Hi Everyone!

Yesterday Lori B had needed some help with things to discuss to keep her busy and one of the things that some of us talked about was my daughter's fundraiser.  I had a lot of good ideas sent to me, but one was to write a letter to our friends and family.  I had my daughter Rebecca do this (with a bit of grammar and spelling help from me) and we sent it to our family members.  Later last night I said to her I was sorry I didn’t have more friends to ask for help, and she said “Mom, all of your bestest friends are on your message board, why don’t you ask them?”  I thought wow – straight from babies’ mouths!  
 

I have never done anything like this, but you all have become like a second family to me so I thought I would give you all the opportunity to help if you wish to.  I will paste below the letter that she wrote but I didn’t want this to just be a charity, and I wanted to include my business in some way, SO…..for anyone that can donate $10 or more I will create and send them a personalized gift from my home business Creative Thoughts I have run this business for 10 years and they are wonderful gifts for any occasion you can think of – so get a Birthday or Holiday gift early when you help Rebecca out!  Just visit the website, pick out which gift you want and then PM me or email me with the personalized information and where you would like it sent!  
 

Here is the excellent letter she wrote, if you have any questions please just ask!  I have set up this donation page for those of you who are able.

I am very excited to tell you that because of my outstanding academic achievements (I have gotten straight A's and have been on the honor roll all year) and leadership potential, I have been selected to represent my school, Timber Ridge and the state of Texas at the Junior National Young Leaders Conference (JrNYLC) to be held this fall 2008 in Washington, D.C.   

 

I was nominated by my TAG (talented and gifted) teacher Mrs. Hoxworth because she said that she "recognized me as a student with the scholastic merit, maturity and strength of character to represent our school."  
 

The Congressional Youth Leadership Council nominates exceptional students from around the country to attend this educational program. I have enclosed a sample of our itinerary for you to look over in an attachment. You may also visit their website at http://www.cylc.org/JrNYLC/  As you can see, this will be a powerful experience, enabling me to interact with many prominent men and women whom most of us only read about in the news.  
 

Attending this program will enable me to become motivated and inspired as well as discover the important role of leadership throughout history, and I will further develop these qualities within myself at school, my community and in my future.  
 

That is why I am writing to you today. My participation in the conference depends on whether I can raise enough money in sponsorships. (The conference tuition is $1939.00 and my travel to the conference will be approximately $500.00.)  Although I am using every dollar I can of our own money and I am also participating in a local fundraising program with other students that have been nominated in my community I will need to obtain further sponsorships for the remaining costs to make sure I don't miss out on this unique experience.  
 

This is an important opportunity that is only being offered to the nation's most outstanding 6th & 7th graders, so please when possible; take some time to look over the materials I have sent to you (the itinerary and website).  Your support for my sponsorship would be very much appreciated.  If possible please send as much as you are able to for this awesome opportunity.  
 

Thank you in advance - I will never forget your generosity!  
 

Rebecca

Here is the link again.  Again, if you are able we would greatly appreciate anything you can do to help from the bottom of our hearts!  

I recently had an 11 day stall, and this post helped me mentally get through it, so when I came across it again I wanted to make sure I posted it here so hopefully it can help someone else in the future!

A "stall" at this point is inevitable, and here is why. 

Our bodies use glycogen for short term energy storage. Glycogen is not very soluble, but it is stored in our muscles for quick energy -- one pound of glycogen requires 4 lbs of water to keep it soluble, and the average glycogen storage capacity is about 2 lbs. So, when you are not getting in enough food, your body turns first to stored glycogen, which is easy to break down for energy. And when you use up 2 lbs of glycogen, you also lose 8 lbs of water that was used to store it -- voila -- the "easy" 10 lbs that most people lose in the first week of a diet.

As you stay in caloric deficit, however, your body starts to realize that this is not a short term problem. You start mobilizing fat from your adipose tissue and burning fat for energy. But your body also realizes that fat can't be used for short bursts of energy -- like, to outrun a sabertooth tiger. So, it starts converting some of the fat into glycogen, and rebuilding the glycogen stores. And as it puts back the 2 lbs of glycogen into the muscle, 8 lbs of water has to be stored with it to keep it soluble. So, even though you might still be LOSING energy content to your body, your weight will not go down or you might even GAIN for a while as you retain water to dissolve the glycogen that is being reformed and stored.

Fabulous Ricotta Fluff Stuff
1 large container of ricotta cheese
1 box  SF jello instant cheesecake pudding
dollop or two of sour cream (to taste)
A little bit of milk to lighten it up (about a cup-add last and gradually)

Mix it all up and enjoy however you want it.  I love it with strawberries!  It's a great fruit dip or just eating straight out of the bowl. 

Fabulous Trail Mix
Base mix
1 jar peanuts
1 jar sunflower kernels
1/2 bag raisins or "berries and cherries"
1/2 small bag chocolate chips.
1 small bag macadamia pieces
1 small bag pecan halves

To this, I might add other nuts depending on what's on sale (walnuts, cashews, more pecans).  I've also varied the fruit, too, so play around.  Try to keep the proportions the same.  It's so easy to load up the sweet stuff, but it's the nuts that are so valuable here.  The balance makes the perfect sweet and salty snack and my daily breakfast.  If proportions are kept, it's about 32g of protein for 8 oz.

Fabulous Custard -- full of protein, easy on new post-ops ~delicious!
3 cups milk
3/4 cup splenda
4-5 eggs (depending on size)
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp nutmeg (optional)
handful of coconut (optional)

Preheat oven to 375'.  Beat eggs, nutmeg and vanilla together in baking dish.  On the stove, bring the milk and splenda just to a boil, then stir together to the eggs.  Bake for 25 min
NOTE:  when the milk is coming near to a boil, you'll get a little foam on the top.  Remove this foam before stirring into the eggs, or it will get a weird texture on top.

God Bless Paula Deen for flourless peanut butter cookies!

1 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 tbsp vanilla
1 cup Splenda

Mix and roll into balls (about walnut sized) and flatten with fork dipped in Splenda.  Bake at 350 for 12 minutes.  

TIPS
-Do NOT overocok -- they will get crumbly since there's no gluten
-Peanut butter is naturally low sugar - the low sugar kind only reduces it by 1g per serving.
-If you're picky about artificial sweeteners, I've done a 3/1 with splenda and sugar to cut the after taste and it's good.  Presently, I do full-splenda in the cookies, and roll in regular sugar and that's good too.  I've also added semi-sweet chocolate chips to shake things up.