then get back on track in August. It will be fine. Marie

a couple times a year. We have a great location at a busy intersection and at the entrance to a large subdivision. Everyone brings their stuff priced and 100% of profits goes to the team. We make about $1500 every time we do this. The boys work it along with the parents.

He did CD Pre-Algebra this year in 5th. He has 2 chapters left that he will do at the beginning of 6th and then move into CD Algebra 1. I have been very pleased with both MUS and CD. I loved MUS for the elementary years but wanted something "more" for middle/ high school. He transitioned well from the MUS to CD. I am impressed with CD and plan to stay with it. My second ds will do Zeta next year (4th grade). I'll move him to CD after that. Depending on his confidence/ maturity we'll go right into PreAlgebra or spend a year in CD Basic Math first. I feel like MUS prepares them very well. I like CD because I feel like it is rigorous without being overwhelming. Marie

He had finished MUS Zeta so I put him in Chalkdust PreAlgebra. He is a bit ahead. My next ds is ahead in MUS but not quite as confident as his older brother. He will finish MUS Zeta by the end of 4th. I think I'll put him in CD Basic Math for 5th and then on to PreAlgebra. We are very pleased with CD and plan to stick with it through high school. So, currently our plan is to do the MUS elementary sequence through Zeta and then switch to CD for middle/ high school. Whether that first CD course is Basic Math or PreAlgebra will depend on the kid. We are very impressed with Chalkdust. Rigorous, yet not overwhelming. JMHO, of course. Marie

level 2. I am sitting here recovering before I hit the shower.

I shop Kroger because they have great sales and double coupons. That's the place I go with a stack of coupons and come out with a huge cart of groceries for $40 or less often. Now, it may be 8 bottles of laundry detergent, 6 bottles of salad dressing, and 25 lbs of chicken :) Basically, if there is a deal I get as much as I can. I pick up produce and bread there. I do CVS combining sales/coupons/ extra care bucks. You can get some really good deals here on HBA and sometimes snack foods. I got great deals on candy there and filled Easter baskets for nearly nothing this year. I find that I only do CVS every few weeks and it is a quick in and out. It's fun to go in with coupons and extra care bucks and buy 15 dollars worth of stuff for tax and then have the cashier hand you more extra care bucks for next time. If you have a Sam's membership or can go with someone who does that is worth it for a few things. I buy their bulk shredded cheese and separate it into 2 cup portions for less than a $1 each. Ground beef in the ten pound package is a good deal there and is the 90% lean (sometimes they have the 93% lean for that price). I also buy dried beans there and chips. They have a good price on Baked Tostitos that are one of the few packaged items I buy so I stock up there. I bake alot so I get the 25# bags of AP and bread flour there. Spices, too. The important thing there is to be careful and do no impulse buying. That can be tough there. We just got an Aldi's and that is good for some things. I only go about once per month and stock up on blocks of cheese and a few other things. If I am needing something and I don't have a coupon or a deal for it I will get it at Aldi's. I can do better at Kroger with a deal but if there is no deal to be had on an item Aldi's is a good price. I've only been doing this since December. I used to figure I'd get all store brands at Wal-Mart and come out the same and save time. That was way wrong. I'm saving a ton doing it this way. It takes a little to get organized at first but now I don't feel it time consuming at all. Because I have such specific lists and because I am only picking up a few things at a time I can run in and out of the stores quick and grocery shopping is not the weekly ordeal it once was. My stockpile also allows me to skip a week of shopping if money is tight. This got long. I've found that making do, not being brand loyal, etc. has really saved a lot. Oh- and you can always get split chick breasts on sale somewhere in town for .99/pound. Cook a bunch up and freeze in smaller portions and you can use it in almost any recipe. Marie