Fat Free Garage Sale

     Ok, so there is no such thing as a fat free garage sale, but I had another fat free day and a garage sale and wanted to talk about both. We spent yesterday afternoon and evening pulling things together and doing a partial set up for the garage sale and then got up about 7 a.m. to finish the set up and pricing. Then we opened at 7:45 a.m. and had the most perfect weather for our sale. We met some interesting people and sold lots of goodies. The Blue Angels even flew over a few times during their practice. My daughter's lemonade and rice krispy treat stand did very well too. But I am totally exhausted even though we ended at 3 p.m.  Tootsies are tuckered out! Tomorrow we'll get up early and do it again. I have to pull some more stuff out tonight for tomorrow since we sold a lot of the bigger things.

   And now onto my current Dr. sanctioned fat free eating plan. I met with the surgeon yesterday who is going to remove my gall bladder at the end of the month. I asked if I had to keep to the fat free eating plan and he said "yes." Soooo, I have to avoid fat of any kind until the end of the month and am trying to figure out how to do this without losing my mind! I've been trying some new things that are fat free that I had previously snubbed. Some are still worth snubbing, So here is a short list of what I really like in case you ever have a gall bladder attack and have to stay away from fat for a little while.

1.  Ball Park Franks Fat Free Smoked Turkey Hot Dogs
2.  Spartan Brand Caramel Rice Cakes
3.  Delmonte Dilled Green Beans in a Can
4.  Black Beans, several different brands
5.  Mott's Natural Apple Juice
6.  Snack Pack Fat Free Vanilla, Tapioca and Chocolate puddings
7.  Fat Free Cool Whip
8.  Swanson 100% Fat Free Chicken Broth
9.  Strawberry and regular Marshmallows
10.Hormel Vegetarian Chili
11.Kraft Fat Free Sharp Cheddar Cheese Slices(good enough, melts very nice over chili, scrambled eggs and baked potatoes.
12. Eggbeaters
13.Cannellini Beans
14.V8
15. Snyders unsalted pretzels, they are fat free.

That's it so far, there are other things that I really don't care for, including fat free sour cream, fat free cottage cheese and Fat Free Saltine Crackers. I've also discovered some good combos from the above list. I like the dilled green beans with black beans and/or cannellini beans, they make a very satisfying warm or cold salad. The Eggbeaters on fat free english muffins with a slice of fat free cheese is also good. And then the vegetarian chili over a baked potato with a slice of fat free cheese in between makes a tasty dinner. I crumbled some fat free saltines on top and that made it better. So there you have it. If I find more things I like in the fat free world, I'll be sure to post them. I do so wish bleu cheese was fat free though...

Sweet Saturday

     I love Saturdays. Although we usually spend a good part of the day keeping house, it feels so good to get something accomplished and then we also make time to play. Today we worked on straightening out and purging items from the living/family room. It is a small space, so any real clutter is just not cool. I also set up a new visual journal work space in the same room right under the big picture window. I've been spreading out on the sofa for the last few weeks, so I needed to do something. And there is actually room after the room was decluttered! I'm just thrilled to have a little spot to play. We also spent some time weeding the flower garden in front of the house. It is looking so lovely, really filling in nicely with all the wonderful weather and extra rain we have had. The weeds have also been trying to get a foot hold, but we pulled a lot of them out today. I try to spend a few minutes each day pulling a few weeds to stay on top of it, but with all the rains, they are just going wild!  And I finished reading two books today, "Jane Austen in Scarsdale," and "Creative Time and Space: Making Room for Making Art." Both were excellent books. I'm a huge fan of Jane Austen, so the modernization of "Persuasion" was just for pleasure. "Creative Time and Space" was like a play date with other artists, learning about how they find the time and create space to work.
     I usually do some big cooking in the kitchen on Saturdays, but with my current fat free diet restriction, I am trying to stay out of the place. I'm really missing cheese, butter and good chocolate right now, but I know it is temporary and I most certainly do not want to have another gall bladder attack before my surgery. I think I'll pick up some fat free cottage cheese tomorrow and see if it will satisfy my cheese cravings.
     And then to wrap up the day we are watching "Paulie," such an adorable movie, I think it is one of my top five family movies, we just love it. Like I said, "Sweet Saturday!"

New Books

     I am so thrilled! I got two new books in the mail today, Rice Freeman-Zachery's "Creative Time and Space: Making Room for Making Art," and Alison Eads' "The Artful Card." I'm about halfway through Creative Time and Space and highly recommend it for anyone struggling with this issue, finding and making time and space to create, it is very inspirational and full of great ideas. I just skimmed through the other book,  but it looks yummy as well. It has some great techniques that I can use for visual journal pages too, and lots of collage of course.
     As for my inconsiderate gall bladder, still feeling it, but not bad enough to go to the ER, just bad enough to not feel up to doing anything very active. I have piles of "housework" but no real energy to get to it right now. Oh well, it isn't going anywhere, is it? The fat free diet has been interesting. I'm not starving, and actually, my appetite is way down, another sign I'm not feeling up to par. But I have had to be pretty creative. The liquid diet the Dr. recommended ended yesterday, so today I've been able to eat solid food too. My favorite today was a can(I normally don't go for canned veggies except beans) of dilled green beans with a can of black beans. The two together were pretty good. The dilled green beans were actually green beans marinated in a vinegar and dill and they were very good, surprisingly. But even better with the added black beans. I would eat this again, fat free diet or not. I will have to be eating fat free for a few weeks until I have my gall bladder removed. Any fat will cause it to "turn on" and could bring on another attack, so I don't want to agitate the thoughtless thing if I can help it. And I have to admit, it was time to change my eating habits. I won't cry if I never eat another piece of fried anything or fast food, honestly. The chocolate covered twinkie is another thing altogether though.