Tag.. I'm It!

Happy Sunday night all! How are you lovelies? I'm doing ok, this is just a quick Sunday night post- thanks for listening to me rant by the way lol, even though I don't think I really had a huge point, it was good to get the question out there. So thanks for all your comments!

I got tagged/awarded in two different awardy-thingies! By the LOVELY AND AMAZING ANDY AND CHRISTINA! Thank you girlies!! *hugs*

1. Where was your first kiss?
I can't remember! Oh my!
2. What are you feeling right now this very moment?
Kinda tired!
3. If you could fly, but had to leave everything behind, would you? only if I could strap the Peanut and Joanna on my back!
4. What color are your socks?
barefoot right now!
5. Do you have a morning routine? What is it? 5:45 get up, 6-6:40 am workout, 6:50 shower, 7:15-7:30 chase the Peanut around to get her ready for school, 7:40 leave for work! same routine.. every darn day!
6. If the world was going to end tomorrow, how would you spend today?
in bed with my hubby!
7. What is your favorite thing about yourself?
my eyes... by far! oh and my tattoos
8. What is your favorite quality in others? i love how insightful bloggies are.. beautiful words, amazing stories, I'm so inspired by them!
9. What is the scariest thing you've encountered?
I got lost in Ocean City, MD when I was 9- it was SOOOOOOOOOOO scary!!
10. When do you feel alive? when I'm dancing...


The Kreativ Blogger Award Rules:

1. Post the award.
2. Thank and mention the person who gave you the award.
3. Pass the award on to seven blogs who you think embody the spirit of the Kreativ Blogger Award.
4. Name seven things about yourself that others don't know.
5. Don't forget to notify your seven Bloggers about their award and post a link to their blog.

Well, I don't have the badge that goes with this.. for some reason I can't "see" the picture? So we'll have to make do, or if someone has it and wants to send it to me? Anyone? *cricket**cricket*
I'm supposed to post 7 Things about me that NO ONE knows! Gee, this is HARD to DO- but I will give it a go!

1. Today my mother freely admitted that if my older sister was not there to help, she was not sure she would have been able to tell me and my twin sister apart... EVER.
2. I have five big scars on my chest and stomach- three are from a hernia surgery and the two on my chest are from a biopsy of a growth I had on my chest. Gross huh? I thought so too, so I usually tell people I got stabbed in a bar fight. ; )
3. I cry when I watch Criminal Minds. Then I have nightmares!
4. I don't really like mainstream novels, I prefer Christian Romance novels. All the sap, none of the sex. I'm not having any - why would I want to read about it??
5. I love reality TV, especially the random shows like Food Wars and anything about luxury homes and vacations
6. I spontaneously break out into song. I. Am. My. Mother. ARGH!!!!
7. Whenever I watch music videos I am disappointed because I KNOW if I were the director/producer, it would have been SO MUCH better!


So now I have to tag people for BOTH awards. Hmmmmmm, so many people to pick from!!

Hang tight dears... I'll go back to that tomorrow! I have to also think of some funky questions to ask people as well for the award from Andy. I'll let you all sweat it out...

This is like waiting for the results of the Peanut's science fair.. nail chewing...hair twirling... nervous pacing.. OH btw- she got 3rd place for her science project - so the wait for the results is OVA. Congrats to my baby- she's so smart!

I'll see you all tomorrow!

What Goes In...

Hi everyone!!! How's it going? It's going over here I think! BTW- thank you SOOOO much for all your comments on my last post- I'm so happy to be a part of the lovely blogging community!!! : )

Not too much is happening in my neck of the woods- we've had a couple of great days weather-wise and now it is back to "normal" for spring time here. I think. Chilly, rainy, and dreary. Oh how the rain brings down my mood!!!!! Does that happen to anyone else? I don't get grumpy- just blah!

Well like I said, there isn't too much going on here you know? But I have some stuff to share.. so let's start at the very beginning, a VERY good place to start!
(anyone??? you know that??)

There was a hearty discussion going on over there at Hangry Pants with Heather regarding school lunches and who is ultimately responsible for providing healthy school lunches for children and what really is the defintion of a healthy school lunch. For me? It all starts at home! I feel like for the most part, we food bloggers are in an elite group for knowing what is "healthy" and what is considered "junk" for kids. However, there are parents who WANT to provide healthy lunches and foods for their kids and can't really afford to.. whether that's because the food budget doesn't allow for it or there are many mouths too feed and not enough to go around. It IS cheaper to buy a bag of Dorititos than a bag of Cinnamon Apple Chips. It IS cheaper to buy a box Stop & Shop dino shaped chicken nuggets than a box of Cascadian Farms chicken breasts. Reading about the school lunches on Heather's site made me remember about how when I was growing up, we got free lunches because my father was either un-employed or under-employed for a huge chunk of time. With four kids to feed, mac& cheese and cereal were staples in our diets. It's also where my disordered thoughts about food started kicking in. A portion of my Advanced Placement Chemistry class was spent learning about nutrition (I guess my teacher thought we should know about it? I have no clue why we did this..) and we measured calories in food. Suddenly I knew how many calories were in that free calzone I was eating. The tater tots. The nachos with nasty orange cheese. Gross. Me. Out. And I started obsessing over everything that went in my mouth. I gave away half my food and only drank skim milk and ate the piece of fruit that came with the lunch. I lost a good 15 pounds in a very short amount of time. I brushed it off as "growing into myself" but inside I was panicking... how could my mom let us eat this crap??? Why were we eating this crap??
I don't believe we had much of a choice. It was a financial burden lifted not to have to get four lunches together everyday and only having to worry about dinner.

Being a single mom myself when the Peanut was in school I had the chance to apply for free lunches for her and I chose not to. Instead I added money to her account and everytime she got a lunch menu, we picked four days where she could buy lunch and that was it. Does it suck trying to make sure I have enough money for breakfast lunch and dinner for her and myself? Yup- especially because she's a pretty picky eater! Have you ever met a kid who doesn't like bread? Well, if you have met the Peanut, that's her! Won't touch a sandwich! But we've made it work and although I feel guilty sometimes because she has the SAME lunches almost every day- it's the best we can do for now!
here is a peek inside the Peanut's lunch bag..

Crackers, cheese, ham rolled up. Yogurt, fruit, and some goldfish! Yummy!
The Peanut's digestive system does a whole lot better with out a ton of wheat and processed foods. Did you know that? She is the first person I know who functions much better on an organic diet! ; )
I think we would all function better on an all organic diet.. haha! But on pay-days, that's when we get the "good stuff" and in between, we get the cheap stuff. Pick your battles folks! So did my long-winded post have a point? Maybe not, but I needed a story behind why I took a picture of her lunch box. Ha!

Seriously though, anyone care to jump in the discussion about where nutrition starts? Home or school? Parents should be teaching about nutrition or leave it up to health class and after school trips to Dairy Queen?

Well that's all for now dears.. I have a ton of other things to talk about, but I'm planning to do a weekend post as well, so look out for that! And TONIGHT I'll break the computer out at home and get officially caught up on everything! I know Christina left me an award a while back.. so I have to put that up. And I have a couple of funny stories from this week as well.. I didn't want to stuff it into ONE post..

Easter And Exhaustion

Hello dear ones.. it's Tuesday and I seemed to have missed my usual Saturday and Monday post. I am so sorry! I've been a little "unplugged" from the world lately. I'm just really tired all of a sudden! Bed time is creeping in earlier and earlier- which might not be a bad thing! But who knows why...

So Easter weekend you say? What did we do? Well, alot happened! First of all on Saturday, the Peanut got to go to the zoo with her Aunties and my nephew Caiden! Lucky!!!! She had a blast and didn't come home until about 8 that night. Party ANIMAL! What did I do while she was gone? I went to a salsa workshop with my dance class in Cranston. As you remember last week we had the "Historic Flooding" here in Rhode Island and the dance studio we went to was literally a stone's throw away from the Pawtuxet river. Brilliant! I got a couple of good pics of the roaring river.. Still going strong!


This place caught my eye though... soft serve!!!!! Yummy!

The class was absolutely AMAZING! Well worth the extra money to go and spend a beautiful afternoon inside for! I loved it and learned A LOT! I also appreciated how confident my dance teacher is in my dance skills- I'm only in the second level for dance class now and when it came time to split up into "beginner/intermediate" (my level) and "intermediate/advanced" (ummmm not me!) he made me go into the advanced class. Ego boost! It was a little harder, but I worked my tail off and did it. Good stuff you know?
So I don't know if you guys may know, but the last couple of weeks have been rough food-wise for me. I've had to talk myself into eating a lot of times and working out like a looney some days. Not cool. I'm a work in progress though I think and some days are better than others. Well anyway- I considered Saturday after class a success because I managed to talk myself INTO (and not out of) having soft serve frozen yogurt. With chocolate sprinkles. All while day-dreaming by the Pawtuxet. It is a small success, but because I can't remember the last time I let myself indulge like that- it's a good one. Baby steps my friends.. I told my C about it, who said I needed to have six more. He thinks I'm too skinny.. lol

So Easter came and so did the Easter bunny! I forgot to take a picture of what he brought the Peanut, but he brought me Starburst jelly beans! I love those things! Oh "Easter bunny" knows me so well!
But here we are in all our fancy dolled up glory! (please ignore my extreme whiteness- mama needs to lay out!!!)

It was the usual routine for Easter- church, food, egg hunt.. and nap time!
I made a lovely lovely dish that I borrowed from Christina (thanks girl!)- a polenta lasagna. I made mine with ground chicken, polenta rounds, Muir Glen marinara sauce, and "rice mozzarella cheese". I sprinkled nutritional yeast over the top of it and baked away. This is pretty simple to make I gotta tell ya! On Saturday I sauteed the polenta rounds and browned the chicken and set it aside. Then on Sunday I layered the ingredients. And baked it. Wow. So intensely hard!!!! Ha!
Here is a picture of it uncooked. I forgot to take a picture of it cooked!

EVERYONE loved it! I was as surprised as my mother was! I think the key thing was, I didn't mention the fact that the cheese was not "real" cheese. :) No one noticed. Shhhhhhh!!!! I thought it was amazing! The "cheese" melted like it was supposed to and did not taste fake at all. GOOD DEAL! Adding this one to my permanent recipe book in my head!
I did have to buy that cheese at Whole Foods though (argh- so expensive!) I also bought some Amazing Grass products to try at the same time.. only becuase I came across a blog post of Christina's (girl I blogger-creeped you this weekend..) where she mentions that Amazing Grass has all but rid her of chronic headaches. If you know me, I always have a freakin' head ache. So I got some to sample see if I liked it enough to buy it on a regular basis.


I tried this bar yesterday afternoon. Despite its questionable looks and odd taste at times, it was quite delicious. And the best part was it kept me full for hours- which is completely weird. I eat like a cat- only a little bit at a time and I eat something almost every couple of hours. I think my metabolism is all out of whack though because no matter what kind of meal I eat, I'm hungry again three hours later- whether it's a huge burger and fries or it's a yogurt sprinkled with granola. Strange! But anyway- although the taste was a bit weird for me- I kinda liked it! It wasn't too bad! I have some of the chocolate "amazing meal" stuff so I'll give that a whirl sometime this week as well.

Well anyway, I have to get back to work. You know, so I can do. Work. *gasp*

I'll be catching up on your blogs soooooooooon. Tomorrow night probably- I have dance class TONIGHT! Whoooooo!

Rock The Boat

Happy hump day everyone!

So who's been watching the news about New England lately? Can you see the insanity that is Rhode Island? We are literally floating away over here! Let's go for a round-up in what's happening. My boss and two of my co-workers live in Fall River, Dartmouth, and Assonet. All three towns are completely closed and drowning. No way in, and hardly ANY way out! My sister lives in West Warwick. Right on the Pawtuxet River. Her neighborhood was evacuated immediately due to the imminent flood waters coming. Her boyfriend stayed behind; presumably with a six pack and some friends- and a canoe to pump water out of the house! Crazy right?! Well, as you know I said in my last post that we were lucky that we escaped all the flood waters because, well my house is on a slight hill and we typically don't get alot of "flooding" in our area.

Check this out!!!!

That is my backyard!!!! Holy crap!

The water was being pumped out of our basement over here...

Isn't that crazy? My dad built a "trench" for the water to flow down and around the shed in the backyard. He's so crafty... lol

Tomorrow I have to head to Cranston, RI- which, if you have seen the news is the hardest hit city in all this. I'm hoping I can get there in under 3 hours, because they closed ALL major routes going in and out of Cranston! Every back road is a "minor" route which is also closed. Go figure! Cross your fingers for me!!!

Hey.. I actually cooked tonight! Can you believe it? I feel so lost in the kitchen lately! Tonight's dish featured these ingredients.. I've never tried Red Quinoa before and I was pleasently surprised at how chewy it was, but it was awesome. I liked it.. : )


I added corn, broccoli, tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, garlic salt, and pepper, and SHRIMP... it was meh. I liked it but it was forgettable. Sad really. Don't try to make it ok? It will tide me over for a few meals though.. lol


Well, since we are still recovering from the great flood, I'm not sure what we are up to this weekend! I have a salsa workshop to go to, but it's in Cranston (aka. flood city..) so I'm not sure if everything will be cleaned up or not yet!

So, cross your fingers for me twice!!!! Happy Easter to all of you! I have a couple of menu ideas for my own dinner- as my big Italian family *loves* to make things I can't eat! Dang it!!

Way Back In The Day...

Oh man, I wish I could say it is a Happy Monday like I usually do- but sadly, I don't think it is! At least in NE, it's cold, miserable, and POURING. I'm glad that my house is not in a low-lying area, otherwise we would be piling up sandbags and moving everything from the basement...like other people in my area have had to do. There is seriously THAT much rain!

I'm here at work though, waiting for 5 p.m. to roll around. I feel like I was just here..

Ok, so what did I do over the weekend? I know, you are waiting with bated breath... well I had my niece over and we went to see a show together on Sunday! Yay! But first, I wanted to tell Katie that I tried one of the Gardein "meals"... she LOVES these and when I saw them in Whole Foods you know I grabbed one up!



Can you tell I hated it????
I know these little buggers contain wheat and I thought I would report that this - was worth the headache later on that night! It tasted SOOOOOOOO good! I loved it! It won't be an all the time thing (because they contain wheat and that gives me a big headache)- but definitely a treat! YUM! Yay for Katie for turning me onto these babies!
OK- so the show!
It was at my dad's theatre- yes my DAD'S. He is the President of a Theatre company in town and a few times a year they put on these awesome shows in their new "space". This was my first time going to a show here and it did NOT let me down! Here we/they are before the show! They complained because the sun was in their eyes.. haha.


Here was the show.. all about a 1940's Radio Show, set right around Christmas time.. so cool! The music was great, acting was amazing! Loved it!



Anyway, that about rounds up the weekend. I hope everyone had an AWESOME ONE! I know once I got out of work on Saturday mine went by SO FAST! I can't wait to be able to sleep in this coming Saturday. Easter weekend, no skating, no work, no NOTHING! Yay!

Hope everyone has a great Monday- stay dry if you are in NE!!

Much Ado About Nothing

Ohhhhhhhhh Happy Friday!
I am sooooo glad it's Friday! Can you tell? But let's not get overly excited here, I don't have a great weekend planned so far! I am still waiting to hear if I have to go into work tomorrow or not. I am stuck here until 6 pm already tonight (OT though.. so I'll stay all night if I have to); but I don't know about tomorrow morning. I don't want to miss the Peanut's last skating lesson, but if I must make the big bucks, I must come in and work!

So far, I have literally been twiddling my thumbs all day today- so the idea of coming into the office tomorrow in my pjs and twiddling my thumbs (blogging, reading, etc.) totally appeals to me. Free coffee? Free donuts? Paid double time? I'm in!

Well last night the Peanut had a science fair. Remember the science project we were working on? Well, it didn't work out! We had to go to Plan B. Instead of growing bacteria in food and watching fuzz grow, we got no results and decided to change it at the last second! But it all worked out I think!

She did a project about Motion and Force- it was so cute! I filmed her and my niece rollerskating last weekend and then she did a Power Point presentation on what motion and force are. It was awesome. I can't believe at 7 she knows how to do full on PP stuff- I'm SURE NONE OF US at the age of 7 could do that kind of stuff on the computer. I don't even think Oregon Trail was out when I was 7- and that was the first computer game I had as a kid. Think I was still playing pac-man on those Apple dinosaurs. Haha! Anyway, here are a few shots of the night.



Look in this picture.. all the way to the right, HOT DAD alert! WOWOWOWOW!!!

I tried to get a picture from the front, less of the side, but alas, in attempts to NOT look like a crazy stalker- I stopped trying and just enjoyed the VIEW! Whoever he is married to is LUCKY!
Anyway- it was an enjoyable experience and I was really proud of the Peanut. She did SUCH a good job!
Here was another interesting project about bacteria in water. This girl pulled samples from everywhere, bottled water, tap water, resturants, the TOILET. According to her samples... it's safer to drink out of a well then a water fountain and then don't even get me started on the resturant drinking water. Can you see which one it is? Lucianos???????? According to her sample, I would rather be drinking out of the TOILET than from there!




Interesting isn't it???

Well, since this is a food blog, I guess I will share with you one of my Whole Foods purchases- Enjoy Life bagels. Now you know how big a typical bagel should be right? Yes, well these are tiny itty bitty little bagels. This was the only purchase I made where I felt cheated out of money! Look at this thing! In this case, size TOTALLY matters! I compared to my work badge which is about the size of a playing card.

CARB OUTRAGE! It still tasted yummy, but I was still miffed over how small it was.

This yogurt made up for it... it was SOOOOOOOOOO tasty! I loved it! Please note I have been chained to my desk for the last week and so all my pictures are taken there. Haha.

These are the days where I really miss my baby! I haven't been feeling up to snuff mentally and emotionally lately (I know you guys can't tell because I crack jokes all over..) but when the spring time hits and I think about stuff like baseball and walks and going out for ice cream at midnight, I MISS my Charlie. Fortunately, I drink out of this mug all the time- his fav.. and now mine. Next month is our anniversary, we'll see what kind of fun I can come up with for us over the phone. Oh God. That sounded so gross.. lol sorry! Bad jokes on a Friday!!!!!!!!

What are your plans for the weekend??

Mid-Week Horrors

Well, not really horrors. But fudge, it's almost Wednesday and I feel like it should be Friday already! At least I want it to be Friday.. How is YOUR week going?

So I never told you about Sunday.. or yesterday. I feel like I haven't posted in forever so I think I should start posting more often!

Here goes everything!

Sunday I woke up to this!


So I put on these! (these sneakers are actually circa 2003... kickin' it old school!)and went for another bike ride! I did do pilates to warm up the old legs and get them stretched out before I went riding. I covered a good 3-4 miles on the bike. I need to warm up I think before I take the 18 mile round trip trek to work and back!
I listened to some tunes along the way..

Before I left though, I did have a snack.. the snack of champions.

Juicy-juice and cocoa puffs. Would you expect something better from me??



Don't worry dears, my breakfast was a super one to make up for the fact that my pre-workout snack was a less than stellar one.

In this "mess" was rice yogurt I found at Whole Foods topped with gluten free granola and a blob of Dark Chocolate Dreams. Pretty darn good! Plus these little thingies on the side:

These are freeze dried apples I found at Stop & Stop. They look like this.. so tasty!

I wasn't sure what to have for lunch so I decided to go with more Whole Foods goods. I have no desire to be cooking up a storm or dreaming up recipes, or shoot, doing anything in the kitchen when it's nice outside. Therefore, I shall eat these and be happy!

Here we have veggie meatballs topped with Muir Glen marinara sauce and "nooch". YUM! Along with some random Spagetti like things. They legit tasted like Spagetti-O's.



Well that about rounds up my day, I spent Sunday night doing my usual thing- prepping veggies and fruit for the rest of the week. I usually cut up a couple of days worth of things so that I don't have an excuse not to get my veggies in at lunch. Here is a small sampling of said task. : )

Soooooooo it's 10:30, I think I'm going to head to B-E-D! I've been watching the show the Good Wife and I start each week saying to myself, I'm going to go to bed early tonight.. and I end up getting SUCKED IN. If you don't watch it, it's really good!!!!
Have a fab night peeps!!