Kudos to Costco - cookie recall

Kudos to Costco because they sent me a voicemail and a letter telling me to bring back the raw Toll House cookie dough!

No questions asked, they just took it back.

I've never been pursued this much for a refund, but I now have a lot of confidence in the "system" Costco uses for their logistics and customer tracking.

Plus, I now have $7.99 in my pocket and I had eaten a batch or two of cookies from that big raw cookie dough tube. So, it was a win-win.

Nestle Cookie Dough

Recall on Toll House

Wouldn't you know - my luck - the first time I buy a tub of Toll house Chocolate Chip cookie dough...it would come to this.

I did make a batch of cookies last night and I did eat an entire cookie worth of raw dough because I hadn't done so in such a long time.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090619/ap_on_re_us/us_nestle_recall

Gray Hair Anonymous

I would like to announce that I produced far too many gray hairs today. They were all earned, but not sure that I actually wanted to earn this type of reward.

I'm still debating in my mind whether being part of cookies anonymous is better than gray hair anonymous or not.

Hmmm?

I'm going to go eat some cookies and milk and think about this a bit.

Cookies make me gain weight, but getting the hair done is now a $150 plus ordeal.

Memory Lane - One cookie left

I like cookies. My family likes cookies. Many of us eat as many cookies are in the package. It doesn't matter what size the bag or what kind. We eat to the end.

There was one cookie left in a package at work the other day and it reminded me of when a roommate left one cookie in a package on our refrigerator. My brother saw it and said, "Well, it's obvious that it was your roommate because no one from our family would ever leave just one cookie."

He was right. It's easy to find who got into the cookies if there is one left. At our house, we'd just polish it off and throw out the bag and no one would have known that there were any cookies in existence.

Tagged

I got tagged! I usually tag myself because some of the tags I see are interesting on other blogs, but this time Kathy tagged me and I will comply.

Here are the rules:
1- Post the rules on your blog
2- List 6 random things about yourself.
3- Tag 6 people at the end of your post.
4- Let each person know they have been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
5- Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

6 Random things about Me

1.) I don't like to share. I had bad luck as a child with people never returning things or returning them ruined. However, I will typically go buy the item for the person OR give them the item instead of sharing. It has sometimes cost me a bit of money, but gave me much piece of mind.

2.) Technology gadgets are my weakness. I love to buy them. My latest was a little tiny speaker to plug into my iPOD. Now when people ask if they can hear a song I'm talking about, I just plug that speaker in instead of letting them try out my ear gear. Gross and like I said ...I don't like to share.

3.) I de-junk my house every single week. I don't have anything stuffed into closets or anything now. I'm getting to be fairly simple. I just have no interest in spending a lot of time taking care of stuff.

4.) The older I get the less tolerance I have for laziness or people who want to receive things on a golden platter. It's even harder to be the boss of people of this sort. They fall into the category of "there is no time for people like that" and I honestly have a hard time looking in their eyes when really ...wouldn't it be the opposite?

5.) I am one of the few people that likes to sit in the back row of church and see all the children antics. Since I don't see any children during the week, it is fun for me to see them grow, pout, smile and fixate on my boyfriend's head. Haaaa. (Kids like round heads I think)

6.) When it comes to cookies, I have no self-control. So, I now unofficially run cookies anonymous, graham crackers anonymous, peanut M&M anonymous, chocolate cake anonymous, and brownies anonymous. Ok, so my problem is bigger than cookies. Sometimes I will sneak into salt after eating the cookies thinking that will stop the behavior. I think it actually works.

Yes, those six things were pretty random.

Here are six people I'd like to hear about:
1 - Ann
2 - Renaye
3 - Patti
4 - Elise
5 - Pam

Health Tip - for a cookies anonymous relapse

In an effort to make myself feel better for purchasing some chocolate chip cookies the other day, I added some healthy cashews, almonds and peanuts to the bottom of the cookie. I couldn't quite cram them into the cookie, but they held long enough for me to take a bite and a swig of milk. It counterbalances it, doesn't it?

Relatives - all or nothing eating habits

One of my many cousins just moved into town for a few years and I was invited over to their family abode the other night for dinner.

Nathan and Nichole have quite the cute little family and I enjoyed talking to them about the past and actually meeting most of them for the first time. The last time I saw Nathan he was leaving on a mission and that was about nine years ago.

Anyway, I brought a lot of cookies and such for dessert. This is when I found out that there is a genetic trait in our family - we have no self-control over ourselves when it comes to cookies and other treats. It's an all or none thing...mostly all. Basically, once the bag or package is opened it's completely likely that the objects inside will not last overnight. It doesn't matter how big the package is either. It's just a race to the finish.

My brother Craig was disturbed when he was at my house a few years ago and found a package of cookies with only one cookie left. He stated very firmly that "no Clark would ever leave one cookie" and so it couldn't possibly have been me that had last eaten from the package.

It was amazing to me to find out that this runs through some of my cousins as well. Perhaps we can be studied so our future generations won't be plagued with this frustrating gene.

Or, perhaps we can just all start listening to the hypnosis CDs that I've forgotten to listen to this week....

Graham Crackers Anonymous - 2 hours clean!

So, my Cookies Anonymous has been really successful over the last month and a half. However, I figured I'd buy graham crackers to fill the cookie void. Yikes. It didn't work. I just ate a whole box with a couple of glasses of milk in far less than 24 hours. So, here we go on another personal support group.

I have given up peanut M&Ms which happened to be my first crutch after giving up the cookies.


However, it is looking like the root cause is milk. I thought it might be in a prior blog entry - http://rebeckeronline.blogspot.com/2008/04/cookies-anonymous-over-31-days-clean.html and so this is further confirmation of a deeper problem.

Milk Anonymous is next.

Cookies Anonymous - over 31 days clean!

Ok, I've left cookies alone for a while and don't suspect that I'll have to keep up the posting about them.

I have allowed myself some animal crackers and graham crackers in the past week, but this is primarily because the word "crackers" replaces the word "cookies." However, they may be next to go because there is a certain dangerous-ness with combining these types of crackers with large glasses of milk. After all, cookies were far more tempting to me when a glass of milk was accessible. I have a similiar addiction with cereal.

Hmmm! I'm not sure which direction to go with this - should I give up milk or crackers, cookies, and cereal?

Cookies Anonymous - 28 days clean!

Yep, I haven't eaten a cookie in 28 days. I've even cut back on peanut M&Ms until the weekends. With a little more walking everyday, some yoga (about 15 minutes a week - it's kind of boring), and lifting some weights...I've trimmed off about 8-9 pounds. It's a good start, but at 6 feet that doesn't amount to much.

I'm just very proud that I got this far. The most amazing thing is that I'm not tempted to have one. I suspect it has something to do with a pre-occupied and stressed mind, but that will be in another blog entry.

Cookies Anonymous - clean for 20 days!

Yep, been clean for 20 days now. I've found some other snacks. But, the peanut M&Ms have been added to the hands off list now. It's difficult because that's also the treat of choice at the movie theater.

Side benefit - lost about 6 pounds. Not visible progress, but progress.

Cookies Anonymous - clean for 14 days

Yep, I've made it 14 days without cookies. I've also lost a total of four pounds over the last couple of weeks which isn't really anything on my frame. The real trick is substituting with something better. Today I brought a big bag of pre-cut and pre-packaged carrots and celery to work along with yogurt and an orange. I ate some of all of them. However, I did take a break to go buy a big BLT for lunch so I could truly fill up.

The next item I have to omit from my intake would be peanut M&Ms. I bought a massive bag at Costco and ate it all in one week. So, the cookie thing was great, but I think I was able to do it only because I had another crutch.

Hopefully this week I'll be able to have celery and peanut butter as the crutch instead of all these tasty substitutes. And, I'm done walking Pepper and so this means more creative exercise options and obscure walks to fill that requirement.

Pressing forward!

Cookies Anonymous - clean for 6.5 days

My name is Rebecca and I am a cookie -oholic. I think it started in the 8th grade when I took a home economic class and learned how to make good chocolate chip cookies. Cookie making became the default treat I would bake at home when there was nothing in the cupboards. I made quite a few "chocolate chip cookies without the chocolate chips" and "peanut butter blossoms without the Hershey kiss."

This past two years I've very frequently (3-4 times a week) purchased a row of little cookies and a carton of milk to be the treat along with my lunch. Well, you can see where that leads.

Anyway, this past weekend I ate two boxes of Girl Scout thin mints on Saturday and carried with me an agonizing headache for all of Sunday and Monday. No amount of drugs would help. I've experienced this in the past when I've downed high quantities of thin mints or mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Regardless, enough was enough. I decided to admit I had a problem and go into rehab. Right now rehab consists of cookie avoidance, but soon I may need to go to hypnosis, start a Cookies Anonymous meeting and join an online support group. Numerous cookies have made their way into my line of sight, but I have been clean for 6.5 days.

I do have a sponsor - a co-worker that is supposed to stop smoking. So, I check up on her and she checks up on me. Surprisingly, I've been clean longer. Let's see how long this can last.