Amy Currioman

I’ve noticed that my pants are starting to get snug already!  And I haven’t even put on my thermal underwear yet!  I’m packing on my winter weight early this year!  I think that I have to blame the economy – money is so tight that I’m falling prey to the temptation of comforting myself with inexpensive food treats!  That is not something that I’ve done before – usually when I am stressed I tend to avoid eating and I lose weight.  Obviously this type of eating is my lame attempt to reward myself for getting through the day!  I fear that I am going to have a struggle on my hands over this one!

Do you ever feel hungry but don’t want to eat anything? That happens to me all the time! My stomach is growling and my hands start to tremble, and I even get a hunger headache! But I don’t want to eat anything – nothing appeals to me! This is a dangerous time because now is the time that I would probably grab some empty-calorie type of snack just to head off the hunger pains! I’d love to be able to grab an apple – we were given a ton of them recently, but for some crazy reason ten minutes after I’ve eaten an apple I feel hungrier than I did before I ate it! Sounds crazy, right?

After years of our family begging and pleading and reasoning with my younger sister for her to quit smoking, she has finally decided to give it up.  She would always say she didn’t care if she died of cancer because “every-one’s gotta die of something!”  But last week her doctor told her that her lungs were diminished and were like someone ten years older and fifty pounds heavier than she is.  I guess that maybe that shook her up enough to decide to try quitting.  She has quit several times in the past, but only for a few weeks or months – like the last time she was pregnant she quit smoking.  But she always went back.  I hope this time she STAYS quit!  I want her to live a long happy healthy life.

I’ve been hearing some rumors about how you can lose weight on a cookie diet!  I’ve never heard of that one before!  If I could lose weight on a cookie diet, and if the cookies tasted good and filled me up so that I wasn’t hungry right off, I think I’d be very interested in checking that diet out!  I have a sweet tooth like you wouldn’t believe!  I was reading that the “Smart for life” diet program that involves cookies helps weight loss by speeding up your metabolism.

I have to wonder what is in the diet that speeds up your metabolism, and I wonder if there are any health risks involved in that.  According to their website, the cookies are made with all natural products and are free of toxins and preservatives.  I’ve always been suspicious of diet foods – there either isn’t enough there, or they have too much fiber in them and I end up suffering with stomach distress.  But I was reading that this is not a diet program where you have to commit for a long period of time to the program, you can just buy pre-packaged “kits” so you only buy what you like.  I sure wish that they gave out free samples, though!

Last night I was looking for some cold cream to remove my make-up.  I KNOW I have some SOMEWHERE!  I just couldn’t find it!  I must have searched for about thirty minutes before giving up.  I really didn’t want to stain a perfectly good washcloth washing my face!  So I was standing in the bathroom, looking in the mirror, considering what I DO have on hand.  I thought about baby-oil, but I couldn’t put my hands on that right away.  So then I considered vaseline, but decided that would be a last resort.  My eyes rested on my Gold Bond body cream and remembered that it is about the same consistency as cold cream, so I put a little bit on my finger and put some on my chin.  Then I took a tissue and wiped the area.  Voila!  It worked perfectly!  So I smeared that stuff all over my face, being careful not to get any in my eyes, and wiped all of my make-up off with a few tissues.  Then I washed my face with a washcloth and soap and water.  It was PERFECT!  So, now I know in the future that I can use that instead of cold cream!