What was I saying?

Freezer Eating

2010-10-19T15:32:00.001-07:00

It only took me 3years of being a working-parent to realize that it would be easier to cook twice as much for dinner and freeze the extra for enjoyment another week. This would make weeknight dinners faster and also reduce the number of last-minute restaurant visits because it's 'too late to fix anything'. Well this week (following a lovely weekend away with my hubby) we are Freezer Eating. I wandered the grocery store late Sunday Evening and was at a loss for ideas of what to eat for the week. Then it hit me, pull from the leftovers! I have only been freezing for the last month or so and have been very protective about the idea of dipping in too soon. I wanted to have some solid stock! Well now I've got Chili, Enchilada Casserole, Tomato Sauce and Curry Chicken. So what are we eating this week? Chili, Enchilada Casserole and because I love me some breakfast, we'll be having breakfast for dinner one night as well (easy-peasy!). Now if I could only find a way to simplify the dish washing process. One idea my hubby had was to invent a dishwasher that new it was full, supplied its own soap and viola! Someday.

Practically Creative

2010-05-27T19:45:00.001-07:00

So I ventured into my next sewing project! But first, a tiny bit of back-story. When we first moved into our home I was struck at how well my fuzzy socks cleaned the floor as I shuffled around the house each evening. And when I came across this tutorial I thought, brilliant! {I've started the felt flash cards too - eek!} My practical side and my creative side converged, and this is what was born.

Yes, it's a reusable dust-bunny cloth! Certainly mine was not as attractive or as finished, but hey it's only my 2nd sewing project ever (minus the pillow I made in third grade). This project also appealed to my need-to-be-greener side and my get-over-on-the-man side (ha ha - proctor & gamble won't be getting a dime from me for refills).

Learning to Sew

2010-05-02T20:45:00.000-07:00

Step 1: Buy a machine, but not just any machine, a computerized one!
Step 2: Go to fabric store and buy some cheap-o fabric
Step 3: Figure out how to thread a needle. If you can't figure this out (and I almost gave up) then take the machine back and find another hobby.
Step 3: Sew a few stitches on some cheap-o fabric
Step 4: When you're bored of sewing stitches on cheap-o fabric, make something. I chose to make an envelope pillow cover. I still used cheap-o fabric as I was not necessarily intending on actually using this pillow cover, but figured it would give me focused practice time.

***I really like some of the cheap-o fabric and thought this could just be the new pillow we've been needing for our family room!***

Step 5: Cut off the sides and start again because the envelope overlap is too short and it flops open. Not to mention, the pillow is a tad too long (awkwardly so).
Step 6: Re-sew the sides of the pillow using a Serging Stitch (on my first day? Indeed, I went for it!)
Step 7: Realize that the second time making the pillow cover {did I mention it was a 15-20 minute pillow cover that has now taken me close to 2 hours} that I forgot to turn it inside-out? As I stand up from my new machine still proud of my first project regardless of its flaws (and there were many), I hear my husband begin to yell...
Step 8: Clean up dog piss that is rapidly endangering computer CPU with my new inside-out pillow cover.
Step 9: Order pizza and call it a night.

Memeno

2010-04-29T21:46:00.000-07:00

A friend suggested I blog this, so before I forget here we go

Around 6-8 months ago our little music man started singing, "Memeno". That was the only word and he would sing it to a tune that was completely unrecognizable. Each week I would try to remind myself to ask his preschool teachers because surely it was a song they sang in class. Each week would go by and I would forget to ask. Soon he started to vary the lyrics singing, "Memeno Cars". Cars, huh? Of course this was about the time that everything in his world began revolving around transportation - cars, trucks, trains, planes - you name it! It was also about the time we started letting him watch the Disney movie Cars as well. So who knew, really.

As the holidays approached I finally remembered to ask his pre-school teachers. We walked in like we did every day, dropped off his lunch box, hung up his coat, and then it happened. There I stood in front of all the teachers singing, "Memeno Cars" and they stared at me blankly and then began to laugh. They had absolutely no idea what I was singing. Embarrassed? A little, but really I was just more perplexed then anything. What was Memeno?!

We began to clue in that it had something to do with the Cars movie. But we've had the fortunate of listening to the soundtrack over and over again and there is not one song that sounds anything like "Memeno". And then he began asking for the Cars movie by saying, "I want to watch Memeno Cars". Watch?! He went from strolling around the house singing to now wanting to watch? Confused.

Christmas Day our friends Dave and Karolina joined us for a joyous holiday meal and not only did they get to hear the story of Memeno, but if memory serves me right they got to hear E sing it live and in-person. What I thought would be just a happy memory for our dear friends became a healthy obsession. Dave went home and spent hours (possibly slightly exaggerated) combing over the Cars Soundtrack finally settling on this one by Hank Williams. Nope, not it. I put Elliot on my lap and played song after song via You Tube from the soundtrack and each one he would agree with me when I would say, "Is this Memeno?". Drat!

But alas, as days and weeks went by he would begin asking for Memeno race (which we quickly figured out was the first race in the movie) and then we'd be in the car and he would ask to listen to Memeno Real Gone which happens to be the song that is played during Memeno race. And sadly today he mostly just asks for Real Gone. Memeno has almost left his little vocabulary. He's moved on to bigger words and other songs from the soundtrack, as seen here in his facebook debut of "Life is a Highway".

Make mine a salad...

2010-02-17T21:04:00.001-08:00

Losing and/or maintaining weight for those of us that are metabolically challenged is hard enough going solo, but trying to meet the nutritional needs of the rest of your family makes it even harder. But recently I discovered salad! Or shall I say rediscovered salad. I have always been one to enjoy the wild mixes of ingredients that restaurants call salad, but at home I was always a simpleton: Lettuce (not iceberg, at least), red onion, tomato, beets, maybe some chicken and tad bit of dressing tossed on. But my son needs to be eating everything and my husband wants it all but without saturated fat, so I decided to give them just that and put theirs over rice and mine on a salad. Last night, Curry Chicken with Peas. For Elliot, mixed with rice. For Dale, over rice with a side of Naan and yogurt sauce. For Me, over some greens with just a splash of creamy cilantro dressing and a couple of high-fiber tortillas to grab some tasty bites with. Brilliant! What will I think of next?

Lessons from Grandma: Black Pants

2010-02-03T20:42:00.001-08:00

When times are tough we all look for ways to cut back. But as generations go by, it gets harder and harder to not 'purchase' our problems away. I can't just pick up a sewing machine and make myself a dress, for instance (but oh how I wish I could!). But as I discovered recently, I can dye my pants!

Recently my Auntie and I were in my Grandma's garage when she held up a big mason jar full of what looked like black water. In response to my concerned facial expression she said, "It's clothes dye". Of course! Of course! The same woman who canned peaches for the winter knows exactly how to keep her favorite pair of black pants looking sharp! I think she would cringe if she knew I just go out and by a new pair when mine were too faded to be acceptable any longer. No more!

Times are tough and even though my husband I are are fortunate to be bearing this financial storm pretty well, there is now excuse for throwing a away a perfectly good pair of black pants! After all, I was able to manage tie-dyeing a shirt as a teen, I am sure I can manage sprucing up a good pair of pants.Stay tuned!

I get tired of...

2010-01-28T21:03:00.001-08:00

I get tired of waking up at 6am,
Yet I never tire of watching my little man as we walk back to mommy's bed after getting his milk

I get tired of 'picking up'
Yet I never tire of finding the little treasures Elliot leaves behind, like a car at the bottom of his laundry basket or a truck in the tupperware drawer

I get tired of the long trek back and forth to school & work
Yet I never tire of listening to my bear talk about all the trains, planes and garbage trucks he wants to see along the way

I get tired of rushing to get dinner on the table
Yet I never tire of sitting, eating, talking with my dear husband and watching Elliot chew so deliberately

I get tired, but it's the good kind of tired...

How to Americanize Any Ethnic Food

2010-01-22T21:01:00.000-08:00

There are two sure fire ways to Anglo-Americanize any ethnic food...a casserole or a salad! Seriously. I really can't think of any food more American then a casserole. Sure hamburger, hot dogs, apple pie, but that's what we want people to think. The truth is Americans love their casseroles and what better way to sample the fare of our neighbors then by way of a safe and comforting casserole. And in recent years salads have followed suit. Taco Casserole and Chinese Chicken Salad, enough said.

What was I saying anyway?

2010-01-11T17:20:00.001-08:00

Seriously. What was I saying? It feels like a lifetime ago that I sat and wrote anything. 2009 was a wild year. And I am pretty confident 2010 will be too! Like feels pretty great right now. We are settling into our new home, our new routines, our new community. It feels pretty darn good. I've missed writing the occasional post, sharing my thoughts and opinions...just not sure how to do it within the 2 waking hours that I am not at work or spending time with Elliot. I don't know how the rest of the blogging world does it...but, now that we are not packing, moving, living in a hotel, unpacking, surviving the holiday madness, I think I will find some more time. I am hoping that just writing this post with get me into the groove again.

My Model Home

2009-08-02T12:55:00.001-07:00

Recently we decided to take the plunge (second time around) and buy a house. We have a townhouse now, and it has served us well, but it's time to move on (maybe). We do need a wee bit more space on one level. We found a house but we lost it - oh well. There were a few needling things about it, so it was not meant to be. Of course, we still talk about it fondly. I digress. We decided to sell our home and now we live in a model home. Our Realtor came in and re-arranged our furniture, had us pack up our clutter, brought in some of their own accents, and now we live in a model home. In the morning we make sure our pajamas are neatly tucked away, our bed gets made (this used to never happen unless guests were coming over), close the lid to our toilets, put all dishes in the dishwasher, close every door to every closet, tuck all the toys away (poor Elliot has trouble finding anything), pull up the blinds, open the widows, etc., etc., etc. Essentially, pretend like you don't live here. I am starting to wish we didn't, yet it does look so good that sometimes we think about buying it.

Hummingbird Feeders

2009-06-01T21:45:00.001-07:00

Did you have one as a child? I did. Maybe you have one now. I would get so excited when I would see the rapid-winged little guys outside fluttering away while sucking down some sugar H20. As I was browsing on Flickr, I came across this great photo of a hummingbird and a feeder. It brought back such fond memories (I think ours was just like this one!), so I decided I must have a feeder for myself to enjoy (Dale & Elliot can enjoy it too, of course!). So I 'did a Yahoo' (my attempt at supporting the company that helps to support my family) and could not believe how many hummingbird feeders there are out there for sale! Who knew there was such a market for these things?! Needless to say, I got overwhelmed by the choices and decided I would look into it another time.

Saucy Shredded Chicken

2009-05-11T20:15:00.001-07:00

Years ago when we were living in San Mateo I threw a surprise party for my husband's birthday (then boyfriend). I had been pretty last minute about the food and had planned to make a taco-spread - tortillas, guac, sour cream, beans, and chicken...luckily some friends were there to help me out! One friend quickly realized that I had no idea what to do with the chicken so she jumped in started throwing stuff in a pot and at the end was this delicious shredded chicken in a tomato sauce. I have never forgotten this chicken, it was amazing! It was reminiscent of this chicken they used to have at our college taqueria. I was never really able to replicate it, so I stopped trying and it has just lived in my fond-food memory bank ever since.

Recently when I was getting my hair cut (when I do all of my magazine reading) I stumbled upon this recipe in Cooking Light, Chicken Thighs with O lives and To mato Sauce. Now this particular recipe does not dish up a fiesta, it's more of a Mediterranean dish, but it is saucy-shredded-goodness nonetheless. I used 1 1/2 lbs of chicken thighs and 1 1/2 lbs of breasts to reduce the fat (& 4 lbs seemed a bit much). I used some chicken broth instead of wine as I didn't have any white on hand. And go easy on the red pepper flakes if you have a little one around. We served it over rice and I even threw some in a high-fiber tortilla along with some spinach for a tasty lunch. This will be in our family recipe book for years to come, in fact we made it again yesterday!

Those People: Work Walkers

2009-05-09T11:51:00.001-07:00

For years I would watch people at my office go for walks on their breaks and it always sort of bothered me. Who are these people that have time to take a break and then show-off by taking a leisurely walk around the office complex. I hardly have time to go pee! So my first realization is that I am just jealous and resentful a) that they have a job that is so 'easy' they have time to take a break OR b) they have mastered work-life balance ... either way, I don't like these people! Until, that is, I realized I needed to become one of them.

As I was out roller blading in the glorious sunshine this morning I was thinking a lot about how else to burn some calories and take in extra oxygen each week. 1-2 days is not satisfactory to me. Since I am the drop-off and pick-up for Elliot each day, I cannot take an extended 'lunch' to go to the gym, etc. and still get in my 8-9 hours a day. I am not a morning person, so waking up early is not working out for me. I love to have dinner with my husband in the evenings, which leaves the 9 o'clock hour and that is not working for me either as I would rather be showering and getting ready for bed!

And so, during my skating session, I realized I should become one of 'those people'. I'll bring my 'gym shoes' to work and each day if I can escape for 15 minutes, I will. A friend at work already started trying to do this, so I will follow suit. And although it won't challenge my body much, it will still provide me that extra oxygen and stress relief that I also so badly need.

4 Weeks, 4 Tuesdays: -6 lbs

2009-05-05T21:34:00.001-07:00

I'd like to think I stayed the same and possibly even lost some more, but the fact is I forgot to weigh-in today. I was meeting-hopping today for hour long intervals and when I had a free 1/2 hour I ran to Safeway to buy me some Garden Burgers, High-Fiber Tortillas & Mother's Day cards. When I jumped into my next meeting I thought to myself, 'Today is Tuesday, I didn't weigh-in!' I then proceeded to go to 4 more meetings, rush back to my office to grab my things and race over to pick-up Elliot. Here's to a healthy (and hopefully less hectic) week!

5 Weeks, 5 Tuesdays: -6 lbs

2009-04-29T19:06:00.000-07:00

Movin' down - yay! I lost 1 lb this week! There is no way I will lose 14 more in 5 weeks, but I will finish this period out and make a new goal. My success was definitely due to exercise. I went roller-blading twice this weekend and it always proves to be quite the calorie burner. I know that if I can just get a few days of exercise in each week this weight-loss thing would be much easier. I will try for two days again this week and see how it goes. Have a healthy week!

Hobbies and Recipes

2009-04-26T20:46:00.000-07:00

A long while ago I made a commitment to myself to have more (or some) hobbies. I even made a declaration on my blog. How am I doing? I don't often take these moments to assess, but lately it has become more crucial to acknowledge the little successes in my life. Though I haven't gone on any photography excursions like I would have liked, I have snapped a few that I have been proud of and even got around to hanging one on our wall. I have yet to find the perfect coffee photo for our kitchen wall, but I continue to snap away and am confident I will be satisfied with one of them someday.

My cookbook collection has suffered. I managed to jump-start with some favorites I found on a great site, but the joy in collecting is discovering them at a garage sale, estate sale or used bookstore...and there has not been time in my life for those excursions...somehow I feel like my dream of becoming a master at garage sales will have to wait for retirement.

Another declaration I made long ago was to make one new recipe a week. Some weeks cooking at all is a luxury, but other weeks I have managed two great recipes (both on Sundays - a workin' Mom strategy that I will go into another time).

We have been having a lot of fun in the kitchen these days and here are some of my favorites that are full of flavor and pretty fast too!:

Spicy Curry Beef not really that spicy & Elliot likes it! I don't seem to have a picture of it anywhere, but it really is a favorite in our house.

Asian Concoction - even Brussel haters will enjoy this! Using low sodium ingredients is crucial otherwise it's too salty, tastes great over jasmine rice.

Good Excuse for a Margarita Meal: Holy Mole Flank Steak (we threw it o n the BBQ), Spicy Red Rice, & Garlicky Pinto Beans.

Not Your Mama's Italian Sandwich: make a quick tomato sauce (we recently tried the Quick Tomato Sauce from Cooks Illustrated and it was awesome!), marinate & grill some chicken (just used some lemon juice, olive oil & rosemary), toast your favorite roll with a slice of provolone, top with arugula and chow!

My Lemon Magnolia Cupcakes

2009-04-24T19:57:00.000-07:00

Our friends recently let us pluck some lemons from their tree so I have been making lemony goodness ever since. I started with a great lemon chicken marinade, moved on to Lemon Bars (yes, a little on the nose I know) and rounded things off with Lemon Cupcakes. So far I have had the best luck with the Magnolia Bakery Vanilla Cupcake recipe, so I decided to modify* their recipe instead of taking my chances on an unproven lemon recipe. The results were lemony goodness that I had to share:

For the Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature {quick tip: if you are in a hurry, just put your cold eggs in a bowl of warm/hot tap water and by the time you are ready to use them they'll be room temp}
3/4 cup milk*
1/4 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice*
1 tbl lemon zest (use even more if you like it really lemony)*
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers.
In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.
In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

I also wanted the frosting to be something very lemony, so I borrowed this lovely lemony butter cream recipe. I used closer to a tablespoon of lemon zest, but if you don't want to pack quite so much of a punch try a bit less. Also, because the lemon juice is so acidic it took quite a bit more sugar to get the texture I wanted...next time I will do 1/4 cup lemon juice and 1/4 cup milk so I don't have to use quite so much sugar.

A Favorite Holiday!

2009-04-15T19:56:00.000-07:00

I think Easter has just surpassed Thanksgiving as my favorite holiday (with my ultimate fav now being 4th of July, of course!). I have always loved Thanksgiving because it truly captured what is important in life - food & family (emphasis on the stuffing & pumpkin pie)! Easter was also a close second for the same reason, but now it has taken the lead by a stiff margin (I think that is sports slang). I love not feeling pressure to pick the perfect presents (pressure that is self inflicted). I love a reason to bake something special {this year Aunt Augusta's Sugar Cookies}. I love making baskets full of goodies that put giant smiles on kiddie's faces. I love spending time with family and friends (without the distraction of mounds of wrapping paper). I love spring - the air, the flowers, the green rolling hills. This year we celebrated Easter 4-times! Typically this would stress and tire me out - but not this year - I loved it! We had the best time and that is why I am going to torture you with the following photos:

with friends!

at home!

...with Dale's side of the family!

...with my side of the family!

I hope you found some special way to enjoy this holiday. I must pass along something funny that was said at one of my celebrations full of Catholics I might add - "Thank you Jesus for turning my water into a Margarita!"

7 Weeks, 7 Tuesdays: -5 lbs

2009-04-15T19:53:00.000-07:00

Holding Steady, that's become my reality. There have been many 'reasons to celebrate' these days and I have not made the time to exercise. For that reason, I feel lucky to be holding steady. I think I may have to re-try early morning trips to the gym - ugh. With the beautiful weather, plenty of social engagements and weekend chores to contend with my weekend workouts have disappeared. Hmm, maybe I'll start tomorrow. We'll see. Have a healthy week!

Happy 36th Birthday Dale!

2009-04-05T09:12:00.001-07:00

9 Weeks, 9 Tuesdays: -5 lbs

2009-03-31T21:11:00.000-07:00

No loss is a huge gain this week! I had so many social engagements this week...

Dinner with a dear friend who came to town, exquisite Peruvian food in The City
A Wedding, champagne and chocolate covered strawberries - oh my!
A Surprise Party to celebrate a the accomplishments of another dear friend - Baked Potato Soup with all the fixin's and Ice Cream Sundaes (with Hot Fudge AND Marshmallow Cream!)

These were all real moments worth celebrating! I accomplished my goal of not gaining- yay! I am not going to micro-focus on the fact that I have 9 weeks to go - yikes! I just need to step-up my game! Have a healthy week!

10 Weeks, 10 Tuesdays: -5 lbs

2009-03-24T19:11:00.000-07:00

I did an unofficial weigh-in yesterday as I was tied up today and not able to make it "official" today, but it looks like I lost that pesky pound I gained last week. Today I am accepting the reality that with 10 weeks left to go, 15lbs is not looking likely. Of course, I am going to keep going regardless. I didn't make it to the gym this past weekend, but if the weather holds out I am inspired to do some roller blading this weekend and that should burn some major calories! Have a healthy week~

Community

2009-03-17T20:23:00.000-07:00

I was in a meeting at work recently where we discussed 'Community Engagement'. The dialogue was already well passed the definition of and had moved to the importance of, the value in, and the risk in not 'doing'. I have been in these discussions often, so my mind wandered. I wandered back to the definition of community. All my life I have interpreted the word to mean a group defined by a common interest or belief in something...a church community, neighborhood, etc. But in this discussion they were talking about people who lived within pre-defined boundaries. I started to wonder how many people in the room were like me. I live in one community and work in another (and I am not a distance commuter). I sleep in one and spend much of my awake time in the other. I send my son to school in the other (really it is daycare, but it makes me feel better to call it school). I shop in both, actually I shop in multiple others. I find myself engrossed in local politics in both places, but more in the other (naturally because I work for the other). I only vote where I sleep, those are the rules. The 'engagement' discussion that I zoned out of excluded me and my family, we were not who they were trying to reach. I realized that outside of a professional capacity I wouldn't be invited to any of their meetings and I must admit that hurt a little.

11 Weeks, 11 Tuesdays: -4 lbs

2009-03-17T19:48:00.000-07:00

OK, I must admit I am starting to get discouraged. I gained a whole pound this week! I did not expect to lose, but I hoped to not gain either. Yes, we took a mini-vacation. Yes, I ate more than a typical week. But I really managed my portions and kept my 'splurging' to just 1 1/3 days (4 meals). I packed my high-fiber cereal and oatmeal to ensure we had a healthy to start to each day! I really expected to be much closer to 10 pounds as I approached my half-way mark. I am going to limit my dwelling to today and tonight and tomorrow will be a new day! I will get some exercise in this weekend and see you here again next week, hopefully reporting a loss! Here's to a healthy week!

12 Weeks, 12 Tuesdays: -5 lbs

2009-03-10T19:23:00.000-07:00

I was quite sick for '13-weeks' but I am back and am moving in the downward direction, yay! I weighed in 1.4 pounds lighter today. I must admit I expected a greater loss then this since two-weeks have passed (and I couldn't eat for 2 whole days!) but I also haven't exercised in two-weeks either, so I'll take it! We are off for a mini-vacation this weekend so I'll have to find balance, hopefully some exercise will creep in to offset any extra calories consumed. Have a healthy week!

14 Weeks, 14 Tuesdays: -3.6 lbs

2009-02-24T19:51:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm moving in the right direction again! Given the weekend we had .6lbs lost is about all I could expect. Even during celebratory times where we tell ourselves it's OK to indulge, that we deserve to indulge because life is too short to always be 'on a diet', I find I still lose weight. I think I indulge in smaller quantities with realizing it. Maybe it is because it is no longer forbidden and therefore no longer necessary to over do it. In fact, a few months back someone mentioned something that I cannot get out of my head..."You can have pizza again". I think in the back of my mind even when I am 'indulging' I realize that this will not be my last opportunity in life to indulge, so moderation is safe! As far as the small changes I have made, I have gone back up to my 'tall latte' instead of the 'short', but instead of 2 double-shorts a day (one at noon and the other late afternoon) I am limiting to one triple-tall latte in the mid-afternoon. This change reduces my caffeine intake by 1 whole shot, a 25% reduction in my afternoon caffeine intake - bravo!

Happy Birthday Mom!

2009-02-18T19:58:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday Mom!

My Mom was born Febuary 18th, 1944. Today she would have been 65 years old. This picture was taken when she was in college. It's been 11 years since she passed away and I still miss her very much!

15 Weeks, 15 Tuesdays: -3.0 lbs

2009-02-17T19:33:00.000-08:00

OK, I gained .4 lbs this week! I know it isn't much, BUT I was super on top of my game this week. It will remain a mystery. Nevertheless, I enjoyed a glass of wine tonight, reminded myself of the good choices I made this week amidst all of the pressures of pizza & birthday cake and am going to keep on keepin' on!

16 Weeks, 16 Tuesdays: -3.4 lbs

2009-02-10T20:17:00.000-08:00

I lost 3.4lbs this week, yay! This weeks big loss is a result of last weeks strange gain, but I'll take it! And though it seems like big drop for one week, it really is just my body adjusting to the last few weeks of small ups and downs. I really needed this loss to keep me motivated so I can get through this next week. This next week will be full of social engagements and I will really have to plan ahead and watch my portions (my arch nemesis!).

I only made it to the gym twice this week, but they were good high-energy work outs. I even managed a delicious visit to an Indian Buffet and although I went up to the buffet twice, I managed to keep the piles to reasonable sizes which given my weakness for Indian food was extremely hard to do! I had a bit of a celebratory food day today which included a fair number if chips with a bit of salsa, but since it was 'weigh-in day' I have a whole week to make up for it!

Here's to another healthy week! Cheers! (sound of glasses clinking)

17 Weeks, 17 Tuesdays: 0 lbs

2009-02-03T20:34:00.000-08:00

I am feeling a bit down, I gained 1.2 lbs! I really don't know what happened. I was very diligent in tracking everything that went into my mouth! It was even one of those weeks where I was able to bring my own lunch every day (no lunch meetings). I was very prudent with my points all week so that I could enjoy a special anniversaryry dinner with my sweet husband (we started dating 15 years ago!). I even stepped up my exercise because my crazy friend had a wild idea that we should *run* a 5 mile race at the end of the month (she really sold me on the idea when she mentioned that a pancake breakfast would be waiting at the finish line). It just doesn't make sense! My Aunt Flow did come to visit, but I just don't recall this presenting as an issue with past weight-loss endeavors. Well, I am not giving up! It is getting a bit more difficult to see how I will reach 20lbs in 17 weeks, but I am not going to stop trying. I know that I am also making positive changes in my life, and that has to count for something!

18 Weeks, 18 Tuesdays: -1.2 lbs

2009-01-27T19:31:00.001-08:00

I lost 2.2 lbs this week!

I have to be honest, however, sticking with my 20lbs in 20 weeks goal it is a total loss of 1.2 since I gained 1 lb last week. But that in no way takes away from my great accomplishment (that was meant more for me then you). I put careful thought into everything I put into my mouth this week and made sure to write it down afterward because I cannot trust my memory! I even attended happy-hour with co-workers and had only one Margarita (huge accomplishment), some chips (not the whole basket, another huge accomplishment), and just a couple of the appetizers! And although I only made it to the gym once this week, I did have a breakthrough. I managed to increase my pace and hit a 13-minute mile (which I realize is still a fast walk) and not increase my heart rate.

I treated myself to a Tall (not short) Black-Eyed Chai as a sweet reward for my diligence this week.

Fun with Yogurt

2009-01-25T19:57:00.000-08:00

Meal time is generally fun in our house, with some limits. Today I decided to let loose and look how much fun we had (though you can't seem me, just know that I had yogurt in my hair)!

Note: I am aware that 'Where's your fingers/hands?' is not gramatically correct, however when you start with 'Where's your nose, mouth, etc.' you are just on a roll and 'Where's your fingers' comes out. I had to caption it truthfully!

The Past

2009-01-23T21:11:00.000-08:00

The Story before The Story:

I was going to write a resolutions post, didn't get around to it. But a key component of that post was going to be about revisiting the past. I started down this trail as the year came to a close when I reunited with old family friends (more about that another time or we'll never get to the point of this post). These sorts of visits are difficult for me because I don't like to 'go there'. Inevitably my Mom will become a topic of conversation and it is still a topic I don't talk about very well. Anyway, I faced that fear and had a wonderful visit with dear old friends.

For similar reasons I generally dread going to storage because there are all these large pieces of furniture that I do not foresee ever fitting into our home, yet there they are collecting dust and I can't part with them so I just leave feeling conflicted and bummed. So when I innocently went into storage to find a particular photo of my Mom I wanted for our family room (I am working on a family photo display), I happened upon the past and I embraced it! I went rummaging through dusty boxes and came across all sorts of wonderful treasures that I didn't even remember were in there. Sadly the photo was not in the best quality and will not be able to be a part of our display, but here it is. I will find another one on my next trip!

The Story:

On my visit to storage I happened upon a box that had a stool in it that my brother and I used to use as children. I forgot I saved this and was so excited by the timing because Elliot is just now starting to use a stool to reach the sink for brushing his teeth or to get up to his highchair. How wonderful that he can use the same stool I used!

Another box that I happened up had one of the most amazing finds of all...an entire box of typed-written short stories authored my Grandfather, Paul V. Sheehan (my Mom's Dad). Paul V. (as my Mom liked to call him) passed away when I was around 3 (I believe he was in his 60's). He was a Professor of Journalism at Fresno State from around the mid-1930 to early to mid-1960's. On the side he wrote, and wrote and apparently wrote some more. My mom spoke of his short-stories, but somehow it got lost in my memory. It must have been a box that my Mom had in her storage shed that I just moved without really looking at because the writing on the box is hers. It feels like the first time I've ever seen these stories. I am going to see if I can find someone/someplace to scan them (page by page at home is not an option) to ensure they are preserved, but I cannot wait to read them in their glorious typewritten paper form! {Isn't the title of the one that was on top a little eerie?}

Some other noteworthy finds...my very first 'ATM' card known as a Versatel card, an authentic cassette tape, a grade school yearbook from when I was in Kindergarten, a box of paperbacks and one near the top was about MLK (strange considering it was days from his birthday as well as the Inauguration of Obama), a school assignment where I drew a pie chart of oil production in Asia (5th grade I think, I guess I was destined to be an excel super-user), an 'original' copy of 'I am a Bunny' one of my favorite books that I have convinced Elliot to love too (in a box with a ton more Richard Scarry books which might have been from when my Mom was a teacher, not sure).
And the final artifact that had me laughing and crying was a recipe that I wrote for my mom for Mother's Day when I was in the 3rd grade (I think):

19 Weeks, 19 Tuesdays: +1 lb

2009-01-14T21:00:00.000-08:00

OK, I am not exactly sure what happened here, but I gained a pound. I felt thinner, my pants felt better, I felt better and then +1 on the scale, yikes! I am not going to let it get me down, likely my body just went into shock and was just not quite ready to let it go yet and out of fear it held on to some of those calories. Except for the weight gain, it was a pretty good week overall. I made it to the gym two-times over the 3-day weekend! I brought my lunch a couple of days last week and even switched to short-lattes or chai's instead of tall ones. I am proud of the little changes I made this week and am sure I will be rewarded next week! {I am really trying hard with the positive self-talk} So what if there are now 21lbs and 19 weeks, I can still do it! Here's to a healthy week ahead!

Also, I was going to add a picture of a "scale" when I Yahoo'd "scale" to nab one from the internet and I discovered all of these pictures of steps, old ones that looked Italian (even before I noticed the Italian wording underneath the picture - ha!). I found an online translator and scale in Italian means a short flight of steps or a small stepladder. How appropriate! Sometimes journeys like this can seem arduous, but in all of my journeys of life so far (and those to come), this one really is a short flight of steps. Ciao!

P.S. Yay for President Obama!

20 Weeks, 20 Tuesdays

2009-01-13T21:19:00.001-08:00

I need a goal. Twenty pounds in twenty weeks, that ought to do it! Seriously though, enough is enough. I love to eat & eat and I have been riding on the coattails of pregnancy and motherhood for too long. You didn't do a very good job of keeping me honest the last time I made a declaration to change (over a year ago now!). But I know this time you'll do better, I'll do better. I was trying to take a picture of Elliot's shadow the other day and mine kept getting in the way! I have re-joined the Weight-Watchers program they have at work and though I don't care too much to sit around and share 'diet-woes' with co-workers, it's nice to be able to quickly weigh-in each week without having to drive someplace else. And having someone else weigh me (because of course I weigh every day at home) is very motivational. We quite have enough people signed up yet, so cross your fingers a few more straggle in, I really need this! Even though today was not the official start, I did 'weigh-in' and have my 'starting' weight, so here I go. And I realize 20lbs sounds like a lot, but is only 1 pound a week which is a very realistic goal. Wish me luck!

Natural

2009-01-11T13:07:00.000-08:00

I know it is only 'natural' for 'grassroots movements' to hit the mainstream marketing scene. And I realize that it is an overall good thing that they do, but it can be quite annoying. I have been bothered by 'Natural' for quite sometime, but today at the gym when I saw a Pizza Hut commercial it sent me over the edge. Pizza Hut has a new 'Natural' Pepporoni Pizza, yes, 'Natural'. The crust is 'whole grain' and the sauce does not use any high-fructose corn syrup. Again, I know that overall this is a good thing that "unnatural" ingredients are coming to the mainstream consciousness, but it is still annoying. Seriously, I mean, what are they really saying about their existing product line? They are essentially admitting that the rest of their products are 'unnatural'. What is even crazier is that we buy into these labels of 'Natural' and the FDA isn't even really regulating that term. And as much as I am indeed a proponent of 'Natural', I think it is clearing being abused. And really, if I am going to eat at Pizza Hut I would not worry about it being 'Natural', it's Pizza Hut!

The Christmas Card

2008-12-17T14:49:00.001-08:00

Last Year:

Last year I had a plan. Well before December I had ordered Elliot some green-striped pajamas, red booties, got lucky that his favorite toy already happened to be some sleigh bells, bought some fake snow at the nearby craft chain and viola it was the cutest darn Christmas card!

This Year:

This year I had no plan. As Thanksgiving weekend came to a close we picked up our pug from his weekend away (boarding at the vet). When we arrived at his hotel (the vet) there was a photographer in the lobby (the waiting room) offering to take photos Christmas photos of your pet at a nominal fee (totally overpriced). I made the mistake of asking if children could be in the photo and in a moment of desperation (knowing I did not yet have a plan for Christmas cards) I said I'd leave the pug here to have a bath, take the baby home for a nap and come back to take their pictures. So we did. And they were not quite what I imagined they would be in my last-minute overly optimistic state of mind.

Notice the cheesy chaise lounge, the curtain for dramatic flair, the fake presents and the stupid scarf on Thomas (they put these on the dogs after baths and I forgot to take it off!). We didn't decide immediately that we were not going to use this photo as our card, but we didn't go straight home and start assembling either.

Almost two weeks ago we took Elliot to see Santa. While he napped in the morning I brought up the brilliant idea of us taking the photo as a family and that could be our Christmas card. Dale agreed and we got busy trying to find any clean clothes that coordinate but didn't look too matchy-matchy. We decided on gray and though it was matchy-matchy, I do believe it was understated. Unlike last year, the photographer elf was rushing and didn't really give us an opportunity to take a good picture and of the ones they took she gave me all of 5 seconds to decide on 1 pose for a nominal fee (extremely overpriced). And again, they were not quite what I imagined they would be in my last-minute overly optimistic state of mind.

Though I must say this Santa is the real-deal (though his elves were off their game this year!) due to our unseasonably warm weather he was wearing this "interesting" shirt instead of his snugly warm coat. But I don't blame Santa, it just didn't work out. Again, we didn't decide immediately that we were not going to use this photo, but we weren't "pulling the trigger"on making the cards either.

Last weekend we decided to do what we should have done all along, what we did last year, to take our own Christmas photo. We started out thinking we would set-up the tripod and take a overdue family photo in front of the tree. As usual we were/are behind on everything and it was just going to take too much energy we didn't have to pull-off the family photo, so the family part was not going to happen AND the tree wasn't exactly decorated yet (except for the lights) so I quickly looked around and realized the fireplace would work perfectly. And viola, the Christmas card was born.

Though I generally love to write a message in each card and wish all my friends and family happy and healthy holidays, I just could not make anymore time this year for Christmas cards, so we went with a photo card. There's always next year.

Oh My!

2008-12-11T20:58:00.000-08:00

Oh my, it has been over a month since I have said anything! I have had many thoughts at the gym, in the car, at work, and more...just haven't had a moment to type them out. These days a not-so-clever facebook status is about all I can muster up. I am sure that you (my five readers) are just all broken-up about this, but don't despair I'm not gone for good.

Baby Bear is Walking

2008-11-09T22:04:00.000-08:00

Our little baby bear started walking today and it is CUTE! He has been walking holding on to furniture for quite some time, so I didn't expect to enjoy it so very much! I would imagine that by next week he will have abandoned the crawling altogether, sad and exhilarating at the same time. I have been in denial for quite some time that he is a "Toddler" but I guess there is no denying it anymore. I just had no idea that my baby would only be a "baby" for such a short time. Some dear friends were in town this weekend so they got to share this with us and it gave us something extra to toast over dinner.

A Proud Day

2008-11-05T22:12:00.000-08:00

We Voted!

Elliot may have been born when W was president, but on his 16-month Birthday we voted (with him right at our side) and elected Obama our 44th President of the United States (I still get teary when I hear someone say that on the radio).

Obama 08, No on 8!

2008-11-04T14:33:00.000-08:00

The Pie Contest

2008-10-30T20:52:00.000-07:00

What I was up against:

What the Judges saw:

The Judges:

Sorry, no prize. But let us all remember that the judges were not Food Industry Experts, nor were they Foodies or Pie Connoisseurs, so I don't feel that bad.

How I wound up in a pie baking contest

2008-10-29T21:45:00.000-07:00

If I were born ten years later I likely would have wound up with an ADD diagnosis (Attention Deficit Disorder), not to be confused with ADHD which adds hyperactivity to the mix which was not at all my situation. In life I always seem to be racing the clock. Sometimes it is self imposed due to procrastination, but mostly it is just how I roll (I cannot resist the temptation to use some wannabe hip-hop slang and I mean no disrespect in doing so). Anway, the point is I tend to move from one thing to another so quickly that I sometimes miss things. Most often I get what I need out of the conversation/television show/book/magazine/fill in the blank. Sometimes I miss and miss BIG.

Recently at work I skimmed an e-mail (I get at least 40 relevent e-mails a day, so I do this for efficiency sake). The Executive Secretary to our Agency Director sent out an e-mail reminding staff of the upcoming Charitable Contributions Campaign where all employees have the opportunity to donate to a charity for a whole year and it's deducted from your pay, pre-tax sort of a thing. Each year there is apparently a kick-off celebration where you can eat donated pumpkin pie (my original interpretation), admire carved pumpkins and eat green things (in honor of "going green"). So when our Director sent a follow-up e-mail with a plea and then the Secretary sent yet another follow-up with yet another plea, I bit and said, "Hey if you haven't had any volunteers for the pie donation, count me in."

The next thing I got was a thank you for entering the upcoming Charitable Contributions Contest! WTF?! I didn't recall anything about a contest? I thought I was baking a pie to donate. Now I need to bake TWO pies, both identical (one for the judges and one for display!)? This is like a real contest (albeit for San Mateo County Employees only)! The fun didn't stop there. A day later an e-mail went out to all 850 Human Services Employees and said, "Come taste a sure to be award winning pie baked by Amy Kaiser..." And if that were not enough another one went out a couple days later saying "Also, just a friendly reminder to come taste a sure to be award winning pie baked by Amy Kaiser..." The pressure!!!

So here I was at 7:30 trying to make sure Elliot was asleep, cooking dinner so my dear husband and I can toast his Mom's 60th Birthday, and baking TWO pies for a contest tomorrow. I have never baked two pies - yikes! I encountered a bit of weight issue as I put both pies on a cookie sheet which caused the cookie sheet to dip in the center and the pie filling leaked and made ugly pie! They might taste OK, but they are not my finest works. Wish me luck!

P.S. I am too tired to even proof read this, so it is what it is.

Just another day

2008-10-01T20:48:00.001-07:00

Woke up to a singing baby boy
Tried to rationalize with a hungry boy
Gave temper-tantrum boy his medicine
Packed the car
Drank coffee while driving the bear to school, me to work
Hit traffic
Dropped bear off at school, set-up his breakfast, kisses goodbye
Arrived late for work
Got a desperately needed car wash during lunch (no longer would the washer fluid clean the shat off)
Left work early (few meetings today = a lot of work done in less time, that's my justification anyway)
Drove the hungry bear home
Fed the hungry bear dinner
Let the hungry pug out to go potty
Fed the hungry pug dinner
Gave the tired bear milk
Laid the sleepy bear down to sleep
Checked e-mail, facebook, etc.
Cooked dinner with Hubbie
Decided not to wash any dishes
Wrote this post
Off to shower, watch some tube and hit the hay

Canned Peaches

2008-09-27T19:19:00.001-07:00

Tonight while I was at the gym my mind began wandering as it does when I exercise. I began thinking about canned peaches. First I began to wonder how canned peaches get to be that perfect solid color of yellow-orange (not peach) and are completely smooth and absent of any evidence that there was a giant pit in the center, strange and oddly unnatural. I then began to think about how common it was for us to eat canned fruit when I was a child - peaches, pears and fruit cocktail were the most common. How is it that a farmer would allow his family to each such things? One day we would eat fresh fruit straight from the orchard out of a crate that would sit atop our dryer in the laundry room and the next day it was canned peaches. I then remembered a more recent conversation with my Dad where I learned of his love of canned fruit (anything sugary, really) and then remembered seeing him eat peaches right out of the can. How could he like those sickly sweet versions of the real thing? Generation gap. When my dad was growing up his mother preserved jars and jars of fresh fruits so there would be fruit for the winter. It makes sense now, produce wasn't flying in at record speeds from around the globe all year round, so if you wanted peaches in the winter you'd preserve them in the summer. Somehow I feel like Grandma's peaches were probably a lot tastier then the "Del Monte" variety. This got me through about 10 minutes of my work out.

More Construction

2008-09-17T09:59:00.000-07:00

I just noticed today that on my browser at work my new header is located over my posts instead of its intended location on the left-side. Hmm. I will be working on this and other details that plague me into the wee hours of the night ;) Patience please (I am speaking more to myself - ha!).

I am THRILLED with myself that I figured out how to edit the "html" and remove the duplicate comment link! Yippie for me!

Cupcakes

2008-09-15T11:26:00.000-07:00

When I was in New York a few years ago, I visited the famous Magnolia Bakery and had myself a few cupcakes. They were good, but not great. I felt like maybe I built them up too much or something. About a month ago a good friend used the Magnolia Vanilla recipe to bake some sweet lovely cupcakes for her daughters birthday. When I ate her cupcakes I was in such a happy place, these were what cupcakes should taste like. I have been mildly obsessed with these cupcakes ever since. When we got an invitation to a gathering with family this past Sunday I decided it was a perfect opportunity to try and master Magnolia's Cupcakes. The recipe was quite easy, it was the frosting that would be my battle for a great little cake. My friend used a cream-cheese frosting which I am generally partial to, but I wanted to see if I could make a great little cake with the butter-cream that Magnolia uses. As you can see from the picture of their cakes they use way too much sickly sugary frosting, and I was not going to make that same mistake. I pulled out a star-tip, slopped some vanilla frosting in a zip-lock bag and viola my magical cupcakes were born with just a thin layer of frosting. You tell me which cupcakes you'd rather eat. Mine or Theirs?

Under Construction

2008-09-12T13:24:00.000-07:00

Not that you care, but I will tell you anyway. I originally had Dale customize my template so I could use Arial Narrow - the best font ever! Anyway, it has been a giant pain in the a$% every since. That particular customization seems to have made the overall formatting funky and I am tired of it taking me twice as long as it should to write a post. I am going to be playing for a while, so pardon the mess.

Here is a sweet picture to calm your nerves while you wait ;)

Yes, he really sleeps like this!

Elliot Goes to Santa Cruz (with his family) v1

2008-08-30T20:37:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took our first family trip to Santa Cruz. We actually took Friday off of work and had three almost-full days there. I am a Westside girl, so we found a great little place to stay not far from the Lighthouse. I spent most of my summers and spring-breaks in Santa Cruz as a child. We had a vacation house just steps away from the best beach in the whole wide world (maybe a slight exaggeration), it is known as Natural Bridges to most people.

As a child we really lived in Santa Cruz, so I didn't really get to know the town the way a tourist or a local would. We would spend most of our days lugging our buckets, shovels, boogie boards and other beach accoutrement to the beach, along with a some sort of white bread sandwich and chips that always ended up with sand in them - ick! Occasionally we would roller skate to the 7-11 to buy mounds of sugary candy and a slurpy to wash it down with.

As we prepared for our trip, I started making a list of all the things I wanted to do with baby-bear that I did as a child, and these made the cut for our first trip:

*Natural Bridges (of course)
There is so much to love about Natural Bridges besides the beach. During the fall or winter you must take the easy-breezy Monarch Butterfly walk. When you are not with a baby in a stroller or that needs carrying, you must walk along the tad pools, and if you are so inclined you could crawl around in the bushes and pretend it is a fort. My dad still has a few photos that show the first bridge connected.

*Ferrell's Donuts

Elliot had his first donut! And as you can imagine, he loved it! Though I am pretty sure this was not my first donut ever, it is in fact the donuts I have the earliest memory of eating. They don't stick in my mind simply because they are the best donuts ever, but because my Dad would always go out before any of us were awake to get the Sunday paper and Ferrell's donuts. As we made our way to the kitchen for breakfast that pink box with a powdered jelly donut (or two) would be waiting for me and my Dad to share as we read the paper (I read the comics mostly), always put a smile on my face (one that resembles E's above).

*Clam Chowder at Stagnaro's

If you like clam chowder, it's some of the best. I had a brief period from about 12 until my mid-twenties where I wouldn't eat the stuff because I had discovered it had clams in it, go figure!

Sadly there were some places that no longer exist like Lip Smackin' BBQ or The Junker (known to others as Paul's Diner).

I also wanted this trip to be the first of many we have as a family and for us to start new traditions, so we added some new things:

*Tacos Moreno

They call it a corn-quesadilla, but it is really a taco...with Al Pastor, pinto beans, cabbage, salsa, queso - yum! This was baby-bears first meal in Santa Cruz, he had the flour quesadilla which is just like a quesadilla we are used to seeing, it was his first of many fried things he ate during the trip.

*Marianne's Ice Cream

We we certain we needed desert after our dinner at Stagnero's as they are only known for the clam chowder. We wanted ice-cream, did a little web search and came across an ice cream spot that I then recalled a friend mentioning. I don't recall every visiting this fine establishment, though it has been there right on Ocean St for over 50 years. Maybe it is because we always had cartons of ice-cream in the freezer, so who needed to go out! It was truly delicious, though when we got home we learned it is up for sale! Hopefully someone worthy snatches it up and maintains the quality.

*Engfer Pizza

This was Dale's pick because as a good wife I had to let him pick something! It was a yummy new pizza place on the East Side (which I mildly objected to patronizing) but it was well worth it. Great selection of beers on tap, wood-fired pizza and ping-pong. We ordered a pizza with jalapeños because I like almost everything spicy (except ice-cream), but it was a little too spicy for even me. Elliot had his second fried item, his very own giant slice of cheese pizza.

*Westside Farmer's Market

Whenever we stay somewhere with a kitchen I like to hit up local farmer's markets to feel local and have at least one fresh, local-fare meal at "home". Elliot tried his first tamale, love it! OK, just the masa, not the spicy chicken filling.

We are already planning our next trip, but from the looks of real estate we won't be buying our vacation home anytime soon.

I'm Going to Talk Politics

2008-08-28T21:35:00.000-07:00

I must admit that I was depressed to realize we would be giving birth to our baby boy while during George W was in office. Yes, I really thought about it. For the rest of his life he will have to say, "George W. was president when I was born." But when he is forced to say this I will remind him to also say that he was born on the cusp of change, that when he was a year old the Civil Rights Movement celebrated two more giant successes:

> Today a great leader for the Lesbian Rights Movement Del Martin died at 87 years of age and just a little more than 2-months ago she was pushed to her wedding ceremony in a wheelchair after a long fight that resulted in a California Supreme Court decision giving gays and lesbians the right to marry.

> Today for the first time in history, 45-years after the celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King gave his "I Have a Dream" speech, we nominated an African American, Barack Obama for presidency.

Thanks for listening!

Driver's Ed - Chapter Three: Getting There Faster Than Everyone Else

2008-08-27T20:43:00.000-07:00

Chapter Three: Getting There Faster Than Everyone Else

Don't get me wrong, I like to drive above the speed limit and am in no mood for a "Sunday Drive". And although it is hard to articulate, there is a line that is crossed when some drivers take fast assertive driving to a whole new level of snippy, speed around you, weaving through traffic, only to get caught at the same red light as everybody else. I laugh at these drivers! (and they may have laughed at me too once or twice).

The Piano

2008-08-12T19:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, rusty and out of practice, I returned to piano lessons. It was not exactly "just like riding a bike" but it was not ground zero either. The highlight was when I played "When The Saints Go Marching In" using both hands!
Today I introduced Elliot to Ben Folds and we sang all the way to work and back (Ben's my favorite piano man).
Today I thought about how I used to play along on the piano with my Mom. She would play silly songs for me to sing and often find ways that I could play along, like playing the melody to "Heart & Soul" while she played the harmony or chords with two-hands!
Tomorrow I will practice the piano.

I read a Murder Mystery!

2008-08-01T19:16:00.000-07:00

I haven't read a single book since Elliot was born (excluding excerpts from reference material), not that I read a whole lot before he was born either. I wouldn't say I love to read, but I do love the idea of reading. As a child I hated reading and my mother spent every summer vacation trying to get me to read. I would sit there counting the minutes until the allotted time frame for which I had to read was complete (sometimes she got smart and required me to read x number of pages). Instead of just reading the books I would see how long it would take to read one page and then calculate how many pages I would have to read before I would be done with my 1/2 hour requirement. I would test this theory by seeing how long 2 pages took, and then 3 and so on. It's no wonder I had trouble with comprehension - HA!

In college I got into reading from an academic perspective, as a Sociology major you didn't really have much of choice. I enjoyed the theory, but I fell in love with reading the real life "stories", though they were often sad and made you somehow feel hopeless instead of hopeful.

As a post-college adult I discovered books that were fiction but that blended reality, sometimes unsure which was which. The Tales of The City series (OMG! there's a new book!) were the first in this style of books that I began to enjoy for that "Frasier" quality. Lighthearted enough to read before bed, but not too far off the mark to have really happened.

A couple of weeks ago I was listening to my daily morning radio news (of which I am sure Elliot will complain about as soon as he starts talking) and there were two Murder Mystery authors being interviewed, on Forum with Michael Krasny - strange, I know. Both of these authors based their stories right here in the great bay-area. I was too anxious to read them, so I hoped on amazon and viola they appeared one day at work in my littile 'ol mailbox!

Anyway, I am so excited that I took a chance on this first one...Judgement Day. This story is written by a San Francisco Lawyer about a legal duo who has 8 days to save a man who is sitting on death row at San Quentin from being executed. Every night I came home, ate dinner, washed dishes, prepped Elliot's food and showered a little faster than usual just so I could steal 30 minutes to see how the case was progressing. It was an excellent story with wonderful little historical facts about San Francisco from the people who know the city. If you have lived in or near San Francisco, you'll have fun with this story - I promise. I don't think it has hooked me on the genre of Murder Mystery, but I will keep an open mind as I read SharpShooter - food, wine & murder in The Napa Valley - eeek!

No More POP-CORN!

2008-07-25T19:56:00.000-07:00

Elliot is really into the telephone, always has been. As soon as he could lift our cordless phone he started putting it into his mouth. When I am on the phone in his presence I try to hold it next to his ear and get him to realize someone is talking, though he usually just grabs it and sticks it in his mouth. Today after I got off the phone with Daddy I handed him the phone and said, "Talk into the phone", "Whose there", "Somebody wants to talk to Elliot" and so on. And of course, he did not talk back. Then I had a brilliant idea and I began dialing POPCORN...You know 767-2676 (though I learned many years ago 767-5555 works too)! So I dialed POPCORN and I got the following message,

"Effective September 19th 2007 the Time Announcement Information Service has been discontinued."

What?! How can this be?

I realize that our cell phones have sort of replaced the need to call the "Time Announcement Information Service", but I feel like my dog just died. Obviously it has been a few months since I have called (at least 10 if I did the math correctly), but I have used it in the last couple of years - I swear! What is this world coming to? What will I tell my son? What a way to start the weekend, one more reason I need that massage tomorrow morning (yay!). Happy Weekend!

Me Time

2008-07-19T13:33:00.000-07:00

This morning after breakfast and coffee with my favorite guys I put on my workout clothes, strapped on my roller blades and went skating. I often find it hard to make time for exercise on the weekends because it takes time away from something that "needs" to get done. But it was a beautiful morning, so I went for it! Earlier in the week (no laughing!) I read an article in Real Simple (I said, don't laugh!) about making time for doing things that make you happy (duh!). I admit it, I am one of those people that gets so wrapped and overwhelmed with all the things that "need" to get done and often (like the article said) it becomes debilitating because I get "depressed" about not having time for me or things that make me happy. The little nag on my shoulder tells me ...

"Me time is selfish"
"Only lazy people put there feet up when there are dishes to be done"

Hell, the fact that I made time to read a stupid article in Real Simple was a huge step for me. I actually left the office to grab some lunch, brought it back and instead of eating while responding to e-mail I turned away from my computer, ate my lunch and read this article...normally even if I would make time for a magazine it would be to quickly flip to the page with the yummy recipe or quick orginizational tip, toss it aside and eventually recycle.

When I got back from skating we put Elliot down for a nap, I had a bite to eat and then sent Dale on his way to go have his exercise time. Normally I would take this time to do all the dishes, pickup the clutter, put away the toys, and throw a load of laundry in the washer. Today I am taking time for me! I made myself a delicious Iced Soy Mocha, chatted with a good friend, got back into bed where I am watching an episode of Frasier and writing this post. After I am done I think I will go futz in the yard because I stumbled upon these beautiful pots the other day and am just dying to put something wonderful in them! So even though we have a babysitter coming over tonight, I am not going to do the dishes, pick-up the clutter, and I am just going to continue to enjoy "Me Time". There is a slight possibility that I will race around 30 minutes before she arrives trying to make the place presentable, but change doesn't happen over night...baby-steps!

This makes me really happy!

This was Elliot the morning of his 1st Birthday...I watch this over and over!

No More "Shake Your Milk Up"

2008-07-17T20:21:00.000-07:00

I didn't know what to write or what to say after we lost Dale's Mom, I still don't. Then on my sweet Elliot's Birthday I began writing his Birth Story, and for days after I would add a bit here and there. And as another "milestone" hit us, I decided I needed to talk about that "in the now" so I will get back to his Birth Story some other day. Elliot had pneumonia back in April (not life threatening, and I realize not "in the now" but necessary background) and since then has had to take a pulmicort treatment twice-a-day via a nebulizer machine. Also at that time he decided he didn't want "Mommies Milk" anymore, so we started formula. Though I often joke about him "not wanting me anymore", I really was ok with the transition because I knew I would be a happier mommy not stressed about pumping and getting enough "food" for my little guy.

On July 7th we went to the doctor for Elliot's 1 year exam - a Well Check is what they call them. At this appointment the pediatrician asked if we were ready to move him to whole milk...and before she could finish I said, "Of course, we were hoping you were ready". Heck, I already had a gallon of whole milk waiting in the fridge at home!

Starting that same evening we began blending the milk and formula in his bottles (and sippy cup) starting with a 70/30 split of formula/milk and by day 3 we were on a 50/50 and as our last can of formula was empty yesterday I made his first bottle of plain old milk. From Mommies Milk to rice cereal...to mushed up fruits and veggies...to bites size pieces of real food...his last connection to baby food was his special baby milk. And as I was giving him his evening treatment and getting ready to make his bedtime bottle I realized I would also need a new "routine".

This is the part of the post where I tie it all together - HA! You see, Elliot insists that we sing and do silly dances while he takes his medicine and if we don't he will pull his mask off. Each night in an attempt to multi-task, I would make his bedtime bottle while he was having his medicine (and if you have made formula you know the importance of shaking the water and mix together quite vigorously). To appease him I would sing and shake (you know the tune, sing along)...

Shake, shake, shake
Shake, shake, shake
Shake your milk up
Shake your milk up

I know I could "shake the plain ol' Milk up" too, but it's not the same! Too many changes all at once, my little boy is growing up, and I will have to get some new material!

Fat Is Good Food

2008-04-21T14:23:00.000-07:00

There were many years I spent eating Fat Free everything, and I mean everything. I would eat it every morsel and multiple portions, but tell myself it didn't matter because it was Fat Free. Later I learned (along with the rest of the world) that low-fat was just as "healthy" and low in calories as fat-free...and it tasted better too. That little bit of fat makes a huge difference in taste. From then I vowed to never eat Fat Free again (unless of course it naturally comes that way).

On April 3rd Elliot went to the doctor for his 9-month Well Exam and the doctor gave us the green-light for giving him dairy (cheese and yogurt). Well with little babes they like them to eat Whole Fat dairy products, so off to the store I went to research and purchase Whole Fat Milk products. We started with the inevitable Yo-Baby yogurt which I was against at first because I always tend to resist products designed for specific "markets" like this, but at the end of the day it is so much easier than buying a big container, portioning it out, etc., etc. Once I settled on the yogurt I moved to the cottage cheese section and picked up some small-curd 4% milk-fat cottage cheese (I wasn't sure 4% mean whole-milk, but I new that 2% was considered to be a "healthy" milk option - remember I am a soy girl so some of this was new to me).

When I got home I sampled the fare that I was about to give my child I was ... well, I cannot explain what I was, but it was the tastiest stuff I have had in a looong time! The yogurt was good, but I think I can go back to the low-fat stuff. But the cottage cheese was AMAZING! That little bit of extra fat was so delightful and creamy. Though I was a tad disappointed when Elliot didn't like the cottage cheese, it didn't take me long to finish it myself.

Treat yourself to some fat today, you won't regret it!

P.S. Thanks for your healthy well-wishes. Our little bear has clear lungs and is gaining some weight back.

Now til March

2008-04-17T10:19:00.000-07:00

Now til March. From daycare, other parents, his pediatrician, all uttered the same words to us, "Get used to it, from now until March he'll be sick constantly." I know it is odd, but I took comfort in these words. I took comfort know that it was not something with Elliot's immune system, but rather part of what happens to most children when they enter the world. I took comfort knowing that whether he was 6-months or 3 years, his time in enclosed spaces with other children would bring germs and colds galore. Nothing would be gained by holding him back a few years. Well, we are in April now and my poor guy is still sick. In fact, just as he was recovering from what I though would be his last cold (it was winding down the last days of March/first days of April) BAM he got hit with another cold and this time it turned into Pneumonia! All I could think was, "Are you f****** kidding me?!". Our little guy is handling it all like a trooper, especially considering the morning and evening kiddie cocktail he endures - albuterol via a chamber, steroids via a mask and a nebulizer, and liquid antibiotics (I don't take liquid anything, so the fact that he sucks this stuff down is amazing to me!). So we've given up on April and are now hoping for a healthy May.

Driver's Ed - Chapter Two: The Car Pool Lane

2008-04-09T14:55:00.001-07:00

Chapter Two: The Car Pool Lane

Definition: A carpool lane is a special freeway lane only for buses and/or carpools.You may use a carpool lane or on ramp if your vehicle carries the minimum number of people required for the carpool lane or you drive a low-emission vehicle displaying a special DMV-issued decal. Motorcycle riders may use designated carpool lanes, unless otherwise posted. Please see http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/dl600.pdf for a more detailed definition.

Important Information to remember:

*If during the posted time frame you are driving slower than the cars in the other lanes of traffic - MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!

*If it is not during the posted time frame and you are driving slower than the cars in the other lanes - see chapter on use of Fast Lanes (coming soon - but here is a hint: MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!)

Back to Chapter 1: Turning

It Makes No Sense

2008-04-07T08:53:00.001-07:00

**When pregnant with your first child you get excited when you discover perks meant just for pregnant ladies and if you are me you don't question these perks one bit. One said perk is Stork Parking at BabiesRUs, close parking just for expectant mothers. After you have the baby and make your first trip to BabiesRUs for some "necessity" you quickly realize that Stork Parking is ridiculous. Unless you are under some sort of special doctors orders to not walk "long" distances, pregnant women can walk just like anyone else. In fact, pregnant women should walk, exercise, move and groove, it is not a disability. What BabiesRUs should have is New Parent Parking because the infant carrierers, the weight of the baby, not to mention how damn akward it is to carry. New Parents are who deserve to walk a little less!

**When you are pregnant you may from time to time happen into shops that sell maternity clothes and these nice shops will almost always also offer a place for women to nurse/feed their babies (remember, I said maternity store...a place where pregnant, generally non-nursing people go). After you have a baby you may from time to time happen into shops that sell baby clothes and these nice shops almost never have even a restroom with a changing table let alone a place to nurse/feed a baby (remember, I said baby store...a place where moms (and dads) of babies and young children go).

I think that is enough madness for one day - Happy Monday!

Happy Birthdays

2008-04-04T08:35:00.000-07:00

In the first year of life we celebrate each month's birthday and so this will be the only time that my two guys share this special day. Today is my sweet husband's 35th Birthday and our Elliot Graham is 9 months old!

Happy Birthday to my two favorite guys!

Diets {I've been on a few}

2008-04-03T13:09:00.000-07:00

There aren't many diets I haven't tried, Nutra System, Jenny Craig, Weightwatchers, Southbeach, and I even got caught in the Susan Powder craze (ok, maybe craze is a little strong). I never tried DealAMeal, but I was found Sweatin' to the Oldies once or twice. This list doesn't even count the hundreds of "DIY" efforts where I followed (or tried to follow) "best practices" of the day (no-fat, low-carb, low-fat, no-carb - geez). Though I am not a proponent of those that want you to eat pre-packed "food", I do recognize that even those programs will work and have some value. Today I thought I would share my thoughts as an unofficial diet critic:

*Nutra System and Jenny Craig are all about convenience. If you don't like to cook or don't have time to cook, and are not overly particular about taste (not meant as a critisism no matter how it sounds), then these programs are meant for you. You select all your meals in advance and everything comes pre-packaged (ingredient control) & pre-measured in individual servings (portion control). It does tend to limit your ability to eat out, which is not always a bad thing. I have met a restaurant or two willing to nuke the food and bring it to you on a plate so you can enjoy yourself and not look like a fool eating out of a carton.

*Southbeach is the ultimate in learning about sugar addiction! The program is broken into Phases - Phase 1 you are essentially prohibited from eating ANY sugar (bread, fruit, etc.). Phase 2 you begin adding in complex sugars (i.e. high-fiber, low sugar foods) and by Phase 3 you are essentially just following a low-fat, portion controlled diet. There is really nothing Southbeach about where you end up, just where you begin. Phase 3 is just about living a healthy lifestyle, eating heart healthy foods, and so on. I think it is a great learning experience and everyone should try this once in their adult lives!

*WeightWatchers has had many iterations (as have the others I guess), some of which used to require that you eat Liver - ick! But the new generation of WeightWatchers is a fancy smancy way of counting calories...based primarily on the age old concept ...

If your daily caloric intake <> your daily calories burned ... Weight Gain

The upside to WW is that you can eat whatever you want, you just have to manage your daily points. You can use more than 1/2 your daily points on pizza or (if you are like me and it is all about volume) then you can make the most of EVERY point and enjoy many 1-point tasty treats like VitaTops! Points are centered around fiber, generally the more fiber the fewer the points. Fiber also makes a nice proxy because foods higer in fiber generally tend to just simply be more nutrituous. You need the Total Calories, Total Fat and Total Fiber to calculate the points value, so eating out can sometimes be tricky (if faster food is your thing, there are a lot of resources for obtaining those values). WW does offer some tricks to help you estimate - palm of your hand is about 4 ounces of meat, your thumb is about an ounce of cheese, and your fist is about a cup of rice/cereal or whatever. I do think this is the most flexible plan out there.

*Richard Simmons, Susan Powder and countless others are all about motivation. They are essetially selling very simmlar concepts to WW in that lowering your caloric intake and increasing your physical activity can result in weight loss.

What each of these plans (and countless others) are really selling are different tools and strategies (built around fewer calroies, no matter how it is worded) to achieve your desired weight loss goal. At the end of the day you just need to determine which strategy is a fit for you. There really is no cure, there is no easy answer....fewer calories, more exercise - that's it (you can skip the exercise, though I don't recomend it for overall health reasons and you'll have to eat even fewer calories)! I will be tempted to try out the next miracle diet and I will be sure to give you my 2-cents!

I Don't Eat Fast Food

2008-03-27T10:13:00.000-07:00

I don't eat fast food! This has been my silent mantra for at least the last 7 years. Sure, I occasionally partake in a nibble when we are on the road (i.e. to Fresno, Tahoe or other trip where fine dining establishments are not part of the scenic route). But as a rule, it doesn't make our way into our regular daily diet. In my former life as a student of Sociology, I was a BIG fan of the concept of Ideal vs. Real. The concept was not a complicated one, but still it had the "a-ha" effect on me as it gave me words for something I saw around me (typical of what a lot of Soc concepts do). I would pride myself (secretly, of course) on being able to identify people who were blind to their reality because I did not suffer from this same blindness...I could see clearly, I was special somehow!

One day I was driving home from a party with a friend and her son wanted to go to McDonald's, so we went through the drive through and I ordered a shake and my friend was bewildered to find out that I hadn't been to McDonald's in well over 5 years. How is that possible, she exclaimed?!

I know, I though later, how is it possible?

I think it all starts with a love of food and a sprinkle of calorie watching. And then of course there are political reasons for this as well. But how have I really managed to avoid it all these years? After all, we live in a fast-paced society with a lot of demands on us and sometimes you need it - fast! I was pondering all of this just the other day as I was sipping my coffee and dreaming about dinner (that Dale was going bring home for us).

And then it hit me (like a ton of bricks)

I DO EAT FAST-FOOD!

I had this icky feeling in my stomach (similar to one experienced by Cher in Clueless after she flunked her driving test)

Everyday I drink my Double-Tall 1/2 Caff 2-pump Soy Mocha (now with an addition of 1 pump of honey - sooooo good)
And about once a week I eat my steak quesadilla (light on the queso & with a side of sour cream & corn salsa)

Starbucks and Chipotle - yikes!

How did this happen!?

In order to continue living in my ideal world I have decided to differentiate between good (or acceptable) and bad (or unacceptable) fast food choices.

Thank you for indulging me!

Good Fast Food:

Chipotle (no longer owned by McD)
Starbucks (let's face it, it is consistent and the friendly people are making my drink before I even get to the front of the line - genius training program!)
Anything else I might happen to eat

Bad Fast Food:

McDonald's
Burger King
Anything else I don't or won't eat

My Soap Box {Seasons}

2008-03-22T10:56:00.000-07:00

As we enter into Spring, I thought I would leverage this opportunity (again, too much time at work) and stand on my soap box for a moment...

For years I have heard from non-native Calfornian's that we (Californian's, that is) don't know the true meaning of seasons. The East Coast is always heralded as the only place in the world (and by world I mean The US which as we know is the world, right?) that has true seasons. This is just bologna if you ask me (which I know you didn't, but this is My Soap Box). If you buy into the notion that seasons are only defined by "fall colors", blankets of snow, spring flowers and so on, then how do you explain this?!

Not the best fall photo, but taken while driving
home (yes, in Fremont) this past fall with Elliot.
Fall colors, right?

This photo was inspired by my friend Hannah.
This was also taken in Fremont, right outside our front door.
Those are spring flowers, right?

Now that I have done my whole "so there" part of this post, I want to address this concept that seasons are defined by "fall colors",spring flowers,etc. I of course went to Wikipedia to help me out...

"In temperate and polar regions generally four seasons are recognized: spring, summer, autumn, winter.

In some tropical and subtropical regions it is more common to speak of the rainy (or wet, or monsoon) season versus the dry season, because the amount of precipitation may vary more dramatically than the average temperature. In other tropical areas a three-way division into hot, rainy and cool season is used. In some parts of the world, special "seasons" are loosely defined based upon important events such as a hurricane season, tornado season or a wildfire season."

Happy Spring Everyone!

Mom's Can't Get Sick!

2008-03-06T13:44:00.000-08:00

Until recently I bought in to the notion (albeit on an unconscious level) that when Mom's get taken down they still have to care for everyone (including themselves). I am now annoyed on behalf of my husband for this line of thinking. I was taken down recently by a Sinus Infection (something I had avoided my whole life) and it was so miserable! I had a fever, couldn't breath out of my nose, used almost a whole box of tissue in one day, and for the first time in as far as I can remember I lost my appetite (seriously, I never lose my appetite when I am sick). My dear husband did everything short of bathing me and nary a complaint from his lips. He took on all the care for our sweet Elliot - dressed, his meds (ear infection), diapers changed...took over all the household duties - grocery shopping, laundry, food for me (I could still eat, just not quite so much). Now, this makes it sounds like he only did all these things because I was sick, and I don't mean it that way. These are things we do together every week, but like any good team player (I am spending too much time at work as you can see by my use of phrases like "team player") he kicked it into overdrive to compensate for my inability to "play ball". Thanks hubby!

I'm still here...

2008-02-29T20:29:00.001-08:00

This whole workin' Mom thing is a killer! What a crazy circus life has become! Throw a sick mom and baby on top of it all and life becomes chaos - manageable chaos, but chaos nonetheless. I have not kept up my "What did I eat today" and I have not lost the weight that I had hoped I would by now...but I am alive and loving every moment I have with my son and dear husband! I have missed blogging, but have been lucky to get even a few moments (usually when I am pumping at work) to read a blog, let alone write a post. But here I am, finally not sick, I have showered, the dishes are done, our sweet baby (who has ear infection #2) is asleep, and though l am feeling the strongest urge to go fall asleep myself, I just really wanted to say hello! Goodnight.

14 Years Ago - Then & Now

2008-02-08T21:27:00.000-08:00

15 years ago I graduated from High School, packed my bags and move to the big city - Fremont! (I moved from Tracy). 6 months later (still in Fremont) I met a boy...who quickly became (and still is) the love of my life. (Photo on the left is courtesy of Jennie Oh, Circa 1997 UC Berkeley)

January 29th, 1995 we celebrated our 1st dating anniversary - we went roller skating. This year on our 14th anniversary we decided to commemorate the occasion by once again going roller skating - and to our surprise the roller rink is still in business. On our drive to the roller rink I suggested that we stop and get ourselves a Starbucks after we skate and Dale suggested Pete's instead. In an effort to get my way I quickly said, "Pete's wasn't around 14 years ago, so we are getting Starbucks", at which point my husband reminded me that neither was Starbucks (by not around, we mean not in Fremont).

This little bit of history made us start recollecting all the other things that were to come... In 1994 ...

*There was no Starbucks in Fremont, now there are 10 (including Newark where there are 2) ; our regular cafe, of course, is no longer in business

*Neither of us owned a computer (and only used them sparingly), now we have 3 (not including Dale's iPhone)

*All the picures we took used film

*I have had 7 addresses since then - 2 in Fremont, back to Tracy, 2 in San Francisco, 1 in San Mateo and now once again we reside in Fremont

*There was no Yahoo!, and now Dale is one of their 14K employees (ignoring the news for now)

*We bought and sold CD's, now we have 4 iPods (not kidding)

*We weren't really in college yet, now we are 1-2 years from our 10 year reunion

*We weren't going to get married nor have kids

*I drove a dark brown 1974 diesel Mercedes and Dale didn't own a car (shortly after mine blew up & Dale bought a 1985 Dodge Colt Hatchback)

*I had been smoking for less than a year, now it has been 2 1/2 years since I quit (Dale has been clean for a year)

I decided we should make a tradition out of it and go roller skating in another 14 years, at which point we got a little weirded out thinking of ourselves approaching 50 and Elliot turning 15 - Yikes (I am less wierd about 50, and more about Elliot being 15)!

Note: We intended on having a longer list, but it has already taken me a week to get this post out, so I am just calling it done and calling it a night.

The Things People Say {Babies}

2008-01-26T21:56:00.000-08:00

When we walked into Erik's Deli today for lunch a nice older gentleman smiled at Elliot as we passed by his table. Later as we were nearing the end of our dining experience the same gentleman came over to us, looked at sweet Elliot, tickled his little foot and said, "Keep Smilin', soon you'll be paying taxes".

Elliot accompanied Dale and I to a fun and delicious night of German Food with friends. Our waiter was quite enjoyable in an unusual sort of way. Near the end of the evening he was struck by how good Elliot had been and asked if he was always so happy and mellow. We responded (proudly) yes and he said, "he will be a great surgeon or an Eastern Religious Leader".

Welcome to Parenthood!

2008-01-22T15:44:00.001-08:00

Just when thought Elliot was 98% over a bad cold, he goes and develops Hand, Foot & Mouth! Poor little bear! Thankfully he has not developed blisters in his mouth (OMG - can you imagine!) and he is in great spirits (if it weren't for the spots on his itty bitty hands and feet you wouldn't even know he was sick). It just kind of sucks to get sent home on your first day at your new daycare (a spot openened up at the original place we were hoping for...more on that decision another time). We new as working parents that we would have to take "sick days" to care for our little one, but as my dear hubby said, "I just didn't think it would happen so soon". We didn't even have a real "disaster plan" set up yet...but thankfully Grandma can take tomorrow, Dad will take Thursday and I'll take Friday...hopefully Elliot will be ready to start his new daycare next week.

HUGS

2008-01-18T09:05:00.000-08:00

Hugs are great! There have been many days over the last 14 (yes, I said 14!) years that Dale has made me stop in my tracks to get (&give) a hug. All of a sudden the stressed, rushed feeling would melt away and everything would be peaceful and wonderful, if only for one magical moment. In the last few days Elliot has learned to hug and it feels SOOOOO good that I don't want to let him go! I bet this means he'll be ready to snuggle in no time! Give someone a good long hug today!

While I Pump

2008-01-16T10:09:00.000-08:00

While I maternity leave I discovered this thing called the Internet. (yes, I am know I am an IT Manager!) BE (Before Elliot) I would spend my days discussing applications, networks, servers, websites and when I was not discussing them I would be writing about them, corresponding via e-mail about them, and so on. So when I would get home at night, the last thing I felt like doing was "surfing the web". Essentially, I never found "enjoyment" in the internet and would only "log-on" for banking, to check e-mail or to purchase something. AE (After Elliot) I starting logging on for enjoyment, reading blogs, the newspaper, finding art for our home, letting myself essentially wander from site to site aimlessly. As my maternity leave was nearing an end, I started getting sad about the internet world I had come to love and would now have to leave behind.

On my first day back at work I realized that I needed non-work related things to occupy my time while I pump! Now I have 3-15 minute breaks each day where I get to "check-in" with the rest of the world! And unlike at home, my 15-minutes of internet usage will not get interrupted by a baby, a pug, or a husband - it is real me time! I guess on some level it has helped with my transition back to work, by not completely disrupting the world I was living in at home. I feel like I really began investing in my personal life (home, family&friends, hobbies) and figured that going back to work would disrupt that - thankfully I was wrong!

What I Ate Yesterday:

*Cereal - I have started putting Joe's O's in my cereal mix, they are just like Cheerios but saltier which works great in my mix but has stopped my hubby from buying them for himself because they are not so good solo!
*Soy Mocha
*Persian Food - overall the food was great, but I didn't like what I ordered (a Persian stew) which is more of a reflection on my tastes than their food. If you are ever in the neighborhood you must try the Mast-o-Moosir which is a yogurt spread that is DELICIOUS!
*A chocolate truffle
*Some tasty 'pineapple pastry packaged treat' straight from El Salvador - yum!
*Leftover Chili Con Carne & bread

Great recipe we tried this week: Chicken & Peppers

This is one of the first times that I didn't measure everything precisely (I was in a hurry) and it turned out GREAT! I left the Thyme and Marjoram out of the marinade (prob. would have been better, but still great without it). The vinegariness of this meal was amazing! Make sure to add plenty of red pepper flakes! We used toasted wheat bread (good wheat bread, nothing flimsy), toasted it in the toaster oven adding sliced mozzarella instead of fontina so it got all melty too. I doubled the recipe so we had plenty of leftovers (tastes good rolled into a HF tortilla too :)) We served it with a simple side salad of mixed greens, tomato, cucumber and a quick dressing of olive oil, red wine vinegar, and garlic.

My Soap Box {Fat People}

2008-01-13T20:26:00.001-08:00

I was in the shower today thinking about the bike ride I just finished (my first ride on my new bike) when I recalled a conversation I had with my dear husband many years ago. I was 'struggling' with my weight then (similar to now) and I told him (attempt to spin my down moment into an up one) that I was actually lucky because my body is telling me that I need to eat better and to exercise whereas he needed (years later) his father to have a heart attack and to hear his cholesterol was high (borderline, but he was only 30) in order to 'eat right & exercise'. We often remark about the fat person ordering a venti-carmel frap, extra caramel, extra whip at SB. And today it occurred to me that we never remark about the skinny people who order those same beverages. I consider myself (even when I am thin) to always be a fat person and realized today that I almost turned my back on my people. So the next time you see a fat person eating a giant burger or having a second helping of something indulgent, don't forget to look for the skinny person doing the same thing because at the end of the day it is our health we should all be worried about.

What I ate today:

Cereal
Soy Mocha
WW Eng Muffin with PB, Morningstar saugsage patties
Dbl Tall 1/2 Caff...
Chili Con Carne with Beans (recipe of the week - halfway decent, quick and freezable)
1/2 mini-bread loaf (sounds like more than it is, I swear)
Some tasty Amaretti cookies

Just Because

2008-01-09T19:32:00.000-08:00

Last night, seconds after Elliot had made what I hoped was his final cry to sleep (so sad, huh?) Thomas began barking and I began my whispering yell reminding him that the baby was sleeping. Often Thomas gives little barks and nothing comes of them, but last night his barking led to our doorbell ringing. I turned on the porch light, peered through the peep hole and decided it was safe to open the door. A woman asked if I was Amy and when I said yes she announced she had a delivery for me. I looked beyond her at her car and wondered what it could be and just as I was about to inquire she began rolling the most beautiful bicycle into our home, "It's from Dale" she said. As I admired in awe this beautiful specimen, she asked me if this was for my birthday, Christmas, or just because and I smiled at her and said, "Just because".

Isn't she a beaut?!

Can Dale be any sweeter?!

BE (Before Elliot) I would exercise regularly - at least 3 times a week (there were times way back when it would be 5-6). And although it started out as a way to eat more food, it soon became exactly what I needed to stay sane. AE (After Elliot) I ran out of time (and energy) to exercise. I tried taking walks, but it never stuck. Though I'd rather be outdoors, the gym was technically an option except hitting the gym at 8pm was no longer something I had the energy for and my DH (Dear Husband) doesn't get home before 7:30 and don't even suggest the early morning or I will give you a very dirty look. I tried to go back to Yoga (I was addicted during my pregnancy, but 10:30am is an odd time on Saturday (I loathe activities that suck up 1/2 a day by the time you are done, home & showered).

On September 30th, 2007 (technically BE, but just barely before he started baking) I "competed" in a Triathlon Sprint and I learned two things: I can do it & I love riding a bike (didn't really bond with the swimming or running as much though I love running a whole lot more then I ever thought I could). On weekends when we weren't training as a team I would find myself doing more biking than anything else. I loved that I could just hop out of bed onto my bike and go somewhere (when I would run I would hardly make it out of my neighborhood before it was time to turn back. I would admire road bikes of my teammates (I put road tires on my mountain bike), but decided to test my long-term commitment before shelling out the big bucks for one of my own. I came close to buying one shortly after the race and then we found out I was pregnant and my mind got busy with new ideas of how to spend our hard-working dollars. My DH really wants me to get my sanity back (and stop being mean to him) and knows (as I do) that if I can just hop on my special new bike on the weekend mornings, everyone will be much happier (everyone could have been happier if I hopped on my old bike except it was recently stolen, so no longer an option).

What I Ate Today:

Cereal
Soy Mocha (the long awaited picture of the 2go mug I bought at a SB in Hawaii)
Chicken salad, HF tortillas and lf white cheddar (assembled and eaten while pumping in my office at work)
Dbl Tall 1/2 Caff...
Chickenless Chicken Nuggets, HF tortillas with lf white cheddar, BBQ sauce
A few nibbles of some leftover Thai

Happy Tuesday! (almost Wednesday)

2008-01-08T20:36:00.000-08:00

Happy Tuesday! Today was my first FULL day at work and I guess I understand better what Moms mean when they say how hard it is to go back to work. For some people I think they mean leaving sweet baby in somebody else's hands. And though leaving my scrumptious little bear was not the easiest thing to do (even I had to grapple with it for a while), for me it boils down to two pains: energy (amount & lack-of) & waking hours (with respect to babies day). Let's start with energy. I am not one of the more fortunate Moms to have a baby that sleeps through the night (sometimes, but it's not predictable), so this gets at the obvious lack of energy. As for the amount of energy, this is speaking to the extra stuff required to get out of the house in the morning. I used to be able to wake-up at 7:15 and be out of the house (homemade Soy Mocha in hand) by 8. This morning I woke at 6:15 and only with dear husbands help was I able to be out of the house by 7:45 - I am so tired I can't even do the math - but that is A LOT longer. After I feed my sweet boy, I put him in bed with Dad while I get ready (aren't they cute?!). Once I am ready, sweet little Elliot needs to have his "pants" changed (by "pants" I mean diaper), dressed into something cute, "eat" his cereal (i say "eat" because we don't think he has actually swallowed any yet). While Dad does the dressing and feeding (the cereal), I need to pack the breast-pump, milk storage bottles, pumping accessories, cool packs for transport, my own lunch, make my coffee, "eat" my cereal (I say "eat" because it is really more like inhale), load the new family car (check out E in the driver's seat!), and pray I didn't forget something. I have made a morning checklist because it would be REALLY bad if I forgot Elliot's food OR a particular pump accessory that would result in an inability to pump (boobs could explode). Once we are on the road things are pretty good, unless of course the sun is out at which point I spend most of the drive trying to creatively shade my son without suffocating him! Unfortunately my work day does not wrap-up until 5:30 (at the earliest) and Elliot has chosen his bedtime in the 7 o'clock hour which means by the time we drive home, I give him some food, we have a total of 15 minutes of play time before he starts rubbing his eyes. And so while he sleeps I eat a little dinner, wash the bottles, storage containers, & pump parts, prepare the bottles for tomorrow and prepare to do it all again tomorrow (sort-of, tomorrow will be a 1/2 day). I know we will all get used to it, adjust, learn short-cuts, etc....but whew, I am wiped! Tomorrow I will tell you about the surprise that arrived on my doorstep tonight!

Happy Christmas, Merry New Year

2008-01-03T20:50:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe so much time has passed! Our first Christmas with Elliot was wonderful, though I think for him it was just fun times with family and friends. Dale was off the whole time between Christmas and New Years so it felt very much like vacation. Generally when we have breaks like this I often feel regretful at the end because we didn't "do" anything. Dale has to listen to me saying, "I wish we'd hung out with so & so" or "we should have organized that room" or "we should have gone somewhere"...but this year I really felt fulfilled. We had lots of friend and family time, lots of snuggles with Elliot, I got some Mom time while the boys went gallivanting around town and I even outfitted my office with some IKEA goodies to make my return to the work world a little brighter! Baking took a turn for the worst, but hey there is always next year. I managed not to gain any weight Christmas week, tomorrow we'll see if we are finally on a downward trend again. Yesterday was my first day back at work, and it was good. It felt good to get dressed in work clothes and I actually enjoyed driving the familiar and forgotten path between Fremont and Belmont. Dropping off Elliot was much easier than I expected, I didn't cry. But I did hug him hard when I picked him up. Today was my second day and though it was good for me, my sweet boy had a hard time. I guess today maybe he realized going to this new place was not a one-off, and thus he decided to cry and not eat. But I hear it can take a week (plus or minus) for babies to transition, so I am optimistic. Though I am enjoying my return, I am exhausted...last night I was asleep at 9 (though I was awake again at 10:30 for feeding time). There were some many pictures I could have added to this post, but I am going to shower and crash now, good nite.

What I Ate Today:

*Cereal
*Soy Mocha
*Spicy Tuna Roll, BBQ EEL and Avocado Roll with spicy sauce
*HF Tortilla, LF cheese and Morningstar sausage patties
*Steak sandwich with leftover steak, LF swiss, BBQ sauce, greens and a side of baked Kettle Chips

Christmas Eve

2007-12-24T10:46:00.000-08:00

I was reading another blog, then I zoned out and when I "awoke" I was staring at the word EVE. My mind took the usual path of twists and turns where one thought leads to another. I was thinking how important Midnight Mass is to Catholics which eventually got me thinking how "Eve" is supposed to be that period before the BIG DAY but how over time it has become a holiday in and of itself. When people ask you what you are doing for Christmas, the answer is generally separated out - Christmas Eve we are doing X and Christmas Day we are doing Y (or Y & Z in our case).

As a child we always celebrated with my immediate family on Christmas Eve (often my maternal Grandmother and Great-Uncle would join us). We opened presents at home, ate a lovely meal cooked by my Mom, usually there was an argument or bickering between Grandma and Mom but all in all it was generally a swell evening. We would always go to sleep with excitement knowing that Santa would have put some goodies in our stockings (I'll never forget the year first year I saw "Santa" and her helper in the kitchen).

This year Dale and I made an addition to this holiday by starting a new tradition for The Eve of Christmas Eve - Thai Food! I generally like to have all shopping, wrapping, & cleaning pretty well finished by the close of Christmas Eve Eve - so to celebrate and not add to the chaos we decided last night to go to our favorite Thai restaurant (even better than our old favorite in San Francisco - and yes, it's in Fremont). We had our favorite dishes and told Elliot all about the food he will enjoy next year. The Christmas season is a spirit, a feeling, memories, traditions and much more that all seems to get squeezed in to two days of enjoyment (preceded by a whole month of shopping and chaos), so we are officially extending it by a day.

We just finished our Thai leftovers (yum!), I have finished baking and the Apple Spice Cake turned out GREAT (well, it looks great but we'll know for sure tomorrow) but Grandma's cookies did not measure up. I will explain my process to her this evening to find out where I went wrong.
Now while Elliot naps we will get dressed for the Christmas Eve celebrations at my Aunties. Tomorrow morning we will make our special Christmas breakfast which this year will be homemade donuts, hot cocoa and maybe some eggs. Ya know, before I sign out I was just realizing that if you are religious this three-day celebration could symbolize The Trinity...hmm, this three day Christmas just might catch-on as it appeals to sinners and non-sinners alike! Merry Christmas Eve!

I forgot to click "post" yesterday!

Happy Day Before Christmas Eve

2007-12-23T11:10:00.000-08:00

I lost 2 pounds! Well, one of them was gained the week before...but that puts me at a total of 5 pounds. Not enough for a new wardrobe, but on my way! I am off to get a couple of last minute gifts and some grocery items for some Christmas baking I have yet to do. I'll be damned if I am going to get through this Christmas season without baking something! For certain I am going to be whipping up a Apple Spice Cake for Christmas Day with the in-laws...but I also want to try my luck at Grandma's Cookies all by myself...we'll see.

Elliot slept in his crib ALL NIGHT last night, brings tears to my eyes (he even took his morning nap there today). It took about 1/2 hour of crying (screaming really) and then he was out. He awoke at 11:00 to eat again but went right back to sleep without the pacifier! He awoke again at 2 for what I thought was a snack, but really he had just taken an enormous crap and was likely quite uncomfortable. After a quick change and a bit of a snack he was out until 6:45! Dad reported that I was actually snoring last night and that he hasn't seen me sleep so soundly in a long while. I know, if you do the math I was still up every few hours, but lately Elliot and I have been falling asleep while he eats (while in our bed) and it has been prolonging feeding and making for not so restful nights (sleeping upright is not exactly good sleep). So that fact that I got 3 and 4 hours of sleep, on my side/stomach was quite refreshing. I feel like a new woman! Though I must admit I felt a little sad that he didn't "need" me.

Thomas was not quite sure what to do with himself last night. Everytime I got up to go tend to the baby he would follow close behind and I could tell he was still 1/2 asleep because he would just sort of sit and stare in the low light not quite sure if he should stay or go back to his bed (eventually he chose his bed). What a sweet pug!

Well, off to fight the crowds (Mr. Graham is shopping with Daddy this morning - too cute!).

For Vivian

2007-12-21T11:12:00.001-08:00

Please send all your positive vibes to sweet Vivian. Stay strong little girl!

What I've Been Eating

2007-12-19T10:55:00.000-08:00

OK, so this blog was never meant to be a place for me to write only about what I ate each day...but sorry, I am full bore into Christmas shopping, etc...so here is what I have been eating...

Tuesday:

~Cereal
~Soy Mocha
~2 HF tortillas with roasted chicken, BBQ sauce and melted cheese - I discovered that if you use the microplane on a block of LF cheese you can use even less cheese and still get the texture and taste PLUS you get a wonderful even distribution that takes even less time to melt in the micro
~Soy Mocha
~WW Eng Muffin with PB
~A few bites of a yummy brie puff pastry thingy that had preserves in it too - I could have eaten the whole damn thing!
~cheese crackers

Wednesday:

~Cereal
~Soy Mocha
~Spinach Salad from Specialties, some nibbles from some TASTY cookies (PB with Choc. Chunks & Ginger-Mollasis - yum!)
~Sushi (I think I did pretty well with some healthy choices - spicy tuna, BBQ eel & avocado, just 2 tiny gyozas)
~Snackimals Chocolate Chip "cookies"

Today:

~Cereal
~Spinach salad, lite dressing with grilled salmon
~Dbl Short 1/2 Caff 1-pump Soy Mocha, reduced-fat Pecan muffin
~HF tortillas, LF cheese, Mornigstar farms sausage patties (NOT LINKS)
~2 more sausage patties
~last little crumbs of the CC Snackimals

Friends-4-Ever

2007-12-17T21:34:00.000-08:00

Elliot and his BFF Vivi...

"I love you Vivi friend"

What I Ate Today

2007-12-17T21:28:00.000-08:00

~Cereal
~Soy Mocha
~WW Eng Muffin with Pumpkin Butter (yummy!)
~1/2 Roasted Veggie Pizzza from TJ's - REALLY yummy and calorie friendly!
~Soy Mocha and some crunchy-chewy almondinas
~Veggie burger split between two HF tortillas with LF cheddar and Arugula
~last scoop of Fully Loaded Peanut Butter Cup Frozen Dairy Dessert

What I Didn't Eat Today

2007-12-16T20:55:00.000-08:00

First I should say I was too tired to report out yesterday...you'll just have to trust me when I say I did fine yesterday. As for today, well I started out with my morning coffee and a small bowl of my cereal to tide me over because Dale's Aunt was making us breakfast. I knew as far as calories the day would be a bust, but that is alright because it would be one of those days worth celebrating. We arrived to yummy egg casserole, bannana chocolate chip bread, coffee cake, fruit, Panatone (what Italian feast doesn't have this!), sausage, coffee and juice - yum! Of course she is such a love that it was her company that made the day! From this point forward, the day went to hell. We got home and Dale took Elliot shopping, so I decided I was finally going to get lights on our tree and do a tad bit of decorating. I rummaged through ALL of our Christmas stuff and only one strand of lights could be found - hmm. I wasn't about to hit Target (what a zoo!), so I decided to hop on over to Michaels where they would have lights plus I could pick up the couple of paintings we just had framed.

On my way to M's I decided to treat myself to a SB. I got to M's with my SB in hand (sort of) and started shopping. I needed ink pads and maybe a couple of stamps because I was inspired to do a new theme for my gifts this year (thanks h!). I always wrap presents in some sort of matching fashion usually doing one style for my family, one style for Dale's and a third for friends (the practical use is so gifts don't get forgotten in the Christmas Eve/Day rush around). Anyway, I digress, as I was shopping for stamps to use for my gifts I realized my hair band was loose, so with my arm through the hand-held shopping basket I reattached my hair band. I could hear something while I was doing this but wasn't registering the sound until I looked down and saw my coffee spilling all over my basket and the floor. See, I had set my coffee inside the basket for safe keeping - so much for that. I alerted a staff person who got some paper towels, mop, etc. I grabbed my basket (after wiping my stuff down) and headed to the framing section to pick-up the paintings. And of course, they weren't done right, so why I waited for the woman to fix them I grabbed the lights and a few other items, went back for the paintings and headed for the checkout.

When I got home it was already 5:30 (3 hours after Dale & Elliot left me which means pump or feed soon) and Dale was on his way home. I wanted to make my "recipe of the week", so I got started chopping onions, bell peppers, garlic, boiling pasta, sautéing sausage and so on. I was almost done when they walked in the door. We gave Elliot the bottle and as I was sitting with Dale and Elliot I realized that I had left my dinner under the broiler (which was just to melt the cheese) and so I ran in the kitchen to find my dinner ruined! We microwaved ourselves some frozen TJ's pasta and called it dinner :( Elliot then screamed and cried for the next hour as I tried to get him to go to sleep and once he was asleep I decided to I would put up the lights. I was at the point that if I couldn't at least get the lights on the tree tonight then I was taking the whole damn tree out to the dumpster. One strand at a time, round and round the tree I went and finally we had lights...that didn't work. And as I was wrapping up this post, Elliot began screaming again...and after trying to get him back to sleep I have walked out of the room and uttered these words to my husband, "Let him cry, I'm don!". I am sure if it goes on much longer I'll get back in the game. I think I just need some sleep or a drink or both.

Just some giggles

2007-12-14T19:54:00.000-08:00

This makes me so happy!

What I Ate Today:

~Cereal
~Soy Mocha
~Dbl Tall 1/2 Caff 2-pump Soy Mocha
~Yummy Spinach Salad from Specialties
~Chickenless Nuggets, BBQ Sauce, HF Tortillas with LF Celtic White Cheddar
~A long week glass of red wine
~One carefully measure portion of Chocolate Chip Snackimals

Where did it all go wrong?

2007-12-14T08:10:00.000-08:00

Pistachio Crusted Pork Chop?
Mango & Raspberry Panna Cotta?
Cheese crackers?
Lamb chops?
Turkey burger (and fries)?
Pizza?
Tasty cake from SB?
Cheese & Crackers?
Lack of exercise?

I decided not to wait until the end of the day to share with you that I GAINED a pound :( I guess this week I indulged a bit too much! But it was the reality check that I needed to get back on track! It's all about week three!

I'm Tired, What I Ate Today

2007-12-13T20:36:00.001-08:00

I had a little something I started to write, but I am wiped today!

What I Ate Today:

~Cereal
~Soy Mocha
~2 - HF Tortillas, 2 eggs, slice of LF white cheddar & hot sauce
~Cheese crackers
~Soy Mocha
~ 1 mini pizza (around 50 calories), 2 mini-mushroom turnovers (around 150 calories), some Everything crackers ( lost count), some low fat swiss and low fat cheddar cheese (lost count)
~Eng. muffin with lite butter & PB

Hobbies

2007-12-12T21:30:00.001-08:00

All my adult life I have dreamed of having at least one hobby. I will never forget how hard Dale and I laughed when I was moving to San Francisco and filled out a bio for a roommate search and under hobbies all we could think of was smoking and drinking coffee! In the 11th hour of my maternity leave I have started establishing some real hobbies. While on vacation I found this wonderful old cookbook called The American Woman's Cookbook and decided I would start collecting old cookbooks. I forgot to mention in my Aloha post that I also got a wonderful little cookbook entitled, "Around The World in 80 Recipes, Hawaii's International Cookbook of Exotic Recipes" with little drawings next to the recipes to represent which part of the world the recipes are from (in case you couldn't tell by the titles). And I just discovered this wonderful website - http://www.oldcookbooks.com/ And you know how much I love Peanut Butter, so I just had to order the Skippy Peanut Butter Art of Cookery & Accomplish'd Gentlewoman's Companion! I think this might actually be something I will stick with!

And then there is photography. I have always loved taking photos and so badly wanted to learn on a manual film camera, especially the developing (something so appealing about developing ones own creations). My sweet husband (then boyfriend) bought me a wonderful manual camera over 7 years ago...and I never made the time to read a book, take a class, surf the web or just try. And then a week after Elliot was born he went out and bought us a digital SLR just like our friends have (I couldn't stop talking about it!). Since then I have been a picture taking crazy person, and loving it! I try new shots, play with editing tools and develop (print) to my hearts content because it is relatively cheap as far as hobbies are concerned.

One of my 'Maternity Leave To-Do List' items was to take pictures of our morning coffee ritual, frame them and hang them in our kitchen. I almost gave up and started looking for art online and then I found some inspiration and viola. I am not going to frame any from this first series, but really think I am close.

Here is an image from Hawaii that I was particularly proud of.

I am also the photographer (not the editor, that was Dale) behind our Christmas Card, though I suppose I should give the model some of the credit :) Isn't he just precious?!

Wish me luck and a whole lot of sticktoitiveness!

What I Ate Today:

~Cereal
~Soy Mocha
~One slice of Pizza (a huge slice), some wedges of pita with hummus - went to a Baby Shower
~My usual @ SB & a Reduced Fat Blueberry Coffee Cake :(
~Leftover lamb, couscous & soup, HF tortillas for dipping in soup
~Warm crusty bread with Dale (he at dinner a few hours after me, so I joined him)

Exercise: Frankly it depresses me to have this section here each day and for it to be lacking in aerobically effective material. From now on I am going to leave it off, unless of course I do something ghat is considered exercise.

Having It Just Right

2007-12-11T15:53:00.001-08:00

I am pretty particular about how my food is prepared (even when I am the one doing the preparation). I only started thinking more about it after my husband laughed at me for how I distribute the cheese on my tortilla prior to heating it in the microwave. I realized today that I have always been this way. I remember when I would come home from elementary school one of my favorite snacks was Wheat Thins with Kraft American Singles. I would break each piece of cheese into perfectly sized squares to match the size of each cracker, sometimes I would make a sandwich but mostly just one cracker to one piece of cheese. When I go out to eat it is very important that they bring me a little cup or ramekin for my ketchup because I do not like to drizzle the ketchup over my fries.

Rarely do I order anything that doesn't have some special instructions. I think my beverage at Starbucks speaks volumes: Double Tall 1/2 Caff 2-Pump Soy Mocha...when I used to get Shorts I would actually order 1 and 1/2 pumps! But it's not just Starbucks because when I make my coffee at home I carefully measure exactly 8 ounce of Soy and 39 grams of chocolate for my Soy Mocha. And before brewing my espresso I make sure to rinse the little metal cups in hot water so the cold metal doesn't chill my espresso. And tonight as I baked my Chickenless Nuggets in the toaster over, I placed my plate atop the oven so it too would get toasty warm. Some people might say I am bit compulsive, but when you LOVE food each eating moment (even the frozen food ones) are savored.

What I Ate Today:

~Cereal, added some blueberries today
~Soy Mocha
~Turkey Burger from Red Robin, I am a fan of this from waaaaay back when we lived in San Mateo and would eat at the one in Foster City. You won't believe it until you try it, but this Turkey Burger is THE BEST! So Juicy and even with the fries it does not tip the scale like you think it should.
~Dbl Tall 1/2 Caff 2-pump Soy Mocha - threw most of it out as I think they used regular milk - icky!
~Soy Mocha - needed my fix! Really wanted somthing sweet with my afternoon coffee and just as I was dreaming of something my wonderful neighbor dropped by a box of homemade candy - but I didn't eat any! Ugh, this is going to be hard!
~Chickenless Nuggets, 2 - HF Tortilla with 1 slice of LF White Cheddar, BBQ Sauce (yeah!)
~One serving of Chocolate Chip Snackimals (I really wanted that candy!)

Exercise: Walking @ the mall, trying on clothes

I forgot, I DO Love Christmas

2007-12-10T20:46:00.001-08:00

Yesterday we picked out our Arbol de Navidad and today during Elliot's play times I played Christmas music and I began to think how much I actually DO love Christmas. It's just that the things I hate about it (Losing my Mom, Shopping, Crowds, Gift Cards, etc.) seem to overshadow the good things about Christmas.

Here are some good things:

*The smell of our family room after we put up our Christmas Tree
*Christmas Music; fond memories of putting records on the record player while my Mom was cooking Christmas Eve dinner
*Baking holiday goodies - usually with my Aunt the week before Christmas, we're taking this year off, but will resume next year when Elliot will be able to sample some of the goodies
*Christmas Pajamas - every year for Christmas my Mom would buy me a pair of pajamas and since she passed away I have made a point to buy myself a special pair of pajamas each year
*Planning a surprise gift for Dale - we have an informal competition going (there seems to be one gift not under the tree that gets mysteriously found after we have each other thinking we are all done) and Dale almost always wins...but we'll see about this year!
*Planning our Christmas breakfast - Dale and I always make breakfast at home together Christmas morning...this year we are thinking of making donuts - yum!
*Receiving Christmas Cards - I get so excited to check the mail during December and for the first time I actually enjoyed making and sending them too!
*Thumbing through Grandmas Christmas card pile - I'm not good with guessing but I'd say she gets at least 50, some are from Switzerland and the cards are just a little different in size and very sweet looking. I love to poke fun at the ones that are over-the-top but also admire growing cousins, etc.
*Eating Grandmas special cookies (might try to bake them myself this year)

What I Ate Today:

~Cereal (HF & Organic Morning Lite, TJ's)
~Soy Mocha
~Cheese crackers
~Fat Free Eng Muffin with lite butter and PB (I think I have been converted and like the WW better)
~Soy Mocha
~More cheese crackers
~More cheese crackers
*I really didn't want morning to end today*
~Fiberful
~More cheese crackers (need something to snack on while cooking)
~Spiced Lamb Chops Sauteed Peppers and Onions with Garlic and Mint Couscous

One New Recipe Each Week

2007-12-09T10:22:00.000-08:00

I tend to cook the sames things week after week, so to help me mix things up I have decided to make one new recipe (meal) each week. Today I made a RR 30-Minute Meal entitled "Minimum Effort, Maximum Taste" (that's my kind of meal!). I love Indian food and flavors, so we didn't have to go out and buy a lot to whip this up - added bonus.

Indian Spiced Chickpea and Fire Roasted Tomato Soup; not quite as "Indian" as I would have liked, but a tasty soup. When I started cooking the soup I realized it was already 8pm, so we decided that the Lamb & Couscous will happen tomorrow night. I used 1/8 instead of 1/4 of a cup of Olive Oil which makes this soup VERY fat/calorie friendly!

What I Ate Today:

~Amy's Huevos Rancheros (Two Morningstar Farms Breakfast Patties, one over-medium egg, one HF tortilla with 1/2 slice LF white cheddar, generous splash of hot sauce - have you seen my collection?!)
~Soy Mocha
~1/2 Chicken Pesto sandwich at Erik's Deli and a bowl of their vegetarian vegetable soup
~Dbl Tall 1/2 Caff 2-Pump Soy Mocha
~Handful of Sun Chips
~Bowl of Indian Spiced Soup & 1/2 loaf (very small loaf) of warm crusty bread
~1/2 Pinata apple - new discover at the store, cannot rival my favorite Pink Ladies, but darn good.

Exercise: Still playing the sick card.

What I Ate Today

2007-12-08T16:38:00.000-08:00

~Cereal - out of JO's O's, but had a unopened box of Heart2Heart, though it was a bit overpowering and was not loving them like I used to
~2 mini cranberry orange muffins
~Chickenless Nuggets with spicy ketchup (will get more BBQ sauce at TJ's tomorrow)
~One generous portion of Sun Chips (they were on sale at Target today, otherwise they would have not made an appearance this week)
~2 HF tortillas with one slice of LF White Cheddar melted and a dash of hot sauce at 4:30 (dinner is not until 7:30 and I am hungry now, so needed a little snack)
~Butternut squash soup with a swirl of gorgonzola, pistachio crusted pork chop, and a mango & raspberry panna cotta that was extraordinary; we don't go out as often as we used to, so a night out with friends is worth a little splurge in ones diet. Once I figure out how to get the pictures off of my camera I will post them on Flickr.

Exercise: cough, cough, cough

The First Weigh-In

2007-12-07T12:38:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe it has been a whole week! I hopped on the scale this morning to see I had lost almost 4 lbs, however, I wasn't that excited because I thought tomorrow was the official weigh-in (anything can happen in a day) and then I counted on my hands and realized today was day 7! Yeah for me! Thanks for your virtual support, it is really helping. I have reviewed what I ate this week and I think the big changes from previous weeks were- No Chipotle (Steak Quesadilla is yummy!), no little snack cakes from SB (even though I always get the "reduced" fat ones). I will continue to keep you updated on what I eat and hopefully I can hit the 10lb mark by the New Year (I am really hoping to not have to buy too many new work clothes)!

What I Ate Today:

~Cereal
~Soy Mocha
~WW Eng. Muffin, lite butter, PB
~Some cheese crackers, some Sun Chips, some more cheese crackers
~Another Tri-tip salad (a lot of Tri-tip leftover, almost all gone)
~Soy Mocha
~Fiberful, am really regretting have the Eng Muffin so early today as it is only 5pm and I am ready for dinner
~More Tri-tip but with two eggs, a WW Eng Muffin, and some hot sauce - yum, I love breakfast for dinner! The Tri-tip is now all gone - whew!
~3 Cranberry Orange Mini-Muffins (TJ's mix); I made regular sized muffins for hubby

Exercise: Still a bit under the weather...

My Soap Box {Junk Mail}

2007-12-06T12:30:00.000-08:00

Elliot and I skipped music class and playtime with friends today because we both have scratchy throats and sniffles. Instead I decided to take him to the bookstore and get us a couple of new books to read, that way we could sit in our sweats and just rest with some good books all day long. On the way home I stopped at our mailbox and tugged and pulled to get everything out and decided it was time to share my frustration with you all. Ever since e-mail became something average folks used there has been this outrage over spam, or junk mail. Understandably nobody likes e-mails that come with viruses that infect your computer, though it wasn't that hard to learn not to open anything unless you knew who it was from. But what upsets me is that nobody ever talks about all the trees that die every year as a result of the original junk mail. Every day our mailbox is full with 80% junk and it takes more than the fraction of a second it takes to get rid of it (unlike clicking the delete key) and this junk mail doesn't come with a link allowing me to unsubscribe. Not to mention the mail carrier does not put what she thinks is junk into a separate folder for my convenience. Thanks for listening.

BTW, it's only December 6th and I have recieved 4 Christmas Cards already?! I thought I was ahead of the game!

What I Ate Today:

~Cereal
~Soy Mocha
~Two High Fiber tortillas, 1 slice split between two tortillas and nuked until nice and melty, leftover Tri-tip nuked until warm, all stuffed into tortillas with a splash of hot sauce and some fresh arugula
~Mango-Passionfruit Juice Squeeze - am always thrist for juice when I am feeling sick
~Soy Mocha
~WW Eng Muffin with lite butter & PB; Why light butter? Normally I would advocate to just have less of the real thing, but on an Eng Muffin you are after the slighly butter taste but also you just need some moisture before you add the layer of PB and that is where lite butter comes in handy because you need more than just a dab to get that soaked in moistness. My 2 cents on lite butter ;)
~Handful of Sun chips - did I mention that these and pizza pockets were my favorite lunch foods in high school (before we could drive to JackInTheBox for finger foods)
~Madras Lentils from TJ's (always yummy on cool nights), leftover Tri-Tip and of course 2 HF tortillas (I am a HUGE bread person. Bread to me is like another utensil, necessary for scooping and wiping plates clean so w/out the HF tortillas I would be screwed)
~Fully Loaded PB Cup
~Juice Squeeze

Exercise: I don't exercise when I am sick

Eating Bon Bon's

2007-12-05T10:54:00.001-08:00

My house is trashed! OK, maybe I am being a bit dramatic. But truly I have shit piling up everywhere. Each day I do a little something to make it better and then a little more of something that makes it worse. I think I have a few too many half-started projects going on simultaneously. When Dale comes home sometimes I feel like he is thinking, "do you sit around and eat Bon Bon's" as he surveys the domestic scenery. But really I know he is not thinking that at all, my own insecurities take me to that nasty place. I think to myself, 'it's a good thing I am going back to work because I suck at this housewife stuff'. So what do I do each day that keeps me from keeping it together?! I decided to keep track of my day today to see where all my time goes.

~Ate breakfast while making coffee
~Played with Elliot while drinking coffee
~More playtime
*EFG down for a nap*
~Brushed teeth and got self dressed
~Worked on Christmas cards and address labels for cards
*EGF done napping*
~Fed and changed the sweet well rested boy
~Took Elliot to BabynMe...played and ate and fell asleep on ride home
*EGF down for a nap*
~Worked on Christmas cards and address labels for cards
~Emptied and re-loaded dishwasher (very quietly since EGF was asleep in car seat on kitchen table)
*EGF done napping*
~Fed and changed Elliot
~Read Elliot stories (The Giving Tree and some discover your body book)
~Watched and encourage Elliot playing on his floor gym
~Change Elliot again
~Elliot and I let Thomas out to potty in the backyard
~Gave Elliot a bath
~Tried to get Elliot to nap again (this time of the night he fights sleep - rubs eyes, ears, etc. but just won't roll with it because he doesn't want to miss anything)
~In between rocking and comforting I threw a Tri-tip in the oven
*EFG finally asleep*
~Finished & ate dinner
~Finished blog post
~Now what? Maybe now I will clean the house - hahahaha! Though I suppose I could do my dishes. I love my life and if having a perfectly clean and orderly house means giving up anything I did today, then forget it! Life is too short! Though that doesn't mean I will stop asking, "How do people do it?"

What I Ate Today:

~Cereal (out of Organic morning lite, so just High Fiber & TJ's O's)
~Handful of TLC Cheese Crackers
~2 High fiber tortillas with TJ's Rachero Egg White Salad and low-fat white cheddar cheese inside. It really tastes good with avocado but we didn't have any and I don't need the extra fat/calories anyway.
~1 serving of Sun Chips (original flavor is my fav!). OK because I love texture I also threw a few chips inside the tortillas too. As a child I would put any type of chip inside my PBJ sandwiches just to get that wonderful crunch, one of my favorites was Nacho Cheese Doritos.
~Soy Mocha
~Whole wheat english muffin, 1/2 serving of lite butter, 1/2 serving of pb (you would be surprised how far a 1/2 serving of pb goes on an eng muffin)
~3 teeny tiny sweet & spicy pecan pieces, not enough to constitute even 1/4 of a serving and I just LOVE how they make my mocha taste after I eat them!
~Tri-tip sliced up on a bed of arugula with a sprinkling of chick peas, leftover corn, queso, sliced up roasted red pepper (from a jar) and a dash of olive oil...had my heart set on a yummy balsamic dressing when I discovered I was out of balsamic vinegar - yikes!
~I might have desert, but am posting this before I make that final decision :)

Exercise: Does assembling Christmas Cards count?

Happy Birthday Mr. Graham

2007-12-04T11:17:00.000-08:00

The first two months of Elliot's life whizzed by like a flash. In fact, it was only his 3-month birthday that we were alert enough to actually celebrate. Everyone tells you how fast they grow up, how quickly they change, but you just cannot believe until you see it for yourself! Now he is 5-months old - wow!

Elliot's first month was marked by cooing and discovery of his first toy - The Whoozit.

He slept a lot the first month, but when he was awake he loved to stare at this thing. We discovered a chip-clip effectively hung it from the side of the co-sleeper. Month 2 we were seeing him smile his gorgeous gummy grin (that I am sure you are tired of hearing me talk about). He began to roll-over from his tummy at the tail end of month 2, but it was really more about him disliking "tummy-time". Is it mean to enjoy this picture so much?

His hands amazed him in month 3 and moved into his mouth on a regular basis by the time we hit month 4. We thought smiling was the greatest thing on earth until we heard him giggle in month 4 - we do everything we can to elicit multiple giggles each day (sometimes he really makes us work for it!). Rolling over was what made month 5 stand out from; back to tummy to back again, generally with a dramatic finish.

Every little bit that he grows & changes, every little discovery he makes is so special, so fun to watch, so exciting to experience. Sometimes I catch myself sit just quietly staring at him, what amazing little creatures! What will month 6 bring?!

What I Ate Today:

~Cereal with no-sugar added Soy (TJ's refrigerated version is best. I have come to really dislike everything about non-refrigerated versions of soy...packaging, taste, texture)
~A clementine
~Soy Mocha
~Mini-handful of TLC Cheese Crackers
~Apricot Fiberful
~Soy Mocha (to go in my new favorite travel mug purchased at an SB in Hawaii)
~1 serving of TJ's prepared chicken salad split between 2 high fiber tortillas stuffed with arugula
~A clementine
~TJ's Frozen Chickenless Nuggets (long time fav, you must try!) with spicy ketchup (a few splashes of Tabasco). I was devastated to discover we were out of TJ's BBQ sauce which is what I ALWAYS eat with my nuggets!
~2 High Fiber Tortillas (not sure if I get enough fiber each day, what do you think?) with one serving of cheese split between the two and nuked until nice and melty and then rolled like a taquito.
~A clementine

Exercise: Nada

What I Ate Today

2007-12-03T11:11:00.000-08:00

What I Ate Today:

~Cereal (sans raisins)
~TLC Cheese Crackers (1 serving which was REALLY hard to do)
~High Fiber Tortilla with 1/2 slice of lowfat white cheddar cheese (sounds icky, but it really hits the spot)
~Soy Mocha
~Salad Nicoise with Salmon, light dressing (at Nordstrom Cafe which is surprisingly quite good)
~Dbl Tall 1/2 Caff 2-Pump Soy Mocha from SB
~Penne Pasta with Spinach* Sauce (1 serving, I use arugula in my version of the sauce and low-fat cream cheese)
~6 oz Grilled Boneless Pork Chop (the other white meat, seasoned with salt&pepper & Emeril's Essence which I know is so 5 years ago but it really adds that little something to grilled chops)
~Vino (one carefully measured 4 oz serving)

WOW, I felt hungry all day but it looks like all I did was eat! Oh well, we'll let the scale decide on Saturday

Exercise:

Walked all over the damn Valley Fair Mall - that place is huge and confusing to navigate! I started my x-mas shopping and it just reinforced why I prefer Thanksgiving.

I almost forgot about Santa!

2007-12-02T20:33:00.000-08:00

Hanging out with some friends the other day I was reminded about Santa! Can you believe I almost forgot about the tradition of taking your baby to sit on Santa's lap?! So today Dale and I packed our sweet boy into the car and headed for Stanford where we heard the Santa was pretty cool. We ate lunch first, fed EGF in the Bloomies lounge and then waited in line to meet Santa. After about 1/2 hour in line (and about 10 mintutes before it was our turn) EGF fell asleep. Do we wake him (poke the bear)? Will they let us come back? If we wake him, will he freak out (that's generally what happens when you poke said bear)? We woke him up and figured if he cried it would just look like he was afraid of Santa. Is that mean? Oh well, just add it to the list of things he'll need therapy about...haha! To our amazement EFG was in great spirits. He was a little out of it so no huge gummy grins, but we caught a little smile. I think he is still a little young to be afraid...next year maybe we'll get that quintessential crying on Santa's lap photo. Sorry, no photo to share as it may be making an appearance in our holiday cards.

What I Ate Today:

Cereal Mix (TJ's High Fiber, TJ's Organic Morning Lite, TJ's Joes O's, 1/4 serving of golden raisins)
Soy Mocha (homemade)
DBL Tall Soy 2-Pump Soy Mocha from SB
Short stack of pancakes with crispy bacon crumbled into the pancake. Thanks PA Creamery! A while back I tried to have a local diner do this for me and they refused - whatever! I know this doesn't sound like diet food, but I kept it to a short stack, didn't use butter, limited the syrup and had a side of fruit.
Skinless rotisserie chicken, corn, yummy bake at home pugliese from Grace Baking Company, wedge of laughing cow light cheese

Exercise: Does waiting in line for Santa count?

Thirty Pound Baby

2007-12-01T11:36:00.000-08:00

Elliot Graham Federighi, Born 07.04.07 weighed 7lbs 4.7 ounces. That was almost 5 months ago - wow! I was really hoping for a 30lb baby so that I could wear my pre-pregnancy clothes home from the hospital. That didn't happen. So then I set my sights on the rapid weight loss caused by breastfeeding. That didn't happen. Let's face it, I love to eat. Let's face it, I don't go to the gym 5 days a week anymore. Weight loss, gain and maintenance is simple math; Consume more calories than you burn and you'll gain weight, consume fewer and you'll lose and consume that magic number and you'll maintain. Weight loss is what I am after here and I need you all to help keep me honest. So to the three or four of you that actually read my blog, you are now my weight loss support group. I am going to tell you what I eat every day (even the naughty stuff), how much I exercise, and how much weight I lose each week. I am committed to being the first American to lose weight during the holiday season. I want to lose 35lbs (not all in December, of course) because I gained 35 when I was pregnant (which is within the "healthy" range of 25-35lbs, but I also gained 15 lbs when I quit smoking...that is 50 lbs (yikes!). I effortlessly dropped 15lbs after Elliot was born, so that leaves 35 more to go. Thank you in advance for supporting me and for keeping me honest.

What I Ate Today

Whole Wheat English Muffin with PB
Soy Mocha (homemade using no-sugar added plain soy from TJ's)
Double Tall 1/2 Caff 2-Pump Soy Mocha from SB
Veggie Sandwich from local grocer (with avocado and jack cheese, no mayo)
Sun Chips (one serving)
Everything Crackers for TJ's (one serving, though I could have eaten the box)
Steak Pita
Fully-Loaded Ice Cream (one serving of this low-fat crack - thanks H&V!)

Exercise

I worked in the yard (yes, that counts)

Caring for my son

2007-11-30T21:23:00.000-08:00

Wednesday I got some bad news...the basket where all of my proverbial eggs were lying is booked until March. In order to have gotten into this daycare center in January I would have had to put us on the waiting list before I was even pregnant! I am now forced to activate Plan B. I am not willing to place Elliot in home daycare unless someone I know and trust has or does use the provider. After the bad news I called a provider where my friend sends her son and I was thrilled to know she had an opening. Yesterday morning I went over to her home to check things out and to discuss her caring for Elliot. She seemed nice enough, her place seemed clean enough, the kids seemed happy enough, so why was I not happy? Because no matter what, she will never care and love my son the way I do. It is beginning to break my heart that he is going to spend more of his day with this person (a relative stranger) then with me (or Daddy). I am going to hold him even closer this next month, get in as lots of extra smiles and giggles, sing extra songs, read more stories, take more walks, and snuggle in bed just a little longer because today I made the deposit...it's official.

You Must Make Tiny Pies

2007-11-27T10:56:00.000-08:00

What was I to do with the extra pie crust in the fridge? I started making more Empanadas, this time with filled with black beans, diced green chile, salsa and cheese. And then the light bulb went off and I realized that my Empanadas were really just tiny pies with Mexican inspired filling. So I got that crazed look in my eyes and decided it was time to fill these tiny pies with something sweet - peanut butter & semi-sweet chocolate chips and strawberry & cream cheese.

Can you see the PB oozing out! Yum! They were scrumptious! So please reward yourself and make some tiny pies with your favorite filling!

How to:

Use refrigerated pie crust (the new roll-out type is best)
Roll each crust just a little thinner
Use anything in your kitchen that measures about a 4 inch circle and cut 5 to 6 circles out of each pie crust
Scoop a heaping tablespoon of your favorite filling into the middle of each circle, fold over edges and crimp with a fork
Bake at 425 for 15 minutes

It is "Stupid Easy" as Paula Deen would say.

Yummy Brunch!

2007-11-26T08:45:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we hosted brunch for some friends and I decided to go a little wild. I was once again inspired by a recipe from Food TV. Robin Miller made an After-Thanksgiving Empanada using pre-made pie crust. My wheels began turning and I decided I could use Chorizo instead of turkey, keep the black beans, add an onion, add a diced potato, skip the pre-made salsa (enough flavor in the Chorizo), keep the cheese (after all it is a binding agent), keep the fresh cilantro, ditch the cumin (again, Chorizo is full of flavor) and viola, breakfast Empanadas! Using the pie crust was genius because I don't think I would have been so brave if I new had to make the crust myself. I had a bit of trouble getting the seams to seal on some of them, but to my surprise they did not open up in the oven...not one single Empanada came out badly! Yeah for me (and my hubby too)!

I also whipped up an old favorite - Chile Rellenos Casserole. In August of last year we were honored to attend the wedding of some wonderful new friends. The day after we also attended the after-wedding brunch hosted by the Groom's parents. One of the dishes the Groom's Mom whipped up was the wonderful Chile Rellenos Casserole, which brought back wonderful memories of backyard bbq's when I was a girl. My Mom's friend would often bring this tasty dish to our bbq's and I just loved it! I came home from the wedding and the first thing I did was scour through my Mom's old recipies and sure enough, Noel's Chili Relleno's Casserole.

I think brunch is my favorite meal (as long as it comes with good friends and sweet babies and baby to-be)!