Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Food Donation Bag

Dear Friends and Family,

I'm going to write a short post this morning before going to catch up on work. And, I'm going to spend 15 minutes (it'll probably end up being less) clearing out my pantry. Time to take action on the commitment to eating healthier.


Cheers!
mouse

PS: What went?
  • miso soup (high sodium)
  • Frango (partially hydrogenated soybean oil)
  • microwave popcorn (partially hydrogenated soybean oil)
  • Fritos
  • Keebler Fudge Shoppe 100 calorie packs
  • Florida treats (free from hotel room)
  • marzipan (impulse purchase in Turkey)
  • shortbread (impulse purchase in Scotland)
  • caramel sauce (impulse purchase at Whole Foods)
  • Nurungii Ramen (impulse purchase at H-Mart)
  • Nutella (expired)
What's left?
  • Smart Bran organic cereal
  • rye crackers (Ry Krisp and Ryvita)
  • premium chocolates
  • Arrowhead Mills organic pancake mix
  • almonds
  • oats
  • extra jam for Mr. mouse
PPS: I feel so much better now.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

10.30.07: Weekly Weigh In

Dear Friends and Family,

weigh in: 119

I overate my points again this week, and I was afraid to face the scale. With travel, I can't weigh myself daily, so there's more of a surprise element on weigh in day. My guess is I'm not going to get much pity for my up a pound, down a pound perturbations especially since I ate 24 points + 35 flex + 14 extra last week.

I did do a better job last week of not eating the snacky, munchie, junky candy. In fact, I battled it out with myself yesterday when the mini Snickers bars were sitting in the middle of the table. Where'd the extra points come from? I know exactly where my extra points came from this week. I was craving bread. I ate 19 points of bread and butter compliments of the bread baskets at all of the restaurants we've been to.

My goal for this week? Avoid the Halloween candy. Count every bite, lick and taste. Be aware of the bread basket. And, last but not least, stay within my 24 point allotment. It's for a lifetime.


Cheers!
mouse

Monday, October 29, 2007

HTML Code for Tables

Dear Friends and Family,

I'm going to need this for my budget post, so I'm playing around with it now.




DescriptionAmount
Train Pass$XX.XX
Lunches at Work$XX.XX
Snacks, Coffee, Soda, etc.$XX.XX
Dinners with Friends$XX.XX
Total$XX.XX




Cheers!
mouse

PS: Not crazy about the amount of space above the table. But, it'll do for now.

Action Item #8: Budget

Dear Friends and Family,

I'm out of obvious things to do. And, I want to keep on track to complete twelve things this year. Originally, I was going to focus on only electricity consumption changes for 2007, but, then, I decided I'm okay with letting gas, gasoline, water, and consumables into the picture.

My next action item is - I'm putting myself on a budget. This, by definition, reduces how much stuff I buy. Less stuff means less stuff needs to be manufactured. Less stuff needs to be transported. And, less stuff needs to be recycled or disposed of. It's not good for the economy, but it is good for the environment. And, by being on a budget, I can afford a new car next year! I want a hybrid. Mr. mouse wants a diesel. Either way, we'll go from our two cars down to one car. And, that one car will have a smaller carbon footprint than either of our current cars.

My budget? It's $500 a month ($100 a week plus $100 flex for the month). Some families live on less than that for the whole family. Still, it will reduce our expenditures. It'll include clothing, shoes, haircuts, gas, lunch at work (if I don't brown bag it), dinner out (if I go out with friends), my Weight Watchers subscription, my gym membership and any miscellaneous purchases I make. It won't include utilities, travel, groceries, or Mr. mouse's purchases. Those will be another action item. This, right now, is about me.

This week will be $100. Then, next week, I'll kick off the new month. I decided to go with fiscal weeks and months (4-4-5) with my week starting on Monday to keep it easier to track. The 5 week months I won't have a flex. I'll have to budget more carefully those months.

2007 Action Plan
  1. 07.20: I pledge to make a difference.
  2. 07.20: I will track my electrical consumption.
  3. 07.20: I will keep the house at 78°+ for the summer.
  4. 08.16: I will unplug the blow dryer.
  5. 09.01: I will try compact fluorescent light bulbs.
  6. 09.02: I will replace the dishwasher.
  7. 10.11: I will keep the house at 54°/76° for the winter.
  8. 10.29: I will start a budget, reducing my purchases.





Cheers!
mouse

10.29.07: Little Cuba

Dear Friends and Family,

We had a quiet weekend in Miami with one of my childhood friends. She and her husband have two kids now. The older boy is turning four next spring and the younger boy is about 18 months old. It was a ton of fun playing with the older one. He's at an age when he wants to interact with people. The younger one is cute, but he's not really into strangers. He's kinda shy.

I flew down on Friday evening (didn't get as much done on the plane this time) and Mr. mouse flew down on Saturday afternoon. We spent the whole weekend at their house playing with the kids with the exception of Saturday night. Their friend offered to babysit, so we went out for a super nice dinner together. Okay, this will be my week of catching up on food posts. I promise. I think. Unless something more important comes up.

We flew back yesterday afternoon, drove home, and tried Puerto Rican food for dinner. Mr. mouse watched Game Four of the World Series while I snuggled on the couch. And, now, it's Monday morning.


Cheers!
mouse

Friday, October 26, 2007

Free Pre-Natal Counseling

Dear Friends and Family,

I called one of my best friends today. She's my roommate from college. And, she's an ob/gyn. We had been playing phone tag for a couple of weeks now. It's funny, I was afraid she was going to be busy when I called. And, she didn't call today because she assumed I was at work.

She offered me a free pre-natal counseling session, which I obviously took her up on. Basically, she thinks I'm in great health. Her biggest piece of advice is that I should relax and have fun with all of this - that stress wreaks havoc on it all.

If I want to get a doctor's appointment, I can, but it's not a prerequisite. And, if I want to see an ob/gyn, I can, but it's not a prerequisite either. The vitamins I'm taking now sound fine to her. And, once we're pregnant, we can switch to a pre-natal formulation. I should continue taking my fish oil, but cut it down to one per day vs. two. And, I need to make sure I'm getting my calcium and my iron - Tums and dark leafy green vegetables, yeah! I don't have to worry about gestational diabetes for the first trimester. After that, I need to watch my carbohydrates. And, a bunch of other stuff.

I feel a lot better now. But, I'm still ticked off at Mr. mouse. We'll see where we land on all this. For now, it's still a maybe. I'd give it a one in five chance, if I were a betting man.


Cheers!
mouse

Six Opportunities and No Longer Counting

Dear Friends and Family,

Although it's not officially the end of the calendar month, I've taken the first steps towards baby insanity by switching from what the calendar tells me to what my hormones tell me. And, based upon my calculations, we've passed the window of opportunity for this calendar month, even if there are technically five more days in October.

We haven't made a lot of progress on this front. Mr. mouse is concerned about day care and getting the baby room ready. Step #1 on my list is getting a general appointment for me and picking an ob/gyn. Uh, can you be on more opposite ends of the spectrum?

Well, the ugly, can't resolve it's head monster has reared it's oh so ugly head again. (Please keep in mind, these posts will tend to coincide with the monthly hormonal roller coaster, since by definition post-ovulation and pre-menstrual are really one and the same thing...) I ask Mr. mouse some leading question. He answers it to get me off his back. I build up hope for awhile which sustains me. He relishes in conflict avoidance. We make no progress. When hope dies, I corner him with another question and the cycle repeats itself. Until, some pre-defined end date that neither of us control. And, then hope dies in me on the relationship as a whole. Some months or years later, we mend it, and get back to normal. Only, it's never quite fully normal for me. Because the next time it comes up, I'm plagued with more doubts and I spiral quicker to an ugly, ugly place.

It happened when we first got married and I wanted him to take the summer off. It happened two winters ago when we struggled with if we would ever live together. And, it happened again (to a minor degree) last winter when I wanted him to take a week's vacation while I was between jobs. And, folks, it's happening again now.

Last month, it was about the cholesterol screen. This month, I asked him, do you think by my next ovulation (i.e. Nov) we'll be trying? And, he thought about it, and said, yes. Whoopee! Wow, how a single word in a certain tone is enough to sustain a girl. Now, it's almost a month gone by. Um, okay. Really? Cause that's not far away anymore. I'm beginning to feel duped again.

And, we spoke briefly this morning. I think he was 85% asleep because he's sleeping on the couch and I'm fuming at the computer. He wants to know why I can't just begin knocking stuff off the list. Why can't I set up the doctor's appointment? Why can't I pick the ob/gyn? And, I told him this can't just be about me. There's enough I'll need to do that he can't do. Just can't. This shouldn't be a shocker. I gotta believe, it'll be me doing 99.99% of the stuff that needs to be done no matter what he wants, in the whole pregnancy process. He's gotta be willing to do some of it. This is not a solitary endeavor here. He's the one who thought this was all a great idea. And, now, I'm the one that needs to be the taskmaster? No. It's not going to work that way.

So, this isn't really about baby anymore. This is about how we communicate. And, who pushes us as a couple to get anything done. And, about understanding and being able to prioritize between important and urgent. And, work-life balance. And, so many more issues.

Maybe, baby was a bad idea. Maybe, it's not something he really wanted after all. That's okay. I can come around to that again. I've bounced back from harder. I am resilient. As of this moment, consider this topic closed unless you hear otherwise. It was an interesting two month journey, but Pandora needs to stuff all the monsters back in the box. It isn't working out the way I thought it would. And, there's no point forcing it.


Cheers!
mouse

PS: No longer fuming. Now, just inexplicably sad.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Action Item #7C: Winter Thermostat Setting

Dear Friends and Family,

Still tweaking. 76° is a little decadent in the morning. And, there is the business of getting out of bed in heavy jammies and then getting too hot at 76°. Here's the next iteration:
  • 58° -> 60° (sleep)
  • 68° -> 76° -> 74° (morning)
  • 58° -> 54° (daytime)
  • 68° -> 70° -> 72° (evening)
Minor tweaks, really.

2007 Action Plan
  1. 07.20: I pledge to make a difference.
  2. 07.20: I will track my electrical consumption.
  3. 07.20: I will keep the house at 78°+ for the summer.
  4. 08.16: I will unplug the blow dryer.
  5. 09.01: I will try compact fluorescent light bulbs.
  6. 09.02: I will replace the dishwasher.
  7. 10.11: I will keep the house at 54°/76° for the winter.






Cheers!
mouse

Exhausted mouse

Dear Friends and Family,

I took a quick two day business trip. We got back around eight last night. Mr. mouse picked me up from the airport. We went out to dinner, got home and promptly fell asleep. I ate WAY too much food over the past 48 hours and feel like I need to step back and detox - and, I need more sleep.

I think, for however long it takes for my body to catch up with me, I'll eat simple, natural foods in moderate proportions. I'll go light on the meat and dairy and eggs, and go heavy on the fruits and veggies and water. Hopefully, I feel better soon. I needed to get the munchie, snackie, junkie stuff out of my diet anyway. I've been trying to eat through the pantry since I don't want things to go to waste. Perhaps the better answer is to throw it away and not let me body go to waste.

Okay. Off to have some tea and, hopefully, on a path to a better mouse.


Cheers!
mouse

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Action Item #7B: Winter Thermostat Setting

Dear Friends and Family,

Yeah! We finally get to turn on the heat today. Actually, I turned it on last night before going to bed. I knew it wouldn't drop low enough to activate. And, I wanted to wake up to warm. The heat feels amazing!

I've changed my thermostat settings from the original plan:
  • 58° -> 60° (sleep)
  • 68° -> 76° (morning)
  • 58° -> 54° (daytime)
  • 68° -> 70° (evening)
I was absolutely miserable at the lower temps. And, that's not sustainable. The weighted average thermostat setting is the same as before, but since the morning will turn on earlier in the season and the drop is in the daytime, it technically will use more energy than my original plan. I'll see how this week goes. If it feels decadent, I'll drop it more.

2007 Action Plan
  1. 07.20: I pledge to make a difference.
  2. 07.20: I will track my electrical consumption.
  3. 07.20: I will keep the house at 78°+ for the summer.
  4. 08.16: I will unplug the blow dryer.
  5. 09.01: I will try compact fluorescent light bulbs.
  6. 09.02: I will replace the dishwasher.
  7. 10.11: I will keep the house at 54°/76° for the winter.






Cheers!
mouse

10.23.07: Weekly Weigh In

Dear Friends and Family,

weigh in: 118

Down from last week. Looking at my chart, I think I'm beginning to understand and, more importantly, accept the random variation.

I way overate while in Boston and ended the week at 24 + flex + 14 over. It's not a big deal, but I am going to review the week to see where 14 points could have come out. Need to keep learning. It's for a lifetime.

Okay. So, what do we have here, boys and girls:
  • 5 points: 5 mini Twix bars
  • 1 point: extra congee
  • 2 points: egg custard tart
  • 2 points: fried bread in congee
  • 1 point: 2 french fries
  • 2 points: calamari
  • 1 point: 2 Dunkin Donuts munchkins
  • 1 point: airplane pretzels
What does that add up to? I'm afraid to do the math. 15 points. That's what I needed to learn. I could have stayed in my points range easily if I hadn't gone all munchie snacky all week. This week will be better, hopefully.


Cheers!
mouse

Monday, October 22, 2007

10.22.07: Beantown

Dear Friends and Family,

We went to Boston for the weekend. Our neighbors from the mouse house had a long weekend and were out there as well. We flew in Friday night and landed close to midnight. After getting our bags and our rental car, we headed to a friend's place to drop off some deep dish pizza and apple soda. (He stored the pizza in his fridge over the weekend for us.) I was starving, so we went to The International House of Pancakes before checking into our hotel.

Saturday morning, we headed into Boston and met up with the neighbors and my friend for dim sum. It was a first time for everyone. The barbecue pork was a big hit as usual. For me, it was a chance to do dim sum sans pork. Dim sum was tough to do without eating pork. The two toughest for me were the turnip cakes which have chunks of pork in them (I was able to pick out the pork) and the congee which has shreds of pork in it (I was able to pick out about 50% of the pork). To be honest, not eating pork makes dim sum easier, points wise. It's always a points buster and by limiting the number of dishes, it makes it a lot more doable. Anyway, I've got a ton to write about, so moving on...

We headed to Harvard to walk the campus. And, afterwards, we sat on the banks of the river to catch an afternoon snack, some rays and the Head of the Charles. The weather was sunny and warm all weekend. Next, we went for some of Mr. mouse's favorite ice cream. Then, we headed to MIT to walk the campus there. And, last but not least, we drove through the Back Bay area before heading to dinner on the North End. Dinner was at a tiny restaurant that Mr. mouse found online. Next, we headed out for cannolis to bring back to our hotel room for dessert. The neighbors came over and we enjoyed a glass of wine before turning in for the night.

Sunday morning, the Dad had to head out to the airport early. But, the Mom and Daughter met up with Mr. mouse and me for breakfast. We went to a bakery that one of Mr. mouse's friend's friend started up. It was the cutest place. I'll have to do a slew of food reviews later this week. We dropped off the Mom and Daughter at the airport. We picked up the pizza. We headed out to see one of Mr. mouse's friends who lives in the suburbs of Boston.

They have two children. The older of the two was born when Mr. mouse and I got married. And, she's grown a ton since then. She's the cutest button ever. And, she's amazingly articulate for her age. She's at a fun age. And, she has a younger brother. He's four years younger. He's a little shy when he first sees you, but once he opens up, he's crawling all over you. We played with them for the afternoon. And, fortunately, our flight was delayed by an hour, so we had some extra time with them before heading to the airport.

Flew home. Head a humongous fight with Mr. mouse over the stupidest of topics. Made up. Ate desert. And, turned in for the night.


Cheers!
mouse

PS: I forgot how much work you get done when traveling. The flights are an excellent time to catch up on stuff.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Rainy Day Fund

Dear Friends and Family,

I'm meeting with my financial planner this morning so money is on my mind. If nothing else, he keeps us honest about staying on top of it. In addition to retirement savings, I'm a firm believer in keeping three piles of money in semi-liquid funds.

Pile #1: Taxes. We don't escrow which means we do our own property taxes. Every month, the bank automatically takes a certain amount of money and puts it into a separate account so that when Mr. Tax Man comes knocking, we're ready. Last year we paid it out of our daily use money because we hadn't built up the transfer process yet. Now, we're all set up and should be ready to go come tax time.

Pile #2: Just in Case Fund. I like to keep one year's worth of spending money in a semi-liquid account. It means, if either Mr. mouse or I get laid off, we have a cushion to live off of before we need to dip into savings. Actually, I'm pretty conservative. If one of us gets laid off, we can live off of the other income - it just means we stop saving aggressively for retirement until we're both gainfully employed again. It's only if we both get laid off simultaneously that we'd need to draw from the Just in Case Fund.

Pile #3: Rainy Day/Shiny Bauble Fund. This one covers two completely different scenarios. It's money set aside for car repairs and furnace repairs and stuff. But, can also be used for vacations and toys and stuff. Either way, it's cash on hand for unplanned, larger ticket item purchases.

Mr. mouse and I have been using the year to rebuild our reserves after we spent it on mouse house repairs and renegotiating our mortgage. Currently, the tax pile is in place; the other two are works in progress. We've got about 56.25% of our just in case pile saved. That still equates to six months, so it's within the realm of decent. I hope to save the rest of it my end of year. It's aggressive. We'll see. And, the rainy day/shiny bauble pile hasn't been established yet. That's my 2008 goal.

Happy Friday, everyone.


Cheers!
mouse

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Catching Up on Smaller Threads

Dear Friends and Family,

There's a lot of snippets today.
  1. It's fall. The leaves have all been changing this week. I'm stunned at how quickly 2007 has gone. There's four more weeks until Thanksgiving. Wow! It'll be 2008 before you know it. I love this time of year when the season's change. I think that was the hardest part about living in Texas, not having the seasons.
  2. Friend. She came out to interview almost a month ago. It's been a slow process to say the least. I've got my fingers quadruple crossed that we sort this out in the next couple of weeks. It's bordering on ridiculous.
  3. I had coffee yesterday with a friend at work. We had the funniest thing happen awhile back with our first day shirts. Yesterday, I was running late to our meeting. I was walking down some circular stairs and I saw him waiting by the coffee shop. But, I was four flights up. I called out his name. He didn't hear me. I walked down a flight and called out his name again. He looked around, but didn't see me. I walked down another flight of stairs and called out his name again, but not as loudly, since I didn't want everyone around us to think I was a crazy person. He looks around, but I don't think he heard me on a conscious level. He starts walking away. I look for an interception point. It's either one level up or one level down. Both seem too far. I make a split decision to run for it on the lower level. He makes a happen chance decision to turn down a later corridor. The two combined meant I was able to catch up to him and meet him for our meeting. We both had a another great laugh. Those little things totally make my day.
  4. I had dinner last night with a girlfriend from work. She reminds me of Frenchie - someone I love on a personal level, but someone who has a totally different work style. Isn't it funny how that happens? I still miss Frenchie. We went to Sushi Station and gorged on sushi while chatting about work and life. Then, she dropped me off at the bus station.
  5. Mr. mouse and I went to the gym last night. I need to work out more often. I hope to get a lot of walking in this weekend.

Cheers!
mouse

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Uncle Julio's Hacienda

Dear Friends and Family,

As usual, I'm behind on my food posts. My favorite fajitas down in Texas was Pappasitos. And, there had been rumors that they were opening up location in the Chicagoland area. In trying to divine the location, I came across several threads about Uncle Julio's. Of course, I was skeptical.

We went. And, it's, at least in my mind, almost the same restaurant as Pappasitos. Whichever one opened first should sue the copy-cat. It's that similar. We tried our usual the first time we went - tamales with meat sauce and beef fajitas. The chips are warm and thin. The salsa tangy and runny. Both just the way we like it. The tamales are fluffy. And, the meat sauce... I could eat it like chili with a spoon. The fajitas and tortillas don't disappoint either. The beef is tender with a very nice char. The onions, jalapeño, pico de gallo and guacamole allow you to personalize each and every bite. I want to go back, just writing about it. Alas, it's a points hog, so it'll have to be an occasional treat for us.


Overall rating: 8/10

Uncle Julio's Hacienda
855 West North Avenue
Chicago, IL 60622 map it
(312) 266-4222
http://www.unclejulios.com


Cheers!
mouse

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Baking for Work

Dear Friends and Family,

Now that our group is large enough, we have monthly breakfast get togethers to celebrate birthdays. I've got treat duty for October and I'm bring three loaves of breakfast bread. Last night, I made pumpkin bread and banana bread. And, this morning I made coffee cake.

I think I'll slice off a piece of each loaf for Mr. mouse. I never cook for him. This way, he gets to share in the bounty.


Cheers!
mouse

10.16.07: Weekly Weigh In

Dear Friends and Family,

weigh in: 119

Phew! I'm glad I didn't make any changes to the food routine last week. I would have been sweating the weight gain if I had. I guess that's what maintenance is about - up some weeks, down others. I'll do 24 + flex again this week and see if anything changes. If I'm up 2 weeks in a row, I'll scale back to 22 + flex. I guess.


Cheers!
mouse

Monday, October 15, 2007

10.15.07: Weekend at Home

Dear Friends and Family,

Boy, did the weekend fly.

We had dinner at home on Friday night - bison steaks, brown rice, grilled zucchini and caramelized onions. Mr. mouse listened to the baseball game on the radio before we both turned in for the night. It was super cold and I was tempted to turn on the heat, but we didn't. We made it through. Eight more days to go. Fortunately, some clouds moved in and it's supposed to stay warmer until 10/22. And, I can do one more cold day. Oct 23rd. I can make it.

Saturday morning we got up super late. And, we ran errands all day. We dropped off some clothes at a consignment shop. We went to the book store and picked up two books. And, we went to the grocery store to pick up supplies for a potluck we were going to Saturday night.

The theme for the potluck was Japanese food. We brought three types of grilled rice balls stuffed with salmon, Korean beef, and carrots. And, we brought one of the hits of the night - Japanese brown curry. We made it with chicken, potatoes, carrots and onions. I saved two servings for myself. I love Japanese brown curry. I'm glad Mr. mouse thought to make it. I didn't think others would like it. But, one of the guys asked if he could take the leftovers, so I'm assuming people liked it. We met a bunch of new people. I can't wait for the next one. I think it's a recurring thing - the next one is Greek food. I'm thinking dolmades, maybe skordalia. We'll see.

Sunday morning we got up super late again. I spent Sunday morning trying to sort through all of the pre-natal vitamin requirements in the two books and on WebMd vs. my Canyon Ranch multi-vitamins. According to WebMD, I'm good. According to one book I need more iron. And, according to the other book, I need a million and one supplements. I have to say I was thoroughly confused and feeling 100% inadequate to the task by the time I was done reading. So much for research.

We sorted through more clothes and dropped off seven bags at a donation point. And, one bag at Plato's Closet. We went to Ann Taylor Loft for a pair of pants, a sweater and two tank tops. Then, we went to Bloomingdale's for slacks for Mr. mouse. They've gone seriously upscale with their assortment - $150+ slacks for men. We went to Macy's next. And, found some that work for everyday wear. We went out for dinner to Brasserie Jo. And, when we got home, we fell asleep on the couch. And, that was the weekend.


Cheers!
mouse

Friday, October 12, 2007

Cold Mouse

Dear Friends and Family,

It's cold in here. I'm still holding out on the turning on the heat front. We pulled out the winter comforter last night and piled it on top of our summer comforter. And, I've been wearing socks in the house. And, Mr. mouse has been grumbling that I've turned into a nut job. But, technically, it's not even cold yet. The EPA recommends settings of 68° to 74° in the winter, going as low as 50° when the building isn't occupied. I'm going to try for 58° when we're not here and/or we're asleep and 68° for the rest of the time. We'll see. I think this will be the hardest adjustment yet. For now, I'll just huddle in my blanket as I blog and have my morning tea. Fortunately, it'll start getting warmer today through Oct 23rd when I can turn on the heat.

It's worth it. Global warming is a problem. I can do this.


Cheers!
mouse

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Update from Tuesday Night

Dear Friends and Family,

Mr. mouse and I spoke a little yesterday afternoon about our break down Tuesday night. We agreed to go book shopping this weekend. And, yesterday, in the mail, was a corrected insurance bill for Mr. mouse's doctor's appointment. So, we can schedule mine now. Yeah!

Just a word of warning, I can see this category being filled with ups and downs. But, I guess that's just a precursor to the ups and downs of being a parent.


Cheers!
mouse