Have I told you lately?

I love these shoes. I love all my shoes really, but these ones I almost gave away because they were too tight until the person I almost gave them to said "try having them stretched". A novel idea, and I've now had them two years and haven't worn them because I never got around to doing it. Until now. $10 later and I'm now comfortably wearing my beloved wedges. Thanks, shea-shea!

In other news, my cold has broken (like a fever?). Evidently I still sound like crap and I still can't breathe well, but I no longer feel like death. Hooray.

I would answer today's 10 on tuesday but I'm doing this from my phone so I don't think I can swype all that out. Sooooo ... The only questions I can remember are no, I don't decorate for valentine's day (i hardly celebrate it), I use outlook on my work computer and my phone calendar for everything else and that is the extent of my planner-use. I have a photo of my kids on my desktop, I use turbo tax and it's never too cold for flip flops (spoken like a true floridian).

Tonight I'm trying my hand at homemade thai food - I'll let you know how that works out. I'm kind of excited. Also, on a tangent - spencer keeps saying "I'm so excited" whenever we do something new (like when we were headed to the parade) and it's seriously one of the cutest thing ever. And I want to break out into song a la the Pointer Sisters every time he says it (oh who am I kidding, I do break into song every time). So funny!

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McSickerton

It turns out that going out in 50-degree windy weather to fight with grown women who won't get out of the way of your two year old who just wants to watch the parade because they want cheap plastic beads is detrimental to your health, especially if you are all ready starting with the scratchy throat.

I was just a tiny bit sick. I thought I was well enough to traipse to the Gasparilla children's parade.

Ahem. No.

So now I'm full-blown-plague sick, just in time to take my mom to her biopsy and deal with children on my own for hours between when I get home and when Hubby gets home. Where does it end? I went to bed at 8pm last night and didn't get out of bed until 8:30 this morning, quarantined myself to my cubical for 7 hours and then came home to make myself soup. This one time, I'll say thank God for Caillou. Watch as much as you want, please and thank you. Number Two has spent over an hour wanting to be held, and now he has bounced himself sleepy and is taking an impromptu nap in the bouncer - I love that.

Anyhow, I am better now than I was this morning, and I'm hoping that Hubby will bring with him some more Tylenol Severe Cold which I can chase with soup and then hit the hay again. My flight on Friday will be awesome with a head cold, let me tell you. Let's hope it goes away pronto.

Menu for this week:
Monday: tortellini and spinach soup
Tuesday: pad see-ew
Wednesday: grilled chicken salad
Thursday: pulled pork sandwiches and homemade sweet potato chips
Friday: chicken tacos
Saturday: I'm out of ideas ... any suggestions?

Rainy doldrums

I wrote a very long post today about all the stressors in my life and why I can't seem to find my peace and be happy.

I'm not going to post it.

I think actually getting it all down on paper made me realize all the things I need to let go of. It's been a bad week.

I need to start smiling again.

I need to start laughing again.

I came home today early from work, suffering from the rainy day doldrums and buried myself in my bed for a couple hours to finish reading a sufficiently trashy book. Then I picked the boys up and we buried ourselves in my bed reading Dr. Seuss and Sesame Street books and watching a classic car auction (my boy is a little odd sometimes; that's what he wanted to watch). It was a good, stress-free night complete with spinach and garlic chicken sausages and homemade sweet potato chips that Number One ate all of (I'm still amazed). Number Two didn't cry once, and they both went to bed easily.

Sometimes you just need an easy night to remind you that things really aren't that terrible, and you really do have it pretty good.

Is it only Tuesday?

I didn't post Menu Monday this week because a) I posted two weeks last week, b) I forgot and c) I would feel compelled to include my "ugly toes photo" and I was very unhappy with it. By Friday I had lost another 3 lbs, but then I got my monthly and even though I didn't eat any more than usual (although there was a bit of alcohol consumed at a Saturday bridal shower), I gained 4 lbs back. Bah.

Spencer has developed an abscess on his gum above one of his front teeth. I don't know what this means, and by Google-diagnosing I'm now afraid that it means that tooth is dying and will have to be removed (although it's been 10 weeks since he broke it, and all the research I can find says that if the tooth was going to die it would have done so in the first month). I'm also worried that they will want to drain it which will be traumatic for all of us, and that by not taking him immediately to the doctor yesterday I've endangered his life because they said that untreated the infection can reach the brain ... it's just a big scary mess for me. He could care less, because it actually causes him no pain. However, we have a doctor's appointment this morning which is going to be a horrible ordeal and thank God my husband dropped Henry off at my IL's house this morning so I only have to contend with the one.

After all of that, I'm taking my mom to get her bone scan today to confirm again that the cancer hasn't spread. Supposedly, it will be an all day affair and I've never been to Moffitt although I know generally where it is. I kind of bullied my mom into letting me help her with some of her appointments, but I still don't know what I'll say if she needs to stay with me while she recovers. I would assume that my husband would be fine with it, but I have a small house and I'd have to empty out the library and put a bed in there (I assume my Ikea futon would be uncomfortable for long-term recovery). I just don't know. You know?

All this and I didn't get up this morning for my run - I have a feeling I'll need my workout tonight to settle my nerves anyhow. Toodles!

Sunday Scrambles

Over our Sunday breakfast scramble this morning, my husband asked: "So, are you documenting this?"

The answer was no. "Well, you should."

So here I am, documenting it. The names of the dishes are because my husband also insists on naming any meal I make that I don't follow a recipe for, in case in an alternate reality I were ever to open a restaurant I wouldn't need to decide names for anything. I just use whatever's in the fridge, so it's unlikely that I will ever duplicate these scrambles, but in the event that you want to, here's a list of the ingredients:

1/2: New Year's Scramble
Collard Greens, Black-eyed peas, garlic, onions, low-fat ham, 1/2 eggs, 1/2 egg whites

1/9: Clean Kitchen Scramble
yellow bell pepper, summer squash, onion, garlic, tomato, black-eyed peas, low-fat ham, half full eggs and half egg whites, topped with a little cheddar cheese. For the leftovers for my lunches through the week, I sauteed some spinach and mushrooms and added them in too.

1/16 Mexi-Cali Scramble
onions, green peppers, the last of the black-eyed peas, turkey, pico de gallo, green chilis, 1/2 eggs 1/2 egg whites, topped with the last of a jalapeno cheese ball that my neighbor brought over on New Year's Eve, fresh cilantro, sliced avocado and a dollop of sour cream

These were lovely healthy (more veggies than eggs and just a touch of cheese) breakfasts, and 7 eggs (3 full, 4 whites-only) plus the add-ins made 5 generous meals (feeding me and my husband on Sunday, and then 3 breakfasts for me through the week). I hope to make Sunday Scrambles a weekly tradition, and maybe in the future I'll start remembering to take pictures!

Are you my Twin? And other bits.

-- They changed the zodiac chart so I'm now Gemini. I'm not sure how I feel about this; on the one hand, people are always saying they know someone who looks like me. It really sucks for those who had their zodiac sign tattooed on themselves. The only one in my family who is what they used to be is Henry.

-- I like to say that the universe so didn't want my mom to have cancer that they changed my sign to Gemini.

-- What the heck is an Ophiuchus? You born between Nov. 29 and Dec. 17 will need to know this.

-- Yes. I realize that astrology is, um, "for entertainment purposes only".

-- Thursday morning I emailed Hubby that I wanted a shredder/grinder attachment set for my mixer for my birthday (you know, in July). I did this because he always tells me I never gave him any ideas for gifts. Two minutes later I get a "Happy birthday, baby!" email with a screen shot that it's been purchased. Six months early. Way to be proactive! Now what will I actually be getting for my birthday?

-- Have you seen this? Funny stuff.



-- I really hate when people who have always been one way drift away from me and then do a complete about-face with their personality. I'm not really explaining that right, but here's one example: I was with my ex-fiance for 3 years. In that time, which was the prime of my college experience, he disliked drinking, smoking, bars, and general shenanigans. I would not go so far as to say he forbid me from enjoying any of those things, but I didn't want him to be disappointed in me, so I abstained. A month after we broke up, he drunk dialed me. By 6 months later he was regularly throwing parties, drinking, smoking, and having all sorts of fun (note: I don't think all those things are great, but college is college) that I never got to have with him. Maybe we would have lasted longer if he didn't have that great big stick up his ass for so long.

-- The point of the above bullet was actually not about him. I really don't care and if we had lasted much longer, my Hubby and I may not have gotten together. But anyhow, my ex-best friend moved to Virginia. Now she's attending culinary school and cooking and doing all sorts of things that are completely out of character for how she was down here. I don't think it would bother me except she doesn't really talk to me anymore, and it was her damn fault we stopped being friends for so long that I both don't want to be the one to make all the effort and damn it, wish we were still good friends.

-- Why is it so hard to make friends as a grown up?

-- I'm officially running a 5k a month earlier than originally planned. January 30.

Counting calories

A friend gave me a recipe for chicken a couple weeks ago, but she prefaced by saying that it was delicious but very high calorie and could use a few substitutions. Challenge Accepted (channeling Barney Stinson).

Mission accomplished (channeling anyone except G.W.).

I don't know what the original dish tasted like, and I assume my version has a lighter flavor, but it was excellent. Verdict: yummy. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture, but it's one of those meals that is all the same color anyhow so it won't photograph near as good as it tastes. Trust me. If you need something easy, filling and tasty you should try this one out. 3-4 servings at 471-628 per serving. The new dish has 30% of the calories of the original, not accounting for serving differences (because I have no idea how many people the original fed).

Lighter Baked Poppyseed Chicken Spaghetti

8oz whole wheat linguine, cooked and drained
2 chicken breast, boiled and shredded
1 can cream of chicken
1 can water (chicken broth only adds 20-30 calories and would give a stronger flavor)
6oz nonfat plain yogurt (I used regular but greek would probably be better)
poppyseeds

mix all and place in 9x9 pan.

topping
1/2 sleeve whole wheat ritz, crushed
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
3 tbs butter, melted

Mix together and crumble on top of the casserole. Sprinkle with poppy seeds. Baked at 350 for 30 minutes until topping is browned and filling is bubbly.

Serve with a side of something green and steamed. hehe.