Category Archives: Health Stuff

milk money

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With the economy being the way it is – or rather, the way the media is portraying it every time I turn on the news – I’ve been thinking about ways to scrimp and save here and there. We’re pretty good about not spending money on frivolous things. We usually rent movies rather than go to the theater, we very rarely eat out, Dave and I haven’t bought clothes for ourselves in ages, etc. The main monthly expense that might have some wiggle room is food. I honestly couldn’t tell you how much we spend on groceries a month. It seems like I’m at the supermarket every few days, so I’d have to gather all of my receipts and add them up, because I really have no clue. But I know it’s a lot.

So, I’m trying to figure out ways that we can save money on our monthly grocery bill. There are a few things that I won’t compromise on:
* Milk – I have to drink the lactose-free milk, which is expensive. And for Catie’s milk, I will only buy her the organic stuff with no hormones or antibiotics. Call me crazy, but I’d like to do everything I can to prevent her from hitting puberty at 9 years old, or having an increased risk of breast cancer (or any other type of cancer).
* Cheese. I buy the store-brand generic stuff, and it’s still pricey. But you know, I like cheese, and I’m not switching to Velveeta just because it’s cheaper.
* A few other things that I’m very brand-specific about: Diet Coke, my specific type of whole-wheat bread, Pampers for Catie, etc. There’s not very many things that I feel that strongly about, but for those few things, I’m stubborn and have absolutely no wiggle room.

As for the things I’m already doing to save money:
* That stuff I just mentioned that I’m brand-specific about? I wait for it to go on sale and then I stock up and buy tons of it, so I think that helps.
* Buying the cheaper/store brand versions of everything else.
* Choosing canned/frozen fruits and veggies instead of fresh. I’m sure it probably loses a bit of its nutritional value in the process, but it does save quite a bit of money.
* Cheap lunches. Dave works from home, and Catie & I are here too, so I usually have to come up with something for all of us to eat for lunch every day. Lately, soup has been very popular in our house. (I have the weirdest toddler in the world, she loves both split pea and vegetable beef soup. I KNOW!) Two cans of Campbell’s soup for 88 cents? Why yes, thank you. I think we can budget that.

Stuff I still need to work on:
* Coupons. I should clip coupons. I know I should. The problem is, every time I’ve done it, I’ve forgotten that the coupons were in my purse when I was checking out. So I need some sort of system that will prevent me from having a total brain fart when I go to pay for my stuff. If any of you have suggestions, let me have them.
* Making a list. I think this would keep me from wandering the store trying to remember all the things I needed, which usually leads me to picking up a few things that we really don’t need.
* For the fruits and veggies that I do buy fresh, I need to try to restrict myself to buying things that are local and in season. Kind of hard to do when your child is demanding grapes, and you can’t buy canned grapes (can you? I’ve never seen them, other than in fruit cocktail), and she isn’t going to wait until grape season rolls around.
* Choosing cheaper meats. It’s not like I’m buying us filet mignon every day or anything like that; we eat chicken more than anything else, really. But for example, when we want seafood, I could maybe make a tuna casserole instead of grilled salmon, and it would be an awful lot cheaper.

Is there anything I’m forgetting? Are you doing anything special to try to save money these days?

I am not the bionic woman

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I mentioned last week that I was going to take some time off from The 30-Day Shred, because my knees were swollen and achy. So I took a week off, but I worked out with the Wii Fit almost every day, because I didn’t want to undo all of the good that I had done. Yesterday, I decided that my knees were feeling fine, so I did The Shred during Catie’s nap. And it was great. It totally kicked my butt, but I enjoyed it and felt good afterward.

Then last night, I went to sit on the couch, and I folded my left leg underneath me, which is how I usually sit. And I felt a sudden pain in my left knee that took my breath away. I don’t know how to describe it, except that I imagine it’s what it feel like to be stabbed. It really, really hurt, is what I’m saying.

My knee is still pretty painful today. It hurts every time I bend my leg to sit down on the floor, which stinks because that makes up a pretty big portion of my day. How do you play with a two year-old, if not on the floor? So this is not good, and I’m really hoping that I don’t end up needing to go to a doctor about it.

Hopefully I’ll bounce back quickly. I don’t want to give up on The Shred because I like it a lot, but it seems pretty likely that I might need to find a lower-impact form of exercise that doesn’t make my joints go all explode-y.

Luckily, the weather’s been really lovely lately, and Catie and I have been going for walks on our neighborhood greenway. And walking is about as low-impact as you can get.

out for a walk on the neighborhood greenway

No, I don’t take my kid out for walks in a crash helmet. She always wants to bring her tricycle along on our walks, even though she’ll only ride it for a few minutes here and there, she mostly wants to run alongside it while I push it. (Thank heavens for that parent-height steering handlebar.) She wears the helmet because I enforce the “we wear helmets anytime we ride anything with wheels” rule. I think it’s better to establish the habit sooner than later.

Also, as long as I’m posting some of the pictures I took yesterday, can someone explain to me how something as simple as a ponytail can make a toddler go straight from “baby” to full-on “little girl”?

Catie laughing at the neighbor kids

It kills me how grown-up she looks with her hair up. I sort of love it, and it sort of breaks my heart just a tiny bit at the same time.

The Shred, tricycles, etc.

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* I’ve been doing The 30-Day Shred consistently for the past couple of weeks, and I seem to have overdone it at some point. I have wonky knees to begin with (my right knee is worse than my left), so I was trying to be careful. I wore a knee brace on my right leg when I worked out, which I always do when I’m doing any type of strenuous exercise. Even with the brace on, though, my right knee is now all swollen and aching. And my left knee doesn’t hurt exactly, but I can feel it when I walk, which isn’t good – it’s usually a sign that I’m about one workout away from really hurting myself. And you know, I have a two year-old to chase around, I can’t afford to be incapacitated right now.

So, I’m easing off and I’m working out with the Wii Fit (which is a lot of fun, but let’s face it, it’s way easier than The Shred) for the next few days until my knees start to feel “normal” again. I do really enjoy The Shred, though – I love that it totally kicks my butt in such a time-efficient manner – so I look forward to picking it up again soon.

* All of the new behaviors that Catie’s picked up in the past week are blowing my mind. I’ve heard moms talk about how their kids suddenly changed when they turned two, but I don’t think I actually believed it until I saw it firsthand. But while she used to run away laughing when I tried to change her poopy diaper, now she wants me to change her as soon as she poops (“Mommy, help! Stinky!”, complete with a tushie-grab to make sure I understand). I’m starting to think that potty training is in our near future.

And she no longer just says, “Hi, [name].” Now it’s, “Hi, Mommy [or Daddy]! It’s me, Catie!” Oh, that’s a relief. I’m glad you clarified that, or I might’ve gotten you confused with that other blonde two year-old that lives here. So there are some developments that are right on track for her age, and some that are just flat-out random. But luckily, she’s pretty hilarious most of the time, so it makes up for some of the more… er, annoying toddler traits.

Also, my parents got Catie a tricycle for her birthday. She hasn’t figured out the pedals, but luckily we have the one with the parent-height handlebar so I can steer and push while she rides. I’m sure she’ll figure out the pedals eventually, but she has fun with it anyway.

helmet girl

testing out her new tricycle

* Last thing: I got a phone call this morning from my cousin Cat. It sounds like she maybe, possibly, might kinda-sorta be in early labor. She’s full term (37 weeks), but this is a little bit early for baby Jambuca to make his appearance. I’m waiting to hear more, but in the meantime, everybody send her “if this is the real thing, let it be quick & easy, with a happy, healthy mom & baby” vibes. (Boy, that was awfully specific, wasn’t it?)

the ways in which yesterday did not suck

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1. SNOW DAY!!!

family shot (thanks to the neighbors)

We had so much fun with the snow, Catie absolutely loved it. I thought she’d decide that it was too cold after a few minutes and want to go back inside, but no way. She really is a January girl, she had an absolute blast and cried when we dragged her inside after 45 minutes because Dave and I had had enough.

2. We got a new president. I don’t even know where to start in trying to describe how happy this makes me. As moving as Obama’s inauguration speech was, my absolute favorite image of the entire day was the photograph of Barack and Michelle Obama waving to George and Laura Bush’s helicopter as they left Washington, DC. Forever. ::happy sigh::

3. I beat Dave at Scrabble for the first time ever. He and I play each other on Facebook sometimes, because we’re nerds like that, and he usually obliterates me. It’s not that his vocabulary is that much better than mine; I think we’re pretty evenly matched in that department. But he’s got this whole strategy with triple-word and -letter scores, and he usually completely kicks my butt. Yesterday I beat him by 6 points, and I may never stop bragging about that. (Like I said, we’re nerds.)

4. Catie took her nap on time, which allowed me to do my “30-Day Shred” workout. This was the second day in a row, and it hurts like a mother-of-pearl (my new substitute swear word for little toddler ears that repeat everything). But I also feel really good, because I know that this means I’m doing something right.

The ways in which today also should not suck:
1. The season premiere of “Lost” comes on tonight. Oh, Sawyer, how I have missed your muscular, shirtless self.

2. The snow is just melty/icy enough that we ought to be able to make a real snowman. Yesterday it was too powdery, it wouldn’t stick together.

3. Day 3 of the “30-Day Shred.” My legs are killing me, but I sort of can’t wait. Weird, I know.

the shred

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My brother’s visit this weekend was a lot of fun. He and his girlfriend Debbie were planning to get here around 1 p.m., but – and this is not surprising if you know Chris at all – they got here closer to 6 p.m. It wasn’t a big deal since I didn’t really have anything planned, it was just one of those things that made me roll my eyes because it’s so typical of him. Fortunately they showed up with birthday gifts for both me and Catie, so I got over it quickly. We had dinner and played board games, which probably sounds incredibly dull, but we had a really good time.

For the record, Catie already adores my brother, but she absolutely loved Debbie too. I was a little concerned since they’d never met before, but in no time, Catie had learned her name and was giving her unsolicited hugs. So I think she found a new friend there.

This morning we all went out for brunch. Chris and Debbie headed home shortly afterward, since it’s a long-ish drive back to Charlotte (about 2-3 hours). So it was a short visit, but good.

On an entirely different topic: I have finally caved to the peer pressure from all of the other bloggers who’ve been talking about it, and I ordered a copy of the 30-Day Shred. I’ve been doing this damn diet for two weeks and I have yet to lose a single pound, so I’m going to try something drastic to kickstart my metabolism. It arrived on Friday (happy birthday to me!), and I tried it out during Catie’s nap. It really is just as much of a butt-kicker as everybody says. I haven’t done it this weekend since we’ve been busy with company, but I plan to start my official Thirty Days of shredding tomorrow. Monday is the day for fresh starts, right? My only worry is that I have very weak knees (so do most women on my dad’s side of the family – thanks, crappy genes!). So I’m being very careful, because I really don’t want to end up needing a bionic knee like Alexa got.

And yes, it’s kind of silly to order a workout DVD when I have a gym membership, but the thing is? I haven’t been to the gym in ages. Catie hates the Y’s daycare and is totally miserable when I leave her there. I mean, sometimes she’ll be ok – she’s not happy, but she’ll manage. Then there was the time that a lady from the daycare had to come and get me fifteen minutes into my yoga class because my kid wouldn’t stop screaming and it was upsetting the other children. (And let me tell you, any relaxation or de-stressing that the yoga class had given me by that point? Was promptly undone by the embarassment of having to grab my shoes & yoga mat, and bolt out of class.) Sigh.

Perhaps even more importantly, there’s also the fact that I’m lazy. With the gym, I have to get Catie and myself dressed, get her daycare bag packed, get in the car, drive over there, make sure it’s during the gym’s (rather limited) daycare hours… it’s sort of a hassle. With a video, I just pop in the DVD and work out for 20 minutes during Catie’s nap. It’s basically impossible to come up with an excuse why I can’t work out. So that’s my plan. We’ll see how it goes.

EDITED TO ADD: OMG! I totally forgot to mention that my husband is awesome and got me the greatest birthday gift ever: he got me a Nintendo Wii. Right now all I have is the Wii Sports game, because the Wii Fit was on backorder. The sports game is fun (bowling in your living room!), but it’s not exactly aerobic exercise. I should have a Wii Fit in a few days, though, so yay! This way, if Jillian Michaels does totally kick my butt and I need to rest my muscles a bit, I’ll just do a little Wii Fit yoga in my living room, and either way, I don’t have to go past my front door to get my daily exercise. Woot!

thirty-three

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Tomorrow is my birthday. (Well, it’s 11 p.m., so actually it’s about an hour from now.) I’ll be 33 years old. Which, quite honestly, is really not a big deal at all. It seems as though you reach a point in life where the only birthdays you pay attention to are the ones that either end in a 5 or a 0, and all of the in between ones are sort of… whatever. Yeah, it’s my birthday. Meh.

The only significant thing I can come up with about this particular birthday is that I’m now the age that my dad was when he & my mom got married. (My mom was a young lass of 23 at the time; 10-year age gap between them.) When I was little, I thought he was soooo old. I mean, eww gross, my mom married an old man. Nice, right? Actually, come to think of it, 33 is also the age that Dave was when he and I got married. Huh. Weird.

Dave has made some noises about my present, so I’m not sure what he’s going to have in store for me. I haven’t even tried to guess, because if someone has gone to the trouble of planning a surprise, I don’t want to guess and ruin it. I told him he didn’t have to get me anything, because I’m a good wife like that. (He’s totally laughing at that sentence, btw.)

The only big thing happening for my birthday is that my brother and his girlfriend are driving over from Charlotte for the weekend. I’ve never met her, but she sounds nice, and I’m sure it’ll be a fun visit. Technically they aren’t coming until Saturday morning, which is the 17th, so really, it has nothing to do with my birthday and everything to do with the fact that they wanted to go someplace for the weekend since they have Monday (MLK Day) off from work. But it should be fun. Even though it means I’ll be frantically cleaning the house all day tomorrow in preparation for their arrival (sheets need to be washed, guest bath needs to be scrubbed, etc.). Not exactly my ideal way to spend my birthday, but oh well. A spotlessly clean house can be my birthday present to myself, right?

So, yep. Thirty-three. There it is.

recipe sharing time

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I don’t think I’ve ever posted a recipe here – I don’t love to cook that much, it’s kind of just not my thing. But since we started this no-sugar, no-white-flour diet, I’ve been looking around for creative meal ideas. I dug out my old South Beach Diet cookbook, and found something that we’ve never tried before. I modified it a bit (added chicken, since the original version was vegetarian), and the end result was awesome. Seriously, Dave and I both couldn’t stop talking about it, and we loved it just as much when we had the leftovers tonight. It was fantastic. So, just in case any of y’all are also trying to eat healthy, here you go:

Whole Wheat Pasta with Eggplant and Ricotta

* 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
* 1 1/2 pounds eggplant, cut into 1-inch cubes [note: this is where I messed up; I sliced the eggplant way too thin and it basically shriveled up to nothing. So make sure you cut them into nice big chunks.]
* 8 ounces whole-wheat penne pasta – you can use regular if you want, whole-wheat is just how we roll at our house
* 1 small onion, thinly sliced
* 3 garlic cloves, minced
* 1 (14.5 ounce) can of chopped tomatoes
* 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
* 1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
* salt & pepper
* fresh basil (optional)
* My addition: 1 pound of chicken breast tenders, cut into bite-size pieces. I think pork would also work (maybe pork tenderloin?), but probably not beef or fish.

1. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Lightly coat a baking pan with oil (or spray with Pam). Place eggplant in the pan, drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, season with salt & pepper, toss to coat, and spread in an even layer. Bake, stirring once, until eggplant is lightly browned, about 25 minutes.
3. While eggplant is roasting, cook pasta according to the package directions.
4. Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. In my version: add the chicken (or your meat of choice) and brown it. Of course, it’s not mandatory, this was just something I added, since for Dave and me, it doesn’t really feel like dinner if there isn’t meat involved.
5. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened – about 5 minutes.
6. Add garlic, cook one minute more.
7. Add tomatoes (with juice) and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 3 minutes.
8. Stir in vinegar and season to taste with salt & pepper. You can also add basil if you like. I tore up a few fresh basil leaves and added them, and I think it really improved the flavor. (Plus the touch of green made the dish a little prettier.)
9. Drain pasta and place in large bowl. Add tomato mixture, eggplant, and ricotta cheese. Toss to combine, season with salt & pepper (maybe – I thought it seemed unnecessary after salting both the tomato mixture and the eggplant), and serve.

It really was fantastic. My only gripe is that it isn’t exactly a toddler-friendly meal. Catie didn’t like the whole-wheat pasta, and the sauce was a little too “herb-y” for her (the combination of onion, basil, and balsamic vinegar – it’s a very strong taste for a little one). She ate a little bit of the chicken, and then I had to find something else for her to eat for dinner. But if you aren’t cooking for a two year-old, go forth and godspeed. Let me know if you try it, and what you think of it!