I think I have a Mom Crush

As I was looking for retro images for my last post I came across this blog:
The Woolly Mom

wool·ly adj. Mentally disorganized or unclear.

Love it! My new favorite word.

On page one, yes ONE, she discusses how to power nap with caffeine, includes a fab, funny retro pic; references The Match Game, Brady Bunch (with a youtube clip of the Silver Platters!!) AND The Golden Girls?!?

Off to make my pre-packaged Pumpkin Bread for tonight! ;)

For your viewing pleasure:

The Mom Bar

After I typed my title for this post, I realized it could go two different ways ;) But I'm talking about the Mommy Bar, like raising the bar. Comparing yourself to the Joneses. (But this magnet pic that graces my fridge, applies to both actually!)

I was talking to a friend and she mentioned reading my blog and said she couldn't believe how I had it all together. Wait, what? Me? Thankfully, her hubby said don't compare yourself, just do what you do. It seems like we, especially moms, compare what we are doing to other moms and rate how we are doing accordingly. It's sad really. I do it too though. We have a home-school co-op group that gets together and I always check my snacks/lunch. It's a very Green Group and crunchy. I love it because these moms expose me to so many different ideas- things I would never think about. But I always feel like I'm too "mainstream". My snacks aren't homemade, I bring juice boxes, plastic bottled water and ACK! processed food sometimes.

I was telling another mom in the group about how the Babe is all about running off and it terrifies me. I start the story with "so we were at Chick-Fil-A and she ran out of the bathroom when I was washing my hands and off she was! Straight out the door to the front counter!! The front counter!" Then I checked myself. oh no. She has no idea how far that is because she would never in her life eat at a fast food joint. Then I found myself making excuses for being at a Fast Food Restaurant in the first place. They really play area. It's hard being inside all day with the weather and all... My kids love cookies and junk, but they also know what moderation is (yes, we use that word) and how to balance junk food with healthy food. I'm okay with that, usually.

I really couldn't believe that someone was comparing themselves to me. I was totally flattered, but kind of floored. I feel totally overwhelmed, out of sync, and my house is always a mess. I never feel caught up. I will drop a day of cleaning in a nanosecond to play outside and enjoy the weather with my kids. I think I'm comfortable enough (not 100% yet) that I just try to get my priorities straight. My family happy, healthy and pretty well adjusted. I have my mommy meltdowns, but overall I know I'm a pretty good mom. Things that used to be much important to me, just aren't now. I put them on the back burner so to speak.

I try not to compare myself to other moms that I think are doing a better job than me. But instead look up to them and seek them for advice and get ideas. A mommy mentor I guess. There are sooo many talented moms. And we are all trying to do it all. Well, actually not anymore. Now that I have two kids, stay home with them and trying to home-school AND be healthier, I am NOT trying to do it all. I can't. I'll make my own playdoh, but buy a mix for the quick bread I need to bring to a pitch-in. Hang out Chick-Fil-A, but make my kids have the mandatory "At Least One Bite Rule". We'll run outside to enjoy the new snow, and then have hot chocolate and watch TV the rest of the day. I'm okay with that now. At least my 4 y.o. can write his name all by himself and my 2 y.o. potty trained herself in a matter of days. What can your kid do? ;) Just kidding.

We have total chaos in our house most of the time, dealing with what gets thrown our way- as we step over the dirty laundry to add a coffee mug to the pile o' dishes, still laughing from the ticklefest we just had. But that's what life is, isn't it? It's how we maneuver our way through the junk, find the fun, and ultimately what we do with it.

Wednesday Update

Wednesday Food Journal:

Food	Units
multigrain cheerios w/ blueberries, coffee	4.5
2 pizza sammies. these puppies are yummy! 3 clementines, diet green tea	6
2 banana muffins- 1 pt. each!!	2
oh and milk	2
aaaand one more muffin :)	1
baked catfish (w/this recipe http://tinyurl.com/2htrwx) green beans, cucumber, tomato, lf feta salad	5
loaded ice cream	2
Total:	22.5

Table provided by Roni's Food Tweet, Eat, Post Generator.

The Slacker Mom

That mom. That's who I've been. I can't deny it.

I put the TV on, left access to the old laptop that automatically fires up to noggin.com and offered to wii when requested. I was totally annoyed and stuffy. Cranky and not at all involved. The Yeller until my head felt like it would explode (about 2 seconds). Today I was determined to make up for being the slacker mom.

I felt a bunch better, not well, but better. I did laundry, cleaned the kitchen (a little) and then played with the kids. all day. We played princess barbies and Diego, some team player wii, built block hotels for the safari animals, read books. Snuck in a writting/reading lesson for BigBoy from 100EZ. Ran around in what little snow we had, made hot cocoa for the kids and even managed to make dinner. woo hoo! I rocked the mommy world today. And now I'm ready to crash. Give me a skinny cow, a Theraflu tea, and off I go to la la land.

My Chicken Kinda-Cacciatore was pretty good. Basically a bunch of chicken breasts, big can of crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, onion, garlic and Italian seasons thrown in the crock pot. The real recipe is in my two week meal plan. I wanted to add mushrooms, but we were out. served it over Spaghetti Squash and it was d'lish! The Babe was all over the squash, but of course BigBoy would have nothing to do with it after the mandetory One Bite Taster Rule.

I was going to add some cool new carb finds, but I'm fading. All Play and little work makes me one tired mom!

Food Journal:

Food	Units
soy "chicken" patty, sandwich thin bun, lc cheese, apple, diet coke	6
multigrain cheerios, coffee	4
chicken cacciatore, spag. squash, parm cheese. carrots ff dip.	7
skinny cow ice cream sandwich yuuum!	2
Total:	19

Table provided by Roni's Food Tweet, Eat, Post Generator.

just the facts

Still sick. quick food post:
Sunday's food

Food	Units
multigrain cheerios w/milk, lemon tea w/honey	3.5
2 pizza muffins	4
2 ww chocolate cake snacks, yogurt (sweet tooth anyone?)	3
still sick. santa fe chick soup, diced chicken.	5
4 chips rf chips ahoy w/ milk	6
Total:	21.5

Table provided by Roni's Food Tweet, Eat, Post Generator.

Saturday's Food Journal

Food	Units
nutrigrain waffles, 1 tsp. lt. butter, 2 tbl. maple syrup	4
coffee w/ milk, banana	2
lunch- progresso sante fe 1 pt. soup, diced chicken, handful of baby spinach	5
cinnamon toast	2
dinner- leftover smothered pork chops, green beans	6
Total:	19

Table provided by Roni's Food Tweet, Eat, Post Generator.

Sick Day.

I'm totally sick and flying solo so this is just to post my points.

Saturday's Food Journal

Food	Units
multigrain cheerios, blueberries & milk, coffee/milk	4.5
lunch out- crabcake sandwich, cup of soup, some chips (only ate about 1/4 of what was on my plate!), diet coke. this is a TOTAL guess	20
midday snack- mini turkey sammie lt. multigrain eng. muffin, lc cheese, spinach, turkey	2.5
sf hot cocoa	1
Total:	28

Table provided by Roni's Food Tweet, Eat, Post Generator.

I've got the power!

Do you remember this? C-an. If you have kids you NEED to check out the New Electric Company on PBS. IT ROCKS!! Seriously. Iknow, I know, it's not totally the same, but it was super fun watching it together. I taped it for BigBoy (who's almost 5) and he loved it. The music is fantastic. At one point he turned to me and see "Wow! He's a good singer mommy!"

I'm so happy they decided to bring back The Electric Company. I'm so over the crap we have on TV today that they pass off as "educational children's programs". BigBoy is finally getting into Seasame Street again- now that it's age appropriate. go figure. TEC is still a tad bit old for him, but we've been working on some reading skills, so he is excited about it. The music reminds me a lot of "Choo Choo Soul" on Disney- which I also love to listen to. (P.S. I love this pic because it also include Newark's Mayor Cory Booker. I've had a crush on him since I saw him on Oprah forever ago. Double bonus when I looked for TEC pics to use.)

Anyway, I promised myself this would be a quick post and I've gotten lost in watching videos on FB and Youtube. There are some critics saying it's not as good as the original (well hello, Bill Cosby, Morgan Freeman, Rita Moreno, Mel Brooks, Gene Wilder, the list goes on and on...) But fun music and interesting reading segments. I'm in!

If you ever dreamed of opening a door and yelling "HEEEEEY YOOOOOU GUUUUUYS!!!" (for me it was a dream of yelling this during a quiet class time), do yourself and your kid a favor and tivo/DVR this show. It's only on once a week, but I know we need to have it on tape cuz we will be watching it over and over. Get the Power!!

Rolling Stone Article

NYTimes Review

You Tube Results for Electric Company

Collection of videos on Facebook

I'm UP again! Well, actually down!

I'm back on track, and guess what?! I lost a pound from yesterday, even with my fatty cheeseburger. This is why I love WW. I was having an off day, was craving a burger and needed something easy since my plans went out the window (needed to get the car washed before freezing temps again today and I was flying solo). My body needed some protein and I listen, made a better choice in a not-not-so ideal situation and viola! I was rewarded. I've earmarked my points for lunch today with a friend, so we'll see what that does. But I'm totally not stressing. I need to be able to go "off program" so to speak and the weekly points let me choose how to do that.

Catch me I'm falling...

I know this is like, um, the NEXT day after all my great planning and talk about healthy eating but I took a little stumble off the wagon. But really, I'm not freaking out or hating myself. At the end the day, my "stumble" is still better than most typical non-WW days. I'm really only a few points over and I can steal from my weekly reserve. I'll post my journal later.

We had our homeschool co-op today and I usually take a lunch, but then the Babe decided to eat more than her share and of course I gave her some of my (perfectly portioned and calculated lunch). So I wound up hungry, the kids ran around a lot and were hungrier than usual and after naps wanted to snack all.day.long. It totally made me realize how important and good lunch is for me. And when the kids are snacking, I want to snack too. Thankfully I got some low point equivilants for the times they won't eat fruit or veggies and want my total fav- cheese and crackers. I think I many need to buy stock in Laughing Cow Spreadable Cheese. Here'a my free investment advice- find out what Weight Watchers are eating and buy that stock! I also found this great thread on snack ideas from, where else, Roni's Weigh.

Okay, wrapping up and here is my not-so-perfect food journal for Friday:

Food	Units
cheery breakfast w/blueberries, coffee & milk	4
lunch- chili, carrots, grapes	4
ww chocolate snack cake	1
no pudge brownie, light & fit yogurt	4
7 grain kashi crackers and laughing cow cheese wedge (i didn't eat enough at lunch and now i'm a snacking machine. ugh	3
the snack-a-rama continues... light multigrain english muffin with lc cheese	2
mickyd's cheeseburger	7health
Total:	25

(Flex Used: 3 WP Left: 22.5)

Table provided by Roni's Food Tweet, Eat, Post Generator.

Meal Plan- take I

I did this late in the week, so I started with Tuesday.

• Tuesday- Mini Meatball Subs, broccoli, sliced apples
• Wednesday- Turkey Chili w/ cornbread muffins (but didn't use the crockpot)
• Thursday- Smothered Pork Chops (I didn't use milk, added a can of mushroom pieces, pepper on the chops), roasted cauliflower. (I just tossed cauliflower with 4 tbls of Newmans Own Light Balsamic Dressing and 2 tbls parm cheese) Baked cinnamon apples for dessert
• Friday- Make your own pizzas, white bean dip, carrots
• Saturday- Mac n cheese (kids) Smart One's frozen dinner (me)
• Sunday- Ham Paninis ** Batch Baked Chicken for the week
• Monday-Chicken Cacciatori with spaghetti squash (how the heck do I cook this?)
• Tuesday- Baked Talapia, broc or green beans
• Wednesday- Chicken Caesar Salads w/ Baked Potatoes?
• Thursday- Bfast for dinner- Baked Eggs, fruit salad, cottage cheese
• Friday- Black Bean Soup (can't find this recipe right now.... will update later.)
• Saturday- Pasta- not sure what yet
• Sunday- Turkey Parmesan Meatloaf?

The Mad Planner

As many of you know, I'm a planner. I like lists, charts, spreadsheets, time lines, graphs- you name it- if it has numbers and lines, I on it. I also try to get a game plan when tackling new projects. I'm a visual person and need to see concrete items to make it real to me.

Now that we are on Weight Watchers (WW) I'm trying to be much better about meal planning. It's such a pain right now, because I need to find my system. The Husband and I are doing WW together at home with an online weigh in/support group. I figured I would start blogging my meal plans because it really helps me keep organized to have one spot I can always access with links. I'm such an internet geek (read: addict) that I figured this would be my best bet. I will also be posting my food journal here GASP! Public humiliation can be a very helpful tool!! But basically anyone who visits me here is on Facebook with me anyway. The more open I am about this, the better I will be about being honest about my journey (note: I do NOT say DIET. We are changing habits and learning to live a healthier -and longer- life with better choices.)

I've checked out many sites to help with meal planning. Remember, we are still do home pre-school too, so I am overwhelmed with various forms, charts, systems. I actually found this meal planning site Menus4moms, via a homeschool site, for moms trying to organize it all. This was a good start, but not always healthy options. I found some online forms that I liked, but needed something I could edit. I have spots for breakfast, lunch, dinner, notes and grocery items needed. If you are interested in something like this, drop me a line or comment. I'm shooting for a 2 week general plan with a real basic template to start with, focusing just on dinner and some lunches/snacks. If two things are listed, the first entry is week one, the other week 2 . These aren't the best options as far as "all natural", but it's good WW points-wise, which is a good start for me. I'll work on "more natural" later. Let's get dinner on the table and not blow our points!! ;)

My template looks something like this, and as always, things can change as needed.
Sunday- Batch cooking (ie baked chicken, meatballs) and leftovers
Monday- crock pot recipe
Tuesday- Fish
Wednesday- Breakfast for dinner/Ethnic (ie Mexican, Italian)
Thursday- Baked Meat/Big Salad
Friday- Soup (or fun family night like Pizza)
Saturday- Open

I also have bookmarks in delicious.com for homeschool and some recipes, so I want to get used to using that as a tool. It's sooo easy and great for finding things. I like it much better than regular ol' bookmarks, but I just forget about it.

I'm tracking food using this fantastic tool done by a weight loss/healthy eating blogger Roni at Ronisweigh.com . I loooove her site. She really encompasses everything I'm trying to do- and has a kiddo! It's called Tweet, Eat, Post! and uses Twitter.com

What I had today:

Food	Units
cheery breakfast w/ blueberries & coffee	5
lunch- 2 mini ham sammies (laughing cow cheese, lf mayo, light english muffins, costco ham w/spinach)	4
snack- 1/2 gala apple, string cheese, water	2.5
ww chocolate snack cake	1
dinner- smothered pork chops (w/mushroom sauce- 7ish), roasted cauliflower 1 pt.	8
dessert- cinnamon apples w/ 1/4 c ice cream	4
Total:	24.5

Table provided by Roni's Food Tweet, Eat, Post Generator.

(Flex Used today: 2.5 Weekly Allowance Left: 25.5)

Ch-ch-changes

I'm hopeful, excited and most importantly I'm INTERESTED. What a concept. Interested in my country's politics, who the players are and what the heck they are doing. I've never been so aware of national politics. Personally, that's the best part of this new era.

I'm watching Larry King Live (I know) and they showed a clip of a little girl with her grandfather. she was in a fury of excitement- talking a mile a minute, jumping up and down. Then the cut to the grandfather, a judge from Chicago. He talked about being a part of historical event, had marched with MLK Jr. and then started to cry about being in DC for Obama. THAT'S what gets me. This is real to me finally.

With the Babe and BigBoy being so young, there was only so much I could do to explain what was going on. Barack Obama is promising to be a good boss to the United States, our country. And Joe Biden is his assistant and he has to promise to do a good job too. But we made T-shirts and went on campus to see everything with a group of people. To see that this was larger than life, History. Not just something that was important to Mommy & Daddy. I love that the Babe was looking for "Bak Obama" after seeing him on the big screen and BigBoy thought Barack would like his shirt design. (The image posted here)

So this seems like a fitting time to start cracking on the NYTDL. Time for my own change. First official weigh-in is tomorrow. Be on the look out for posts about food and me salivating over it! ;)

Yes I can!

Here we are again at the new year. We are all looking back and making NY's resolutions, or not, but most of us are vowing to do something.

I try to make an annual To Do list. I am a list person. I like writing lists and reeeaaaallly like crossing things off my list. (I've even added things to a list after the fact, just so I can cross it off. It's a sickness, I know.) It makes me feel like a) I'll actually do it since it's in writing and b) like I accomplish something when I get to cross it off. Granted, my NY's To Do List (NYTDL) isn't the kind where I get to cross things off as I go, but you get the idea.

When I went out to visit my sister in NY last month we went to Sunday Mass at St. Monica's and it was really interesting. Beautiful church! The priest talked about making U-turns in our lives. He told a cute story about a husband and wife driving somewhere and the wife says to turn right (which of course is the correct way) but he turns left. When he realizes he is going the wrong way, he apoligizes. If he keeps going the same way, saying sorry doesn't cut it. He's still moving away from his destination. He needs to really re-group and make a U-Turn. So then we were left to ponder what U-turns we needed to make in our lives. By just recognizing that we weren't doing what we needed/wanted to do wasn't getting us any closer. We needed to fully turn things around. I guess my NYTDL is really a list of U-turns.

My NYTDL

• Last year was the start of the Year of Me, but then we moved and life got crazy again. I can build on that, maybe even get out the old Dream Board out again. ;) Overall theme is A Better Me and making myself a priority. I remember talking with one of my friends and we were discussing the "old me". We decided "She's just not around anymore." The fun, healthier, cooler version of ourselves. Where did she go? How do we find her? How do we get to hang out? I want her to come back, at least a little bit, into my daily life. I get that I am a Mom now, but I think the "old me" might be a more fun and a much cooler mom.
  
  
• Start Weight Watchers on Jan. 19. I'm close to my personal high again, I feel like crap, and basically uncomfortable in my own skin. I've been here before and then got to feeling my personal best (Wedding Day 03) so I know I can do it. This time around will be a bit harder since I have to juggle the kids into my workout schedule and meals, but I can totally do this and I deserve this. I'm going to try and do it with the husband and if that doesn't work for me, then I'm doing the full blown meetings. But I know what I need to do, I just need to get motivated to do it. As a reward, if I rock my WW world, I get a Wii Fit for my bday in April.
  
  
• Keeping in Touch. Relationships are such an important component in our lives. I found Oprah's show on the Blue Zones fascinating and social network was a huge part of living longer. Facebook has been fantastic for me in reconnecting with old friends. I love how easy it is. I need to take it to the next level and get my phone dates going again. I already took the first step and programmed all my girl friends' phone numbers into our HOME phone so when I have some downtime, I can just grab the phone and not have to search for my phone book/cell phone.
  
  
• Feeling Pretty. Not letting my haircut appointments lag so long, eyebrows, taking the extra time to do my makeup a little better, the little things that I slack on because I don't make it a priority. As my children would say, ME ME ME!
  
  
• Meal Plan. It's a pain (since it's not a habit yet) but I find when I actually plan out my meals, life is soooo much easier and we ate so much healthier. If I am on WW, this needs to be done anyway.
  
  
• Blog regularly. I love blogging and it makes my brain feel better. (And look, I've already started something on my list!!! Go Me!!)
  

That's about it for now. There's other stuff, but this is my starting list and I want to post....