week #3

It's official, I suck at losing weight.

Last week I didn't even post - know why? Because I worked out, tried to eat well and still gained a pound. Shit. Every time I sat down to write a post it was super negative and I just don't need that, so I skipped class.

I'm happy to announce that this week I am back at square one. Joy. Know what I did to lose the pound? Not a thing; I didn't work out and I really didn't worry too much about what I was eating. In fact I don't think I really gained a pound the other week, I think the scale went up because I ran out of Jamie Lee Curtis yogurt.

The past two weeks I did have some bright spots:
* Went to the gym on Valentine's Day! Know who hangs out at the gym at 8PM on Valentine's Day? Me and some guy with a Scott-Ian-from-Anthrax beard. Oh yeah.
* Chewed gum instead of snacking.
* Threw away half a batch of cream cheese frosting that was in the freezer because it was calling my name.
* Didn't buy any junk food at the store.

This week I need to focus on:
* Drinking more water - I usually do really well, but I want to keep track of it.
* Eating more fruits and veggies.
* Working out.

:)

soup!

There has been a request for the Library Soup recipe. So here it is, and as an added bonus, here's the recipe for the best pickled eggs ever - it's true, we always have a jar of them in the fridge :)

Library Creamy Swiss Onion Au Gratin Soup

2 ½ c chopped onion
1/8 c pale dry cocktail sherry
¾ t dried basil
4 c water
1/8 c chicken base
3 T butter
3 T flour
2 c milk

Chop onions and sauté in large stock pot with 2 tbs. of butter unitl tender. Add sherry and basil. Simmer 5 minutes. Add water and bring to boil. Add chicken base. In saucepan, melt butter. Slowly add flour to make a roux until all flour is used (mix while adding). When water is boiling, slowly whip roux in small amounts until all roux is used up (mixture should be thick). Let simmer 5 minutes. Heat milk and gradually whip into thickened soup.

Top with shredded swiss cheese and pumpernickel croutons.

*To make this recipe veg, simply use veg vegetable soup base, it hardly makes a difference in the taste.

B&B’s Pickled Eggs

4 c white vinegar
1 jar jalapenos
1 onion
1 c water
1 T Tabasco
1 T salt

2 dozen hard boiled eggs (peeled)

Bring brine ingredients to a boil.

Put eggs in a jar and pour brine over, let cool a little and seal and refrigerate for at least 3 days and up to 3 months (although I'm pretty sure germs cannot withstand the acidity of B&B eggs).

Serve with salt, Tabasco and a beer.

Sing Brown Squirrel and Legs :)

saturday stuff

Today was pretty casual. We spent the morning hanging around, playing with JJ, drinking coffee (J doesn't do coffee, that was all me). After JJ went down for a nap around noon, we decided to install the new dishwasher.

It is now 8 PM and it's still not done.

My mom and dad said we should have paid to have it installed; J looked at the instructions and decided it wasn't that hard. Know what? I'm glad we didn't pay to have it done, it hasn't been stressful, just time consuming, and we literally had all day to get it in.

Besides I've got plans for the money we saved :)

so fun

I love Facebook.

And I love it even more because my freshman year roommate, Yvonne, whom I loved to bits and pieces, just friended me.

It makes me happy :)

So does the box of Valentine's Day chocolates I ate today.

And these cookies. But I don't think I'll love these last two tomorrow. Oh well, I guess that's another post.

'Nite!

seriously

JJ likes to roll over and squirm away while I am changing his diaper. I know he's not the first baby to do this, and certainly far from the last, but it is super annoying.

I thought I had the perfect distraction - THE REMOTE. It's like his Holy Grail, so I figured it would buy me, roughly, 23 seconds - just enough time to strap a new diaper around his little tush.

Except I didn't realize what he could do with THE REMOTE in just a few moments. He somehow hit the right combination of buttons and:
a) paused the live TV
b) activated picture-in-picture (I didn't even know we had this, and I really don't want to tell my husband, because we will have to watch all manner of sporting events in a little box in the corner of my shows)
c) muted the whole mess and added Spanish subtitles

I know!!!!

He's in bed now and I would really love to be catching up on Sober House, but I can't; I've only been able to get rid of the subtitles.

So now I'm watching a paused Prilosec commercial, with Top 100 Videos of the 90's in a tiny box in the corner. And I have no sound.

free!

My buddy Pam* is doing a fun little giveaway game on her blog. I figured I'd jump in on the fun!

The first FIVE people to respond to this post will get something from me! My choice. For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I do, but I'll try!
2- It'll be done this month.
3- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be makeup, shoes, bags, or a little invention of my own! I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something. I might send you a dust bunny from under the bed. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!

Here's the catch - you must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog.

Be sure to post a picture of what you win from me when you get it!

*We went to grade school together, were in the same Girl Scout troop, and even did an exciting report about toothpaste together in the 8th grade :) Also, Pam's grandparents are from Houghton and she recently listed her Grandma's authentic Yooper Pasty Recipe.

kmfba

You don't need to be a rocket scientist (or high school graduate) to know that I am fat. There's a definite reason I don't post many pictures of myself, it's because I don't like how I look.

Eight years ago I weighed exactly 40(!) lbs less than I do today. And it's not like I gained those 40 lbs over the course of eight years. I gained 20 lbs before Dec '02, and another 18 lbs before my wedding in Sept '03. Since then I have gained even more weight, lost a little bit, had a baby and lost most of the rest (I'm 2 lbs from my wedding weight). So I'm back to where I was five years ago, except now the weight has been firmly attached to my entire mid-section for five years. And it's pretty comfy there.

But today I serve my spare tire eviction papers. I'm so over it.

I want to wear cute clothes again. I don't want to shop in the plus (AKA butt-ugly) dept anymore. But mostly, I don't want to be the fat mom.

My current plan is to just go slow. I'm still nursing the wee man, so I can't do any super-drastic calorie slashing; that wouldn't work anyway because I am super-duper hungry. all. the. time. Right now I'm getting rid of the snack foods in the house. That means the case of lunch size chips that J had to have at Sam's Club are going to work with him. So is the sleeve of Oreo's I bought today (why??). And I'm going to make sure I always have some yummy veggies and fruit prepped in the fridge, because I like veggies and fruit, but it just always seems easier to grab something else. And I'm going to work really hard to eat when I am actually hungry and not when I'm stressedboredhappysadtired.



And I'm joining Tena's group, because it just sounds like fun :)

Wish me well!

11 months

My little man hit the eleven months milestone yesterday.

*He's a walker. Big time.
*He does not like socks.
*He loves Cheerios, and Kix, bananas, pears, peaches. He likes food in general.
*He likes feeding himself (which is great because I have zero patience for spoon-feeding).
*He babbles, constantly.
*He loves to play, especially with non-toy items.
*He has eight teeth.
*He responds to JJ (his official nickname) and Gerald.
*He loves nursing :)

I love my little buddy so much!

the cheese face

we like crap

At the grocery store last night a Toaster Strudel box caught my eye. The flavor was Boston Cream Pie. I'm not kidding. They've apparently moved beyond the point of even pretending that this is a viable breakfast option.

Growing up we always wanted Toaster Strudel, and PopTarts, Lucky Charms, etc. Unfortunately these items fall into my mother's Crap category. So we would ask, and she would reply "I won't let my children eat that crap! We're rich, we can afford whole wheat toast and no-sugar added peanut butter!" The rich line might have worked when we were very little, but by the time I was in second grade I was pretty sure that if we were really rich we'd be eating Cookie Crisp for breakfast.

But every once in a while she would buy a box of "crap" for us to fight over. The only rule was that you had to have a bowl of good cereal and then you could have the crap food item.

I remember rushing through my Rice Krispies and then carefully squeezing an elaborate icing design on my (kind of soggy, and still partially frozen) strudel. The icing pack was the best part. It was pure sugar and entertainment rolled into one - genius, just like Fun Dip; plus if you did it just right you would have a perfectly iced strudel AND a big glob of icing left over. The only problem was that after your strudel was iced and ready to eat, you were starting to feel full from the cereal. Oh well, you'd just power through the overly full feeling and savor every bite of awesomeness.

And then you felt like crap.

Maybe mom was right.

dip

Lamb - this one's for you :)

J's Famous Family Dip or Crack for you Chips

cream cheese
milk
garlic salt
diced onion

This is more like an anti-recipe, there is no real measuring.

Cream the cream cheese with a hand mixer (you can use a fork, but the dip will be smoother with a mixer), blend in milk until you reach your desired consistency. Slowly add the milk, for the first year we were married the dip I made was more like soup, I would always add too much milk. Shake in a hefty amount of garlic salt - my BIL's rule of thumb is to add GS until it masks the flavor of the cream cheese (I like just a tad less) and add as much onion as you'd like. I love onion - so I add a ton; I'm also not picky about the kind of onion I use. When vidalias are in season I always use them (and the dip is sweeter), otherwise yellow onion is good, and white onion makes is super oniony!

Of course this is perfect for chips, but it's also excellent on pretzels, veggies and spread on roast beef sandwiches (maybe not for you, Lamb).

This is J's family recipe - his grandmother had 6 kids and was in desperate need of a chips-and-dip fix, but she had no vehicle and no dip! Being ever resourceful she mixed up some cream cheese dip, and the rest is history. It's seriously not a family gathering without the dip!