Kid In A Candy Store

Heyyyyyy Happy Monday!

Who watched the Super Bowl last night? Sad to say, I did not! I just can't get into football- and since I was "alone" (I'm never really alone.. just no man LIVING in my house) I read a book and fell asleep early! It was a nice relaxing night.

So I loved seeing all your comments about my stupid post! I have some new readers and followers to the blog too- so here's your official WELCOME to my world. OMG you guys are in for a trip, let me tell you! There's always something going on! I honestly have no clue where that last post came from!! (From the depths of my 15 year boy brain...... yea!)

I just wanted to tell you all how easy it is to make lunches. Seriously! I see all these complex salads and wraps- and I know I know- to you they are easy. But for me? When I have about 2 minutes to heat something up or bust. I heat something up in two minutes...
Last week, I went all out and gave into a craving.

Wait .... WTF?! Dunkin Donuts?................
Nope!

Here's what went into it:

From the left.. Boars Head Cooked Ham (it's gluten and preservative free, which means it doesn't bug my stomach out.), Rice "cheese". It's kind of gross, but it tastes like regular processed cheese - you know like the Kraft singles, so I don't complain too much, and a GF/DF bagel.
The end result was a ham & cheese on a bagel. So delish it was ridic. Plus it wasn't laden with heavy gross nasty stuff like the ones from Dunkins.
Ham, Egg & Cheese on Bagel

Nutrition Facts - Dunkin Donuts Ham, Egg, and Cheese on a Bagel
Serving Size 1 Sandwich

Servings 1
Calories 510
Total Fat 16g Saturated Fat 6g
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 215mg 72%
Sodium 1470mg 61% Total Carbohydrates 67g 22%
Dietary Fiber 5g 20%
Sugar 7g
Protein 26g

Amy's D & D Make-Under

Kinnikinnick Bagel: 210 calories
sodium content: 430mg
Sliced Ham: 100 calories
sodium content: 340mg
Rice Cheese: 40 calories per slice- approx. 80 calories
sodium content: 220mg

OK So obviously, I lose some credibility because I did not add egg to my sandwich. But you can see the difference for sure in the sodium content alone! 1470 mg turned into 790mg!!!! No bloat or thirstiness after this little piece of heaven. My only thing is, this had pretty much had no fat in it. A little fat goes a LONG way. But like me, it's not perfect- but it does the trick when I've got 2 minutes to spare and need to grab something real quick. And it FELT like a splurge for lunch because usually I am heating up soup and slurping away in between calls.

Speaking of soup. Today for lunch I had the most amazing soup ever. Ever ever ever. Dr. McDougall lentil soup. Um holy deliciousness. I did not stop to take a picture. I did not think about taking one until after I was done and I said, damn. I should have taken a picture!

Here is the box.
I'll tell you what it tasted like.......

BEEF STEW. But it's vegan you say.

But it tastes like there is beef in there!!!!

Ladies, serve this to your man and see if he notices there is no beef! Or be selfish and keep it all to yourself. Either way, it will be enjoyed.
I'll try and take a picture later on of it.. Cuz.... Imma be eating this for dinner too!
Tonight is dance class. I'm going knee pain or not! I've been doing good with my "non-impact" weights and yoga and even though my knee is still bothering me, I am frothing at the mouth for a little adult interaction time and some booty shaking.
Wow........... that's what she said!

Some Days...

Some days...

You just want to stick your head in a bowl of cereal.

Some days...

You wake up thinking you are speaking a foreign language because nothing makes sense.

And then you realize you aren't, its still the same old same old.

Sometimes you have repeat this over and over again, to justify M&Ms and tea for breakfast..

Some days you think of the BBQ sauce container as being almost empty.

Sometimes its a little bit full.
Sometimes its ok to pretend you are having a fish sandwich from the local dive bar.


It's almost as good. Except you don't wake up with your pants around your ankles in some random guys' bed with food poisoning and a hangover.
B-B-Q- Sauce container is a little bit full today!

How is the sauce jar a little full today for you?

Sweats and Lack of Sweat

Oh Happy Monday afternoon. My plan for a lazy low-key weekend worked! Personal drama ironed itself out. "Remember the source" eventually kicked in, and I got over it!
I didn't cook. Well. Actually I did, but I forgot to take pictures of food, I was too busy taking pictures of kids. I also didn't really work out that much. Are you surprised? I am too, but I had a good reason!

Ok let's get started! Friday! TV night again with the Peanut, I booted her out of my room at 9 so I could watch Medium, but not before I messed with her hair.

And then she whacked me with a pillow and messed up mine.
Look, I'm wearing my favorite sweats EVER. Champion. Size XL. I look like a drowned rat in them, but they are so comfy!

And that was it for Friday!

Saturday we had some things to do.. and got going on them early. Then I started making phone calls to get all the kids up to my house so we could go to Movie Night at church. They were showing Madgascar 2 Escape to Africa. Complete with movie theater like food and such. Super cheap! $2 for a hot dog, chips, and soda. Um.. you can't beat that with a stick! I had these four rag-a-muffins with me.
From the left:

Jenette, Lissette, Peanut, and Jocelyn. You ask, what is up with the ETTE names? I don't know either! And I also want to know why Jenette is spelled like JEN. Instead of JAN. She made sure she corrected me, as I have been spelling her name wrong for months and months. Her younger sister's name, I have also been spelling wrong. Vivvianni. UM WHAT?! I spelled it Viviani- you know.......... the normal way? But I digress. We all can't have 3 letter names that a 2 year old could spell.
And now for a photo montage of the whole night.... please try and keep up. And let me know if you spot anything in these pictures that would qualify this for a food blog post or not...








As you can see, I broke a few cardinal rules of a healthy living mommy/aunty on Saturday. We feasted on soda, chips, and hot dogs. And everyone survived. Good thing huh? As moms I feel like we put alot of pressure on ourselves to serve the healthiest thing and cross our fingers our kids don't hate us for it later. Well, once in a while we have to let loose and indulge. We definitely don't have soda everyday. And we don't have chips and crap in the house EVER. But it was a fun night out, so what was I going to do- bring carrot sticks and hope they didn't notice the Milky Way bars and Doritos? Nope.. We'll hit all the food groups another night.

Oh yea, so why haven't I worked out? Well, I did. I did some weights on Saturday and yoga on Sunday- but my knee sustained some damage somehow. I don't know how, but I think I bruised the bone just below my knee cap. The back of my knee is pretty swollen and the front of my knee looks like Tanya Harding's hit man got me. Is anyone who reads my blog old enough to remember that?????? I kid I kid.
So, weights and yoga it is. I have to cool it on the snacks in the meantime... I haven't been able to work out all week (last week and this one so far..).

Anyway, enjoy your day lady bugs! I'll be back soon!

Where Did The Week Go?

I have no clue! I woke up and it was Thursday!

First of all, Happy Birthday to the most lovely girl ever. She knows who she is! I'm still trying to decide if she is keeping it a secret or not. So let's see if she reads this.. lol

Key things to note about the week.

1. Hot chocolate is always better in pairs. And it is especially indulgent when drinking it at work with a throw away cup. This is seriously the only way I've been making it through the days here at work.


I should really be using my mug I have at work. I know!!!!!

I also tried something new this week. Yummy tasty. Simple and easy to make! I'm a frequent stalker of the fabulous Mama Pea who always has delish recipes up. A couple of weeks ago I saw a recipe for quionoa up and she described it as tasting just like Spanish rice. YEA YUMMY. You all know by now, I'm a Latin Lover.
Of course, I de-veganized it by adding shrimp. I finally used up the last of a huge bag of shrimp! Whoooo..




I guess my goal of posting every other day is not happening right now.. I will be trying to do better next time! We have some crazy stuff coming up this weekend! Well, not really, but hey one can dream right?!
So far this week it's been dramatic personal life wise, so I am hoping that things can calm down over the weekend and go back to normal. Normal is relative though isn't it? I have to remember my mantra, "remember the source!" and keep repeating that to myself.
Hope everyone is having a LOVELY week so far!

Back to The Grind

Hey! Happy Monday everyone..

More bad news! It looks like I have to "log in" when I want to read blogs that aren't on blogspot or wordpress (like... if you have your own domain and not a .wordpress or .blogspot blog). And since I already used Facebook and "logged in" I can't do it again. It's definitely not a technical Blogger problem, it's a work problem! I swear they are out to get me!

I'm trying to figure out what to do though about my schedule; Christina you are SO right, it is the fear of the unknown to not provide a more flexible schedule. Why DO I have to be chained to my desk? I have routed my phone calls through my home phone many times before. And I can work just as hard at home as I do here. I already don't chat much with my co-workers, and yea maybe I would end up talking to my cat more.. but at least I would be home! Haha! We'll see what happens!

Well I don't have too much to offer you, the weekend was a slow one. Friday night the Peanut and I ate diner together and stuffed ourselves into bed and watched TV. I fell asleep by 10. Hmmmm. Wow! I'm so awesome!

But here is what we ate:

Sweet potato fries and popcorn chicken.

Sweet potato fries were all natural, low sodium, lightly seasoned, high in Vitmain A, etc, plus super yummy!
The popcorn chicken was the complete opposite..... BUT they were yummy! So who cares?!

Saturday I had a moms night out with Jessica. We went to Havanna night club in Cambridge which is where our dance class goes to party it up all the time. So we went! It was awesome, I danced a lot, good thing the atmosphere is like a big dance class and not like a club!
It was fun to get my groove on with my SIL. We had so much fun...
Here are me and the Peanut before I left to go out.

She took a picture of me, but it came out dark and scary.. lol Just know that I looked cute ok?!

Well back to the drawing board for me. I want to be able to read all your blogs today! We'll see how that works out for me!!!

When You Have Been Failed

Part of my mental health makeover was to revamp my work schedule a little bit. You know, try to spend more time with the babies, since I don't get home usually till about 6:30 or so..then it's bed time at 7:30.. my company should try and support me in my efforts to be a better worker/mom right?

WRONG. THANKS A BUNCH WORK!

I didn't ask for a reduced work week, or reduced hours, and still I get shot down to accommodate our current goal of meeting certain metrics. The people who came up with these metrics either have spouses who stay at home, or are business women who are not married or have children. Go figure right?

So I am back to square one to figure out how I am going to spend more time with my daughter. Any suggestions besides calling in sick more and making up excuses to leave early?

And moving onto food..
I have almost a full days worth of food for you guys to see! GASP!

Breakfast! I had a Glutino bagel w/ Tofutti "Better than cream cheese" Holy toledo, this was my first time having the Tofutti cream cheese, it was pretty darn good! It was pretty close to the real stuff. Cheese fiends.. this is no sub for Laughing Cow cheese wedges, but it is right up there with the taste and wow factor for creaminess! I loved it!

Up next.. LUNCH! I don't typically post up pictures of my lunch. Why? Because they are boring. Same thing everyday. "Fruit salad"

And some kind of soup.
I know this is difficult to see anything, but there are beans, tomatoes, onion, potatoes, and turkey sausage. Oh yea and some beef stock. My mom made it! I would have added a few more spices and a little salt. She has high blood pressure though and doesn't add salt to anything!


And then usually I round it all out with a little cracker love.

These are the Mary's Gone crackers. I *heart* Mary's Gone. Why did they name them Mary's Gone? From the sounds of the "story" found here; I think it was because she was always running out of them! Good thing they are mass-produced now!
Because I've been so short on time and energy lately I've been doing wrong and turning to my favorite combo. Rice mix and some kind of extra veggie or protein. In this case: Goya Mexican rice and shrimp. It takes 20 minutes and the most pain in the ass thing is taking the shrimp tails off the cold shrimp. My fingers always freeze.
I know these things have a lot of sodium, but I don't care. They are so good it's worth drinking the extra water and doing jumping jacks to sweat it all out!
One package of the Goya rice usually gives me 2 meals worth of food. So I can pre-make dinner for the next night too!

Well that about rounds up my day of food! I try to make sure I have dessert too- usually in the form of hot chocolate and a Luna bar. Sugar shock before bed I know! Ha!

Hey all, Happy freakin' Friday! Hope you all have a great weekend!

When It All Falls Down

Well I hope everyone had a good long weekend. Or at least a relaxing day at work if you did have to work!
I had Friday off. Then did not have to work on Monday, so I was completely confused as to what day it was, last night I flipped on the TV expecting a Criminal Minds Sunday night marathon and found Intervention on A&E. That show makes me want to hurl sometimes! I have a love/hate relationship with it- the drug use totally grosses me out and makes me really glad I never tried anything like that in my life! Did anyone else read the series "Sweet Valley High" and remember the one where Regina tried coke and had a heart attack because of some unknown heart condition? Anyone??
*cricket**cricket*
So getting back to more important things..

The GOOD NEWS is. Rony's family is OK! I'm very happy for him!!! He has a lot of brothers and sisters and extended family- and they were all ok. It's miraculous because entire families are being wiped out down there and there are going to be thousands of orphans who have no families. I'm hearing that orphans who have U.S. ties will be allowed to come here and stay here, which I think is a good thing. But keep doing whatever you are doing to help raise money for Haiti! Every little bit helps. The Peanut's school is organizing a clothing drive through the Red Cross and even though they are asking for money now- these people who survived with only the clothes on their back will need new clothes. So I cleaned out my closet of some stuff that I was looking to sell- and put it in the pile to donate. Capris, shorts, and little tank tops that will never fit me again. It's hot down there, so anything I can give will be good. I was thinking I would give away some bras- since I have a million of those, but... I'm not so sure that's a good idea!

Alright, some other news. FOOD. FAMILY. In that order. I stayed home on Friday and putzed around the house. I made this for lunch. Isn't it nice I can still have a grilled cheese sandwich?! Never mind it's gluten-free bread and rice cheese that has a slightly grainy aftertaste... It's comfort food!



I served it with soup. What better way to spend the day than with a grilled cheese, soup, and tea.. and my laptop?

I know you don't care too awfully much about what I ate, you want to know what I DID. Well, we had the kids all weekend. All of them. All 5 of them. 6, if you count the baby. My two, Jessica's three, and one from my brother in law. Talk about an estrogen fest! All the kids look so different too, that I think if we WENT anywhere, we would either look like we were running a day care; or we were super skanky. "Different fathers.." lol.



Melo is 8 months old and my little man is almost walking. He talks alot more now, moves a lot more. He said "mama" and Jessica almost cried. He's the sweetest little thing ever! And he loves me, Titi Amy. AWWW!!
It was a good weekend of chicken nuggets, fries, coffee, diet pepsi, cookies, and girl talk. Oh and some games thrown in there. I think I gained a few pounds! And I didn't get to clean out my bedroom- having too much fun where I was! I'll do better next time!

Well I better get back to work over here. Enjoy the day people! Love ya!