In The Middle Of Everything

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-24T16:41:00.000-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T18:45:00.000-04:00

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

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

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

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

CSN Stores

2010-10-24T22:24:00.000-04:00

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

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

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

hello!

2010-10-24T22:18:00.000-04:00

Ok, so update time. Sorry!

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

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

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

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

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

Review

2010-09-28T20:02:00.000-04:00

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

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

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

Tomorrow: heading to the doctor to confirm the pregnancy!

!!

2010-09-23T08:59:00.000-04:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

decisions decisions...

2010-09-16T22:42:00.001-04:00

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

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

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

Decisions decisions...

Hugo

2010-09-11T20:03:00.000-04:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The boys conked out as I write this.

2010-09-09T19:52:00.001-04:00

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

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

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

food diary

2010-09-06T21:31:00.000-04:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

How was your weekend?

AT&T Sucks

2010-09-02T19:23:00.000-04:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Day 2

2010-09-01T20:16:00.000-04:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

Day 1

2010-08-31T19:22:00.000-04:00

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

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

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

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

hello out there

2010-08-30T22:45:00.000-04:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meal plan..

2010-05-24T08:01:00.001-04:00

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

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

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

check out orgjunkie.com for other meal plans

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

Meal Plan...

2010-04-27T21:23:00.000-04:00

Delayed.. as usual...

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

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

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

Belated meal plan and updates

2010-04-20T20:39:00.000-04:00

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

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

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

My mom

2010-04-16T20:41:00.000-04:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

2010-04-05T17:49:00.000-04:00

meal plan monday with orgjunkie.com

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

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

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

Meal Plan Monday

2010-03-22T17:55:00.000-04:00

Meal Plan Monday with Orgjunkie.com

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

On to this week:

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

Crock Pot Wednesday

2010-03-17T19:51:00.002-04:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

2010-03-17T08:11:00.002-04:00

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

Why is it never easy?

2010-03-16T08:03:00.001-04:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It's never ever easy.

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

Meal Plan Monday

2010-03-15T10:28:00.003-04:00

Meal Plan Monday

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

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

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

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

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

Florida

2010-03-09T07:50:00.000-05:00

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

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

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

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

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