I have no idea why I'm sitting to blog, of all things. I have to leave here in 10 minutes to pick up Little Boy at school! Yet, here I am anyway!
Last week, Hubby went to the Dr. and was told he needed to change some things. He has high blood pressure, is overweight, has high triglycerides, and very low good cholesterol. Not good. And so we begin the process of changing his habits. Avoid sugar, sodium and saturated fat. What's left to eat???? I started re-reading the South Beach Diet, and I think that is what he really needs. I printed out the food list and sent him on his way.
So I was wondering what I was gonna make for dinner. No more grabbing dinner on the way home from Karate class...even if we make a low fat choice, fast food is full of sodium. I threw some chicken in the crock pot, and searched the pantry for something to throw in there with it. I usually do a can of stewed tomatoes...but they're full of sodium. I also sometimes throw in a can of cream of mushroom...but its full of sodium. It's a bummer that Sam's Club sells the "standard" stuff only...not the low sodium or low fat version. I'll have to head to the actual grocery store..or maybe Henry's.
But guess what? I had some fresh tomatoes, so I chopped them up and threw them on the chicken, and then a diced onion, and then some sliced fresh mushrooms. I sprinkled some garlic powder, some fresh ground black pepper, a PINCH of salt, and then as an afterthought...1/2 cup of white wine. See? I CAN make a fresh healthy meal!!
Wow, has it been 10 minute already? Better hit the road...
Monday, September 29, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Nothing Today
Today is Thursday.
Laundry Day. PTA Meeting. Soccer Practice. Dishes are piled (not too high - Thank You, Lord). Nerf Guns and Darts all over the Living Room. Bills to Pay. No Milk in the fridge. We're out of Bar Soap. Out of Dog Food.
I woke up at 5:30 with a headache. Felt like someone had shoved a sharp pencil in the base of my skull and had it exit out my forehead. I took some Excedrin at 6. Figured I'd feel good by 6:30.
I didn't.
Somehow got Little Boy ready for school and got him there.
Came back and jumped in bed. Counted the minutes til I could take MORE DRUGS!!! at 10:30, I took some Motrin. (after googling if I could take Tylenol and Motrin together...)
I felt nauseous. My poor hubby kept calling me to see if I was OK.
I got up to get the ice pack and put it on the base of my head. It felt good. I somehow fell asleep for a bit. Not long, though.
I got up at 12:30 and had a cup of coffee cuz I figured my body is used to the caffeine and I certainly don't need a caffeine headache on top of this one.
I paid some bills.
I ate a soup.
I got an email from some health site that said that lack of water is a cause of headaches. I have seriously neglected any water intake the past few days.
Filled my sipper.
Its 2pm and I should probably take a shower before I pick up Little Boy.
I feel like blowing off the PTA meeting and soccer practice. I could if I wanted to.
Well, I could.
The world wouldn't end. At least not because of that.
I feel slightly better, but still kinda dizzy.
Gonna shower now.
Accomplished nothing today.
Laundry Day. PTA Meeting. Soccer Practice. Dishes are piled (not too high - Thank You, Lord). Nerf Guns and Darts all over the Living Room. Bills to Pay. No Milk in the fridge. We're out of Bar Soap. Out of Dog Food.
I woke up at 5:30 with a headache. Felt like someone had shoved a sharp pencil in the base of my skull and had it exit out my forehead. I took some Excedrin at 6. Figured I'd feel good by 6:30.
I didn't.
Somehow got Little Boy ready for school and got him there.
Came back and jumped in bed. Counted the minutes til I could take MORE DRUGS!!! at 10:30, I took some Motrin. (after googling if I could take Tylenol and Motrin together...)
I felt nauseous. My poor hubby kept calling me to see if I was OK.
I got up to get the ice pack and put it on the base of my head. It felt good. I somehow fell asleep for a bit. Not long, though.
I got up at 12:30 and had a cup of coffee cuz I figured my body is used to the caffeine and I certainly don't need a caffeine headache on top of this one.
I paid some bills.
I ate a soup.
I got an email from some health site that said that lack of water is a cause of headaches. I have seriously neglected any water intake the past few days.
Filled my sipper.
Its 2pm and I should probably take a shower before I pick up Little Boy.
I feel like blowing off the PTA meeting and soccer practice. I could if I wanted to.
Well, I could.
The world wouldn't end. At least not because of that.
I feel slightly better, but still kinda dizzy.
Gonna shower now.
Accomplished nothing today.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
The Cut-Off Load
Laundry.
The mere word probably made you shudder. (Unless, of course, you're my sister, who's husband does the laundry - in which case the word made you feel feelings of affection...)
I have two laundry days: Monday & Thursday. Each day has about 6 loads of wash.Unless it's the day I wash the bathroom rugs and/or bedsheets - then it's about 9 loads.
Most weeks, my two laundry days end up leaking into the other days, so that I have piles of sorted laundry in the hallway for days at a time. Then the family comes home, changes clothes, and the hamper keeps filling up before I can even get it empty.
Introducing...the CUT-OFF LOAD.
Let me explain. If I keep grabbing clothes out of the hamper as quickly as they are piling into the hamper, the laundry never ends, right? Well, I've decided that when I sort the laundry at the beginning of the day - THAT'S IT! I won't add clothes to the day's laundry if anyone comes home to change. The final load I sort is THE. CUT-OFF. LOAD. Clothes that are added after this load will simply have to wait till the next laundry day.
It's really not as easy as it sounds. I've had to fight some neurotic tendencies to accept the cut-off load. Sometimes I cant be comfortable knowing that the hamper has clothes while I'm doing laundry. It just seems wrong. But if you're the same kind of neurotic about this - trust me, if your mind knows that there's an organized cut-off load method at work here, it's easier to accept. Its when you start grabbing an additional shirt here, or a dishrag there that you feel like you gotta do it all or nothing! Don't do it. Just embrace the cut-off load!
And now, please excuse me while I go put yesterday's cut-off load to wash.
The mere word probably made you shudder. (Unless, of course, you're my sister, who's husband does the laundry - in which case the word made you feel feelings of affection...)
I have two laundry days: Monday & Thursday. Each day has about 6 loads of wash.Unless it's the day I wash the bathroom rugs and/or bedsheets - then it's about 9 loads.
Most weeks, my two laundry days end up leaking into the other days, so that I have piles of sorted laundry in the hallway for days at a time. Then the family comes home, changes clothes, and the hamper keeps filling up before I can even get it empty.
Introducing...the CUT-OFF LOAD.
Let me explain. If I keep grabbing clothes out of the hamper as quickly as they are piling into the hamper, the laundry never ends, right? Well, I've decided that when I sort the laundry at the beginning of the day - THAT'S IT! I won't add clothes to the day's laundry if anyone comes home to change. The final load I sort is THE. CUT-OFF. LOAD. Clothes that are added after this load will simply have to wait till the next laundry day.
It's really not as easy as it sounds. I've had to fight some neurotic tendencies to accept the cut-off load. Sometimes I cant be comfortable knowing that the hamper has clothes while I'm doing laundry. It just seems wrong. But if you're the same kind of neurotic about this - trust me, if your mind knows that there's an organized cut-off load method at work here, it's easier to accept. Its when you start grabbing an additional shirt here, or a dishrag there that you feel like you gotta do it all or nothing! Don't do it. Just embrace the cut-off load!
And now, please excuse me while I go put yesterday's cut-off load to wash.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Pests, Homework, and Crockpots
I totally knew that I should have listened to my "inner pest controller".
This week I had the thought that I should spray the perimeter of the house for ants. And I distinctly remember thinking, "Wouldn't it suck if I didn't do it and then regretted it when I saw ants invading?"
You know where I'm going with this, don't you?
Yup - I didn't do it and we saw ants in our pantry last night. It wasn't a full-blown infestation, but there were a few ants cruising around. So I put on my mask and goggles and went to grab the spray. However, I soon remembered that I had used it up last time I sprayed. So I rummaged around the garage to see what else I could find. I found a pink can of Raid Ant Spray, so I began to spray the outside with that, until the can was gone. So I went into the garage again, rummaged some more, and found a can of Raid Spider Spray, and a can of Raid Flying Insect Spray. I wondered if ants are picky about what kills them, so I read the ingredients. They all contained different active ingredients. But being that this was an urgent task, I figured I'd just spray what I had on hand, and buy the other stuff this week. I decided to use the Spider Spray first. I sprayed that....until that ran out. On to the Flying Insect Spray. (Although being that you're supposed to spray that into the air to kill the insects while they're flying, it has a very "airy" spray, and its hard to aim it at something specific. Keep in mind, it was nighttime, so I am out there in the dark, with my mask, goggles and a flashlight, hunched over...spraying. Furthermore, the flashlight was one of those no-battery-just-shake-it-to-charge-it flashlights, so it's not all that bright. I felt a spider web on my legs at one point and quickly aimed the light at my legs. I saw a spider on the ground, and it was jumping around really springy-like. Yick! So I sprayed it for about 30 seconds straight. It was still jumping! (Evidently, spiders ARE picky about what kills them.) And here's the creepy part - I took the flashlight off of it for a second, and when I put it back on the puddle of Raid to look at the spider again...it was gone!!! (reminded my of a Friday the 13th movie).
I'm happy to report that there are no ants in the pantry today, so I gues my hard work paid off. Either that, or the ants are avoiding the Ant Sprayed area, and are opting to go the long way around and enter though the Flying Insect Sprayed area.
In other news...
This was our first full week back at school. Little Boy worked hard all week! He has never appreciated a weekend like he appreciated this one! He had a lot of homework all week, along with soccer practice twice a week (1-1/2 hours in 101 degree weather), and Karate twice a week. Its too much, and I wonder if we should give up one or the other, but he loves them both. He has patched all week (See my Coat's Disease Blog if you dont know what I mean about patching). AND...we've established that sugar is his enemy when he needs to focus on school and homework. So we've ruled (I've ruled, actually....) that there be no sugary anything Monday through Thursday. Today (Sunday) he had french toast for breakfast, and let me tell you, I could totally see a difference in him compared to the no-sugar week we just had! I've been really proud of him with his efforts and yes, I've let him know that!
My 20 year old started a new semester this week as well, but so far, nothing too exciting is going on besides the usual hard to find parking spot and the overpriced textbooks!
I can't really say that I'm running an organized household now that school's back in progress. But, I have hopes that I might be soon. Last week another mom and I were organizing a "Welcome Back to School" breakfast that was at our kids' school, so we were busy all week getting that planned. Hopefully this week will be a little more "normal"....you know, like I'll actually cook at least one meal or something like that!
One more thing before I go, though. I found an awesome website, which I read about on another mom's blog! The person creating the site is a mom and she has resolved to use her crockpot for everyday of 2008! So there is a post every single day with a new recipe. She has photos, as well as her verdict on how it turned out. The writing is VERY entertaining and funny, and there are a lot of good recipes and great links on there too. It's "A Year of Crockpotting". I hope you go check it out! I haven't tried any of her recipes yet, but I'm kinda excited about trying some out! My usual crockpot fare has consisted of soggy chicken - but she's got things like banana bread (yes, baking!) and lasagna!
Well, today is Sunday, and a new week is before me! It would be awesome if I could get a jump start on tomorrow's laundry! At very least, I should go check to make sure Little Boy has clothes to wear tomorrow. Laundry - the fun that never ends.
This week I had the thought that I should spray the perimeter of the house for ants. And I distinctly remember thinking, "Wouldn't it suck if I didn't do it and then regretted it when I saw ants invading?"
You know where I'm going with this, don't you?
Yup - I didn't do it and we saw ants in our pantry last night. It wasn't a full-blown infestation, but there were a few ants cruising around. So I put on my mask and goggles and went to grab the spray. However, I soon remembered that I had used it up last time I sprayed. So I rummaged around the garage to see what else I could find. I found a pink can of Raid Ant Spray, so I began to spray the outside with that, until the can was gone. So I went into the garage again, rummaged some more, and found a can of Raid Spider Spray, and a can of Raid Flying Insect Spray. I wondered if ants are picky about what kills them, so I read the ingredients. They all contained different active ingredients. But being that this was an urgent task, I figured I'd just spray what I had on hand, and buy the other stuff this week. I decided to use the Spider Spray first. I sprayed that....until that ran out. On to the Flying Insect Spray. (Although being that you're supposed to spray that into the air to kill the insects while they're flying, it has a very "airy" spray, and its hard to aim it at something specific. Keep in mind, it was nighttime, so I am out there in the dark, with my mask, goggles and a flashlight, hunched over...spraying. Furthermore, the flashlight was one of those no-battery-just-shake-it-to-charge-it flashlights, so it's not all that bright. I felt a spider web on my legs at one point and quickly aimed the light at my legs. I saw a spider on the ground, and it was jumping around really springy-like. Yick! So I sprayed it for about 30 seconds straight. It was still jumping! (Evidently, spiders ARE picky about what kills them.) And here's the creepy part - I took the flashlight off of it for a second, and when I put it back on the puddle of Raid to look at the spider again...it was gone!!! (reminded my of a Friday the 13th movie).
I'm happy to report that there are no ants in the pantry today, so I gues my hard work paid off. Either that, or the ants are avoiding the Ant Sprayed area, and are opting to go the long way around and enter though the Flying Insect Sprayed area.
In other news...
This was our first full week back at school. Little Boy worked hard all week! He has never appreciated a weekend like he appreciated this one! He had a lot of homework all week, along with soccer practice twice a week (1-1/2 hours in 101 degree weather), and Karate twice a week. Its too much, and I wonder if we should give up one or the other, but he loves them both. He has patched all week (See my Coat's Disease Blog if you dont know what I mean about patching). AND...we've established that sugar is his enemy when he needs to focus on school and homework. So we've ruled (I've ruled, actually....) that there be no sugary anything Monday through Thursday. Today (Sunday) he had french toast for breakfast, and let me tell you, I could totally see a difference in him compared to the no-sugar week we just had! I've been really proud of him with his efforts and yes, I've let him know that!
My 20 year old started a new semester this week as well, but so far, nothing too exciting is going on besides the usual hard to find parking spot and the overpriced textbooks!
I can't really say that I'm running an organized household now that school's back in progress. But, I have hopes that I might be soon. Last week another mom and I were organizing a "Welcome Back to School" breakfast that was at our kids' school, so we were busy all week getting that planned. Hopefully this week will be a little more "normal"....you know, like I'll actually cook at least one meal or something like that!
One more thing before I go, though. I found an awesome website, which I read about on another mom's blog! The person creating the site is a mom and she has resolved to use her crockpot for everyday of 2008! So there is a post every single day with a new recipe. She has photos, as well as her verdict on how it turned out. The writing is VERY entertaining and funny, and there are a lot of good recipes and great links on there too. It's "A Year of Crockpotting". I hope you go check it out! I haven't tried any of her recipes yet, but I'm kinda excited about trying some out! My usual crockpot fare has consisted of soggy chicken - but she's got things like banana bread (yes, baking!) and lasagna!
Well, today is Sunday, and a new week is before me! It would be awesome if I could get a jump start on tomorrow's laundry! At very least, I should go check to make sure Little Boy has clothes to wear tomorrow. Laundry - the fun that never ends.
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