Congratulations! for what?

This whole being pregnant thing is funny. People I know are randomly sending me text messages, or emails, or instant messages and they just say "Congrats!" and since I am so newly pregnant, I keep thinking... "for what? I haven't done anything lately....oh RIGHT...baby."

It's a lot of fun though, seeing so many people commenting on things or going "What?! How did I miss this!?" haha

Brian has been asking me all day how I am feeling. And it's probably because I look awful. I keep having these really vivid dreams that have nothing to do with babies, but still keeping me up at night. Like my whole face breaking out in acne and my forehead is so oily that its actually dripping off my head... I have really good skin so I don't get acne often. I've chalked it up to stress/pregnancy. I took a nice 3 hour nap earlier, I really needed it.

My breasts are so tender and they feel completely different. You know when you have a balloon and you stretch it and it looses its elasticity? the skin of the balloon is stretched? That is how they feel. Super stretched. I'm still having cramps too. Tylenol has been my friend, as well as lots of bed rest.

My gramma went to Kohl's today and got us two onesies for the baby. One says I Love My Mommy and the other says I Love My Daddy.

Baby fever has taken firm hold! My mom is now telling random ladies with babies that I am pregnant. Ha! How cute.

Brian's parents are coming over to visit. They haven't seen us since we got Max in January, let alone the new apartment and the fact we are bearing grandchildren now lol I am making the berry cobbler Jaime suggested! Thanks :) I dont know if I have enough frozen fruit, I'm missing about a cup... wondering if I should put in my fresh strawberries? Or you know what... I'll freeze them! Perfect! I'm such a genius.

Chock Full of Goodies

We went to the grocery store last night. We really just went for basics, like milk and toilet paper. But it turned out to be a full blown shopping spree.

We bought fruit! Bread! Milk! All sorts of good things! We were calculating how much we were spending when all of a sudden, the calculator reset and I had to guesstimate what our running total was. We didn't have a list. We were hungry, having not eaten all day.

It normally spells a recipe for disaster (spells a recipe? wth?) but this time it went amazingly well.

Got 4 packages of ground turkey (which is 5 lbs) pasta, pasta sauce, milk, strawberries, weight watchers meals (a whole slew of those! I got 10 meals and then 2 packages of the ice creams- giant fudge bar [yum!!] and dark chocolate raspberry ice creams!) 2 bags of frozen chicken breasts (on sale- 5 lbs for $10) chicken nuggets, french fries, ramen, mac and cheese, coffee, coffee creamer, dog treats (for Max lol) peanut butter (also for Max) cheese (for me!)

That doesn't really seem like a lot, but it filled out the holes in our pantry, cupboards, fridge and freezer. We are stuffed to the brim now!

It's so nice to be able to go into the kitchen and say "today I am feeling like [insert food here]" and be able to make it! Or heat it up!

Weeee!! It's silly how much of a difference it makes in my mood when we have a full kitchen as compared to an empty one. An empty one brings visions of being poor, not being able to eat, going without. A full one brings on images of success, full tummies, happiness.

I some times feel like that is counter productive to my weight loss? I also sometimes wonder about what I can eat for dinner. I am going to have an awesome breakfast in a few moments. Egg beaters scrambled up with diced ham and fat free cheddar melted on top with wheat toast. And of course, my coffee!! I love coffee.

Brian fixed my stationary bike and I am going to ride it today. I have to put music back on my iPhone. The last time I synced it, it got rid of everything except Lady Gaga and the Offspring, and while those are a lot of the songs I listen to while I work out, I like to hear other things too.

I have to say- the scale has actually gone *up* (not again...groan) but we had friends over on Saturday night and I am still bloated from that. Yesterday I chugged water and ate Taco Bell.

But today- it's back on plan! Healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner. My egg scramble for breakfast (dont forget my coffee!!) lunch will be a WW meal. I'm feeling Meatloaf and Garlic/Chive mashed potatoes. Dinner is of course... Spaghetti! Chugging water. Eating an apple. Maybe a few strawberries. If I can ever get past the texture. I love the taste. Same story, different day.

On a side note, I keep having dreams that men are checking me out. It always ends up being people I knew from school though. Never anyone important, like Johnny Depp, or Orlando Bloom. Sigh. It also always turns out they were just teasing me and then I end up burning them alive? I think its symbolic of me burning bridges. Not letting the past define me? Gaining confidence? I hope. I am not liking the other options!

I rambled again. I am really excited about food.

Thoughts on Groceries, and food in general

I figured out why we go through groceries so fast. It seems that no matter how much I buy or spend on groceries, we consume them at the same rate. And its a case of "eyes are bigger than the stomach"

I mean, take the last month for example. We would spend $90 on groceries, which is supposed to last two weeks at least, and it would be gone in a week. We were eating seconds and in my husbands case, sometimes thirds. The food was so good. He would take leftovers to work too, and then suddenly... well we are out of food and there's still a week to go. No money, because we spent it all on catching up on bills. So we are hungry for a week, living on once-a-day ramen noodles.

This happened twice, for both pay periods. Although I did get a little more creative, it still ended up that we didn't have a lot leftover, both in food and in money.

But I have recognized the problem and have since started to correct it, starting with groceries this week. This week, my budget was $40 but I spent $70 (heh) Clearly I need to get in a better habit of shopping. I only bought everything on my list, however, and I only bought items on sale.

I also bought a few staples too, to stock up my pantry.

Anyway, what I am saying is.... I am working on portion control in my diet I also need to work on it in my budget and groceries too. For instance, I bought a package of chicken breasts. It was $1.99/lb but 2.55 lbs. Three breasts. In the past, I would have cooked them just like that. One for me, one for Brian, and one for his leftover lunch. Turns out..... That's a lot of chicken. 2.5 lbs over 3 breasts? That's insane! Considering the average weight was 12 oz of each breast- that means there were 4 servings! I was eating four servings of chicken at a time. Goes to show you why I wasn't losing weight! I thought- a chicken breast, that's 140 calories a serving. one breast= one serving. NOOO WRONG.

I weighed each breast on my handy dandy electronic scale and then cut each piece into 4ths. I got 12 servings out of 3 breasts- which makes me feel better that I paid $5 for it. I then wrapped each piece individually in wax paper and put it in a freezer bag. Ta-da! I bet Brian will freak when I show him how small a serving actually is.

I also bought a block of extra-sharp cheddar cheese (12 oz) and cut it in half. 6 oz got put into a freezer bag, and the other 6 is going to be shredded, probably tonight. That will go in a baggie too, and stay in the fridge.

Gallons of milk were on sale too, cheaper than a half gallon. We usually go through a gallon every two weeks, so I just grabbed one of those. I had rinsed out the half gallon jug and filled it up from the gallon. I stuck that in the freezer. Yeah, you can freeze milk. It's exciting.


I got my own veggies to make my own V8 (though its really V2- spinach and cauliflower, with tomatoes) and I am going to freeze that as well, in ice cube trays. I totally need a bigger freezer.

I am also going to make my own bread-products, like biscuits, pizza crust, and bread. Yeah I'll have to be careful with the bread, but really, I don't *crave* bread. I *crave* cheese. So I will be ok as long as I don't make cheddar biscuits. Plus, how spoiled would Brian be if he got to take his sandwich to work made with homemade bread?!

I'm starting to seriously consider looking into getting a farm. Just think how many pounds of beef you can get from one cow? How many fresh eggs you could have from a couple of chickens! And a little garden too. Gosh, I better start pinching my pennies now because I am not going to do all that work alone. I'll need a farm hand or something. And our Corgis could herd the cattle. Squeal!


That's it. That is my ultimate dream. A small farm with a couple chickens, a couple cows, a small garden, and Corgis. Wow. I had no idea that I would end up figuring out my ultimate dream in a blog. Weird. I'm not in any rush to buy a farm or work on one, but I will be saving up for one. Haha.

Woof, Woof!

Last night as my dear hubby and I were laying in bed
I couldn't shut my mind off.
I was yammering on about all the cool things you can do with vinegar
And how much I wanted to try them

Hubby was falling asleep and all of a sudden he said "Woof woof!"
"What did you say?"
Hubby, giggles "woof woof..."
"Why?"

"I was half asleep and had a dream sorta... there were a bunch of those dogs that look like poodles, but arent..."

"Bichon Frises?"

"Yeah them. Anyway they were all in a room and barking. It was driving me crazy."


Long pause.......


"Okay, I'll shut up now" I said and turned over. I can take a hint. When your husband starts daydreaming of yapping dogs while you are talking, it means you are talking too much.