Catching Up... and a Challenge.

First, let me say I know it's been forever since I've posted anything!  Lots has happened since my last post in... um... April, 8 months ago!  Let's break it down:

April-May - finishing up the school year, spending as much time with Baby Boy and Hubby as possible
June - relaxing and enjoying a break from work
July-August - we found out we were PREGNANT with baby #2!!  This was very exciting for us, as we'd talked about wanting our kids to be close in age... We're due April 28, 2012, and found out in November we're having a GIRL!
September - Baby Boy's first birthday!!
October-December - craziness of the Birthday/Holiday season in our house.  We've got six immediate family birthdays during that time, plus a couple extended family ones, our anniversary, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  Whew!

We all had a great Christmas and are looking forward to what 2012 will bring, which is what brings me to the "challenge" portion of the post... here's the background info:  I'm kind-of a food hoarder.  I know.  Crazy, right?  What exactly does that mean?  My pantry shelves and freezer (and most of the time the fridge, too) are always full.  When I go to the store, I don't check to see what I already have on hand, I just go and buy what I think I might need.  If I have a specific recipe I'll be using that week, I usually buy double on the pantry items needed, and there's no real justification as to why.  For example, if I'm making something that calls for 2 cans of crushed tomatoes and a can of chicken broth, I'll more than likely buy 4 cans of tomatoes and 2 cans of chicken broth.  I'll usually add in a can of tomato sauce and tomato paste, too, in case I need to alter the recipe... or just to have them in the pantry...  Needless to say, because of this, every shelf (and the floor) of the pantry are full.  They're usually really organized, so it's not like I can't find anything, but the lower shelves are a bit messy these days with the Boy running around and wanting to dig around in the pantry.  I think I have 6 boxes of pasta in there (and that's a modest guess)... I've decided this is ridiculous.  I can't really figure out why I'm this way about buying food, and probably don't want to get into the psychotherapy aspect of it.  I'm not afraid of running out of food, I'm not preparing for some disaster where we have to survive on what we've got, I just.... I don't know... buy too much stuff.  Same thing with the freezer, and the fridge.  When I walk through the produce section, I always buy tomatoes.  We may already have them at home, but I always buy some.  I always buy lettuce, with the intention of having a salad with our dinners... does it happen?  Not usually.  The Hubby (rightfully) gets upset at all the perishable things that get thrown out, because unlike cans of chicken broth, the lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, and cottage cheese all go bad pretty quickly.  The second part of the problem, other than the hoarding, is that we don't cook at home enough, and spend WAY too much money eating out or grabbing fast food.  Honestly, I think I've cooked at home maybe 5 times this month.  Sad.

Here's the challenge, then.  We have decided starting January 2 (not the 1st, because Hubby is working and I'm having dinner at my parents' for "New Year's Food"), we are eating strictly from our pantry and freezers.  Yes, I said freezers... there are 2, the main one attached to the fridge in the kitchen, and a very full deep freezer in the garage.  No picking up fast food, no going out to eat while we're out running errands, no ordering pizza because we're hungry NOW and there's nothing cooked.  Eat what we've got.  We (and by "we" I mostly mean "I") have to be really creative, not so much at first while there's tons of stuff in there, but later, when I'm out of easy meals and I'm actually having to think up ways to put all these ingredients together.  I'm actually pretty excited about it.

Here's the payoff (other than cleaning out the pantry and then reforming my shopping habits when I do start grocery shopping again)... for every day we make it without eating out, Hubby and I each get a dollar.  At the end of the month, we put our 30ish dollars in our spending accounts and go on a date together, out to eat somewhere, to celebrate.  Honestly, we may be extending the challenge to February, too, because I think I probably have enough food stored up for 2 months (or more?).  If that happens, same rules apply ($1 each per day, date night at the end of the month).

The only exceptions to the "no grocery shopping" rule are for the Boy and the fridge.  I refuse to ruin his diet (and he's had pretty much all homemade food since he started eating) by having him eat packaged and frozen stuff... he's going to have to have fresh fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs, yogurt, etc.  Granted, he's eating lots of table food these days, and will definitely eat what we're having a lot of the time (spaghetti, casseroles, chicken, etc.), but he'll still have to be supplemented with fresh stuff, too.  Also, we'll have to keep some perishable, refrigerated items on hand for us, some of the same things the Boy will be eating - I have to keep eating healthy during (and after) my pregnancy, so there's no way around that.  But absolutely no pantry items and no meats (we have many pounds of meat in the freezer).

So, here we go!  I have a couple of days to get the pantry organized (and, knowing me, I'll probably inventory it, too), and get some meal ideas floating around, and I'll post pictures of the pantry and freezer starting out, then progressively as we go throughout the challenge, and I'll try to post each day what we ate and how it turned out!

Yay!
-Wifeypie

A Confession...

OK I have a confession to make.  And I purposely waited until today to post this: I hate April Fool's Day.

I absolutely, completely, wholeheartedly hate it.  I can't handle the jokes and pranks, and am a nervous wreck all day long!

This year, for example, it was a workday, and I had to spend the day around other people at work.  I didn't mention April Fool's to my classes, and I didn't even do "calendar time" to discuss the date with them!  During my lunch and conference period, I hid out in my classroom so I wouldn't have to see anyone, lest they try to play a joke on me.  I didn't initiate any conversations with anyone, and read each email carefully so I would know if something was up.  As soon as I could, I went home, and spent the evening with the Hubby and the Baby Boy.  Even in talking to Hubby, I didn't mention April Fool's, because although he knows how much I hate it, and how much stress it causes me, I didn't want to remind him about it!

It wasn't until I was crawling into bed after 10 pm on April 1st that I finally could breathe a sigh of relief.  I'd made it through another dreaded April Fool's Day without incident.

My irrational (yes, I know it's irrational) fear of this day doesn't stem from any bad previous experience, or a horrible joke gone wrong that someone tried on me before... I really don't know where it comes from, or when it started.  Maybe I'm afraid of having everyone laugh at me or I'm afraid of feeling stupid when I buy into a joke being played, I don't know.  All I know is I want no part of it.  Ever.

I know I'm opening myself up to major pranks next year (or even on other days this year), now that everyone knows how much I hate them, but please please please don't!  On my side, there will be no laughing afterwards.  I'll probably cry.  And I hope that's enough deterrent for anyone.

How Did I Not Know I Was This Weird...?

Let me first say, I know I'm a nerd.  I know I am the Google Queen in my circle of friends and family, and my little head is always full of (mostly) useless facts and random information.  However, I did not grow up thinking this was abnormal!  It is only recently that I have discovered... I'm weird.

Hubby and I were talking the other day, as he was ordering some new checks for us online, and we realized, much to both our surprise, that I could rattle off all the numbers he needed to order the checks from memory.  The credit card number needed to order them, including the security code on the back and expiration date, the account number for our bank, and here was the shocker, the routing number for the bottom of the checks!  A conversation then followed where Hubby realized I knew both our social security numbers, driver license numbers, his badge number and the license plate to his patrol car, the plate number of my car, my mom's driver license number, random phone numbers for us and family members, etc.  I was unaware this was not normal.  I thought these were things everyone knew.

From as far back as I can remember (and apparently before then, even), I've always enjoyed knowing things.  I like memorizing things, looking things up, and will randomly quiz myself on details to see if my brain subconsciously remembers things I've read or seen.  I'm this way with numbers, spelling, my surroundings, and any other time I feel like it.  Everyone doesn't do this?  Hm...

Food Network Tendencies

I've been watching a lot of Food Network lately... well, not just lately, since my obsession with that particular channel has been going strong for years.  I love me some Alton Brown in all his nerdy glory, sweet southern Paula Deen with an obsession of her own: butter, and Kerry Vincent with her ice queen exterior and hair wrap thing...

Watching all that food made me start thinking about my favorite ingredients... not dishes, meals, or recipes, but the ingredients themselves.  Here's my ten favorite ingredients (that I am thinking of right now... I reserve the right to change these as I remember new things, or the next time I go walking through the grocery store!):

1. Heavy Cream - that's right, whipping cream.  I love it.  It's the main ingredient in ganache, which I also love!
2. Butter - you know a little butter will fix most anything.  Except burns.  Do not put butter on a burn.
3. Leeks - as far as veggies go, this is one of my favorites.  I'll take leeks over regular onions any day!
4. Garlic - we put garlic in just about anything we cook; I don't know what I would do without it...
5. Chocolate - no one should be surprised by this!
6. Tomatoes - I will eat tomatoes any way, any day... by themselves or in something, cooked or raw, I don't care, they're awesome!
7. Basil - yum yum yum.
8. Cilantro - chopped cilantro goes in just about anything... salads, omelets, enchiladas, pico de gallo...
9. Shrimp - by far my favorite protein...
10. Avocado - It doesn't even need to be mashed up into guacamole, I'll eat avocado straight with a spoon from the peel!  Note - avocado was the first food (besides milk and organic brown rice cereal) I fed my baby!

I am proud to say I did not get up to go raid my pantry to think of these... that's probably a good thing, because if I'd gone to check, we might have ended up with my twenty favorite ingredients!  Take a minute to think of your favorites... feel free to post them, I'd love to know how people's kitchens differ!

Next Time Around...

I've been meaning to write down a list for myself of all the things I will do next time the Hubby and I have a baby (if we are blessed with another baby).  There were some things that we forgot this time around when things got down to the wire, and other things I didn't know to ask about or make sure to do because it was our first baby... I hope this will help us remember next time, and I also hope someone else may benefit from some of these things.

I had to have a cesarean with Smooshy Boy, so I will probably be in the same boat next time.  I'm hoping for a VBAC, but we'll see...  whichever way I deliver, I will insist they put the baby on my chest for me to love on before they get him/her all cleaned up and wrapped up.  I didn't get to see Smooshy except from across the room, until he was swaddled up, with a hat on, and dried off.  He'd already stopped crying and everything.

We will also get a lactation consultant in the room within a couple of hours after the baby is born - I was too modest and reluctant to ask for help last time around, and really regretted it!  We will want to make sure the baby is latching properly and correct any problems before they even get started!

I want to make sure we take pictures the day I have the baby - I only have a couple from this time around, and they are some of my favorites.  I love seeing just how big I got, and remembering those last couple of hours before we met our son!  I loved being pregnant, so I was never at that "get him out, I'm miserable" stage.

While I'm in the hospital next time, I will make sure I put a real nightgown on instead of staying in the hospital robe - it seemed like such a big hassle to change into a gown and robe, but I think I would have felt more comfortable wearing my own clothes instead of a hospital gown.

Sleep!  I want to warn everyone now... I will be sleeping in the hospital next time, during the day.  So if you're there visiting (and I love having visitors), and I fall asleep, please don't be offended!  I didn't sleep during the day last time, and hardly got any sleep at night, and was emotionally and physically drained within a couple of days!  It made me very emotional and caused a lot of tears just from being over-tired... not next time!

I'm not sure if this is all, but for now, it's all I can remember.  That's another thing - I'm going to write more things down (starting now, I'm carrying a running "to remember" list with me at all times).  It's rough forgetting everything; pregnancy brain doesn't go away!

That's all for now, but I'd love to hear from any of you (whoever you are)... what are some things that were important to you when you had your babies, or will be important to you when you have them in the future?

Procrastination...

I am determined not to procrastinate on this blog...  In choosing a name for the blog, and knowing my personality, I thought about using Procrastination somewhere in the title...  Check out http://procrastinatingmommy.blogspot.com

Did you read it?  I rest my case.  I'm not that bad... I did, however, just get my Christmas decorations taken down yesterday.  I had to dust them as I put them in the boxes!  Horrible, I know.  It's ok though, because they're down now, and my house is back to normal.  Almost.  Now I just have to find a place for all the toys that threaten daily to take over my living room.

Is it sad that the Hubby and I almost decided to leave the furniture where it was while the tree was up and use that empty corner of the room as a toy corner?  Jury's still out on that one, because neither of us have felt like moving the furniture yet, and the toys seem pretty happy in the middle of the floor.

I think that's all I have time to write for now - I may try to work a bit on our wedding scrapbook that I never fixed... after all, we just celebrated our 5th anniversary in October!

Joining the Masses...

I've finally done it... I've started a blog.  Seems like everyone has one, so why do I need my own?  I can't just read other people's blogs and live vicariously through them?  Unfortunately, that won't work for me.  I felt like I should get something down "on paper," so to speak, that I can come back later and read, or read to my family.  Maybe this will save my future grandchildren the hassle of asking grandma (or whatever they call me) how it was when their daddy was little.  They can just read it.

So what do I expect to write?  Am I going to stick to one topic?  Probably not.  My brain rarely stays on one topic, so why should my blog?  I'll probably have posts about my family, our lives, and the technology and random stuff we come in contact with.  Just like every other blog, right?  I hope not, but I can always delete the whole thing later if it turns out that way.  Anyway, happy reading - whoever you are.