i haven't used this blog to recommend a particular product and i am not going to make it a habit. but i just received an item that i ordered from qvc (i am a qvc queen and i admit it) and i think it is a "got to have it" kind of thing especially if you use a lot of frozen bagged vegetables. it is a battery operated bag sealer and it works like a charm. there are a couple of naysayer reviews posted on the qvc website, but i just think these folks are too impatient and perhaps have a heavy hand and that's why it didn't work properly. i haven't had any problems with it and it is far better than those bag clips (which usually fall off, especially the frozen food bags). anyway, it's inexpensive and you can use it to reseal virtually any bag from chips (heaven forbid) to salad (now we are talking). an amazing way to reduce spoilage. i just received mine last week and i have been sealing everything in sight! cut and seal, that's my new nickname...lol plus you get 3 of them! i'll get off my soapbox now and just pass this link along. if you are interested, here's where you can check it out:

http://www.qvc.com/qic/qvcapp.aspx/app.detail/params.tpl.csweb.cm_scid.cswb.item.K7526/walk.multi.|cshtml|csmenu,asp


now, i will go to the well of my cousin’s email for one last inspirational rule of the universe for today's prose:

opportunities always look bigger after they have passed


should have,
could have,
would have.
i have said these words
way too often
almost every day of my life
before i finally
got my act together
and started
on this
great weight loss journey
with all of you

why didn’t i?
how didn’t i?
when didn’t i?
i have thought about
all the things i didn’t do
to get my life in order
so many times
that it ultimately
got in the way
of me actually
doing something
taking that first step
doing what
i should have done then
but hey,
i am doing it now
and isn’t that what matters
most of all?

bad choices,
wrong choices,
no choices.
decisions that led me to a place
that i thought
i would have to stay
for the rest of my life
that i thought
was my destiny,
but now i know it is not

the parade
that passed me by
the knock at the door
that i left unanswered
the race
i never quite started
how many times
i just didn’t do
what I should have done
well,
that’s just the way it is

but that was then
now i am leading the band
and opening new doors
and winning the race
and it doesn’t matter
that i didn’t start last year
or the year before that
because I am doing it today
the all I have today

because looking back
doesn’t change things
it only makes us regret
and i have no time
for that anymore

so all the opportunities
i thought i let slip by
are just gone
and they don’t matter any more
because
they are insignificant
compared to the opportunities
yet to come
in my life
and that’s what matters
most of all

i look behind me
and all i see are the shadowlands
and it is beautiful
because it led me here