Calories, Trans Fat, Sodium, Oh My!

Maybe my blogging isn't the only thing I thought wouldn't last ... we seem to be doing pretty well at eating a bit healthier. Nothing extreme. I haven't cleared out my cupboards of the Corn Pops cereal or coveted Ho-Ho's (although I have been VERY good about ignoring that side of the cupboard). We're just making smarter choices for our meals and snacks foods, and cutting back on portions has made a difference too. I've kept the fruit bowl stocked, and Cam's really into yogurt these days. (Oh by the way - the loss of appetite thing that he was going through? Yeah, no longer an issue.) We've never been one of those parents that told Cameron he needs to "ask" one of us before he can get something to eat; we've never felt the need to. He is a very active boy, he was never a "snacker", really wasn't into junk food too much, and pretty much learned when it was an "okay" time to grab something out of the pantry (ie: do not head into the pantry for a handful of pringles on your way to the dinner table). He does seem to be pretty aware of what is going regarding the conversations that Bryan and I have about food. Not sure why I'm surprised - sometimes he brings up conversations we've had when we THOUGHT he was next door playing, or outside skateboarding ... and the spelling out of everything pretty much ended when he was in kindergarten. Maybe we need to look into learning a second language for the sole purpose of communicating with each other - in front of Cameron. Anyway, he's catching on to the "watch what you eat" thing:

1) He and Bryan were at the grocery store getting stuff for his lunches. They were looking for some crackers/chips/cookies, that sort of thing, and Cam points to a box and says, "We should get those ... Mom likes to get the ones with the 100 on them" ... Gotta love those 100 calorie packs. The fudge-striped cookies are my favorite - perfect amount for when you need just a tiny bit of a chocolate fix.

2) We were eating dinner the other night and Cam asked if he could have more broccoli. Granted, he loves broccoli, but still - um, Helllllooooo! Of COURSE you can have some more. That threw me, but the next questions really almost made me spit my wine out. (Almost. I'm not about to waste a drop of my $4.99 bottle of wine.) "How much fat is in this broccoli? What about the chicken?"


Next thing you know he'll be smacking the twinkies out of Bryan's hand and telling him "There isn't enough fiber in that, and just look at the amount of carbohydrates and trans fat. Go find some rice cakes."

Happy Tuesday!

Well our ball playing didn't happen on Sunday. Weather conditions were not in our favor. Honestly felt like I was back in Portland there was so much rain. It started Saturday around midnight, and did not stop until early Monday morning. Then, it started up again last night. So we went shopping instead! :) Found a mitt so that I didn't have to use Cameron's when we were playing. Makes a slight difference! Have one week left of this class - thank god. I'm really looking forward to this being over. Normally the classes are 6 weeks, but we had a two week break at Christmas, so I've been in this same class for 2 months now. Starting to get to me. Trying to get ahead as much as possible so I don't have a lot of schoolwork over the weekend.

Mom and dad will be here on Saturday, so I'm pretty sure that will mean happy hour begins approximately 2 minutes after they reach the driveway: 1 minute to get out of the car and in the house (forget the suitcases, they can wait), 30 seconds to pee, and another 30 seconds until they reach the fridge. It's all about priorities. Haven't decided who I'm "rooting" for on Sunday, but I'm sure it will be the team wearing red, white and blue. It's been crazy around here with everyone getting ready for Superbowl. Some of the houses in the neighborhoods close to the stadium are for rent with many of the homeowners asking up to $20,000 for a weeklong stay! Hmmm - hope dad brings his AAA card for a discount on their lodging. So I'm gonna have to dig up a picture of Theresa and I with the Bales' kids on ANY one of our Superbowl Sundays growing up. We were dorks. There's no doubt about that. Well we can say that now, but back then? We thought we were cool. Dressing in the team colors, making our team signs, bringing our pom-pons to wherever the party was ... we knew how to have a good time. We were hotshots. :)

Just another Saturday!

Well, I suppose it's a good thing that there's just NOTHING new to report. Things are definitely getting back to normal now that everyone is on the up-n-up in the health department. Think the only lingering affect is that Cam just doesn't have much of an appetite ... maybe still a little sluggish from being sick? Not all that it was before. He used to have no problem polishing off a double cheeseburger and fries, tonight it was a struggle to get him to eat one slice of pizza. Think mom's just paranoid and of course jump to conclusions about why he hasn't been eating very much lately, or not wanting to eat. Pretty uneventful day ... did some work around the house, ran a few errands and got a pedicure. One that was extremely overdue. Bryan thanked me when I got home. :0) Spent most of that time "chatting" with my friend Heather via instant message - she's "Down Under" for an extended vacation. Love her updates from her blog, great pictures and even greater stories to go along. When (and I REALLY stress 'when') Bryan actually gets a vacation for more than a day or so, Australia is on the "list of things we'd like to do." Figured Heth could be the guinea pig and let us know the do's and don'ts.

Cam's been playing with his friend Josh all day - combination of skateboarding/bike-riding and Rock Band. He's getting great at the drums, Josh was pretty good on vocals, and Bryan decided that a nap was not feasible. One of the songs they were playing along to was from the 70's - can't think of the song right now, of course - but apparently to a couple of 7 year olds, music is easily dated. I can hear them both upstairs once the song started and Cam says, "This is an old person's song." Josh agrees with, "Yeah, it is. Let's pick another one." Do I need to remind him that his iPod is home to several Rolling Stones songs? Oh well - he'll appreciate it when he's older. Right Dad?! After dinner he was back over at Josh's house watching a movie. Bryan followed Cam over for a rematch with our neighbor Joe to some NBA and NFL video games. Gave me some time to catch up on my People, Redbook (my new favorite magazine) and a few other celebrity gossip mags, all accompanied by some wine of course! Nothing too exciting planned for the rest of the weekend... finish up some schoolwork, run a few more errands tomorrow and head to the park to toss around the baseball for a while. I know - keeping up with the Peterson's is exhausting, right? :)

Get rid of unwanted catalogs!

Apparently on the Today show (I think the episode that aired today) they gave out a free website where you can stop receiving catalogs you currently get in the mail. It sounded pretty cool. You register with the site, and then choose from the list and you pick which ones you don't want. You need to have the catalog on you for the key code. So the next time you get a junk catalog, one that's not even worthy for bathroom material, hang onto it and enter the key code from the back on the site. Everyone benefits! Saves the companies money from making the catalogs and spending postage, the environment from the excess paper, and my mailman from adding even more crap to my mailbox.



http://www.catalogchoice.org/


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I got this today, and thought I’d add it on to this post … not a bad idea!

Junk Mail

When you get ‘ads’ enclosed with your phone or utility bill, return these 'ads' with your payment. Let the sending companies throw their own junk mail away.

When you get those ‘pre-approved' letters in the mail for everything from credit cards to 2nd mortgages and similar type junk, don't throw away the return envelope. Most of these come with postage-paid return envelopes. It costs them more than the regular 41 cents postage 'IF' and when they receive them back.

It costs them nothing if you throw them away! The postage was around 50 cents before the last increase and is according to the weight. In that case, why not get rid of some of your other junk mail and put it in these cool little, postage-paid return envelopes.

One of Andy Rooney's (60 minutes) ideas:

Send an ad for your local chimney cleaner to American Express. Send a pizza coupon to Citibank. If you didn't get anything else that day, then just send them their blank application back!

If you want to remain anonymous, just make sure your name isn't on anything you send them. You can even send the envelope back empty if you want to just to keep them guessing! It still costs them 41 cents.

Help keep our postal service busy since they are saying that e-mail is cutting into their business profits, and that's why they need to increase postage costs again. You get the idea!

Can I see your credentials?

Cam and I spent our MLK Holiday off from school and work at the eye doctor. (Not exactly his idea of a great day off ....) He had been complaining that sometimes he has a hard time when he's reading, so off we went. He was a champ and it was all business. He thought the glaucoma test (the puff in the eye?) was hilarious. Highlight of the day. He might be the first person I know that doesn't find it completely annoying! The assistant finishes with all the tests and lets us know that Dr. Kelsey will be in shortly. She leaves, and Cameron says to me, very seriously, "I hope it's not his first day on the job." I started laughing and asked him what he was talking about. He said he hoped that he wasn't Dr. Kelsey's first patient ever. Well it's not as if he's having brain surgery, but I reassure him that I didn't think so, but that maybe he should ask him. Dr. Kelsey came in and said, "Since you're sitting in my throne, you must be Cameron ..." shook his hand and introduced himself. Cameron had this look on his face like "C'mon mom ... ASK him ..." So I said with the best straight face that I could, "Cameron wanted to know if this was your first day on the job." I thought Dr. Kelsey was going to pee his pants. He turns to Cam and reassures him that it is not his first day. So Cam asks "Well how many days have you been doing this?" Dr. Kelsey says he's not sure how many days, but that it's been about 14 years. Cameron was pretty satisfied with the answer. I really had a hard time not laughing during the appointment. Cam was so intent on "answering" the questions correctly. He'd let Dr. Kelsey know the first one was more clear, or they were about the same. If he wasn't real sure of his answer, he'd say to the Dr., "Can you go back to that one with the ASFO5 line? I think I messed up ..." Pretty cute.

So it turns out he needs reading glasses. He's a bit nearsighted. Apparently he's having a hard time focusing on the words he's reading, whether in a book, schoolwork, or on the computer. It takes a minute for him to focus enough to get rid of the blurriness. Dr. Kelsey thought reading glasses would help relax his eyes enough to fix the problem. Surprisingly enough, Cameron was totally accepting of this and kept asking the tech and I our opinion on which frames looked better on him. Bryan wasn't with us, so he made me get my phone out to take pictures of his faves. And since he wasn't with us, we didn't DARE buy anything. Picking out frames will be their little after-school project tomorrow! :)

Well everyone is finally healthy ... I probably just jinxed myself by saying that. But it's nice to have my family back! Took the night off from schoolwork and we all enjoyed watching a movie together. If you haven't seen The Game Plan with the Rock (I know, I know, but he was good in this ...) you need to add it to your movie list. Warning - grab some Kleenex! Bryan and Cam saw it in the theatre, so they knew it was coming. It didn't stop the tears though! I handed Cam a Kleenex, he hands it Bryan, and then grabs one for himself. He says, "It's okay mom, I'm crying a little too and I've seen it." Tugs at your heartstrings - I highly recommend it!