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I know. It’s been awhile. So long, in fact, that when I just logged into WordPress I forgot my password and the website totally mocked me, shaking its little head at me, like the way Avalon recently learned how to do while she simultaneously says in her little singsong voice “no.”
No. My sweet, innocent little girl tells me no. I was waiting for this day to happen, dreading it actually, and now she says it so matter of factly and, unfortunately, often.
Me: Avalon, want some more milk?
Her: *head shaking* No!
Me: Avalon, can you please sit down in your chair?
Her: *head shaking* No!
Me: Avalon, can I have a hug?
Her: *head shaking* No!
Me: …… Okay, that one hurts. You’re fourteen months, not fourteen years old. HUG ME, DAMMIT.
So, what’s new? Well, Avalon’s hair is long enough for pigtails now! That’s noteworthy, right?
Also, she was – you’ll never guess – a PUNKIN for Halloween. I definitely didn’t win any awards for dressing my kid up in the most creative costume, but there was no way I could let Avalon’s first trick-or-treating experience go by without dressing her up as her pet name.
Hmm, what else. Oh, so I took pictures of Rob rinsing the turkey I cooked last weekend. I made him do it because of the note on the packaging that read “be sure to remove giblets” and there was no way I was taking the chance of making any physical contact with some giblets (what the heck are giblets, anyway? and is it jib-lets? or gib-lets? what the jib?):
I also took a picture of Rob holding the slimy, wrinkly neck we discovered shoved down inside of the turkey; that was really gross. I won’t show you that photo so you don’t blow chunks all over your computer screen and then send me hate mail.
By the way, my faux Thanksgiving was awesome. I loved spending all day cooking – wearing my apron all professional-like, basting the turkey, drinking wine. And eating, of course. Here’s a picture of the brine I used for the turkey, and I totally recommend it:
And there you have it; my brain dump. That’s all I got, friends. Have a good night, and watch out for those giblets.
Technically I’m a month too early, but too bad, I’ve been majorly craving some Thanksgiving grub. From the turkey to the pie to the tryptophan-food-coma-nap-on-the-couch, it’s all I can think about lately. I make my bed in the morning and fantasize about the turkey brine. I fold towels while daydreaming about mashed potatoes drowning in silky, thick gravy. I even accept the fact that I’ll have to unbutton my pants from all the binging.
So instead of waiting until the real Thanksgiving, I’ve decided to take on all of the cooking this weekend so that Rob and I can indulge in not only a piping hot, festive meal, but also the glorious leftovers that we always miss out on (since we’re always guests at Thanksgiving dinners).
For the past couple of days I’ve been hunting down some of the greatest Thanksgiving recipes I can find, and I think I’ve accumulated a delicious array of dishes. Granted, I’m not doing the entire, typical spread that is usually found at family gatherings, but I’m hitting on the big ‘uns.
Here’s what I have planned:
Roasted turkey in Pioneer Woman’s brine
Houlihans’ Cali Mashers (I know, totally atypical, but these are so good and have the same feel as real mashed potatoes…and it won’t make me feel so horrible about eating two or twelve servings)
Spanish green beans (I’ve made these a handful of times, and they’re major bacon-ilicious)
The best cranberry sauce (literally, those are the words I googled, and this is the recipe that popped up, so hey cranberry sauce? NO PRESSURE)
And, obviously, GRAVY. Lots and lots o’ gravy.
Tomorrow I’m going grocery shopping, then I feel like I need to perfectly choreograph the entire day of cooking so that I don’t stress myself out over When To Do What and All The Mess and That Damn Dog Who Is Constantly Under My Feet And In My Way.
How do people do this – AND MORE – FOR REAL – on Thanksgiving day?
Wish me luck and and a metabolism that miraculously kicks into overdrive on Sunday.
I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease when I was only 18 months old. Growing up, I was always that girl who had “special bread” and wouldn’t partake in the cookies at the school bake sale or the hot pizza at Chuck E. Cheese birthday parties. Whenever I tried to explain to someone that I had Celiac all I would get in response was a confused, blank stare, the polite version of actually meaning WTF? Now, though, it seems like every week I’m hearing about someone else being diagnosed, and it’s more and more common to see gluten-free food items at the regular grocery when before it was only found in smelly specialty food stores.
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Within the last six months I’ve become aware of what’s called the “primal/paleo diet.” Various friends and coworkers have been eating the primal way, which is basically the hunter-gatherer way of eating; vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, protein. No sugar. No grains. Compared to way Americans typically eat, this may seem extreme; it did to me, and I already consider myself to be a pretty healthy eater. Even still, I’ll admit, I love to sit down in front of a huge plate of my grandma’s homemade pasta and sauce on special occasions.
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Today while I was cooking lunch I finally put two and two together, wondering if the way we eat is the reason why so many people are being diagnosed with Celiac? Many of us don’t eat the primal way, and instead fill ourselves with grains at literally every meal (toast! sandwiches! pasta, rice, crackers!), the way the food pyramid tells us we should.
So if we are eating so drastically different from the way humans did at the beginning of time and the “paleo” way – before the cultivation of grains -perhaps our bodies simply aren’t made to digest gluten?
I’m obviously not a scientist – dude, I’m not even smart! – but it’s all adding up in my mind. I did about two minutes of research and found an article that does, in fact, validate some of my thoughts with really great information. There’s also this video I found which is very cool – perfect for a dummy like me, easy to understand and with lots of pictures. Watch it if you have a few spare minutes:
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Makes you think, doesn’t it? Also makes me reconsider how I’m going to feed myself and my family.
What’s your view on eating?
I got an itch this Spring to start a vegetable garden. I’ve never had one before, and hello stupid me, never even paid attention to when my parents had a huge garden in their backyard. Suffice it to say that I have No Idea What I’m Doing and a couple of black-ish thumbs. I did know, however, that I needed a kick ace raised garden bed.
I assigned my live-in handyman to the project and wasn’t surprised to later find out that he had completely over-engineering the sucker so that it not only cost us an arm and a leg to build, but could also launch cherry tomatoes up to Mars.
Since this is my first year with a garden, I had no clue as to how many plants I needed. So of course, in an effort not to deprive us all of fresh, homegrown produce, I went totally overboard. See all those plants? ALLLLLLL twelve of them? Those are all tomatoes. Various kids of tomatoes, mind you, but still. A tomato is a tomato, and dude, I think I’ll have a few around here. Good thing I whore myself out to homemade salsa on a regular basis.
Over on the other side of the box I planted a couple zucchini plants, spinach, yellow peppers, lettuce, and basil. I have a feeling that if I’m able to keep all of these babies alive and thriving throughout the summer – which is very debatable, considering my past history with a couple ill-fated house plants - I might be able to open my own personal farmer’s market on the side of the street, though I’m fairly certain they only profit about as much as the neighbor kids’ futile lemonade stand business.
Rob and I are halfway through P90X. Wait, no, actually we’re a little over halfway…48 days in, to be exact.
Dude, I’m not a mathematician.
We’ve been pretty religious about following the daily workouts, but as life tends to throw curveballs sometimes, there have been days when we haven’t been able to exercise due to one thing or another. And nutritionally? That’s the hard part. We both have discovered ways to eat cleaner than how we used to, but man, we love food. In fact last night, it was hilarious; Rob and I were laying on the floor playing with Avalon talking about the homemade peanut butter cookies my Grandma made that were sitting in our freezer when he just looked at me and was all, you know what? Screw it. Let’s just eat, and eat whatever we want. HOW GREAT WOULD THAT BE? No restrictions, no limits, Mickey D’s here we come!
Then I reminded him that that’s called pregnancy and is the reason why I’m even subjecting myself to this chin up/ab ripper/plyometrics torture in the first place. Mama ate one too many pans of don’t-give-a-rip rice krispie treats, if you know what I mean.
So, just checking in. Still going strong.
(Heh. Pun.)
Some things:
1. “Lose these pounds.” I said that. Is that even English? Did I graduate high school? Do I know how to talk? I don’t know, it sounds weird.
2. “Ta-ta” at the end? Really?
3. I’m serious about the Dairy Queen.
I don’t believe in coincidences. Which is exactly why I’m sure that yesterday’s events happened for a reason; to open my eyes, to make me more conscious, and to start thinking differently about the food that my family and I eat.
It started yesterday afternoon when I picked up my first box of organic fruits and vegetables from a local distributor. The company sends out weekly emails with several different boxes of pre-selected, organic produce. I decided somewhat on a whim and without much organic knowledge to try it out and ordered up a box. All I knew regarding organic produce was that it wasn’t sprayed with pesticides, and just that alone was enough to make me realize that, duh, pesticide-free food must be better than the alternative.
Here’s what it all looked like when I picked it up and brought it home. It’s hard to tell from the photo, but compared to what we see in the grocery the kiwis and apples are on the small side. The bananas are still green. And I’m pretty sure I paid more money for all of this than I would have at the grocery store. But apparently this is what food without chemicals and pesticides looks like. Or really, what our food should look like.
Anyway, later on that afternoon I turned on the TV and Oprah was on. NOT coincidentally it was an episode about food, more specifically about the film Food, Inc. I had yet to watch this movie, but from what I gathered on Oprah, consumers are completely ignorant when it comes to food and what we eat. There is a lot – A REALLY LOT – that we don’t know about when it comes to food which, when you think about it, is tremendously scary. We don’t know what we’re putting into our bodies? It’s insane.
Of course Oprah’s show got me completely hooked so last night after we put Avalon to bed Rob and I rented Food, Inc. and watched it together. To say the least, the movie left us absolutely stunned at the truth about the food industry. To see with my own eyes the way chickens are engineered and scientifically morphed into what can barely be called a ‘chicken’ anymore was horrifying. To hear about what the ‘farmers’ are feeding their animals and spraying on their plants was disgusting. There was so much new information in the film that I had never heard before that I could barely even take it all in.
I’ve thrown around the idea of eating as much organic food as I could, wanting only to feed myself and my family the best. There were times when I thought it didn’t really matter and of course I’ve heard other doubters along the way saying comments something along the lines of, “well I didn’t eat organic food when I was growing up and I’m just fine!” And yes, you are fine. But something I found absolutely fascinating was a line right in the beginning of the film that pointed out how the food that we eat has changed more drastically in the past 50 years than it has in the past 10,000 years. No wonder there are more and more cancers and diseases springing up left and right all the time. No wonder people are constantly getting sick.
Rob and I are convinced. It didn’t take much other than this 90 minute movie to make us realize that we need to be more conscious and deliberate about what we eat. We want to eat organic produce as much as possible. We want to eat organic and grass fed meat and poultry. And we even want to eat a few more vegetarian meals a week, even though we still like us some juicy filet mignon from time to time.
If you haven’t already seen this film, I really encourage you do to so. I really believe that EVERYONE owes it to themselves and their families to be educated about the food that we all eat. I know sometimes we all want to turn a blind eye, stick our fingers in our ears, and go LA LA LA LA LAAAAA!, but that just isn’t reality. Don’t do that. After seeing the film, you’ll be glad you did, I promise.
So there’s good news and bad news.
The bad news is that I’ve been sick for almost an entire week so far. Nothing too major, just the annoying cough/runny nose/body ache kind of thing. Basically, the exact ailment that makes me break out into a coughing fit just to so much as think about doing anything active, so needless to say I didn’t work out at all last week save for one measly day of cycling.
The good news is that I still managed to lose a pound this week. Coming from me, the girl who hates to watch what she eats and pretty much only believes that weight loss occurs from some serious butt-kicking in the gym, the one pound loss is miraculous.
It probably has something to do with the fact that I really have tried to consciously get my act together and eat healthier every day. I’m not only doing calorie math in my head, but I’m also trying to be really good about eating fresh fruits and vegetables more often. One thing in particular that I’ve become obsessed with lately is a smoothie I saw Giada make, a “dreamsicle” smoothie. It has OJ, vanilla yogurt, a banana, a little vanilla extract and ice in it and it is DELICIOUS.
Rob and I are also obsessed with V8 and V8 Fusion, a perfect way to sneak in some extra vegetables in a day. In fact if anyone wants some, please, come help me drink it. We went to Sam’s yesterday and ended up buying four huge bottles of the stuff. Clearly, we have issues with buying things in bulk.
Oh, and also, a couple days ago in my very blahhhh state of mind I was sure that fresh baked chocolate chip cookies would make me feel better. Instead though I remembered that I had a box of No Pudge brownie mix in the pantry so I made that instead, and HELLO! Have you guys ever tried this stuff? They are delicious, and the only thing that you add to the mix is fat free vanilla yogurt, so not only is it fat free, it is so easy that I could ask Avalon to bake them for me while I lay on the couch watching Rachael Ray.
Don’t be fooled though, because it seems that for every healthy food I eat I counteract it with something bad, and by bad I mean really, really good. In fact, last Saturday night Rob and I went out on a date to Carrabbas. You better believe that I had not only a quartino of Sangria, but also an entire loaf of their fresh bread because, Mmmmm, me likey some white, enriched carbs. And as if that wasn’t enough, after our salads (okay, we were good and had salads for dinner) we finished it off with some limoncello bread pudding. See, I told you. Good with bad. Give and take, it’s what I do.
So. One pound down, plenty more to go. I’m still not back on the workout band wagon, thanks to all this hacking and snot dripping out of my nose, but hopefully before the end of the week I’ll be back to my normal daily sweat.
Thank you and goodbye.
Hey! Guess what?! You know that post I did all about my weight-loss/fitness goals? And how I was going to weigh in every Sunday and post my progress?
Well I’m already chickening out and a little bit and have decided not to post my weight. It’s just that, well, I have issues but, duh, that’s obvious.
So instead of putting the numbers all up here, I’m just going to remember them in my head and only post my progress. For example, if the universe is really good to me this week, maybe next Monday I’ll be all, HEY! I LOST 2 POUNDS! SQEEEE! And if not, meet me at Dairy Queen.
So, with that taken care of, yes I did weigh myself yesterday and now I know exactly where I am starting at and where I want to end up. I have been cycling and throwing my kettlebell around and have even been thinking about running outside in the frigid temps. Weird, I know.
The eating has been going well too, probably because I’m not being too strict with myself and all0wing myself the free pass at dinner. It makes it a lot easier to eat really healthy during the day when I know I can eat enchiladas for dinner. Needless to say, six o’clock is my favorite time of day, OINK.
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In other news, today is the first day of no binky for Avalon. She really needed it in the past, but now I’m realizing it’s becoming much more of a hassle than a help. I’m convinced that she’ll sleep better without it after she learns how to self-soothe in other ways. Going in her room all the time to re-plug her when it falls out is getting really old, and I really do think that she’ll sleep much more soundly without it. I know that it only gets harder the longer you wait, so for us today is the day.
Does anybody have any advice on how to do this? On how not to lose your mind? Do I just need to suck it up, put some earplugs in, and ride it out?
I need a Xanax already.
It was really ironic when just a couple of minutes ago I called my sister, Courtney, and our conversation started out with her describing to me the way she’s doing a big Life Overhaul and I was like OMG! Me too! Giggle giggle giggle!
For some reason when I woke up this morning I decided that things were going to change around here. That I needed to slap myself around a little bit and get myself back into shape. That I needed to start eating healthier and working out more often. I knew this day would come eventually, ever since I got pregnant and began to see the numbers on the scale get higher and higher, and alas, the time is finally here to do something about it.
So this is what I’m going to do: I’m going to share it all on my blog! YES! Won’t this be so INTERESTING? And so original!? Another person wanting to share their personal weight loss goals on her blog – REVOLUTIONARY!
But here’s the thing: this is in no way meant to be narcissistic or whatever…although I’m not really sure how admitting your weight and size to the entire world is narcissistic, maybe better described as desperate? Ludicrous? All I want to do is hold myself accountable and stick with my goals, so this is what I have come up with.
Here are the things that I’m going to do.
1. Workout five days a week. I’ve realized that I really have no excuse. I have everything I need in my basement, from my bike/trainer, to a kettlebell, to yoga and Pilates DVDs. I have so many options that there is just no way out. Not only that, I also belong to a kettlebell gym just minutes from my house. And lastly, there’s my parents’ exercise room which has so much equipment that it could rival our local gym.
2. Eat healthier. This is where I stumble, and hard. I would so much rather have my butt kicked in the gym than watch what I eat, but I think I’ve come up with a compromise for myself. I decided that I would closely watch what I eat during the day and then allow myself to eat whatever I want for dinner. I love to cook, and I love to cook dinner especially, so it’s really important to me that I allow myself to eat what I make even if it includes sinful ingredients like butter and cream.
Also, in regards to eating ‘heathier’ (because really, how vague is that?) I’m going to do that by eating REAL food. Clean food. Organic fruits and vegetables, nuts, lean meats. I once heard a nutritionist suggest shopping only around the perimeter of the grocery store where the fresh foods were and to avoid the middle aisles where all the processed, packaged foods are. What a gem that piece of advice is, right?
Also, I’m going to to quit drinking. (Wow, did that just make me sound like an alcoholic? I’m really not. I don’t drink much at all, actually, but we do know how much I enjoy my bloody marys and martinis from time to time.) However, if I want to drink socially on occasion then I’ll allow myself a glass of red wine, and that’s it.
3. Run a half marathon. I did it once during my junior year of college with my mom and there’s no reason why I can’t do it again. I wish I loved running (HATE IT!) and I wish I was good at it (TOTALLY SUCK!). Nonetheless, I guess I will admit that there were moments – few and far between, though – where it was kind of enjoyable, which was mostly after I finished a long run and was able to sit down to a big, greasy breakfast and eat it all guilt-free.
Yes, that was definitely nice.
For the past couple of weeks I’ve been thinking about signing up for our city’s race this summer and have been staring at a picture on my desk of my mom and I at the finish line of my first half marathon with our medals around our necks wondering if I should do it again. Finally I decided to just buck up and do it. It’s at the end of June which means, holy crap, I better start running.
Also, WAHHHH.
4. Drink ahelluvalot of water. I’m really good at drinking Coke Zero, but not so good at drinking water. There are somedays when, at the end of the day, I’ll think back and realize I never even had one glass of water. Horrible. Just horrible. So I intend to change that and am aiming to drink 8 glasses of water a day. Why is this so hard? I don’t know. But it’s gotta happen.
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So that’s my new and improved Life To-Do List. Here’s the point where I interject and make you all fully aware that although it would be wonderful if I was doing all of these things just to generally improve myself, but that would not be completely true. No, there are REASONS and GOALS that I need to achieve, which are the result of growing and birthing my precious baby.
With that said, here is exactly what I want to accomplish with this new way of living:
1. Get back to my pre-baby weight of 125. I think i gained a total of 33 pounds when I was pregnant, and a lot of it came off right after I delivered. But of course, as almost every mother knows, there’s always those pesky last few pounds that just keep hanging around. I’m officially sick of them and am more than ready to knock them off.
I’m going to make Sundays my weigh-in days, so I’ll post my beginning weight (**shudders**) this Sunday. Then every week after that I will follow up and document whether or not the numbers on the scale are decreasing. And if they don’t I’m going to hide in my closet with a bag of peanut butter M&M’s and just forget about the whole thing.
2. Fit back into my size 4 clothes. This really isn’t about a number but rather about that entire closet full of clothes that don’t fit me right now. I miss all my clothes and I am tired of only wearing 1/8 of the clothes that I own. Also, I’m not a huge fan of weight but care more about how I look and feel in my clothes. This is always the biggest indicator to me of whether or not I’m losing/gaining weight, so until the day comes when I fit back into my David Kahns I’ll be crying into my kettlebell.
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There it is. All written out for the entire world to see, and hmm, this makes me really wonder if I might be crazy?
Oh, and one last thing to mention: I’m purposefully not putting an end date on all of this. A date where I intend to lose X amount of pounds by X date. I’m not really into that. I’d rather just do my thing and end up wherever I end up whenever it happens.
So here’s to change and The Disappearance of the Remaining Baby Weight.
