Inevitably Keely

So for some reason, our baby is fascinated by gadgets. Laptops, computers, cell phones, cameras, you name it! If Zoe sees one, she wants it. I don't know how this happened! What I do know is that it was getting hard for me to blog or be on the computer at all around her because she would reach for the keyboard and cause general havoc. So, we got her a "Laugh-top". The age for it 3-7*, but she seems to be doing just fine. She likes pressing the keys and hearing the music and voices. I gave it to her this afternoon to play with and she squealed with delight (and got right to work). Cutest thing I've ever seen and I've got to say it makes me beam to see her on a computer having a good time. * Funny thing is, I asked Daniel to get it out of it's packaging last night because I knew I wouldn't have the patience for all the tape and stuff they use to keep it secure in the box. He opens it up, turns it on and the computer prompts him to press the letter "V...

Last night I spent many hours writhing, and moaning in bed. This afternoon I screwed around for twenty minutes trying to put batteries in a toy to make it vibrate. When I finally got the new batteries in, the toy still didn't work and I had to play the old fashioned way. Both of these are very, very true. And I'm not in the least bit embarrassed to do a post about either of them. Last night I spent many hours writhing, and moaning in bed... with stomach problems. I don't know why this happens to me all the time and I really don't get why it happened last night - almost seconds after we'd finished a lovely dinner of salmon with spinach salad. What I do know is the pain is enough to make me want heavy sedatives. Even today I'm still not feeling quite up to par and my stomach feels like it's burning. Of course, that didn't stop me from trying to replace the batteries in the vibrating toy - a lime green puppy that is supposed to vibrate and move across the f...

I use the word nothing, a lot. Except, ever since I was a little kid, "nothing" usually means "something". Like when I was a toddler and had stolen some candy at the grocery store - except I don't think I was really trying to steal so much as help myself to the "All you can eat extravaganza!" available to me. My mom asked me what I had in my hands and I said, "Nuffing." Well, my mom knew this wasn't true and she made me tell the checkout lady what I had. I told her, and she thought I was so cute; I got to keep my spoils. Growing up, I used "nothing" almost every single day: "What happened at school today?" "Nothing." "Nothing? All day, nothing happened?" "Yep. Nothing." Truth be told, tons had happened. I'd undoubtedly had lots of little something’s happen through out my day. Read: my high school years were filled with drama and angst over BOYS and friends (but mostly BOYS). There was ...

Today is one of those days where I just want to be curled up on the sofa, reading a book, and taking care of myself. For the most part, that's exactly what I've been doing - in between naps. Maybe it's the weather or just this funk I've been in - but I'm not feeling completely like myself and that stumble I took twenty minutes ago isn't helping matters. Too often I find myself forgetting to take it easy and move slow. These sinus headaches and my vertigo must be someones way of telling me to slow down and quit trying to do so much at once. Forget the laundry that needs to be put away and the shower that needs to be cleaned. Forget the errands you thought you should do and yes, even forget trying to think of something meaningful to post to your blog. Daniel is picking up Zoe this afternoon because I'm thinking it's not such a good idea to be driving (especially with such precious cargo) and I'm going to spend the rest of this not so great day relaxin...

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes 1/2 pound andouille sausage, diced (I chose to slice instead of dice) 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes 1 medium onion, chopped 1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped 1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth 1/4 cup white wine 1 tsp chopped garlic 2 teaspoons dried oregano 2 teaspoons Cajun or Creole seasoning 1 teaspoon hot sauce 2 bay leaves 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme 1 pound cooked shrimp 2 cups cooked rice - Combine chicken, sausage, tomatoes, onion, green pepper, chicken broth and white wine. - Stir in oregano, Cajun seasoning, hot sauce, bay leaves, thyme and garlic. - Cover, and cook on LOW for 7 hours or on HIGH for 3 hours. - 30 to 45 minutes prior to serving, stir in the shrimp. - Discard bay leaves. - Spoon mixture over cooked rice- or stir in the cooked rice 15 minutes prior to serving so the flavor is absorbed. I've got to tell you, I was freaking out with this one. I just could not believe that I wasn't supp...

It's interesting how just one week of new eating habits changes you. Last night I decided I wanted to splurge on something ridiculous to eat. I'd used only 13.5 of my daily 31 points and hadn't used any of my points allowance for the week (35) so I went online to check what the points were for some Carl's Jr. One $6 Jalapeno Burger and medium fries = 36 points! Maybe it was the mood I was in, or that I'd been bad and not had a midday snack like I've been doing, but I thought my hunger deserved those 36 points. Screw the nice salmon and salad or the whole wheat pasta we'd purchased! Forget the red bell peppers and hummus! I wanted a greasy, fattening cheeseburger with "Santa Fe" sauce and jalapenos, dammit! Fast forward to thirty anti-climactic minutes later and I was regretting my choice. My meal left me feeling weighted down and lethargic. I felt like I had a lump in my stomach. I did not feel satisfied, I felt overly full and sloppy - like I was...

It's no Whole Foods ( we don't have one here), but I'm sort of a fan of Trader Joe's. I like the atmosphere, the organic produce, the healthy & quick meals and the smaller portions. A trip to Von's for the week can easily cost us a hundred bucks, but we got out of TJ's with 4 meals and some snacks for half that. Not bad at all. Now, if we can just avoid Target this weekend we'll be saving some real money. * - I know, this is not exciting by any means. I'm phoning this one in and right now I am completely OK with that. I've got a lot on my mind and at the moment putting it all into words just sounds exhausting**. Ever have one of those days? What I really want/need is a vacation. ** - Everything is fine - better than fine.... really.

Today was one of those days where I wished I wasn't as nice as I am. While I am continuously amazed at the kindness of others, I am also frequently reminded that people can be so rude and stupid. I keep telling myself that if I'm good to people that maybe they'll learn and change their ways but sometimes what I really want to do is call people on their crap, point out their wrong doings, give them a talking to and if all that fails.... Give them a look that says "Shame on you." or "I just really don't like you." But I rarely do that. Instead, I just smile and move on and ignore that voice in my head that tells me to kick the rude/stupid person in the shins. I hope you're all having a lovely day. For the most part, I have no complaints. Zoe and I met Daniel for lunch and then spent a couple hours at Borders admiring the books and music while we people watched. I looking forward to Daniel coming home with sushi from my new favorite restaurant and t...

Today you are eight months old and OH. MY. GOODNESS! You are the sweetest little thing in my world! Every month that goes by I love you more and more, but that hardly seems possible because I loved you before I set eyes on you. Speaking of eyes... I'm not sure who's eyes you have, or who you look more like for that matter. Sometimes I swear you are a mini version of me and then you'll get that wide-eyed interested look, or yawn, or smile and I see your daddy. I think maybe, you are the perfect combination of us both. What I know for sure is that you are beautiful and I must be somewhat good looking if I helped make you. But lets not spend too much talking about your looks; there are so many other wonderful and exciting things about you! I think your eighth month of life was where you found some independence. You're pulling yourself up to the sitting position now instead of just doing those little crunches (which were super cute) and most of the time you try to skip sitt...

I have less than an hour until I need to go get Zoe from Cheryl's and I should be doing something productive with that time, but all I can do is just lay here. I'm blogging on my iPhone with Max at my side and Bailey sitting on my shoulder like a parrot instead of a twenty-five pound dog. My life, is good. I'm feeling better about myself just by making the decision to change my eating habits. I dare say, I have a swing in my step - I feel lighter. It's almost like the weight of feeling lost and helpless in regards to my body was as much as the actual pounds. I don't know. Sometimes I feel like I can't get my words around what I'm trying to say. Lately, I feel all tongue tied and jumbled. Bah. I'm in a strange mood after reading about Heath Ledger. What a waste of talent and life! What a loss for his daughter, friends and family. It makes me sick thinking about it. Food for thought: Kurt Vonnegut said: "I am a humanist, which means, in part, that I h...

The first few days of "the marathon" have been good. Setting goals is important for me. This is the first time in a long time I've really taken changing my eating habits so seriously. I'm not counting when I monitored my carbs for the gestational diabetes because my main motivation was Zoe's well being. Now I'm doing it for me and I'm taking the lessons I learned from my pregnancy and applying them to now. It is an eye opener to read on the Weight Watchers site that I am obese. I want to lead a healthier life. I want to feel energized and in shape. I'm going to use this blog as a tool to help me accomplish that. So here goes: Every Sunday night Daniel is going to take a picture of me to log this process in pics. This is the first one: Weigh In : 240 lbs (-10lbs from Friday - it must have been water weight*) Measurements: 48-41-50 I'll be posting a pic (and the info) every Monday on my flickr and going forward, I'll do a blog post about it on t...

Well, today is the first installment of The Crock pot Challenge! I made Chili! I got up at 9 this morning (have I mentioned how awesome Zoe is with her late mornings?) and got going. Of course, I had to actually take the crock pot out of the box first. Therein I found a lovely wedding card... for someone else: apparently, the bride and groom got multiple crock pots! Either that, or they were as afraid to use it as I had been. Too bad they weren't notified of our little challenge group - it would have offered them recipes and support from like minded people. Too bad, so sad. Well, not really. Any who... After Daniel washed the new pot for me, I got to work chopping onions and browning meat. Onion chopping took less than a minute (oh, food processor how I love thee). Meat browning took ten minutes. I threw both in the pot, added the other ingredients, set it and then had a nice chat with my Dad on the phone. I decided I wanted to add some beer even though the recipe I used doesn'...

Here goes nothing: I weigh 250 pounds . * I thought in the interest of starting fresh with this new way of eating and losing weight, I should just put that out there for the world and me to see. The big motivation will be getting to update that number as my weight goes down. Because it has to go down. Pre-pregnancy I weighed 280, I went down to 260 while I was pregnant because I was being so careful with my carb intake and once Zoe was born I almost instantly lost the other 10. Since then I've been at a stand still mainly because I was not putting any effort into losing. I got lazy and went nuts when I was allowed to have pasta and rice and bread again. So there you go. Five years ago, (when I met Daniel) I weighed 180 pounds. I was on my feet for most of my day working at Pier One and I did heavy lifting every single week taking in the trucks of merchandise. I ate smaller amounts back then because I was too busy to sit down for a big meal. When I got injured and later diagnosed wi...

First off, today is my 5 year anniversary with Daniel. Five years ago today he took me on our first official date (actually, I drove). We had brunch at Buck Owen's Crystal Palace * and then we went and saw Arsenic and Old Lace at BCT. Who knew we'd end up married (2 and a half years!) and parents five years later? Well, I knew he was special right away. I also knew that I felt a strong connection to him and that he was going to change my life. Yes, I knew that on the first date. No, I didn't imagine marriage or children that day, but I did know that he was someone I could see myself being friends with for a very long time. Happy Anniversary, honey. You're one of the best things that ever happened to me and it keeps getting better as time goes by. I love you. Secondly, thanks for the great comments yesterday. Obviously, this is something we all deal with at one time or another. I knew this, but it's nice to hear your stories and feel supported. It seems yesterday was...

So I haven't exactly been a ray of sunshine lately. I'm happy, don't get me wrong. How could I not be with Daniel and Zoe in my life? We have so much love in this house and are truly blessed with good friends, family, dog children, etc. I'm just feeling really insecure about my appearance and my capabilities. I lost all my pregnancy weight almost instantly. This would be awesome if I hadn't already been overweight to begin with. Instead, I'm just the same big girl I was before only now my stomach is worse and my boobs are taking over my body. I look at myself in the mirror and I'm disgusted and that is a horrible, sad feeling. It's especially hard given my history with body issues. When Daniel tells me I am beautiful and/or sexy I have a really hard time internally because I just don't feel that way. I worry that someday Zoe is going to look at me and be ashamed of how I look. I worry that Daniel is going to look at me and decide he's not attract...

So Supa and I got to talking the other day about how we need help with our Crockpot/Slow-cooker recipes. I'm scared to death of my crockpot because of all the tales of recipes gone bad and she's had lots of recipes go bad. Very, very bad. So the Challenge was created. And Supa made us a badge!!!! HERE'S THE SKINNY (BA HA HA!): One recipe per week Take a picture Share the recipe on your blog (provide a link) or under pic Discuss. Post on Sundays... if you can Go on. Join . Invite your friends who are dynamo's* (or not) in the kitchen. Help some mutha's out. Please. * It has been brought to my attention that some people don't like Crockpot's. If you've got other means to do some slow-cookin', then by all means join the challenge! I'm all about the easy right now and if you can show us other ways to do it, then PLEASE** join. I know I could use all the help I can get. ** But no pressure! Seriously and honestly! It's supposed to be fun AND save ...

I would not say that I'm much of a shopper. Sure, there was a time when I wanted to buy lots of new outfits and cute shoes were hard to resist... but now, not so much. Purses are a thing of the past for me - and even then I only had a few purses that were all way less than $100 bucks each that I would use until they were worn away to nothing. At this point I'm all about the diaper bag - I could see myself getting addicted to those, maybe. Shoes? Well, ever since I decided it was best for my physical well being (I'm a klutz and I get bad vertigo - not a good combination) to not wear high heals, I've lost my fascination. I'm all about Keen's and other comfy shoes now. If I can't walk comfortably in my shoes for a couple hours, then forget it. But that's not to say I don't have other shopping vices. Like for instance, music. Before I got pregnant with Zoe I was buying multiple CD's or downloads from iTunes weekly. I've missed my music sprees ...

Dear Stupid Receptionist Girl, If I walk up to your reception desk and look fairly miserable, please do not tell me that I am wrong and do not have an appointment to see my gynocologist. Do not tell me I must be mistaken and then turn away from me (without saying excuse me) to have a conversation with someone else about something as trivial as what you ate for lunch today. Do not turn back to me and say "What were we doing again?" and "Oh, yes. You're not supposed to be here." Yeah. That might piss me off since I've had a Y.I for the past three days and was on the phone at eight this morning to get an appointment TODAY. Today, because I knew I could not wait another freaking day before I got me some strong, fast acting medication to make me all better. Also, do not act condescending towards me - that REALLY ticks me off. And I could do with out your sarcasm, because you know what? I'm so much better at sarcasm than you! Thanks. Thanks a lot. You made my ...

We're having a relaxing day: Grocery shopping and menu planning for the week is done. Playing with the baby. Playing with the dog children. Soon, I'll make some more Apple/Pear Sauce for Zoe and then I'll get to work on the Scallop & Corn Chowder recipe I got from the new cookbook. I'm making some cornbread to go with it and I'm all excited! We didn't get to use the hot tub last night - the thing takes forever to heat up! We'll give it a go tonight after the monkey is tucked in. This is what I meant to show you yesterday: We got a shopping cart/highchair cover at a local baby store so we don't have to carry in the infant seat every time we go to a store with a cart. It's very easy to set up and Zoe loves the thing. It's like a new world has opened up to her! Now she can look around at all the wonderful things Target has to offer! Now she can smile and flirt with all her adoring fans! And when she gets tired, she can even lay down and take a...

of mice and men often go awry." Ain't that the truth! So I have a cute post for you, but flickr is down and it's just not the same without pictures to make it pretty. So.... I'm saving that for tomorrow, because, you know, I now post every day. Please, carry on with your Saturday and we will too! Zoe is off to Cheryl's in twenty minutes and we're off for dinner, a movie and possibly some hot tubbin' if it heats up and we're not too tired from our wild night on the town. Sometimes, it's the spur of the moment stuff that is the most fun. This from the obsessive planner! I'm making strides in 2008, strides! x365: 10. Josephine Opera diva, Actress, Producer. You took me on as a student when I was thirteen and taught me poise, technique and how not to make funny faces when hitting high notes.

This has been a week! I am so tired and lazy feeling! Lucky for me, today is Daniel's Friday off so I've had time to actually take a shower and I'll get to relax more today. Him having every other Friday off is the most wonderful thing, truly. At this moment, he's playing his PS3, Zoe is in her Jumperoo, Max is barking at the horses on the TV and Bailey is pacing and freaking out at the gardeners in the back and front yard. Yeah. It's exciting here, folks. I'm flipping through a new cookbook (I love the photos. If there are no photos in a cookbook, I won't even look at it.) and considering making something out of it or breaking in the brand new Crockpot. What sounds good to me though, is not cooking a single thing and just relaxing. We'll see what happens. I tend to have a hard time doing nothing and I do have some Christmas decorations to finally put away. My dad gave me a hard time about it yesterday and suggested I just leave them up until next Chris...

Aimee is the creator of this awesome, funny graphic. So, go on - delurk* ! I know I participated in this not that long ago, but I couldn't resist this graphic. Also, I've got nothing** (not even a x365) today. I'm busy trying to snap the most beautiful picture of Zoe ever taken and obsessing over your votes so far. Pretty much, no photo is sweeping all the votes (except maybe the New Years one) so I just don't know. This is where it becomes obvious how obsessive I can be and how ridiculous I am about contests. I mean, really - I'm never going to win anything so why do I bother? Answer= Nuts. Special shout out to recent delurkers: Jennie , Jaclyn (creator of 30 Something Bloggers ) and Bente ! Hello, ladies! :) Oh, and just because I couldn't resist posting a few of the ones I took today: * Or if you're not really a lurker, say hello! ** Honestly, I've got tons. Seems my head is swimming with things to blog about and I really just don't even know w...

So I was alerted yesterday that Regis and Kelly are doing this little contest and that I should send in a picture of Zoe. Alrighty. Don't have to tell me more than once! The thing is: I've lost my ability to choose amongst the 100's of photos I've taken of the monkey. I mean, I think she's cute when she poops! And that right there is just one of the things that proves a mom's love is unconditional. Oy. So which one? You tell me. I only have until 5PM ET on Friday before the contest is over. Oh, and all you other hot mama's with the beautiful babies should enter, too!* Surely, one of our baby's should win! I mean, come on! ;) Oh, and here's my x365: 8. A.A.B We've had some rough patches, but our friendship persevered. For that I’m grateful. I’ve no doubt we‘ll always be in each other’s lives. Your strength, drive, talent and determination amaze me. * - Just so you know: The rules say your baby must be between 6 and 48 months old to be eli...

So, last night Daniel and I finally sat down and watched Waitress . Months ago, we saw the preview and complained about how it would never come to Bakersfield. The preview was the right amount of quirky about an unhappy waitress in a bad marriage that accidentally gets pregnant. It looked funny and we like Nathan Fillion since his Firefly and Serenity days (we're geeks like that) so when it came out on video a couple months ago we bought it. And then I kept putting off having us watch it. Something inside me told me no, don't do it. I'm glad we finally watched it. Adrienne Shelly was a brilliant writer. The dialogue in this movie was quick and honest. The characters were real and quirky. You could tell through her direction that she loved this world she'd created and the actors were behind her vision for this movie. I'm saddened that she is no longer here to keep making movies through her perspective. That all said: I had a hard time last night. Keri Russell...

Sometimes I wonder if Zoe is getting the short end of the stick. What I mean is, I do not know what I am doing most of the time. I know that breast feeding was good for her, but I beat myself up repeatedly for having to switch to formula because she wasn't gaining any weight after three months. I felt better when I decided to breast feed her when she woke up in the morning, when she started rooting and wanted me to (which wasn't frequently except when she was sick) and then just before she went to bed at night. I was proud that I was able to do this still. And then we stopped doing the morning feedings because it was just quicker and I was worried about my supply. And then slowly, the night time feedings were getting shorter and less frequent. Last night I told Daniel I thought I was done because I thought my supply was gone, but then just before bed I started leaking so now I don't know what the hell I'll do. And then there is making Zoe's food. I got off to a late...

I'm keeping this one short today, too. My friend* left a couple hours ago and now Daniel, Zoe and I are just having a relaxing Sunday afternoon together. We went grocery shopping and bought tons of fruit and veggies for me to make baby food. Making Zoe's food is going very well as you can see: She sure does love her carrots! I'm looking through cookbooks trying to decide what to cook this week for the adult humans of the house and we're watching one of my favorite movies from my childhood: The Last Starfighter . I love it. I hope you all are enjoying your weekend! *6. Alison H. You’re my closest, best girlfriend – my sister. In the past sixteen years we have been through tons together. I can tell you anything. You make me laugh like a maniac.

Daniel and I are off to have a date night while Alison and Zoe spend some quality time together. So today, all I have for you is my x365: 5. S.W. You taught me discipline, focus and an appreciation for what it takes to produce theatre. My freshman year you said I needed to choose between cheerleading and drama. I chose drama.

Well, a few of you did anyway. ;) Before, Before and NOW! (last night): I'm starting to really like getting to see my husband's entire face. He's HAWT! And Zoe had no issues with her daddy's face being nekkid. She didn't even flinch when he got home from work Wednesday; she knows her Daddy! Speaking of, when I was uploading and editing these pics, Zoe was watching and saying, "DA-DA. DADDY!" She's been saying it for a couple weeks now along with lots of other sounds, but today was the first time she actually connected the face with the name. So, I'm counting today as the first time she actually said something. I'm delighted and I know Daniel will be too. And now for my x365: 4. My Daddy You're one of my hero's and best friends. I used to tell my friends, "Wait til you meet my dad, he's really funny." It's true. You're also kind, brave and loving.

First things first: 3. B.D. You’ve been doing my hair for five years. You’re expensive and never get my hair as dark as I want. I’d break up with you if I didn’t feel so guilty. Whew. That felt good! Speaking of hair: My wonderful husband decided Tuesday night that he wanted to see what his face looked like under his mustache and beard, so he shaved it all off. I've got to say, it was a little weird at first. In the almost five years (Jan. 18th) we've been together I have never seen my husbands entire face except in some old pictures. When he got into bed, I made him leave the light on for a bit so I could get used to the "new" man next to me. He wasn't so sure what he thought of it and suggested I put up some pics of him to let y'all decide, but I said no. I think he looks good (and TEN years younger!) but I sort of miss the facial hair. Kind of funny since I never liked it before him. Truth is, he looks good to me no matter what he does. Rawr!

So, one of my new friends through Blog 365 has been working on a project that seems interesting. It's called x365 and it was started by Dan Waber . The concept seems simple enough: Every day for a year, write about a different person who has touched your life. You need to have actually have met them in person and still remember their name. The tough thing is, your age limits the number of words you can use. So, for the next 364 (today I'll do two to keep it simple) days I'll be using 31 words ("no more, no less") to describe 365 people I know or have known. I think it will be a cool thing, of course I have no doubt it will get pretty difficult after say, the first one hundred. So here goes: 1. Martha D. You were my Nana. You’ve been gone for over two years and every day I wish you were here to talk to. You would adore your great granddaughter and she you. 2. Edgar D. You introduced me to Shakespeare and Vonnegut before I was ten. You were funny, charming and ...

We had a mellow New Years Eve, but we did manage to have a bit of fun as well. Zoe is a superhero!

Coincidentally, that was also my theme for my 28th year of life. I kept preempting that birthday with "28's not that great" but my lovely husband (then boyfriend) put a more positive spin on it whenever I grumbled that turning 28 sucked ass. He'd very cheerily shout back at me "Twenty-eight is really great!" Gah! Turns out, he was right and each year since has just kept getting better. Examples: 2003 - Met Daniel 2004 - Engaged 2005 - Married 2006 - Zoe conceived 2007 - Zoe born Obviously, tons more things happened but these are definitely the highlights. Makes me kind of wonder what 2008 has in store for us. I'm thinking it's actually going to be a great year. I hope you all had a fabulous holiday. Daniel called it this afternoon on the drive home from San Diego: "Ate too much food, spent too much money, but had a good time." And all of it is true. Getting to have both sets of Zoe's grandparents with us in the new house was pretty much...