Trim Up Tuesday (Week 6)

Okay, so I'm going to do my Trim Up Tuesdays a bit different now. I'm going to use them to keep track of my weight gain during this pregnancy. I used last week's starting weight as the "beginning" weight for this. I used my last two pregnancies as an excuse to eat whatever I wanted, whenever. As a result I gained a lot more weight than I needed, which led to me having to work a lot harder at getting rid of the extra pounds. I want to do a lot better this time. Recommended weight gains for my pregnancy is 25 - 35 pounds. I gained 55 lbs a piece (yes, yikes!) for my last two pregnancies, so my goal this time is 40 pounds.

Weight

• I have not lost any weight yet.
  
• I am the same weight as last week. (Hey, that's better than gaining!)

Diet

• I ate out 5 time(s) this week
• I ate an average of 2 snack(s) per day
• I drank an average of 1 calorie-filled drink(s) per day

Exercise

• I worked out 7 time(s) this week.
• I did 1 hour(s) and 15 minutes of cardio this week
• I did 2 hour(s) and 05 minutes of brisk activity this week

Goals

• I did meet my last goal
• My Last Goal Was: Eat healthier snacks
• My new goal is: 20 more cardio minutes.

Banned

Hey everyone. No house pictures. I was so mad ... I drove out to the house yesterday, camera in hand, only to discover the card was not in the camera. I wasn't going to go back for it. I'll send the camera w/my hubby tomorrow, and *maybe* he'll make it back with some pics.

For the first time since we bought the house I have not spent the entire weekend working on it. Actually, I've been banned from the house for the most part. With all the chemicals, fumes, dust, etc going around, my hubby doesn't want me there except for the occassional walk through. I don't know how to feel about being "free" of the house work. I'm a tad bit disappointed, but then I'm also thankful for the time I got to work on the house. The baby thing has been in the works for a few months, so if it had happened earlier then I probably wouldn't have gotten to do any work on my house. At first I was a bit apprehensive of the whole physical labor thing (yeah, I'm a wuss, I know), but right away I LOVED it. After all, it was my house, and I was diretly reaping the benefits of my labor. So I'm just glad I got 6 weekends worth of work in the house.

So far the pregnancy thing is doing well. I'm having a bit of trouble sleeping and I have to pee a lot, but that's about it. Oh, yeah ... the smells. Those are getting to me. I work on the 39th floor of my office building, and I swear that this is the smelliest floor of them all. Lately it's been even worse, though -- like this morning, I swear I could smell bug spray. I smelled that for hours, and now it's lunch time, which is a hodgepodge of already-nauseating smells. Add a pregnancy sense of smell to that, and it can get overpowering. We have a lot of Indians on this floor, so there is always something interesting and ethnic being heated up in the microwave. Ack... and saurkraut is being served in the cafeteria. And who heated up something cheesy? Ugh .....

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Reasons I Want a Third Child

Today is bring your kid to work day! I have Alexia (my 4 year old) here. She’s being so sweet and good right now – we’ll see how long it lasts! In light of the news I broke yesterday, and Alexia being at work with me today, here is my TT:

1.... I’m a gluten for punishment.
2.... It seems we’re always broke anyway, so how much worse can it get?
3.... Hmm… 2 college savings accounts, 3 kids … I think it will work. I can probably bank on the probability that one of them won’t go, right?
4.... I miss thriving on 3 hours of sleep for 3 -- 4 months.
5.... I just don’t feel right unless I’m constantly carrying around a burp cloth for protection.
6.... My house has too much room and needs more clutter to it.
7.... Having the kids out of the house when I turn 39 seemed too liberating. I had to make it 44 instead.
8.... Putting a third kid in between the 2 already screaming kids in the back seat of the car will solve all my problems.
9.... It’s so much fun to go without alcohol for 9 months.
10... I’m a terrible person who wants to overpopulate the earth.
11... I don’t have enough things to worry about.
12... I’m not busy enough already.
13... Because I love my two deeply and I’m not ready to resign myself to being done with bearing children and wanted one more before the shop is permanently closed. Because my 4 year old severely wants a baby and my 7 year old wants to be left alone. Because my children do not get along at all, in the least, except when there is a third child in the room. Because, I want a child conceived and born in wedlock, and even though we already have one, she was 4 by the time we got married and I think I deserve to bless our new marriage with a new baby.

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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8 Things You Didn't Know About Me

I was tagged by MamaFlo to do this.

1.


2. On two seperate occassions in my life a wasp has flown up my shirt and literally stung me on the breast. Twice! Two times!!! I'm also allergic to the little buggers.

3. I am a supertaster -- I have more tastebuds than the average person. Sound great? It's not! My diet is limited to a handful of things, and no matter how much I want to like something, I just can't. Life can get pretty boring as a supertaster, and it can be rather embarrasing to be company at someone's house. Here is an article entitled The Supertaster Unveiled

4. I had liposuction when I was 21. Yes, I'm someone who frowns on plastic surgery when there's another alternative. In my case there was no alternative -- I had very large saddlebags on the sides of my thighs that were inherited from my mother and could not be worked down much. I could never find pants that fit right -- if it fit my thighs, it was way to large for my waist. And I was SO self conscious about it. I got sucked out in Dec. 2003 and have never ever ever ever regretted my decision. I feel like a whole new person.

5. I am a plant junkie. I LOVE them. At one point I had 18 healthy, well cared for plants inside my home. But then I went to work 3.5 hours away, only coming home on the weekends (left in the hubby's care). By the time we were all ready to move to one place again, it was too late. Out of 18, 3 had survived the hubby & the move, NOT including my once-gorgeous bonsai. :-( Since then I've added no new houseplants, because I've been too upset. BUT, for the first time ever, I get to cultivate the outside of a house -- hence my flower beds & my garden.

6. I don't really like children. I love mine to death, I love (or sometimes tolerate really really well) my friend's children, but if I have no reason to like that kid chatting me up at the grocery store, well ... I just find him annoying. I know. I'm a terrible person!

7. I love to sleep, and despise getting up early. I get up at 5:30 am for work Monday - Friday. That's fine and dandy, it's my job and all that. On the weekend, I do really well to be out of bed by 9:00. Yes, I will wake up around 7:00-ish and not be tired anymore, but I force myself back to sleep. If I ever just got up, I'd have many extra hours to my weekend!

8. I have 2 girls, and yes, we want another one. Too many people are assuming we want a boy because we have girls, but that's not the case. I have a feeling my luck won't hold out a third time, and the boy is inevitable, but I can hope. And while I appreciate well wishes, I'm getting a bit annoyed that people are wishing a boy on me -- my mother included. I don't care if they're easier, both my husband and I have no desire for one, and I wish other people would respect our wishes, since it's our child! Sorry for the rant, don't fret -- if God gives us a boy, he will be a well loved addition to the family, I'm sure :-)

I have no one to tag!!! I'm sorry, I reside in such a small circle of bloggers that everyone I visit has already been tagged. Feel free to play along if you're reading this and have not yet been tagged.

The Rules:

Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these rules.
At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names.
Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’ve been tagged, and to read your blog

Trim Up Tuesday (Week 5)

Looks like I went in the wrong direction this week. Oops! It happens, I guess :-)

Weight

• I have lost 3 pound(s) since I started!
  
• I am 1 pound(s) heavier than last week.
  
• I am 5 pound(s) away from my ideal weight.

BMI

• My BMI is: 21.4. This is considered normal.

Diet

• I ate out 4 time(s) this week
• I ate an average of 2 snack(s) per day
• I drank an average of 1 calorie-filled drink(s) per day

Exercise

• I worked out 8 time(s) this week.
• I did 1 hour(s) and 15 minutes of cardio this week
• I did 2 hour(s) and 30 minutes of brisk activity this week

Goals

• I did meet my last goal
• My Last Goal Was: Bring my lunch to work 3 times.
• My new goal is: Eat healthier snacks.

Weekly Winners

Okay, here are the pics for the house work this past week! We just completed week 5, and now the countdown till move-in is looming before us with only 3 weeks left to go!

The bathroom has been a huge project, but now that the tub and backerboard is in, I feel like we've freed up time to make improvements elsewhere. I am beginning to see the house taking shape and looking a lot nicer, and it excites me.

Recall the bathroom at the end of last week:


Putting backerboard in:


We're almost ready to tile! The shower & the floor will be tiled in slate. I'm a bit nervous, but I'm sure it's gonna turn out well:


Recall the living room wall? We had big brick thing in the middle of the room with an old wood stove on top of it. That was removed, and the wall and ceiling was finished in where the brick had been:


Priming begins! I'm really excited at the thought of the living room getting worked on again:


We did a lot of outside work on Sunday. This was the backyard when we first bought the house:


We cleaned it up a bit, and got rid of the broken plastic objects:


I put in a garden! Alex put up a nice fenced in area for me to keep the pests out (i.e., one blond little girl and one brunette, and the occassional bunny). I had started a bunch of plants a few weeks ago so I got those in the ground. Not that you can tell, but in this garden we have: tomatoes, brocolli, cantelope, watermelon and strawberries:


The tulips that I planted a few weeks ago when I did the front yard work are blooming. If you look at the left side of this photo, in front of the curved brick, there is a line of tulips & daffodils:


And now they're blooming! They got a little beat up after a harsh storm last week, but they survived at least:


My favorite tulip plant of them all, I think it's just perfect:


And finally, I caught those elusive "pests" sneaking around the backyard! At least they couldn't get into the garden ...

Thursday Thirteen

Drivers Listen Up! Thirteen Things I Hate

Yes, this TT is one huge rant. I spent an hour a day driving to and from work, and it’s always my most frustrating time of day. I do drive fast but I like to think I’m very attentive and focused and try hard NOT to be an ass on the road – my goal is simply to get where I’m going, as quickly as possible. I have this thing where it bothers me that I spend so much of my life in cars. Anyways, here is my rant (in no particular order), and let’s see how many people I manage to piss off today:

1.... It’s called the fast lane for a reason. I don’t care if you’re doing the speed limit, or (gasp) 5 over. Heck, I don’t care if you’re doing 95. If someone behind you wants to go faster, MOVE OVER. It’ll be okay, really – they’ll probably pass you by the time you get to that car 20 lengths ahead of you, then you can move back.
2.... That said, “unless you’re a hemorrhoid, stay off my ass!” Okay, so you want to go faster, I get that. Whether it’s possible for me to go faster or not, riding my ass accomplishes nothing but putting everyone in danger. Plus, you never know who will slam on their brakes out of spite (yes, I’ve been guilty of doing that when alone in the car – I wouldn’t recommend it, but it tends to work).
3.... If given a choice, I would follow the car ahead of me too far rather than too short, but some people take this to the extreme. Forget counting seconds, that only distracts you. Know how long it take you to stop, then give a little extra measure. Even if you’re going 80, you don’t need 20 car lengths to stop your car. Likewise, if you’re only going 35, you don’t need 8 car lengths to stop! General rule of thumb is 1 car length for each 10 mph – and these are car lengths, not SUV lengths.
4.... Don’t cut off a semi. That’s one of the stupidest things you can do. Yes, they tend to be big and slow, but because of that it takes a long time for them to stop. And, being as big as they are, I’ll put my money on the semi coming out victorious.
5.... Uphill semi-races are the worst! Why is it that if there are two lanes on the highway, and you’re going up a steep hill, there are always two semis racing each other at 50 mph?! I think the guys who drive the biggest trucks have the biggest egos, at least that makes sense to me. So I have no choice but to (grudgingly) watch the battle of the balls and hope I pick the winning lane. If there are any semi drivers reading this, well, I probably offended you, but if by chance you’re still listening, please, give us a break! Be the bigger man.
6.... Road Rage: Stupid and dangerous! Would you go out and murder someone? Because they what .. cut you off? Is that worth a human life(s)?! The other day I saw something really disturbing. A guy squeezed in between two cars where he really shouldn’t have. As soon as he passed the car that had been in front of him he moved back over to the other lane. The guy he cut off sped up, switched to the other lane directly in front of his car car, and slammed his brakes on something fierce (on the highway at 80 mph). To avoid hitting the man in front, the other guy immediately swerves two lanes to the right without regard for anything that was in it. I thank God there was no one in one of those lanes.
7.... Turn Signals: You have to know what they are and how to operate them to get your license, so don’t pretend you don’t know what they are! Seriously people – it might seem like no big deal to wander on over to the next lane, but you never know when someone is in your blind spot, or perhaps a car is switching in from another lane and you’re not aware. Your turn signal alerts people to your intentions. Some people whine that if they turn the signal on, no one will let them in. My advice is, spot your opening, turn the signal on, and squeeze in there before anything can be done about it.
8.... Headlights are also important. Your state’s transportation will tell you that when it’s snowing really hard, the big ass bulldozer things cannot see you without them! Any time the weather is bad, conditions are dreary, turn them on. It helps everyone see both the front and the back of you.
9.... Your horn is important. Make sure it works, it can save your life. That said, don’t abuse it, either. I never honk at someone because I’m angry, but to make them aware of their actions.
10... Stay in your lane: Pssst…. Hey you … you see those white or yellow line-looking things on the road? You’re supposed to drive between them. The lane you are driving in is not subjective!
11... Blind Spot: Check It! Yes, turn your lazy head around and check your blind spot before you turn. There is a reason it’s called a blind spot, and no, mirrors do not suffice. And remember the big guys. Semis have huge blind spots. If you are driving next to a semi, always be on guard for any chance they might be turning into you.
12... Don’t hover in someone else’s blind spot if you can help it.
13... Don’t roll it, grandma! Yes, I’m sorry, I’m very mean, but I do think there is a point where an elderly person’s license needs evaluated. I don’t mean a certain age, but there needs to be some test involved. If you find that you can get to your destination quicker on a bike than driving, you might have a problem.

One final note: ALWAYS always ALWAYS always ALWAYS wear your seatbelt! ALWAYS! There is a reason they say it saves lives, and please don't ever be caught without one. This is life and death, please (I'm begging you) take it to heart.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Trim Up Tuesday (Week 4)

I finally lost a (little) bit after stalling for a couple weeks there. I'm feeling a lot better, because even though I haven't seen a lot of weight loss, I've been toning and tigheting up from all the house/yard work and other exercise items. At the rate I'm going now, I'll be ready to confidently step into a bikini just in time for summer!

Weight

• I have lost 4 pound(s) since I started!
  
• I lost 0.5 pound(s) this week!
  
• I am 4 pound(s) away from my ideal weight.

BMI

• My BMI is: 21.3. This is considered normal.

Diet

• I ate out 6 time(s) this week
• I ate an average of 2 snack(s) per day
• I drank an average of 1 calorie-filled drink(s) per day

Exercise

• I worked out 9 time(s) this week.
• I did 1 hour(s) and 15 minutes of cardio this week
• I did 0 hour(s) and 15 minutes of strength training this week
• I did 3 hour(s) and 40 minutes of brisk activity this week

Goals

• I did not meet my last goal
• My Last Goal Was: Bring lunch three times.
• My new goal is: Bring lunch three times.

Weekly Winners

Here I am, late as always. Oh well, no excuses except remodeling a house can wipe out all your energy! Here are my pics...

Recall the bathroom two weeks ago when we discovered the wall was rotting from water damage, so we took the whole thing out and rebuilt it:


After wall was built, insullation and plumbing was put in, we *finally* have a (brand new) bathtub back in there. In case you're wondering why it took two weeks, it's because we had to wait until we had help for these tasks, and the only time we have help is on the weekends, so the real time all this took was about 3.5 days:


This big, unfinished space is my nice big closet in my room downstairs. Yes, my wonderful man spoils me -- I get an entire room to myself, just for clothing, exercise equiptment and vanity table. And he's building me a huge closet:


He has finished in the closet. Part of it has been allocated for the workroom across the hall (the closet used to span from my room, behind the stairs, all the way to the room across the hall!). Here's the closet so far:


Alexia's room before:


Yes, she picked out the color. It could be worse, I guess:


The sunroom is my favorite room in the house. This is the sunroom before:


Now we've painted the ceiling and added one coat to the walls. It's going to need a second coat, and that brown trim is going to be replaced with white:


That's all for this week! Thanks for stopping by, if you're really interested and want more pictures of our remodel, go here.

Strip Cardio, Spiders and Friday Fill-Ins

(Scroll down to bottom for Friday Fill-Ins)

Last night was my first strip cardio class. Unfortunantly, it was only the second class that our instructor had taught. She did fairly well, though, for a beginner and although there were a few mishaps, I'm going back next week. We did a sexy dance routine followed by ab work and then pole work. The pole stuff was really fun -- I never thought I'd be able to bend backwards and touch my head to the floor without falling! The swinging was pretty fun, too. It was a good time. Afterwards my friend and I went to the bar next door and had a jumbo margarita. By the time we had drunk it all, we decided that next week we'll do the margarita thing BEFORE the class, and wear high heels and sexy workout clothes instead of sweats, t-shirts and sneakers!

No kids this weekend! Normally that would leave me overjoyed because that would mean it was a date weekend (I haven't been on a "date" with my man since Feb.) but not with the housework. That's okay, though, we'll be much more productive this way, and I won't have to cart two muddy kids in the car after a long day of housework because the ground is so soft outside but I don't feel right making them stay inside the no-fun, under-construction house for 12 hours. I am going to make sure we at least go out for a nice dinner together tonight before getting all tired and dirty all weekend long. I needed to do some more planting this weekend, but no ... it has to SNOW tomorrow. Comon ppl! It's April already, give it up!

Here is a cute story from yesterday:

Daddy & Alexia (4) are painting a bedroom blue:

Daddy startles and jumps back a bit

Alexia: What's wrong, Daddy?

Daddy: There's a big spider in the closet.

Alexia: Oh, just paint over it daddy! Like I did

Daddy: Huh?

Alexia: There was a little spider and I painted over it.

Daddy: (Laughs) Did it die?

Alexia: No ... but it ran away!

I knew I forgot something! Here is my Friday Fill-Ins





1. I love springtime in the Missouri Botanical Gardens!
2. Sausage Egg McMuffins from McDonalds are foods I love to eat for breakfast.
3. It seems I'm always searching for things in my purse.
4. Relaxing to a great movie and/or book is a great way to end the day.
5. I think I am going to love Strip Cardio!
6. Mint Chocolate is what I've been craving lately.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to going out to dinner with my husband and NO kids , tomorrow my plans include working on my house and Sunday, I want to do more housework!

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things I Do At Work That I Probably Shouldn't

I don't do all of these all the time, but I have been known to do them at one time or another:

1.... Thursday Thirteen (and other blogging).
2.... Check my personal email, frequently.
3.... Gotta love those LolCats!
4.... Pay my bills.
5.... Online shopping.
6.... Instant message friends from outside my company.
7.... Trim Up Tuesday Version 1.0
8.... Clean out my purse.
9.... Dance while listening to my mp3 player.
10... Research Strip Cardio classes.
11... Personal financial spreadsheets.
12... Print personal color items from the fancy color printer.
13... Work!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Day 108

Happy Wednesday!

I haven't talked about my quit in a while, so here's the update: today is 15 weeks, 3 days since I quit smoking -- that's 108 days!!! And life has returned to normal. I don't get serious cravings anymore; I don't think about smoking much anymore. I can walk right by the smokers outside the building and not give a care in the world that I'm not there, in fact, I'm happy that's not me. I smell good, my teeth are whiter, I'm healthier, more energetic and less winded. I no longer stand outside my work, house, or any other place in the cold, pouring rain, or (soon to come) extreme heat just to suck down a cigarette. I'm no longer a "plague" to avoided by non-smokers.

I'm excited about tommorrow night because I start the Strip Cardio class. I hope it's good -- I'm so excited about it I'd hate for it to be a dud.

I have more planting to do this weekend. I started plants indoors a week ago -- sunflowers, pumpkins, watermellon, and two types of tomatoes. The sunflowers have grown so fast and so tall in ONE WEEK that I absolutely have to plant them this weekend! This poses a problem because I didn't want to do the backyard yet... I'm still recovering from the front yard! Oh well, I guess I'll just suck it up and have at the backyard, whether permitting.

I have nothing more to say ... see you tomorrow for Thursday Thirteen!

Trim Up Tuesday (Week 3)

I haven't lost any more weight, but I am exercising a lot more, especially with all the house/yard work I've been doing. I am feeling more toned and that's more important to me than weight.

I just signed up for a STRIP CARDIO class at a gym near me! I am so very excited about this -- they do dance, followed by tricks on the poles. I've been wanting to try it for a long time. Me and 2 friends signed up, and our first class is this Thursday!

Weight

• I have lost 3.5 pound(s) since I started!
  
• I am the same weight as last week. (Hey, that's better than gaining!)
  
• I am 4.5 pound(s) away from my ideal weight.

BMI

• My BMI is: 21.3. This is considered normal.

Diet

• I ate out 8 time(s) this week
• I ate an average of 2 snack(s) per day
• I drank an average of 1 calorie-filled drink(s) per day

Exercise

• I worked out 9 time(s) this week.
• I did 1 hour(s) and 45 minutes of cardio this week
• I did 0 hour(s) and 10 minutes of strength training this week
• I did 3 hour(s) and 40 minutes of brisk activity this week

Goals

• I did meet my last goal
• My Last Goal Was: Limit to one soda/energy drink per day.
• My new goal is: Bring my lunch to work 3 times.

Weekly Winners

Here I am, late again. I apologize, but I've been so busy working all weekend that I hardly have time for anything else. It feels really good to be so productive each weekend -- on Saturday evenings I feel like the next day should be Monday because I've done so much in just one day. But I never thought I could have so much fun doing manual labor. I am loving owning a home!

I sooo meant to put this picture up last week, but I stuck it in a folder and totally forgot. This is a picture of the snow we had on Easter day:


Yard Work
I do a LOT of work on the front yard this weekend -- about 14 hours worth. But I guess I didn't take very good pictures of it. I raked up 5 large yard bags stuffed full of leaves, pulled a lot of dead plants, planted a row of tulips and daffodils, planted summer bulbs around the mailbox, planted azaleas behind the mailbox, and mulched everything down. I am really mad the pictures didn't turn out that well! I couldn't see the screen on my camera because it was so sunny. I'll see if I can't grab some better pictures this coming weekend.

Also, Alex blames the brown grass on the type of grass, I think it had to do with the 5 large bags of dead leaves I pulled from it. Hopefully it'll green up soon now that it's cleared.

TIP: If you maximize these two pictures in seperate windows, and then switch between the two, you'll see the changes better.

Yard before:


Yard After:


My freshly planted Azalea bushes (behind the mailbox):


Freshly planted Daffodil from the front yard, up close and personal:


Remember the bathroom? Last week I left you with a big hole in the wall:


The studs have been rebuilt, and drywall was put up:


And now insulation:


And finally, a self portrait:

Friday Fill-Ins

1. Tonight I saw myself getting a full 8 hours sleep. (Who am I kidding? I never get up Sat. morning -- make it 10 hours sleep!)
2. An awesome beat makes me wanna dance!
3. Splitting a few appetizers between friends keeps me from eating it all myself!
4. The coworker who sits next to me is someone I'd like to get to know better.
5. The smell of clothes line dryed sheets reminds me so much of springtime!
6. When the babysitter canceled and I was left with no b-day plans, I cooked my husband a special dinner instead and that made it all better.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to relaxing, tomorrow my plans include cleaning up the outside of my new house and later shopping with friends and Sunday, I want to do more landscaping work!

Thursday Thirteen

Before we get to my Thursday Thirteen, I have to recap the events of last night. For those of you who read yesterday's post, you know that yesterday was my husband's birthday and I celebrated by cooking him a wonderful dinner of steak, stuffed mushrooms, and strawberry pretzel salad. When I told him what I had planned for his dinner, he looked quite worried. I think I failed to tell you guys that I had never cooked steak OR stuffed mushrooms before. Regardless, I had done my research, and I am a good cook, even if I had never cooked those things before I felt it would be all right. It turned out great!!! I think I spoiled my husband, though, because he only gets stuffed mushrooms like once a year when we go to the right restaurant. Now that he knows I can pull it off I have a feeling he'll be wanting them more often!

Sorry, I did not take pics. I spent 3 hours cooking and just didn't feel like taking pictures afterwards! But you should know it turned out oh so well. Was it romantic? No -- it can hardly be romantic when he's eating his dinner and the kids are surrounding him like starving hawks acting like I didn't just feed them dinner 45 minutes before. But that's okay, cause we had good family time during his dinner. We got our special alone time together after the kids went to bed ;-)

If you want the Strawberry Pretzel Salad recipe, go here. I highly recommend it. I would follow the directions exactly, except for a couple things: (1) Don't completely pulverize the pretzels. It tastes better when there's still some chunk to them. (2) I use a 24 ounce tub of frozen strawberries with sugar instead of a 16 ounce container. That's all there is to it! If you try it, let me know how it turns out!

Okay, on to the Thursday Thirteen...


Thirteen Books I Love


Thirteen books I love and have re-read multiple times. Some of these books are even young adult readers that have stuck with me through time. These books are listed in no particular order.

1.... Enchantment (Orson Scott Card)
2.... A Song of Ice And Fire (Series, George R.R. Martin)
3.... Homecoming Saga (Series, Orson Scott Card)
4.... Magic Kingdom of Landover (Series, Terry Brooks)
5.... The Sword of Truth (Series, Terry Goodkind)
6.... Dune Chronicals (Series, Frank Herbert)
7.... Ender Series (Orscon Scott Card)
8.... Web Of Dreams (and rest of Casteel series, VC Andrews)
9.... Flowers in the Attic (and rest of Dollanganger series, VC Andrews)
10... The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Series, Douglas Adams)
11... Wayside School (Series, Louis Sachar, Grade School)
12... No Promises in the Wind (Irene Hunt, Young Adult)
13... Where the Red Fern Grows (Wilson Rawls, Young Adult)

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... And It All Works Itself Out

Today is my husband's birthday. I had it all planned! I had a babysitter, we were going to go to dinner and then grab some drinks. Then this morning, I was informed that the babysitter fell through. Alex gets home too late to take the kids, so all of a sudden I was bummed out.

Then I got excited. I started planning a dinner for tonight, a special dinner, cooked solely for him after he gets home. I'm really excited now! I'm going to cook him a big old juicy rib-eye steak. For the side I'm going to make him some delicious stuffed mushrooms. Then, for desert, a Strawberry Pretzel Salad. For those of you who have never heard of it, it's not an actual salad. It's a 3 layer desert. The crust is made of crust pretzels and butter, the middle of cream cheese, and the top strawberries (with some other stuff mixed in it of course).

I'm all excited now! Such a switch from being really upset. I'm taking the rest of the afternoon off from work to go shopping and start cooking. I will *try* to remember to take pictures of the dinner to share tomorrow, but we'll see.

Wish me luck! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything turns out well!

Triplets!!!

This morning I received an email from my cousin, telling me she was 14 weeks pregnant with TRIPLETS. I was so dumbfounded, I sent her a reply congratulating her. Then I called my mother, who was ecstatic about it.

Then I decided to look at the email attachment of the ultrasound. I opened it up, and saw a big APRIL FOOLS! I quickly tried to call my mother back, but it was too late. Her phone was busy and will be busy all day long as she spreads around this "great" news.

My cousin emailed me again. Her mom was on the phone with her, freaking all out because my mother called her mother to congratulate her. This was 3 MINUTES after I hung up the phone with my mother!!!

So I know what's going to happen. My mom already called my cousin's mom. Next will be my Aunt Debbie, then my grandparents. And who knows who each of those people will tell! Wow! Wildfire!!!!

I didn't mean to be a part of this and to fuel it on, but I'm feeling pretty clever at the moment. My cousin and I are both cracking up over this. Our family is pissed, but oh well. Happy April Fools, everyone!!!

Trim Up Tuesday (Week 2)

Weight

• I am the same weight as last week. (Hey, that's better than gaining!)
  
• I am 4.5 pound(s) away from my ideal weight.

BMI

• My BMI is: 21.3. This is considered normal.

Diet

• I ate out 6 time(s) this week
• I ate an average of 2 snack(s) per day
• I drank an average of 2 calorie-filled drink(s) per day

Exercise

• I did 1 hour(s) and 10 minutes of cardio this week
• I did 0 hour(s) and 15 minutes of strength training this week
• I did 3 hour(s) and 45 minutes of brisk activity this week

Goals

• I did not meet my last goal
• My Last Goal Was: Limit myself to 1 soda/energy drink per day.
• My new goal is: Limit myself to 1 soda/energy drink per day.