Meal Plan Monday!

Howdy there!  Last week I decided to go on an impromptu blogging spring break.  To be honest I was just mentally exhausted.  Between working long days to account for time away from work at doctor’s appointments the last few weeks, and helping make house related decisions, I really enjoyed “unplugging” and just enjoying my evenings at home.  I didn’t even meal plan last week, which resulted in us eating take out twice, something that is practically unheard of in our house!

I did; however, help Aaron with the install of our grey water recycling system, hike to the top of Mt. San Miguel, start the #100HappyDays challenge on Instagram, and made overnight crock pot steel cut oatmeal for the first time!  I also read from a few books on this whole being a parent thing and we briefly looked at furniture for the guest baby’s room(Aaron still has to correct me).

The pipes in these ditches will take the grey water from our washing machine out to our garden so we can use it to water plants in the ground!

This rock was not even close to the top of the hike.  Lies.  All lies.

View from the top of the hike!

Day 9 from #100happydays

I’m excited to have a week of somewhat normalcy where my work hours are the usual and our meals are planned for the week.  As nice as a week of “winging it” can be, I do enjoy the littlest bit of structure even if it is only knowing what I’ll be cooking for dinner each night.

And with that, here’s what is on our menu this week:

Monday: Rotisserie Chicken (I buy these cooked from the store.  I’m still terrified of touching a raw chicken.  I can just smell the germs now) with Baked Potatoes and Green Salad

Tuesday: Organic Artichoke Ravioli (store bought) with Green Salad

Wednesday: Breakfast for Dinner.  Some variation of Eggs with Turkey Bacon and Watermelon cubes

Thursday: Chicken Stir Fry from Skinnytaste.com

Friday: Veggie Burgers and Sweet Potato Fries

And if you are having a Monday like mine, because you were wide awake from 2AM-4AM, here is a song that will get stuck in your head and make you forget that you didn’t sleep last night. Happy Monday!

High Five for Friday!

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.

She had so many children, she didn't know what to do.

She gave them some broth without any bread;

And whipped them all soundly and put them to bed

Happy Friday friends! It's been a busy and exciting week around here.  We entered the second trimester of pregnancy, my oldest brother became Captain at his fire station (so happy/proud/excited for him) and Spring is here and was right on time for the hatching of 9 baby ducks in our courtyard!   

I’m jumping pretty quickly into my high five of the week because as I write this on Thursday night, it’s approaching 11pm and I need to be back at work in ohhhhhh, eight hours to film a training video.

Linking up with Lauren:

1)      Celebrating Aaron’s birthday the best way I know how, with homemade raspberry cheesecake cupcakes……and Apple TV and Sperrys…….. Duh!  Happy Birthday Husband!  If we were the mushy type I’d go into how wonderful he is and how much I love him and blah blah blah here…..but we’re not like that :)

2)      Whole Foods Salad bar for dinner. Can’t stop, won’t stop.  At least it’s only been a twice a month habit. 

3)      But then I had to teach Aaron about Whole Foods and their wide variety of macaroons too….

4)      Marley eyeballing her next favorite pair of shoes.  I kid you not, 10 minutes after Aaron took these off of his feet she was carrying one around the house.  She never chews them.  Just carries and hoards them on her bed.

5)      We have finally come up with a landscape design for our front yard that includes a composite deck, pavers and the oh so coveted lawn.  This is huge.  We always knew landscaping would come after the interior remolding of our house was complete, so 2.5 years later we finally get to move outside.  Since our summer and fall evenings are so nice I’m really looking forward to having a space where we can spend time outdoors.  That and the fact that the amount of dust we’ll have should be cut down by about 75%!

I hope you’ve had a wonderful week!  I’m not entirely sure what the weekend has in store for me but it is supposed to be much cooler than last weekend and I’m excited about that! Have a great weekend.

Baby B: 13 Weeks

Symptoms: I'm still pretty tired these days but I'm looking forward to having more energy as we get further into the 2nd trimester.  I also feel nauseous if I eat too much, and by too much I mean a regular pre-pregnancy portion. I've definitely adopted the multiple small meals a day lifestyle as of late.  Also, I can smell pretty much anything within a 100 yard radius.  That can make roaming the office halls around lunchtime......interesting.

Food Aversions: Scrambled eggs, sweets and coffee. Just the smell of coffee used to be torture but that aversion has eased up a bit.

Sleep: When possible I've been sleeping 8-9 hours a night. That's hard to do during the week and even more difficult when you have to use the restroom multiple times a night.  You're supposed to get decent rest and drink plenty of water. That's a very fine line to balance my friends. And the dreams. The dreams have been crazy. Like, Wilie Nelson dressed as the grim reaper trying to sell me knives through our kitchen window weird and testing paint chips at Home Depot with my elementary school bus driver Miss Terri weird and a very pregnant me drinking a Corona during summer and wondering why everyone is looking at me kind of weird.

Weight: Funny fact, I've actually never owned a scale. Never. I don't believe in them but if you know my views on body image you probably aren't surprised. I feel like if you are eating healthy, exercising regularly and your clothes still fit, there's no need to fixate on a number. Now that I'm pregnant, I've bought my first scale ever.  The husband is excited about this.  Why I haven't a clue since the string bean hasn't gained a single pound in the five years we've been together but hey, at least someone is excited about it!  It still feels very odd to have a scale in the house and I'll honestly probably put it in the garage sale pile after the baby gets here. However, I understand how important proper weigh gain is during pregnancy so I figure being consciously aware of how this is happening wouldn't be a bad thing.. We'll see if I actually use it ;) All of that said, I haven't gained a pound yet. Not really surprised since my clothes still fit, just differently since my body is changing of course. They say that's not unusual for the first trimester so I'm not too concerned about it.

Stretch Marks: None as of now!

Miss Anything: I miss caffeine. Even though coffee makes me want to lose my breakfast, I still miss enjoying a cup on Saturday mornings or at my desk during the week. I've never been much of a social drinker but I think I'll miss enjoying a cold beer with friends when we head out to the river for Aaron's dad's birthday.  I also miss sushi but I've been making my own vegetarian rolls at home and they'll do for now. Just to be clear, missing these things is SO worth it!

Belly Button In/Out: In

New Baby Items: Does the scale count? If not then we have nothing new yet. We found some neutral bedding we really like, here and here, but we probably won't buy anything until after we find out the baby's gender in a few weeks!

Gender Guess: The family is about split down the middle on whether or not they think peanut head is a boy or a girl.  The only dream I've had regarding gender was one in which a nurse explicitly told me the baby was a girl, but then tried to back track when she realized I wanted Aaron and I to find out together and he wasn't there.  Prior to that I had a feeling it was a boy based on nothing in particular.  Honestly I no longer have any intuition as to what the gender is but I'm so excited to find out what we'll be having so that I can stop referring to him/her as "IT".   

Meal Plan Monday!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  I will be passing on the green beers this year for obvious reasons but I do have corned beef and cabbage in the crock pot for dinner.  As promised, I gave into the weather and did all I could to enjoy the slight heat wave we had.  Sunday was particularly productive and included baths for both of the girls, a deep spring clean of our house (we're talking washing windows/window sills/ curtains etc) and I also made some cookies for Aaron to take to work for good measure.

If I must clean the windows, I can at least appreciate the fact that we have the most awesome and easy windows to clean that have ever existed.  You just fold them down, clean the outside, then fold them back up, and clean the inside.  So simple.

I hope your weekend was wonderful.  If you were buried under snow, I’m sorry.  Spring arrives on Thursday so hopefully that will bring you some relief!

We're eating simple again this week because I'm putting in a few longer days in order to work a 1/2 day on Friday. Here’s what’s on the menu:

Monday: Corned Beef and Cabbage in the Crock Pot

Tuesday: Veggie Burgers and Sweet Potato Fries (we didn’t get to this last week).

Wednesday:  Trader Joe’s Stuffed Pasta Shells in Marinara Sauce with side salads.

Thursday: Grilled Lemon Chicken over Greek Salad

Friday: It is a very special someone’s birthday in our house so we’ll be having whatever his birthday meal request is :)  If you aren’t sure who I’m referring to you can read about that someone on this birthday post from last year.

Happy Monday!

High Five for Friday!

Welcome to Friday friends!  As predicted this has been a very long week and I am certainly looking forward to the weekend.  Linking up with Lauren for my High Five of the week:

1) We got to see the little peanut head again this week.  We were referred out to a specialist for some genetic and anatomical testing (standard for my doctor as long as insurance covers it).  The measurements we needed were difficult to get because I have a tilted uterus, and because baby was comfortably napping with their legs crossed, but after about 45 minutes we were done.  All tests came back negative so there’s a 95% chance our child will not have down syndrome or trisomy 18.  Baby B. is also measuring exactly on schedule for our due date which is always reassuring. Happy dance!  

2) These two.  Really?  In the last week Marley seems to have reverted back to puppyhood.  If I’m missing a sock or a shoe, odds are I’ll find it snuggled up with a sleeping Marley.  She is quite the character.

3) At Saturday’s dinner for my dad’s birthday, my sister-in-law brought over a gift for the baby.  Our niece has a matching shirt that says, “Big Cousin” and she was SO proud and excited to unzipp her jacket and show it off to everyone.  We laugh because she probably doesn’t quite know what it means but regardless she knows it’s something to be proud of and excited for. Love.

4) On Tuesday I grabbed dinner with a girlfriend at this place called the Kebab Shop who serves Mediterranean Food.  I had a döner which, to me was a gyro/burrito type combo and was delicious.  Their portions are generous, the staff was friendly and the service was quick.  I’d likely go back and would recommend you try them if you’re in the San Diego area.  Ironically enough the food delivery service at my office ordered from the same place for Thursday’s lunch but I passed on an order.  I'm holding out for Tender Greens.

5) Banana Republic Factory stores are having their 40% off your entire purchase sale (with coupon) this weekend.  I want so badly to go but it’s very hard to shop when you can’t tell how your body is going to change.  Perhaps I can find a forgiving dress or two that I can grow with.  It’s just too big of a deal to pass up entirely.  Want a 40% off coupon?  Leave your email in the comments and I'll send one your way :)

I'm looking forward to relaxing this weekend and maybe even enjoying this bit of warm weather.  It's no secret that I despise the summer like temps we've had since Christmas but I guess, when in Rome?

How was your week?

Have a wonderful weekend!

Meal Plan Monday!

Hi there!  Sorry I missed you on Friday, this whole time change had me messed up before it even arrived apparently.  How was your weekend?  Mine was great, thanks for asking.

It started out with lunch from Whole Foods which included this tasty El Spicy Rabbit juice:

I’m glad the one near my work is such a PITA to get to otherwise I’d spend more money at their juice and salad bars than a caffeine addict spends on their twice a day Starbucks habit.  And since they were on super sale (yes those DO exist at Whole Foods…..sometimes) I picked up some tulips.  They’re my favorite so how could I not.

We also spent some time throwing around boy names with my sister.  Seriously, naming a child is very difficult.  We’ve been set on a Girl name for a while.  That one was easy.  It just came to us, we both loved it, and that was that.  So if it is a girl, we’re set.  Boy name, not so much.  I think I’ve been waiting to have the same feeling about a boy name as I did with our girl name and I just haven’t yet. 

On Saturday we got our taxes done and had dinner with my family at our house to celebrate my Dad’s birthday.  In all honesty the tax appointment was painless.  Gathering all of our paper work to take to a new CPA was another story but alas, we survived.  

I spent a majority of Sunday trying to get ready for a busy week.  We have an appointment on Wednesday so I’ll be working long hours the rest of the week to cover the time I’ll be gone.  It’s an awesome benefit but also makes for VERY long days.  That being said, I tried to keep dinners quick and simple because most nights I won’t be home until a few hours after the husband.  This way he can either get things started for me or dinner will already be cooked and he can just come home and enjoy.  The meal prep (with shopping) takes at least ½ of my day but makes the entire week easier on everyone.  

Here’s what’s on our menu:

Monday:  Root beer Pulled Pork Sandwiches (minus liquid smoke) with Cole Slaw

Tuesday: Left Overs because our fridge is full of them!

Wednesday: Calzones and Green Salad ( I don’t follow a recipe but you can’t go wrong with The Pioneer Woman)

Thursday: Taco Salads with Seasoned Ground Turkey (minus cilantro because it tastes like soap to me)

Friday: Veggie Burgers (from Costco) and Sweet Potato Fries

And for those of you suffering from post time change brain, a tune that will get stuck in your head:

 Churchill: Change (iPhone Friendly)

Happy Monday!

Shouting From the Social Media Rooftops

So I had this whole post ready for today. I read it and re-read it debating on whether or not I would let it go live.  I let the husband read it.  He encouraged me to let it post.  I wanted to but instead I made tons of edits and am letting an abbreviated version of the post go live instead.

This was the gist of it:

Source

Source

Source

And this is where setting the record straight comes in to play.  There’s this perception, amongst social media mainly, that in order for you to show support and love for your spouse or any family member really, that you must shout it from the social media rooftops.  And I’m not talking about the birthday, anniversary, wedding day, birth of a child shout out where you really do want everyone to know how happy or proud you are.  I’m talking about the once or twice a week posters.  Scroll through your newsfeed, you’ll see them.  

Insert long detailed paragraph about the things I could post that would fall into this perception and why I choose not to here.  Left out because likely someone would inevitably be offended if they aren’t already. Some people might argue that these posts aren't anyone's business but really,  if you put it online, you make it everyone's business.

In our house we’re different.

Instead of blasting our support/love/pride on social media every other day, we tell each other over the phone or face to face.  You know, like my grandparents who are still married after 73 years did and still do.  Maybe we’re just that old fashion, or maybe we’re behind the times.  I suppose it all comes down to me just really hoping that the people who are guilty of this tell their spouses and loved ones how much they love them as often as they tell their social media followers.  Because really, your 481 Facebook followers aren’t the ones who matter.

End rant.