Update

The weather had been crap for walking, but I have started Weight Watchers, and my first week, I lost 8.8 lbs! This coming Thursday is my second weigh in. So far I've been doing really good. I got my test results back from my physical, and it turns out I have high cholesterol. It's 275, and I guess anything over 240 is considered high. So I'll be going in this week to see whether we're going to go with a change of diet/exercise or if he wants me on meds. That's my story so far this week. I'll have a weigh in and more updates to come!

Again with the no walking!

That's right. Our day started with a trip to the grocery store to load up on healthy food. Then it was naptime. My naptime too - I slept until just after 4pm! Then it was up to make dinner. So I didn't get my walk to the park in like I wanted to. But I plan to do my Wii Fit tonight, and I must say I did a stellar job planning my meals today. I also discovered the joy of lemon yogurt. I bought one of those vat-sized containers of plain and lemon yogurts, and plan to cook with the first and eat the second. See, I have to get 2 milks in per day, but I don't like drinking milk. Lemon yogurt is just so refreshing, AND it kept me from being starving while making dinner. My worst cheat was eating a few asparagus before they went into the steamer!

Something I have decided, and what seems to work okay with this plan, is that I am refusing to eat "fake food". I.e. you will not catch me eating fat free dairy products like cheese and sour cream. If you actually eat a serving size (and don't dump half the bag on top of your meal), these things aren't bad for you. Case in point: today I had a huge spinach salad. I threw half a cup of mushrooms on two cups of spinach, added six (yup, that's the serving size) croutons and 2 Tbsp. of full fat bleu cheese. It was delish. Now, had I used a fat free dressing, the fat content and calories would be much lower, but I would have hated every bite. Instead, I got some great raw veggies in my body, and thoroughly enjoyed the meal. Which is better? I think it's obvious. Fortunately, I have this neat little spoon that measures exactly 2 Tbsp and has a kind of squeegy thing that helps dispense the dressing, because I've found that not all tablespoons are alike!

So that's my day. I'm pretty happy with it, walk or no walk.

Bah! I suck!

So I didn't walk today. In fact, I haven't walked since Monday. Nor have I Wii Fit-ed, though I plan to do so tonight. I went to the doctor for a physical this morning. I got on the scale and the nurse set the main weight to 200. I told her she needed to start at 250. Well guess what? That didn't work either. I weighed in at 304 (303.6 I found out later). When the HELL did that happen? This is the heaviest I have ever been INCLUDING when I was 9 months pregnant.

So I said "enough of this" and after my head-shrinker appointment, I went to a Weight Watchers meeting. I'm kind of bummed that they don't offer the Core program anymore, but as much as it will kill me, I'm hell-bent on writing down each morsel of food that passes my lips. I hate logging food. Tomorrow, I'm going to go grocery shopping, because though we have a cupboard full of canned beans and tomatoes, I'm going to need some chicken and maybe some yogurt in there somewhere.

So tonight I Wii Fit (if it will let me, since I exceed the 300lb weight limit) and tomorrow, I chart my food, walk with the kids to the park (since no school tomorrow) and then it's Wii Fit again tomorrow evening. This girl's gotta get on the ball! If anyone's got any great recipes that are low fat, lower carb, high protein and really yummy, please post a link in my comment box; I can use any meal planning help I can get!

Mama needs some new walking shoes!

I slacked over the weekend, but got to walking today. As penance, I walked 2.2 miles (with a break in the middle for lunch). It was a beautiful day, and I totally forgot my camera. I took some pics on my phone, but I'm not sure how to get them over to my PC without incurring charges. My feet feel pre-blistery and I'm thinking since (I almost typed 'if') I'm going to be walking every day, I should probably invest in some decent walking sneakers. (Do people still say sneakers? Or is it "walking shoes"? I'm thinking New Balance, since I think I can get them in double-wide (not unlike a trailer home for my over-large feet). If anyone has any better brand suggestions for good (but not over $100 good) sneaks, please advise.

I'm thinking of joining Weight Watchers (again) because while I'm hell-bent on my decision to walk five times a week, I haven't curbed my eating at all and I really need to. I may go check it out.

Vinny is going to be joining the Boy Scouts of America (as a Cub Scout) starting tomorrow. I'm really excited for him. He also wants to join Lacrosse (God help me) and I want him to start piano lessons. All of this on the advice of his teachers. So I'll have to make my walk tomorrow a speedy one so I can have him ready for scouts by 4:30pm!

Day One - 1.65 miles walked

So I did it. I got off my duff and walked today. I also resisted the temptation of buying a ooey-gooey soft caramel popcorn ball at the convenience store. Instead, I got Vin a Gatorade, the two little ones "bug juice" and a Smart Water for me. (Though I almost wasn't smart enough to open the dang bottle!) So part two (of three) of today's adventure will be to make the soup I said I'd make (I forgot all about the bread, so sandwich bread it is for the kiddos). After that, it's diapers, and pjs and back on the Wii Fit to log at least 15 minutes of that. I figure eventually I'll get up to 1/2 hour, but I'm not particularly a glutton for punishment here in the early stages of fitness.

I only took a few pics today, mostly of the kids, because we're still in that pre-Spring stage of tulips and crocuses just starting to push their way into the sunlight. I took a pic of the creek that runs through town and of the mountain (as seen from the school). So that's all there is today. Stay tuned for more exciting pics as the weather continues to warm. I'll post later with some pics of my fabulous soup. Gotta get started now, or it won't be ready!
Dinner is made and eaten (though not cleaned up after - that's for tomorrow because I'm BEAT). It wasn't as good as I remembered it, but it was still a good meal. Here's the link to the recipe and a photo of the finished product:

How I Got My Groove Back

I have let it all go. My waistline kept expanding and I kept ignoring how tight my pants were getting. I decided to get on my Wii Fit (for the first time in months) and after exclaiming "OH!" when I got on, it zipped on up the BMI meter and cheerfully exclaimed, "Obese!" (Tell me something I don't know...) Well, it turns out that I am 34+ lbs heavier than I was a few months ago. I can probably blame it in part on my medication - weight gain is a commons side effect. But mostly, it's the crap I've been stuffing in my face.

Speaking of crap in my face, my house has become unbearable. It is such a mess all the time, partly because I have two toddlers, and I can't stand to be at home. The only time my house (the last one) was ever clean was when I was trying to sell it. The key? I put all my things that I never used (and some that I did) into boxes in the garage, ate of paper plates, drank from plastic cups, and kept a Swiffer mop close at hand. By Thursday of next week, I will have purged my kitchen of all the things I don't need that are in it. We are turning over to paper plates and cups, being green be damned (for the moment, anyway)!

What I will not be stowing are my pots and pans, because, look out, world, I'm going to start cooking again. I have not been cooking at all lately (unless heating up soup can be considered cooking). I need to flex my culinary muscles and tomorrow sounds like a good day to start. I'm making Russian Potato/Mushroom/Leek soup and homemade bread tomorrow. I'll freeze what we don't eat for another day. I'll find something else to make for Saturday, and so on and so on.

The big fat walk home MUST and WILL regain its momentum. I'm starting over, and this time starting small. Over the next 16 weeks, I will walk 120 miles. That's 1.5 miles, five days per week. If I go over, sweet. I will not go under. Along the way, I will be taking pictures of my walks (the kids, scenery, whatever) to entertain you with and to give me something to mark my days with little photo memories. I'll start by walking to pick up my son from school. That's 1.65 miles if I go the long way. My goal is to walk 500 miles in one year, which I may bump up as time goes by.

So tonight, I logged a whopping 16 minutes on the Wii Fit and plan to update my progress there as well. I will be using the Wii Fit nightly and post about it here for good measure.

That is all. I look forward to wowing you all with my excercising prowess. ;)

Yardwork

Well, I didn't get much of a walk in today, but I still got a workout with more to come. My ex-husband lent me an aerator which doesn't fit through my back gate, but I was able to do the front lawn. What a MACHINE that thing is. You can barely push the bar and it's dragging you across the yard. And it's a bitch to turn. But, that's done, and I started mowing. I got about 1/3 of the yard done before my mower ran out of fuel. So now I get to wait for Mat to come home before I wrap it up and maybe even do the back yard if there's enough light. I forgot to change my shoes into my mowing-shoes though, so hopefully my super-cool skate sneaks won't be stained. LOL

I also had a fabulous experience with some local tomato growers from whom I bought 13 heirloom varieties of tomatoes. I got brown, black, yellow, green and red tomatoes and I can't WAIT to see what they produce. The plants are HUGE for this time of year and I'm just hoping I can keep them alive on my counter facing south. Hopefully I don't kill them.

So no walks, but that aerator kicked my butt. My face is red, and I've still got some mowing to do, so the day wasn't a complete loss. I got a lot of my water in too, so whoo hoo for me!

On the road again...

Today I went to the doctor to reassess my medication which was making me drag like a zombie in the morning. I wasn't showering until late in the day and felt overall pretty crappy. We decided to lower the dose, and I discussed with him the risk of diabetes which is increased with this medication (Seroquel) for pre-diabetics (which I most assuredly am). He told me that so long as I wasn't gaining weight, I'd be okay. Well, I need to do more than that - I'm feeling gross and ready now that spring is here to start walking again. Today, I walked 1.87 miles and took the boys to the library and the park. We had a nice picnic lunch and got home with time to make dinner. Right now I've got boneless country style pork ribs on the skillet. I'm not sure exactly what I'm making with them, but they're a-cooking anyway. So my plan is to walk daily, drink 64 oz. of water and try to eat reasonable food.

I've been really shocked lately at how much utter crap is on the ingredients list of just about anything you want to eat that's not produce or meat. I wanted to buy horseradish and couldn't find a one that didn't have high fructose corn syrup and xantham gum in it. For your info, I was also appalled to find that the store brand sour cream (I've noticed this with every one I've checked), you get a lot more than cream - leaving a sour taste in MY mouth. There's modified corn products and other fillers you'd never expect. So I've resigned myself to spend a little extra on Daisy brand and get the stuff that's all natural. I'd highly recommend the book In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan - it really opened my eyes to the downright conspiracy the food companies are involved in to make us all fatter and to change our diets to one of soy, corn and chemicals. Thanks, but no thanks.

Anyway, I'm on a roll again. My goal is to lose 40lbs by this summer. I think with a little effort, I can go a long way.

Would you like some mushrooms with your mushrooms?

Last night, I attempted to de-meat beef stroganoff. My plan was to make it without the beef, and instead with portabella mushrooms. The sauce also calls for button mushrooms. Lots o' mushrooms. Here's how it went:

I started with all fresh ingredients (except for the low-sodium beef broth, which was canned.) I got them all out in advance and prepped them so that it would be simple to actually cook. This is kind of a la cooking-show-cooking, the way Emeril and those guys always have everything pre-measured in convenient prep-bowls. Well, Emeril, you're the the only one with prep bowls. You may have others on your staff to fill said prep bowls, but that's all you've got on me!

Next, I sliced up all my mushrooms. The portabellas, I cut in half and then sliced width wise. I was surprised when I rinsed them that the undersides rinsed out a weird red/brown color. They rinsed clear after a few minutes though, so no big deal, just interesting.

So, here's the basic gist: I diced the red onion, sauteed it in 1/2 a stick of butter until (not) tender (enough). I should have carmelized it more. Meanwhile, I floured the mushrooms the way you'd flour the beef when making the stroganoff. I removed the onions from the skillet and put another 1/2 stick of butter in to sautee the floured portabellas. Once those were tender, I added the broth, basil, salt, pepper, 1/4 c. of sherry and the onions. This thickened and then I added 1 c. of sour cream, heated it through and served it over egg noodles.

The verdict: It was okay. I was out of Worcestershire sauce, which I think would have added the right tang, and the sherry didn't quite make up for it. It was a LOT of mushrooms. The overall flavor was very good though, Mat and I ate it just fine. The kids hated it. But here it is, in all it's glory: The finished dish.

Carrots, Celery and Onions

There's something sublime about the three of these ingredients simmering in a little butter in a pot over medium heat. The smell smacks of cold weather comfort food: of soups and stews and dishes to sop up with home-baked bread.

I opened my fridge the other day and saw some carrot and celery sticks wasting away in my veggie drawer. I'd pre-cut them for the kids thinking they'd be a convenient snack, but snacks are only convenient if your kids will actually eat them. So rather than let them dissolve into a soupy mess to be discarded weeks later (don't pretend this doesn't happen in your fridge - I know I'm not the only one!) I hauled them out, chopped them up, added some onion and voila, you add a little butter and you have the pic above.

That's my new dutch oven, btw. I'm very excited about it. I bought it to make a no-knead bread recipe. The bread came out not so good, but I'm certain that was my fault and not the bread's or the dutch oven's. My friend made some and it came out light as air. It had holes the size of Texas, and a crumb and crust to cry over, but mine, well, mine just made you want to cry. It was small, dense and very yeasty tasting. I let it sit for three days, and I think that was too long. I'm going to try a shorter set up next time.

Back to the soup. I winged this soup, but it came out pretty well. I did beef, since that's the broth I had on hand, and basically, I did two cans of broth, four cups of water and three bullion cubes. I added a bay leaf, some basil, some Italian seasoning and some white pepper. No salt. The bullion and stock had plenty already. And that's about it. Oh. Except I let it sit overnight, and added barley - 1/2 cup dry barley and it was kind of like french onion soup meets vegetable barley. The veggies got overcooked, but here's the funny thing: my one year old loved it. We put some rice in it to make it less "soupy" and he gobbled it up like a maniac.

I'm loving soups right now. They're hard to mess up. Usually, if they're bland, you add more salt. Or seasoning. But mostly, it's about playing with flavors, and if you start with those three colorful veggies at the top of this post, you really can't go wrong.

NaNoWriMo

Have you heard of this? It's almost November, and therefore, almost National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). So sometime in October, if you're feeling randy, you can sign up on http://www.nanowrimo.org , thereby committing to God and country that you will write a 50,000-word novel in the month of November. That's one whole novel in one short month. I REALLY want to participate, but my college classes online start on November 4th, so I'm thinking instead, perhaps the key for me would be to start now, pretending that it's November, so that when November hits, I'll not only be ready to devote all my time to school, I'll have an unedited manuscript ready for publi-- ready for serious pain to be inflicted on it with a red pen. I may have mentioned (or not) that I have a wildly clever book already underway, but that although I managed about 12k words, I'm stuck at a point where I need to do some major research before I can continue, and so I've been lollygagging (spell check wants me to make that lallygagging, but I just can't do it). I do, however, have another novel, a romance in fact, which might fit the bill. Romances generally are shorter anyway and although I'd still need to do some research, I should be able to get the base story out in a month - that'd be great since I've had this story for the last ten years itching to be written. So anyway, if you too have the writing bug, visit the site above, and then too, check out this blog which I also find to be terrifically interesting for writers and non-writers alike: http://www.shnozzfest.com . Happy writing!

(P.S. Thanks to my friend Julie for the avatar above.)

Why I'm enamored with Nico

Today, I was feeding the baby when I thought I felt or heard vibration - I don't know what sense was picking it up (perhaps Spidey sense?) but I look over at Nico and he's sitting his his Bumbo and grinning ear to ear. That's when I realized what he was doing. He had put his vibrating teething toy into the bottom of the seat, and when he sat down - VOILA! - instant butt massage! I'm pretty sure it doesn't get much cuter than that.

Get the Funk Out

I woke up this morning, and the sky is conveniently reflecting my mood. I thought it was rather dark for 7am, and when I went outside, the sky looked like this: brooding, cloudy, and in what appears to be a general funk. I don't have a lot of reason to feel this way, but thank you, Mother Nature for adding the icing to the gloom cake.

On a mixed high-note, I weighed myself yesterday for the first time since delivering the baby. I didn't know what to expect, since my clothes aren't fitting as baggily as I'd hoped - in fact, my pre-preggo pants are fitting me rather well, which ordinarily would be a blessing if they weren't so darned large to begin with. Well, I was shocked to see that I'm down 30 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight. Okay. This is fantastic. More than I thought. So why am I pissed? Because I bought a pair of size 24 pants the other day (thinking, I wore 26 before the pregnancy, and those were baggy on me) and the buggers didn't fit. And when I say "didn't fit" I mean they didn't want to make it over my hips. Now, I know that sizing varies from store to store and brand to brand (which is a neverending source of irritation for me) but how is it that I'm basically no smaller than when I started out, thirty pounds heavier? WTF? I mean, my face is thinner, other people comment that I look like I've lost weight, so why oh WHY is it not evident in my pants? The only thing I can think is that the stretched out belly-ness is less fatty, but still, quite abundant.

I'm still not done with Mona In the Promised Land by Gish Jen, which to me indicates that the book sucks, because ordinarily (baby or no) I'd be done with a book that size in 48 hours, and it's been a few weeks. I've only had two or three books in my life that fell into this category of "laboriously difficult to read" and those were The Liars' Club: A Memoir by Mary Karr and We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates. I finished the former but just couldn't wade through the latter. I just hate reading books when the style or content just doesn't appeal to me. Why can't there be an English Class with books that get more than three stars on Amazon?

My boy's got asthma. Nico had a cold for three weeks which seemed inordinately long to me, never mind that frankly, there weren't enough Kleenexes in the county to sop up the ever-present mucous streaming from his nose. So I brought him in again (the first time was at the beginning of the cold since I thought he might have an ear infection) and the nurse tells me he has asthma, which is keeping the cold from getting better. Mat has asthma, and he too is having a hard time breathing these days, so I think it's just a weather/time of year thing. But really, doesn't the pediatrician know that all I ever want to hear from them is "He's perfect!"? Grr.

I'm playing CSI: Hard Evidence for the XBox 360 right now (yes, I know, I'm an anathema to the legions of Halo 3 devotees). It's no better, but also no worse, than the previous editions. I had to get my fix in since I have no TV right now, and this past Thursday, I became the only CSI fanatic who has no idea what's happened to Sarah. And no, I don't want to know. I'm waiting for it to be downloadable on the 360, so don't post any spoilers, chickee-monkeys! One thing is certain though, Grissom is no where near as hot rendered in blocky 3-D graphics as he is on the show. 'Nuff said.

Anyway, the sky is brightening ever so slightly, and shortly, my quiet morning will be filled with the whoops and hollers, shrieks and cries of three little boys. It's much harder now with the baby, particularly since Nicholas' cold has got him in double-bad sorts which only compounds the jealousy. He's the neediest little pain ever right now, and I spend most of my day with both of the babies in my arms at the same time -no small feat. I've unfortunately also had a headache ever since I had Joseph. It varies in intensity, but with rare exception, it is always there. I'm going to set up an appointment soon if it gets much worse, because I don't know if I can wait out the six-week appointment. Then again, what can the possibly do for me? Most medication that will help with headaches is counter-indicated for nursing. So, with head a-throbbing, I bid you adieu until next time!

Dog update

So yesterday, before I left the house, I ran into my neighbor outside and he was telling me how his dog must like the bark collar, because he'd tested it, it was working fine, but the dog was still barking as much as ever. He told me the dog would be staying inside from now on.

Well, later, I was getting the kids out of the car and saw him "walking" his dog, which amounted to him standing on the porch, yelling at it while it was supposed to be going potty. Vinny got Nico out of the other side of the car, and then the dog came into my yard. I asked, "Do I need to worry about that?" as I started walking around to where the boys were. I came around the side of the car to see the hound on top of Nico who'd fallen under the dog's weight as it tried to kiss him. Now, Nico is a little dog-phobic to begin with, so I wasn't happy at all. Then I became VERY unhappy, as I told Nico (whom I'd picked up by then) "Oh, the doggie was trying to give you kisses, you're okay!" (Which he was - no physical harm done). My neighbor says something about what I'd said, I don't remember exactly what, but then he proceeds to grab the dog, and bodily slam it against the side of his truck. WTF? He hits it twice into the truck, asking "How do you like it?" After putting the dog inside, he comes out and says, "I'm SO sorry!" I told him it was okay, no harm done (except for the potential psychological trauma to Nico) and he said, "Oh no, that dog is gone, I'm not going to have a dog that knocks down little kids!"

Here's my theory: Maybe, just maybe, if you're trying to potty train an approximately four-month-old puppy and you KNOW you don't have him trained well enough to stay in your yard, PERHAPS, I know, I'm going out on a limb here, PERHAPS, a leash would be in order? Ya think?

My hope in all of this is that my neighbor is true to his word - that he finds a new home for that poor puppy, and in doing so, eliminates the noise problem AND gives that dog a chance at a happy life. I'm no PETA member, but I don't abide that kind of crap.

Charity

I'm a big fan of charitable giving. My bank account doesn't always let me be as magnanimous as I'd like, but I give when I can and volunteer when I'm able. One thing I like to do is donate blood every 54 days (when I'm not pregnant or nursing), as that's as often as you can donate. It doesn't cost me anything and it saves lives (I'm O+ so I'm almost a universal donor).

Today I saw a featured video on YouTube.com. The guy was pretty annoying, but I thought, in contrast to the billions of "hey, lookit me!" videos out there, using youtube for good instead of evil appealed to me.

Then, today, I walked 1.6 miles to pick Vin up from school with Nico in the stroller and wearing Joseph in a wrap. I forgot that I'd transferred all of my purse stuff into the baby bag, and so when I went to get a soda out of the machine at the grocery store, I found I had exactly $.22 to my name, and the sodas were $.25. I said, oh well, and went to walk away when a lady said, "Excuse me," and handed me two quarters. "For your son," she said in stilted English. I thanked her, put in the two quarters and heard one hit the change return. She thought the soda's were $.50 (as they are at a minimum anywhere else, but this was Shasta soda). The change return was full of the extra quarters her daughter had pumped into the machine. I handed them back to her, thanking her again, and thought to myself, I guess there are people out there who still do nice things for one another. It'd been a long time since I'd witnessed it first hand, and in a "shout-it-to-the-universe" kind of way, I'd like to publicly thank her again for showing a fellow person the kindness of a cold soda on a hot day. Thank you!

You ain't nothin' but a hound dog...

I hate my next door neighbor's hound dog. The bloody thing howls/bays all day long, and now, it's 8:45pm, my kids are in bed, and he's at full throttle. We've talked to the neighbor, and he assured us he was getting a bark collar, bringing the dog inside and if all else failed, he sure wasn't going to keep a dog that barked all the time! Liar.

I registered for classes today! I'm going to be taking a basically three classes plus two that I have to take because I'm going to school online (they're 2 credit educational planning classes - yay.) So I'm taking a class on the Enlightenment, World Religions, and Multicultural Lit. I started reading one of the books for the lit class, Mona In the Promised Land by Gish Jen. It's okay so far - she's got a pretty sassy voice, and when I say she, it's only because I don't know if Gish is a male or female name, but the first person narrator is female. I start back to school in November, but I figure getting a head start isn't a bad idea.

I went to a fiber festival yesterday and bought some wool yarn. Now, although I'm glad to have decent yarn instead of the acrylic crap I normally buy, I'm having a hard time figuring out what to make with it since it's wool and can't be washed in the machine. Not being able to wash something in the machine renders almost any garment unworthy of existing as far as I'm concerned. I can't tell you how many "dry clean only" items I've bought and threw in the wash because if they didn't make it through the wash and dry, they simply weren't meant to be in my wardrobe. I've toasted a number of dresses that way. Anyway, I'm thinking hats might be the way to go, otherwise, I'm going to knit some wool soakers for cloth diapers to sell online. May as well make a shekel or two.

I seriously hate this dog.

I was quite domestic today. I got up, and got the boys situated and did the dishes. Then, I threw some white bread fixings into the bread machine to make dough while I grated up some zucchini for some zucchini bread. When my mom came to visit, I made the same bread and forgot to add the margarine. This time around, I forgot the 1/4 cup of sugar. (It still had 1 Tbsp. of sugar that I proofed the yeast with, but still, WTH?) So with my head clearly NOT on my shoulders, I finished the three loaves, and they came out okay. Dinner was a much better success. My friend gave me a slew of tomatoes and some basil and parsley from her garden, and I made a delish pasta sauce for dinner. I browned some ground Italian sausage, pureed the tomatoes with some olive oil, the basil and parsley and a pinch of salt. I mixed it all together, fried some garlic in a olive oil and tossed it in as well. I served it over Rigatoni and used the sugar-light bread to sop up the sauce. So yummy!

I sent Mat over to ask the neighbor to deal with his dog. He did, and now, blessed silence. The guy apologized said the dog has a bark collar. The dog must be a masochist.

I was going to walk to pick Vin up today, but I was chatting w/my brother on the phone, and realized I had 20 minutes to get to the school .8 miles away, and Nico was still napping, and the baby needed a diaper change. There was no way I was getting there in time, so Mat left work to pick him up and had lunch at home instead. Tomorrow I'm walking because Mat is closing, and I'm not piling the kids in the car at 9pm to go get him if I keep the car. He can take it.

Today was not easy, since it was my first day home alone with the two little ones. Nothing is more frustrating than settling in to nurse, and when the baby finally latches, your toddler decides to dismantle your DVD collection. That happened at least five times today. We're moving the DVDs.

Oh, AND, I tried to make my curtains today, and my sewing machine isn't stitching right. Not sure why, but I don't have the know-how to know what to look for. Oh, AND, I'm on Mat's computer, because, that's right, mine took a dump yesterday. I do have the know-how to troubleshoot it, but not the patience. I think it's the power supply. We're going to get one tomorrow.

Now, it's off to wrap up the first season of "Heroes" on DVD. What a great series. I hope they don't cancel it. (Damn you, HBO! I'm still mourning "Deadwood"!)

Night, all.

Back in the saddle again...

Fall is a-coming! I can smell it. The mornings are crisp and the evenings sublime. I'm back to blogging for a number of reasons:

1.) We had our baby. I did most of the work, but we are now proud parents of baby boy Joseph Anthony Martinez! He weighed 7lbs. 13oz. and measured 20 inches long. He's a VERY good baby, and I'm actually getting decent sleep (please take a moment to knock on your nearest wooden surface or object). Here is a picture of me and my boy:

2.) I am starting classes in November. I'm hoping that in two short semesters, I will be the proud owner of a piece of paper saying I have a B.A. in English Lit. I'm registering next week, so here's to open classes!

3.) Walking will be back on in the next few days. I feel better after this delivery than I did with either of my other two boys, and anticipate that within the next week I should be able to start logging some more walking distance. I've deviated from my original one-year plan, but who cares? I anticipate that I've lost about 25lbs. since the start of my pregnancy (I don't own a scale because I obsess, so I have to wait for my 6-week doctor's visit).

Anyway, that's my current events info, and I will endeavor to keep this blog rolling so that when the netizens of the world are bored, there's one more self-absorbed blog out there with fresh material.

The grand master plan

We have been struggling lately, and I think a lot of it is just simply not planning and to further that point, not knowing what the future holds. I'm making some changes. I am due with my third and final SON, Joseph in September. Two days before my due date (good timing, I know) I begin my final leg of my English B.A. with Empire State College (a SUNY school) in New York online. I will be obviously here in Utah. After that, I will continue on to my M.A. in either Lit or Creative Writing (probably lit because I think it'll be more useful career-wise) also through SUNY. I found out the residencies are only 3-4 weekends during the program in Albany, NY - maybe some family would be able to come have lunch with me or something - it's kind of far though. Anyway, after that, the nation-wide hunt begins. I don't know as much as I'd like to about how the career of an English Professor works, but I think I will be looking for a school that will accept a teacher with an M.A. into a tenure-track position with the goal of completing my PhD. at said university. If not, I know I should be able to get in as an adjunct lecturer while I complete my doctorate. I'm starting so late, but I am so glad to finally know where my road will take me. Okay, not exactly where. I don't begin to know where to start looking for the most desirable university, locale and neighborhood to raise my kids in, but I'll figure it out. There's got to be something online, right? In the meantime, once I've got my B.A., I should be able to procure a job on campus locally working hopefully in the English department and maybe even assisting an English professor. I'm late getting my time in on this, so the more experience the better! Now, all I have to do is 4.0 my way to my B.A. so I can get to the Master's program. Piece of cake. LOL

Wow, time gets away from me...

So it's been almost two months since I last posted. Sorry 'bout that. Wow, let's see. I've been having a different kind of pregnancy this time around. I truthfully barely recognize myself, and that's not a bad thing. I felt like all this time I was talking out my ass, saying, Yep, that's right, I'm going to CHANGE how I eat, CHANGE how I move, and CHANGE my attitude about my body. Well, looky here...enough talk about something and it might actually gain a foothold. (Note to readers, I am NOT a proponent of this new fad book known as The Secret, though I do believe positive thinking can only help). So I find myself suddenly not trying to "be better" or "stop eating bad foods", and instead, I just buy healthy food, make it the way I like it and eat a reasonable amount. My body has decided that twice as much food as I need is no longer a reasonable amount, and so I have without any effort, managed portion control. I think I just needed to stop thinking about it so damn much.

I even ate brussels sprouts last night. I hated them. BUT I did give them an honest go, and they failed my taste test. That's okay though...I ate them, and will just buy their other green cousins for my veggie fix.

I have not been walking like I had been, BUT I have been gardening and mowing the lawn, which is a BUTT-whoopin' for me, but I enjoy it, so it's not such a chore.

I found out about a food co-op here in town. I remember my mom belonging to a co-op when I was a kid. The food is so well priced, and it includes local fresh produce, so you can't go wrong with that.

I am toying with the idea of writing a book about eating. Not a diet book, more of an anti-diet (and by that I mean the opposite of diet, not that I'm against dieting, though I am). I want folks to take a look at the food on their plate and wonder where the heck it came from! Folks joke about it, but ask a kid where chicken comes from, and rarely will you get "the farm" as an answer. And if he did say "the farm" he wouldn't be right on that count either. The travels and tribulations our food goes through are something everyone should be aware of. I'm trying to stick to foods with pronounceable ingredientes, and when possible, if a food is going to be "processed", it's going to be processed by me. Really, what I need is a Kitchenaid Mixer with all the bells and whistles (including the pasta attachment) if I'm going to go totally un-processed, because we eat a lot of pasta.

Speaking of pasta though, try this: Instead of buying jarred, salty, greasy, flavorless pasta sauce, gather the following:

1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1/4 onion chopped (optional)
2 Cloves of Garlic (minced)
1 can crushed or diced tomatoes (plain old tomatoes only)
1 Tbsp of Italian seasoning (or basil and oregano at the very least)

Heat the oil in a pan on medium until it spits if you flick water at it. Put in the onion and garlic and stir until the garlic turns a little golden. Quickly, so the garlic doesn't burn, add the can of tomatoes, add the seasoning and heat through. You can add or subtract seasoning as you like, and salt and pepper to taste. It doesn't really take much longer to make it, but you KNOW what's in it. Here's the ingredient list for Ragu Traditional:

Tomato Puree , Water , Tomato Paste , Soybean Oil , Salt , Sugar , Dried Onions , Extra Virgin Olive Oil , Spices , Romano Cheese , Part-Skim Milk , Cheese Cultures , Salt , Enzymes , Natural Flavor

1/2 cup contains 6 grams of sugar and 580 grams of sodium. Who needs that? And what, pray tell, are those "natural flavors"?

Obviously, compared to many food items, the Ragu isn't even a scary list of ingredients. At least you can say them all without spraining your tongue.

So I guess, my challenge to you is, see if you can't take something you use all the time: bread, eggs, pasta sauce, taco seasoning or Hamburger Helper and find a way to make it yourself or get it fresh from a farm. See if you can't make a healthy alternative to the packaged, preserved garbage we stick in our mouths every day. You may find it to be cheaper even, at times, and it is almost ALWAYS more flavorful.

Oh, speaking of eggs. Have you ever eaten a farm-fresh egg? I hadn't until this past month. A co-worker of a friend gave me two-dozen eggs to try from his farm down the road to see if I wanted to buy them on a regular basis. The shells ranged from speckled rust color to light green and blue. The inside was where the real shock was though. The yolk was BRIGHT orange. To clarify and give you a better picture, when scrambled, they were the color of dark, sharp cheddar cheese. They were richly flavored and when fried, the yolks stood VERY tall and didn't break easily. Compared to the bleached (literally) white eggshells of the pale-yellow-yolked grocery store eggs, these were a total shock. And they were wonderful. I found out two interesting facts: the yolks are orange because the chickens actually get to go outside and have greens in their diet (weed shoots, alfalfa, that sort of thing) AND, they make terrible hard boiled eggs. Why? Because they're not old. Old eggs peel easily when boiled, which is why if you're planning on boiling eggs, either buy them from a farm in advance, or buy them at the store where they're already plenty old.

I'm rambling, but I'm learning so many things, and I want to SHARE! I'm no longer afraid of butter, olive oil, sugar, bread, etc. I've discovered that there are ways to use all of these things in moderation that gives you the flavor you want without going nutso. I found I can make two loaves of white bread with 1 Tbsp of sugar (in lieu of the one loaf I was making with 1/4 cup of sugar! I found that whether I choose margarine or butter, it doesn't matter, so long as I try to do a lot more cooking with either in small amounts for flavor and not slathering it on bread or potatoes on my plate.

Speaking of plates: I have taken to plating up dinner for everyone before we sit down, with the understanding that what's on the table is ALL there is to eat. Any leftovers are for lunch the next day, and are not available for "seconds". No one seems to miss them.

Tilapia is my new friend. Read about it here.
Everyone in my family loves it from the baby and my six year old to my husband. You can make it SO many ways, it's sustainable, low fat and SO delish. Between that and chicken, my proteins are just about covered for the week.

Okay, so that's probably enough for the day.

March of Dimes Walk 2007!

Hello, hello! Today I enrolled my http://www.utahcountymommies.com team to walk in this years March of Dimes Walk America! I'm very excited about it, and we've got quite a few people interested in participating If anyone wants to help but isn't here in Utah County to walk with us, you can sponsor me by going to Eileen's Personal Walk Page. You can donate using your credit or debit card, or PayPal! Thanks so much for your help!