I was thinking yesterday that I should do some sort of weekly thing on this blog. I decided on “Wrap-up Friday” and I will hopefully remember to keep it going. Ha! It will encompass hopefully good news on lots of workouts, the healthy food that I ate this week, and then other misc. items.
Workouts
· During CP’s long stint away from home, I started to take Fuzzy Britches to a nearby Recreation Area. The loop is about two miles so I was getting a nice run, walk or combination in whether I did one loop or two. After he stopped traveling, I started to invite him to take walks with us. It has been a nice time for us to discuss the move to CT, discuss having children, etc. while getting some exercise. We have started to do this at least three times a week and I love it!
· This week also marked the first time running since my surgery. It had been almost FOUR weeks so I was really nervous as to how my body would react. Thankfully, although I was going pretty slow, I was able to run two miles. Yay! Now I just have to build on that….
· This week also marked the first time I was back in the gym and lifting weights. I’m a bit sore from all of the lunges, squats, etc that I did with weights, but I was happy with the workout.
Food
· This week was just okay in terms of not eating processed foods. We still had some leftover white flour and didn’t want to waste food and money by throwing it away, so CP and I made three different kinds of homemade empanadas.* Because we ended up making 36 of them, we each ate two for dinner and froze the rest. The good news? We finished the white flour. The bad news? The flour is in the empanadas that we will be eating for the next couple of months.
· We also made shrimp tamales with green chili sauce. (I don’t have a link to a recipe because CP made it up himself!) CP even used whole wheat flour to thicken the sauce. Mmm shrimp tamales are so tasty- and the ones we made I’m pretty sure did not have any processed food in them.
· Sidenote: it has made me very proud to head to the store with CP and see him check out labels and really think about what goes in our food. I’m happy that he has embraced the organic/non-processed food way of eating. To be fair, he had been doing some things already. The one thing he won’t budge on? Whole wheat pasta. The sauce covers the pasta so I don’t understand why he doesn’t like it…..
Misc.
· This week it is a question for you guys. Do you go back and read comments on people’s posts after you have commented to see if the blogger responded to your comment? Blogger doesn’t allow me to reply to comments, except by just posting another comment. I can only make sure the commenter gets my reply by sending them an email and I often don’t have people’s emails. If I do respond to a comment left, the original commenter probably doesn’t see it, right? So maybe this Friday post is a good time for me to respond to comments made throughout the week?
· If so, here goes the next section:
Replies to Comments
· On moving to CT: it was funny to read your comments on my post. Almost all of you mentioned how it was a “rational” or “logical” decision. While that is VERY true, it saddens me that I have grown up enough that I make rational and logical decisions on where I live. I’m kidding of course, but when moving somewhere in the past it has been mostly an emotional decision. I of course had to have the job or the school offer letter before I moved, but when picking a place it was mostly saying “yes, that is where I want to go” and then somehow making it happen. With some many other things to think about- CP, Fuzzy Britches, jobs, all of our possessions, our future, etc. it makes purely going on emotion difficult, if not impossible. I still hold out hope that we will make it to Denver, but I am going to move down to CT with an open mind and an open heart to finding great friends.
· On our realtor search: I never even thought of calling my realtor out west to see if he knew of someone in CT! I didn’t use some from a big-name place like Coldwell Banker or RE/MAX so I’m not sure that he would have a referral. But good to know for the future. I spoke to my parents’ friend’s daughter’s realtor and she seems to be fantastic. We had a 50 minute conversation about what we are looking for, our next steps, how she is going to work with us, etc. I’m excited to start checking out places soon!
*Unfortunately, I can’t seem to link to the Cooks Illustrated recipe- if you want it, you have to register for a 14 days trial. Just search for empanadas and it is the May 2010 recipe. We made that version, a chicken and black bean and a vegetable empanada (with swiss chard and cheese). Yum!!
5.28.2010
5.27.2010
Finding the right person
If you own your own place, how did you find your realtor?
Before law school, my parents and I made the decision that I should buy because I would be in the same city for at least three years. Of course, we didn’t know that I would meet CP and move in with him, thus necessitating a sale of my condo after only two years…. Anyway, since I didn’t know anyone out west, I literally went on the internet and found the first realtor that came up. Luckily, he was fantastic and VERY helpful. I used him when I sold the place too.
This past week I asked coworkers if they had any referrals. Remember that most of my coworkers are older and almost retirement age so almost all of them bought their houses YEARS ago. One of the attorneys here just closed on a condo this week, so I was able to get a name of a realtor from him. He recommended her, but when CP called to talk to her, she didn’t ask any questions on what we were looking for. Her two questions were price range and square footage. Well CP and I have a couple of other things that will influence our decision, so that was annoying. She then bombarded us with listings, but what she sent us didn’t even have important information- like the acreage of the lot. We would like to have another garden- an even bigger than the current garden, along with a place for kids to play and the dog to run around, so acreage is something that is important to us (nothing ridonkulous, but at least a little bit of a yard). Because she only spent 5 minutes with CP on the phone, she didn’t find that out. Plus she was supposed to email her recommendations for lenders and didn’t do that. Needless to say, we are not going to use her as our realtor.
When I told my parents about our change in moving plans, my dad mentioned that friends of theirs have children that live in the area that we are moving to. He said that he would contact them to see if they had a realtor referral. So yesterday I got an email from my parents’ friend’s daughter, who not only gave us the contact information, but also pointed us to the realtor’s blog. From what I see from the blog, this realtor looks exactly what we are looking for. She sounds like she knows the towns that we are looking at well and is very hands on. Although this house won’t be a first purchase for CP or me, we don’t know the towns as well as we should, nor the neighborhoods.
But in the age of the internet, what should you expect the realtor to do for you? Obviously we can search the MLS (Multiple Listings Service) just fine ourselves, but part of getting a commission is actually having to work for it, right? I spoke to the realtor and have a phone appointment set up for tomorrow. She likes to talk to potential clients for about half an hour to see where we are in the process, what we are looking for, etc. In other words, it sounds like she is going to earn her commission and be perfect for us! I searched the MLS when buying my condo out west, but the place that I ended up falling in love with and buying was a place that I never even looked at online! My realtor got to know me (despite the distance), got to know what I was looking for, etc. and was able to recommend the place. THAT is what we are looking for in a realtor. Is that too much to ask?
Before law school, my parents and I made the decision that I should buy because I would be in the same city for at least three years. Of course, we didn’t know that I would meet CP and move in with him, thus necessitating a sale of my condo after only two years…. Anyway, since I didn’t know anyone out west, I literally went on the internet and found the first realtor that came up. Luckily, he was fantastic and VERY helpful. I used him when I sold the place too.
This past week I asked coworkers if they had any referrals. Remember that most of my coworkers are older and almost retirement age so almost all of them bought their houses YEARS ago. One of the attorneys here just closed on a condo this week, so I was able to get a name of a realtor from him. He recommended her, but when CP called to talk to her, she didn’t ask any questions on what we were looking for. Her two questions were price range and square footage. Well CP and I have a couple of other things that will influence our decision, so that was annoying. She then bombarded us with listings, but what she sent us didn’t even have important information- like the acreage of the lot. We would like to have another garden- an even bigger than the current garden, along with a place for kids to play and the dog to run around, so acreage is something that is important to us (nothing ridonkulous, but at least a little bit of a yard). Because she only spent 5 minutes with CP on the phone, she didn’t find that out. Plus she was supposed to email her recommendations for lenders and didn’t do that. Needless to say, we are not going to use her as our realtor.
When I told my parents about our change in moving plans, my dad mentioned that friends of theirs have children that live in the area that we are moving to. He said that he would contact them to see if they had a realtor referral. So yesterday I got an email from my parents’ friend’s daughter, who not only gave us the contact information, but also pointed us to the realtor’s blog. From what I see from the blog, this realtor looks exactly what we are looking for. She sounds like she knows the towns that we are looking at well and is very hands on. Although this house won’t be a first purchase for CP or me, we don’t know the towns as well as we should, nor the neighborhoods.
But in the age of the internet, what should you expect the realtor to do for you? Obviously we can search the MLS (Multiple Listings Service) just fine ourselves, but part of getting a commission is actually having to work for it, right? I spoke to the realtor and have a phone appointment set up for tomorrow. She likes to talk to potential clients for about half an hour to see where we are in the process, what we are looking for, etc. In other words, it sounds like she is going to earn her commission and be perfect for us! I searched the MLS when buying my condo out west, but the place that I ended up falling in love with and buying was a place that I never even looked at online! My realtor got to know me (despite the distance), got to know what I was looking for, etc. and was able to recommend the place. THAT is what we are looking for in a realtor. Is that too much to ask?
5.25.2010
More changes
So uhhh remember my post a few months back about hating Connecticut? Well…uhhh….I think that we are going to try to move there. *sigh*
CP and I have felt as if we were in limbo for the past two years. We knew that we didn’t want to settle in our small town in MA because it is:
1. Way too small. A town of 7,000 people is not enough people- at least for us.
2. An hour from my work. As in, I commute two hours a day and it makes me want to blow my brains out.
3. The house we rent is nice and we could stay there long term and be just fine, but we do want a place for ourselves. A place where we don’t have to ask our landlord if we can put in raised garden beds. Etc.
For a while I have been talking about trying to move to Denver. CP was fairly confident that he would be able to keep his job if we moved there. He was basically going to spring it on his bosses. Now he is not as confident. And if we are going to bring a child into the world, we really do need to have TWO stable incomes in order to make this work.
We are putting aside our dream to move to Denver….at least for the next few years. We are going to move down to CT and cut my commute significantly. Living closer to an airport will help CP when he has to travel for work. Living closer to a city center in general will help with doctors visits, finding childcare, finding friends that aren’t at least an hour away, being closer to various amenities, etc.
I am actually looking forward to it. I know that I ranted about the state before, but after doing some more research, it won’t be too bad. I can handle it for the next five years or so. So not only will we be trying for a child, but we will be looking to buy a house. Best case scenario we find a place and can move in by the end of September (CP wants to make sure that we get to eat the veggies from our garden before moving). :-)
Our house hunting began this past weekend with NINE hours of driving around to various CT towns to check out neighborhoods, city/town centers, etc. I was a little cranky by the end, but it was helpful. We started out with seven cities we were looking at and I think that we have two that are at the top of our list. I have been asking coworkers about a realtor referral so maybe we will get to see the inside of some places soon!
CP and I have felt as if we were in limbo for the past two years. We knew that we didn’t want to settle in our small town in MA because it is:
1. Way too small. A town of 7,000 people is not enough people- at least for us.
2. An hour from my work. As in, I commute two hours a day and it makes me want to blow my brains out.
3. The house we rent is nice and we could stay there long term and be just fine, but we do want a place for ourselves. A place where we don’t have to ask our landlord if we can put in raised garden beds. Etc.
For a while I have been talking about trying to move to Denver. CP was fairly confident that he would be able to keep his job if we moved there. He was basically going to spring it on his bosses. Now he is not as confident. And if we are going to bring a child into the world, we really do need to have TWO stable incomes in order to make this work.
We are putting aside our dream to move to Denver….at least for the next few years. We are going to move down to CT and cut my commute significantly. Living closer to an airport will help CP when he has to travel for work. Living closer to a city center in general will help with doctors visits, finding childcare, finding friends that aren’t at least an hour away, being closer to various amenities, etc.
I am actually looking forward to it. I know that I ranted about the state before, but after doing some more research, it won’t be too bad. I can handle it for the next five years or so. So not only will we be trying for a child, but we will be looking to buy a house. Best case scenario we find a place and can move in by the end of September (CP wants to make sure that we get to eat the veggies from our garden before moving). :-)
Our house hunting began this past weekend with NINE hours of driving around to various CT towns to check out neighborhoods, city/town centers, etc. I was a little cranky by the end, but it was helpful. We started out with seven cities we were looking at and I think that we have two that are at the top of our list. I have been asking coworkers about a realtor referral so maybe we will get to see the inside of some places soon!
5.24.2010
Planted
We are finished planting our vegetable garden and all of the herbs have been potted. Yay!
In this picture: cilantro, parsley, basil, dill, rosemary, garlic chives, tarragon, thai basil and two other herbs that I don't know off the top of my head.
Our herbs that survived in our house all winter. Sage, spicy oregano, orange thyme, thyme and marjoram. The old rosemary plant is on the porch and not looking so good (which is why we bought a new plant just in case). We paired down our herb garden from last year a bit....
CP loves hot peppers. Seriously. We planted all kinds here.
Our homemade lattice for the cucumbers (hard to see, but planted in the back) to creep up. In the middle is swiss chard. The front row of dirt is where we planted romaine lettuce and red leaf lettuce seeds. Hopefully we started to see something come out of the ground soon!
Tomato plants in back with a row of carrots (from seeds so you can't see anything just yet) in front of them. In the front raised bed we have zucchini plants. You are supposed to plant them five feet apart so we are guessing that they take up quite a bit of room!
Our homemade teepees so that the beans (both green and wax yellow) in the back can grow up the stakes. We also have a lemongrass plant and more hot peppers. 5.21.2010
My secret
So I have this secret that I can’t tell anyone….this is, except for you guys because this blog is anonymous!
CP and did some talking and I will not be picking up my usual birth control pills tonight. {commence freak out} I have been on birth control since sophomore year in college (wow)- as in 13 YEARS AGO. Who knows what my cycle is going to look like? I have also started to take a prenatal vitamin every morning.
Knowing that at our age it could take 6-10 months to get pregnant, we are going to be careful for the next month (my doctor recommended one month off birth control before starting to try to conceive because there is a higher risk of miscarriage- I think she said something about the uterine lining not being thick enough?). And then we are going to do the weird thing of actually TRYING to get pregnant. After so many years of taking birth control in order for that NOT to happen, I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around getting excited (possibly in the near future) of my period not showing up. Don’t get me wrong, I will be excited (and scared, etc), but it’s going to be weird.
CP and I have decided NOT to tell friends and family that I am no longer taking birth control pills and that we will be “trying” next month. We both think that it then puts pressure on the couple when people know. So after a few months of not getting pregnant, “How’s it going?” or other similar questions won’t be helpful to us. Thus, I can’t tell anyone. It’s hard, but I think that our reasoning is sound. I’m still worried (despite the lack of medical issues on both sides) that we are going to have a problem conceiving so it’s better to keep this quiet.
I can only imagine when we do get pregnant how hard it is going to be to keep it quiet (not from parents and siblings) until the three month mark!!
CP and did some talking and I will not be picking up my usual birth control pills tonight. {commence freak out} I have been on birth control since sophomore year in college (wow)- as in 13 YEARS AGO. Who knows what my cycle is going to look like? I have also started to take a prenatal vitamin every morning.
Knowing that at our age it could take 6-10 months to get pregnant, we are going to be careful for the next month (my doctor recommended one month off birth control before starting to try to conceive because there is a higher risk of miscarriage- I think she said something about the uterine lining not being thick enough?). And then we are going to do the weird thing of actually TRYING to get pregnant. After so many years of taking birth control in order for that NOT to happen, I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around getting excited (possibly in the near future) of my period not showing up. Don’t get me wrong, I will be excited (and scared, etc), but it’s going to be weird.
CP and I have decided NOT to tell friends and family that I am no longer taking birth control pills and that we will be “trying” next month. We both think that it then puts pressure on the couple when people know. So after a few months of not getting pregnant, “How’s it going?” or other similar questions won’t be helpful to us. Thus, I can’t tell anyone. It’s hard, but I think that our reasoning is sound. I’m still worried (despite the lack of medical issues on both sides) that we are going to have a problem conceiving so it’s better to keep this quiet.
I can only imagine when we do get pregnant how hard it is going to be to keep it quiet (not from parents and siblings) until the three month mark!!
5.19.2010
What a find!
This past weekend CP and I went with my Mother-in-Law and her friend to the largest antiques festival in the country, the Brimfield Antique Show. It is a huge event and because we kept hearing about it (my parents in Chicago even knew about it!), we decided to check it out. Although CP and I thought that we would get bored, we were only at the show for a few hours and found a few great things!
The first large tent we went into, a beautiful and interesting dining room table made by KingPin Tables caught our eye.
The wood was made out of reclaimed Hard Rock Maple. When old bowling alleys are scheduled to be torn down, the owners rescue the wood and then use it to make the tables. CP and I got the measurements, talked about it a bit, and then decided to come back a bit later after discussing the purchase. I was worried about the money aspect before CP reminded me that we had wedding money in our savings account stocked away for a future furniture purchase. We had looked at all of the usual suspects- Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, various local furniture stores, but hadn’t found anything that we both loved.
As we walked around the show some more, we continued to discuss the table. Meanwhile, I found a cute necklace made out of topaz. :-)
After continuing to discuss the table, we decided to head back and buy it. Unfortunately, another couple had swooped in and bought the 8’ table that we wanted (bastards!). All they had left was a 7’, a 9’ and a 9’6” table. Without quite knowing the exact dimensions of the “dining room” we have in our current rented house, we decided to go with the 9’ table. It didn’t hurt that the guys were willing to sell it to us for the SAME PRICE as the 8’ table with FREE DELIVERY. Wow.
CP knew that I had also been fawning over the coffee table. (We did need a new one because over a year ago I broke one of the glass pieces while trying to clean it.) Anyway, while I was paying for the dining room table, he bargained the guys down for the coffee table. Ha!
So now we have a gargantuan dining room table AND a gargantuan coffee table. We love both of the pieces. Not only are they eco-friendly because of the reclaimed wood, but they are one of a kind pieces that should last forever. The top of the dining room table alone weighs 300 POUNDS. They will be quite a pain to move, but I think that we got a fantastic deal!! We will also have to think about the dimensions of any place we move to for the rest of our lives, but hopefully we won't have a problem.... AND we were able to write two checks for the pieces and still have some wedding money left! YAY!
The first large tent we went into, a beautiful and interesting dining room table made by KingPin Tables caught our eye.
The wood was made out of reclaimed Hard Rock Maple. When old bowling alleys are scheduled to be torn down, the owners rescue the wood and then use it to make the tables. CP and I got the measurements, talked about it a bit, and then decided to come back a bit later after discussing the purchase. I was worried about the money aspect before CP reminded me that we had wedding money in our savings account stocked away for a future furniture purchase. We had looked at all of the usual suspects- Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, various local furniture stores, but hadn’t found anything that we both loved.
As we walked around the show some more, we continued to discuss the table. Meanwhile, I found a cute necklace made out of topaz. :-)
After continuing to discuss the table, we decided to head back and buy it. Unfortunately, another couple had swooped in and bought the 8’ table that we wanted (bastards!). All they had left was a 7’, a 9’ and a 9’6” table. Without quite knowing the exact dimensions of the “dining room” we have in our current rented house, we decided to go with the 9’ table. It didn’t hurt that the guys were willing to sell it to us for the SAME PRICE as the 8’ table with FREE DELIVERY. Wow.
CP knew that I had also been fawning over the coffee table. (We did need a new one because over a year ago I broke one of the glass pieces while trying to clean it.) Anyway, while I was paying for the dining room table, he bargained the guys down for the coffee table. Ha!
So now we have a gargantuan dining room table AND a gargantuan coffee table. We love both of the pieces. Not only are they eco-friendly because of the reclaimed wood, but they are one of a kind pieces that should last forever. The top of the dining room table alone weighs 300 POUNDS. They will be quite a pain to move, but I think that we got a fantastic deal!! We will also have to think about the dimensions of any place we move to for the rest of our lives, but hopefully we won't have a problem.... AND we were able to write two checks for the pieces and still have some wedding money left! YAY!
5.18.2010
Estrogen dominant?
I came across an interesting article last week regarding estrogen. I want to do some more research, but I am wondering if I am estrogen-dominant?
In case you are too lazy to click on the link, the article discusses the problems with an imbalance of estrogen (too much) and progesterone (too little). If you have too much, it leads to saddlebags (hip and thigh fat), problems with your period, bad PMS symptoms, fibroids, and endometriosis. If you answer yes to any of these questions, it is likely that you have too much estrogen:
--Are you overweight?
--Do you carry body fat in your hips and thighs?
--Do you have a hypothyroid condition?
--Do you have fibroids, endometriosis or PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome)?
--Have you taken or do you currently take birth control pills?
--Are you menopausal or perimenopausal?
Don’t completely stress if the only one you said yes to is the one asking if you are currently taking birth control pills- according to the article, some women’s livers detox estrogen better than others. However, if you gained weight from the pill or had a lot of side effects such as mood swings, water retention and breast swelling, then you do not detox estrogen well. Unfortunately I have had all of those side effects.
Another thing that causes the imbalance are man-made chemicals found in our air, water and food. Just another reason for me to stay away from non-organic foods!
Some of the ways you can avoid excess estrogrens:
--Eat organic fruits and veggies whenever possible to avoid estrogenic pesticides.
--Pay more for proteins. Low-quality proteins are full of estrogens, so pay a little more for higher quality protein choices such as grass fed beef or bison, free range chicken and hormone free dairy.
--Switch to paraben and phthalate-free cosmetics, body products and deodorants, such as Weleda brand skin care, body care and deodorants.
--Use only natural cleaning products such as Method, Mrs. Meyers Clean Day or Seventh Generation.
--If you use plastic containers to store food, never microwave them. Opt for glass as much as possible and always for microwaving as plastics leach estrogenic chemicals.
--Avoid soft plastic water bottles whenever you can by using glass at home or office and getting a stainless steel water bottle for travel, such as Sigg or Klean Kanteen.
The article also lists a few supplements that you can take in order to help your liver detox estrogen.
So what do you think? I might try to take some of the article’s suggestions to see if it makes any difference in my hips/thigh region. Unfortunately, the article did say that once you become estrogen-dominant, fat loss is difficult. But it never hurts to try, right?
What do you think about the article?
In case you are too lazy to click on the link, the article discusses the problems with an imbalance of estrogen (too much) and progesterone (too little). If you have too much, it leads to saddlebags (hip and thigh fat), problems with your period, bad PMS symptoms, fibroids, and endometriosis. If you answer yes to any of these questions, it is likely that you have too much estrogen:
--Are you overweight?
--Do you carry body fat in your hips and thighs?
--Do you have a hypothyroid condition?
--Do you have fibroids, endometriosis or PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome)?
--Have you taken or do you currently take birth control pills?
--Are you menopausal or perimenopausal?
Don’t completely stress if the only one you said yes to is the one asking if you are currently taking birth control pills- according to the article, some women’s livers detox estrogen better than others. However, if you gained weight from the pill or had a lot of side effects such as mood swings, water retention and breast swelling, then you do not detox estrogen well. Unfortunately I have had all of those side effects.
Another thing that causes the imbalance are man-made chemicals found in our air, water and food. Just another reason for me to stay away from non-organic foods!
Some of the ways you can avoid excess estrogrens:
--Eat organic fruits and veggies whenever possible to avoid estrogenic pesticides.
--Pay more for proteins. Low-quality proteins are full of estrogens, so pay a little more for higher quality protein choices such as grass fed beef or bison, free range chicken and hormone free dairy.
--Switch to paraben and phthalate-free cosmetics, body products and deodorants, such as Weleda brand skin care, body care and deodorants.
--Use only natural cleaning products such as Method, Mrs. Meyers Clean Day or Seventh Generation.
--If you use plastic containers to store food, never microwave them. Opt for glass as much as possible and always for microwaving as plastics leach estrogenic chemicals.
--Avoid soft plastic water bottles whenever you can by using glass at home or office and getting a stainless steel water bottle for travel, such as Sigg or Klean Kanteen.
The article also lists a few supplements that you can take in order to help your liver detox estrogen.
So what do you think? I might try to take some of the article’s suggestions to see if it makes any difference in my hips/thigh region. Unfortunately, the article did say that once you become estrogen-dominant, fat loss is difficult. But it never hurts to try, right?
What do you think about the article?
5.14.2010
Loves
Haven't done a post like this in a while because we have been on such a budget crunch. However, there are a few things that I have been loving lately....
First, this pair of New York & Company pants. The picture does NOT do them justice. They are super comfortable, fit me perfectly and in my opinion, look great on me. In fact, last week I went back to get them in khaki color. :-)
NY & Co Manhattan Chino
My new hair clip from Etsy's Wooden Treasures. I got this in the mail this past week and have been wearing it every day!
The picture frame I got my mom for Mother's Day from Etsy's DAcustomframes. My mom wanted a wooden frame for a picture of me and CP from our honeymoon.
I randomly found Etsy's gratefuljoey shop when I was bored and was looking at shops that had just come online through the pounce feature. This stained glass is beautiful. I haven't bought it yet, but I was thinking that it would be a cool present for CP's birthday. Our friend (also the person that married us) made stained glass and we even wanted to commission a work from him....but now he is in grad school and doesn't have any time. Booo.
First, this pair of New York & Company pants. The picture does NOT do them justice. They are super comfortable, fit me perfectly and in my opinion, look great on me. In fact, last week I went back to get them in khaki color. :-)
NY & Co Manhattan Chino
My new hair clip from Etsy's Wooden Treasures. I got this in the mail this past week and have been wearing it every day! 
The picture frame I got my mom for Mother's Day from Etsy's DAcustomframes. My mom wanted a wooden frame for a picture of me and CP from our honeymoon. 
I randomly found Etsy's gratefuljoey shop when I was bored and was looking at shops that had just come online through the pounce feature. This stained glass is beautiful. I haven't bought it yet, but I was thinking that it would be a cool present for CP's birthday. Our friend (also the person that married us) made stained glass and we even wanted to commission a work from him....but now he is in grad school and doesn't have any time. Booo.To be honest, I haven't been on Etsy that much lately because there are SO MANY sellers these days that it is kind of hard to navigate the site. You have to really know what you want.
Have you had the same problem with Etsy lately? What are some of your favorite shops?
*I have not been paid or asked to review these items. I simply wanted to share them with readers!*
5.13.2010
Our new garden
This past weekend while I was on the couch resting from my surgery, CP put in our raised garden beds (I helped as much as possible....which was not very much). I'm so happy our landlord was cool with us putting these in. :-)
Planning out where to put the backyard raised bed. As you can see, the backyard has a bit of a slope...thus the raised bed that CP had to level.
I have to say that I think that they look fantastic! We ordered a mixture of compost and loam from a local landscaping company- they were so much cheaper than buy soil at Home Depot!
The backyard finished product. Poor CP had to contend with the big rocks shown in the picture- that's New England for ya! We also put down some grass seed to help the area CP disturbed outside the beds.
Two side yard beds
Planning out where to put the backyard raised bed. As you can see, the backyard has a bit of a slope...thus the raised bed that CP had to level.Planning out where to put the side yard raised beds. This also has a bit of a slope.
Fuzzy Britches hanging out in the shade with her ever-present favorite yellow ball
I have to say that I think that they look fantastic! We ordered a mixture of compost and loam from a local landscaping company- they were so much cheaper than buy soil at Home Depot!
The backyard finished product. Poor CP had to contend with the big rocks shown in the picture- that's New England for ya! We also put down some grass seed to help the area CP disturbed outside the beds.
Two side yard bedsThis year we are going to try growing:
*Carrots
*Peas
*Swiss chard
*Peppers (both hot and sweet red)
*Tomatoes
*Zucchini
*Cucumbers
*Possibly beets
We tried to pick vegetables that were expensive to buy in stores and/or vegetables that taste amazing when they are super fresh. We grew tomatoes and hot peppers last year and did fairly well…hopefully we are able to handle this bigger garden this year.
This weekend we also have to figure out what herbs we want to plant. We had quite a selection of herbs last year and while we might not plant quite as many this year, here’s hoping that THIS will be the year for cilantro. So far we have had two years of dead plants. Boooo.
Are you planting a garden this year? Do you have any tips for us?
*Carrots
*Peas
*Swiss chard
*Peppers (both hot and sweet red)
*Tomatoes
*Zucchini
*Cucumbers
*Possibly beets
We tried to pick vegetables that were expensive to buy in stores and/or vegetables that taste amazing when they are super fresh. We grew tomatoes and hot peppers last year and did fairly well…hopefully we are able to handle this bigger garden this year.
This weekend we also have to figure out what herbs we want to plant. We had quite a selection of herbs last year and while we might not plant quite as many this year, here’s hoping that THIS will be the year for cilantro. So far we have had two years of dead plants. Boooo.
Are you planting a garden this year? Do you have any tips for us?
5.12.2010
Priorities
CP and I had an interesting discussion recently. Towards the end of January we discussed having kids in about a year. Well, it turns out that we weren’t QUITE on the same page. I was thinking that he was a bit hesitant, but it turns out that he is basically ready now…..at least according to a recent conversation.
The problem that we are having right now is figuring out our priorities. There are a few that are currently in competition:
*Having a baby
*Moving west/somewhere else
*Finding me a new job
*Paying down debt
The second three could certainly be done while we are trying for a baby/pregnant, but finding a job may be a bit difficult with a big baby belly (even though it is against the law to discriminate, an employer could always not hire me for “other reasons”).
So fairly soon we need to figure out our priorities. If having a baby soon is our first priority, then we need to take a few steps before we can even start trying. (BTW, I am getting my information from a book from my friend sent me called “The Mother of All Pregnancy Books” by Ann Douglas. It has a few chapters on pre-conception and has been helpful.)
1. Go off birth control (obviously)
2. Get the genetic testing (because we are both European Caucasians we have to worry about carrying genes for things like cystic fibrosis)
3. Try to lose some weight (my BMI is still a bit higher than I would like)
4. Start taking folic acid (there is evidence that taking .4mg of folic acid for at least three months daily prior to pregnancy prevents up to 70% of neural tube defects from occurring).
5. Figure out if I need to up my iron intake (I can always give blood, but that doesn’t mean that I have enough). Iron helps the body create the additional red blood cells needed to carry oxygen from the lungs to various parts of the body, including the baby.
6. Start taking my calcium pills and my multivitamin again. Currently they sit right next to the sink, but I usually dismiss them at night. I do eat a yogurt a day, but that is probably not enough.
7. Luckily, I don’t have to worry about quitting smoking, quitting drugs, and cutting back on alcohol. Once in a while (say, in New Orleans for a wedding) I go crazy, but for the most part I don’t drink that much anymore. I haven’t been drinking my allowed one Coke Zero a day, so I am not worried about a caffeine habit. CP and I are fairly healthy people so we haven’t had prior issues that may affect fertility.
Who knows how long it could take to conceive? According to the book, in your early 30s the odds that you will conceive in any given month are 10-15%. It takes an average of 6.7 to 10 months to conceive and there is a 72-86% chance that we will get pregnant within a year. If we put off some of the other things, and it takes almost a year to get pregnant, then what good is that? But if we try to do all of these things at once, stress does NOT help in conceiving. There are also other factors. CP is currently traveling a lot. That makes it difficult to even try to conceive a baby, let alone have him there for appointments.
I believe that we are ready mentally. We no longer go out and have partying lifestyles. A lot of our friends and family have kids so we know (as much as you can without having kids) what we are getting into. We have been able to keep Fuzzy Britches and various plants/herbs alive (ha!). We have both gone out and experienced a lot of different things/traveled both before we met each other and in the 4.5 years we have been together so we don’t feel as if there are things that we missed out on. And a lot of the things that I still want to do in my life? Are things that can be done after having kids. Sure having kids makes them a bit more difficult, but they are still doable.
Meanwhile, as we are starting to discuss our priorities, we will continue to pay down our debts and stick to our strict budget. I will start to apply to jobs. Hopefully finding a new job doesn’t take too long and that will determine when/where we move.
To be continued…
The problem that we are having right now is figuring out our priorities. There are a few that are currently in competition:
*Having a baby
*Moving west/somewhere else
*Finding me a new job
*Paying down debt
The second three could certainly be done while we are trying for a baby/pregnant, but finding a job may be a bit difficult with a big baby belly (even though it is against the law to discriminate, an employer could always not hire me for “other reasons”).
So fairly soon we need to figure out our priorities. If having a baby soon is our first priority, then we need to take a few steps before we can even start trying. (BTW, I am getting my information from a book from my friend sent me called “The Mother of All Pregnancy Books” by Ann Douglas. It has a few chapters on pre-conception and has been helpful.)
1. Go off birth control (obviously)
2. Get the genetic testing (because we are both European Caucasians we have to worry about carrying genes for things like cystic fibrosis)
3. Try to lose some weight (my BMI is still a bit higher than I would like)
4. Start taking folic acid (there is evidence that taking .4mg of folic acid for at least three months daily prior to pregnancy prevents up to 70% of neural tube defects from occurring).
5. Figure out if I need to up my iron intake (I can always give blood, but that doesn’t mean that I have enough). Iron helps the body create the additional red blood cells needed to carry oxygen from the lungs to various parts of the body, including the baby.
6. Start taking my calcium pills and my multivitamin again. Currently they sit right next to the sink, but I usually dismiss them at night. I do eat a yogurt a day, but that is probably not enough.
7. Luckily, I don’t have to worry about quitting smoking, quitting drugs, and cutting back on alcohol. Once in a while (say, in New Orleans for a wedding) I go crazy, but for the most part I don’t drink that much anymore. I haven’t been drinking my allowed one Coke Zero a day, so I am not worried about a caffeine habit. CP and I are fairly healthy people so we haven’t had prior issues that may affect fertility.
Who knows how long it could take to conceive? According to the book, in your early 30s the odds that you will conceive in any given month are 10-15%. It takes an average of 6.7 to 10 months to conceive and there is a 72-86% chance that we will get pregnant within a year. If we put off some of the other things, and it takes almost a year to get pregnant, then what good is that? But if we try to do all of these things at once, stress does NOT help in conceiving. There are also other factors. CP is currently traveling a lot. That makes it difficult to even try to conceive a baby, let alone have him there for appointments.
I believe that we are ready mentally. We no longer go out and have partying lifestyles. A lot of our friends and family have kids so we know (as much as you can without having kids) what we are getting into. We have been able to keep Fuzzy Britches and various plants/herbs alive (ha!). We have both gone out and experienced a lot of different things/traveled both before we met each other and in the 4.5 years we have been together so we don’t feel as if there are things that we missed out on. And a lot of the things that I still want to do in my life? Are things that can be done after having kids. Sure having kids makes them a bit more difficult, but they are still doable.
Meanwhile, as we are starting to discuss our priorities, we will continue to pay down our debts and stick to our strict budget. I will start to apply to jobs. Hopefully finding a new job doesn’t take too long and that will determine when/where we move.
To be continued…
5.11.2010
Bedside manner
What is with doctors not having any sort of bedside manner?? When I first met with the doctor to find out if the cyst was something that should be taken out of my back, I met with him for MAYBE five minutes. He didn’t give me any details of the procedure, but made it seem as if it was simple enough, so any questions I had were silly.
Fast forward to Friday. CP and I had to get up at the butt-crack of dawn in order to drive an hour. We waited for a few minutes before I was admitted for a pee test (to make sure that I wasn’t pregnant), to insert the needle into my hand, to go over the medicines that I take, etc. After the nurses finished with all of that, CP and I waited….and waited….and waited. The nurses made it seem as if my doctor? Wasn’t so good about being on time.
When he finally showed up over 30 minutes late, he made a quick joke about CP’s Red Sox hat. He then proceeded to have a shocked look on his face when CP told a short (and might I add- funny) story about the person downstairs wearing a Yankees hat. His face had the look of “why are you telling me this? I am a busy doctor. I don’t make small talk.” He asked CP if he had any questions (NOT ME) and when CP said no, quickly walked out. Ummmm okay.
Then after I laid down on the operating table, I asked if I could see the cyst when I woke up. (what? I was curious) He said, “sure. You won’t remember it though.” The entire time he is playing on his Blackberry. The anesthesia then hit me and I don’t remember anything.
After I woke up, I did ask the nurse to see my cyst (and yes I DO remember what it looked like). Did he come out after I woke up to tell me that he got all of the cyst? To tell me anything at all? No. Even when I had questions as to what I could do exercise-wise and just in general in the next three weeks before I see him, the nurses had to phone him to ask instead of him coming out and talking to me.
What kind of bedside manner is this? This is a 2005 “top doctor” in the state and a 2007 “top doctor-surgeon” in the city. Who the heck voted this guy as a top doctor????
Fast forward to Friday. CP and I had to get up at the butt-crack of dawn in order to drive an hour. We waited for a few minutes before I was admitted for a pee test (to make sure that I wasn’t pregnant), to insert the needle into my hand, to go over the medicines that I take, etc. After the nurses finished with all of that, CP and I waited….and waited….and waited. The nurses made it seem as if my doctor? Wasn’t so good about being on time.
When he finally showed up over 30 minutes late, he made a quick joke about CP’s Red Sox hat. He then proceeded to have a shocked look on his face when CP told a short (and might I add- funny) story about the person downstairs wearing a Yankees hat. His face had the look of “why are you telling me this? I am a busy doctor. I don’t make small talk.” He asked CP if he had any questions (NOT ME) and when CP said no, quickly walked out. Ummmm okay.
Then after I laid down on the operating table, I asked if I could see the cyst when I woke up. (what? I was curious) He said, “sure. You won’t remember it though.” The entire time he is playing on his Blackberry. The anesthesia then hit me and I don’t remember anything.
After I woke up, I did ask the nurse to see my cyst (and yes I DO remember what it looked like). Did he come out after I woke up to tell me that he got all of the cyst? To tell me anything at all? No. Even when I had questions as to what I could do exercise-wise and just in general in the next three weeks before I see him, the nurses had to phone him to ask instead of him coming out and talking to me.
What kind of bedside manner is this? This is a 2005 “top doctor” in the state and a 2007 “top doctor-surgeon” in the city. Who the heck voted this guy as a top doctor????
5.10.2010
Recovering
First off, thank you all so much for your good wishes on Friday. That was very sweet of you guys.
The surgery went fine. I was under for 45 minutes and now will have a big incision scar on my back. CP has been a gem. After I got discharged I thought it was a fine idea to head to Whole Foods. I don’t remember much, but CP said that I wasn’t making much sense- I must have still been loopy from the anesthesia. Halfway through the hour ride home, the anesthesia wore off and sitting in the car was causing me PAIN. Instead of going home we smartly stopped at a pharmacy to pick up my prescription for Vicodin. The rest of the day I spent sleeping and/or out of it.
Randomly, the whole surgery brought out a weird fear I have. Have you ever watched any of those emergency room shows where they usually blur out the person’s face and their genitals but have to hurriedly cut off someone’s clothes in order to work on them? After watching those shows, I was like, wow I hope that if that ever happens to me I am in better shape. I don’t ever want a doctor to look at my body and think YUCK. Yes, I have thoughts where I worry about what the doctors think about my fat a** instead whatever serious medical problem I came in for. Welcome to my crazy mind.
So this obviously was a bit of a different situation as it wasn’t an emergency, but as I got on top of the operating table, a thought did cross my mind about whether they would be talking about my back fat or my cottage cheese thighs. Probably about a minute after I got on the table, I was out cold so the thoughts didn’t last long.
Saturday CP’s mom, stepfather and grandmother were supposed to come down for a late lunch, but I was still feeling icky. They ended up coming yesterday instead and we had an absolutely DELICIOUS meal. I will post some of the recipes later this week.
Last night Fuzzy Britches started retching, looking very uncomfortable, licking her chops, trying to stretch her stomach, etc. so we were worried that she had bloat. That resulted in a 30 min car ride to the only open vet hospital in the area where they said that she probably didn’t have it, but could get x-rays just in case. We decided against the x-rays b/c she seemed to be doing better, but might get her checked out by our regular vet b/c she has done this three times in the last month or so and could be a sign of something else. Booo for our puppy getting older. :-(
Time to head home. I am not looking forward to the drive home and it is very uncomfortable (as it has been sitting in my desk chair all day long). However, CP delayed his flight until tomorrow morning so that we could hang out tonight (YAY!). We are both hoping that he won’t have to travel again for a couple of weeks…
The surgery went fine. I was under for 45 minutes and now will have a big incision scar on my back. CP has been a gem. After I got discharged I thought it was a fine idea to head to Whole Foods. I don’t remember much, but CP said that I wasn’t making much sense- I must have still been loopy from the anesthesia. Halfway through the hour ride home, the anesthesia wore off and sitting in the car was causing me PAIN. Instead of going home we smartly stopped at a pharmacy to pick up my prescription for Vicodin. The rest of the day I spent sleeping and/or out of it.
Randomly, the whole surgery brought out a weird fear I have. Have you ever watched any of those emergency room shows where they usually blur out the person’s face and their genitals but have to hurriedly cut off someone’s clothes in order to work on them? After watching those shows, I was like, wow I hope that if that ever happens to me I am in better shape. I don’t ever want a doctor to look at my body and think YUCK. Yes, I have thoughts where I worry about what the doctors think about my fat a** instead whatever serious medical problem I came in for. Welcome to my crazy mind.
So this obviously was a bit of a different situation as it wasn’t an emergency, but as I got on top of the operating table, a thought did cross my mind about whether they would be talking about my back fat or my cottage cheese thighs. Probably about a minute after I got on the table, I was out cold so the thoughts didn’t last long.
Saturday CP’s mom, stepfather and grandmother were supposed to come down for a late lunch, but I was still feeling icky. They ended up coming yesterday instead and we had an absolutely DELICIOUS meal. I will post some of the recipes later this week.
Last night Fuzzy Britches started retching, looking very uncomfortable, licking her chops, trying to stretch her stomach, etc. so we were worried that she had bloat. That resulted in a 30 min car ride to the only open vet hospital in the area where they said that she probably didn’t have it, but could get x-rays just in case. We decided against the x-rays b/c she seemed to be doing better, but might get her checked out by our regular vet b/c she has done this three times in the last month or so and could be a sign of something else. Booo for our puppy getting older. :-(
Time to head home. I am not looking forward to the drive home and it is very uncomfortable (as it has been sitting in my desk chair all day long). However, CP delayed his flight until tomorrow morning so that we could hang out tonight (YAY!). We are both hoping that he won’t have to travel again for a couple of weeks…
5.07.2010
Ready for the weekend
This morning is my surgery (I’m writing this the night before). Hopefully I am not too sore afterwards as CP’s mom, stepfather and grandmother are coming over for dinner tomorrow.
What did you do for your mother this weekend? My mom requested a picture frame with a recent picture of me and CP. I guess she is sick of all of the wedding pictures. Ha! Unfortunately, we don’t have a nice picture that we have taken recently, so I am scrambling to find something else. Nothing like waiting until the last minute…..
It will be nice to have CP home this weekend. I have only seen him for a grand total of 6 days in the past 4 weeks. No es bueno. He was hoping that he would be able to take some time off from traveling, but there were some problems found this week and he definitely has to go back next week. Boooo. I miss my husband. It has been a rough couple of days and I am in desperate need of some hugs.
What did you do for your mother this weekend? My mom requested a picture frame with a recent picture of me and CP. I guess she is sick of all of the wedding pictures. Ha! Unfortunately, we don’t have a nice picture that we have taken recently, so I am scrambling to find something else. Nothing like waiting until the last minute…..
It will be nice to have CP home this weekend. I have only seen him for a grand total of 6 days in the past 4 weeks. No es bueno. He was hoping that he would be able to take some time off from traveling, but there were some problems found this week and he definitely has to go back next week. Boooo. I miss my husband. It has been a rough couple of days and I am in desperate need of some hugs.
5.06.2010
In need of good news
Yesterday was a very bad day. First I got the final email from the other company saying that after reviewing my information, they still don't think that I am qualified for the job. At this point, I knew that they were going to say that, but had hopes that HR would actually do their job and read the extra information I sent over. I may use different words to describe what I am doing for my company, but we are still doing the same damn things. *sigh* Our vision of moving out to Denver before the end of the summer is basically dead.
Then, I received an email from mom saying that a family friend's son had died from drugs over the weekend. I have known this family since I was in first grade. Their daughter and I were best friends until high school- she started hanging out with some "interesting people" and we were not as close (she grew up and became a doctor so she turned out okay). I had many sleepovers at her house and knew her family very well. Our parents stayed great friends and hang out all the time, even after my parents moved out of the suburbs (where we lived right down the street from them) and into Chicago.
My parents had an inkling that something was going on with the son as the last time they were hanging out, the mother kept checking in on him. They thought it was a little odd as he was 28 years old. Anyway, I guess he and two others got a bad batch of drugs that killed him over the weekend. When he didn't show up for work on Monday, the daughter went to his apartment on Tuesday to check in on him and found the bodies. I can't even imagine having to walk in on that.
It's just all so shocking. What a waste of a young life. The whole thing makes me sick.
Then, I received an email from mom saying that a family friend's son had died from drugs over the weekend. I have known this family since I was in first grade. Their daughter and I were best friends until high school- she started hanging out with some "interesting people" and we were not as close (she grew up and became a doctor so she turned out okay). I had many sleepovers at her house and knew her family very well. Our parents stayed great friends and hang out all the time, even after my parents moved out of the suburbs (where we lived right down the street from them) and into Chicago.
My parents had an inkling that something was going on with the son as the last time they were hanging out, the mother kept checking in on him. They thought it was a little odd as he was 28 years old. Anyway, I guess he and two others got a bad batch of drugs that killed him over the weekend. When he didn't show up for work on Monday, the daughter went to his apartment on Tuesday to check in on him and found the bodies. I can't even imagine having to walk in on that.
It's just all so shocking. What a waste of a young life. The whole thing makes me sick.
5.05.2010
Money talks
One thing that I meant to add to my post on Monday was the concept of how much YOU can change the food system, just by the things that you eat and where you spend your money. The end of the movie Food, Inc. really touches on this and I whole-heartedly agree. If you believe that your body does not need hormones, pesticides, artificial flavors/colors/additives, etc. then you can make a choice with your wallet.
Frankly it is sad that some people do not have this choice. It is cheaper to go to McDonalds and buy a hamburger off the dollar meal than to buy ingredients to make a healthy salad. Not everyone has the choice to buy organic as it is not in their budget or they do not have farmers markets/grocery stores that carry these products. It is sad that in 2010, some cities don’t even have a grocery store where you can buy produce, let alone organic produce!! But the more money people put into organic products, the bigger the market will get. The more selection we will have. And hopefully, the “cleaner” our food will get.
Case in point: CP and I went out to dinner two weekends ago. I was thinking that the scallops and spinach entree sounded good, but then I heard that one of the specials for the night was a organic, all-natural, no pesticides and hormone-free piece of sirloin. I immediately chose that as my entrée. I think that it is fantastic that this restaurant has this option on their menu, so I wanted to make sure that I supported it. Usually sirloin is not a very good cut of meat, but this was tasty (even CP agreed!). I can remember my time down in Argentina, where most of their cattle is grass fed and allowed to roam anywhere and everywhere (literally!). HOLY CRAP the steaks in Argentina are TO DIE FOR. You simply don’t understand until you are down there. I kept telling CP how AMAZING they were and he simply did not believe me until he joined me for 10 days in the country. He then ate at least one steak a day (no joke!). The reason the steaks taste so good is mainly because their beef is not pumped full of corn, antibiotics, and other crap. It is how beef should taste.
Frankly it is sad that some people do not have this choice. It is cheaper to go to McDonalds and buy a hamburger off the dollar meal than to buy ingredients to make a healthy salad. Not everyone has the choice to buy organic as it is not in their budget or they do not have farmers markets/grocery stores that carry these products. It is sad that in 2010, some cities don’t even have a grocery store where you can buy produce, let alone organic produce!! But the more money people put into organic products, the bigger the market will get. The more selection we will have. And hopefully, the “cleaner” our food will get.
Case in point: CP and I went out to dinner two weekends ago. I was thinking that the scallops and spinach entree sounded good, but then I heard that one of the specials for the night was a organic, all-natural, no pesticides and hormone-free piece of sirloin. I immediately chose that as my entrée. I think that it is fantastic that this restaurant has this option on their menu, so I wanted to make sure that I supported it. Usually sirloin is not a very good cut of meat, but this was tasty (even CP agreed!). I can remember my time down in Argentina, where most of their cattle is grass fed and allowed to roam anywhere and everywhere (literally!). HOLY CRAP the steaks in Argentina are TO DIE FOR. You simply don’t understand until you are down there. I kept telling CP how AMAZING they were and he simply did not believe me until he joined me for 10 days in the country. He then ate at least one steak a day (no joke!). The reason the steaks taste so good is mainly because their beef is not pumped full of corn, antibiotics, and other crap. It is how beef should taste.
Picture CP took of a parilla in a Buenos Aires restaurant
Recently, the Environmental Working Group posted a list of the foods that are best to buy in organic form in order to minimize pesticides. http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/Dirty-Dozen-Foods I have entered this list into my Blackberry so that when I am at the store, I can make informed choices- and also think about our food budget!
For those of you too lazy, here are the things that your should buy in organic form, if possible:
Apples
Bell Peppers
Blueberries
Carrots
Celery
Cherries
Grapes
Kale
Lettuce
Meat
Milk
Nectarines
Peaches
Pears
Potatoes
Spinach
Strawberries
Tomatoes
Do you buy organic products? If so, do you follow these lists?
5.04.2010
My apologizes in advance....
Sorry people that don't watch the Real Housewives series. This will be a RH-centric post. You might just want to come back tomorrow if you are not watching the Bravo series. Or, start watching the series right now because it is seriously entertaining.
Real housewives of NJ
The second season debuted last night. First?
Real housewives of NJ
The second season debuted last night. First?
Serious cat grooming fail (one of Dina's cats)
Second? Danielle can't stop talking about the rest of the women. She talks about her problems to some clothing shop owner, to the woman that did her pedicure, some religious person, etc. Maybe she needs to get something else going in her life? I'm just sayin'. She stalked some party that Caroline held that she wasn't invited to. After finding out about said party, she drove towards Caroline's house with intentions on confronting her as to why she was not invited. But then kept telling herself that she didn't care that she was not invited. Riiiiiight. Her poor kids in the back seat of the car had to tell her to turn the car around. I felt bad for her last season as it really did seem like she was being ganged up on, but now I just think that she is craaaaazy.
In this episode Jacqueline seemed to still want to be nice to Danielle, but it's obvious that the other women (Teresa, Dina and Caroline) have all talked to her husband and pressured him to end Jacqueline and Danielle's friendship. From what I have heard (and from the previews of the upcoming season), Jacqueline quickly turns on Danielle. It was interesting that Dina stayed out of the Danielle-bashing that was going on at the party. And the clothing shop owner that quickly turned on Danielle in order to gain favor with the other women? That was just weird. I think that she wanted to just be on tv.
Third? It looks like it is going to be an interesting season. I was thinking that Bravo really screwed up the NJ franchise because when you put four women that are family and then have another one on the outside, it has the tendency to get boring. Without Jacqueline staying friends with Danielle and thus creating tension with her other family members, there might not be much that occurs these season between the four of them- except maybe for ganging up on Danielle. My interest in the season might hinge on how crazy Danielle gets. Maybe they need to add another unrelated housewife next season?
Real Housewives of NYC
I didn't realize that Perez Hilton outed Bethanny before she was three months pregnant. That is quite unfair. While I know that the business of gossip blogging relies on getting the scoop before anyone else, I do think that there should be an unwritten rule to not out pregnancies before the three months is up. The blogger doesn't have to deal with the pain of an miscarriage- and let's be honest- most of the bloggers out there are men. Unfortunately, that would be a hard rule to follow. The people feeding the bloggers this gossip may not know how far along a celebrity is. I guess the celebrity should refuse to comment on the story until the three months is up?
I am still team Bethanny this season. While I am not sure I would have sent Alex to deliver my message to Jill (and Alex should not have done it in front of everyone), Jill is being a hard-a** for no apparent reason. And now that Bethanny has said that she is done, it looks like Jill wants to try to make up with her in Thursday's episode. Huh? Oh and it looks like Alex's blowup with Jill is going to be interesting. I think that whatever Alex has to say to Jill has been building up for a while and that is why she is ready to explode.
Wow. Who knew I could write so much on two, seriously dumb shows that I watch? Is anyone still reading this post?
5.03.2010
I have seen the light
Finally, my long-awaited post on my new outlook on food- thanks to the book The Omnivore’s Dilemma.
Basically, something just “clicked” after reading this book. After a couple of years of half-listening to news articles about high fructose corn syrup, documentaries like The Future of Food, and advice from nutritionists that people should eat more whole-grain foods I started to do more research. I started to think about all of the healthy things that my mom used to cook for us, using fresh ingredients- despite the fact that she had a 45 minute commute. I will let you guys read the book as Michael Pollan is a MUCH better writer than me, but I am thoroughly disgusted with the things that I used to eat and with what is now in our food.
One day while reading the book I scanned the ingredient list of my Lean Cuisine. HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP was listed as one of the ingredients. WHAT????!??? Not to mention that I couldn’t even pronounce half of the ingredients listed. Another day I looked at the ingredients for my Oats & Apple Streusel Fiber One bar. I thought that I was being somewhat healthy by eating one of these babies because everybody needs more fiber in their lives, right? Whadda know- more high fructose corn syrup. Grrrr. Picking up a loaf of whole wheat bread and seeing that it STILL has enriched flour in the ingredient list. My Light n Fit yogurt and my Quaker Oats instant oatmeal? Both have tons of extra processed sugar. So despite the low calorie content, I was spiking my blood sugar levels, then feeling lethargic about an hour after consuming all of these products.
I finished the book and knew that I needed to make a change. I firmly believe that putting artificial and unnatural things in my body is not helpful. Is this why cancer rates are so high? Is this why more kids have been diagnosed with autism these days? It can’t be healthy that hormones are found in the milk that we are drinking. I don’t know the answers to those questions. But even if it turns out that all of these artificial products are harmless, it has been proven that they are less nutritious. So why eat them?
As far as the cost, this is something that is important to me. I am willing to pay more money so that I don’t ingest pesticides into my body. I don’t want to eat genetically modified foods. I don’t want to eat chicken whose breasts were fattened up in half the time it normally takes because they were made to eat corn, making it so that they can barely walk because they are freaks of nature. Animals in general shouldn’t be eating corn!
So what does this mean to my diet (I loathe to call it a diet because I truly feel as if this will now be my way of life)?
*No processed white flour that has to be enriched because manufacturers have stripped out the nutrients.
*No processed sugar like HFCS or other artificial ingredients.
*Buying organic meat.
*No Light n Fit yogurt, Quaker instant oatmeal, Fiber One bars, white bread, Lean Cuisine, etc.
*Moving to whole grains like quinoa, brown rice, whole wheat pasta.
*Reading labels of the products I buy in the store….and cooking more on my own using fresh, organic ingredients.
*I will allow one soda a day. I don’t drink coffee and tea just doesn’t have enough caffeine in it to keep me up when I need some perking up. However, I bet that I might not need that soda most days because I won’t be spiking my blood sugar any more!
So far, the change to natural/organic foods and whole grains has been going well. I have been making food when I come home at night and especially on Sunday nights. I have been boiling eggs in advance so that I can eat a hard-boiled egg before dashing off to the bus in the morning. I bought rolled oats and have a simple recipe of adding cinnamon, raisins and a teaspoon of sugar (when I finish those I will try steel-cut oats which are even more nutritious). It has been fairly easy to find organic products at the local Stop & Shop, or, there is a Whole Foods that I have been to twice that is somewhat close to work. Every once in a while, CP and I will make something that has processed white flour in it (or something similar) because that is what is in our pantry right now. Wasting food is also not a good idea.
And how have I felt lately? GREAT. Usually I would be half falling asleep at work after eating my oatmeal or my Lean Cuisine. With my high fiber, whole grain meals I have been feeling FULLER and NOT TIRED. It’s great! Will I ever eat processed food again? I would be kidding myself to think that I will NEVER eat something that is processed again. But severely cutting processed foods from my plate will be helpful in leading a cleaner lifestyle.
Now I just need CP to finish Omnivore’s Dilemma, instead of me telling him about the various parts every night on the phone….. :-) Luckily, CP is already on board with most things. He cooks with fresh veggies. He hated when I would eat Ramen or Lean Cuisines. He makes and then cans his own salsa, chutney, pickles, hot sauce, etc. If moving west doesn’t work out fairly soon, then we will be planting a garden for the summer.
So, needless to say (and you may already have noticed), I will be trying out various non-processed recipes and letting you know how they turn out. I can’t imagine that this will be the only post where I discuss how I am becoming a full-fledged hippie (ha!). :-)
Basically, something just “clicked” after reading this book. After a couple of years of half-listening to news articles about high fructose corn syrup, documentaries like The Future of Food, and advice from nutritionists that people should eat more whole-grain foods I started to do more research. I started to think about all of the healthy things that my mom used to cook for us, using fresh ingredients- despite the fact that she had a 45 minute commute. I will let you guys read the book as Michael Pollan is a MUCH better writer than me, but I am thoroughly disgusted with the things that I used to eat and with what is now in our food.
One day while reading the book I scanned the ingredient list of my Lean Cuisine. HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP was listed as one of the ingredients. WHAT????!??? Not to mention that I couldn’t even pronounce half of the ingredients listed. Another day I looked at the ingredients for my Oats & Apple Streusel Fiber One bar. I thought that I was being somewhat healthy by eating one of these babies because everybody needs more fiber in their lives, right? Whadda know- more high fructose corn syrup. Grrrr. Picking up a loaf of whole wheat bread and seeing that it STILL has enriched flour in the ingredient list. My Light n Fit yogurt and my Quaker Oats instant oatmeal? Both have tons of extra processed sugar. So despite the low calorie content, I was spiking my blood sugar levels, then feeling lethargic about an hour after consuming all of these products.
I finished the book and knew that I needed to make a change. I firmly believe that putting artificial and unnatural things in my body is not helpful. Is this why cancer rates are so high? Is this why more kids have been diagnosed with autism these days? It can’t be healthy that hormones are found in the milk that we are drinking. I don’t know the answers to those questions. But even if it turns out that all of these artificial products are harmless, it has been proven that they are less nutritious. So why eat them?
As far as the cost, this is something that is important to me. I am willing to pay more money so that I don’t ingest pesticides into my body. I don’t want to eat genetically modified foods. I don’t want to eat chicken whose breasts were fattened up in half the time it normally takes because they were made to eat corn, making it so that they can barely walk because they are freaks of nature. Animals in general shouldn’t be eating corn!
So what does this mean to my diet (I loathe to call it a diet because I truly feel as if this will now be my way of life)?
*No processed white flour that has to be enriched because manufacturers have stripped out the nutrients.
*No processed sugar like HFCS or other artificial ingredients.
*Buying organic meat.
*No Light n Fit yogurt, Quaker instant oatmeal, Fiber One bars, white bread, Lean Cuisine, etc.
*Moving to whole grains like quinoa, brown rice, whole wheat pasta.
*Reading labels of the products I buy in the store….and cooking more on my own using fresh, organic ingredients.
*I will allow one soda a day. I don’t drink coffee and tea just doesn’t have enough caffeine in it to keep me up when I need some perking up. However, I bet that I might not need that soda most days because I won’t be spiking my blood sugar any more!
So far, the change to natural/organic foods and whole grains has been going well. I have been making food when I come home at night and especially on Sunday nights. I have been boiling eggs in advance so that I can eat a hard-boiled egg before dashing off to the bus in the morning. I bought rolled oats and have a simple recipe of adding cinnamon, raisins and a teaspoon of sugar (when I finish those I will try steel-cut oats which are even more nutritious). It has been fairly easy to find organic products at the local Stop & Shop, or, there is a Whole Foods that I have been to twice that is somewhat close to work. Every once in a while, CP and I will make something that has processed white flour in it (or something similar) because that is what is in our pantry right now. Wasting food is also not a good idea.
And how have I felt lately? GREAT. Usually I would be half falling asleep at work after eating my oatmeal or my Lean Cuisine. With my high fiber, whole grain meals I have been feeling FULLER and NOT TIRED. It’s great! Will I ever eat processed food again? I would be kidding myself to think that I will NEVER eat something that is processed again. But severely cutting processed foods from my plate will be helpful in leading a cleaner lifestyle.
Now I just need CP to finish Omnivore’s Dilemma, instead of me telling him about the various parts every night on the phone….. :-) Luckily, CP is already on board with most things. He cooks with fresh veggies. He hated when I would eat Ramen or Lean Cuisines. He makes and then cans his own salsa, chutney, pickles, hot sauce, etc. If moving west doesn’t work out fairly soon, then we will be planting a garden for the summer.
So, needless to say (and you may already have noticed), I will be trying out various non-processed recipes and letting you know how they turn out. I can’t imagine that this will be the only post where I discuss how I am becoming a full-fledged hippie (ha!). :-)
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