When did my skinny dog get FAT?

It was a very slow process. Nothing you would pin point as the "culprit" by itself.

Lets start at the beginning with what Scooter was like when we first got him. We found him in the parking lot of Chili's. Yes a stray. Full grown but small for being a border collie. We left and went to the humane society had them take pictures and check for a microchip. We had decided to house the dog until we could find his home. We put an ad in the paper and traders. We then brought him home it meet our two other dogs. He was and still is a great dog.

No one ever came forward to claim the dog and so we kept him. He soon got a name Scooter and became fast friends with our dog Zippity an Italian gray hound. The two of them would race and they found that if they worked together they could catch and eat wild rabbits. (it bugged me)

Because of being so physically active neither dog was over weight.

But when Zippity left us :( about eight months ago. Scooter lost his best friend. Sure we still had another dog Banard a corgi who isn't at all interested in chasing anything.

So there is his start to obesity.

Then a few months later when leaving the house to take the kids to piano lessons we found a COW tail that the dogs had. Had they found a dead cow? We never found out, but I know they were eating something gross that I took away. Gorging themselves.

Now Scooter hangs out all day with Banard. They only run and play very rarely.

So looking at it. It's just like humans you get sad, feed your feelings by feeding your mouth, and mope around changing your activity to inactivity.

I should help the dogs get in shape with activities and thus help my activity too.

Why I like Freecycle

About a year ago I read a gardening article about "how to save money on gardening supplies" and in this article they mentioned that you could use freecycle to find gardening tools that you may need or give tools that you don't.

I didn't think anything more about it for several months and then I just decided that I needed to find a freecycle near me. I believe God led me to it. I went to the computer not really knowing what I would be finding and found http://www.freecycle.org/ . I punched in my location and found a Yahoo group in my town.

I watched this site for a few days. Then found stuff to put up. I really can't remember what I posted first. I got many replies hoping to get the item.
This is the fun part for me:

• I love to hear the responses
• what people may use it for
• why they need it

It is wonderful knowing that you can help someone else. Isn't that what Jesus asks of us. While in my case I am also helping myself.

The feeling I get while giving that "thing" away is gratifying and relief. If I shouldn't keep this at least someone else needs it.

I first started with answering want ads. It was amazing it give this 55 gallon drum that came with one of our houses (could not take it to the dump because we didn't know what was in it). But the new owner was fine with that.

There are temptations to reply to offered items but if your careful and know what you are supposed to do they shouldn't affect you much.

I did get ice cube trays off of freecycle. They work so much better then the ones we had. I make sure to only reply to ads I NEED. After all now I actually can make ice. Doesn't everyone need ice.

The other problem I have encountered is you may be helping someone hoard. I would prefer not to enable someone. But you really never know. And short of taking all your "things" to the dump you can't stop it. I gave a bird cage to a woman that didn't need it and her husband didn't know she was getting it. In her response to me she said that she rescued birds and needed more cages. When we came with the cage she had a garage full of cages and shocked husband.

But she is an exception to the rule. At Least that is what I've found. The majority of those receiving items need them. It has really been a great help to know someone "needs" it.

faux twice baked potato

My husband is diabetic and we have found that reducing his carbs really helps control his blood sugars . After reading and listening to Dr Bernstein (who himself has diabetes) we were convinced that LOW CARB was the way for Ed to go.
I have always played with recipes and this is just another opportunity to do so. When I had family that could not eat dairy I decided to make a no dairy lasagna that if not told "this has no dairy" you wouldn't know.
How the faux twice baked potato idea got in my head was I just really felt like baked potatoes but Ed can't have those. So how could I make it possible for him to eat?
For the life of my I couldn't think of anything that would behave like, taste like and look like the potato skin. So the the skins of potato are used here but you should use the innards for a different dish like pancakes or mashed potatoes.
This would also be a great side dish for kids that don't eat veggies. They'll think they are eating potato which everyone seems to like.
What you will need for the recipe:
4 Potatoes
cauliflower (I use 1 lb bag of frozen)
1/2-1 cup of sour cream
8 ozs of shredded cheese (cheddar or colby/jack)
2 eggs
salt
pepper

Bake or microwave the potatoes to fully cook them.
If you have a food processor you can drop the cauliflower into that until ground well, If you don't have a food processor you can boil the cauliflower, drain and then mash it.
If you like really creamy potatoes add the whole amount of sour cream if not add the smaller amount into a bowl or food processor with the cauliflower and most of the cheese (reserve some of the cheese to lightly cover). Mix and then add salt and pepper to taste. Then add the eggs (the cauliflower has no starch so it will need "glue" that's what the eggs are for) Now your filling is ready.
Cut the cooked potatoes in half length wise scoop out as much potato at you can without braking the skins. This is easiest to do if they are room temp.
Fill the potato skins with the cauliflower mix make sure to fill them overly full. Put the filled potato in a baking dish cover with the rest of the cheese and back at 350 for 20 minutes. They will have shrunk some.
Serve.
Here is more info about Dr Bernstein http://www.diabetes-normalsugars.com/

Where did we start?

That is so hard to say. Since Ed and I got married we've moved 3 times but none of those time required the purging of things that most people go through every so often.
Ed likes to save anything that might be useful someday. Now that I've been around him this long I have seen a real benefit to that. It's amazing how many times he can say, "I can fix that I have that part somewhere." and off he goes to find it.
Where's the problem in that?
When you have to search for hours or days there is a problem.
I myself I'm scared to get rid of things that someone might want so I don't.
When God showed us that these things are not needed and my actually be a problem that was enough we had to start and do something.
So far we've sold 7 project cars and given many things away.
you may be wondering how much stuff do you have??? You will soon find out.