Life is Getting Crazy

So, substituting is not a whole lot of money. It is not horrible money either, but it is not paying the student loan bills and living expenses and all that. My home income opprotunity is starting to pick up and although it does not really require a lot of work, it does require some time. So I have been working on that in the days I have off and I also applied to work at a big box hardware kind of store in the area. I do not want SOPA coming after me so I will not mention any names.

I went in for an interview on Monday and the HR manager was not there, but I was interviewing with a department manager anyway. Let me just say that I feel after waiting 45 min for him to be done with something right across the hall and him never stepping in when he was done was long enough to wait. So I left my number with customer service and left. The HR manager called me today and apologized and wanted to reschedule. As much as I wanted to say "no thanks, he has wasted enough of my time," I really could use the job. So I almost went right away, but he was gone from the building for some reason that she did not even know and so we scheduled for tomorrow right after I am done substituting. If he is not there tomorrow at that time, I will probably tell her that I would like to just not be considered for that position. I had applied for two and I would be ok working under the other guy that interviewed me, but not for someone who would waste my time twice. So we will see how it goes.

Then, after the interview tomorrow I have to rush to be on the phone for a training for someone who signed up with this awesome opprotunity! And then rush to do a webcast for one, possibly two others who are interested in hearing more. Hopefully that does not run too long so I can make it to a dinner with some of my old high school friends at 8pm. After all that I wish I could say I will be sleeping in on Friday, but nope. Instead I am getting up to work out with my friend at 7:30am. Here soon working out will be added to the list of resolutions for this year, but currently I know it would no work out. Next week I am going to my sister's house far far away and in the middle of nowhere so working out would not be an option for right now. I do plan on bringing my computer and getting in a few blog posts so be prepared to hear about the crazy nephews!

I also do not know what to do for this coming week's resolution. So far all the others are going great! But I did take like two gulps of sweetened tea the other night. My nephew wanted some and i filled his glass too full so I just gulped it really quick. If it makes you feel any better it was gross! I at one time was in the habit of drinking sweet tea because that is the only kind my sister makes, but this was so gross from all the sugar in it.

And, while babysitting tonight I turned down eating an ice cream sandwich! Go me! It was not even a hard decision to make; it just did not sound good at all.

I did use a plastic bag today, but it was one we already had at the house and I used it for a lunch sack, brought it back home, and put it back with the other bags to be used again another day... probably tomorrow's lunch. And, because I also ruled out the cups at the school that teachers get with their free unsweetened tea from week 3, I remembered to bring my own re-usable cup with me and fill it up at lunch! I am pretty proud of myself so far for keeping up with them.

Any suggestions for week 4's resolution? or any in general?

Week 3: No more take home containers...

So I am kind of doing an easy one this week. I really have not been eating out as much, at least not enough where there is food to bring back. Yes I ate out for my birthday and felt horribly guilty as the waitress handed me a Styrofoam container to bring my leftovers home in. So, here is the new plan... any time I go out to eat I need to find another way to bring home left overs. The easy answer would be, bring my own container that is reusable. But, if it comes down to it, maybe just some tin foil?

In other news, the sugar free thing has been going good. I broke down and ate more graham crackers the other day. I was so hungry and at my sister's house the other day and there was nothing else to eat besides fruit roll ups packed with high fructose corn syrup or some nasty pop tarts. And, I ate some pop tarts just before new years, otherwise I have not eaten pop tarts in a long time. The frosting is just too much for me and the un-frosted ones are just gross. I did discover the BEST fruit dip of all time!!! It is slightly cheating, but not really... here is the nutrition facts for the pudding I used.

AMAZING, HEAVENLY, AWESOME Fruit dip
1 small box of instant vanilla pudding (sugar free)
1 half pint of whipping cream
16 oz of plain yogurt

Whip the whipping cream until soft peaks form. Add in yogurt and pudding mix. Mix until combined. Serve. Refrigerate leftovers.

Best with grapes, cantaloupe, and honey crisp apples. Along with kiwi, honeydew melon, blackberries, strawberries, and any other fruit you can think of! Also amazing by itself.

The original recipe said it was sugar free and used regular pudding and cool whip. Now, I would like to point out that regular vanilla pudding has 16g of sugars in it, and I did not even bother to figure out what kind of sugar. The sugar free one "contains less than 2%" of the sweeteners and the sugars are listed as 0g. And then cool whip?!?! Seriously... it is whipped high fructose corn syrup!!! I was disappointed...

I also survived a trip to the store buying tons of fruit for this fruit dip, with out using any plastic bags! I was proud of myself. So, the new year's resolutions are going good.

My Birthday Dinner

So, I cheated. I went out for my birthday to a restaurant that I have not been to in over two years. I used to go more often when I was in high school and loved their food! I still get the same thing... chicken fettuccine alfredo. It comes with unlimited salad and bread sticks and I always get strawberry cheesecake for desert. The salad was pretty good, but I think they changed their dressing recipe a little. The bread sticks were TO DIE FOR!!!! even though they come frozen. The chicken in my pasta tasted microwaved and had no color even under the alfredo sauce. I was disapointed a little in my main dish. Then came time for desert. I debated all afternoon about cheating my no sugar thing or not. A lot of things do not taste the same as I remember them once you get used to less processed and no sugar foods. But would this cheesecake live up to the memory I had of it? Would it be worth it? I have not had cheesecake in a while now and would it be worth it?

Oh, it was worth it. I shared with my boyfriend and every bite was worth the tummy ache later. That is right... when you cut out sugar and then you eat a lot of sugar, you get a tummy ache. It kind of sucks, but at the same time is another deterrent to not cheat on my resolution. I got my cheesecake and then I was done. No more cheesecake!

But, the original reason for this blog is my boyfriend is making sure I blog about something I did today. I got to eat hot wings (never really have sugar in them) and I always eat ranch on my wings. I just like the flavor. So I pulled out my favorite veggie eating ranch ever! Kraft Cucumber Ranch... mmmm.. Well, guess what has 2g of sugar in a 30g serving? yep... so I just did about a third of a serving and just dipped a tiny bit onto my wings. So, technically I cheated on that today too, but it was like 0.67g of sugar if that.

Birthday Update

So today is my birthday... along with at least three other people I know. Do I feel different? Yeah, but I think that's from the new vitamins, strongly recommend them. But otherwise, no. It is just another day. My sister has class, I am watching my nephew, the chicken for dinner was bad so I had to come up with a backup, I am doing webcast for my home income opprotunity. Life is just going.

Today started out awesome though and then just got average I would say. I woke up and my boyfriend gave me my birthday present. Since we got together (5 months ago tomorrow) I have joked about winning the "girlfriend of the year" award. Over the summer I brought cookies to his co-workers and friends, I cook for him, I clean his apartment, I am just all around awesome I think. So, for my birthday he got me a personalized plaque to hang on my wall. It is gold and on it is "Girlfriend of the Year Award", my name, "presented by" his name, and my birthday. It really made my day. I think it's awesome and extremely thoughtful.

I am writing this between webcasts and thought I should provide an update on how life is going so far with my 2 resolutions. Week 2 with no more plastic bags is going great! I have also only been to the store once. I bought a bag (half mesh, half plastic that they were pre-packaged in) of clementines, some string cheese, and some granola. I just carried it right out to my car and was very proud of myself.

The sugar on the other hand is not hard, it is just making sure I have things I can eat around. That is mostly the reason for my short, snack list I bought at the store. I will not lie though, cravings happen. But not really a craving for anything in particular, just something sweet. I feel as though people usually give in with a candy bar or a piece of candy or something else. Let me tell ya, do not underestimate the power of fruit! Eat an orange, drink a glass of 100% juice, snack on raisins, eat some applesauce with cinnamon (but no sugar added), do anything and you would be surprised. My favorite go to right now is Bolthouse Farms Berry Boost. It is not just juice, it is a smothie! It is not exactly cheap, but it is worth it. I only really drink it straight out of the bottle and that is when I am running late and need breakfast, or for a quick craving snack. When I do drink it, it is only ever a gulp or two so it last me a little while and it does not go bad very fast. It is pretty cool.

I was a little sad when my boyfriend left to go get Dairy Queen, but I appreciate the fact that he is going to eat it all before I get to his house in an hour or so. I did look up Spoon Me since one just got built and they do not use sugar! Yay! Then after reading some more, they do not, they use fructose. Fructose is the same sugar that is in fruits and such, but it is also not put in the Spoon Me frozen yogurt in the fruit form. It has to be processed a bit to get there so it gets counted as a processed sugar and is therefore off limits. Soon I will have to make some honey ice cream.

Week 2, Resolution 2: No more plastic bags

So today it begins. No more plastic bags. No more shopping bags, no more produce bags (like the ones you get when you buy apples and such), no more bags.

The no sugar thing has been going alright. I went to a wedding this past weekend and avoided the chocolates they had sitting out on the tables. It was challenging to watch and hear about everyone else eating them, but I did it! And, we left as they were handing out cake so I did not even have to deal with watching people eat cake. I am not even a huge fan of cake, but still, it was a wedding and everyone eats cake!

While eating out at dinner tonight, I thought of another resolution to add to the list. No more take out containers. I'm not saying no food deliveries because I would classify that as fast food and that may come later. But when you go out to eat and you have left overs they bring you a container, typically Styrofoam. Everyone knows that Styrofoam is horrible for the environment and everything so I should not have to say anything about why this one makes sense. I am also including my to-go cups that I sometimes ask for when I leave a restaurant. Instead I am going to have to start carrying a glad container and my re-usable cup with me if I want to bring something home with me. I guess I should also work on using straws. I may make that another resolution, no more plastic straws. 

I also told some people about what I am doing with the 52 new years resolutions. They thought it was crazy at first, but then I explained my idea about how if I make small changes throughout the year it would be easier than just making a few big ones at the beginning. Then it made more sense. and, they're things that people should be doing, or things I should be doing in general, just now I have a reason to have to stick to them.

A Monday kind of Wednesday and Babbling

Ok, first off… I’m watching Portlandia. I’m babysitting, need to stay up till 1am or so, it is on Netflix and someone said something about it this past weekend. I’m just now getting to the credits and their little song about the “Dream of the 90’s is alive in Portland” already makes me interested. LOL

All right, so today was a busy day, and I have to remind myself that it is NOT Monday! Today was the first day back to school and I was called in to sub for the rest of the week. I had to wake up and like shower and get dressed and all that all before 7:30. I do not have to “report,” at the latest, until 7:45, but I stress about being late for things. It was such a Monday kind of day.

I am pretty excited though because I am acting as a substitute teacher’s aide in a special education classroom where the teacher last time let me do things! Now, for anyone who has ever been a substitute you know how boring it really can be. Part of the job description is something about carrying on with lesson plans the teacher leaves to keep the learning continuous while the teacher is gone, but seriously? That would make the job a whole lot better if that actually happened. I typically get tests, movies, worksheets, silent reading, group reading, test reviews, and busy work. Last April I started crocheting a blanket which I thought I would never finish, but it has become my “substitute blanket” and is a good three feet long now and it pretty much only gets brought out when I am subbing.

This morning was not as exciting as I thought it would be, but it was no “silent reading” kind of day, it was a “make a ton of copies” day! And in the afternoon I got to replace another aide who had to leave early.

[Side note: Episode 1 of Portlandia just finished. I will not be watching more episodes of that. I instead moved onto How I Met Your Mother… episode 1… ]

After school I picked up my nephew from school. My sis is out of town for the night and he gets picked up after about an hour on Wednesdays to go to his Dad’s. He was in a sad kind of mood and so we sat and talked for a good half hour and then I chatted with his Dad’s girlfriend who picks him up. Then I got ready…

Last month I started a home income business (let me know if you’re interested…) and had a webcast to prep for at 5:30 and a friend to contact to make sure she is still joining me for the webcast. Well, the lady who is training me did not show up on time and I called her only to get her answering machine. So I left a message and spent 45 minutes catching up with an old friend, the one the webcast was for. Then I got a call and turns out, told the helpful woman the wrong time!!! Stupid time zones…

Presentation went off without a hitch, but took awhile. Since it started late I was running late for the dinner that was supposed to be at 6.  I knew I would already be late, but still, it was later than planned. Because I multitask I also had gotten word that the family I am an on-call babysitter for needed me tonight at 8pm. Let us just say that was the fastest dinner I ever had. I think I got it all down in less than five minutes!

And here I am… babysitting. It has been a long day and a longer night. Even though there are two baby monitors in their living room the parents do not really want you to sleep when babysitting. So here I am, adding to my blog that so far, nobody reads and watching shows on Netflix. (They do not have cable or anything….)

Oops...

So I slipped up. Sometimes finding snack foods and such at my sister's house can be a problem. But, it's not like I went for a cookie or some of the candy left over from Christmas... I ate a pack of graham crackers instead. Probably wouldn't be as humiliating if it was a few, but you know how in a box of graham crackers there are three packs... ate a whole one of those with milk. Made sure it was just the honey grahams (totally made with sugar and not honey!) and not the amazing ones covered in cinnamon and sugar.

And then my sister tricked me! After I finished my dinner tonight she brought out the pumpkin pie and I resisted, but it came up in the conversation that she put sugar in the carrots. :( She does this a lot! It drives me up the wall. My nephew will eat cooked carrots with out it, they taste pretty much the same, and sugar is horrible for you... why put it on carrots?!?!?!

Otherwise, I've been good. I also learned that instead of creating diets based on what you can't have, "sugar-free!," "low carb!," "low fat!," etc., they should be named after what you can have... "all the healthy foods you want diet!" And I think that's what I'm going to call it from now on... I'm not giving up sugar, I'm eating all the unsweetened healthy foods I want.

Still looking for next week's resolution. So far the list contains the following options:
Start a compost pile (kinda waiting until spring when it's a little warmer)
Plant a garden (also a spring thing)
Reusable Grocery Bags (no more plastic bags!!!)
Exercise more regularly
Get into running more (not the same as working out... this one is building up to a 5k again)
Minimal Fast Food Wrapping
Minimal Fast Food (I already REFUSE to eat McDonalds!!!)

Unless things change, I'm thinking the plastic bag one may be the winner for next week. It's something I already try to do, but this one would be pulling out all the stops and being more vocal and refuse bags in situations like I experienced last week...

I went to Wal-Mart and brought my reusable bag. My favorite bag ever I might add... a nice pink bag supporting breast cancer research I picked up at Safeway back when I actually lived by a Safeway... I digress...
I went to Wal-Mart to get some random things and grab a side for dinner that evening. I ended up with some frozen veggie mixes that were on sale, more yarn for my blanket, and some other random things. When approaching the check out line, I chose an express lane and politely tell the lady that I brought my own bag. (I also used the bag instead of an annoying basket!) She rings up my veggies and such and then takes a brand new plastic bag and places it on top of my frozen veggies to keep my yarn from getting wet/cold. I told her it wasn't necessary because I was just going a short distance and then taking it all out, but no, she did it anyway!!! I wasn't in the mood to argue, this resolution would make me in the mood to argue every time!

The part I have been thinking about though is the fact that I still buy things already in plastic bags. Will I be trying to weed these out too? Or do those not count? I don't really feel like I buy too many things in bags already, but I hate the fact that they can't even be recycled where I live. Maybe this will become a resolution itself at a later time like when I can have a garden and produce and such and rely less on frozen foods and other foods that come in plastic bags.

But this week 2 resolution means I need to start making my reusable produce bags! :D

And so it begins... 2012 style!

New Years Eve was spent with my BF and some of his friends out of town. I hadn't eaten rice crispy treats in so long and I ate soooooo many of them. Someone brought to the party three huge sheets of rice crispy treats and I think I ate about one all by myself. But, I cut myself off shortly before the new year.

The group of us went to the garage where the guys smoked their cigars and us girls were cold while we counted the last few minutes of 2011. After the new year and everyone was done with their cigars, the group headed to the dining room where we played "Things..." It's a pretty cool game to play and with the group we had, it was awesome. At about 1am, someone mentioned ice cream and the conversation went to the fact that there's ice cream in the freezer. Really??? cause ice cream is my one sugar thing that I can't have and guess what I gave up at midnight?!?!

Otherwise, it's day two and I have yet to have processed sugar. Although, there may have been some in the unintentional sauce on my lasagna I had when we ate out. Now I have to work on deciding what next week's resolution should be.