Farewell Food Pyramid, Long Live MyPlate

United States Department of Agriculture

On June 2, 2011 the USDA officially retired the Food Pyramid (its been around since 1982 - doesn't it seem longer than that?) in favor of MyPlate.

Balancing Calories
● Enjoy your food, but eat less.
● Avoid oversized portions.


Foods to Increase
● Make half your plate fruits and vegetables.
● Make at least half your grains whole grains.
● Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk.


Foods to Reduce
● Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals ― and choose the foods with lower numbers.
● Drink water instead of sugary drinks.



I guess this explains Weight Watchers newest program, PointsPlus, where fruits and veggies are free.

My cousin Debbie Sue has lost over 61 pounds on Weight Watchers and looks great.  We went together to WW meetings years ago and I lost over 30 pounds but found them again.  I also tried NutriSystems, lost over 30 pounds on that one too and found them again.


I've been toying with the idea of joining the Weight Watchers Online plan but I'm a little worried that I won't be able to afford the foods that I will need to eat.  Okay, that's a cop-out... I am on a fixed income but the real reason is that I don't want to cook - I hate cooking (and the cleanup).

The costs to join Weight Watchers online include a one time Sign-Up Fee of $29.95 and then a monthly fee of $18.95.

If you sign up before October 15, 2011 they will wave the $29.95 fee.

NOTE: Your subscription will be automatically renewed at the end of your payment plan at the standard monthly rate (currently $18.95) until you cancel.

I have to think about this some more.  Anyone have any suggestions?
Update: I joined Weight Watcher's Online Program on September 19, 2011.
Thanks,
Cheryl

BIG MUTT ON CAMPUS

 
 
Monty, a certified therapy dog, is on call at the Yale Law Library as part of a pilot program to help ease stress from high-pressure studies. During part of the school year, students can check him out for 30-minute cuddling or Frisbee sessions.
 
Don't you just love it!
 
Taken from Parade's Top Pets.

Facebook - How to search your wall for contests and giveaways.

Facebook Epiphany

Today I discovered that I could search for "contest" and "giveaway" or any other search term(s) on my Facebook wall, allowing me to go right to the posts I want to read right now.  The best part - I could save this search to my favorites in Internet Explorer 8 (sorry I don't know what this is called in Chrome, Firefox etc.) so I could check for new posts every day.  Way cool!

STEP 1:

Go to your Facebook Wall ("Home").  Click on "Most Recent" posts.

In the search box at the top of the webpage type in the search term(s) you want to find.

I wanted to search for contest and giveaway so...
I entered "contest | giveaway" without the quotation marks.

Note: the symbol between the 2 search terms is the | (shift + \) aka pipe. This tells Facebook's search feature to search for both terms.
 

Click on the magnifying glass at the end of the search box.  If you accidently click on an item in the list that appears below the search box just start over again.


STEP 2:

Under All Results (top left side of webpage) click on "Posts by Friends".  This narrows the search from all of Facebook to just your Facebook friends.

STEP 3:

Save the url (it's a very long one) for this search to your favorites.

There are lots ways to do this, use the method you use most often.

My way:  I left clicked on the IE icon to the left of the url and dragged it to my favorites bar.  Then I renamed it by right clicking on the newly added link, choose Rename and then typed in the new link name.

Hope this helps someone else!

World of Charity Stitching

Fat Quarter Shop Giveaway

World of Charity Stitching is hosting an amazing Giveaway, sponsored by the Fat Quarter Shop. We have not one but TWO $50.00 Gift Certificates that you can win.

This Giveaway will run from August 30 thru September 16. Winners will be chosen by random generator.

While you're there check out their Wheelchair Arm Bag Tutorial.  Good stuff.



          

MooseStash Quilting: Better get "GO!"ing

A GO! Baby Giveaway - Yippee!!!

MooseStash Quilting will be picking the lucky winner on Friday Sept 2nd. That will give you plenty of time to plan out your holiday GO project! Now, remember to put all the required information (check the blog post for details) in your comment, for it to be eligible to win.

So... don't delay, spread the word. They're having a "GO" party in the MooseStash!! There's "GO"ing to be lots of ideas to come!

BTW, if you're looking for quilting, sewing or embroidery related contests and giveaways make a daily stop at SewCalGal's blog.  I have her blog set up on my favorites bar and visit everyday hoping for yet another chance to win a GO! or GO! Baby, fabric, patterns and notions.

Giveaway: AccuQuilt Block Design Contest

A Feed Dog Giveaway

Kevin of Feed Dog Designs & AccuQuilt are hosting this giveaway to win your own AccuQuilt Go Baby die cutter and your choice of 3 dies.

To win this giveaway you have to get creative—he wants to see what you’d do with your die cutter.

E-mail a JPG or PNG of your block design by midnight (Pacific Time) on August 26th, including in your e-mail a list of the dies used. He’ll post all the entries here and readers will be able to vote for their favorite. After a week of voting, whichever block has received the most votes will win a free Go Baby cutter and dies for its designer.

I've already entered - now it's your turn.  Go!


For rules and particulars check out Kevin's blog post about this giveaway.

If you use EQ7 or an Accuquilt Go! or Go! Baby cutter you will love Kevin's tutorials. Check them out!





    

2011 Pets on Quilts Show Hosted by SewCalGal

2011 Pets on Quilts Show

My Entry

I know you can't see the adorably cute fabrics I used in this quilt so here they are:

Molly and Madison Resting (they do that a lot)

Madison and Molly sitting together on my scooter seat

---

I just finished taking the EQ7 Sampler Class by Fran Gonzalez at Quilting University.  Fran is such a great teacher. The class was wonderful and I learned so much.


Another EQ7 Sampler Class will be starting on September 9, 2011.


Here are a couple of the quilt blocks I created in the first lesson of the EQ7 Sampler Class.