NotCigs refugee thread

[markfm]

I picked up some Kiva stevia/erythritol blend, decent, but I decided to also try some NuStevia, waiting for it to arrive. I've got both the NuStevia straight powdered as well as their vanilla sweetener liquid on the way, hoping the vanilla liquid will work nicely with plain yogurt.


It's been a fairly gentle winter, but I'm eager for spring; we have a winter storm warning for tomorrow. Working on new wheels for our homemade boat, switching to 18" dock wheels with 1-1/2" galvanized pipe stub axles, going to flanges on 4x6 posts. I also reached out to a guy on Craigslist, about an old evinrude 4.5hp long shaft 2 stroke; those engines are supposed to be solid, and up here people use them on fresh water for backup power on sailboats, generally well taken care of and low running hours (this person was winterizing his last Nov when I first spoke with him).

 

[salemgold]

Hey Mark, I use the real deal powdered stevia as well. I also like the Torani Sugar Free syrup for flavoring things such as yogurt, coffee, etc.

Not sure if you have tried it but thought I would toss it out there. I have not found a Torani Syrup flavor yet that I don’t like.

Matter of fact, I found some vanilla flavored and some hazelnut flavored sf syrup that seems to have the same ingredients for $1 per bottle at Dollar Tree. only drawback with those is that they are the only two flavors that I have seen so far.

I mix up protein shakes and like to have a variety of flavors on hand to use with my vanilla or unflavored protein powder.

 

[salemgold]

Drove to the upstate and back today after only having 4.5 hours sleep last night. Can’t even believe I am still awake now.

Had lunch with my sister and she can barely walk with right knee again. I asked her if she was still taking the turmeric. She said she hadn’t taken any since my mom passed. No clue why she stopped because they worked very well for her.

She started back on them last night and told me tonight she is already feeling some relief. She knows it will take 4-5 days to get full relief and I have no clue why she stopped them in the first place.

She is kind of like that though, takes something until she gets relief and then stops until she is back to square one and has to state all over again.

She didn’t look like she was doing very well. She is supposed to sell her place and her rental place and move down here by us. I think that may do her some good.

LD, so sorry to hear of your loss.
Tracy, so sorry for your cousin. I too hope that she beats it and will keep her in my thoughts and prayers.

Oops I see that Tracy is a Torani fan as well. Check out your local dollar tree if you have one. I mix the vanilla and some premier protein caramel cream (rtu shake/Sams) in my coffee together for a yummy sf cup a joe.

 

[Wharf Rat]

Sorry Dee... and prayers for your cousin Tracy ~

Welp... Mrs W and I went to the Dr's yesterday. I am going in for an angiogram in two weeks. By what they were saying, it sounds like I'll need at least one stent.... Not what I was hoping for but it could have been worse.

 

[908Tracy]

Prayers and positive thoughts for you wharf. Keep us posted plz bc you know we will be bugging you. We bug bc we worry and we worry bc we love! <3

Mark I hope your winter storm fizzles out! We’ve had rain for the last two days.

Bov that was awesome of the tree guy to take care of your limbs! People sure sound friendly in the south. Up here they’d probably be afraid of a liability of some sort.

Salem, omg I never thought of adding those premier protein shakes to coffee! I just gave away 3 boxes of them bc although I loved the taste, they were giving us bathroom issues of the non going kind! Eek!!! I’ll have to get another and try this out. Thank you! Yes I initially paid around $14 per bottle of the Torani sf syrups from amazon before finding them at Home Goods for $5. Will check out dollar store soon.

Cousin has ct scan today. Praying it hasn’t metastisized (sp?) so she can have a hysterectomy next week. Thank you all for they prayers and positive thoughts. <3
P.S.- no mentioning this on fb plz. Not sure who she has told and there’s too many family members (cousins etc) that may not know and would be offended. I believe just her closest circle knows at this point in time. Hugs

TGIF...let’s git er done!

 

[FranC]

Prayers for you Wharf but don't worry too much. My older son has had a stent put in 3 different times. You've do just fine

More prayers for your cousin,Tracy.

It's snowing and the weather says 5-8 by tomorrow morning. Can you hear me screaming?

 

[salemgold]

Sorry Dee... and prayers for your cousin Tracy ~

Welp... Mrs W and I went to the Dr's yesterday. I am going in for an angiogram in two weeks. By what they were saying, it sounds like I'll need at least one stent.... Not what I was hoping for but it could have been worse.

So sorry, Wharf. You are right though. Could have been much worse. Plus it is a very good thing that the issue was caught early. Before any damage could be done.

I have not had any stents placed yet. I was by my moms side both times that she had a heart attack and had to have a stent placed each time. The recovery was not bad at all. Actually pretty amazing that it is so simple for docs to work on our hearts with such minimally invasive procedures.

You know that you will stay in my thoughts and prayers and I know that you will keep us updated.

Hey Bov, have you checked with the SPCA about a fence yet? I know that in the upstate they have a program. If a person has a dog and can’t afford a fence, this program provides at low cost or free of charge. Couldn’t hurt to check in your area.

I have more to say, Tracy but must feed my parrots first lol I will be back.

 

[Bovinia]

Wharf, my prayers are with you! No matter how many times you hear us tell you you'll do fine, I know it's a huge, big, scary deal to you, Mrs Wharf and Kia...but you WILL do fine

I'll have to check Dollar Tree for the Torani syrup, never heard of it but sounds worth a try. All you health conscious folks will keel over when I admit that I use aspartame or sucralose for sweetener. I've tried stevia, monk fruit, and a couple of the other "more healthy" sweeteners and hated them. Monk fruit was the worst of the worst I've tried! I'd rather drag my tongue across a dirty carpet

Salem, apparently our SPCA doesn't have that fence program, they suggested the 2 fence companies that I contacted. One never returned my messages, and the other is the one doing my fence. Super nice people and the wife tells me that they shaved $800 off the price they would normally charge for my amount of fence with the drive thru gate, and a walk thru gate on the other side. Still, $1k is gonna hurt, but Bella is worth it. I figure the nice tree guy yesterday saved me enough to call it even

Tracy, will continue to pray for your cousin...and will keep it zipped on FB.

 

[El Dee]

Continued prayers for your Cuzzo 908......

Letter yesterday from the hospital....said CT scan with contrast....that's inside the tube where people start freaking out....The free lung cancer screening....Doc warned they'll be looking really hard for issues....I'm calling in and cancelling......

Wharf.....You'll be in my prayers....I know from personal experience telling you not to worry won't do a dang bit of good....It's scary....The worst part about all of it....Old Man's Ville is the next exit....That brings a whole nuther set of worries....Good luck on the table Bro....I'll be thinking of you...Dee

Erythritol is a no go in stevia according to the experts...A bleaching formula and anti-clump agent if I remember correctly....Try and find stevia without erythritol....I use Stevia in the Raw Organic from CostCo....Yes with erythritol.....Organic???? What the ????? I've got a patch of stevia and have alcohol extracted and ground leaves...It tastes great in true unprocessed organic form...I'd say for a years supply probably 25 plants and I have 4....They come back every Spring annual or perineal...IDK which

As far as flavored anything I don't go that route....I'd read some stuff about the flavors in the juice that I found troubling....I never said anything about that and now that I don't use them anymore I'm definitely out of that conversation....I have seen flavors come on the radar of the popcorn lung crowd recently though....Bottom line is if ya'll wanna flavor your protein shakes flavor on....I only know enough to know further research is needed...

 

[FranC]

I use plain old sugar in my coffee but not much plus creamer. Tea gets a cinnamon stick or some honey,no milk or cream.

 

[markfm]

I've been using nature's flavors organic flavorings for years, their diacetyl- free line. My all day vape is 9% vanilla and 1% cream; I also have their French vanilla and Bavarian cream, when I feel like changing the 1% flavoring.

 

[salemgold]

Tracy, my husband can’t drink any of the shakes made with milk protein concentrate either. Gives him the opposite bathroom effect than you get. The ones thAt he must use, (which are actually better quality protein anywAy) are whey protein isolates. I bet that shakes made with that type of protein or non dairy, would work for you guys too.

Bov, I am not as health conscious as you think. I too use sucralose in some things. I don’t drink diet Mountain Dew like I used to but, I still have a few per week. It contains aspartame.

Most of the stuff that is sold as Stevia is not real Stevia anyway. The real organic and unprocessed stuff is green in color. What I use is white powder. It is extremely sweet. I use 1 teaspoon per gallon of iced tea or kool aid and that is almost too sweet.

What I get from dollar tree is not called Torani. This is it

 

[salemgold]

I've been using nature's flavors organic flavorings for years, their diacetyl- free line. My all day vape is 9% vanilla and 1% cream; I also have their French vanilla and Bavarian cream, when I feel like changing the 1% flavoring.

Yep. I remember your vananaberry from long ago

I use my juice flavors for food at times too.

 

[908Tracy]

I “think” it was stevia that gave a strange cooling type effect? It was the first that I tried, and it was white. Truvia was second try and I settled there. I bought the monkfruit (granular and golden-to replace brown sugar in recipes) months ago...still haven’t tried either. Lol @ dragging your tongue across carpet!!!!! Dang now I’m REALLY hesitant to try it.

 

[908Tracy]

Thank you Salem for sharing all that info with us. You’re a peach!

Cousins results today weren’t good. It’s all through her. She is now going to a much better place for a second opinion. Surgery isn’t happening next week but I hope the second opinion differs from this original one.

 

[salemgold]

Thank you Salem for sharing all that info with us. You’re a peach!

Cousins results today weren’t good. It’s all through her. She is now going to a much better place for a second opinion. Surgery isn’t happening next week but I hope the second opinion differs from this original one.

Oh no, Tracy. I am so very sorry for the bad results I will keep you both in my thoughts and prayers thAt the second Nd opinion is better.

I use a brown sugar and Splenda mix in recipes.

 

[salemgold]

This is the stevia that I use and like. No Erythritol or other additives

All Natural Stevia Powder - No fillers, Additives or Artificial Ingredients of Any Kind - Highly Concentrated Stevia Extract Sugar Substitut… | healthy | Pinterest | Gourmet gifts, Sugar substitute and Gourmet food online

 

[FranC]

Prayers for your cousin,Tracy...........

 

[Bovinia]

I'm so sorry for the bad news, Tracy. Prayers for all of you.

The stevia I tried was Stevia in the Raw. I'm not real concerned about the health warnings over aspertame, nor do I avoid diacetyl in my juices. I don't drink, don't smoke, don't partake in the green...I gotta live dangerously somewhere!! I'm coming up on 5 years divorced and haven't even had a date with anyone

Finally got the neighbor's phone claim solved with 3 magic words...Better Business Bureau He should have his new phone by Monday!

 

[908Tracy]

Thank you all <3

Bov, good thinking! Those 3 B’s make things happen.