Grocery Planning | & a Big Walking Boy

I hate grocery shopping. I always spend way too much money on things that sit in my cupboard and don't get eaten. They look good in the store, then I get home and change my mind. No more, I have no room in my cupboards/fridge/freezer to store things I won't eat. I've tried meal planning about 4,592 times and I NEVER EVER follow through. So this time I'm going to just make a list of dinners and lunches (about 6 or 7 each) for the next 2 weeks. I'll grocery shop for those meals but not plan them on a certain day, just plan to make them in the next two weeks or so. I hope this works better! So for this week here's what I've got:


Lunches:
Tabasco Dill Cucumber Pita
Dilled Shrimp with Farfalle found on this site: Spark People
Light Potato Salad
Eggplant Fries (not sure where I found this recipe)
Taco Salad

Dinners:
Broiled Tilapia Parmesan (not sure where I found this recipe)
Ranch Burger Sliders
Cilantro Pesto with Chicken or Salmon (not sure where I found this recipe)
Chicken Piccata
Grilled Cheese & Homemade Tomato Soup

Breakfasts:
Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins (not sure where I found this recipe)
Banana Bread
Breakfast Burrito

Other Snacks (Superbowl!?):
Buffalo Chicken Dip
Italian Stuffed Jalepenos (not sure where I found this recipe either, I think from a link on a TidyMom post)


ALSO.... Brayden is WALKING!! He is so funny. It cracks me up to just watch him waddle around. He is figuring out how to balance more and falls less and less each day. It's crazy to watch him start going too fast, and then slow himself down and catch his balance, then take off again! He is so proud of himself. I can't believe he is walking and will be ONE in 6 days. What?!? He is tooooo big.





We are cutting out the bottle soon. Yay! He's been down to only one bottle a day for probably almost a month and he doesn't seem to miss it. He only has about 6 ounces before bed but I'm not anticipating a struggle when we just nix it for good. He's not too attached (thank goodness). The binky on the other hand will be more of a challenge, but hey, one thing at a time.

Get FIT Challenge

I've been having some trouble figuring out what exactly to post here, so I've been searching the blogs I read for some "blog projects" and this is the first one I came across. I was actually SUPER excited because I think it may be just what (I didn't know) I was looking for.



Height: 5'5" or 5'6", not exactly sure.

Weight: 155.6 as of this morning.

Diet: For starters, I drink WAY too much pop. Like usually at least a can or a bottle of diet pepsi every day. So to start off I'm cutting myself back to 80 oz per week (which is 4 bottles). Writing that makes it still sound like so much but it will be a challenge, and I'll slowly cut back to hopefully only one or two cans a week, maybe even eventually cut soda out completely! Secondly, drink more water. TONS more water. My goal is 100 oz per day, five 20 ounce water bottles. Honestly it shouldn't be that hard, it's remembering to do it that gets me every time. Third, portion sizing. I am going to work hard at eating only ONE portion at each meal. I want to eat 5 or 6 small meals per day, which is supposed to keep your metabolism high. Each meal should be 300-450 calories for a total of about 1600-1800 calories per day. Lastly, cutting back on sweets. This goes with the calorie/portion control but I wanted to make a point to myself to set that as a goal. I'm not cutting sweets out completely because that would be absolute torture and I think I'd go insane and eat 8349058 twinkies in about two weeks but just not eating sweets in excess.

Treats & Rewards: For a successful completion of all goals during the week, I get $20 to put in the "new clothes" fund for when I reach my goal weight.

Goals this week: Follow work out plan (shown below) and diet plan.

Discipline: Guilt is my discipline. Guilt eats away at me when I don't do what I set my mind to!

What I learned about last week:

Healthy Thoughts: "You want to be FIT! So just do it!"

My Story: I played soccer from the time I was 5 all the way through 9th grade. I was always in pretty good shape from that. I stayed "skinny" after that, actually I lost weight, but I wasn't "fit". June after my senior year, my fiance and I found out I was pregnant. I didn't really watch what I ate, I craved desserts and gained over 50 pounds. My son was born February of 2010. In September I started a fitness class at the college and lost some weight and then joined a gym in November and have continued losing weight but am still not at my pre-pregnancy weight (142 pounds). I will be so happy when I am back to that weight, and even happier when I hit my goal weight of 135-138 pounds. What makes me even more excited is that I'm doing it the right way. The healthy way. And not only will I lose all my preggo-flab, I'll be fit and toned. :)




The bubbles on each day are for each bottle of water I need to drink each day and I can check them off as I go. The four circles at the bottom left are for each bottle (20 oz) of soda I am allowing myself each week.

If you want to join the get FIT challenge, click the button link at the top of the post or visit {shutter}mama

DELISH! - Chicken Piccata

Today's post may be all over the place. Sorry about that.

First off, dinner.





I found this recipe Easy Chicken Piccata, courtesy of styleberryBLOG. I actually have had this recipe sitting in my Evernote folder since August when she first posted it. Finally today I decided to try it. It was DESLISH! I was a little hesitant about the capers. Capers? What are capers? Good question. I still really don't know the answer to that. When I went to the grocery store last week I had to call my mom and ask her what they were and where to find them at the store (haha!). Anyway, I almost didn't add them but boy am I glad I did. Thumbs up for trying new foods. I highly recommend this recipe, WITH the capers. :)

Okay, so about Project 365. I have been following through. I take a picture; AT LEAST one picture, every day. But the problem lies in coordinating the project with the blog. Not working. I just don't want to devote the time to uploading all the pictures from each day. It just seems really monotonous to me. I'm not ditching the idea altogether though. As far as the blog is concerned, I will be doing a Project 52. A picture once a week. Call me an idea stealer (styleberry inspired me), but the theme is MOTHERHOOD. Motherhood as a college student. Motherhood as a young mother. I think giving the project direction will be much more meaningful. I'm excited!




Any guesses what's for dinner tomorrow or Friday?

Early to Bed

Normally I am a night owl. Normally being 99% of the time. Today is not normal. Today, whew!, today. My day went a little something like this:

5am- Brayden wakes up (Umm EXCUSE me?? its FIVE in the morning)
630am- Jesse goes to work
815am- Brayden takes a nap, I get ready for the day
900am- Go to the college to pick up financial aid check
915am- Drive around college campus for twenty minutes looking for a parking spot within two blocks of the administration building because i am NOT hauling my 22 pound child all over campus
935am- Stand in line at financial aid office
950am- Go to bank to deposit check
10am- Lady at bank says "I'm a little leery about this check, it looks funny, you are gonna have to go to the bank the check is from (Bank of the West) and have them cash it, then bring the cash back here to deposit it." [psst- Thank you for making my life as difficult as possible dumb lady, its a FINANCIAL AID check, you think its fake? you are dumb.]
1020am- Go to Bank of the West, cash check
1035am- Go BACK to my bank and deposit cash
1045am- Blow my nose for the 932405789375th time today and decide I'm OVER being sick
1050am- Go to Urgent Care, Sit and wait...
11:30am- Get throat swabbed for strep, and wait some more... [all while Brayden finds it necessary to touch every single thing in the exam room, get mad because he can't play with the blinds, drop half of his snacks on the floor, AND spill his juice :)]
11:50am- Yay! Strep throat.
12pm- Wait SOME MORE for doctor to call in prescription.
1215pm- Finally leave Urgent Care, get lunch at Peaches, go to my moms office to drop off Brayden
1235pm- Eat lunch in 1.3 seconds and run out the door to go to class
1pm- Statistics
2pm- Go to college book store to get my last textbook. Walk in, grab book, and proceed to line... which by the way is about... oh, I'd say at least 50 people long. NOT exaggerating.
245pm- Leave college, go to Albertson's to pick up prescription.
255pm- Stand in line at Albertsons, wait for lady to find my prescription, which was obviously not where it should have been
315pm- Leave Albertson's to go pick up Brayden who has a doctors appointment AT 315, yes we are late
325pm- Leave my mom's office, Brayden in tow
335pm- Get to Doctors office, and wait. Surprise!
410pm- Finish at doctor's office and head home.
425pm- Put Brayden in bed for his FIRST, and ONLY nap of the day. *sigh*
430pm- BREATHE.


ahhhh. So, that is why tonight I will not be a night owl. I imagine Brayden will wake up at about 5:45, eat dinner, play for about half an hour and be ready to go back to bed between 630 and 7. Then I will lay on the couch and watch Teen Mom 2 [lol] and then I will be going to bed. And in the morning, I HOPE I do not feel as crappy as I did when I woke up today. :)

PS- Sorry no pictures today, I literally just do not have an ounce of energy to give to uploading pictures. Darn.

New Years "Resolutions" - 14 days late

I hate New Years resolutions. The concept of it is alright, but really, we should be making goals like these all year round. When you reach a goal you should set a higher one. Never settle. But there's a balance that must be achieved. You can't look at it as though nothing is ever good enough, but as you can always do better. For example- one of my "New Years resolutions" is to lose the rest of that stubborn prego-weight. But the battle isn't won when I reach that golden number. Once that happens, my goal will then be to MAINTAIN that number. It's continuous, and that's why I HATE the term New Years resolution.

Back in the beginning of December, something changed. I couldn't even tell you what it was, because I have no clue what caused it, but I decided things were going to be different. I was going to make an conscious effort every day to change the things in my life that I want to change. No more waiting around hoping something will miraculously happen and make everything perfect. I joined a gym, and started paying attention to what I'm eating. While I haven't done very well in the "eating healthy" area YET, I have learned to become aware of what I'm eating and how much I'm eating. If you're interested, I refer to FITori for diet and exercise questions a lot.





I'm working on holding myself accountable for my actions. If I decide to skip out on exercising, then I'm the one that will pay for it and feel the effects of it (physically & emotionally) later. Another thing I've struggled with is "getting back into the swing of things". Being a mom, there are always things that come up unexpectedly. If Brayden has a runny nose, or a fever, I can't take him to the daycare; therefore, I can't work out. THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD. Missing one day for something that wasn't planned isn't going to ruin my whole "plan" as long as I keep on schedule afterward. [I constantly have to remind myself of this.] I realized that this blog is the perfect place to create an "outside source" of accountability. Every so often I will update how I'm doing with my New Years Resolutions goals. It's not so much "accountability" but the idea that I will WANT to share positive progress, creating more motivation for me. :) Here they are:

1. Get back to pre-pregnancy weight. [currently +17 lbs]
2. Eat healthy [ie. fruits, veggies, 6 SMALL meals a day to boost metabolism]
3. Drink more water [more pretty much means ANY, I hardly ever drink water right now, no good]
4. Plan not procrastinate [school - don't wait till the last minute to get things done!]
5. Read to Brayden every day
6. Project 365
7. Finish my medical transcription certificate and USE IT [ie. get a job!!]
8. Get all A's and B's for spring semester
9. Stick to budget to start saving more money
10. Less time with technology [ie. phone, computer, iPad, tv], more time playing, reading, going outside, etc

So, that's my list! I'm sure as time goes by I will add things, but so far these are the biggies. Good luck to me :) What are your New Years Resolutions goals for the coming months?

Project 365 Update [Dec 28 thru Jan 11]

Project 365 Update :)

December 28, 2010
Christmas aftermath. Minus the 153 pounds of wrapping paper.


December 29, 2010


December 30, 2010


December 31, 2010
Cut is mostly healed but now we have another owwie :(


January 1, 2011


January 2, 2011


January 3, 2011


January 4, 2011


January 5, 2011


January 6, 2011


January 7, 2011


January 8, 2011
Brayden and his new cousin, Halo (4 days old) :)


January 9, 2011


January 10, 2011


January 11, 2011

Earth to Jordan, Hello?

First off, I'm a little behind on the whole Project 365 thing. I'm pretty sure I have pictures from every day since I last posted pictures, but I just haven't had the time to upload them.. maybe tomorrow.

I've also been slacking in the "working out" area. [ :( ] Brayden seriously just absolutely HATES being at the daycare at the WAC. He's never been watched by anyone other than me, Jesse, my Mom, or my Aunt and that is really creating a bump in the road currently. It kills me to know that while I'm running on the treadmill or lifting weights, he is upstairs confused as to why I left him in some random place, with random kids, and toys he has only seen a few times. I know that he will get use to it, and being around other kids is good for him, but its really hard for me.

A friend of mine (Julia) just recently joined the WAC also so today we decided to go together. She has a 15 month old daughter that Brayden gets along really well with so our thinking was that maybe if they were there together it wouldn't be so bad. Dropping him off was fine - he immediately started playing with Julia's daughter. We went downstairs and were on the treadmills about 40 minutes when the daycare director approached me and said Brayden was really upset and wouldn't stop crying. [ insert heartbreak here :( ] So now I'm back to "I guess I can't work out because I feel horrible knowing Brayden is upset the whole time" mode. Big UGH. I hope he starts to get semi-okay with it soon. How long until he realizes that it is only an hour and I will ALWAYS come back to get him? Fingers crossed that day is coming soon. Working out makes me feel SO much better about my day and myself.

In other news, Brayden has become SO affectionate. He will be busy playing by himself and just randomly crawl over to me, lay his head on my leg or arm for a few seconds, and then just go back to playing. It's adorable. I love it! That is one of those things I don't want to forget. Ever. He is getting so big so fast I honestly feel like I can't even blink for fear of missing him doing something new.

Sorry there's no pictures on this post. Makes for a tad boring read, but tomorrow I will have pictures. I just had to force myself to post something quick today to get back into the swing of things!

G'night :)