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.

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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!