Happy Thanksgiving

Sorry!  I'm apparently only showing up for holidays now. 

I'm currently 12 weeks and 5 days along and everything is going really well.  I had an ultrasound last week - baby had 2 arms, 2 legs, a head and a body.  I can't complain.  Heartbeat was 171 (which online everywhere says girl).  I still have no idea what it is and we're not going to find out.  Sometimes I have strong feelings of boy, other times its girl.  Time will tell. 

I feel like everything is going super quick and super slow at the same time.  I didn't have any morning sickness at all so I can't really complain - I've just been very very tired.  I want to go to sleep early but something always happens that makes it so I don't go to sleep until 1030-1130.  I also have a horrible time napping for some reason. 

We're picking up my sister in law (and brother in law) tonight.  Tomorrow we'll FINALLY get to tell my in-laws the double exciting news!  I feel like my parents have known so long (5-6 weeks?) that it's about time!

I also have no idea how to tell my job.  Or when.  I just moved to a new department this week so that adds to all the confusion.  Its pretty much my same boss (she just used to be my boss's boss.. does that even make sense) so it's not a huge change.  I just have NO idea when/how to do it.  I probably should do it soon.  Luckily, I was already chunky so it's not like I'm really showing yet or anything.  I'm only up 1.5lbs so I'm very very proud of myself.

Okay, well wishing you a very happy thanksgiving!  Hopefully, I update this more often once I get into the magical second trimester where I'm not supposed to be so tired. 

Happy Halloween

We've had 3 groups of trick or treaters this year.  The first two were just two kids and the last group was 3 or 4 kids.  That's crazy!  When I was younger I would've been out starting around 1 and then came home for dinner around 5 or 6 (and to regroup and empty out my pillow case) then I'd go out again later until like 8ish or sometimes 9ish.

 My mom is short so she used to just put on a mask and pretend she was a kid too.  I just had to do all the talking.  It was great because she got candy and didn't steal mine plus I could go out later because she obviously knew I was safe since she was with me. There were even times where my dad would also put on a costume so my mom, dad, sister, and me would all go out.. and I'm talking even when I was like 14 or 15.  As long as you have a costume on, you're not too old!

But, sadly, we've had practically no one come this year.  It's so weird.  I'm glad I didn't buy any candy.  I actually went through our pantry and found sour patch kids, swedish fish, and fruit roll ups.  The fruit roll-ups are a huge hit with the few kids that did come and at least I didn't have to spend any more money. 

My husband and I took the dog on a walk through the neighborhood and we only saw 2 kids!  I heard another 3 or 4 but didn't see them.  At least we got some exercise.  Although I will admit that I did keep my eye out for anyone that had bowls outside so I could snag a peanut butter cup but didn't have any luck.  Oh well. 

CSN Stores

Well, I had such a great outcome last time I placed an order with CSN stores, that I'm happy to be doing it again.  As I mentioned before, they have everything.  Since, it looks like we'll be staying in this house for a bit longer due to not wanting to have the address stress of renting this house, pay another mortgage, and paying for daycare.. we're looking to spruce up this place a bit.

The kitchen and dining room are definitely the first places we're going to redo.  We, without a doubt, need a new dining room table.  Currently we have a somewhat nice table and really crappy chairs that do not match at all.  The dark brownish/black circular table was in my grandmother's kitchen (so it's small) and the chairs are a blond color that I think might be from ikea from about 15 years ago and are completely falling apart.

So, my first thought was to check out CSN Stores because I love how easy it is to go through everything and how quickly it all arrived.  I figure even if I can't find the perfect dining set, I'm sure I can find a great accessory (or a few) that will look nice for once we fully redo the kitchen and dining room.  I'll let you know what I end up with!

hello!

Ok, so update time.  Sorry!

We went on a cruise and got remarried on 10.10.10.  It was fun but I don't think I would spend the extra money to go on Cunard again.  We were on the Queen Mary 2 and I guess I just expected more - better service, more opulence, more marble staircases, more water at dinner without having to ask repeatedly every night.  Silly things like that.

I started spotting on the cruise and it really freaked me out.  Called the doctor once we got back and they did an ultrasound.  We got to see the little beluga and the blinking of it's heart.  That was pretty cool.  Once I saw that, I felt much better - more comfortable.

I have another ultrasound this friday (the original one I was scheduled for) along with a dr's appt on Thursday.  Let's hope that all continues to go this well.

I'm super tired but no nausea which is great but still makes me nervous.  We told my parents last weekend and they were super excited.  Still waiting for Thanksgiving to tell husband's parents.

I'm going to try to be a better blogger but I'm just been so tired that I've been going to bed by 10 the latest cause my eyes just start closing.  I'm going to try to write at least something short and post it.

Review

So what did I end up buying from CSNstores.com?  I ended up going with the Le Creuset baking dish.  It came with a 9" and bonus 5" for only $24.95.  At that price, the hardest decision was picking the color.  I ended up going with Caribbean.

The order came super quickly.  Seriously, I ordered it on the night of Sept 21, it shipped the 22, and I received it the 23! 

They are, obviously, a great quality.  How can you go wrong with Le Creuset?  I've already used the larger one twice (once for baked mac and cheese and tonight to make jalapeno cheddar corn bread).  It's a great size and I can definitely see myself reaching for it again in the future.  The little one is the perfect size for a small apple crisp or something of that sort.  I plan on making meatballs in it tomorrow night to test it out.. there's only two of us so the small size is fine.

Tomorrow: heading to the doctor to confirm the pregnancy!

!!

So, I had an appointment on Tuesday for a sonogram and meeting with a different gyno at my normal place.  I waited 2 hours and she glanced at my sonogram printout and said "everything's okay, you're good to go"  I yelled at her cause she wasted 2 hours of my life.

Today I was supposed to have an appointment with a reproductive endocrinologist because of my elevated prolactin levels.  My husband was also going to get his sperm tested.

That's all been cancelled.  This morning I took a pregnancy test and it was POSITIVE!

I took one on Tuesday and Wednesday just for hopes.  This morning I really wasn't expecting anything but I decided to take it anyway since I'm 11 days past ovulation and I have one "early response test"  It was digital so there is no figuring out if there's a line - it flat out said YES+.  I actually went back and reread the directions just to make sure that YES meant Yes!  Then I ran downstairs to find my husband who was in the downstairs bathroom.  I just sat outside the door pacing in my underwear thinking I should have brushed my teeth before coming downstairs.

I'm excited and freaking out and nervous and jumpy.  I have a vacation day today from work since my doctor's appointment was at 11 and I'm getting my hair done at 4 so I just decided to take the whole day off.  So now I have the whole day to sit here and think about it. 

I know it's too early to tell anyone and that's why I'm mentioning it here.  I want to go to the doctor first before saying anything to anyone.  I should probably call my regular gyno to get an appt.  I really don't want an appointment with that other lady I saw on Tuesday.  I pretty much hated her.  Plus, I feel like when all is said and done, I'm going to prefer going to a midwife.  I guess only time will tell.

decisions decisions...

I kept hearing and reading about CSN Stores but, honestly, never had the time to check them out.  Well, I finally did and they really have some great looking things.  And lots of it!  CSN Stores has over 200 online stores where you can find everything from coffee table to cookware to pet supplies.

There's a lot to choose from.  I'm definitely going through and getting ready to place an order shortly.  I'm just having trouble deciding what to get!  I tend to add a whole bunch of things to my cart and then pare it down a bit.  If I always bought everything in my cart, I'd online shop my way out of my house ha ha.  As you know, we're fostering a little doggie, Hugo, and the pet supplies are right up my alley to spoil him with.  But, he won't be here forever and I deserve to be spoiled too (right?), so I may just stick to the cookware and bake ware.  How cute would this turkey cake mold be for Thanksgiving?

While clicking through, I also noticed the coffee tables and I'm tempted to order one of those too.  Currently, we have a 4 yr old $50 coffee table from Ikea that is stained and nicked to no end.  I like having storage underneath the table, because we also have to shove stuff under there.  Yes, this is our cleaning philosophy when company is on it's way.. hide hide hide!  Plus, my husband and I eat most of our meals at the coffee table so maybe we should upgrade to something nicer and more adult-like? 

Decisions decisions...

Hugo

So, we are finally foster parents. I like to do a good deed on 9.11. Makes me feel better I guess, instead of helpless. We're fostering Hugo.  My husband is already fully convinced we're going to end up keeping him and he's the one who gave him the name. He's a little peanut. He was rescued from that hoarding situation: http://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/cops-arrest-west-hills-couple-on-animal-abuse-charges-1.2254122

Don't read that article if you are at all sensitive to animal abuse. It's freaking terrible what those people did. Somewhere around 150 dogs but that can't give an exact count - for reasons explained in the article. The fostering place didn't care if we didn't have a backyard (unlike the people I tried going with last year), they were just happy I could help.

Poor little Hugo had never been outside in his life. He didn't know what grass was! Obviously has no idea what housebroken or walking on a leash mean. When you go near him, he generally starts shaking and lays down because he doesn't know what to do. He's already super excited when we walk into the room and happy to see us and he's only been here since around 2:30. This is amazing progress. I'm so proud of the little guy already.

He's definitely got something going on with his ear - it's incredibly dirty and he cries when you go near it. We've gotten it much cleaner but we'll try more tomorrow. I don't want to overwhelm him. I will say as scared as he's been, he hasn't once nipped at us or even thought about biting us. When we were going at his ears, he just cried and tried turning away.

Cooper has also been fantastic. He's the big dog now. Yes, Hugo is that small haha. Both of them sat in the kitchen watching me as I made dinner as if that's what they always did. Hopefully, Hugo follows Cooper's lead and learns leash skills and how to walk outside quickly. When I brought him out before, the wind blew, and he just curled into a ball on the ground. When I assured him it was okay and it happened again he sat up. He really wants to not be afraid and it's so cool to watch that happen.

And now, pictures all taken with my phone so they have that lovely indoor lighting/yellow iPhone quality.

They had to shave down most of the dogs from the house because they were so terrible matted. His hair is pretty short on his body but I think when it grows in, he'll be adorable. The ears kill me!



Louie and Hugo give kisses to each other - he likes cats



The boys watching tv. Hugo gets a towel in case he decides to pee on my couch.



The boys conked out as I write this.

So my birthday came and went and, of course, I cheated.  My work brought in a coffee cake for me and it was really good and I couldn't say no.  Then we went out to dinner with friends and my husband got me a wonderful peanut butter/chocolate ice cream cake from Cold Stone - my favorite!  But I'm back on track now and all is going well.  I'm down about 4 or 5 lbs (I don't remember since I weighed this morning).  I will update with a more exact number tomorrow.

Got some not so great news from my doctor today.  I went to the obgyn about a week or so ago cause my periods have been really irregular.  They were fine the first few months off of birth control but then the past few months I've had a 54 day cycle, a 35 day cycle, and a 46 day cycle.  I wanted to know what was going on with my irregular periods.  I also have a horrid fear that I'm completely infertile.  I had blood work done last week and the results came back.  My prolactin levels are elevated.  It's not a great thing but it could be much worse.  After googling (of course), I learned that there's a pill you can take to get everything regulated, so that's positive at least.  Who knows what further tests, if any, I'll need before that happens but we'll see.

I have an appointmentwith my regular obgyn at the end of the month to go over the blood results and do a sonogram just to make sure everything else looks okay.  Then, two days later I have an appointment with a reproductive endocrinologist to go over the elevated prolactin levels.  Hopefully, it's a quick fix and we can get everything back on track.

food diary

Okay, so we've been eating out for dinner all weekend - as usual. 

Friday was the diner- I got coffee, soup, salad, entree, and dessert.  Coffee was half and half and sweet n low, soup I gave to the husband but had a few sips of the chicken broth, salad was Greek salad but I got blue cheese dressing on it so it was good, and then dinner was chopped steak, stuffed mushrooms, escarole, and creamed spinach.  Creamed spinach tasted sooo good so hopefully it wasn't terrible for me, escarole was terrible and I didn't eat it, dumped out the stuffing and just ate the mushrooms themselves so that was good.  As long as there was no filler in the chopped steak, I did fine.  I didn't have a sugar/carb headache afterwards so I'm guessing I did okay.  Gave my dessert to my husband while I had some more coffee.  All in all not terrible.

Saturday was eggs/bacon for breakfast then we went house hunting.  Afterwards, I ate my leftover chopped steak.  Then that night friends wanted to go to another diner so we obliged.  That time I just ate my broth out of the chicken noodle soup, again Greek salad w/blue cheese dressing, chicken sorentino.  It says it was broiled and it didn't taste like there was flour on the chicken so that was fine, eggplant was breaded so I picked around, prosciutto and mozzarella are always good.

Sunday we went into the city.  Had leftover chicken sorentino for breakfast.  Pumpkin coffee from dunkin donuts which I'm sure was terrible I just couldn't stand not getting it - I didn't add any sweetener so maybe that's slightly better?  We walked around the city a ton so lots of exercise.  Ended up going to Nobu for dinner and had the omakase- chef's choice.  The first three courses were pretty okay because they were mainly sushi. salad, tartar.  The lightly fried lobster and black cod miso w/foie gras were soooo worth the cheats.  Sooo good!!  Then there was miso soup and sushi.  So just the small balls of rice under the sushi weren't bad there.  Dessert was green tea ice cream and molten chocolate cake.  I didn't bother eating the cake (even tho it should be flour less lol) because I don't see the point in wasting the stomach room on something like that.  It I can get it at Chili's for $6, why would I pay $35 for it?  Too easy to make and I'd rather something more elaborate.  The green tea ice cream was really good though. 

Monday: We met my sister etc for lunch at a burger place.  I ate a salad with blue cheese dressing, burger (no bun) w/ Swiss cheese and sauteed onions, and a piece of broccoli.  Would've eaten more broccoli but I was stuffed.  Then we had a bowl of popcorn for dinner.  Could have made a better choice with that but there's a ton of fiber in popcorn and we definitely could've made a worse choice.

Tomorrow is my actual birthday so I will do the best I can.  Of course, all weekend long, I have forgotten to weigh myself so tomorrow ought to be fun.  If I eat crap tomorrow, that's fine.  After my birthday, I will be back on track.  We already have a good, low carb, Rosh Hashanah dinner planned that I'm looking forward to.  I'll probably have to go food shopping after work tomorrow to pick up the last minute ingredients though. 

How was your weekend? 

AT&T Sucks

So, in a nut shell, we placed an order for an iPhone 4 on July 26 at 9pm and then cancelled it on July 27 at 2pm.  AT&T messed up and sent out the phone (and charged our credit card) anyway.  We received the phone and mailed it back on August 11.  We still have not yet received our money back.  The money that AT&T took even though we had confirmation of the cancellation.  On August 26, I spent 2 hours on the phone with no help whatsoever.  I was on hold for over an hour waiting for a supervisor when the phone hung up. 

My husband called back and spoke with a supervisor and they told us we'd have our credit within 24 hours.  We waited until this Wednesday because of the weekend and, frankly, we forgot.  I called and was told I'd have to wait another 10-14 days because they haven't received the phone yet.  This got me worried, what if they never received the phone back?  The phone we cancelled and should never have been shipped in the first place.  We dropped it off at the post office and used their label and it shows that it was picked up from there.  I don't want to be responsible for this phone. 

I was told there was nothing that could be done and speaking with a supervisor would be useless.  Then, the rude customer service agent, hung up on me.  I was admittedly pissed off at this point.  I emailed customer service twice telling them how terrible they were and I twittered about AT&T's suckiness.  I was annoyed and sick of wasting time on the phone. 

Someone contacted me via twitter and pretended he wanted to help.  Yeah, he has not responded back to my email yet and it's been about 40 hours.  A random person responded to my email, I explained the story and asked for my refund.  A different person responded and told me everything was taken care of and I'd have to wait 10-14 days.  It has already been a month since AT&T stole my money.  I wrote back and again reiterated my story.  A third agent responded back without helping me at all. 

Finally, a fourth person responded and again said she wanted to help.  She ended up calling my husband around noon and he had to argue because, silly us, we want our money back.  $220 isn't change.  At this point, we've had to pay interest on a credit card because of AT&T's mistake.  The woman said she would call right back.  We didn't hear anything.  I bitched more on twitter and a different woman contacted me from AT&T and wanted to help.  Yeah, she has been no help whatsoever either.  Finally, around 5pm, the woman called my husband back to say that she credited our account the $220 but couldn't/wouldn't do any more. 

Now, I may be greedy asking for a credit, but seriously?  My husband and I have have spent HOURS on the phone and sent countless emails.  From my last count, we spoke to sixteen, yes SIXTEEN, different people.  We waited over a month for AT&T to give us back the money they took even though they should not have. I want compensation for all the time and anger I spent on this stupid stupid problem.  This problem that was caused by AT&T in the first place.  I had agents specifically say it was AT&T's fault, so I know I'm not crazy. 

So, yes, we have our $220 back but I want compensation for missed time.  We have both been customers for a VERY long time and this is just a terrible terrible way to be treated.

That, in a very large nutshell, is my feelings on AT&T and the annoyance they have caused me in the past month.

Day 2

Today wasn't bad - just bored at work again and thinking of food when I'm bored.  I'm a snacker and, especially in the beginning of Atkins, there isn't really much fun stuff to snack on.  In a few weeks, I'll be able to add in nuts and berries and that'll help big time. 

Today's Meals:
Breakfast: The same -eggs and canadian bacon
Lunch: a bit of leftover steak and cheesy broccoli.  some fresh broccoli and tomatoes
Dinner: A casserole type dish - chicken, sausage, spinach, peppers, cream cheese, bit of cheddar on top before it went into the oven.
Drank: 72 oz of water at work and 3 glasses of crystal light at home

This morning I got on the scale and lost 3 lbs.  TMI Alert: I weighed myself "pre-potty" yesterday and "post-potty" today.  I forgot to weigh myself until I was walking out the door for work.  I know I work better when I weigh myself daily so I ran back in and did it.  I really need to do some food shopping considering the only fresh veggies I have are broccoli and celery.  I like having more options but will make this work until I get to the store.

In other, more fun news, we booked a cruise!  My husband and I got married on 05.05.05 and always joked we would get remarried on 10.10.10.  Well, that's coming up pretty quickly!  We booked a cruise on the Queen Mary 2 which I'm really excited about since I've never been on Cunard.  It took about 3 weeks of going back and forth but we finally got the guarantee that they can do the ceremony on 10.10.10.  Woohoo!  While we were waiting I just told the (very nice) woman that I didn't care if a bus boy did it, I just wanted it done.  But the Commodore agreed to do it and that's what we were waiting for.

It's a short cruise - only around 5 days. But it'll be a nice quick getaway and break from normal life.  It stops in Canada and maybe one spot in Maine?  Honestly, I don't even know!  I just wanted it booked for the date.  haha

Okay, going to go catch up on some TV  <-- very important I know!

Day 1

I'm not ready to post actual weights but I have it on an app on my phone.  Yes, there's an app for that too!

Today was easy.. day one of anything usually is though.  It's the days beyond that it gets rougher.  We're going into the city this weekend for my birthday dinner at Nobu.  I'll try to eat well there but since it's a treat and my birthday only happens once a year, I'm okay if I don't stick to total low carb.

As I was saying, today was easy and enjoyable foodwise.  Boring at work because I'm too caught up for my own good so I kept thinking I should get a snack but I didn't.  For breakfast, I had a slice of canadian bacon and fried/scrambled eggs (they turned into a mess but they all tasted good so it's okay).  Lunch was tuna with celery and broccoli then I had a little side dish of fresh mozzarella, basil, and tomato.  Dinner was steak and broccoli (with cheese melted on top of course).  With a day like that, can you really complain?

I'm drinking a lot of water (and crystal light) so that's also a plus.  I probably had about 80oz or so at work and I'm thinking about my 2nd glass at home already.  I feel like I might've made dinner too early and will be hungry (or just want a nosh) later.  I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it though. 

hello out there

So, uhm.. hi?  It's been a really long time. 

Nothing has really changed.  Just working.  We were thinking of buying a new house and spoke with the mortgage broker and it looked like we could swing it (we'd have to rent out our condo because we're not interested in losing 30,000 on selling it).  Anyway, that all changed because apparently the debt to income ratio he originally gave us has changed.  So that probably won't be happening.

I have not gotten pregnant and my periods went from being normal 30-31 days to a random 54 day cycle, 35 day cycle, and then just recently a 46 day cycle.  I had blood work done today just to check and make sure everything is working like it's supposed to.  Hopefully good news.

The good news is that I did not pass out while giving blood today!  This is a first.

Also, I'm starting back up on low carb because I've gained weight recently and that really won't help the baby making side of things.  So I'm going to lose some weight and hopefully we'll have some better luck or at least I'll have lost some weight. 

Hopefully I'll also be writing more often because I enjoy writing and just get forgetful.. or tired and lazy.

Meal plan..

We ended up passing on that house.  There were so many random things getting in our way that we pulled out while we could still get all of our money back.  The original realtor lied about far too many things for me to trust her at all.  I ended up writing a 3 page letter and sending it to her office, the better business bureau, etc.  We did get my husband a new car and will be picking that up this week and now, of course, I'm itching for a new car.  I don't need one, especially since I just paid off mine haha, but maybe a nice new shiny car wouldn't be so bad?  We'll see. 

I'm no longer low carbing.  I kept off the 10lbs but I got bored and we've been eating a ton of crap the past few weeks.  I'm shocked that I was actually able to keep off that weight so far.  We've been going out to eat at least 3-4 times a week purely out of laziness and no meal plan.  We went to BJ's and Waldbaums this weekend so the fridge and freezers are all well stocked - almost too stocked.  Now, we have to eat everything.  I probably won't go shopping for a while (except for fruits/veggies and milk)

I did set a challenge to not eat any cheese this week.  This may sound easy, but I eat a lot of cheese.  Plus, if something doesn't taste right, the easiest thing to do is add some cheese.

check out orgjunkie.com for other meal plans

Meal Plan:
Sunday: Turkey Chili w/corn bread, salad
Monday: Rotisserie Chicken, salad
Tuesday: Spaghetti and Meatballs, salad
Wednesday: Chicken Curry with homemade Naan
Thursday: Sweet Potato Risotto and Steamed Broccoli, salad
Friday: Sesame Seared Tuna w/carrot, parsnip, pepper slaw, salad
Saturday: Surprise Party

Meal Plan...

Delayed.. as usual...

Monday: Sardine Pasta - It's such a comforting food but it sounds gross.
Tuesday: Brats, Sauerkraut, broccoli/cauliflower with cheese mix from freezer
Wedneday: Hot wings!
Thursday: Greek Salad
Friday: Heading to my parents

Oh, and we may be buying a 2nd house out by my parents!  We have the inspection on Monday and, if all goes well, we're buying it!  It's a foreclosure but in awesome shape.  The bank accepted our (very low) offer.  Hopefully the septic and water systems are all good to go.  It's right on the creek.  We have pre-approval for a 2nd mortgage - hopefully we can actually get it though.

Lots of "hopefullys" going around. Wish us luck this weekend!  If all goes well, I'll post some pics next week.  It's 2 buildings - so we can rent one out to cover most of the mortgage and then have the 2nd (larger - about double the size of our current condo) one to vacation in.

Belated meal plan and updates

I think I might've mentioned how I've been going up and down .5lb every day for the past 2 weeks.  It was incredibly annoying.  This past weekend was my husband's birthday so we ate out like 15 times.  No joke.  We went to 1/2 price appetizers at Applebees on Friday night with a friend of mine.  Saturday, instead of breakfast, we went to Smokey Bones for lunch.  Then we went to a fancy Chinese buffet for dinner with friends.  Sunday we met a friend for lunch at Chilis (she couldn't make it the night before) and then Sunday night we went out again to dinner with the husband's parents.  It was a crazy weekend as far as overeating goes.  But, I decided to just eat crap.  Yup, that's right.  I wanted to gain a few pounds and then hopefully it'll help me get over this hump of gaining and losing .5lb daily. 

I was up 2.5lbs on Monday morning and then this morning I'm down one (so still up 1.5 lbs from weekend).  I'm okay with that and seeing where this will take me.  I'd like to lose another 10-13lbs or so in the next 6 weeks (yes, I just picked a random date).  Thirteen would be ideal because it would take me to another "0" and I like hitting zeros (on the way down - not up).  So, we'll see.  As long as it's a downward trend, I'm happy.

Monday: Tempeh with veggies
Tuesday: Chicken marsala with green beans (and rice for husband)
Wednesday: Chicken wings and jalapeno poppers
Thursday: Baked tofu
Friday: I think we're going out with friends - if not some sort of leftovers
Saturday/Sunday:  No idea - that's still up in the air.

My mom

My mother was in the hospital all week last week.  She started seeing double vision during the weekend.  On Monday morning, she was flipping words and leaving them out.  She went to the ER and they thought it was a stroke.  They ruled out stroke but had no idea what it was.  They kept her in all week and did a bunch of tests and scans.

They got her diabetes under control and let her go on Friday and we went out to PA to visit her.  I bought her some eye patches because when she wears them she doesn't see double.  They were assuming that the vision had something to do with her diabetes and were awaiting more test results. 

My mom was getting antsy this week because no one called her back and she wanted to know the test results.  After a week of waiting, who wouldn't?  She called the doctor and the nurse accidentally read her the results of her tests.  We've now all been googling trying to find information.  Everything we find is either okay, bad, or terrible.  I stopped googling.  I'll wait to hear from the doctor.

One thing could just be something along the lines of an autoimmune disease (I don't remember exactly what it was and I'm not going to try to spell it). But its incurable so still not good - it would account for my mom getting tired all the time doing normal tasks.  The other issue could be a brain tumor or cancer.  This is when I stopped googling because sometimes its better to do that.

She has a doctor's appointment early next week and hopefully it's good news or at least some easily fixable not too invasive news.  Please keep her in your thoughts if possible. 

So, yes, that's why I haven't been around for a while this time.  My house is a mess, I need to make meal plans again, and I need to clean out the yucky stuff from my fridge.  I'm down 10 lbs and but I keep gaining and losing the same .5lb for the past week and a half.  From the added stress (and the annoyance of going up and down) I've been eating crappy again and need to get back on plan.  

meal plan monday with orgjunkie.com

I'm still alive I swear!  Life has been hectic (as usual) and my husband and I have been taking turns getting sick.  I've been spending most of my time reading in bed with tissues up my nose.  Lovely, right?  On the bright side, since I've been sick and not really eating, I'm down 10.2lbs in 3 weeks.  I'm sure once my full appetite comes back I'll gain some it back but it'd be nice if I didn't.  

Meal plan for the week:
1. Buffalo Chicken
2. Tofu and/or Tempeh with veggies somehow.  Any ideas for the tempeh?  I've never cooked it before.  Pretty sure I want to do this with the tofu just no idea about the tempeh. But I want to make both on the same night so we'll have leftovers for lunch.
3. Spinach and Chicken.  I'm really in the mood for creamed spinach - so maybe grilled chicken to counteract it?
4. Shrimp and frozen veggies. 

Since we've purchased the new freezer, we've done a good job filling it.  Now, I'd like to use up some of those things I've been stocking up on.. especially the italian ices.  They help my sore throat!

Meal Plan Monday

Meal Plan Monday with Orgjunkie.com

The weather has been great this past weekend but it's, unfortunately, supposed to rain the beginning of this week.  Oh well, spring has officially arrived.  I lost 4.2 lbs last week.  I did really good with my eating.  We ended up going out to Chilis and then a movie on Saturday night so I'm up .5 of a lb.  Without that little escapade, I would've lost almost 5 lbs in one week!  Oh well, I enjoyed myself so I'm fine with that. 

On to this week:

Breakfast: Eggs/Omlettes and veggies
Lunch: Leftovers or salads (or leftovers on top of salads)
Dinners:
Sunday:  Burgers with Salad that we forgot to have last week
Monday: Shrimp with roasted veggies
Tuesday: Sausage somehow mixed with brussel sprouts or cabbage
Wednesday:  Chicken stirfry
Thursday: Sloppy Joes
Friday: Heading out to my parents for the weekend.  Probably staying until Monday so we can at least celebrate one day of Passover with everyone.

Crock Pot Wednesday

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Im taking part in Dining with Debbie's Crock Pot Wednesday again. Of course, we cooked corned beef and cabbage today.  Here's what I do:

2-3 smallish potatoes
3-5 smallish turnips
2-3 carrots
2-3 stalks of celery
3-4lb corned beef
1 head of cabbage (for later)

Cut all the veggies into chunks.  Then put everything in the crock pot starting with the top of the list and going down the line.  Put in the seasoning package that comes with the meat.  Or, if you're lucky like me and didn't receive a seasoning package - just use a few tablespoons of Pickling Spice.  Put in enough water to cover.

Put the crock pot on low and let it go for about 10 hours.  Take out the meat and put it aside to keep warm.  Cut the cabbage into 4-6 pieces depending on it's size and then place in crock pot.  Put the crock pot on high for about 30-45 minutes.

You don't have to use turnips but I use them when I'm eating low carb because they end up tasting potato-y.  My husband still wants his potatoes though so I put them in as well and I just don't peel the potatoes so I can tell them apart.

I usally serve everything with home-made coleslaw.  I have to eat coleslaw with my corned beef and cabbage because growing up I hated cooked cabbage and my dad would make coleslaw just for me.  One day I'll post my coleslaw recipe cause it's really easy and really good.

I'll post my crock pot corned beef and cabbage recipe later today.  I just want to taste it first.  It's too late for anyone to make it today anyway because it takes about 10-12 hours.

Why is it never easy?

So we bought an extra freezer.  Yes, there is only 2 of us but stocking up when there is good sales would be nice.  We have a top/bottom freezer and refrigerator so everything is just crammed in there currently.  If you need something, it is always in the back of the freezer and everything falls out onto your toes.  Let me tell you, frozen meat hurts your toes. 

We had a store credit for around $40 for home depot from when we had issues getting and installing our new carpets last fall so we figured we would just go there.  They have a 5 cubic foot GE one that is a good size and good price - only $168.  We go in and it has a basket and a divider - perfect.  We buy it, worry about it fitting into my car, it fits perfectly, and then we fumble our way into the house with it. 

We got all excited and, of course, plugged it in right away.  All the while talking about how we need to go shopping and fill it.  I want to go to the Entennmann's outlet to buy some bread (and of course cakes and whatnot) to fill it with.  We should go to Costco too or BJs (yes, we have memberships with both).  It starts up and we look inside.  There's no divider. 

Of course not.  Why, oh why, would it EVER be easy?  If you've met me you know there is ALWAYS an issue.  For some reason, there can be 45 perfect boxes and I'll get the ONE that's messed up or missing a part. 

We went back to Home Depot.  The guy handed us the divider that was in the floor model.  But, wait, what's that little track thing?  We don't have a little track thing.  He opened another box - also no track or divider.  He thinks maybe they changed the model.  Why would you get rid of a divider in a big chest freezer?  That's a great selling point.  I want organization.  I don't want to throw stuff in willy-nilly and lose it all down there.  This is supposed to make my life easier not annoy me even more. 

They said we can have the dented and scratched floor model without a discount of course.  No, I want the new shiny one that I just purchased.  The guy was very helpful but there was really nothing we can do.  He told us to call GE once they were open again and hopefully they can send us a new divider and track because it should come with it. 

My husband (and I) called (a bunch of times) yesterday (we bought the freezer on Sunday) and apparently Home Depot is selling a different model than they have on display.  They had 10 in stock and they claim they are all exactly the same "D" model and not the "B" model which is on display.  They said they'll give us a discount on the one we have but I'm very torn.  I really would like that divider in order to keep everything seperate and organized but is it worth bringing back the whole freezer and spending a bunch more money buying one from a different store?  When we called GE, they could send us the divider (for $21) but they don't sell the track seperately so there would be nothing holding the divider in place - thereby making it completely useless. 

It's never ever easy.

The final outcome is that we're keeping the freezer.  My husband found a bag of something to return at Home Depot that he just forgot about that was around $15.  Plus, when we went back to speak to the manager, he was incredibly nice and gave us a $50 discount.  The freezer ended up costing us $69.99 with tax out of pocket (I'm counting the $15 as found money since who knows when we bought that). Honestly, I can figure out a way around a divider for that price!  I figure I'll buy a plastic bin or something to put in there.. might help with organization anyway.

Meal Plan Monday

Meal Plan Monday

I haven't done a meal plan in weeks.  My waistline and wallet are none too happy about that.  I decided I'm going to (try) to eat low carb for the next few weeks.  I don't have any set amount of time.  We are going to try to have a baby so some weight loss defintely couldn't hurt right now.

Hopefully the weather will be nice so we can grill a lot this week because I really miss the grill.  Even if the weather is bad, my poor husband will probably be out there with a rain coat grilling away anyway.

Breakfast: Eggs/Omlettes and veggies
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinners:

• Sunday: Buffalo Wings with blue cheese and celery/carrots
• Monday: Hamburgers with salad
• Tuesday: Enchilada Chicken Casserole (this is one of our favorites) 
• Wednesday: Corned Beef (of course) and cabbage, potatoes (turnips for me), and carrots
• Thursday: Hot dogs w/saurkraut and cole slaw
• Friday: Shrimp w/ butternut squash (haven't figured out how yet but I know it'll be something like that)
• Saturday: Fajitas

I quickly picked up chicken wings for last night but really need to do a real food shopping which I'll probably do tonight or tomorrow.  We have a ton more space now (more about that tomorrow) so I have to stock up some.

Florida

I'm back!  I got back at 9:45 Sunday morning and proceeded to not really nap and then go about my day.  I had only slep from 1-5am the night before because it was a 7am flight.  I was tired.  I think I'm getting sick too since my lovely little niece sneezed and coughed on my face the entire week.  But, according to my sister, "she's not contagious".

It was nice to see my grandparents, I just wish it were a longer trip.  Honestly, my grandparents aren't doing too well.  My grandmother is 81 and is going for tons of tests to figure out what is wrong with her.  She's convinced it's cancer and just wants to take a bunch of sleeping pills and end it all.  My grandfather, 87, will not take his pills even when you remind him 10 times.  He has decided that he is smarter than medicine and that a little pill can't possibly fix him.  "How does a little pill know where to go in my body?  If I don't take my pills my finger won't fall off, I'll be fine"  Meanwhile, I spent hours arguing with him about how medicine is a good thing and does help him. 

He's diabetic.  He's been on insulin for a good 15-20 years.  Without which, he would not be here today.  See, medicine is a good thing.  He's also in the early stages of Parkinson's and has a bunch of other pills to take.  He's 87, this is normal.  He doesn't think he has Parkinsons.  Because, of course, when he takes his pills, he's okay.  So he stops taking his pills.  He couldn't leave his bed at all on Friday because he hadn't taken his pills since Tuesday.  He continued his insulin because he wouldn't dare miss a meal.  The man can tell you the 3 meals he missed in his lifetime (as a kid, during the war, during a surgery.. for real). 

Anyway, my sister and I got mad.  It's almost as though he has decided because my grandmother can't take care of him for once in their 60+ years together, he's just not going to take care of himself.  This way she is forced to do it.  My mother even sat him down to make sure he understood what was going on with my grandmother.  He "doesnt understand what the big fuss is all about".  He won't drive my grandmother to her dr appts, granted he shouldn't be driving at all, but still a ride to a 3 hour test would be nice.

Okay, I think I've ranted enough for now.  Maybe tomorrow I'll talk about the fun things we did while there??

Going to Florida

I'm headed down to Florida tomorrow so I won't be here for the rest of the week.  I'll be back on Monday.

My mother, sister, and niece are flying down tonight.  My grandparents don't know that I'll be coming tomorrow.  Hopefully, it's a happy surprise!  I think it'll be nice to have just the ladies for a few days and I haven't seen my grandparents since the summer so I'm really looking forward to that.

Unfortunately, my grandfather is getting up there in age and my grandmother also may not be doing too well.  She was supposed to go in for cataracts surgery in the middle of February but they "found something" when she was doing her preliminary testing.  They did a bunch more tests but have supposedly found nothing. 

My sister and I were talking and we're really hoping that that is the actual truth and not just our grandmother lying so we don't all get worried.  The women in the family have a known history of doing this (lying about medical issues so people don't worry).  When I was 16, my grandmother went in for heart surgery.  No one told my sister or me because it was my prom weekend and she had a work cruise that weekend.  We both yelled at them that we need to know these things and not be left in the dark because, really, what if something had happened?

Anyway, I'm hoping for the best and just looking forward to seeing my family.  The nice weather and no chance whatsoever of snow really do just add a nice little bonus to this trip.  I'm not looking forward to flying home on a 7am flight, but, it saved $150 over going at 10am, so it just made sense. 

Hope you have a good week!

Meal Plan Monday

There's no meal plan today.  I'm flying down to Florida to visit my grandparents on Wednesday evening and not getting back until Sunday so it would just be two days of meals.  More about my visit tomorrow.  For some reason, when my husband is alone he doesn't stick to a meal plan.  He doesn't cook too much so, knowing him, he'll probably end up at a friends house for a day or two or his parents and then make mac and cheese one night. 

For some reason, I did end up going food shopping this weekend to pick up some fruit and ended up spending $40 on random fruits and veggies.  Of course, while shopping, I completely forgot about my trip.  So, it looks like I'll be cooking with a lot of vegetables either tonight and tomorrow or chopping and freezing stuff.  No big deal.  The stuff will probably last until I'm home anyway. 

Food Waste Friday and Weekly Recap

Food Waste:

I had to throw away a big head of broccoli.  It was turning that weird light greenish color it turns before it goes completely bad.  I did end up using most of the stalks in tonight's dinner so it wasn't a total loss.  I also ended up using a whole bunch of other random leftovers in tonight's dinner so that cut back on waste this week. 

I foresee having to throw away a serving of the baked raviolis because it just wasn't that great.

Weekly Recap

We did pretty good with the meal plan this week.  I completely stuck to it Sunday-Wednesday.  Wednesday in the crock pot I ended up throwing in chicken breasts, red peppers, and this bottle of mexican green sauce (the rest wasn't in English - but it wasn't enchilada sauce).  Kind of mojo-y, kinda just good.  We served that in corn tortillas and it was tasty. 

The baked ravioli wouldn't been better if the ravioli was fresher.  I honestly don't know how long that bag has been sitting in my cabinet.  It was okay. We each had leftovers for lunch and there's still another serving.

Thursday I ended up not making the jambalaya cause I wanted to use up leftovers.  Took leftover pork chops and sliced, broccoli stalks, green pepper, pineapple salsa, green beans, butternut squash (as I said, any random veggie that was in the fridge) and threw it all into the wok.  Added an egg, rice, and soy sauce and we had a lovely fried rice for dinner.  Great way to use up leftovers. 
As for toinght, baked tofu is on the plan but we'll see how that goes...

Crock Pot Wednesday

It's that time of week again.  Crock pot day.  I got this recipe from a friend a few years ago and adapted it to our tastes.

Taco Soup:
- Ground beef or turkey (cooked)
- Diced bell pepper (red, green, or both)
- Diced/Seeded Jalapeno (or a TB of jarred diced jalapeno)
- Drained can of corn
- Drained can of black olives (roughly chopped a bit)
- Drained and rinsed can of beans (I usually use black, but friend suggests any bean)
- Can of crushed Tomatoes (sometimes I use a can of diced tomatos)
- 1 pkg of taco seasoning
- About 32 oz chicken stock

Toss everything into the crock pot and stir.  I have a 6 qt crock pot so this is usually fine.  Sometimes, I'll throw in an extra can of tomatoes.  It's very easy since pretty much everything is in cans that I normally have in my pantry anyway.

I normally cook on low all day (about 7-8 hours).  When I get home if I want it thicker, I just put some in a small put and make a corn starch slurry to thicken that small pot up and then dump that back into the whole crock pot.  If you don't know how to make a corn starch slurry don't worry - just read the box it'll tell you how :)

I usually like it very thick so I make it much thicker when I get home.  Sometimes, I'll take a can of creamed corn and thicken that and add it back into the pot.  You could also probably use an imersion blender a bit to make it thicker.  Serve with some shredded cheese and sour cream.  If it's really thick, grab some chips too.

Jury Duty

So, I was called in to jury duty on the first day because I'm just lucky like that.  I drove out to the court house and parked in a random parking lot.  My first thought: There should really be more signs.  There were signs telling me where not to park but not where to actually park and no signs actually telling me where to go in.  Considering, we can only get called for jury duty every six years, it's not like anyone is an old pro at this point.

I get there early (9:15 - didn't have to be there until 9:30), as usual, and sit down and start reading.  I left my cell phone in the car because the sheet said not to bring it in.  There's an old guy sitting a row or two away from me babbling on his cell phone really loudly.  Hmmm, why did I listen to the rules?  I could be roaming the internet right now instead of playing Sudoku.  Oh well.

Around 10, people are still wandering in and trying to fight their way out of it.  "Why do I have to stay all day?? This is ridiculous"  At this point, I'm thinking what's ridiculous is that you people won't just sit down and do you're jury duty that you have to maybe do once every six years.  Get over it and sit the flip down. 

We watch a movie.  I read my book.  I get called into a jury room around 10:30ish.  It's a medical malpractice case.  Okay, this could be interesting, call my name so you can interview me.  They interview six people.  After 2 hours, they knock out 4 people and replace them from the rest of us sitting in the room.  I haven't been called yet.

Lunchtime is 12:30-2.  Talk about a waste of time.  I'd much rather just get this all over with.  I contemplate going to law school cause the day starts at 9:30 lunch is 12:30-2 and then we leave at 4.  That's a nice work day!  Obviously, they have other work to do but in my head at this point in time, it sounds fabulous to be a lawyer or judge. 

We go back to the little room we were in before lunch.  They excuse 2 more people and take two more from our little pool.  Now it's 2:45 and they let 2 more people go.  There's only 6 of us left in the room (besides the jurors).  I'm getting kind of interested now because I have a chance of being picked.  I wouldn't mind being picked, I think it would be interesting serving on a jury (yes, I know I'm crazy).  But, really?  How bad is it to serve on jury duty?  Granted at $40 a day pay I definitely couldn't afford my mortgage if I got put on a long case but this one was supposed to last around 8 days.  Five of which my job would pay my full pay so after that I'd only get the $40.

Who could live on $40 a day?  Especially in NY.  What happens to those people who get picked for long cases (i.e. OJ trial).  My house would be foreclosed on if I was paid $40 a day for 8 months.  That's craziness.  My husband would have to go out and get a second job in order to pay all the bills while I sat on a jury.

Anyway, 2 people get immediately excused.  Two more get called up to fill the empty juror seats.  One gets excused.  It's down to me and an old guy.  We're joking around.  I told him he would be called first because my name is ALWAYS last.  He was called up.  He claimed he had sleep apnea so he would fall asleep on jury.  Why don't you go to a doctor and get that checked out?  If you have sleep apnea it means you're not breathing while you sleep - might be worth getting checked out instead of throwing around a diagnosis.  I don't know why it bothers my so much but it really does.  If you know there is something wrong with you, do something about it.  Don't worry about sleeping with a mask on - you'll get used to it and you'll breathe better.  My father has sleep apnea and sleeps with a C-Pap machine. 

So, I finally get called.  I figured I'm a shoe-in.  I'm the last person in the room and there's one seat left.  I sit down with the lawyers.  We joke around a bit.  They ask me where I work so I tell them.  The lawyer excuses me.  He knows the owner of the school I work for.  What?  I don't even know the owner, how does this effect me at all?  What bullshit!  If I worked for Staples, and the lawyer knew the owner, would that be a conflict of interested?? 

Yes, it probably would.  But I was annoyed.  I had sat in that room on that same case for HOURS and now I was chopped so quickly.  Couldn't they call my name hours ago??  So I go back into the main room.  Now, I'm worried that I have to go back into the main pool since it's only 3:30.  I don't want to be called into another room and then have to come back the next day.

Luckily,  I didn't have to.  I handed in my papers and got stamped and I'm good to go for another 6 years.  Maybe next time I'll actually get picked. 

Meal Plan Monday

It's already time for another Meal Plan Monday.  Here is the plan for this week:
Breakfast is cereal, waffles, or toast
Lunch is leftovers

Sunday: Baked ziti but instead of ziti I'm using mini raviolis, garlic bread, salad
Monday: Chicken "Glop" (yes, it's a terrible name but that's what we always called it growing up), rice, roasted butternut squash
Tuesday: Pork chops with pineapple salsa, steamed broccoli
Wednesday: Something in the crock pot but I haven't figured out what yet.
Thursday: Jambalaya with chicken and/or shrimp
Friday: Baked Tofu



I'm heading off to jury duty now.  Lucky me, I got called in on the first day.  I have a book and a sudoku book all set to go so hopefully that'll keep me entertained all day.  Some things say I can bring my cell phone, some things say I can't at all, so I guess I'll just leave it in the car.  It would be nice to be able to text or just roam the internet while I wait but oh well.  Hopefully, I don't get lost driving out there.  

Questions

Wanda over at The Shambled Shack posed a few questions that I figured I would answer. 

1. Why is it so hard to stick to a menu plan? Honestly, I have no idea but it happens to me all the time.  I end up making meal plans with meals that I love on them but something ALWAYS happens that makes me deviate from it.


2. Am I the only one that deviates this much? Definitely not.  Life happens and you deal with it.

3. Is it really worth making a plan if your constantly changing up the plan? I think it is.  This week I didn't make a meal plan at all, and I went food shopping without a list and I felt kind of lost.  I just bought things on sale or things I wanted to buy and it felt weird not knowing where everything was going to be used.  Even though a lot of things don't get used as they were intended because the meal plans change.

 4. When making your plan, do you grocery shop first or plan your meals around what is on sale for the week?  I make my meal plan and then go shopping.  I generally stock up on proteins whenever they're on sale or I can get a good deal so I don't plan my meals according to the sales.  I just go food shopping to pick up random missing ingredients and veggies/fruits.
5. How often do you grocery shop?  It depends..  usually every other week or so but sometimes weekly.  If I'm feeling particularly lazy it can go about 2.5-3 weeks.  It's just me and my husband so it's not like we need gallons of fresh milk in the fridge. 

6. How in the world do you get your pantry stocked up enough to do a pantry challenge for an entire month?   I'm a packrat?  I don't really.  I think it's a combination of going shopping while hungry so I buy weird things and then stock up on random sales or whatever looks good.  Then I get home and forget what I bought so I make other things and the new random foods get stocked into the pantry.  I also tend to forget what I bought so one week I may buy 5lbs of chicken because its a good sale.  Then the next week I might do the same because I forgot that we have plenty so then we end up with a ton of stuff. 

7. What problems have you had with menu planning and how did you solve them?  My main problems are just sticking to the actual menu plan.  I always put good stuff on there.  Life just jumps in the way.  Friends/family want to go out to dinner and of course I'm not going to say no.  Plus, sometimes I'm just not in the mood for that meal on that day when it actually happens.  I've learned to solve these problems by just going with the flow and hoping for the best.  I keep making the plans and sometimes I stick to them sometimes I don't.

8. What kind of variety do you give your menu plans? Do you stick with only three or four and rotate them?  They're all completely different.  Depending on if I'm following a diet plan (which I should be currently.. ) there may be certain meals that I really like and I know will help me stick with it.  I generally like to try out new recipes so there is at least 1 recipe that is new on there and an old standby.  It would probably be easier to rotate a few different plans but we like change and trying out new/different food so that wouldn't work for us. I find that if I'm eating lower carb, I tend to make monthly plans.  If I'm eating lower fat or just whatever I want, I make 1-2 week meal plans.  I have no idea why I differentiate, it's just always what I've done and I know it makes no sense whatsoever.
 
 
As for Food Waste Friday: No picture sorry.  I dumped out the mashed potatoes from last week and one leftover chick pea cutlet. There's quite a bit of leftovers in there that we need to finish up this weekend.

A real post will be coming later today.  I'm running a bit behind because I had to make a big vat of guacamole to bring to work this morning. 

Reading

One of my new year's resolutions this year was to read more.  I have lots of books that I want to read (currently 4 sitting on my night table).  I've also decided if I hate a book, I don't need to finish it.  There's one sitting on my nightstand for about a year and a half now with like 50 pages left that I just can't bring myself to open again.  Maybe one day.  

It dawned on me recently that I really should read more.  I have plenty of time to read and yet, I never have the time to read. I'm always super busy watching tv or roaming the Internet.  One of my friends has 2 kids, 2 dogs, a job, a husband, and a house.  Yet, she reads a ton.  So my resolution was just to read one chapter a day.  Not too much that it's impossible and daunting and I could easily read more if I wanted to.

Of course, I read 8 chapters of a book one day and then decided I was good to go for the week.  I'm trying to change that.  Over the past weekend I've read 2.5 books.  My latest discovery is I really like series. 

I get so involved in these characters and their lives for 300+ pages and then never hear from them again.  Sometimes, I actually get sad that I won't get to find out what happened to a character.  Books that just leave you hanging and then never come out with a sequel.. that annoys me.  So I decided to try out some series and see how that were.  I'm enjoying that I already know the characters and that I can keep picking up the next one to hear about their latest adventures. 

I'm currently reading the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris.  I didn't say the books have to be life-changing but I really enjoy the way she writes and how in depth she makes the characters.  Even though they're about vampires and all sorts of other mythical creatures, it's believable.   I'm up to book 8 and I'm trying not to finish it too quickly since there is only one more book to go.  Plus, I have this terrible terrible habit of buying books and the last book is still only available in hardcover.  Even when I can pick up a paperback for $7.99, after 8 books it really starts to add up.  At this point, I also have 8 of the 9 books, I'm a completist.. when the next book is available in paperback, I will need to buy it.

I'm really going to try to go to the library more often than the twice a year I'm currently averaging.  It's silly to buy all these books because I read pretty quickly (once I actually sit down with a book) and I rarely reread things.  Plus, since I'm into serials lately, it's going to take up too much room in my house and my wallet. 

I'm thinking of starting one of the Janet Evanovich series because I've heard from a few people that they're great.  Have any suggestions for books?  Series or single books are good.  I'll read pretty much any genre.

Crock Pot Wednesday

If you haven't noticed, I like simple crock pot recipes.  Since I don't have much control once all the ingredients go in, I like to keep it easy.

Today, I'm not even sure if you can call it a recipe, but I am. .

6 Chicken Legs
1/2 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce (or whatever bottle is lurking in your fridge)

Put chicken legs on bottom.  Pour sauce on top.  Cook until done. 

Eat and enjoy. 

Short, simple, and tasty.  My kind of recipe.  I also saw this Crockpot curry recipe the other day that looked really good.  Of course, I didn't write it down/print it out so I'll have to go by memory and fudging it along the way.  Hopefully I'll remember and try it in a few days.

Pompeii

At my school, in third through fifth grade, a Latin teacher would come in and teach us Latin.  I also took Latin again in 8th grade because it was offered as an elective and I had nothing better to do.  I told you I was a weird kid.  The only thing I remember from those classes is how to count to ten in Latin to the tune of "Ten Little Indians" and Pompeii. 

I remember our teacher telling us all about Pompeii and how it was covered in ash and lava from an erupting volcano.  I remember thinking how horrible that must have been and picturing all these people trying to run and save their lives.  I later learned more about Pompeii in a random archeology class in college (yes, I took random electives in college too..) and how much they had unearthed and how much of the city they were still excavating. 

We went on a Mediterranean cruise for our honeymoon and one of the stops was actually in Pompeii.  I was so excited!  I had always thought it would be awesome to go there (and the Galapagos Islands but that's another story) but never thought I would actually get the chance. 

We docked that day and found our tour group.  I was right in front all day wandering through the streets of Pompeii.  Honestly, I was awestruck.  Even though I had always thought about it, I guess I never really realized that an entire CITY was covered.  It was huge.  I knew it was a city, but in my head I guess I always just imagined a few blocks.  No, this was the size of an actual city and we were walking through it. 

Our guide showed us their versions of fast food restaurants, penis signs that pointed the way to brothels, wealthy houses, poor houses, an ampitheater.  There were even still "people" there.  When they were being excavated, they would pump in cement (probably not actual cement but that's what I'm rememberding at this point) and fill in the holes where bodies were so you could make out the outlines of mothers protecting children and people trying to hide.  He showed us the theater were a woman was found in a rather compromsing position with one of the gladiators.  What a way to go out.   It was all really sad and surreal at the same time.

Food Waste Friday and Recipe Round-Up

Food Waste Friday:
Well, I'm currently on my way to my parents (or already there depending when we actually left) so I couldn't take a picture of what I threw out.
I ended up throwing away 4 grossly moldy cucumbers. When I bought them from the "going" shelf, I should've used them right away but I could never think of anything to do with them besides cut them up into salads. We were both sick for a while so not many salads got made or eaten. I need to figure out more to do with cucumbers. Any ideas?
I also threw away a handful of wilted blueberries that were heading into "gross" territory. I bought them on a whim and then ended up not in the mood for them at all. Luckily, my niece ate most of the good ones when she was visiting earlier in the week along with basically an entire can of mandarin oranges. The rest of that can got thrown out since I won’t use them in anything else and, honestly, I have no idea why I had a can of them in the first place.
I also anticipate having to throw away the following things once I'm back home on Monday night: 1 serving of leftover Taco Bake (if it's still good one of us will have it for lunch on Tuesday) and about 2 helpings of mashed potatoes (I always make too much).

New Recipes That We Tried:
Chickpea Cutlets – They were interesting. Instead of making gravy, I just ended up using a can of beef gravy because that’s all I felt like doing that day. So the gravy didn’t go with it at all but I would definitely try them again. I was surprised my husband actually liked them since he’s a picky eater and when I told him what we were having for dinner he made a weird face. He said he’d want to try them smaller – more like falafel – with yogurt sauce. I ate one for lunch dipped in ketchup and hot sauce cause I didn’t know what to dip it in and it was also tasty.

Taco Bake – Very good. I took pictures too like requested! I halved the recipe and made it in one pan and also added sautéed peppers since I have a bunch of peppers to use up. My favorite part, of course, was the browned cheese on top because you can’t go wrong with cheese in my eyes. My husband really liked the addition of beans and rice to the dish since I’ve made a similar one before. I would definitely make again. Here are the pictures:

My tortilla lay out.  I ended up using 2 across then sliced one in half to cover the top and bottom middles.  Then I took a fourth one and cut it into quarters  so I could make sure to cover every possibly corner.  Yes, I'm crazy, I know.

Making layers.  This was everything up until the last layer of tortillas and cheese

Right out of the oven

My slice.  I ended up topping it with a dollop of sour cream.

Travel Bug

I was a dork and a loner as a kid.  I'll be honest, I still am.  Don't get me wrong, I love my friends but I also know that I don't have 20+ close friends and I like it that way.  I don't mind being alone and I really enjoyed living by myself.  I make sure my husband knows this as well :).

Anyway, back in ninth grade, I came home from school one day and asked my mom for $1200 so I could go to Spain with my friends.  She was, to say the least, surprised.  I had barely even talked about or hung out with these friends outside of school.  They were school friends and I had a different set of "hanging out" friends.  It was kind of a school trip, they rotated the country every year (Spain, France, Italy) and if you took that language in school you could go on that trip (if you could afford it).  It doesn't make sense to me that you had to take that language because, honestly, when you put a bunch of high schoolers in a foreign country the last thing they are worried about is speaking the language properly.  But those were the rules.  I talked about it with the girls in my Biology class and we all thought it would be cool to go.  What 15 year old wouldn't think going to a foreign country without parents would be cool? 

Somehow, my parents gave in.  It wasn't even really that hard to convince them either.  My sister decided that it should be instead of a Sweet 16 or gift and I was fine with that.  I think because I was always so quiet they were just shocked by it and that's what made them hand over the check so easily. 

Honestly, I didn't think my parents would ever say yes or give me the money to go.  When they said "Yes" so quickly, I got rather nervous.  I started thinking "What the hell did I get myself into?  What if, in 9 months when this trip happens, I don't even speak to these girls anymore?  What if I get lost in Spain and no one remembers me and comes to find me?  What if someone walks in on me in the shower?  What if I snore?"  Hey, I was 15, we all have different worries and fears at that age.

I remember being at the airport and hugging my parents goodbye while all the other girls (I think there was only like 1 guy on the whole trip which is weird) cried and kissed and hugged their parents.  At night, most of the girls would call their moms and cry about how much they missed them but they were having a good time.  I didn't call my parents once.  I didn't want to waste the money calling and I was having a great time - I would tell them everything when I got home anyway.

Of course, when I got home I was very excited to see my parents and tell them everything.  My mom hugged me and told me that she always knew I would be her traveler.  I was the quiet one but she could always see it in my eyes that I would go places and see things and I would love it.  And I do, I really do.  My husband and I both love saving up money just so we can use it all on a big trip and see things we never imagined we would be able to see.  I never thought I would actually get to go to Pompeii or touch the Great Pyramids but I have and it makes me very grateful that I've been able to.

Crock Pot Wednesday

 


I used to be really afraid of my crockpot, it's true.  I think the problem was the crockpot itself.  I started out using the one my parents got for their engagement.  My parents will be married for 35 years this year.  So, as you can see, it's an old crockpot.  It's white with the lovely yellow 70s flowers on it and everything.  There's no high or low - just off and on.  I think that's why stuff used to taste terrible whenever I made it in the crockpot.

Also, I started low carbing when I first started using the crock pot.  So it was a weird mash of learning to cook differently and in different equiptment.  I'm surprised to this day that my husband has never said anything bad about my cookings because, oh boy, some gross things would come out.  Food would come out tough and overcooked (or undercooked) and just gross.  He's a good sport. 

The only thing that works perfectly in that old crockpot (that I admit is still sitting in my pantry because I feel guilty throwing it away) is candied nuts.  This works out well since I can't make candied nuts in the oven without burning them.  The recipe can easily be halved or doubled, I was just using a 5-6 qt crock pot and it tastes so good so I make a ton.

Candied Nuts

• 2 lbs nuts - I like to mix: Walnuts, Pecans, and Almonds
• 1 cup of melted butter
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup of sugar (or splenda)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (or diabetisweet) - Can use all regular sugar as well
• 1 TB cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp of ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp of ground cloves
• a bunch of fresh nutmeg 

Put nuts into crock pot.  Stir in butter.  Stir in all seasonings until everything is nicely coated. 

The trick is in heating.  I remember reading somewhere online about what to do so that's always what I've done.  I don't remember where I read it so, if it was you, please let me know so I can credit you with your trick. 

Cover the crock pot and set to high for 30 minutes.  Uncover, stir, turn to low and let cook for about another 2 hours or until tasty and done.

No matter how much I make, these are always eaten up very quickly.  Even when I would make them with Splenda my picky brother in law (who claims he absolutely hates the Splenda aftertaste) happily eats a huge portion whenever I make them.

Doggie Time Outs.

As I've mentioned before, we have 2 cats and a dog.  The cats are the grumpy misers of the house because they like to avoid the dog at all costs.  I figured after a while they would all learn to get along but it's been over three years since Cooper showed up.  For now, let me introduce the youngest member of our family: Cooper.

Part daschund/part poodle, all squishy lovable.  He's an annoying, barking dog that follows me around constantly.  He's a little bundle of love who helps me in the kitchen by cleaning up all the food I "drop".  At times I hate him, but I know he loves me just as much as I love him.  He doesn't like to sit still for photos so these are the best I have right now.  When he first gets a haircut he looks like a sad little old man and pouts in the corner.  He looks much much cuter with longer/curlier hair but since he hates being brushed, we can't leave it too long.

We got into a fight yesterday.  He was eating my stamps, again.  He loves stamps for some reason.  These stamps were sitting on the coffee table since December (I told you I need to declutter...).  He left them there perfectly fine.  Yesterday, I was working and he was sitting in the bend of my legs, all curled up and adorable.  Out of nowehere, he jumps up and lunges for those stamps and grabs them.  He runs around the table and starts chewing.

I'm pissed.  More so because they have been sitting there untouched for weeks and JUST THIS MINUTE you need them?  WHY?  So I yelled, and he looked at me.. with those sad puppy eyes.  Those sad eyes that almost make you want to say "Okay, fine, just eat my stamps".  If it were a napkin, I would've let him have it (for roughage?).  But these are self sticking stamps.  You probably shouldn't ingest them.

So I yelled "Drop it".  He tilted his head.  I yelled something incoherently because I was mad and finished with "drop it".  He dropped it but as I went to take it he tried to snap at me.  Oh no buddy.  I may love you but I don't want to be snapped at.

So, I put my dog in a time out.  Yup, a time out.  I put him in the bathroom (pulled out the garbage can), closed the door, and shut off the light for a few minutes.  I poured myself a glass of iced tea and walked back to the couch, proud.  Then I realized how ridiculous that was.  I just locked my dog in the bathroom.  I let him out.  He looked at me like I was crazy and then continued to follow me around for the rest of the day.    Maybe working from home isn't such a good thing for me?

Meal Plan Monday

I can't believe another week has already started.. Here's another Meal Plan Monday.

Last week we never got around to eating: Paella or Stir Fry.  I just ended up making random things those nights because we weren't in the mood for either. 

For breakfasts we still have 3 bagels left so we'll eat those, along with waffles and/or eggs. Lunch will be leftovers as usual or there are some Lean Cuisines in the freezer

It's a weird week this week.  I met the husband for lunch today and we went to a Chinese buffet so since that was such a big meal that means no real dinner tonight.  Also, we're heading out to my parent's either Thursday or Friday and we haven't decided which day yet.  So only a few meals planned.

•Monday: Popcorn or random snacks while watching tv (very healthy, I know)

•Tuesday: Chickpea Cutlets w/Gravy from The Happy (atheist) Homemaker

•Wednesday: Taco Bake from The Shambled Shack I'll use up the frozen leftover buffalo chicken that I made last week with this.

•Thursday: Chicken (and whatever fish I can find in the freezer) Paella which may, yet again, be pushed back to next week.

Picture of perfection...

My parents own a bed and breakfast in the Poconos. It was always their lifelong dream. Not necessarily a bed and breakfast but more, I think, to run their own business. My father was a chef and my mother was a nurse. The bed and breakfast just seemed to fit them. This November, it'll be 9 years since they bought the place. It's a gorgeous house (I could be biased) and all their guests love them. When my husband and I go out there (1-2x a month) we always end up helping out because that's just what you do. We cook, serve, whatever is needed.

It's funny cause we're very vocal in my family. If we're mad at you, we will let you know. We've been known to scream, cry and throw things. But we don't hit people - maybe walls or pillows, but never each other. So, of course there are always random fights and arguments going on in the kitchen because everyone thinks that their way is the correct (and only) way to do things. My mom has been known to flip out over garnishes and my dad has been known to knock over a stool or two.

We like to believe that when you're in the kitchen no one can hear you. Of course, that's probably not true but we have to believe that because once we walk through that magical doorway and into the dining room, a smile goes on your face and you are the picture of perfection.

We walk through that door with a plate in our hand, smiling and asking how everything is. As soon as you walk through that doorway, you are transformed. Life is good and all is well with the world. Honestly, I think people probably do hear us fighting in the kitchen but they enjoy it because this is all part of the family atmosphere and charm.

I've found though that the "Magic Doorway" really does work wonders. Maybe it's just one of those things my parents instilled in me, but I don't bring my issues to work. As soon as I walk into that office doorway, I'm good to go. It doesn't matter if I got into a fight with my husband last night or I had a flat tire this morning. I'm at work and let's get this done.

Sometimes, walking through the magical doorway is a great break and other times it can just really suck to put on a brave face for the outside world.

Pizza Week

We've had pizza twice this week.  It was homemade, so that means it's okay, right?

I also may have eaten the leftovers for breakfast this morning so that kind of means that three meals this week were pizza. I'm getting really good at flipping it off of the peel though!.  I have this garlic cheese spread stuff that was just sitting in the fridge unopened.  So I put a nice layer of that onto the dough, then sauce, then some shredded cheese, then tomatoes (the second time was anchovies cause they were in the fridge).  Sooo good and garlicky.  The husband just had sauce and cheese since he can't eat garlic/onions and just wanted plain pizza.

Also, the "Eat from the Pantry" isn't working.  It doesn't make sense to do it now (well, it does but still).  Our bank is currently offering $10 back for every $100 we spend in groceries until mid-March.  I'm not upping the amount I'm spending because that wouldn't save any money.  But, I've also decided that I'll just shop as normal until mid-March.  That way we can get a few bucks back and that doesn't hurt.  Once it's over, I'll try the challenge again.  In the meantime, I will try to use up more random things from the pantry (like the garlic cheese stuff.. yummmm).

Food Waste Friday

This photo was actually taken on Sunday but I thought it would be silly to leave gross food in my fridge for another 5 days.

(Please excuse my very messy kitchen - I was currently in the midst of making dinner when I decided to clean out the fridge.)

From left to right: Turkey Shepherd's Pie, Lentil/Black bean chili, Lemon Chiffon Yogurt (I probably shouldn't admit that it went bad back in December..), Sweet Mashed Potatoes, 2 containers of pasta sauce that I meant to freeze (but kind of ran out of room for in the freezer and then forgot about them), Leftover Chinese food from Tuesday - Wonton soup and Lo Mein.
Not pictured but thrown out today: Leftover stir-fry.  I made it way too salty so I shoulda thrown it away that night but thought I might eat it later in the week.

Pretty much all leftovers. See why I need to work on us eating leftovers? I even tried to get some of them eaten by putting them in containers ready to go for lunch. Unfortunately, sometimes the lure of going out for lunch is so much better than leftovers.

Oh well, hopefully next week is better.

Yesterday's Schedule

So, since I can't breathe at work, the company was nice enough to let me work from home for the time being.  I have no idea how long this will last, could be 2 days, 2 weeks, 2 months, 2 years (wouldn't that be nice?).  They are starting on construction and it's only going to get worse before it gets better.  Really, I'm happy that they're letting me work from home because I guess they technically could've just said "Get over it" but they didn't.. and that's why I really love working there.  Plus, I love the job. 

Anyway, the whole reason for this is that I now know why people (specifically SAHP or WAHP) write lists out.  They need to make sure stuff actually gets done and they're not sitting up at 1AM thinking of things to do the next day. I'm completely scatterbrained working at home but I'm also getting a ton done which is a huge contradiction. 

For example: Yesterday's Schedule:

• 8:55 Wake up and walk dog (oh it was nice to sleep in)
• 9:00 Check work email and "clock in"
• 9:15 What's for breakfast??
• 9:17 I have no idea how I ate a bagel so quickly... let me check facebook, gmail, my google reader, etc..
• 10:00 Ohh the Rachel Ray show I haven't seen this in forever
• 10:45 Pick up files because I need to work
• 11:00-2:00 Randomly run back and forth between kitchen (where files are) and living room (where laptop is)  I don't want someone from work to IM me and think that I'm not actually working.  I don't know why I didn't bring the laptop into the kitchen. Isn't the whole point of a laptop it's portability?  Why am I running back and forth every ten minutes?  Every time I walk by I also need to clean something (Did you know my house is grossly messy now that I see it all day long?) - clear the coffee table, clean the end table, empty the dishwasher, snuggle the dog (very important), throw food in the crockpot (check it 9 times so it can't cook properly).
• 2:30-4:00 Oh shit!  It's already 2:30, I need to get more work stuff done.   I actually sit still and get through about 4 hours of work in 90 minutes. 
• 5: 00 Husband comes home.  I sign out of work.  Human interaction!  I want to talk to him (nonstop) and he just wants to unwind a bit. 
• 6:00-11:00 Dinner, tv, phone with my mom
• 11:00 Bedtime but, wait, the finale of Worst Chef is on - I NEED to know who wins.
• 12:00a Okay, bedtime.. I need to remember to call my sister and grandmother in the morning.  Oh I should write a list of things I need from the office too.  Shit!  I forgot to check my work voicemail, let me call now.
• 12:15 For real this time, bedtime. 
• 12:26a The dog just cried a little and scratched at his crate.  Does he have to pee?  I'll pretend I'm sleeping.
• 12:28a He did it again.  Okay fine, take the dog out to the tree (with shoes on the wrong feet so I almost break my neck).  It's cold outside tonight (in my pajamas).
• 12:34a Dog cries again.  I have conversation with him (in whispers so I don't wake the husband) kindly explaining that he does not indeed have to pee again and he just wants to play and we're not playing righ tnow because its 12:34am and it's time for bed.  Mommy has to work again in the morning and we need to sleep now.
• 12:34-1:00 Toss and turn thinking about the things I want to do in the morning and wondering if the dog is mad at me and really wants to go out for a walk.  Finally pass out sometime after 1am. 

So yes, a schedule is going to have to be made.  Today, I'm meeting my husband for lunch and dropping off/picking up files from the office.  I'm going to speak to human beings (besides my husband)!  How exciting!