Not enough hours in a day

     This weekend is my little man's 1st. Birthday Party. This will be the first time we have people coming over in a big group other then our family so my hubby and I are a little stressy. Hubby thinks everything needs to be redone. Our house is a work in progress; we bought it as a fixer upper roughly 3 years ago...needless to say we are still fixing. I myself am trying to organize my craft room and turn it more into an office for my Passion Party Business that I started. Not exactly an easy task. I have too much stuff. I need one of those clean house shows to come over and help me get organized. I also never realized how expensive organizational products are. You can get a basic gray tub to throw your stuff into for like 5 bucks. But if you want anything nice it's going to cost you an arm and a leg. Right now I just don't have the arm and leg to spare. 

     It also doesn't help that my little man has reached the clingy stage in his development. He wants to be carried and doesn't want to be left alone for a second. Even being in the same room isn't enough sometimes; he has to be literally touching me. Try getting anything done with a baby stuck to your leg...it's just not going to happen. So I have spurts of like 20 minutes where I can actually do something before he realizes I'm not right beside him or that god forbid his little feet are on the ground. I'd almost rather him be getting into things. Then at least I can just put him somewhere safe and work a bit. I might have to resort to bringing the playpen into the hall so it's in the doorway and letting him sit in there. I have found he really likes rulers for some odd reason. That is what has him entertained at the moment. Hopefully this will last long enough for me to move a bookshelf or two. 

Swimdress, a new mom's best friend

I was wondering around Target this morning before work trying to waste some time. My husband and I had to car pool today because his car is broken, yet again. Unfortunately he starts at 8 and I didn't start until 10. So I was wondering around and noticed their Bathing suits are on clearance. I need a new one since we will be going on a cruise at the end of January; it will be our official honeymoon.
I have been looking for a bathing suit for a bit, unfortunately I am so long in the torso that most one piece suits look like they are being dragged down and unless I want to spend a lot of money getting one in long then a one piece is just out of the question. On the other hand seeing as I have stretch marks up the wazoo from having my son I'm not all that comfortable in a bikini. Tankinis end up in much the same way as the one piece.  I still end up with a ring of skin in the middle because the bottom of the top doesn't come down as far as it should and most bottoms are low riser....unless I want to dress like an old lady.
Which is what I've always really thought of the swimdress. A one piece with a stupid half skirt in the front. So there I was going through the rakes of endless bikini bottoms and one pieces that I could never fit into when I come across a v-neck black swim dress with gathers on the side and by god it's actually cut. I mean you hold it up and it's really just the perfect little black dress....Dare I try it on??? Oh I dare!
So the tag says XL which I am now between a medium and large depending on what I'm wearing...However, in a bathing suit I know I can get a smidgen more out of the length if I wear one that is a size to big but I didn't know if XL was to large. I was wearing an XL when I was 6 months preggers. So I put it on and not only does it fit, it hides all my new body flaws that I have yet to get used to. The skirt is also long enough it actually looks like I'm just wearing a cute little dress and it covers up the stretch marks on my thighs! The best part is, it was only 25 bucks for probably the best bathing suit I've ever owned. It's also small children approved. I don't know if it's just me or what; maybe I'm just old fashioned but you wouldn't dress like a hooker to take your children to the park you shouldn't be wearing a string bikini with your ta-tas poppin' out the top and your butt crack poppin' out the back when you're swimming with your kids.

Note: I will post a picture of said wonderful piece of fabric soon.

Beware of Stairs

     Two days ago I was at work. The day was going pretty well. I had just put down the little girl I take care of for her nap and was heading back down stairs to start getting my little guy ready to nap too. I took 2 or 3 steps down the stairs and next thing I know my feet are in the air and I'm coming down fast and hard.
     It happened so fast I have no idea what even really happened. But I did have time to think one my feet left the ground that A) this is going to hurt and B) do not put your hands down to stop your fall. Wait for the thud and grab the railing at the first chance you get. Which is good because I hit so hard I would have snapped my wrist if the angle was bad and who is checking angles when they're falling down a flight of stairs??
    So I end up thumping half way down the stairs and then I hobble down the rest of the way as fast as I can and stumble around in a circle waiting for the numbing to turn to pain and then to subside so I could figure out how bad the fall really was. Meanwhile my little guy just saw me slide after the first thump so he now thinks fun things are happening and he's all excited to come see me and I'm trying really hard not to scream or ball. He also wants to be picked up now and my arm is just starting to send signals again that it's injured so now I have a crying baby at my feet and all I can think of is thank god I just put one down to sleep or I couldn't handle two right now. 
    So I iced my arm since it was bruising right away and did a bit of a body scan. I hit my butt and back but not as bad as my arm...or so I was lead to believe through my nerves system since they weren't screaming in pain. but I knew my toe was pretty bad because it was still in the numb stage and not yet able to register as pain. So I tried to ice it as well but once I touched it that ended up being a no go, ubber pain. I was sure it was broken at first. I actually thought it might be bleeding because it felt sticky inside my sock but it ended up just being the skin swelling and touching the other toes. It turned out it wasn't broken but it turned red purple blue and black by that night. especially on the underside since that's where all the blood pooled. The little toe is also bruised and in between the toes and across the top. I think I smashed it into the banister post. 
     It's now been two days since the stairs and my toe is looking better...sorta at least it's not swollen and I only limp with shoes on. My arm has a nice carpet burn and bruise, my butt hurts if I sit back and I can't stand for very long without the muscles in my back getting really sore. But at least nothings broken, I didn't hit my head and I wasn't carrying any babies at the time! 
     At this point I can't believe I am in charge of two children's safety and I can't even operate a set of stairs! I don't even have the excuse that I was sauced at the time, which I'd like to be able to tell people cause it makes for a better story then I'm I'm 28 and still don't know how to use my feet.

Why do you hate me Jo-Anne's fabric store?

So I am on a diaper making venture. I went to Jo-Anne's which is the fabric store in our area and wanted to know if they had PUL fabric and coloured FOE(fold over elastic)...they had PUL in like two colors and only white elastic. They didn't have bamboo fabric, snaps or anything else needed to make diapers. So I had to start looking on line. Guess where everything I need comes from?
No not china....bloody Canada!
So I take myself up to canada to look for the things I need. Still no real luck. They have some stuff but for the life of me I can not find fold over colored elastic. So I use the white and make due. My diapers did come out really nice. But something just wasn't right. I wanted a removable liner so I wouldn't have to change the whole diaper if it was soiled but couldn't figure out how to do it so I gave up on it for now.
So now that I've spent hours of trouble going here there and everywhere to get frustrated and disappointed in the availability of diaper making supplies guess what Jo-Anne's Fabric store now carries......
A Whole Line of Diaper Making Supplies!!!! Damn you Jo-Anne and your being 3 months late! They also had a book on how to make diapers...after I spent countless hours on designing my own diaper pattern. But one good thing came of this....I found out how to do the removable liner like the g-diapers...didn't want to use a g-diaper pattern incase it was copy written. but now I can use the insert pattern and fit it to the diapers I already made...viola! removable inserts to hold the soaker pads

What a great way to start a day

     I'm at work right now. Had to be in at 8:30am. Which is a good time to start for me. It means the little princess is still asleep, so my day starts off calmly.
     It started raining on my way into work today, so the sky is dark and the air is cool and damp. Since the little princess was still asleep I put my little prince in the play area and made myself a cup of chai tea latte and sat beside the large front windows with my cross word book as the baby played contently at my feet.
     Thank god for days like these.

Venus and Mars

My husband and I picked up the book Venus and Mars together forever. It's a relationship book in the men are from mars and women are from venus collection. We've been reading it together before we go to bed. We're only on chapter 3 so far but it is very helpful as a relationship book.
Not that we have a whole lot of problems. Just feelings of under appreciation and isolation and loneliness at times. mostly do to my own issues but also because our communication skills aren't always the best.
It's surprising how well the book does on actually bringing to light the differences in the way men and women think and what both sides can do to appeal to the other sides core nature.
Last night Nathaniel was home late from work so I was actually able to feed, wash and get the baby ready for bed before he came home for dinner. So when he got home dinner was ready and the house was calm...mostly because I was feeling content with myself and not worrying about what I wasn't going to get done and just focusing on what I was able to get done.
Nathaniel actually went out and got me flowers, a card and picked up a red box movie. It ended up being a really good evening. No stress and lovey dovey all around.
Thank you self help book!

Girls Night Out to Size 10 Pants

So last night was the first annual Margarita Girls night at my friend Erin's house. It was a lot of fun. I don't have many female friends around here so it was nice to get out and meet some other women and to be able to talk about girl stuff. Like the craziness of men, the craziness in ourselves, and life's little issues.
It also gave me a chance to dress up! Even though it was a casual event I don't get much opportunities to dress up.  So I hot rollered my hair and put on a little make-up and a nice dress and shoes. It's funny how much more confident you feel in yourself when you dress well.

It was also really nice to have time without my little angel. Even though I love him to pieces it was nice to spend some time away. 

Where does the size 10 pants come in you ask? Well I'm going to tell you. After all the sugary drinks and carb. loading I was feeling kinda fat this morning. I've been wearing size 12 and 13 pants. They're low rise so they tend to come up to tummy point that I'm most self conscious off. Making me look like I have a muffin top because my tummy is still a little mommy poochy....it will probably always be a little mommy poochy. 

Anywho back to what I was getting at. I was rooting around in my pants bin and the ones I grabbed were a size 10 from before I was preggers. I only got to wear them maybe 3 times before I started to gain baby weight. At the very beginning of my pregnancy I ended up loosing weight so I went out and got new pants. 1 pair I never even got to wear. So anyway I was thinking these will never fit, but what the heck I'll give them a go anyway. See how much more I have to go before they fit. I was surprised when I pulled them up and didn't even have to do any shimmying or hoping...I was even more surprised when I could do them up...I was ecstatic when I looked in the mirror and couldn't even see a hit of a muffin top!

Needless to say, I am feeling pretty good about myself right now.

Margarita Party Attire

Feeling Old

Ever notice that the older you get the younger women in advertisements appear?
I hate walking through the mall and seeing all the 14, 15, 16 year old models in the windows. Not because I wish I was young and beautiful and filled with ever lasting youth. Far from that. With youth comes stupidity and I've very much over that stage. I just hate how even when you go to a store that's supposed to be geared towards an older crowd the models are still so young. I want to see a women who looks like me wearing the clothes. So that would be your average Late 20's early 30's. That way I would know what the clothes will actually look like. When the do have older women they look like they could be my mother in their 40's or 50's.
So according to mall window advertisements only teenagers and older women buy clothes. Funny enough the fashions seem to be in those two areas as well. It's hard to find clothing that feels appropriate. Either I feel like I'm trying to dress half my age and not doing a good job pulling it off or I feel like I'm dressing well above my age which in turn does make me look older then I am. So I'm stuck wearing jeans and t-shirts or jeans and a sweater almost every day. I feel like a slob but what can yeah really do about it?

Wheat Berries into flour

So I used my Vitamix last night to turn Wheat Berries into flour. I should start by saying in an effort to change my dieat I want to start making as many things as I can from scratch. So I ordered 35 pounds of wheat berries online...no that's not a type-o, that's 35 bloody pounds of wheat berries. 10 pounds hard red wheat berries and 25 pounds soft white.
     You need a hard white or red berry for making bread. The soft one is for baking. So these two bags will fit into one of those big buckets you can buy at home depot. I think it's 10 gallons. So I decided last night I would mill some flour up to see how easy it would be. In the Vitamix you can mill 2 cups at a time and it takes a minute. Very easy but noisy. I did learn though that 2 cups of berries turns into 3 cups of flour...I then looked down at my 10 gallon bucket...so that makes 15 gallon bucket worth of flour...oh dear lord! I wont need flour for the next year! ....but then again if I plan to bake everything from scratch probably wont last as long as I would hope.
     Why did I buy so much you ask? That's easy. It cost 19 bucks to buy a jar of 1.75 pounds of berries yet it only cost I think it was  like $16 for a 10 pound bag....it actually cost more in shipping then it did for the cost of the berries themselves. I think that's why it's cheaper for the bulk. Plus you're not paying for the jar. All together it was like 68 I think for the 35 pounds so it was just over 2 bucks a pound.
     Once I have a day off I'm going to try to make some bread which should be an interesting experiment. I'm excited. I'm going to make peanut butter bread with real peanuts. Hopefully it turns out.

Diet Review

So one of the ladies at the dealearship where my husband works told me I looked like I had lost a lot of weight. and that I was looking great! I told her I only lost 10 pounds and she said it looks like a lot more. She even asked me for the recipes for the smoothies I was drinking because she would like to do it as well.
So my cleanse was a success. Not only for the way I feel but also for the fact that everyone can tell there's been a change and that I am looking better. She even said my hair was looking really good and I haven't don't anything with that in a dogs age!

Cleanse Day 7

So I have no idea what I had for dinner yesterday seeing as Nathaniel was in charge of making it. I do know it was very green and tart. So Today I am starting the slow transformation from smoothies/juice to real food. I am still doing the smoothie for breakfast and lunch but we are going to start eating a veggie based dinner with a side of juice.

Seeing as I was working I didn't have the prep time I need to make smoothies for the day and we were running low on veggies until I went to the store. So the smoothie from this morning was very simple

Breakfast: Apple, Handful of grapes, Carrot, handful of lettuce, 1cup of water

Lunch: 1/2 Peach, 2 plums, Banana, 2 small zucchini, 1 cup water

Dinner: I baked a Spaghetti Squash, then tossed it with chopped fresh tomatoes and Zucchini, a little salt, pepper and Italian spice and shredded parmigiana cheese. I then transfered it to a pie plate and returned it to the oven to cook a little longer until the zuuchini are a little soft. I also cubed up a couple potatos and tossed them in olive oil, roasted garlic, onion and then roasted them in the oven.
Drink: 2 apples, banana, 1 cup coconut milk, a thick slice of Pineapple cubed

If you're wondering why I have started to introduce solid foods back in, it boils down to the fact that I was bored with the favor of blended foods. I missed individual flavors. But I am still to a primarily veggie diet including some loaded veggie smoothies.

Juice Cleanse Day 6

     I did notice that today my face is a little clearer. My skin has always been a little rough feeling on my face do to clogged pores but today the middles of my cheeks are clear and the outer cheeks and forehead have fewer bumps. So my skin might actually clear up by the tenth date, who knows!
Nathaniel keeps pointing out that my arms keep getting smaller. I also lost 2 pounds bring me down to an official 170 pounds.

Todays smoothies/juices

Breakfast: Detox + apple, plum, hand full of grapes

Lunch: Detox

Dinner: Whatever I can find to through together! hehehe I'm going to see about going to the farmers market today and pick up some veggies since we are running low. My first food run is now down to zip in the veggie department.

If you're looking for the meat loaf recipe I mentioned on the first day it's in the comment on the changing my life post from the beginning of my juicing blogs.

Juice Cleanse Day 5

It is the half way point of my ten day cleanse and this is where we are so far. I have visibly lost fat off of my arms and cellulite off the backs of my legs. My thighs and butt look smoother and tone. I haven't noticed any clearing of my skin yet but we'll see what the next 5 days brings. I am down to 172 which is below my pre pregers weight so thats exciting. Especially since I'm not doing this for the weight loss it just happens to be a positive side effect. I have noticed I don't get as tired during the day. I'm usually aching for a nap mid morning and I haven't had that urge lately.

Drinks for the day

Breakfast:
Everything Smoothie (vitamix):

Review: Great way to get a little bit of everything

Lunch: Mean Green Machine + Everything Smoothie + a banana and a hand full of cherry tomatoes

Note: I was making the smoothies for today the night before and bottled them. I had a glass of MGM from last nights dinner and 1 of ES from breakfast so I just mixed them together I added the tomatoes for added vitamins and the banana for flavor.

Dinner: Detox+

Juice Cleanse Day 4

So I'm back at work today for the first time in ten days. It's really nice being back at work. I tend to get bored with myself at home. IT's funny how I always wanted to be a stay at home mom but at the same time whenever I have time to stay home I wish I was somewhere else. I figure it would be different if the baby was older and we actually had activities to do but he's still at that age where we can barely even go to the park because he just wants to put things in his mouth and he only likes the swing for so long.


As for my juicing I'm still going juicey strong. I haven't had cravings to really eat anything yet and if I do I know I can have fruits or veggies when I have the urge to just chew something. I try to just stick to the juice though and it's working well. after dropping the first 4 pounds I have been still going down but not as rapidly over the past two days I only lost a pound. For the most part I do feel cleaner and healthier. I was dizzy last night when I had to get up to get the baby (storm and barking dog woke him up). So today I think I will have to have more broccoli for iron.


Breakfast: Detox


Lunch:
Carrot Juice: 5 Medium Carrots, 1/2 Lemon, 1/2 Pear


Dinner; Mean Green Machine

Juice Cleanse Day 3

So today is the first day Nathaniel had to go back to work. 6:20 came way to quickly this morning. I would have loved to have stayed in bed but I heard the baby talking to himself so I knew he was up so I dragged myself out of bed. I felt like I was in a fog and was thinking it was going to be a rough day, fortunately once I had my first sip of juice the fog cleared and I'm feeling pretty good for 7am.


Breakfast:
Going Green (vitamix): 1/2 cup water, 1 cup grapes, 1/2 cup pineapple chunks including the core, 1/2 Banana, 2 cups fresh Spinach


Review: This one you can really taste the banana and pineapple. It was really good. Nathaniel decided that this is a juice he could fully get behind which is saying something since he thought all the other ones tasted the same. I'm not sure what you would do if you're using a juicer though because I'm not sure you can juice a banana. You might just want to mash it and wisk it into your juice.


Lunch:
Carrot Juice: 4 carrots, 1/4 lemon, 1/2 pear


Review:  A nice tasting juice but not very filling. 


Dinner:
Detox Juice


By 9 I was actually really wanting to go to the gym and do some cardio. I'd been trying to do that for a week now but could never find the energy to just get going. I did 45 minutes of cardio. 15 minutes of 30/30 which is 30 seconds sprinting / 30 seconds walking for 5 rounds and then reset for 3 minutes.  I had it set for 30 but I didn't think I'd even make it through the first set so I was surprised I was even able to make it for two rounds. Then I did the bike for 30 minutes. 

Juice Cleanse Day 2

     So today I woke up with a headache and feeling nauseated...welcome to sugar with drawl. It's a good thing I already was expecting the with drawl or I would have thought the veggies were trying to kill me. But I got up out of bed and we went for a walk/run at 7:30am well having some Mean Green Machine mixed with water and some extra apples, pineapple and grapes. By time we were halfway through the walk my headache and nausea was gone and I was feeling pretty good. 

     Nathaniel has been making little comments all day about going to the Texas Roadhouse for steaks or get  a burger in hopes that I will cave and he can give up. To bad for him that I haven't had craving for food yet. I just think about the positives and the fact that it's only ten days. I like to think that steak will taste ten times better in 9 more days, if I choose to have a steak then. I'm actually looking forward to eating my meatloaf that I froze before I started this cleanse. 

     Speaking of positives I have lost 2 more pounds of fat today. I checked out my thighs today and noticed they are not looking so cottage cheesey. Now if I could just get rid of the belly fat from baby I'll be all set. I already weigh less then I did before the baby but I still have a pooch. I still don't have a whole lot of energy but I have little pluses in that area. Such as wanting to go for a walk at 7:30am, not my usual first thought in the morning. I also was able to work in my garden which i haven't been able to do for a bit do to the heat.

Today's drinks

Breakfast

We had the previously mentioned concoction of Mean Green Machine, water and fruit. Was not bad especially with the extra water. I let it sit over night and it separated which i then just put a couple scoops of pulp into the fruit and water.

Lunch

Sweet Lettuce (vitamix): 1 cup green grapes, 1cup Romaine Lettuce, 1/2 medium apple, 1 cup water

Review: This one was very refreshing. The romaine does have much flavor when blended so it tastes more like a fruit juice. 

Dinner

Detox+: 2 Apples, Handful of Spinich, chunk of Beetroot, 3 inch chunk of Cucumber, 1/2 avocado, 2 cups water

Review: This is the one I started with the night before the cleanse. It's a good juice. It's easier to drink when thined out. Remember that these are all pretty big portioned drinks if using a blender. So if you're making it just for you then it will make enough for a meal and a snack or you can half the recipes. 

Juice Cleanse Day 1

     So I made one of my juice recipes last to get started...and to test out how bad these juices were going to taste. I was surprised that it wasn't that bad at all. If anything it had less flavor then I expected but had a bit of a freshness kinda like a cucumber but there was very little in it which was surprising. My husband on the other had was trying really hard not to have to drink his juice. mostly because for obtimal health you should drink your juice at room temp and he's not used to it. So today the Veggies and fruit have been in the fridge over night so he should like it better now that it's cold for him.
     As for my bodies reaction to last night's juice...Holy Ta-lido! I was up last night for 2 hours going to the bathroom off and on. I will never need another laxative in my life as long as I have this juice recipe! I feel cleaner just from that alone and I lost two pounds!
     I am going to post the juices recipes along with my blog for the day but I want to let you know if you are making them in a juicer it's enough for one person. If you're using a vitamix blending system it's enough for two since you don't loose any of the fiber like you do with a juicer.


Breakfast:
All Green Vitamix Smoothie: 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup Pineapple Juice (I just used real Pineapple chunks), 1 1/2 Green Grapes, 1/4 Bartlett Pear, 1/4-1/2 Avocado (peeled and pitted), 1 Broccoli Floret, 1/2 cup Fresh Spinach
If you're using a blender it's 3 cups of juice once it's been blended. If it's too thick for your liking you can always add more water as well.

Review: I added an extra cup of water to the mix which thinned it out to a nicer juice consistency. It made enough for two large tumblers around 4 cups. I really liked the flavor. You can't tell there's veggies in it. Nathaniel's take on it is it's drinkable...he's so helpful...Correction it's good drinkable...if that helps.

Lunch:
Detox Smoothie/Juice:
2 Apples, 1 carrot(peeled), 1/4 lemon (peeled), 1/4 bell pepper (I used a whole small sweet red), chunk of cucumber (1-2 inches) 1/4 a piece of Celery, 1 Broccoli Floret, Chunk of raw Beet Root, 1 1/2 cups water(only if blending).

Review: You could smell the pepper once it was mixed. This one tastes more like veggies then fruit but was as my husband stated still drinkable. Once you are off sugar for a couple days you will be able to pick up the sugar from the veggies and fruit better which will make it more appealing.
 This one also made enough to have 3-4 drinks so it's a good one to make earlier in the day and also use as a drink to nip at through the day when you're hungry.

Dinner
Mean Green Kale Machine:
6 Kale leaves (If blending you could use 3), 1/4 Lemon, 2 Apples, 1 Cucumber, 4 Celery stalks, lump of ginger, 1-2 cups water (only if blending)

Review: Oh dear god! I made it with 6 leaves which is why I would recommend less if you're blending not juicing. But I'm so glad I didn't start with this drink. This one is a hard one to get down. I ended up mixing it with left over of one of the other juices I had made up. So I would suggest you make up an extra batch of Apple Juice and do a half and half glass and slowly use less apple juice until you can drink it at the full recipe.

Changing My Life

     Hello again. I know it's been a while. Life got really busy. It always seems to get away from me. I have been thinking that I do need more blog starter ideas that will get me into the habit of writing. I noticed that I make a lot more excuses of why I can't do things then I should. I tell myself I don't have enough time yet I know it will only take a couple minutes to type something up and really half the time I was probably just sitting around anyway.
     Take right now for instance. I was just sitting here in my family/dinning room watching Isaac play well I drank my cappuccino perfect time to blog! I guess it also helps that I have something to blog about. But usually I would have just said I'll do it later and then later I would find something else that was more important...kinda like what I do with my house cleaning...I'll do the dishes later...I'll sweep the floors later...Now I'm to tired I'll do it tomorrow. I don't know if I just don't have the energy or if I'm just that lazy....more likely a little bit of both. 
     Which in turn brings me to why I'm writing today. I am going to go on a 10 day green juice fast to clear my mind and body of all the crap I've put into it and done to it. Of course this is just an test and we'll see how it goes...I might only make it to day 2 who knows! you're about to find out though. my husband Nathaniel has agreed to do it with me so I'm excited. I wanted him to do it because he has eczema which is believed to be attached to the things you eat. I want to know if clearing out his body will actually help him. In theory it should work but like most people he wants results right away so it will be interesting to see if you can wait the 10 days to clean his body before he gives up and says this doesn't work cause I'm still itchy and now I'm hungry too. 
     So I was looking up green juice recipes online and thinking I would have to go out and buy a juicer...which is one of the reasons I have been putting this off because I hate spending money...I'm really cheep but that's another post all together...perhaps my next post! Anywho, so I didn't want to have to buy a juicer but caved and well I was reading a post someone mentioned that they used their Vitamix blender instead of a juicer and I was all*bing* I have one of those!....like really, am I that blind?...not only do I have one it came with a binder of whole food recipes including a section on green juices! I've even read the section but here comes my lazy low energy self doubting self that promptly wiped that knowledge right out of my head under the ejection notice of: when will I ever have all this stuff in my fridge. To much work...delete!
     So when my husband comes home from work tonight we are going to clear out the kitchen of all temptation and stock the fridge with veggies...I'm going to be smart about this though. I am going to write up a list of drinks for the day for the ten days and buy what i need per drink for 3 day periods...That way if I freak out and give in I don't have a bunch of spinich and what not rotting in my fridge because the amount it takes to juice is a lot, I've never be able to eat the veggies before they go bad, because like most westerners, I don't eat enough veggies and fruit, so my usual side of veggies wouldn't cut it. The funny thing is I actually like veggies. I've never been a veggy hater. Lazy Confession Alert: They just take more work to make then opening a can of soup, a box of fish sticks or what have you. Dear lord I hate myself sometimes. when I write it down and am actually face to face with it, I hate myself sometimes.
     So here's my plan: Drink Green Juices and water for 10 days. Then I am going to start making meals that are more focused on Veggies and fruit and less on meat and pasta (which will be the death of me). I made a really good meal loaf last night, it was a zucchini and beef loaf. I was thinking I would try this again but instead of beef I was thinking I would try to make it with mashed white beans. It might be my first meatless dinner once I'm done the fast because I gotta tell you..That was the best meal loaf I've ever had! I'll comment the recipe later. That will give me a reason to get back blogging. I know I can't go meatless all together because I just plan ol' love meat but cutting back one meal a week until I am just eating meat dishes on the weekend is the goal.
    
   

Back to Work...

     So it's my first day back after my 9 day holiday. Funny how I needed to go back to work in order to have time to write. The little prince is happy to be back with his little princess. He's been talking more now that he's here. I love that they get along so well together. I hope to have this job for a while. To be able to foster a good relationship between the two of them. Especially since he doesn't have any cousin's around here. He needs another child that he can become close with.
     I'm so glad to be one of the lucky people who love my job.

I want you to be happy day

I have decided that I will do my best to make other people happy today. Seeing as it is I want you to be happy Day.
So to make the little prince happy I set him up in his crib and turned the mobile on. It's one of his favorite things. He loves to watch those little animals dance around in a circle for him. He talks to them as they go around which is so very cute. It's one of those wind up ones though which only lasts like a minute at the most. they really need to make that longer. I had to keep winding it up as I cleaned up the nursery.
I decided I will make my husband happy by tidying up before work. I'll make him dinner before I leave if I have time but there really isn't much that I can make here so he might have to grab something on the way home.


On another note. I hate Canadian passport policies. They're a bunch of crap! I live in the states and my passport expired so I had to get a new one. I have to change my name since I got married so I have to go the long way about things. So anyway I have to have a Canadian with a passport sign all my documents...I'm in the states...the Canadians are in Canada and I can't cross the border...Does anyone else see an issue with this??? So anywho they told me to mail it to someone in Canada. They sign my documents to verify that they say the originals which is a lie because I'm not sending my drivers license through the mail to have someone who knows me verify it's me and send it back. Little while lie no biggy I figure. So after I jump through hoops to get this package together, send it to my aunt to have everything signed and have her send it it. I get the damn thing back!!! I was like oh what now!?!?!?! I have a note that says I need a new picture because my teeth are showing! I looked at the picture and it's like a quarter inch of one tooth is showing! what the hell!??!?!?!?!??!!? are you serious??? now I have to go through this whole thing of me getting pictures taken send them up to my aunt to have her send them in to the passport office....Oh and they only take Canadian funds. If they send it back and say they can't use my visa because it's American I'm going to shoot myself. I know they can't use an American bank account but they should still be able to use the Visa. It's all a bunch of crap if you ask me. So not happy with my countries immigration right now. I can't wait until I have to get Isaac's Canadian citizenship done. those will be even bigger crappier hoops I'm sure.

This that and the other

So I now have an official follower...I'm so excited!
     It's like putting out a bunch of resumes and you finally get a call back. Getting a call back was always my favorite part of looking for a job. I guess it's a bit of a self esteem booster. You might not get the job, but at least you were good enough for a second look.
     I finally made it through to my 5 day mini vacation. I love when my schedule just works out so that I have a little mini vaca pop up. The past couple weeks were a little hard. This one not so much I only worked to days but the week before I had a 5 day work week. For those that don't know I usually work 3 days a week and have a 3 month old, So that wears me out pretty good on it's own. So add in two extra days and apparently I go loopy. By time 6 o'clock rolled around after the 4th day, I was having a hard time stringing words together to form a sentence. I couldn't get my thoughts to come out of my mouth, and I was forgetting words. Simple words too! not obscure words that you rarely use, everyday works like "tomorrow". It was very weird. My mother thought I was having a stroke. I would be fine during the day after I slept but once I started to get tired it was like being in a whole new world.

     So now that I have 5 days off the weather has turned crappy...which is what usually happens when I have holidays...You think I could then plan better knowing this but no...I still don't make bad weather back up plans. So anywho it looks like house cleaning...pre spring cleaning I guess you could say. I started yesterday with the babies room. I had to box up all his clothes that he has grown out of so I could reorganize his room better. I finally finished his toy box. Who knew gluing wooden animals and letters onto a painted box would take so long!?!?! Now I just have to finish sewing his baby quilt. I think I will work on that on Monday.

     We are going to the in-laws tomorrow which will be nice. They  live on a farm in West Virginia. Which reminds me. I was watching toddlers in tiaras and they were doing a beauty pageant in WV and it was just funny cause it was a western princess pageant. Very fitting for WV. I always wondered what kind of parents force their children to dress up like teenagers to win cheap crowns jsut so they can say my child is beautiful...but only if I give her fake nails, hair, lashes and tan and put her in a thousand dollar dress. And the judges critisize their dresses for not being glittery enough or for a 3 year old for not being poised enough. like come on, these are children. I love the parents who say it's not about the beauty it's about the talent. Your kid sang yanky Doodle off key but still won because she's pretty, had nothing to do with talent. If it was about the talent they would call it a talent compitition.

Kiddy Love

Signs of true love:

When the little prince was crying and upset. Little Princess tried to share her binky.

Little Princess tried to give the little prince a kiss on the forhead.

When the little princess gets tired she lays down beside the little prince and holds his hand. He holds hers back.

Starting Solids

This morning my little Prince...(Side Note: I have decided his blog name will be little prince and his girlfriend's name will be little princess)...tried solids for the first time. I blended up some banana's with breast milk to make a smoothie like consistence...I like to call it a BBS, Booby Banana Smoothie. He loved it!
Hubby fed it to him this morning. I video taped it. Seeing as it was the first time and we were testing to see if he was ready to take solids or not, I was expecting a bigger mess. He did really well. Didn't spit it back out or anything. I take this as a sight that he's ready.
What made me decide to try it was the fact that he's been watching us eat for the past couple weeks. He just stares whenever someone is eating. Especially when he watches the little princess eat. He smiles and drools all over himself the whole time. He's also been drooling in general and mouthing anything he can get into his mouth.
My little man is growing up so fast! but I love it.  

Poop as far as the eye can see!

     Today was just one of those days you get when working with children in diapers. There is just bound to be a day that everyone seems to have the poops. So the little girl I take care of is 4 months older then my son. I like to call her his future wife. He's drawn to her maturity. Anyway when she woke up this morning she had pooped...Hate morning poops. They could have been setting all night for all you know and they tend to stick to the bum since the diaper draws out the liquids. It's like trying to scrap off paint with a napkin. Takes forever.
     So we get through Diaper Poop #1. I take her down stairs put her in the play pen. 10 minutes or so later all I hear is my little peanut filling his drawers...and I mean filling! I took him upstairs to change him and not only has it escaped through the top of the diaper when I lifted his butt it literally went running up his back. There was no way to contain it! I was tempted to just toss him in the tub but since I wasn't at home I figured I would just wippy him up. A change of clothes and hand full of wipes later he was good as new.
     Just in time for the little miss to fill diaper number two! Oh my God!!!! make it stop! Well I was there they had both filled 2 diapers each. I don't know how it is possible. I didn't know little peanut's body could hold so much waste.
     So I decided to give my little man a bath when I got home to make sure we got all the poops and wouldn't you know it...Another full diaper again coming out the legs and running up his back just in time to plop him into the tub. I'd worry that he was going to dehydrate himself but he's been drinking a lot so I think it's been balancing it's self out and he's lively and chipper so it's not like he's sick with anything.
     I have changed so many poopy diapers today I could cry if it happens again. I've got my fingers crossed that's it for the night...or at least he will wait until my husband gets home before he lets one go again.

What to do with a dozen eggs that are about to spoil...

Why make custard of course!!!
Yummy yummy in my tummy...
Egg custard is one of my all time favorite desserts. When I think about my favorite childhood foods my mother made, egg custard and fridge cleaning meat balls are the top of my list.
They are also both really good and they both use up things that could be getting close to going bad or just help get rid of all those jars and bottles in the fridge that have less then a cup of contents in them.
Right now I'm in the process of waiting for my custard to cook. i took little peanut's swing into the kitchen and taught him how to mix the custard. hopefully he will grow to love baking as much as I do and i will have a little buddy to help me bake.
We went over the basics. how to crack and egg, settings of a mixer, how to measure....He might only be coming on three months old but it's never to early to start teaching. He also seemed to enjoy it as he sat very nicely in his swing and watched. He only got cranky when we got to the point of cleaning up...but who can blame him..no one likes cleaning.
Just in case you're looking for one, here's an easy custard recipe.

Egg Custard

8 eggs
1 cup sugar
4 cups milk
1 tablespoon Vanilla
1/2 teaspoon Salt
Nutmeg to garnish ( I actually used a gingerbread mix my mom gave me. We'll see how that turns out)
I also like to sprinkle brown sugar on the bottom of the pan. I'm not sure if this is something my mother used to do or I just started it on my own.

• Heat oven to 375
• Beat the eggs, add the sugar, salt and vanilla. beat a couple minutes on medium high. Then turn beaters to low and add milk.
• Put the custard into custard dishes, a pie plate, casserole dish or what ever you wish to serve it in. I used a fancy pan...I think it's a torte pan.
• Sprinkle with nutmeg. Place a cookie sheet/bar sheet under the dishes/dish and fill with water once it's in the oven...I just find it easier that way you don't spill the water as you try to transfer. If your dish doesn't fit in a cookie sheet, try moving your second rack up to the level below the level you plan to cook your custard on. Slide the water sheet on that rack and custard on the one above it. 
• Cook at 375 for 60 minutes. (times is a rough estimate. time will very on dish type and oven calibration)

If you tap the dish and it ripples like water...it's not ready. If it moves as one, you've got yourself a cooked custard. You can also try the knife trick. Poke a knife in the middle. if it comes out clean custard is done. I just prefer the tapping. It gives me an idea how close to done it is if I don't want a dish filled with slash marks.

Baby Weight

     I wanted to keep track of my progress as far as loosing the baby weight was concerned. At my heaviest I was 232 pounds...or at least the last time I stepped on a scale it said I was 232 but that was a week before the baby. I figure I was actually closer to 235 once the little peanut finally made his arrival.  So lets just say I was a whopping 235 Pounds...lets just say it really quietly shall we.



This was like a month after baby.

      So this morning I weighed myself and I am now down to 197. I remember the first time I passed the 200 mark...that was a great day...I can remember it like it was yesterday..could be because it was only a week ago. But anyway, I was really proud of myself.  I have been exercising and trying to eat well. I figure the hardest part of loosing the weight is to stop eating like a pregnant women.  No one ever tells you that you'll still have the appetite of a pregnant women.  Now that I have my portion sizes cut in half I'm doing pretty good.  I try to eat more fruit during the day and I have started watering down my juice.  I hate water with a passion, it has to have some sort of flavoring in it.  I find cranberry cocktail works the best because it has a strong flavor to begin with. I can put it 1/3 juice to 2/3 water and it still tastes like juice...you have to start slowly though. 2/3 juice to 1/2 juice and so on.
     My husband and I have also started working out together. Some nights we do abdomen exercises and some nights we go for a walk...well I go for a walk with the baby in a pack well he goes for a run.  I prefer speed walking, it doesn't hurt my knees like jogging or running does. Once the weather is nicer I would like to get one of those baby seats for my bike and be able to cycle on the bike trains that go through the state parks.
     My over all goal is to be back to where I was before I got pregnant by the summer.  I really don't want to look like a tubber in a bathing suit. So i need to get back down to 175 at the very least. so let us do the math. If I started at 235 I've already lost 38 pounds. If I want to get to 175 I have 22 pounds to go. If I loose an average of 3 pounds a week which is what I have been loosing since I started keeping track. I'm looking at 7 weeks to loose the remaining 22 pounds....So I'm looking at March 26th as a deadline.
     I will do a weekly check in to see how well I am keeping to my goal. I have high hopes.


This was taken Thursday, February 3rd, 2011



Rainbow

I woke up yesterday morning to a beautiful sight. A double rainbow wrapped around my house. I do believe double rainbows are good luck...I wonder what it means if one is over your house...



It's hard to see the second one but it's above the bright one. The clouds were moving quickly so it wasn't there long.



Bargain Huntress

So I am in one of those in between stages in my clothing. I had my son almost three months ago and have been wearing mostly my maternity pants since then. Seeing as I am a tight size 14 right now and my clothing size before was around a size 10.
     So anyway my husband was making fun of my over sized pregger pants that now look like I'm carrying a load around in the butt of them apparently. He said I need to stop wearing them, I guess they are embarrassing; I can't see my own ass, so not so much for me, as for him to be seen with me in them I guess.       I took this as an excuse to go out shopping, so I packed up baby and did a little mall walking/shopping. I didn't want to spend to much on anything seeing as I am loosing weight pretty steadily still. roughly 3 pounds a week, but that's another story. We're talking shopping remember? So anyway, I first went to Charolette Russe because they carry long pants. Unfortunately any long pants in my size were ultra skinny pants, and I'm sorry, but no one over a size 8 should be wearing an ultra skinny pant. It's like begging for a muffin top. Seeing as my belly is a very sensitive subject right now I figure looser is better so I ended up getting a pair or stretch pants and four shirts for $14 ....yes the stretch pants gave me less of a muffin top then the jeans. I was not expecting that even if they are a large.
     After that we headed over to Old Navy in search of pants since they two have long and a nice clearance section. I found two pairs to try on. One was to tight and made me look like I had thunder thighs that I was trying to balance out with huge flair legs... Who is designing this crap? I might have thunder thighs but I don't don't want to draw attention to them. You might as well have pasted a big arrows on the butt pointing at the thighs with the words "get ready for the boom" written on them. I didn't have high hopes for the second pair seeing as they were a return from a net order. How ever, to my surprise they fit perfectly. No muffin top and long enough that they fold over at the bottom. For my 5'11 frame that's amazing! So the tag said 5o% off original price which was $34.99. I was wondering if I was willing to pay 17.50 for a pair of jeans I might only wear for a couple months...If you don't know yet I'm really cheep and that's a price I usually wouldn't pay for something that would be a permanent part of my wardrobe. I eventually caved, figuring that I wouldn't find another pair that fit and didn't make me look like humpty dumpty so I took them up to the counter. The lady reminded me that there was no returns since it was a net order exchange. I said I know but they're the only ones that fit. She rung them up and you wouldn't guess what they came out to! 97 cents.... That's right a whole 97 cents. Woohoo! made my day.
     Then the final store I went to was Sears. I got another pair of tight and a long sweater shirt and a tank top. That one totaled just over $10. So to recap that was two leggings, one jean and 6 tops all totaling roughly 25 dollars. All in all I would say that makes for a good shopping trip.

( 97 cent Jeans. Don't mind my spotty mirror, No idea how a hall mirror got so spotty)

Introduction

     If you're reading this blog you have either been invited by myself or stumbled upon this blog through a search. So either way there's something about this blog that has tickled your fancy pants. So feel free to read through the posts and comment at will. I'm glad you're here.

Let me introduce myself. I'm Kitty, I'm 28 years old, and I live in a small town outside of Pittsburgh Pa, but I wasn't born here. In fact we've only been here 3 years or so. I was born and raised in Ontario, Canada but married an American, so here I am. I miss my homeland but I enjoy the life my family has here. Pa reminds me a lot of Canada. The people are friendly and there are a lot of small towns and country side. I live here with my Husband, our baby boy.

I look like crap in this photo, but it was after a week of family visits (Christmas) and a new baby, so I figure I have a good excuse to look like poop.

     We also have two dogs and two cats. It's a bit of a full house but I love every single being I share my home with, so I wouldn't have it any other way.
     Both my husband and I work in Pittsburgh. He works on cars and I work in a private home as a nanny. I love my job. I get the perks of having a job and earning a paycheck well still being in the role of stay at home mom; seeing as my son comes to work with me. 
     So that's a little about me and some of the things that make my life fabulous.