Sick kids & a day update

Both of my kids are sick right now.

Sigh...  If you have not ever been within 100 yards of a sick kid let me spell out what this means.  This means that there has been more crying and whining in my house today than there has been in like the last two weeks all put together.  Think of how whiny and gripey you feel when you are sick, especially if you are a man, and multiply that by like ten... thousand.  They want you to hold them but without touching them.  They want you to lay next to them but you can't because they actually feel like they are a live convection oven because of the fever.  They want to eat something but whine and cry and fight you the whole time because they can't think of anything that they want to eat.  All in all it's an awesome good time.

I previously had asked for the day off work today because I needed to go see my thyroid doctor in order to get a new prescription of thyroid medicine, and to go to the eye doctor to get a new contact prescription, so this is shaping up to be the most amazing day that I have had in a long time.  I hate when I take time off work and feel like I am busier than when I am at the office.  Call me lazy but I love just chilling at home when I am taking days off work - feels like I get some catch up on rest.  However, that didn't happen today... maybe the next time.   

I always have a lot of anxiety before I go to my thyroid doctor because he always gripes at me about my weight.  Let me start off by saying that I know that my weight is a problem and have finally got to a point where I am ready to do something about it.  We have been on this diet for three weeks on Monday and according to my scale at home, I am down 16.2 lbs, which is pretty awesome!  With that being said, since I started going to see this doctor, I have been in the same weight range.  I have fluctuated up and down because of my normal changes, two pregnancies, and my diet the first round.  Unfortunately, thanks to having no thyroid now for 10 years (this is ridiculous that it has been 10 years) I have to see him at the very least twice a year. 

This time I am vowing to be different.  I told him that I wanted to see him again in 3 months - I got him to agree by saying that I wanted him to monitor this weight loss since I really don't have a primary care doctor.  For the last three years I have used my OB as my primary care doctor since I was either pregnant or immediately postpartum that entire time.  Let's say that I am having a difficult time adjusting.  That is for another post. 

Luckily, he was nice today - partially because of this giant bus crash that we had near his office that was being dealt with at the time of my appointment, and partially because I was able to tell him about my success so far with this diet.  My next appointment is now scheduled for some time in July; we will see how far I have gone with this weight loss at that time.  In three months, I am hoping for 30-45 more pounds down. 

I stopped and picked up Subway at the Lake Worth Subway, which must have searched far and wide for the worst employees ever.  I have been there several times and every time that I go I have awful service.  No one acknowledges you when you walk in.  They have personal private conversations with each other while making your sandwich, and you often have to wait until they finish what they are talking about before they will address any need that you might have as the customer.  It looks like we will be looking for another Subway. 

I really love my eye doctor's office. I see Dr. Stephen Ference with Ference & Assoc.   I hate that it's inside of a mall because I feel like I need to shop when I go there.  He and his wife run an awesome practice.  They are very thorough and offer excellent customer service.  I would definitely recommend either one of them to anyone that I know.  Their office staff is super friendly and I have never been disappointed with any time that I have ever been there. 

All in all it's been a crazy day.  This bus crash is all over the news, my kids are both laid up, sick and whiney, and we are looking forward to our camping trip next weekend. 

Old Navy: my new favorite toddler clothing store

I am going to do a few posts on stores that I love to shop at for my children and what my must-haves are from those stores.  First on the list is Old Navy.  I have always shopped at Old Navy for cheap wardrobe staples for myself like tank tops, camis, etc.  They have lackluster quality in some of their items that I don't fully appreciate like jeans and jackets.  I like their website and their selection of items in pretty much any color that you can imagine.   

Since we had kids we tailor a lot of our shopping trips around the play places in the local malls.  I can pretty much tell you which malls have good play areas and what I like and don't like about each one.  Before I had kids I was always annoyed by these places because it's like 900 million screaming children under 3ft tall running and screaming and being crazy all in one small area.  I'm not going to lie; it still touches my soul a little bit to be in there with my kids.

Ridgmar Mall, one of the closest malls to our house, has a pretty decent play area.  It's a rather large and has a lot of different things for the kids to climb on.  There are two things that I hate about going to that mall: 1) the people that bring their kids into that play area aren't always the smartest when it comes to being able to read the rules of the play area re: no food/drink and the height requirements of the children that they are bringing in, and 2) there are a lot of stores that have left that mall because of the lack of traffic. 

One of the big stores in that mall is an Old Navy, which has rekindled my love for the store.  I love cheap children's clothes, but I also want them to be decent quality.  Your kids wear an outfit only a few times before they either wear it out, spill something on it that you aren't able to get out, or they outgrow it.  I love pieces of clothes for both of my kids that I can mix and match and make different outfits out of so I can get more use out of them.  Who am I kidding - it's really first and foremost so my husband can pick them out something to wear that remotely matches, and the bonus is that they get to wear the clothes more than a few times. 


Below is a list of staples for my daughter's wardrobe from Old Navy:

• $5 leggings - these are a must.  I am a fairly modest dresser and I pass that on to my daughter by force at this age.  I dislike short skirts and dresses for toddlers.  I don't think that there is any reason why my toddler should have dresses and skirts that are shorter than people would be allowed to wear in school.  I put leggings under anything that she wears that I feel is even remotely too short.  They have them in all colors and patterns.  She has probably 6 pairs of these right now and she loves them.  Mom dresses her in them when she is at home to be comfortable and she wears them under dresses when we go out.  They are full length - not sure if they have a capri length or not.  The picture above is Isabella modeling the leggings in black. 

• 'mix and match' items - shorts, capri knit pants, t-shirts, and tank tops.  These are typically on sale for $5 a piece.  They have patterns and colors that are designed to coordinate together so that you can mix and match - hence the name.  I absolutely love the capri pants on Isabella - they are the perfect length and seem like good quality material.  The shorts are longer length and the shirts are longer than average length which helps them to not ride up and show her midriff.  The above picture is Isabella wearing one of the t-shirts.

 

• dresses - we absolutely love their longer flowy summer dresses.  We bought some from a seller on eBay on time and over time have purchased more than five directly from the store.  They are long enough to not be considered skanky and they typically have some sort of semblance of a lining on the inside which stops them from being see through.  Often they have a super cute detail like a bow in the back of the neck or a super cute neckline.  They also have awesome patterns. 

Below is a list of staples for my son's wardrobe from Old Navy:

• 'mix and match' items - shorts, t-shirts and muscle shirts.  I love the muscle shirts for toddlers, especially for my son because he gets so hot when he plays that I think that they keep him cooler than other shirts.  Their t-shirts, especially for boys are really soft and comfortable. 

• solid onesies - you will figure out soon after the birth of your child that you will be hard pressed to find a solid color onesie that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.  Carters will sell them in like a four pack for $15 or something like that.  Old Navy will regularly have them on sale for much cheaper than that.  The one down side is that I find that their onesies are on the short side as far as length so my kids usually can't wear them until they are too tight because they are too short on the rise. 

• shirts with cute sayings on them - the majority of ours for Silas have been long sleeve but they have a number of them that are short sleeves.  My sister bought him this one but I love it.  The arms are the right length for the size which is important because sometimes they are too short - maybe Silas just has long arms?  Either way, they fit well, are the appropriate length and looks good for multiple wearings. 

All in all, I can usually spend more money than I should on clothes for the kids when I go in the doors.  Another bonus of Old Navy is that there is normally at least a wall full of clearance clothes and you can find some excellent deals on clothes.  I definitely recommend Old Navy for children's clothes. 

- Sara



   

Garden Update

Hallelujah, our garden is finally planted!  Accomplishing this feat took a lot longer than it was supposed to, but someone (me) neglected to realize that the original placement of two of our raised beds didn't get any sun whatsoever.  Obviously, you need sun to grow most plants so we had to move them.. once they were built... and had dirt in them.  Yes, I feel like an idiot. 

We decided that we had to move them this weekend.  It was finally supposed to be above freezing all weekend and it was time to get our seedlings in the ground.  We planted them in this seed starter kit that Corry found at Walmart and they had taken off!  Well, all except for our bell peppers and our Ancho peppers.  For some reason they were the slowest seeds that we had. 

We decided that we were going to start with the following items in each bed:

1st 'big' bed - parsley (1), green bell peppers (4), Ancho peppers (3), cucumber (3), and cauliflower (3)
2nd 'big' bed - onions (1/3 of the bed), tomatoes (2), and bush beans (2)
1st 'small' bed - basil (3), zucchini (2), butternut squash (3), spinach (3)
2nd 'small' bed - romaine (3), zucchini (1), spaghetti squash (3), carrots (3)

We still have one strawberry plant, and two blueberry bushes that have an undecided location. 

Corry saw online something about a strawberry planter and so now there is confusion about what to do with that strawberry plant.  I only have one of them - do I need a planter or can they just go in the garden with everything else?  This is our first year with a garden and I am nervous about what is going to turn out.  I did tell Corry today though that I will be happy if we get one thing out of the garden, because in the past, I have been known to have a 'black' thumb when it comes to gardening.

This picture totally describes me and my previous gardening style:

 

Here's to hoping that this year will be a different experience!! 

- Sara

52 in 52 # 7 - Reece's Peanut Butter Trifle

Let me start off by saying two things:

1. this is definitely in the running for being the dessert that we bring to the Titan meet in April - close your ears and eyes if you are going.
2. I didn't eat any of this while making it or after it was done.  Well maybe one small bite of just the pudding... which was probably 50 calories alone.

Last year was our first year at the Titan camp out.  My husband started posting on this forum for Nissan Titans and Armadas right after we got our Armada and realized that they have a rather large local group.  They do an annual meet in Belton, TX to camp for the weekend.  We loved it so much we definitely decided to go back this year.  They have a Saturday night potluck with a dessert contest.  Last year, I brought this cookie, Oreo, brownie awesomeness (recipe to come soon) and didn't win.  This year it is on!  Last year the winner was a 'cold' dessert which I think won because it was so hot outside, so we decided to go with this. 

I wanted to make the recipe this weekend to test it out because I have been burned enough by bad recipes off the internet.  I mean, the basis of this recipe is peanut butter pudding, brownies, and Reece's Peanut Butter cups - how bad could it be?  Grace was at our house and so I made it to send home for her grandparents and her to share during the week. 

Reece's Peanut Butter Trifle - post from Pinterest here 

9×13 pan of brownies, cut into 1 inch pieces
5.1 oz box instant vanilla pudding mix
3 cups milk
½ cup creamy peanut butter
2 tsp vanilla
8 oz container thawed whipped topping (Cool Whip), divided
20 peanut butter cups, crumbled (buy in a 10-pack. Not the bite-sized)
6-8 peanut butter cups to garnish.

 

Combine pudding and milk. Beat for 2 minutes. Add peanut butter and vanilla, beat until smooth. Gently fold in 2 cups cool whip.
Layer in trifle dish ½ the brownies, ½ the crumbled peanut butter cups, ½ the pudding mixture. Repeat. Top with cool whip and peanut butter cups. (Or shaved chocolate curls, as I did.) Chill until serving.

This recipe is awesome.  Grace said it needs more brownies for the amount of pudding, so we will probably 1.5x or double the amount of brownies for the meet. 

Here's to hoping that we will win this year!!

-Sara

52 in 52 #6 - Light Ranch Dressing

So, it's been a little more than a week on the diet.  Can you hear my excitement?  This week I have been dealing with MAJOR chocolate cravings like never before.  My sister gave me a tip a long time ago when we were both first on Atkins when we were like 18 or so that if you have a craving for sweets then you should eat a pickle or an olive.  I have been downing the olives at work like crazy - I say like crazy but I mean 2-3 per day.  Unfortunately you have to keep a watch on that as well because there is a load of sodium in regular green olives. 

I am on a salad kick right now since we don't eat a lot of salads when we are not on our diet.  I make a huge salad for lunch and the entire thing is like less than 390 calories, which isn't too bad.  I have been using this awesome app called 'myfitnesspal' to keep track of what I am eating everyday, the calories that I am allowed to have, my current weight, etc.  I really like this app because it has records of almost every food that I could want to eat and the calories that are in that food.  Once you submit your food, water and exercise for the day, the app calculates a weight for you in five weeks if everyday was like that day.  That is REALLY motivating.  It will also do a rough calculation on the calories that you burn during certain exercise and changes your calorie count to net.  That is neat as well.  This app is really a big help during the day to keep me motivated and on top of this diet.  I have already lost 12.4 lbs! 

Back to the salad - my husband, being the supportive awesome guy that he is, found this recipe on Pinterest for a light ranch dressing.  I was suspect of anything that claimed to be a large portion with little calories.  However, my love for Ranch dressing won over my suspicion.  I have tried other dressings and I still can't help but be loyal to Ranch dressing.  We were raised eating it on salads and I just can't stop. 

Light Ranch Dressing

1 cup Dannon Oikos plain Greek yogurt
1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch mix
1/2 cup 1% milk (we used skim and it was just fine)

Mix all ingredients together and chill at least one hour before serving. 

We put the ingredients in a jar and shook it up.  I take the whole jar to work and just pour a bit out when I am ready for lunch.  The entire jar has 255 calories compared to 75ish (low estimate) calories for 2 tbsp of normal Ranch. 

This dressing is amazing!  I can't even tell that it is diet.  It has a different underlying flavor because of the Greek yogurt but I think that it is awesome and I would even eat this if I wasn't on a diet.  You definitely have to make this if you love Ranch dressing like we do!! 

-Sara

Anniversary

Today marks four years that my husband has been forced to stay with me married to me. 

I never thought that I would get married.  When I was younger I would hear other people talking about how they saw themselves in the future and I always thought something was wrong with me because I could never see myself getting married, or having kids or growing older in general.  For the longest time I thought maybe I was going to die before I became an adult because I couldn't see anything happening in my future. 

When I met Corry in November of 2006, I was at a point in my dating history where I was done dating.  He emailed me off an internet site and we just started talking.  I thank God everyday for what happened next because if it hadn't happened, my life would be totally different and I probably wouldn't be married to Corry today. 

In 2006 I reconciled with an old friend (friendship timeline and not age!) accepted an invitation to be in her wedding in Florida in December.  We were supposed to drive there a few days before the wedding and then have the wedding December 3rd.  The night before they were to get married we were on the boat that was their venue and while walking off I stepped into a sunk in manhole lid and fell and broke three bones in my left ankle and severely sprained my right ankle.  I will cover this exciting injury more tomorrow, but just know now that it was life changing. 

Because of this injury I was forced to move back in with my parents until I was able to walk up and down the stairs and wasn't able to actively date.  This forced me to really get to know someone before I dated them too quickly.  Insert Corry Lee Price into my life. 

We met officially in January 2007 and have been together ever since.  He is my everything and I love him more everyday.  I love you, Corry.  Thank you for loving me and taking care of us and being an awesome husband, dad and provider.  You are one of the best things that has ever happened to me. 

-Sara  

I hate April Fools Day

Sigh

 

It’s April Fools Day again.  I don’t know if I would formally recognize this as a ‘holiday’ or not, but some people see it that way.  It’s a day full of people lying to your face and then getting you with “April Fools!”  I don’t get it.  I definitely am going to be seen as the party pooper on this one, but I honestly wish that I could just stay in bed all day on April 1^st.  I know that if I shared this view with a lot of people that they would say that I need to learn how to take a joke or lighten up but it just doesn’t feel that easy.  

 

Deep down I think that it stems from a deep hatred of talking to people who I think are lying to me.  I hate liars.  I hate talking to people who are pathological liars in all aspects.  I was raised that lying was bad and still hold true to that ideology.  I don’t like lying to people and I don’t like when people lie to me.  Normally if I find out that people are lying then I usually cut them out of my life.  I think that a lot of trust is given to people and if you are caught lying then, in my opinion, all of that trust goes out the window.  Granted, I know that people on April Fools Day are not lying to be spiteful or trying to hurt anyone by lying, but it still is a lie and it’s still is un-necessary. 

 

I really started to get annoyed with April Fools Day when I was in high school.  That was when people started telling two different stories that really agitated me.  These two stories/lies are still being told today and people still think that they are funny.  One is that the person is pregnant and/or got someone else pregnant depending upon the person’s gender.  The second is that the person was assaulted by someone.  Two situations that wouldn’t normally be considered humorous but on this one day a year people tell them and get trucks of laughter. 

 

I just want people to think a bit more about their audience before they say something like these stories today.  I want them to remember that odds are good they know someone who is struggling with infertility who might not think that your joke about pregnant is so funny.  Or remember that there might be someone on your friend’s list on Facebook who might be currently getting abused by her husband who might not think that your fake status message about getting hit by her boyfriend isn’t hilarious.  Just be more courteous in general. 

 

-Sara Price