Unrelated Thoughts

Hello!  Today marks day 10 of a little project Chad and I have challenged ourselves with.  We decided to try to go without grocery shopping as long as possible and eat up all of the odds and ends we have in our freezer, fridge and pantry.  The only exceptions are Charlotte and Howard supplies (and if things like toothpaste or toilet paper run out, because seriously, we're not Little House on the Prairie).  So far we have done well, but we have started to get a little bit creative.  Case in point--we've eaten most of the leftover, half-used boxes of pasta.  We still had a few lasagna noodles left, so I broke a few into smaller pieces and added some mixed vegetables I found in the freezer.  It was kind of weird, but not bad.  We're running dangerously low on milk, so I've been adding only enough to coat the flakes to my morning cereal.  I refuse to add water to cereal or eat it dry.  This could end up being a problem, as we have far more cereal than we do milk at this point.

Once everything is gone (or until we get to the point where all that's left to forage is a few tablespoons of hummus and some Chex mix) we're going to build our pantry back up with healthier staples and try to buy as much fresh fruits and vegetables as possible.  We want to try shopping less frequently for things that will last and make or prepare foods ahead of time and freeze.  We also plan to join a local CSA.  There's a place nearby called Dean's Greenhouse that has reasonably priced shares and runs from June 4-September 24.  We thought it would be a good way to eat better and will force us to try new recipes with what we have on hand.  We're going to start out with a half share this season and hopefully get a full share next year. 

The goal is to eat healthier and save money in the process.  I'm not one of those people who naturally craves fruits and vegetables.  I eat them and usually enjoy them, but it's an effort.  I'm hoping that doing this will help...but I remain skeptical.  I'm also hoping that this will finally take care of the last of this baby weight.  I dropped a lot of right after I had her and then assumed the rest would magically follow suit.  Not so.  Gone are the days where adding a few extra minutes on the elliptical and eating a smaller dinner would guarantee better fitting jeans by the weekend.  I am determined to fit comfortably back into my pre-baby jeans by her first birthday.  Keyword = comfortably.  I am committing this to writing so that I can A) refer back in times of need (in other words, always) and B) to help hold myself accountable.  Wish me luck.

Speaking of losing baby weight, I was grabbing coffee this morning and a new-ish mom walked in with her baby boy, who appeared to be about 2-3 months old.  She was either on her way to or had just come from the gym and was wearing black Spandex pants and a matching jacket.  The jacket was open in front, and all she had on underneath was a sports bra and washboard abs.  I instantly disliked her.  Not only did she look like a supermodel after just having a baby, but she flaunted it in a coffee shop when it was 38 degrees and snowing outside.  I felt bad about judging her based on this and was scolding myself (silently) on my way out the door.  Then I saw her honk at an elderly woman who was about to cross the street and I decided that going with my gut feeling was right after all.

Here are some other unrelated thoughts I have to share:

I didn't have any coffee yesterday, something I haven't done since I was pregnant.  By the end of the day, I had a splitting headache.  My first thought should have been Maybe I should stop drinking coffee everyday so this doesn't happen but my actual thought was Let's make sure this never happens again by never skipping coffee.  Ever.  It's a good thing I've never done drugs.

Courtesy of healblog.net

I lied to a librarian a couple weeks ago, which I am not proud of.  Allow me to explain.  I decided to take Charlotte to this storytime group at the library designed for kids under 18 months old.  I thought it would just be a librarian reading a story or two and then we'd all be on our merry way.  Not so.  I'm shy when it comes to large groups of people I don't know, so just going to this event in the first place was impressive.  It started out fine--a couple stories, some rhyming, even a song.  Then we all were asked to sing along with these nursery rhymes, following the lead of the librarian.  Ok, not what I expected and a little uncomfortable but I went with it.  Then, just as I thought it was over and stood to gather my belongings, the librarian grabbed a big basket of tambourines to pass out for a sing-a-long where the parents sang and played the instrument for our kids, then they followed suit on the next round.  I was a good sport up until this point and had already stretched waaaay beyond my comfort zone.  I'm not saying I would never play along with this, but I need to approach group tambourine playing/singing with strangers with baby steps and ample notice.  When she got to me, I told her we needed to sneak out early and pointed to Charlotte's diaper.  Yep, that's right.  I pretended my baby needed a diaper change to avoid the musical instrument performance.  On the way out I made sure to whisper to Charlotte "See what Mommy did?  She fibbed.  That's not nice."  I like to provide real-life examples.

Courtesy of ethnicmusicalinstruments.com

 It's kind of windy and snowy/rainy out today, so I hid Howard's Frisbee so he wouldn't see it and want to play.  I felt bad when he ran outside looking for it, but I felt less bad when he forgot about it 4 seconds later and came inside without wet fur or muddy paws.

So that wraps up one of the most random posts ever.  I hope you're having a lovely week so far :)

~Stacy