My World, My Words

I am really starting to love these! Maybe because Fridays ROCK and are the best day of the week? I am doing things a little different today.

First, the usual - Friday Shout Out to three deserving friends: Samantha, PJ, and Mel D for working so hard this week to keep on track with their weight loss plans. Here is hoping that we all maintain some strong-ass willpower through the coming weekend. Weekends and the “freedom” that comes with not having to sit at work all day are always the hardest for me.

In the meantime, do the happy-we-have-willpower-dance with me:

We will be skinny, we will be skinny, we will be skinny!!!

…and to everyone else who spends Monday through Friday waiting, impatiently for Friday to arrive - its here! The weekend is upon us! Hip, Hip, Hooray!

I cannot take credit for these very clever thoughts. I did not write them. I received the following in an email forward from my boss’s boss (of all people) and thought it very share worthy.

Amen to #20. And I have already done #28. Oops.

Rules of the Universe

 

 1. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

 

 2. Don’t worry about what people think, they don’t do it very often.

 

 3. Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian anymore than standing in a garage makes you a car.

 

 4. Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.

 

 5. Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious.

 

 6. A person, who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person. (This is very important. Pay attention!  It never fails.)

 

 7. For every action, there is an equal and opposite government program.

 

 8. If you look like your passport picture, you probably need the trip.

 

 9. Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of checks.

 

 10. A conscience is what hurts when all of your other parts feel so good.

 

 11. Eat well, stay fit, die anyway.

 

 12. Men are from earth. Women are from earth. Deal with it.

 

 13. No man has ever been shot while doing the dishes.

 

 14. A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.

 

 15. Middle age is when broadness of the mind and narrowness of the waist change places.

 

 16. Opportunities always look bigger after they have passed.

 

 17. Junk is something you’ve kept for years and throw away three weeks before you need it.

 

18. There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.

 

 19. Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.

 

 20. By the time you can make ends meet, they move the ends.

 

 21. Thou shalt not weigh more than thy refrigerator.

 

 22. Someone who thinks logically provides a nice contrast to the real world.

 

 23. It ain’t the jeans that make your butt look fat.

 

 24. There is a very fine line between ‘hobby’ and ‘mental illness.’

 

 25. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.

 

 26. You should not confuse your career with your life.

 

 27. Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance.

 

 28. Never lick a steak knife.

 

 29. The most destructive force in the universe is gossip.

 

 30. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time.

 

 31. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she’s pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.

 

 32. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers.

 

 33. Your friends love you anyway.

 

 34. Thought for the day: Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

 

 35. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?

Why three seconds? Because that is the number of seconds Sophia was able to stand all by herself, without holding on, before having to grab the baby gate again to keep her balance.

My husband’s mouth dropped open and my belly knotted. Our little girl is growing up! She did not even notice that she did it either! She was standing at the gate, whining and complaining for Abel to pick her up and get her OUT and at one point she just let go of the gate and threw her arms up! She stayed up, too! She did not fall down. The arms and hands went up into the air mid complaint (count 1, 2, 3) and then they grabbed on to the gate again to keep complaining. Meanwhile, bad parents that we are, we ignored her - looked at each other and BEAMED! Woohoo! Now, if we could only get her to do it and notice that she did it.

On a related front - she is creeping, too. Previously, she would let go and drop to the floor to get from one point of the couch to another but she recently started holding on and moving while standing up using little baby (so that is where the saying came from) steps.

Obviously these two milestones are related (and all head towards walking) which have mommy and daddy waiting impatiently to see what Sophie does next.

Never a dull moment!

As the mother of a girl-child, this quote from fellow blogger FaithFool struck an immediate and very deep chord with me. Well, its not actually his quote - but something his significant other came up with. Regardless, I could not agree more!

“What’s the point of Bratz? To get girls excited about dressing like whores. At least Barbie dresses with class.”

I don’t even know if there is anything left to say but I can probably come up with something. When my husband and I, even while we were dating before our child was even an idea in our heads, see young girls dressed like hookers (yeah, I know - but I really am not exaggerating all that much) while at the movies or mall with friends (and some with their parents) we both look at each other and do not even have to speak because we know the other is thinking, “it will be a cold day in hell before my daughter is allowed to go out in public dressed like that.”

What happened to little girls dressing like little girls? What happened to pre-teens dressing like…pre-teens? Why is our culture, society, media, etc… rushing our children into becoming adults? You are only a child once in your life and while I remember cringing when I would hear my mom replying to my pleas to be allowed to do “grown up” things with, “one day,” now I know what she meant - you only get to be that young and innocent once and we need to somehow find a way to promote that idea within the minds and hearts of our children instead of rushing them to the next stage in their life with dolls, television shows, and movies that show children acting and dressing a lot more grown up than they should be allowed to.

Don’t get me wrong - I am not a prude. I am a free thinker and relish intelligence and independence in any individual - even in young children. I don’t want to hold anyone back and want to help my children blossom and grow but - the way I look at it - my daughter (and any future children) has her whole life to become and act sexy. I want to keep her “cute” for as long as I can.

But I guess one mother’s definition of what is “cute” can grossly differ from another mother’s definition of the same, after all, the Bratz line is a very popular household toy among girls of varying ages. Therefore, my opinion and goal in this matter may seem sort of futile, no? Chances are that my daughter’s friends will be allowed to play with these dolls or dolls similar in nature - and if my daughter is at another home playing with them then my control is taken away from me.

 *insert a long, suffering sigh*

Well, it cannot hurt to try.

As I am on Week 8 of the South Beach Diet which promotes a low carb, low sugar diet I have been keeping an eye for interesting articles that pop on the web. Today I came across one with the headline, “The Most Sugar Packed Foods in America” and it definitely caught my eye. Once I read it I knew I would have to share it with the rest of you.

Think your sweet tooth is harmless? Well, it just might bite you back. The average American is wolfing down 460 calories from added sugars every day. That’s more than 100 pounds of raw sugar per person per year. (That’s enough to make 3,628 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups!)

What’s at risk with all this sugar intake isn’t just another cavity; refined carbohydrates cause spikes in your blood sugar levels, tell your body to store fat, and put people at increased risk for diabetes. And that’s another way of saying that it puts people at increased risk of blindness, sexual malfunction, heart attack, and premature death.

All that from a simple candy bar or soda? Not exactly, but consider this: A dollar will buy you about 75 calories’ worth of fresh broccoli, but food manufacturers can use that same dollar to purchase 1,815 calories of sugar. And thanks to government subsidies, high fructose corn syrup - the synthetic sweetener found in so many of the foods in our grocery stores - is even cheaper. It should come as no surprise, then, that added sugars are sabotaging nearly ever packaged and prepared food we put in our bodies — pasta sauces, smoothies, even whole grain breads.

To help you avoid the impact of stealth sugars that run rampant through our food supply, we’ve sifted through all the nutritional data to name the eight biggest sugar bombs in America. Try to keep them from blowing up in your neighborhood.  

Most Sugar-Packed Breakfast Cereal
Quaker Natural Granola: Oats, Honey & Raisins (1 cup)
30 g sugars
420 calories

Warning: Granola’s healthy reputation is way overrated. The problem is those healthy-sounding oats are invariably bathed in a variety of sweeteners, making it not only one of the sweetest cereals in the aisle, but also a caloric overload. In fact, one cup of this stuff has more sugar than two servings of Lucky Charms!
Most Sugar-Packed Salad
Uno Chicago Grill’s Spinach, Chicken and Gorgonzola Salad
38 g sugars
720 calories

The candied walnuts on this salad help to make it sweeter than a double-scoop cone of Ben & Jerry’s Butter Pecan ice cream. Choose a more sensible meal and save the sugar calories for dessert. (Which you’ll share, right?)

Most Sugar-Packed Side Dish
Boston Market’s Cinnamon Apples
42 g sugars
210 calories

This apple dish is right up there with the one Eve served to Adam, and you know how that worked out. Boston Market’s sickly sweet side consists of apples overwhelmed with sugar, brown sugar, soybean oil, and cornstarch. Oh yeah, and a pinch of cinnamon — which is about the only healthy thing about it. If you want this dish done right, make it at home.

Most Sugar-Packed Sandwich
Subway’s Foot-Long Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki
38 g sugars
740 calories

The most distressing part: this sandwich finds its way onto Subway’s “healthy” menu. Ignore the claims of low fat that adorn the menu board; the teriyaki sauce contributes nearly 10 teaspoons of sugar to the sandwich, which will soon find their way to your waistline.

Most Sugar-Packed “Healthy” Food
Panera’s Pumpkin Muffin
47 g sugars
530 calories

Stop thinking of muffins as health food and start thinking of them as cake. They’re made from refined flour, contain only trace amounts of fiber, and can pack more sugar than two ice cream bars. Have one of these for breakfast, and you’ve sabotaged your diet for the whole day.

Most Sugar-Packed Kids Meal
Oscar Mayer Maxed Out Turkey & Cheddar Cracker Combo Lunchables
61 g sugars
680 calories

Kids love Lunchables, and for the usual reason: It’s a candy box. Too bad so many busy parents use them to fill empty lunchboxes. But this kids’ meal has more calories than a Whopper and more sugar than two Snickers bars; suddenly, packing your child’s lunch becomes more of a priority. Check the labels, and do everything you can to avoid the bad prepackaged candy and sugary drink combos.

Most Sugar-Packed Breakfast
Bob Evans’ Stacked & Stuffed Strawberry Banana Cream Hotcakes
102 g sugars
1,200 calories

Despite the fruity name, this is truly one of the worst breakfast entrées in America. Each stack has 25.5 teaspoons of sugar — that’s more sugar than six funnel cakes. Think of this as their diabetic special — one that contributes to the disease instead of curing it.

The Most Sugar-Packed Food in America
Baskin Robbins Large York® Peppermint Pattie Shake
281 g sugars
2,210 calories

Baskin Robbins’ line of candy-based beverages are horrendous on so many accounts: Each large shake has a day’s worth of calories, up to three days of saturated fat, and an ingredient list so long — some more than seven inches — it requires an advanced degree in chemistry to decipher. This particular caloric catastrophe has more sugar than 11 Peppermint Patties!

I did not find any huge surprises in this article - except for the most Sugar-Packed Kids Meal - because honestly there is nothing supposedly “sweet” in there and I will admit that this article forces me to take a closer look at what I will be feeding my daughter as she begins eating more and more ”grown up” foods.

So, there you go. Take the above with a grain of salt and file it into your “good to know” bin.

I was woken up this morning at 5am by my daughter’s cry from her crib. We think she had some sort of nightmare that startled her awake and prevented her from going back to sleep no matter what we did. She was upset and inconsolable just crying on my shoulder. So there we were - 45 minutes before the alarm - laying in our bed as our very awake 9 month old gleefully crawled all over both of us, her nightmares forgotten as she explored mommy and daddy’s massive bed.

As much as I love the extra time with her (this really was a treat for my husband who usually leaves the house before Sophia is even awake) I was well aware that this early wake up call was going to completely throw me off my morning routine. I am spoiled and very used to showering, getting dressed, doing my make-up, etc…while Sophia is still sleeping snug in her bed. As a matter of fact, I need to wake her most of the time in order to get her dressed and quickly out the door. I then drop her off at daycare and continue on to my building. This morning, though, I had to do all of the above while keeping one eye on my very mobile, very curious baby who has recently discovered that there may be a whole new world under mommy’s bed - and that the cats already know about it! She also discovered drawers yesterday and learned how to open those on my nightstand. Unfortunately, she has not figured out how to do so without possibly getting the tips of her tiny fingers stuck - which means mommy had her job cut out for her this morning.

Regardless, I still got myself out the door on time and still managed to match my shoes to my pants and match the eye shadow on both eyes. Go me - and all without a cup of coffee before leaving the house!

The only thing I did not manage to do was weigh in as I usually do on Monday mornings. Not that I am crying in my coffee over that because I am pretty sure when I finally do hop on my scale its going to show a slight gain. I was not good this weekend. Well, I was not HORRIBLE but there were at least 3 meals that were not choice for South Beach, even if the others were. I may be paying for this - which makes me a little okay in delaying my weigh in until tomorrow morning. It gives me one more day to get back on track.

In the meantime, here I sit trying to muster up some enthusiasm for the work day ahead of me. Is it really only Monday?

I have two girlfriends and readers to send a Friday Shout Out and booty shake to! Or is it booty bump? I think ya’ll get the picture!

Kimmie of I’m Going to Lose It for, well, losing it and so much of it and for having such a good time while doing it. I will also throw in and extra kudos to her hubby for his own progress! YOU GO!  

Martha, my TIVO QUEEN, for building my anticipation and excitement and getting to, HOLY COW, 300! (Sorry, folks, inside story that I am not free to tell but suffice it to say that Martha rocks). Trust me on this.

A booty bump from me to you both (or rather, three)!

Cue music: 

I love playing around with technology. I have been bugging my husband for months to dig up his photoshop program and upload it to my laptop because I want to play around with its special effects. I am seriously photo crazy - always was but now that we have Sophia I am even more attached to my camera and uploading photos than I ever was.

Needless to say, my husband has not gotten around to locating the program to load on my laptop and since I am a little afraid of getting lost in his home office searching for it myself I took matters into my own hands and played around with Photobucket.com’s very cool special effect features. Not too bad for my first try!

What do you think?

www.photobucket.com

Yes, I mean YOU, reader…

Who are you? Its interesting to me how many people mention that they read this or that on my blog but have never left comments.

So, how about a little poll to see who answers by commenting:

1. Who are you?
2. How often do you visit?
3. What brings you by?

This is an actual book that my hubby and I purchased yesterday. I can diet with the best of them once I get my mind into it. My husband, however, is not into diets and does not really need to lose weight he just needs to eat healthier and make better choices. The little we were able to read yesterday surprised him enough that I get the feeling he is going to drive around with this book in his car from now on. Its amazing what you think is healthy and what actually can be healthier.

What got to me was Starbucks. They recommend the Egg, Ham, and Cheese English Muffin breakfast sandwich over a Bran Muffin. Apparently, a Bran Muffin at Starbucks is packed with over 800 freaking calories. EIGHT HUNDRED! So, the word Bran does not equal healthy. This book was an eye opener. So much so, that I looked it up online this morning and there is a website.

http://www.menshealth.com/eatthis/index.php

The website is cool and its information is obviously geared towards trying to get men to make better choices. It lists the 20 Worst Foods in America. I have got to share one of these with you before you run over to check out the site for yourself.

#15 - The Worst Kids Meal 

Macaroni Grill: Double Macaroni and Cheese

1,210 calories
62 g fat
3,450 mg sodium

It’s like feeding your kid 1 1/2 boxes of Kraft mac ‘n’ cheese.

Crazy, right? Check out the sodium content!!!!

Don’t worry. They don’t just drop bombshells like that and leave you stumbling. They do offer healthier alternatives at the same restaurants. For instance, the Grilled Chicken and Broccoli at Macaroni Grill is only 390 calories.

Amazing. Now, go check out the website. Your health depends on it!