Please Sir, I Want Some More......gruel, swill, anything!!

Day Two of the Cleansefest is over & in the books. I am feeling sort of like poor old Oliver Twist here, but I look more like the Orphanage Taskmaster holding the ladle......thus the need for a Cleansefest in the first place.lolol

Wednesday was a rough one to get through gastrointestinal-speaking. My schedule of 'meals were'--1 glass of orange juice with 2 big spoons of a fiber supplement & assorted vitamins and medications for breakfast, a SF shake for lunch, a SF shake for dinner & a Glucerna snack bar for a snack.
Fresh-brewed iced tea with lemon and water rounded out my fluid intake for the day.

Having things to do took my mind off of food, which helped. I had Gillette coupons to finish using. Then we had running the daughter to the Orthodonist....AGAIN! While we were out at their distant office, I ran into some CVSs & a WAGS to grab a few deals(or TRY to!)& rolls some RRs & ECBs. All totaled, I think I spent $7? yesterday for everything(including the iced coffee I had to buy daughter). I'll post the shopping and what I got later tonight or tomorrow.
Hubby was a doll and made his own dinner-frozen burritos and canned chili-so I wouldn't have to cook in my psychologically 'food vunerable' state.

The only bad thing about having errands/shopping to do yesterday was having to drive by aaaaaaalllll those fast food restaurants and smell aaaaaaaallllllll those wonderful MEAT COOKING SMELLS, which made my olfactory organs send signals to my digestive tract via my brain to CRAMP MY STOMACH UP INTO KNOTS!
Serious.
Hunger.
Pains of Death.

I think I actually blacked out for a moment at one point at a red light after passing a remarkably fragrant Burger King(must have been that flame-broiling!).
I came to, gnawing on the steering wheel.

I have 2 more days of this phase of the Project to get through, as we start the Lemon Flush phase on Saturday. We had to step up the timeline a few days, as daughter may be returning to camp the following Sat.(yes! there is a God)when we go to pick up #2 son, instead of in August. If she leaves next Sat. we have 7 days to get the Flush phase done with her here if we begin Sat., but wouldn't be able to fit but 3 or 4 days of Lemon Flush in otherwise.

So I have 2 more days of living on shakes & such before we go onto the Lemon stuff. I hope to stay out of the car(and thus off the roads driving by Food Temptations) today. I'll be digging out something from the Freezer in a bit for Hubby's dinner. This will be my temptation highpoint for the day, seeing all those cold blocks of food.
Yummmmmm.....

Sluggy

Spend $120/Get $40 Unilever Kraft General Mills CAT PROMO DEAL-or 2 Weeks of Shopping Fun!

Oh, there is a Promotional Deal so good that I am going to have to take the 30 mile hike to visit my closest Shop Rite grocery store this week. Ok, it might not be that great to you, but I live in the Land of Mediocre or Nonexistent Cat Deals, so for us this is big doings.

For the next 2 weeks (June 21st-July 4th) when you spend $120 using your Club Card you can get $40 OYNO! It doesn't have to be done in one shopping trip/transaction either! The store will track your spending on the Promotional Items over the 2 weeks and print out a savings voucher on the bottom of your receipt when you hit the $40, $80 &/or $120 marks.

There are oodles of items to choose from to do this deal too. You can pick from Unilever, Kraft & General Mills products. And many of these companies brands are on sale this week(and probably next week too). If you got the Kraft Barbeque Sauce coupon in the 6/14 paper, you can get almost free(or free if your ShopRite doubles coupons)BBQ Sauce this week. Other good buys include A-1 Steak Sauce for $2.99. Use the $2 Coupon in the 6/14 insert to get this for .99¢. Also the Knorr Rice/Noodle Side Dish Packets are 4/$5. Pair these with the various denomination of coupons out there and get them for cheaper. All 3 of these items count toward the "Spend up to $120/Get up to $40 Cat Promo".

Go check out the weekly ad and deals on the ShopRite website Here and for a better list of the Items on sale & Coupon Match Ups, check out 4 Hats & Frugal Here.

I have or have coming in the mail some coupons that should make this deal even better.
Once all the coupons are here I'll take a ride to ShopRite, so check back in late this week or early next week for my Shopping Post.

For now I'm off to go grab some more Gillette for FREE(well, except for the tax) and then to begin some much needed organizing in this house!

Sluggy

CleanseFest......like a Fat Farm but without the Glamour

Today is the 1st day of my CleanseFest. What is CleanseFest you ask?? It's my attempt to clean out my digestive system.

Week One involves 4 Slim-Fast drinks spread throughout the day, 1 glass of Orange Juice with a Fiber supplement, some fresh fruit, some vitamin/mineral supplements, green tea & alot of water drinking.
Oh, and ALOT of running to the bathroom too!lol

It's not strictly a liquid diet regiment but it's close.

Week Two we move to the Lemon Cleanse phase. No food, just tea, water & the maple syrup/cayenne pepper lemonade stuff and my vitamin and supplements.
We'll see how long I can stand this. I am not hopeful that I'll last 2 full weeks.

Please realize that I am under the care of my doctor with this. I'll have a check-up after the 2 weeks are up.

I was inspired to do this by this article I read a year or so ago by a British journalist who was paid to go experience & report on the granddaddy of all Health/Fasting Spas in Thailand....The Spa on the Thai Island of Koh Samui. You can read the original article Here.
The journalist's photographer passed a marble he had ingested as a small child during his treatment at the spa. That was enough for me to know this kind of thing would clean you out.lol
I am not going to the extreme of coffee enemas like the Spa in Thailand does however. Nor am I paying to jet to Thailand or even buy their prepackaged "do-it-yourself" fasting/cleanse kit. This will be my version of a 'frugal cleanse'. I bought the SlimFast on sale, with coupons at KMart a couple of weeks ago. And the Lemons needed for Week Two are in season now so I won't have to spend a fortunate for fresh fruit.

The only thing that might sink me is the intense hunger pains. Ya see, I can endure most any kind of pain(can we say teeth drilling w/out novacaine or natural childbirth of not-one-drug with 1 of my offspring?), except hunger pains. These pains have been the ruin of many of my tries to reduce my food intake. I don't know....it's like I'm hyper-sensitive to them. If I can keep them at bay for the 1st 3 days, I've got a shot at lasting 2 weeks.

I am also doing this at home, where the demands of cleaning, shopping, cooking, & other work is ever present. No going to a spa where I can lounge by the pool and read or nap. Things need to get done so I can't just concentrate on 'me'. But then again, staying busy will keep me from obsessing over every ounce of anything I'm ingesting and how long to the next glass of whatever.

Day One is almost over here. I have 1 shake still to drink later tonight. I made Hubby's Spaghetti & Meatballs without drooling into his plate. I get a glass of iced tea and some cantaloupe to suck on in a few minutes. Yay!!!
Tomorrow or Thursday I am sure I'll start to have to stick close to the bathroom as my body realizes the regular food has stopped coming down the gullet.
Uh oh......
I will spare you from the grizzly pictures.lol

Sluggy

Meal Plan Monday...June 22nd & the Beginning of my CleanseFest

I am late again with my Meal Plan Monday, due to being out of town until late yesterday. This past weekend was taking #2 son to Camp & picking up daughter from her Staff Training Week at the same Camp. Daughter is hopeful that she'll be called back to work before Aug, when she is slated to work. People, for whatever reasons, don't show up to work their weeks every year, so she might get offered a few additional weeks. This would make us BOTH quite happy. ;-)

Since I have started my 2 Week Dietary Cleanse Program, my Meal Plan for the Week hardly IS a Meal Plan. (I'll be posting separately about the CleanseFest details.)

Daughter is doing this Cleanse Program with me, so 2 of the 3 family members here aren't eating(except for some fruit this week). That just leaves Hubby to plan Meals for.
Hubby is of Italian extraction so he says to just make him a big vat of pasta with sauce and he'll eat off of that all week. lol You just gotta love a LOW MAINTENANCE kind of guy!
I'll throw some meat on the grill for him every few days for a change of pace and that should make him happy.

Here's what our family of one will be eating this week...

Monday Stuffed Chicken Breast, Green Beans, Applesauce
Tuesday Spaghetti with Meatballs, Salad
Wednesday Kielbasa, Onions, Potato Salad
Thursday Spaghetti, Chicken Parmesan, Cauliflower/Carrot Mix
Friday Burrito, Corn, Rice
Saturday Rigatoni, Salad
Sunday Pork BBQ, a yet to be determined Veggie, Coleslaw

No recipes this week. Nothing here that needs or has a recipe. Just plain old food. It's a good menu for this week for me. Since I am not eating, I really don't want to be spending long hours in the kitchen preparing food. That might have a negative impact on my 'not eating' plan. The less I am around food, the less I will obsess over it, right?lol

Grocery List for this menu is some coleslaw mix or a small head of cabbage and some rolls for the bbq. Everything else is in house. This shopping list might run me $3-$4. There is a wonderful 2 week Catalina Promo over at ShopRite the next 2 weeks, so I'll be spending most of my grocery budget the next 2 weeks over there. ;-)

Of course, I am continuing in the "Clean out the Freezer Challenge" this week. The meatballs, burrito, bbq & kielbasa are all hidden treasures I found buried in the freezer that are single or very small portions, so this week is the perfect time to use them up on the 1 family member who is eating like normal people this week.

Food Waste Report.....lots of leftovers for the doggies, due to the week of family visiting and the extra food that was prepared and not eaten. I'll be stripping down the fridge this week and cleaning it out(more goodies for the doggies this week!) and then cleaning it up.

Check out Organizing Junkie's Website Here to see what other Home Cooks are serving this week!

Sluggy

K-Mart Clothes for Dad, Movie Tickets & Gift Card for ME!

So, I saw this deal over on this Blog HERE. That got the lil' wheels in my head turning....uh oh, this is trouble!lol

The Hubby & #2 son needed some clothes, so we headed down to KMart this morning for a few things. While I am a Compact-or(on year 3 so not nearly as strict as I once was but still very mindful when consuming), hubby and the family still aren't on board. I have gotten them to recycle more and repurpose things but they want brand-spanking new sometimes, especially when it comes to what they wear...though I have made inroads with daughter with shopping at the thrift store. I can get the rest of the family to tow the line with some used things, but clothes, no way. I do question purchases though and make sure that what is bought is NEEDED.

Before we left, I printed out one of those $5 off a $50 purchase coupons for K-Mart. Once in the store, I had hubby & #2 son head over to the men's dept. to pick out what they needed and I made 2 purchases before I joined them there.
1. I went to the Pharmacy to pick-up a prescription. I had a coupon to get a FREE $10 Gift Card, which I received. The prescription had to be filled SOMEWHERE....might as well fill it at KMart and get free money, right?lol
2. Next I went to the check-out and bought a $50 KMart Gift Card. KMart is running a special that ends today, where you get a FREE $10 Reward Card(it's a Gift Card)when you purchase a $50 Gift Card. I put the $50 GC on the credit card. We pay the cc off each month and we'll get points for that $50 good toward a Free Gift Card at one of the participating stores(CVS is one!).
Then I headed over to the Men's Dept. and helped my fashion-challenged menfolk pick out some clothing. ;-) Most of the men's clothing was on sale today too! We got some shirts, jeans, socks & a belt. Hubby also needed sneakers so he picked up a pair for 50% off!
With the shoes, the reg. retail came to $112.92 for 4 shirts, a bag of socks, a pr. of sneakers, 1 belt & 1 pr. of jeans.
With the sale prices, everything came to $68.45.
I used that $5/$50 KMart coupon I printed online.
The bag of socks also had a $1 Peelie coupon on it(and an extra pair of socks inside too!lol), so that made $6 off my total...$68.45-$6=$62.45.
I paid with the $50 Gift Card....$62.45-$50=$12.45.
Then I paid with the $10 Pharmacy Gift Card...$12.45-$10=$2.45.
$2.45 in Cash to the cashier.
And out popped the code for 2 FREE MOVIE TICKETS.


To recap.....
I got--
$112.92 worth of Clothing the menfolk needed.
$10 free Gift Card-2 free $10 Gift Cards if you count the Pharmacy card too.
$14 worth of movie tickets(2).
$136.92-$146.92 worth of stuff.

I am out of pocket $52.45(the cost of the $50 GC and the $2.45 cash, or $62.45 if you count the prescription I had filled).

The "Reward Card" Gift Card had a label on the front that it had to be activated to be valid and you can't activate it until Monday, June 22nd. This meant I couldn't use it right away for my clothing transaction. The Reward Card has a July 31st expiration date so I'm hoping for Double Coupons again in the coming weeks. If not, KMart will be having summer clearance sales and I'll get a good deal on something else if I don't pick up food or toiletries. I could always use it to pay for another transferred prescription I suppose & then use an Rx coupon to get another free $10 Pharmacy Gift Card(that doesn't expire in 5 weeks).

Not a bad morning's work.

Sluggy