Still no van...

Now what we're hearing is that the district manager for Honda is a real hard a$$ (Service Manager at the dealership's words, not ours) and the most we can expect from him is 25% or 50% off. What... a..... COLORFUL WORD &%$&#^!%#^$&!!!! I'm so glad there's a lawsuit in the works. They lost the last one (same issue, older model years) so there's a good chance they'll lose again, which means we should get reimbursed for our costs. Not our headaches/hassles/time without, mind you.... But what can ya do. I guess better late than never, right?

What's sad is that I'm really getting used to being stuck at home. I'm sure the kids are getting anxious about not having a change of scenery every now and then. And at least the farm is still just a walk away, though not a fun one when it's low-mid 90's and muggy. But it was nice tonight--high 70's and just a tad muggy made for a comfortable expedition! Jeremiah loved every minute of it. And there's nothing like the lack of light to cue him in on when it's time to leave, not that he was happy about it.

I'd say the rest of the day wasn't too bad. There re-paving the road right behind our property, so we sat on our little hill to watch for a bit. Jeremiah LOVED that! First we watched a huge dump truck back up while another truck swept up all the debri and it went up a conveyor belt into the truck. That was cool. Then a little loader went behind that truck, and picked up more debri. Then a couple of street sweepers went behind that and scrubbed it all clean (I guess.) That was it for today, so I'm guessing they're going to pave tomorrow, which should be fun to watch. I just hope it's not so hot tomorrow, so we can go out and be comfortable. And maybe the stupid bugs'll stay at bay, too! I didn't realize mosquitos were active in the daytime.... Grrr...

Sleepiness has been an annoying problem lately. Everyday this week, I've been desperate to nap, so I have. Thankfully, Jesslyn has been feeling the same way. Either that, or she figures, "Well, it doesn't look like Mommy's coming to get me up, so I guess I'll sleep." Last week, she wasn't interested in her afternoon naps AT ALL. For a while there, I thought she was being like her big brother and giving up her 2nd nap before her 1st birthday. As annoying as it is to be stuck in the house twice a day, well, it's not like I'm going anywhere anyway! Yeah, I'm okay with it. I like those breaks in the day, especially because Jesslyn is my "needy" child. She's okay if I'm in the same room as her, but usually, she wants me to hold her. It's very cute, but there are definitely times I wish she were more like her brother and happy to play by himself, sans Mommy. At least I know I'll always have a cuddle bug!

Only a few more weeks 'til her birthday! Crazy. I think we'll have to have a little family something or other. It was quite the year!

And now, for Top Chef...

Interesting Facts

Most of you with whom I keep in contact regularly know that we've adopted a "low carb" lifestyle recently. This is something my family has been talking about for YEARS, but I've never been convinced to the legitimacy of it. Then we saw "Fathead", a sort of follow up documentary to "Super Size Me" and it really started to make sense. I've been perusing their blog in recent weeks, and thought I would share their "No-Bologna Facts" with you. Emphases are mine.

• There’s never been a single study that proves saturated fat causes heart disease.
• As heart-disease rates were skyrocketing in the mid-1900s, consumption of animal fat was going down, not up. Consumption of vegetable oils, however, was going up dramatically.
• Half of all heart-attack victims have normal or low cholesterol. Autopsies performed on heart-attack victims routinely reveal plaque-filled arteries in people whose cholesterol was low (as low as 115 in one case).
• Asian Indians - half of whom are vegetarians - have one of the highest rates of heart disease in the entire world. Yup, that fatty meat will kill you, all right.
• When Morgan Spurlock tells you that a McDonald’s salad supplies almost a day’s allowance of fat, he’s basing that statement on the FDA’s low-fat/high-carbohydrate dietary guidelines, which in turn are based on … absolutely nothing. There’s no science behind those guidelines; they were simply made up by a congressional committee.
• Kids who were diagnosed as suffering from ADD have been successfully treated by re-introducing natural saturated fats into their diets. Your brain is made largely of fat.
• Many epileptics have reduced or eliminated seizures by adopting a diet low in sugar and starch and high in saturated animal fats.
• Despite everything you’ve heard about saturated fat being linked to cancer, that link is statistically weak. However, there is a strong link between sugar and cancer. In Europe, doctors tell patients, “Sugar feeds cancer.”
• Being fat is not, in and of itself, bad for your health. The behaviors that can make you fat - eating excess sugar and starch, not getting any exercise - can also ruin your health, and that’s why being fat is associated with bad health. But it’s entirely possible to be fat and healthy. It’s also possible to be thin while developing Type II diabetes and heart disease.
• Saturated fat and cholesterol help produce testosterone. When men limit their saturated fat, their testosterone level drops. So, regardless of what a famous vegan chef believes, saturated fat does not impair sexual performance.

Hmm.... sounds like a lot of the opposite of what we've been told all of our lives.

Oh, and it gets better. Here's an interesting article about---exercise!

Exercise Bologna--

The USDA came out with their recommendation to do 60-90 minutes of aerobics for fat-loss in 2005. The first ever research study on the efficacy of their advice didn’t come out until late 2007. Do you know what the study said?

Men who did moderate to vigorous (think your target heart rate zone) exercise for over 60 minutes per day, 6 days per week, for an entire year lost only 6.5lbs of body fat! That is a half pound per month, for more than 6 hours of exercise per week. Women barely lost 4lbs! (1)

So, if you’re a woman with 20lbs to lose, all you’d need is 20 hours of aerobic exercise per week and you’d be set in 12 months!

You'll have to read the article to get more details, but the gist is that exercise that doesn't build muscle isn't going to help you lose weight. That's not to say it isn't good for you--but killing yourself at the gym on the elliptical machine isn't going to equal pounds shed. So maybe we could all go back to a more primitive form of exercise for better health--walking, jumping, and PLAYING! That sounds like more fun to me, at least. Though I still kinda wanna take a belly dancing class. :)

One month later...

...and still no mini-van. GRUMBLE!!!!

That being said, I'm getting used to being stuck in the house all day. And with the exception of Sunday and Monday, the weather has been favorable to short walks and visits to the farm. But man... those past two days--whooo! As my Dad would say, "It was a SCORCHA!" But we had a nice time, despite the heat.

Sunday, our friends (and soon to be married) Juanaldo (real name, John,) and Carolyn (real name, Carolyn. :) came over for a little cookout. Had some yummy burgers, chocolate chip cookies, and just a nice time hanging out [inside] with our favorite engaged couple!

Yesterday, Jeremy worked from home, which totally messes up my inner-clock. Someone mentioned Monday in passing, and I thought, "Isn't that today???" Yeah. I blame it on a placenta brain. ;) But it was nice to have him home! I had TWO meals to deliver yesterday to two new Mommies--one way out in Leesburg (it's only way out because they're Mom's from my Moms' group in Reston/Herndon, so they're a little further out than I expected,) but the other was in my neighborhood, so they equal out to about 15 minutes each way, each. There we go! :) I made some YUMMY Stuffed Peppers. I haven't had 'em in so long, and boy was it good! I used this recipe from All Recipes, in case you want to make them yourself. I did use chicken stock instead of water, was a little more generous with worchestsire sauce, and used canned stewed tomatoes instead of plain. Very tasty.

I'll make this again, but I'll use boiled cabbage isntead of the peppers. Nothing against peppers, but I really just wanted the filling, so I'll use something that's a little less in your face the next round. Oh, and I made my own Tomato Soup using tomatoes from our garden (so if you didn't want to use all of it as a sauce for the peppers, you could just eat it!) All that was was our peeled tomatoes, an onion, garlic, s&p, a few bay leaves and some crush red pepper flakes! Blend it all together, and YUM!

Back to the Mommies. So the whole meal was the stuffed peppers with tomato soup/sauce, mixed greens with strawberries and blueberries with a balsamic vinegrette (which I accidently made into mayonnaise the first time... thought I'd be clever and use my new hand blender to mix it. Yeah.... too much power. Came out yummy the second time, though!) and chocolate chip cookies for dessert! Yum! I was very pleased with it, and both Mommies seemed to be pleased as well! Unfortunately, I didn't get any baby time at either delivery, but that's alright. I'll just go steal my neighbor's baby sometime, so it'll be okay. :) Hey, she said I could. Is it stealing, then, if you have their permission??? ;)

Jesslyn turns one in a month. CRAZY! This year has gone by so quickly, much more quickly than Jeremiah's first year, I think. Then again... no, it definitely went by more quickly. :) I wonder what'll happen when #3 arrives! Will it all be a blur??? Guess we'll just have to wait and see. She's changing so much (who doesn't say that?) She's practicing standing unassisted (got it down, pat!) starting to "talk" (ma-ma, da-da, ba-ba [ball or bottle], ki-eee [kitty], etc...) It looks like we won't have any speech problems with her!

Speaking of speech, Jeremiah had his evalulation with the county last week. He's no longer developmentally delayed, just below average, which is not surprising. He adding words everyday! Just wasn't interested in talking before, that's all. I'm sure by the time he has his three year check up, he'll be right where he should be! So we're very thankful to put an end to *that* chapter in our lives.

Back to Jesslyn--I love her hair--it's so cute! It's getting really long in the back, but instead of just being long, it curls up underneath itself, so while it's been the same "length" for a while, when you comb through it, you realize just how long it is. But that's the only place she has curls--the rest is pin straight and wispy! It's too fine for hair clips, but I can put it up in pigtails all day long! I usually, do, but it's not the easiest task--I have to find something really interesting to distract her with, otherwise she tries to "watch" what I'm doing and keeps twisting and pulling away. So cute once it's done, though!

That's all for now!

Yay for good days!

In my quest to post more often, I thought I would write a short one about today, since yesterday wasn't so great.

Oddly enough, today's been a rather good day! I went to bed last night around the time I usually do (midnight...) despite my plans to do otherwise.... Hey, Top Chef Masters was on 'til 11, so, y'know, I had to watch that! Then it was "He said/She said" on 1 vs. 100 (on XBox Live) so I thought I'd play that a little while, and then it was cleaning up from dinner/getting ready for bed nonsense... Yeah, next thing you know, it's midnight.

ANYWAY, I woke up at 8 today and was, strangely, rather awake. Both kids were still sleeping, so I tried to go back to sleep, only to hear Jeremiah a few minutes later--"Mooooooooooooommeeeeeeeeee!" Since Jesslyn was still asleep, I tried to convince Jeremiah to come lay in bed with me, even trying to shush him as we walked down the hall to our room. Of course, as soon as we were close to Jesslyn's room, he shouted, "Dat one, too!" Grrr.... He wanted his blanket in bed with us. Long story short, we got a scant few minutes cuddling before, "Kookie up!" as Jeremiah would say. Yes, Jesslyn still is, and forever will be, "The Kookie"

Am I the only person who thinks that days that start off gray and rainy are good days??? I think it's because I don't have anywhere to go (and couldn't go even if I did--STUPID HONDA! Anyway--) so it's just a sign that we can take the day slow and easy, and just see how things go. So that's what we did. We took our time at breakfast, and just kinda chilled this morning. Jesslyn was a good girl, and went down for her nap on time, Jeremiah was happy to watch Caillou while Mommy showered, and then Meemaw and Uncle Stephin came over to hang out for a bit.

Since they were here, I seized the opportunity to get out of the house. Our neighbor/friends from down the street, Leslie and John, welcomed a beautiful baby boy, Matthew, into the world yesterday, and I was lucky enough to get to visit them at the hospital today! Of course, it was part of my master plan--Leslie had asked for ideas on how to make John's birthday (today) special, since they'd be in the hospital. I volunteered to bring a cake in, but of course, I really wanted to see the baby. :) Not that I minded doing that for them, but c'mon... who doesn't want to see a new baby?! When I got there, he'd been wheeled out for, umm, "boy stuff" so I got to visit with Leslie and John (mostly Leslie) instead. And Leslie's sister, Kate, so it was a nice time chatting while we waited for Matthew to return. Once he did, much cooing/oo-ing/aww-ing ensued. It was a nice time, and I was honored to be able to share that with Leslie and her family.

Jeremy's working the rest of the afternoon from home today. Well, he did, since the workday is now over. He had a "team outting" to Annapolis for some sailing. Yeah. For some reason, they made it an overnight trip. This was "okay" with me, until he decided to not call/text/email/check in AT ALL until 8 a.m. this morning. Seriously, I was sending him text messages, asking him if he was still alive. How was I to know differently??? Thankfully, he is, and home safe and sound now. He was even kind enough to run to Burger King and get me a Whopper (which has since been consumed, furthering the goodness of the day. :) But then he locked me out of the house.... I don't think he meant to, I think it was out of habit (and a good one, too! Especially since he accidently left the front door not only unlocked, but OPEN, one night last week! Yeesh.)

That's been our day, thus far. I think some Chuck E Cheese action is in store for this evening, although the weather has really cleared up and turned beautiful. But those dang tokens are just clanging around in my diaper bag, and I'm getting a little tired of it. They gotta go!

Tomorrow, Jeremiah has his eval with ChildFind about his speech. Or maybe it's just a hearing test. I'm not really sure, but I don't think they're going to do anything to help him at this point--he's been talking up a storm! But I'm no expert, so we'll see.

It's one of those days...

'Those days' always seem to occur when Jeremy goes out of town, and I know I'll be without a break until bedtime. Where did he go, you ask? He's going boating in Annapolis with his team! What the heck?! Oh well. I'm glad he's out to have a good time, but of course it means I'm stuck here at home, vehicle-less, with two young kids and nowhere to go. Thankfully, my Dad is going to come by tonight to give me a break, so I can run some errands (need to check on a friend's cats, get some milk at the store, etc...)

I think part of my frustration is due to the caffeine in the coffee I had this morning--makes me a little jittery, which I interpret as "stress." I don't drink coffee in the mornings very often, and now I remember why. I'll stick with tea from now on. Just don't have the tolerance I used to have (as if it were an alcoholic beverage!)

Life has been pretty non-eventful lately. Since we're STILL waiting for Honda to fix our van (this is getting really REALLY ridiculous--3 weeks now, and they still don't have an answer for us! This is the LAST Honda we'll ever buy--as soon as it's fixed, we'll work on selling it, and buy a Sienna instead! They've lost a customer for good.) the kids and I have been stuck at home most days. My Dad was on vacation last week, so we did take Jeremy into work a few times so we could go out there an enjoy the pool. That was a nice time, but again, frustrating without a vehicle (and Jeremy's car isn't nearly as roomy as my van...) The kids really do enjoy going to Meemaw's and Poppy's house, though--Jeremiah loves to go back and forth between the pool and the sandbox (which is right next to the pool.) Jesslyn wasn't too fond of the water either time, though when she went in with Meemaw, she loved it! What the heck! No love for Mommy, I guess. She just whined the whole time with me, and laughed when

with Meemaw. I don't get it. Oh well.

This past weekend, Frying Pan Park (across the street from us) had their annual 4H fair. They had a carnival come and set up, so we took Jeremiah Friday night. He LOVED it! We really thought it would freak him out, as he's not too crazy about the "wild" rides at Chuck E Cheese, but he really did enjoy it--he went on ride after ride all by himself! I guess that's a plus to being tall for your age. :) He wasn't very happy to leave, but it was getting late, and Jesslyn was overtired. All in all, it was a nice little outing, one we'll be repeating again next year (maybe Jesslyn will be tall enough to ride the rides herself, too!)

Jeremy's garden is doing really well this year. Although his assortment of vegetables is lacking. He's only growing 4 different things.... I don't get it, but whatever. So if you're ever in the need of tomatoes, banana peppers or yellow squash, we've got ya covered. And jalepenos, but there's only 2 of those so they don't make very much. We had a bunch more squash, but the stupid groundhog that lives under our deck ate most of 'em. Stupid groundhog. He's lucky I don't know how to use Jeremy's shotgun, or I would have taken that little pest out myself! I kid.... :) I wouldn't do that--now if Uncle Stephin were over with his bb gun.....

Anyway, I made tomato soup yesterday to use up the many tomatoes we had sitting around, and it was yummy! Jeremy really liked it. I guess that's good, since it seems like all anyone grows around here is tomatoes, so they're tough to get rid of. I was going to make it "Portuguese style" which would have meant a thick piece of toast with a poached egg atop, at the bottom of the bowl, but we didn't have any toast, and I didn't think the egg would go over well with my non-Portuguese loving family (well, Jeremy would have eaten it, I think, though he is easily weirded out by non-traditional food. Jeremiah wouldn't even eat the soup as it was, insisting it was too hot, despite the fact that it had cooled on the counter for at least 10 minutes... And Jesslyn just wouldn't have more than a few bites. It was late, and she was tired, so I can't really blame her.)

On a "lighter" note, we've been eating relatively low carb, ever since watching "Fathead," a documentary-follow up to "Super Size Me." It rebuffs many of the falacies shown in that film, and explains the science behind how our bodies process fats and sugars. Turns out, it's not the fat in our foods that make us fat--it's the sugar! [BTW... here's an interesting post about how killing yourself at the gym every day won't help you lose weight....] Our bodies just weren't designed to process the amount of sugar and carbs that the USDA recommends we consume on a daily basis (300 g of carbs, if on a 2000 cal/day diet.) Anyway, you should see it for yourself--it was really encouraging, and backs up what my family (who's been low-carbing it for a while now) have been trying to tell me for years! After a month of just cutting out most of the junk (not all of it, and we do occasionally indulge, but we definitely don't consume nearly what we used to!) Jeremy and I have both lost 10 lbs. Not that I'm at a time in my life when I'm preoccupied with losing weight, so I've actually been trying to add more carbs back in my diet, just to stem off the losing. But it's amazing how much food you can enjoy and still lose weight by just cutting out the processed sugars and flours. So come March/April next year, I'll be going at it full force again. Yay!

Finally, we're taking a break from our cloth diapers. We just can't stay ahead of the pile of clothes that keeps appearing on a daily basis, so we're using disposables for now. Although when I told Jeremy how much they cost, he said, "That's it, we're going back to cloth." Yeah, $80 for a little over a month of diapers is a bit much. And they're not nearly as cute as our cloth. :) Maybe we should invest in a 2nd washer/dryer.... It'd be cheaper than using disposables, in the long run! Crazy, huh?

Oh, and for those who are thinking, "Why don't you just potty train Jeremiah?" Well, he's just not ready yet. I've tried to get him interested, but he could care less about "being a big boy" and is perfectly happy not interrupting his play to use the potty. So we'll wait. I'm sure he'll be outta diapers by the time he moves outta the house. In the meantime, it's not really a big deal to us.

And that's that!