In case of emergency.....

I know I have to give up Diet Pepsi. I know it's bad for me. I know it hinders any weightloss. I know that aspartame has been shown to cause brain tumors. I know the caramel coloring makes my teeth a nice shade of beige-tan. I know I spend way too much money on soda too.

I just have to stop. For good. I have to give it up.

My daughter gave this emergency diet pepsi thing for my birthday. Sometime tomorrow, I am going to stick my last diet pepsi in it. Let's just hope that I dont have to use it!

Vino Italiano

My very good friend, Katie and her husband just got back from spending 10 days in Italy. I would be jealous but I know how hard they worked to get this trip, saving money, skipping Christmas, etc. Today is the first day that I have seen her since she got back last week, and she brought me a delicious fun surprise that is a PERFECT gift for Rodney and I. A bottle of Italian Red Wine! Num! Also, a picture below - as I promised!

Also, you can see the view from my office. It overlooks the Jordan River which is mostly nice and isn't without some amusement on some days.... but more about that in an upcoming blog. ;)

A Cheap Knock Off

Today we had a family birthday party for Brittany and Zachary. Yay! for the last birthdays for a while. January is just a mess of birthdays and it seems like I spend every weekend preparing food for our kids parties and a fortune buying for their birthdays. Whose brilliant idea was it to have 3 kids right after Christmas???!

Since the majority of my family is on some kind of diet or healthy eating kick, I decided salad was probably the best way to go so I decided to recreate Cafe Rio salad and let people make their own the way they wanted them.

The ingredients are layered on top of a tasty tortilla and then topped with an amazing salad dressing. So I made cilantro lime rice, barbacoa pork, shredded chicken, tomatillo dressing, and guacamole. Beans, lettuce, cotija cheese, salsa, and tortilla chips can also be added.

I think it was a hit. Except with my nephew. He ate two bites and said it had too much guacamole on it even though he made the plate himself. My dogs weren't sad that he didnt eat it all though. ;)

Sorry, no picture again. I keep forgetting to take them until everything is put up. I promise I will have a picture tomorrow. OF course who knows what I will be blogging about tomorrow - ha ha.

Veggin out!

It's been a veggie kinda weekend. This week I ordered Bountiful Baskets and since Rodney has been on a whole foods- grains, veggies, etc regimen, I decided to order the basket as well as the tropical add on and the asian add on. Which left us with a kitchen full of fruits and vegetables. This is what I picked up for $45:

Cabbage
Tomatoes
Potatoes
Green Beans
Bell Pepper
Onions
apples
grapefruit
lemons
oranges
limes
Bluberries
2 vanilla beans
coconut
pineapple
kiwi
mint
basil
Bok Choi
Chinese Cabbage
water chestnuts
ginger
garlic
plantain
asparagus
celery
spinach
romaine lettuce
tomatoes
mangoes
eggplant
Five loaves of organic 9 grain bread

What a deal, huh? What a ton of work! I spent saturday blanching vegetables to freeze for stir fry packs. The great thing about this produce is that it comes from small farms and are as local as possible - the bad thing about it is it goes bad really quickly because it lacks industrial pesticides - wait that is also a good thing!

We did find a place for it all to go which is good. I shared some with my future daughter in law and my mom. And we are set for stir fry for a while. Tomorrow I think I will make a tropical smoothie for breakfast ;)

A Quarter of a Century and then some!

Twenty six years ago today at the ripe old age of 18, I gave birth to my only son, Zachary John Brechlin. I had been in labor for 26 hours and watched the Super Bowl (The New England Patriots and the Chicago Bears) during the worst pain I had ever felt in my life. Since that day I have had an abscessed tooth which certainly rivals labor on my pain scale.

After about 25 hours of labor and a string of complications, I was rushed into the operating room for the first of the three c-sections that I would have before 25 years of age.

I don't begrudge him the 26 hours of labor, the sleepless nights that followed, or the sleepless nights he caused as he entered teenaged-dom. He actually turned out pretty good for being the product of young parents who had no idea what they were doing.

Zach, I am super proud of the man you have become and I am excited to be part of your life as you start your own family.

Thirty Point Lunch

So today was my first Domestic Violence Fatality Review meeting of the new year. Since we usually have about 15 DV cases each year we only review for the first half of the year and take the rest of the year off. The meeting is at the Medical Examiner's office so we often go to the Corner Bakery for lunch. Which is a good choice for my new lifestyle. They do have some truly sinful things (Think Cinnamon Creme cake at 770 calories per slice!) From their website:

"Our signature rich, golden cake swirled with ribbons of cinnamon, topped with crumbly cinnamon streusel and powdered sugar. Available in Large, Medium, or by the slice."

but they also have some tasty salad and sandwich choices. However, after some pressure, we ended up at Ye Olde Spaghetti Factory instead.

I have no idea what I was thinking. I guess I was thinking, how many calories can a little mizithra cheese have? Even if it is tossed with spaghetti and browned butter? Well let me tell you - A LOT!!!!! Between that and the "salad" I used up my entire allotment of nutritional intake for the day and will now be eating celery dipped in water and a diet pepsi for dinner.

What kind of wine goes with dog hair

I have a special place in my heart for dogs. They are such sweet companions. I have 3 dogs of which only one is really mine. And Max is only mine because his mother was hit by a car several years ago and he was just too skiddish and awkward to start over in a new home so he became my dog. Yuki our old basset/husky mix is actually Hannah's dog that she left here for me to take care of. Amaya, our Husky/Malamute, has been here for almost a year - and was Kylie's contribution to our house o' mutts.

I do love dogs. I don't love the fog of flying dog hair that is floating around at any given moment. After a week of the dogs sleeping on my bedroom floor I can fill my vacuum canister twice with their dog hair. It's unreal.

Tonight I had plans to do laundry, make dinner, work on some honey jars - but instead I vacuumed my bedroom, bisselled the hard wood, erased the couches with the pet eraser, changed the sheets on my bed and dusted my bedroom. Maybe I can actually get dressed in my room tomorrow morning... ick!

Declutter and Dehoard!

This is a link to the de-clutter calendar that I will be using this year to get rid of the massive amounts of junk that has accumulated in my house. I put off getting organized and cleaning because it just seems to be such a daunting task but I think I can stick to it if I just take it a day at a time. Who knows? Time will tell!

http://www.mysimplerlife.com/2012.htm


My before and after pics - not enough light in my bedroom but you get the idea!

A Life Mulligan

So, since I have this almost new life with some new additions to my family, I thought it only fitting that I round out (pun intended) my life mulligan with an improved body and psyche. I avoided a Calendar-New Year resolution mostly because of all the negativity surrounding it and the fact that I have yet to stick with a New Years resolution. So starting today (the Lunar New Year), I am going to start chronicling my journey into a more healthy place - spiritually and physically. My first step today was re-joining weight watchers - a small step but one that I know will work for me. Today, I really am the best person I have ever been - but there is soooo much room for improvement and growth (spiritual growth not physical! ha ha) and I think I am finally in a place that I can take it on! So wish me luck! :)