Tofu Friday

Work cut most of my teams Friday hours so I ended up with the day off. Mike is usually always off on Friday so it was nice that we were going to have some couple time.
Mike took Ayden to school which allowed me to lay in bed a little longer and live in denial of the fact that eventually, I'd have to get up and get ready. There was no particular place for us to go but a few things we had talked about. Paint. We are repainting our kitchen and living room a few shades darker than it is now. Simple khaki although I'm sure it's named something much more elaborate. Prairie Dust or some shit like that. I'm not trying to go completely boring but I am trying to keep in mind that we want to sell this house within two years. So we are keeping the colors neutral and the upgrades only if it will increase the value.

First food. We decided on the Wasabi Cafe a little sushi restaurant not far from us. We were going to be in that area anyway to drop off some paper work. So we took care of business first and then headed to the quaint little sushi cafe. It was small and had the feel of a place I'd find in San Fran, NY or Tokyo. I was immediately in love with the feel and decor.

If Mike and I had stood side by side and extended our arms we could touch both walls. The tables lined the wall on both sides and gave enough room for people to walk. The simplistic way in which the special of the day and different sushi options were displayed impressed me. You can see part of it on the right side of Mike. The guy over Mike's left shoulder talked on his phone the whole time and was so loud that I felt like I was in the conversation. LMAO.

Here's the starter salad with a ginger dressing. I looked at it for a second and then dove in. It was deelish! It tasted like there were oranges in it and I loved it.
Mike as well.

I didn't finish the whole little bowl of salad because I didn't want to get too full. Working hard on that.

I ordered Pat Thai and Mike ordered the Drunken Noodles both of us got tofu. This would be our first times trying tofu. We'd seen in the grocery store only to turn our noses up in disgust because it just looked like a big white mass of flavorless nastiness.

It too was great. The tofu actually looked and tasted like chicken. It was very good and I could definitely see myself eating it again. One day I'm sure we'll try to cook it at home.

All and all it was a wonderful day. We stayed on the diet and discovered new delicious foods to enjoy.

I've started my workouts as well. 30 minutes of cardio, five days a week. I can't wait until the weigh in. 8 days!

Food and books, wonderful combo

So I was poking around the book section on Amazon.com, researching a few books when I found "The Fat Smash Diet" by Ian K. Smith M.D. You may know him as the young doctor on the panel of VH1's Celebrity Fit Club. I've heard and read great reviews of this book and at a little over two bucks how could I not pick it up?

The diet is in phases, four to be exact. Each phase is a week long or if you would like to make it longer you may. The first phase is the detox phase so your choices are limited. The good thing is you can have all the fruits and veggies you want. Bad news for some is no meat. I eat the grilled veggie Boca Burgers. I'll have a salad and a burger in a lettuce wrap with ketchup, mustard and pickles. It deelish honestly. I don't really feel like I'm missing out on much. I'm eating every two hours. If I'm not hungry and it's time to eat I'll at least have a couple of bites to keep my metabolism going. My tummy grumbled a little the first day but I do feel satisfied and not overstuffed. The caffeine headache was the worst. I didn't think I drank enough caffeine that it would matter when I cut it out completely but it did. Two Aleve and that passed, hasn't been back since.

I also picked up "The Sneaky Chef" I forget the lady's name but the book is all about pureeing vegetables so that you can incorporate AKA "hide" them into your kids food. My son absolutely refused to eat vegetables although for some strange reason he likes Cole slaw and believe me I'm feeding it to him every chance I get. Anyway I haven't tried the recipes yet but I'll give a review when I do.

On a side note: Jerry Seinfeld's wife wrote a book almost identical to this book after The Sneaky Chef had already been published. There is still great debate going on about plagiarism and if there was any committed by Mrs. Seinfeld. I researched many of the reviews and found that the original was not only a cheaper book, the buyers found the recipes tastier. That was enough of a selling point for me.

The third book was "Special Diets for Special Kids part two". This book is a GF/CF recipe follow up book to the first one by the same author. Gluten and Casein which is also known as wheat and dairy, does not process well in my son's body and the side effects can cause a number of things from diarrhea to an opiate effect like he's stoned out of his mind. It's horrible and he's unable to focus on anything going on. I don't mind letting him go off into his own little world but when he needs to relearn ways to communicate I have to have his full attention or we are wasting our time.

Since we have taken wheat and dairy out of his system it's definitely helped. I can tell when he's had something with wheat or dairy in it. He bounces off the walls. This will be life long for Ayden and he will have to learn to maintain the diet on his own as he gets older. We are having him tested for Celiac Disease soon.

Scrabble flowers in the garden of shoes

Friday we put our car in the shop to get some work done. Luckily, Mike's parents are in California for a week and were kind enough to let us use their minivan while they were gone. I love it. I used to be against owning a minivan. I think it symbolized adulthood and I equated that with a bland and boring life. Poor minivan wrongly stereotyped by my young naivety. I may not want to give it back.

Ayden got new shoes. I spent the whole day tracking these down and felt very accomplished when we were heading home from a successful journey. He's not ready to tie his shoes yet although we will be practicing that this summer. We are still focusing on potty time communication. He never lets us know when he has to go. We have tried sign language, words, picture cards and a big mack button that you hit and it says, "I have to go to the bathroom." That worked the best but costs 119.00 dollars. Are you nuts? For a damn button? And the fact that it's the only thing that works means regardless of the price, my objective is to purchase it. It's a bitch to find. If you Google it it's still damn near impossible locate.

Mike and Ayden were outside tooling around in the yard and I set up my hanging tomato basket. They are just little grape tomatoes but that will be great for my salads. My neighbors are out gardening too and she gave Ayden a flower to give to me. It was so sweet.

We are definitely starting our garden back up and I would like to grow broccoli, peppers, lettuce, strawberries, herbs, potatoes, radishes, etc. I wish I had a banana tree.
Growing up in Florida I had fruit trees in my backyard so if I wanted a lemon, orange or grapefruit, I went outside and picked one. My dream is to eventually be able to grow enough food to sustain my family and a few friends whenever we need something.

We had some friends come over for Scrabble Saturday night. A little intellectual sparring and some brewskies well on into the evening. I hadn't played any board games in so long I forgot how fun it was.
Here's Mike planning out his next move.

Weekend freedom

The weekend has been a calm one. Saturday morning we went downtown to the organic grocer and picked up a few things. I love bringing my camera to take pictures of things that catch my eye. Like the alleyways. I love walking through them during the day but I would never do it at night.

I Mike's parents came Saturday night and baby sat for a couple of hours. There wasn't any particular movie that either of us wanted to see so we opted to visit friends and grab a bite to eat. Either way it was nice to be out of the house and Ayden was practically pushing us out the door. Kids need a break just like parents do.

Mini Pizzas!

Forgot to post about the non dairy vegan cheese we tried. Mike and I were strolling around downtown and found a special diets deli with an attached grocer. Bitchin'. I was having to order Ayden's stuff online and now that we've found this place I just have to go a few miles. I love it. The guy there looks like an old hippie and he says he'll order anything we need.



We made english muffin mini pizzas. Mike shredded the cheese and it melted a little. When it was done it resembled shredded chicken or something. To my surprise it was delicious! Forgive the blurry pictures, I'm in dire need of a new camera.



When we get our taxes back one of the first places I'm headed is to that specialty store to stock up on everything Ayden needs. I'm in need of a breadmaker and an ice cream maker so we can make our own non dairy sorbet.

Buddism and video games

For the past couple of days I've been in a funk of a mood. Usually being broke doesn't get to me very much. Nothing you can do about it except work harder and I'm trying to pick up extra hours at work. Not having nice things isn't what bothers me. I've needed a haircut for months now, it's long, scraggly and my gray is coming in with a vengeance. My old fillings are hurting me and there are times I bite down and damn near hit the ceiling from the pain. Unfortunately cramps are making me less patient than most days. At least I can look at this picture and smile.



We went to the library today and I checked out a few books. One on Autism, specifically Pervasive Developmental Disorder-NOS which is what Ayden has. Another one called "Buddhism for Dummies" and another about Jesus theories, what if he survived the crucifixion, etc. I don't care what they ever scientifically find it will never shake my belief in Jesus for the simple fact that it brings me comfort and that's enough for me. However I do enjoy reading anything with a conspiracy twist to it so hence the check out.

The Lost video game came out yesterday. I don't have enough money to buy it yet but you better believe I'm renting it as soon as they get it in the local video store.

Golden statues and tanks

So the Academy Awards aka The Oscars aired last night and probably broke the record for least amount of viewers. Does anyone even bother watching it anymore? I worked an overnight last night so if I hadn't been on break when they where broadcasting I would have never even known it was that time of year again. Call me lazy, I'd rather get the highlights from a professional blogger who has to sit through that dry ass show.



I wonder what the ratio of drunk vs. sober people in the audience was. If I did drink, I'd have to go hammered, what else is there to do, bring the Nintendo DS? Socially I bet it's more acceptable there to be shitfaced than it is to bring a hand held video game.

On another note, I worked from 7pm to 4:15am this morning. Normally I start work at 6am so it was nice to get a little change going on. I used to work third shift and at times it was fun but I don't miss it. After a while it threw my body completely out of whack.

We were there to make some moves for the incoming product. I stayed pretty energetic but when 3am came around I was feeling it for sure. If I had taken a nap earlier I'm sure I'd have been able to shake it off. I'd been up for 20 hours and definitely ready to cuddle with my pillow.

Last but not least I worked on a table of tank tops for forty five minutes. My back was killing me at the end of it but I had to take a picture because this table won't look like this tomorrow when I get back to work.

How many eyes do you have?

Recently Oprah added a new book to her club and although I'm not one to jump on the Oprah band wagon, she did spark my interest so I will be soon purchasing the book A New Earth. It's gotten so many great reviews that I just couldn't ignore it and figured I'd take a look. Next pay day I'm heading straight to Amazon.com to order it.



My life's purpose needs to be seriously awakened so I'm up for the challenge. I've been thinking about making many changes in my life and I'm not sure how to implement them. One thing at a time I guess. Organization is the key for me and I feel like I'm all over the place. I'd like to be eating more organic food and eventually cut red meat completely out of my diet. Meditation is also something I'm interested in along with yoga.



Being more spiritually in touch with myself and my surrounds are my goal. Intergalactic oneness would be a great achievement. Anxiety and depression are major issues in my life and all though they don't rule, there are times when they try. I keep myself in check for the most part, seeking help when it's needed but I never feel like anyone has the answer I'm looking for. Maybe the answer is within myself and I just have to figure out the tools to find it. Stand back, I'm about to pry open my third eye!

Welcome

Hi all and welcome to the new spot. Felt the need to cut out all the other stuff and just concentrate on my writing. I had recently found Jorge Garcia's blog (he is Hurley on the show LOST) and enjoyed reading it so much I figured I resurrect the blogspot page I had before Myspace sucked me in.

So here goes...