Whipping up secrets

It was cold today, try 10 degrees kind of cold. It was also snowing all day, so I worked from home and we kept L home from her half day at daycare. Around 330 when L finally took a nap I decided to try out my new cookbook, Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld.

My friend Erica got it for me for Christmas because, apparently my friends do listen when I talk and she knew L was somewhat of a picky eater. She'll only eat peas, carrots, cookies and chicken from Chick-fil-A, and anything that has been smothered in tomato sauce.

First I had to make a butternut squash puree. Just so happened we had a very large butternut squash and nothing planned for it. First I had J cut it in half because I'm a wuss, and then I roasted it, scraped out the insides and blended it all up. It made almost 3 whole cups of puree, which I froze 2 of.

I then used the butternut squash puree to make some awesome chicken and cheese quesadilla's that also contained a navy bean and sour cream mixture. We'll be eating this one a lot.

The second recipe I made was for Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies, but the "secret" ingredient was a whole can of garbanzo beans. I was skeptical but you really can't taste them at all and L and J both ate two with no complaints. I may trick some other people into eating them, as the batch made 3 dozen. You'll notice from the picture I am not using my new Kitchen Aide mixer yet. I promised my mom that I wouldn't open it until Christmas, so it sits under the tree with a big bow on it.

Its back to work again tomorrow, but then probably going to have some rain/sleet/ice mixture move through tomorrow night, so I may be stuck at home again Thursday meaning L will miss her other day of daycare also, which sucks. She's getting bored. I'm looking forward to Christmas and new toys. Here she is getting into my desk drawer out of sheer boredom.

Nothing to do and loving it

It's Sunday at 8pm and the weekend is coming to a close. I've been looking forward to this weekend for a long time; why? Because I had a whole lotta nothing to do. I had one thing to do all weekend, and it was also something I look forward to every year (more about that later).

I was excited because I didn't have major plans, nothing that HAD to be done. We could move at our own pace. Friday night we went out to dinner to Chili's, L behaved herself and it was a nice evening. Saturday I had my WW meeting in the morning, 15 lbs and counting! And the only other plans I had were to maybe go to the mall and take a nap. Good thing too because when I woke up I felt horrible. At first I thought it was because L woke us up at 3am coughing and spent the rest of the night with us. So I thought I just didn't get enough sleep. But I felt sick to my stomach and kind of achy. I went to my WW meeting, and drank a large bottle of water and felt somewhat better. I decided to go ahead and go to the mall early so in case I didn't feel good in the afternoon I could laze around. We got to the mall, got done what we needed, made a much needed stop at the grocery and were home by 2. L and I both took naps from 230 to 5 and when I woke up I was not nauseous anymore, but my whole body ached and I was shivering. I skipped dinner, stayed on the couch and we watched Kung Fu Panda. I ended up dozing on the couch until midnight while J played video games.

Sunday I was feeling much better. I spent the morning playing with L and doing laundry and started cleaning out my closet, much overdue. The afternoon was spent with my best college girlfriends. Every year since we've graduated we've gotten together and opened gifts and had lunch either right before Christmas or one year it was New Year's Day. I look forward to it every year, and I hope that we'll keep doing it until we're cranky old ladies! This was either our 5th or 6th year doing it, so its already become a tradition.

The rest of today was spent cleaning out the closet, playing with L, and watching the ice, then snow fall.

I need to seriously update my winter wardrobe. I have 3x as many spring/summer clothes, but am lacking on the warmer, cozier clothing. Must have had something to do with having a baby in the spring, so I was really pregnant in the winter, so I didn't buy any new clothes.

Now I am underneath the electric blanket, with laptop on lap, ready to catch up on some reading and TV shows. Happy Monday!

Gripe

I just feel like whining today. And I'm going to do it in a list.

• I'm really tired of coughing, and blowing my nose
• I wore sneakers to work today, with some really comfy ankle socks, but every time I walk the right one slips down and is now under my foot.
• I forgot to go to the post office 1 mile from my house this morning, so I had to go to the one 3 miles from work, thus making me really late (I was already late as it was)
• L woke up this morning and cried for dadda instead of momma, *sniff* I guess I know who's the most important right now
• 13 days until Christmas and I don't know what to buy the brothers. I already bought one a swearter, but J says we have to buy both the same gift, so we're probably taking the nice sweater back to the Gap, and doing something in the video game genre, which I know nothing about.
• The economy, that is all.
• This new VoIP that we have to start using at work because they are taking our desk phones away. I'm all about taking my desk phone away, I hate the outdated thing and for crying out loud we're a telecommunications company so we all have cell phones (that the company pays for thankyouverymuch). So it makes sense, but instead of us all using our cell phones, we are going to use this Microsoft VoIP thing thats driven through our instant messangers. Parts it are cool, as long as your computer is with you, your "office number" is available, but if the computer is off, then what? Training on Monday, we'll see how that goes. We are all like kids on Christmas morning, making calls to each other, and giggling. My cube wall-mate had a good point though, what happens if you accidentally call someone and you're talking badly about said person? But I guess that could happen with any phone right?

Things I'm thankful for:

• Still having a job
• My husband
• My daughter
• My family
• My friends
• Cats that snuggle
• Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate from SBux
• Cell phones
• Mini Van's
• Acrylic Nails
• Fresh Christmas trees
• Twitter

Forget me nots, and WW 3.0 Update

Short post, before I stop procrastinating and get some work done. We were out of town all last week for Thanksgiving with the Watson's in St Louis, and this weekend we'll be with the Wear's in Branson. Its gonna be cold. But Christmasy.

Anyways, first things first the WW 3.0 update. I don't think I posted after I was worried about the week with all the mexican and yummo cookies. That week I managed to lose almost 4 lbs even after all that! Then that same day our leader, Sam, discussed what is an acceptable amount of weight to lose each week and she said that if you lose 3-4 lbs consistently each week after your first month, then some thing is not right and you aren't eating enough or exercising too much. Oops. That was my third week at 3+ lbs, so I thought I better be careful, or they'll find out about the magic pill my DR prescribed. Haha, not to worry, when I went back 4 days later (because we would be out of town on Saturday, my normal weigh in date) I had gained! 2.2 lbs. Ouch. To be fair it was only 4 days later, and it was evening, and it was the dreaded time of bloated-ness. So then I wasn't too shocked to learn today that I had lost back that 2.2lbs even with Thanksgiving and my sisters 6 dozen cookies! No, I did not eat 72 cookies, but I could have. So at the 1 month mark I've lost 10.6 lbs. Pretty good.

Now on to the forget me nots. Lets talk about the scatterbrains that J and I are. Really, lets just talk about him. He knows this was coming. I told him this evening after my embarrassing admission at the library that it was all his fault and he would get a post dedicated to him. Lets start with Tuesday. I dropped L off at school and noticed that another little girl had her school pictures in her cubby, I checked L's and no pics. I didn't have time to ask Miss Brittany where they were. My fault. J picked her up that day. Fast forward to Thursday morning, when I dropped L off I noticed a sign on the door that said "return all proofs by Monday". Hmmm I thought, I don't have any proof and L only goes to school Tues/Thursday. So then I figured the pictures were so horrible we didn't even get any proofs. As I was leaving, Miss CJ stopped me to ask if I had L's pictures. Nope, don't have them. She said they handed them out last Wed, and we weren't there. But she couldn't find them on the desk. She said she'd have Miss Susie look that afternoon. About 2pm I got a voicemail, Miss Susie, laughing saying she gave the pictures to J on Tuesday afternoon, and she remembered so well because L helped her get them. So I do what any good wife does. I call J at home, ask him if he has L's school pictures, and he goes "yeeessss" very slowly as it started to sink in that he forgot to give them to me. He's a professional photographer for crissakes. So I'm thinking one of two things. Either he thinks the pictures are bad and he could do better (which is true) or he doesn't want me to spend money on yet another set of L pictures (also true). Anyways, I just laughed, said make sure you bring them in the house, and I'll drop them off tomorrow. As I hang up I hear my cube farm neighbor snort and tell me that I'm mean. Why? Because I knew perfectly damn well that he had the pictures but I asked anyways to be snarky. Yep its true, snarky is the best adjective to describe me. She laughed though, all in good fun, because shes the same way as me. And yes I did apologize to J for being snarky.
But then the good part. After feeling bad and apologizing I have to go return some books to the library. As I'm leaving J reminds me the library called last Tuesday about a missing CD, they had the case and no CD. We searched the cars and computers on Wed, didn't find anything, left to go to St Louis, forgetting all about it. So I got to the library, pay the $7 of fines on J's account (from other stuff) and then talk to the head librarian. I did not get snarky with her. I knew it wasn't her fault, but I was worried the CD had fallen out and was stuck in some book about 1980's hair bands that no one would check out until the next GNR CD was released. She said she'd talk to her boss in the morning about it and call me, but to replace the CD was $17 ( I know I could totally get it cheaper from itunes). I get back out to the car, take one more cursory glance under the floor mats and seats, start the car and then notice the CD light is lit up on the player. Hmmm, I don't listen to CD's very often so its likely that its one from like 6 months ago, but I'll push the eject button and check. You've got to be effing kidding me. Out pops a CD I don't recognize. So I sheepishly go back in the building, again braving the 25 degree temps. Tell the librarian, don't ask, I'll pay the late fees next week and leave. I was seriously considering dropping it in the return box and running. But that would be dishonest.

When I got home J asked what the library said.
"Seventeen dollars to replace the CD" I told him.
"What, they aren't going to discount or anything? I know we returned it",
"Nope" I reply "no discounts, especially after I found it in my CD player".

Snarky? yes or no?

BTW he said that he didn't remember putting it in, but its possible that he was listening to it on the way home the day he checked it out. Which means it sat there for 3 weeks. Oh and he proceeds to tell me it wasn't any good. And that when we checked the cars, he checked *his* car's CD player. I had to remind him it didn't have a CD player.

We are smrt. Love you honey!

Christmas Lights, Turkey Day and Black Friday...All in One Update

I haven't posted in a while, and its been a long two weeks. Rather than post 3 different posts, I'll give you the Readers Digest, not-so-condensed version

Christmas Lights
This is our 5th Holiday in our home. We love putting up lights, and discovered the neighbors come to expect it. One year I was buying a new china cabinet and when I was giving the lady at the store our address she got all excited because its the cute house with the candy cane trees. And she knew which decor was new this year vs. last years lights. She must drive by my house a lot. Anyway, as far as Christmas lights go we are always replacing them every year. The first year we used my mom and dad's hand me down icicle lights, and those suckers lasted for 3 Christmas's. Then last year they went caput, so we hot footed it over to Target with a teething 5 month old and purchased all new icicle lights, in multi colors rather than white. We also purchased a few extra net lights (not cheap) and then some red to double up on our candy cane trees. The house looked rather lovely and we really enjoyed the lights. We even got compliments from the Limo driver that took us out for my in-laws 40th wedding anniversary. He said it made it much easier to find our house since it was lit up like the house in Christmas Vacation.
So this year, I didn't plan ahead very well and volunteered my home for the work Holiday Party, not realizing we would be out of town for the 2 weekend prior to the party. And I refuse to let J up on a ladder if I'm not home, should he fall and no one is there to throw their hands up in the air and call 911. So the Sunday before Thanksgiving, we are scrambling at 3pm, in the cold, to get our lights up. So, 75% of our lights were out and not fixable. 1 strand of the icicles was fine, the 2nd strand was out in 3 places and I managed to fix one, but not the other 2. And those are a lost cause. Then we started checking the net lights. Out of 6 sets, 1 set was fully functioning, the rest were out in various places. Again, if you've ever messed with multi colored net lights, you understand its nearly impossible to tell where the light is burned out. And then out of the 15 strands of red and whites that we use for our porch columns and the candy cane trees, 3 were fully functioning. I probably could have fixed them, but they are so inexpensive for the 100 strands that we decided to buy new again, and try to fix the rest later. Or sell them. Craigs List is awesome! Again, we were in a time crunch to get them done. So we headed over to Target and Walmart (shudder) and figured out Target had the best lights and the best prices, and we decided on the fly to change the color scheme from multi-colored to blue and white. So we bought all new lights (except for the nets, too expensive, we'll skip them this year and get them on clearance after Christmas) and they are up. Only half are on though, because with out the nets to connect the porch to the trees, we have an extension cord issue. We also invested in twinkle lights for the porch and they are lovely. It snowed here over the weekend, so if it doesn't melt today, we'll take pictures to post.
So yes I was upset that every year we buy new lights, and every year we have to buy more. But we've decided to standardize on Phillips Lights, and hopefully we can get a couple more years out of them.

Turkey Day Fun
This year was Thanksgiving at the Watson's in St. Louis. We were going back and forth on if we wanted to leave Tuesday night when I got off work, or Wednesday morning. We didn't want to drive in the dark, so we opted for Wed morning, but set the strict schedule of being out the door and on I-70 by 9am. We did not want to get stuck in StL rush hour traffic, its worse than anywhere else I've ever been...even LA. Then the next decision dilemma was which car to take. We've always been a one car, one SUV family. Then J got his new photography job, and needed a bigger vehicle so now we are a one mini-van, one SUV family. The van has way more room and we were hauling my sisters very large Christmas gift with us, and decided to take it. Until Wed morning when J realized the van doesn't have a CD player, and we could just use the iPod but he made L a bunch of new CD's and wanted the CD player. So fine, lets take my SUV. We get it all loaded, cats situated, front door locked, L in her car seat, ready to go....and.....it WONT START! The Pacifica is only 4 years old. Never given us any trouble (well only the one time when we got stranded in Oklahoma, but only for 24 hours). I called our insurance company to get the roadside assistance I play $1 extra for each month...side bar...when we were renewing our insurance a few years back USAA started their roadside assistance deal, $1 per vehicle per month. Covers tows, lock outs, gas, tires etc...this little voice in the back of my head kept reminding me what my dad and husband always say "never pay for that kind of service, you'll never us it, like extended warranties, there is no need". I shoved that voice aside and like the girly girl I am, said lets do it. And thank god! We've called them no less than 6 times, its fantastic, and well worth the $1. J even admits it now, and we'll always carry it on our cars, since we don't buy brand new anymore.
Anyways back to the dead car. While I was calling the insurance company J was moving L and all our stuff to the van. He was also trying to charge the battery with his jumper box, but nothing was working. USAA said it would be at least an hour to wait for the tow to the dealer, and when I asked if we had to be there, if they could just take the car for us, the agent asked "well what will you do with the keys"? Well lady, the car wont start, so its not like anyone is going to drive off with it, so I'll just leave them in the ignition. Well she didn't like that so much, so we said nevermind, we'll wait until we get back on Monday. No biggie. By then everything was moved to the van and J proclaims, "wow, we've got a lot more room here", no kidding Sherlock** just teasing you honey, but we bought the van because its bigger than the Pacifica, remember ** So it was a very comfortable ride in the van, and we only missed the CD player a little bit. We got on the road by 10am but still got stuck in the StL rush hour traffic, but made it home (my parents house, but still my home) right before it got dark. And L was a wonderful traveler. She was a doll at Cracker Barrel and stuffed herself full of corn bread muffins.

The rest of the weekend was much better than that first hour. We did a big meal with my parents, grandparents, aunts,sister and future brother in law. L immediately started loving on everyone, not acting all shy like usual. My mom and I did the Black Friday thing (more about that later), got to see the outdoor site where my sisters wedding will be, went to a Holiday Party at my future B-i-L's parents, and went wedding dress shopping with my sister (her dress is so lovely, I didn't cry, but my mom and sister did, I was too busy chasing after L). We also did a mini-Christmas with my Aunt's and Grandparents because we'll be staying in KC for Christmas this year, and they won't be traveling this way. My parents will be coming the day after Christmas.

The ride home wasn't too bad, loads of traffic, couple of accidents, breakdowns etc...and it snowed most of the way back, but didn't stick. L was so happy to be home so kept clapping and cheering and giggling and chasing the cats. She finally crashed at 9pm, and then me an hour later. The house is a mess, but J is ambitious and thinks he can clean it up before I get home.

The Pacifica is currently at the dealership, keeping my fingers crossed its something covered by the warranty (yes I said warranty, I was 5 months pregnant when we bought the Pacifica, and I insisted on the extended warranty, despite J's protests, must have been the hormones and the fact that my previous car was a used BMW and no warranty= $1,000 repairs each time it broke down, which was quite often. Superior car my foot).

Black Friday Mayhem
When I was younger and we were living in Virginia we always went to the convention center for the Black Friday craft fair. It was huge and I remember always loving everything I saw. We don't have anything like that here, so I've started the Black Friday-crack of dawn-shopping tradition. I first started it three years ago when I was pregnant with L, and wanted to get everything done early. I didn't do the early morning shopping though. I went with a friend after all the crazies when home. We still got great deals and all my shopping done that day. Then last year mom and I decided to go at 4am to JCP and then continue to Target, Kohl's and then the Mall. We needed to go early because J had to work at 10am and we didn't want to drag L with us, and we weren't sure how long my dad could stay home with her without having to change a diaper. It went well, JCP wasn't overly crowded although we saw a women bite it on the ice in the parking lot, but she got up and kept going. We got to Target right as they opened, and not too bad either. Got some great deals. Kohl's was a little more crowded, line was forever long, but we were done and home by noon. Christmas shopping done.
This year J and I have been Christmas shopping since October, but we did have a few more things to get, and I asked mom if she wanted to go to Target with me at 6am. She agreed. Then on Thanksgiving we were going through all the ads and I remember my friend S telling me that Wally World (shudder) was going to have a Kitchen Aid 4.5 qt Classic Mixer for $130. My dream mixer, for under $150. I told my mom that's what I wanted for Christmas and she agreed. So we decided to hit up Walmart (shudder) at 5am. Un-beknowst to us, all of Jefferson County decided to converge on the Festus Walmart at the exact same time. I have never in my life seen that many people in one spot. You couldn't move. They had to be breaking firecodes. Not sure if all Walmarts (shudder) were like that, but hearing about that poor man in NY that was trampled leads me to believe they were. No deal is worth being that scared. I grabbed the last mixer off the shelf and we went to electronics to check out. You couldn't even tell where all the lines started or stopped. Well the mixer rang up the wrong price, of course. Then the manager comes over and it turns out, that while its the EXACT SAME MIXER, Kitchen Aid provided Walmart (shudder) with a different SKU's mixer to sell on Friday, and they couldn't give me the SAME EXACT MIXER for that price because of the 1 letter off the SKU was. Needless to say I was livid, and will no longer shop at Walmart (shudder). I'm considering angry letters to both the Kitchen Aid people and Walmart. Now I know it wasn't Walmart's (shudder) fault they were that crowded, its the economy and the crazy shoppers looking for the best bargain, but seriously any other day that manager would have glady discounted the mixer. While all that was going on a friend of my mom's shows up with her brand new baby (commenting about how she is scared someone might steal her, or a fire would break out and we're all trapped, but she's buying that new TV anyways) and mentions she got a KitchenAid mixer for cheaper at Kohl's and we should go there. So we left Walmart (shudder) empty handed and head to Target.
God Bless Target and the Red Bulls Eye. It was so much calmer over there. Sure there were lots of people and long lines, but everything was organized, the employees were polite and all over the place, and the DVD's were cheaper! We got most of the stuff we needed, checked out the mixers, still the same full price, and headed over to Kohl's. I was so pleased with Target, I made sure to collect the few stray carts around our car and put them in the cart buggy for the nice employees in the red polos. Did I say how much I love Target? I might write them a letter telling them how fabulous they were.
When we got to Kohl's I was a little worried, they had been open for 5 hours already and I was afraid the place would be a mess. Other than not having any carts it wasn't too bad. They had 4 different KitchenAid mixers on sale. And I ended up getting the Heavy Duty mixer (normally $379, not $200 like the other one) , for $10 less than the one at Walmart (shudder) when you count the rebate and the $40 Kohl's cash my mom earned. So good deal, go Kohls! Had I had an extra $100 I might have opted for the Artisan mixer in red, but truthfully, I may not always have a red kitchen and I can get the accessories later for the Heavy Duty. Besides that the HD one can make 6lbs of mashed taters!

So thanks Lisa for the heads up, and if anyone needs a great deal on a KitchenAid mixer, head to Kohl's. And Thanks Mom! For enduring an Black Friday nightmare and getting me my dream mixer!

WW 3.0 Update

Just a quick update. I've been on WW for 3 weeks now, I weigh in tomorrow. My first two weeks went well, I lost 7lbs between the two. I'm not sure how this week is going to go. First, it seemed like the pills were really doing their job. I found I wasn't hungry as often and I wasn't snacking at work all the time. However, lately I have started feeling hungry and that could be for more than one reason (no I'm not pregnant). One is that I ha vent been eating as healthy as I did the first two weeks. I've eaten out Mexican 3x in the last week for various reasons, and J and I had date night and went to the Plaza III last Saturday. I tried not to overindulge, but crab cakes, steak, potatoes and souffle be damned! I've also celebrated a co-workers b-day and cookies were involved, and Stephanie came over for dinner last night and brought the most fabulous cookies, which I proudly only ate 2 of. Had she left the Tupperware of cookies I don't think they would have made it through the night. Even L ate 2! I've been tracking my points all week, and I haven't gone over, but I only have 9 of my weekly flex points left, where as the last 2 weeks I didn't use any of the 35 I am allotted. We'll see what the verdict is tomorrow morning. I won't be upset if I didn't lose, but I'll be very disappointed if I gained any of that 7lbs back the week before Thanksgiving!
The second reason I may be hungrier is that I'm a little bored at work. Things always slow down the week before Thanksgiving and really don't pick up again until February. I've been compiling a list of projects I can create for myself, to keep busy. A lot of my overeating is boredom related, boo!

I'm going to start working out in the middle of the day, rather than the evening, so that will take up a good hour and a half to two hours. That's the great thing about work, we have an on-site fitness center that rivals the Bally's and 24-Hour fitness's in KC. So I don't have to go far. I can even see the track if I look out the window at the end of the hall. So really my point is that I have NO EXCUSE for not going to work out M-F.

So that's my "quick" update. Ha! Wish me luck tomorrow, I hope I am not disappointed, but I know I didn't work all that hard this week, so I deserve what I get. I'm also going to have to weigh in on Wed morning before we leave for St Louis because I'll be gone through Sunday. So that's only going to give me 3 days to catch up!

This is me

This is how I feel. Great. I guess I am one of the lucky ones.

Weight Watchers 3.0

So I'm on a diet. I'm overweight. Always have been. In high school and college I was the chubby one, but it was never a problem. I had lots of friends, could get a date when I wanted and was in a popular and well like sorority. When I graduated from college I realized I had gained the freshman 15 and then some. No thanks to fattening beer and sugar laced alcohol. And cafeteria food. I miss taquitos.

That was my first stint with WW, and I lost 20 lbs. Not bad. Then when J and I were dating we made a habit of long walks and going to the gym, so I lost some more weight and then right before our wedding, I was probably at my lowest weight since 2000. But it wasn't for the reasons you think, like trying to squeeze into a dress. My dress fit fine. I was sick.

When I was 18 my mom found me curled up in the fetal position on the bathroom floor because my stomach hurt. At least I thought it was my stomach, I wasn't really sure. She took me to the ER, they said it was gas and sent me on my way with instructions to drink jello water. Fast forward 7 years and J finds me curled up in a ball on the bed, same thing. Eventually the pain subsides. Several months later, after a Sunday afternoon lunch at his parents, the pain returns. Only this time its so bad I won't let him touch me, so we go to the ER. At first the nurse thought I was having a wedding panic attack, but when I told the Dr it felt like someone was stabbing me between my shoulder blades, he said "gallstones". So a few tests later, it was determined the gallbladder had to come out. But the surgeon was booked for a month, and there was no way to get it done pre-wedding and for me to recover enough to go to Cozumel on our honeymoon. So the nurse and I came up with plan. NO FAT. NONE. TOTALLY FAT FREE. And I could go to Mexico, but I had to take pain pills and antibiotics, and if I woke up one morning and the whites of my eye were yellow, then I had to hop the next plane back home because that meant liver failure. Needless to say I was scared to death of any food that had an ounce of fat in it.

~I came home that day and J had thrown away the entire contents of our fridge and pantry and re-stocked with Kristin appropriate foods.

~I called the nurse three days later to ask if this meant I couldn't eat my wedding cake. "Yes" she said "no cake".

~My mother in law called the rehearsal dinner venue and gave them the heads up so they could prepare me a special meal.

~The reception wasn't a problem because there would be salad, veggies and grilled chicken for me.

~But no cake :( I'm still bitter. I was so looking forward to that cake, and the grooms cake too. It was Kahlua flavored.

Three weeks after we returned from our honeymoon, my new husband and mom took me to the hospital for my outpatient surgery to remove the offending gallbladder.

One week later I was given the all clear. So I went to McDonald's. Big mistake. J believes removing my gallbladder is at least half of my problem if not more. I was better off with the no-fat diet than I was sans gallbladder and eating my way across the Midwest fast food chains. He's probably right. The Dr said there is no way to be sure having my gallbladder removed is the culprit, but she does believe its part of the problem.

When I started gaining weight I realized it, so I went to WW, but failed. Then I tried Slim 4 Life, waste of money. Mostly because I traveled, and it was hard to stick to a diet when your are traveling all over for work and the vendors keep taking you to Brazilian Steakhouses.

I did lose about 15lbs on S4L, but then got pregnant, so I couldn't continue with the program. I didn't gain very much weight with L, but then again, I didn't need to. And my Dr never said anything or seemed concerned about my weight.

18 months after L's birth and I weigh more now that I did at my last pregnancy appointment.

The hubby and I went to an informational seminar at the local hospital on LapBand. Turns out my insurance will pay for 1/2 but only if you've been a certain BMI for 5 years or more. I just now hit that BMI, with in the last 6 months. So I'm not really a candidate. Besides that with LapBand you'll only lose 50% of your excess weight. So if you were 100lbs over your recommended weight range, you'd only lose 50lbs.

I think 50lbs should be achievable through diet and exercise. As long as you can stick to it.

So here I am with my 3rd attempt at Weight Watchers. My doctor has also prescribed Phentermine, and will be monitoring me monthly. Phentermine was an ingredient in Fen-Phen, but not the bad one, that gave you ulcers and caused you to lose it. However it is a controlled substance that can be abused, so no refills are authorized unless you see your DR monthly. And you can only take it for 6 months, then must be off of it for 6 months, as to not get addicted to it.

You can read all about it here: http://www.webmd.com/diet/phentermine-for-obesity

Anyway the point is that I'm trying again. My sister gets married in less than a year and all her bridesmaids are skinny Minni's like her. But that's not the only reason I am doing it. We want to be able to get the maximum amount of life insurance you can get, and insurance companies aren't kind to overweight folks. And I want my feet to stop hurting in high heals, and I want to shop at the cool vintage 2nd hand stores that don't carry plus size clothing. And I want to be healthy, so I can be around a long time to watch my baby grow up. And someday have another baby.

Hold me accountable. Ask me how my diet is going. Ask me what I weigh. Ask me if I worked out. Ask me if I've eaten candy, cookies or cake today. Support is what I need, but I also need discipline, and sometimes that discipline can equal hard love. That is fine, that is what I need.

Obama vs McCain

I'm going to start with a disclaimer. I know I'm making generalizations. It's all in good fun. No I'm not going to tell you who I voted for and I don't want to know who you voted for. That's your business. What matter's is that you voted.

Over the last 2-3 months, when driving about, I've been forming a list in my head of differences between McCain supporters and Obama supporters. Its not a Republican vs Democrat thing either. There are a lot of Obama supporters that are Republicans, and vice versa (well maybe not so many Democrats supporting McCain) but you get my point.

So here is my list.

Obama supporters drive foreign cars.
McCain supporters drive domestic.

Obama supporters dry clean their clothes.
McCain supporters do it the old fashioned way.

Obama supporters prefer KU over MU, and K-State over KU. You won't really get that reference if you aren't from the Midwest.
McCain supporters just like to watch football.

Obama supporters have bumper stickers that say "I heart my dogs", "PETA", "I'd rather be shopping at Nordstroms"
McCain supporters have bumper stickers that say "PETA, People Eating Tasty Animals", "My kid beat up your honor student", "NRA"

Obama supporters carry pocket dogs, and take them into the mall.
McCain supporters don't have pets.

Obama supporters watch Dave.
McCain supporters watch Jay.

Obama supporters watch GMA.
McCain supporters watch the Today show.

Obama supporters shop at Whole Foods, and buy organic.
McCain supporters shop at Wal-Mart.

Obama supporters honk the horn if you sleep through a red light.
McCain supporters do nothing, smile politely, then give you the finger when you aren't looking.

Obama supporters will tell you when, where, how and why you should vote.
McCain supporters just say vote. And most of the time won' t admit who they voted for, should they get beat up for it. That's okay though because later they can sport stickers that say " I voted for the other guy" when it all gets mucked up. Not that its going to happen.


So that's it. That's my list. Its short. And by no way and means does it reflect my political preferences. According to the online quiz I took before the primaries, I was going to vote for Hilary!

So what differences have you spotted? They can be funny, true, blatant lies. It's your opinion and you are entitled to it. God Bless America.

Recipe for Disaster

The whole day was bad. It started off good though. J took L to school, so Mommy could get ready in peace. It seems lately that if I step out of L's sight she screams and cries and chokes herself by sucking on her fingers. She follows me to the restroom and tries to get up on the my lap! While I am occupied. She tried to get in the shower with me. She wants to play in my make up- dear god its starting already?? I should have known it was all going to go downhill when I had to drop off my laptop yet again to get worked on. This time they said they'd move me to the front of the pack and it wouldn't be long. So I wondered over to our retail store and went to the back to help out with some receiving stuff. Two hours later, my computer was done. By then it was too late to work out, too late to get anything done, so I went to pick up L. I should have known, when I picked her up Miss C said she'd been fussy since her nap, always crying if she fell down or got bumped. I took her home and she screamed in the car for half the ride, the finally stuck her thumb in her mouth and looked out the window. When we got home she wouldn't budge. I should have known, I unbuckled her belts and she threw herself back in the seat. When I finally got her out, she hit me. Hard. So hard all we could both do is look at each other. I smiled and kissed her on the head, not feeling like disciplining her. She was fine after we got inside. Fine while she ate her dinner, and fine when I cleaned her up. Then daddy walked in the door, and back out the door because he left our sandwiches in the car. She screamed, thinking he wasn't coming back. Then she got better again. Fine through her bath, fine when I put her in bed, fine when Daddy walked out the door to go to wally world for Mommy. Fine when I cracked six eggs and beat them in a bowl, fine when I dumped 3 cups of sugar in a bowl. Not fine when I started melting butter. Not fine when I was trying to mix the 4 cups of mashed sweet potatoes into the clumped up sugar/egg/butter mixture that I neglected when I went to comfort her. Some might ask why I didn't just let her cry it out. See previous post http://relectionsandgripes.blogspot.com/2008/10/blindness-and-baby-puke.html, she likes to make herself sick by crying. Its easier to check on her, give her a hug and kiss, than it is to clean puke out of the crib.

So needless to say my 3 sweet potato pies didn't turn out like the one I made before. Maybe it was my over zealousness and trying to make 3 at once. I would have been better off making one at a time. Then at least I would have only ruined one. I brought one to work anyway for the Harvest Potluck, but I didn't bother to label it as mine. It doesn't look pretty, J said it tastes fine, but I wanted it to be pretty.

Oh but that wasn't the end of the bad night. Why was J running off to wally world for me? Because I clogged up the sink trying to feed the disposal all my sweet potato shavings. We needed Draino. And swiffer wetjet solution to mop my floor. Oh wait, the batteries were dead on the swiffer. When I changed them, it still didn't work. I gave up at that point and went to bed. But wait there was a large pile of laundry, I half heartedly put some away, threw the rest of the dresser, turned out the lights and crawled under the covers. I gave up.

When I got up this morning, the sink was fine. The gross water that had backed up into the dishwasher was gone. Turns out the draino didn't work but the plunger did. And my swiffer is working again.

Thanks honey for being my handy man!

L is still in a foul mood though. I think she's adding to her mouthful of teeth. At least she looks cute trying to figure out what in god's name did her mommy dress her in this morning!

Why we don't wear white after labor day.

We had a wonderful day at Boo at the Zoo on Saturday. Lots of cute kiddos in cute and not so cute outfits. And as we are leaving this is what I see:

Yes, those are white stretch pants, after labor day. Oh do you want a closer look?

Piece of advice people, if you insist on the white stretch pants, at least wear a shirt that covers your rear! Enough said, the picture speaks volumes.

What to complain about today...

I'll start with the two guys on the entrance ramp to the interstate who decided they had to race each other down the ramp and onto the interstate during RUSH HOUR! I mean I've got a baby in the car, don't endanger her life because you have to prove who has the bigger youknowwhat.
Then there was the fact I got up numerous times in the middle of the night with L, who really was only thirsty. Man that kid can drink some water. Which also meant several diaper changes. Then we overslept, because we were so tired from all the water drinking and diaper changing. Then in the car on the way to daycare she takes her baggie full of teddy grahams and yogurt bites and dumps them all over herself and my somewhat clean car. But she's so darn cute, its hard to get mad at her. So I got mad at myself for giving her a snack in a baggie. I need some of those no spill snack cups, they can get their little fat fingers in but can't dump the snack out. I think I saw them at Target.
Then I got to work and realized I was really cold, well no kidding I wasn't wearing a coat. I am wearing a turtle neck and tank top, but I'm still cold. I think the air is still on in my building.

Things will improve after lunch....

People we meet...or try to hide from

So I'm at the car wash the other day, the kind you leave your car at the door, and they drive it through, dry it etc...so I go into pay and there's this guy, he just looks like an a-hole. Bluetooth headset stuck in his ear, he's playing with his Blackberry, shirt, tie, fancy shoes, etc. Anyways, he starts talking to the 70-something clerk that takes your money. And he's being pretty nice and pleasant, discussing the weather, other mundane topics. Then I hear him say "man I gotta lot of money tied up in some hedge funds, see I'm a hedge fund manager, I've got some big clients, so-and-so, blah blah blah". Yeah just when I was starting to think maybe I've misjudged the guy he starts to go all name droppey on me. And whining about the economy. Goodness. So then that led me to my next train of thought which was, I kinda used to be like that, or maybe I still am. Not a hedge fund manager, but rather the name dropper. You see I went to high school with the kid whose grandparents own our MLB team, you see that kind of stuff. Not that the kid would know me from Adam if he saw me on the street. Which then led me to another thought, I hide from people, totally. For a girl who likes to talk, and could talk to a tree, I hide from people that I think I know, or that I do know. Two thoughts will run through my mind if I see someone I've known in the past:
a. crap, I don't know if I went to highschool with them, or college, or just worked with them, or maybe she does my nails, or does her kid go to my kid's daycare?
b. crap, that's so-and-so and the totally won't remember my name.
So. I. Hide.
Like the time the husband and I were in Fazoli's and my highschool boyfriend was standing in line in front of us. I gave my husband my order and about faced and found a seat. All the time praying this kid wouldn't see me. I don't know if I feared that he would only slightly recognize me, but not remember my name or he would remember me all too well. I mean it had been at least 7 years since I last saw or talked to this guy. I also discovered in the last year, that I've been working with a girl that I did go to highschool with, we didnt hang out, but we had a class of only 200, so you would think we would know each other. But we didn't. I finally asked her at lunch one day, where did you go to school. And then we realized it. We had both married and had new last names, so it was understandable we didnt place each other immediately, and now that we've gotten that over with, we're work buddies.
And then there is the issue of sorority sisters. I have so many. With a sorority that had at least 120-140 girls per year, with classes of 40 coming in each fall, I've had plenty of them. 3 that I would call my best friends in the world. And we still stay in touch, and live in the same city, do Christmas, b-day's and weddings together. And then I would say there are about 10 more girls that I would do anything for, but we don't talk that often, if at all. Unless its by email, or at a football game. Then there are the rest. Some I remember, some I don't, some don't remember me. Just a few weeks ago, and my local ice cream place I could swear one of the girls that I hung out with quite a bit was standing in line in front of me, but I did it. I hid. Not really because I had to order our ice cream, but I made a big show of not making eye contact for fear she wouldn't know who I was, or she would and then there would be all the uncomfortable, forced, "oh hi, this is my husband, baby, dog, mother in law, etc", but really would that be so bad??

I should really try harder to keep in contact with friends I like.

Blindness and Baby Puke

Sounds promising doesn't it? Not really, but I'm going to tell the story anyways. It all starts 29 years ago when I was born into a family with the worst eyesight ever. Seriously. We all wear some form of glasses or contacts, every single member of my clan, except for L, but time will tell.
I've worn glasses since I was 8, and contacts since I was 12. Its probably safe to say my eyesight is the worst. If you wear contacts you'll get this...my right eye is a -8.5 and my left -9.5; my sister is like a -3, my mom -2...so my eyes are terrible. With out my contacts or glasses I can't see anything, my alarm clock has 6 inch high numbers so I can see it at night.
Now you know how bad my eyesight is, on to a little more background info, about a year ago I went to the Lasik Eye surgeon and was told, nope, it wouldn't even help you. Okay, what would? Some new experimental procedure where we basically replace your lens. Oh and it costs about $5 grand per eye. Yeah, I'm gonna do that. So I went to my trusty eye DR, who said the reason why I had been having problems for a year, with eye itchiness and my contacts would constantly float off my eyes was because I was allergic to them. The same damn kind I've worn for like 5 years, I was now allergic to. I have HIVES under my eyelids. Gross.
So he suggests I switch to a daily contact that I can throw away every day and it would help. And he was right. These things have been awesome. Save for the fact I have to keep a stock of 700+ on hand, since I buy for the whole year.
And why not wear my glasses, you ask? Well when your eyes are as bad as mine, it means your glasses are going to be coke bottle thick and you can't get cute little wire frames or glasses like Sarah Palin. Nope, plastic is pretty much your only option. I have managed to find some cool Coach glasses that I adore, but the next problem is that I (or rather my insurance company) spends a bunch of money to sand, grind, whatever to make my lenses appear to be as thin as possible. That means I lose a bit of my perifreal (i know thats wrong, but I dont know how to spell it) vision. I look too far left or right and everything goes blurry. Not very conducive for driving. So I have to wear the contacts. Besides I have good looking eyebrows, I don't want to leave behind some thick nerd glasses.
So now you know that I am blind, now on to the baby puke part of the post.
L has been sick. She has some snot and congestion thing going on and when she starts coughing she eventually gags and makes herself sick. She figured this little trick out a while back, and she knows that if she doesn't want to go to bed she can start crying and coughing and if she starts gagging, we'll come running.
So she goes to bed last night, peacefully, and then J and I start the bedtime routine. I took out my contacts and immediately my eye started to twitch then burn. I thought I had some jalapeno juice or something on my fingers. J was holding the discarded contact ready to throw it in the trash, when I take a look at it and realize a whole chunk of it was missing, which means its still in my eyeball. I've never done that, in the 17 years I've worn contacts that's never happened. So I immediately go to the mirror on the bedroom door and start looking around and rolling my eyeball trying to find that small, slightly blue tinged piece of plastic. I'm alternating between the bedroom and the bathroom. Eventually my eye stops burning so I figure I got it out, even though I can't find it. By then J has gone to sleep and its all dark, so I start rooting around for my glasses. I felt all the bathroom shelves, then the sides of our pedestal sink and nothing. So I go back to the bedroom and root around on the dressers and side tables, and I kept coming back to J's glasses but not mine. So I figure no biggie, I'll go to sleep, when I get up in the morning I'll have time to put in my contacts before L gets up. No such luck.

At about midnight I hear some coughing from her room, then she starts the gagging, then I can practically hear the snot start to gurgle in the back of her throat, so I run in there, not even realizing I can't see squat. Of course J has the ability to sleep through all this, I guess its good we both don't, or she may have choked herself by now.
So I run in there and she's half standing half sitting by what I can tell, and she doesn't have her eyes open but shes gurgling snot everywhere, so I step in some on the floor (I know gross) and I put my hand under her mouth to catch it all, and so she knows I'm there. By then I think I realize I can't see. So I gave up and I yelled for J to get his butt out of bed and help me out. He comes running in all sleepy eyed, but at least he can see. I told him to just find my glasses and he could go back to bed, all the time I've got a fist full of baby snot and spit up. What I really didn't want was for her to full on puke. You see there is a difference between baby spit up and baby puke. Baby spit up is the stuff that never makes it down to their tummy's. It comes up looking very much the same way it did going down. Milk looks like milk, snot looks like snot (TMI , I know) but baby puke is just awful. The first time we got puke after she started eating whole foods I actually gagged, and I'm the same woman who doesn't think twice about sticking my own hands out to catch her puke, but I still gagged.
Anyways I got my glasses, was able to see to get her out of bed, stick her in the tub and get her clean PJ's and back in bed. Then I stood there and played with her for 15 minutes until I was sure she'd go back to sleep and no more coughing and gagging. We were good for the rest of the night.
When I got up the AM, I had my glasses right next to the bed, so "I could see. It's a miracle" ($5 if you can tell me what movie that's from, just kidding on the $5 but you'll have my respect).
Then I go to put in my contacts before leaving the house, and OMG the burning. I figured I still had a piece of the torn contact in my eye. So I take the contact out, attempt to put it back in the little box it came from and then tried to put in my left contact, forgetting that I had already opened in and that's the box I put the right one back into. So now I've got two contacts in the same box and I have no clue which is which. So in the trash they went. Fifty cents wasted. But I got both eyes functioning and working now. So all is good.

Wow! Long and boring story....

Rainy Mondays are the Best

Am I the only one who likes a dark dreary rainy fall Monday morning? It makes my heart sing when I get up, get ready, leave the house and its all foggy like and the sun is not supposed to shine. I mean don't get me wrong, I love spring and summer as much as the next person. I got married in the spring, had a baby in the late spring/early summer, and my birthday is also at the same time. And I have the cutest sunglasses. But there comes a point in time, when the 90 degree heat and 100% humidity are no longer the days we crave (my hair isnt too fond of them either). Instead I am looking forward to the clouds, the fog, the rain and the leaves whipping around to the ground. Eventually that all gives away to freezing rain, sleet and snow and I'll be back to griping again, but for now I am going to enjoy my dreary fall day. By going to the dentist! What tops the dreary day better than that. I swear mother nature knows when I have a dentist appointment. My last appointment was in early May, and it too was one of those rainy, dreary spring days that I love. And before that? I bet it wasn't sunny then either.

I had a whole bunch of gripes I wanted to post today, but I've gone and forgotten them all. Darn that thing called a job. Oh well, I'll save them for another day.

Grandma's

So today's post is not going to be about a gripe, I had a good day today. I got to work on time, L was in a good mood (except for the tumble she took into a chair and subsequent cut on her cheek, but more on that later) and I got to fill in for my boss on a big director staff call and it made me feel good that he trusted me with that. J just gave me a big bowl of ice cream, so all is good in the world.

Today's post is about grandma's and why we should all love ours. I have both my grandmothers still with me, and thank god L has both of hers. J on the other hand only has one, and she's technically old enough to be my great grandmother. The sad part is all of our GiGi's live more than 4 hours away, and only one of L's grandma's lives in the area.

Today is my Granny's Birthday. She is 76 years old. She still lives alone, babysits the great grand babies and cooks fabulous meals. She is a mother to 4, grandmother to 10 and great grand mother to 5. And I miss her so much today. Of course I sent a card, but I usually don't call to talk to her, because she has trouble hearing over the phone. But I went to Tar Jay earlier and saw the cutest little old woman walking the aisles just looking at stuff. I had to fight the urge to give her a hug right there. She probably would have smacked me upside the head with her purse, but it would have been worth it. So I called my granny, right there from the laundry soap aisle. And we had a wonderful conversation. She learned about L's spill at school and the scrape on her knee, all just because she is learning to walk. We talked about my sister K and her upcoming big test, and then about the visit my family is making next weekend. But man did I miss her. She was supposed to come visit last weekend with my mom, but she has an inner ear infection that makes her dizzy and didn't think a 4 hour train ride was best. I was so looking forward to spending 2 whole days with her, and none of the other grand kids (sorry guys, but its my turn now). Alas, it didn't happen, but we will see her soon, hopefully at Thanksgiving.

So the moral of my little story is to appreciate your grandmothers. Doesn't matter if they had a small presence, or if they raised you, with out them you wouldn't be here....

Fashion Sense (or lack there of)

Okay boys and girls, today's topic is fashion, (Topics of reflection come and go, I get easily irritated so lets be honest here, I have a lot to complain about, but this is the last thing I remember seeing that made me pause so that's what we're going to discuss).





When did too tight Capri's that hug ones calf become acceptable "business casual" attire? I mean really? Business casual usually doesn't include blue jeans, and if your company's dress code calls for jeans, let me know because I want to work there. Anyway I digress. I saw a woman today, and I'm not going to say where, but lets just say it was not business appropriate attire for where I spotted her. She was sporting a nice button down top, that I myself might own, but she paired it with tight and I mean tight (I think she was cutting off the circulation to the lower half of her legs) blue jean Capri's and lace up ankle booties. I had lace up ankle booties once. Yeah, I think it was in 1993 along with the purple high top Reebok's. And don't even get my started on the peep toe boot. What is the purpose?

Topics for later fashion conversations are going to include too short skirts, shorts at work, and lacking a bra. And if I happen to be able to sneak a picture of the victim, you bet I'll show it to you!

My first time

Hey guess what? This is my first blog post. Mind you its not my first blog. I created one with the intention of keeping family and friends up to speed on the happenings of my little one, we'll call her "Sassy Pants", nevermind we'll just call her L, but I never created a single post. And L is 1.5 now. A toddler. Not a baby anymore.
Anywho, I decided to create this blog because according to my husband, J, I have a lot of things to gripe about. We were in the car and I was complaining yet again about something totally trivial and he said "you could write a blog with all your whining" and so now I am. Maybe this will make me less cranky and b**chy at work.
And maybe it'll make me a better parent and wife.

Here's hoping!