Let's talk produce...

Let me start by saying, I think we eat pretty healthy. However, I also always think there is room for improvement. That being said, organic produce and meats are expensive! I have been purchasing organic chicken and grass fed beef at Costco since they regularly carry those for reasonable prices. While Costco does often offer organic produce, it is very inconsistent and the assortment is not that great.

A member of one of my "mom groups" started up a new local pickup site with Annie's Organic Buying Club. Tim and I wanted a way to incorporate more organic produce both into our diets and our budget.  I did a little research and decided we would give it a go  They offer lots of different size options and add on items. I like that you can order weekly or biweekly and there is no "contract". One of the things I like about it that it forces me to meal plan around what the share offers that week.

So far, we have been getting the 3/4share. Right now, I am signed up for weekly however, if there aren't enough people in your area for that week, you may get moved to biweekly which so far is the only con to me.  Anyway, this was our latest share.

So, how did we use our share this week? Here is a breakdown of my meal planning.

Pears- used them to make Pear and Almond Steel Cut Oats. This was my first time making this and everyone ( including the Toddler was a fan). The nice thing about baked oatmeal is you can make it ahead of time and eat it throughout the week.

Eggplant- I LOVE eggplant parm but don't like that it is fried. I adapted this recipe a bit and made a Baked Eggplant and Chicken Parmesan Casserole served with a side salad. We got dinner and lunch out of this meal.

Sweet Potatoes- Tim doesn't really "like" potatoes. He will tolerate them but I have been able to get him to eat sweet potatoes by making BBQ Chicken Sweet Potatoes. I also add caramelized onions and garlic on top. YUM! We also had enough for dinner and lunch for 2!

Zucchini- We have a Veggeti and often use it to make zucchini noodles. This week we mixed some shrimp into the mix!

Sweet Peppers- Used to make sweet pepper nachos. This was my first time trying this and they turned out AWESOME! We had this as our main dish with a few adaptations... we skipped the olives and I mixed the chicken with spicy Latin beans.

Cauliflower- I decided to FINALLY try a cauliflower crust pizza  after seeing it all over Pinterest. I will say that it was very tasty but the consistency was a bit off. I will try it again though. We served this with a side salad.

Apples, Bananas, Kale - lunches, snacks and smoothies. If the bananas start turning, we chop them up and put them in sandwich bags and throw them in the freezer.

Avocado and tomatoes- Salads, thrown in eggs. Charlotte LOVES avocado slices with her dinner. Tim doesn't like the consistency of Avocado but I can usually sneak some in the BBQ chicken sweet potato mentioned above. Sometimes he will even put some in a smoothie.

We pick up our next share on Friday and I haven't meal planned it yet. We also got a fruit add on this week which has persimmon which I have never had before but I am excited to try. So far, I am loving the share and trying to incorporate more veggies in our diets :)

Charlotte's Birth Story: Just Born

I started writing this post 6 weeks ago and just wrapped it up. Clearly having an infant changes how you can spend your time :)

On Friday (9/20) when I left the office, I tried to make sure things were as wrapped up as possible. The state of not knowing was really starting to get to me. I made sure I had a backup for all my scheduled appointments on Monday "just in case".

Friday night, Tim and I went to Bealls to return something. My upper thigh cramps were SO bad because baby girl's head was putting pressure on my femoral artery. I could barely walk around the store. Even though I had wanted to go to 3rd Friday, we decided to come home. I took a bath, something I never do, which did help the pains in my thighs. I fell asleep rather early, maybe 10ish? However, I woke up at 2am with mild cramps. I was up and down with irregular cramping most of the night. Tylenol did nothing to alleviate the pain and I knew this was "prelabor".

Saturday I took it easy. Still irregular cramping. I went to Publix and tried to go about my normal Saturday routine but I was tired. I did wrap up a bunch of work stuff, confident that I would not be at work on Monday. Around 4pm, my pants felt slightly damp but I had been outside walking so I didn't think too much of it. Tim and I had dinner, straightened up the house and packed any last minute things for the hospital, knowing we would be there before morning. I took a shower around 8pm, laid down and when I stood up, I knew I was leaking fluid. We took our time getting ready and made it to the hospital around 10:30pm.

Once we were checked into Labor and Delivery, I was advised to put on a gown so that I could be checked before determining if I would be admitted. I was SO excited that one of my favorite OBs was on call for the weekend. As soon as I put the gown on, my water officially "broke" and the nurse declared that I " wasn't going anywhere". I was disappointed to learn that I was only at 2cm, as I did not want to come to the hospital before I was at a 4.

The Doctor came in and they went over my timeline. Since I hadn't slept much the night before and they suspected my water broke at 4pm, they decided to let me rest and see how I progressed until 3am at which time they would start Pitocin. At 3am I decided to get an epidural. Contractions were pretty regular and I simply could not get comfortable in any position.  The epidural was FABULOUS and Pitocin was pushed off till 6am. Tim slept on a cot beside me and we both got some rest.

Shortly after starting Pitocin, we had the 7am shift change meaning I got a new nurse. Before introductions could even be made, she was rushing into my room throwing my bed back into a flat position and putting oxygen on me. Apparently, baby's heart rate had dropped when they increased the Pitocin. After her heart rate went back up, they reduced my Pitocin back down to the lowest level until the doctor came in. Right before 9am, the doctor was monitoring me, they increased the Pitocin and sent Tim for breakfast. Immediately, I was again flat on my back with oxygen and I even heard the doctor say " We need to get dad back in here". At this time they began talking about a C-section.

I was not ready to give up just yet. I was removed from the Pitocin completely. If I continued to progress on my own and everyones' heart rate remained stable, I could still go for a vaginal birth. If I did not progress or a we had any more dips in the heart rate, I would need to have a C-section. Because my water broke at 4pm Saturday, they wanted baby born by 4pm Sunday as she would be without amniotic fluid too long which increased her chance of infection.

I progressed well on my own. My mom got to the hospital shortly before 12. Baby girls heart rate dropped and I was put on oxygen permanently. The nurse checked me and I was at a 10. My epidural had worn off and they did not want to give me any medications until the doctor came in and it was decided if I would be pushing or having a c-section. I was in A LOT of pain. The contractions felt like they were one on top of the other. The nurse told me to tell her if I felt pressure to push. Baby's heart rate continued to drop on and off. The doctor came in and told me she did not feel comfortable with me pushing due to the unstable heart rate. They began prepping the OR for my C-section.

Waiting for this was THE worst part. Not only was I in pain, but I began feeling the pressure to push...which I was told not to do. I was also SO thirsty and they would not let me drink. There were numerous C-sections going on that day but eventually I got down to the OR. The whole thing is kind of a blur... Tim was taken into another room until they were ready. I remember them prepping my stomach and then someone accidentally touching it and they had to start all over. I remember having a death grip on Tim's hand the whole time. Then we heard the sweet sounds of our baby girl. Turns out her cord was wrapped around her foot, making her like a little bungee jumper every time she decided to come out, hence the drop in heart rate. Despite this, Charlotte Grace was born perfectly healthy on September 22, 2013 at 2:37pm weighing in at 6lbs, 9 oz and 20 inches long.

The staff were great about taking lots of pictures for us. They called Tim away to cut the cord while they began "putting me back together". I felt A LOT, not sure if that is normal. The whole time I kept saying "ow, ow". The anesthesiologist stayed by holding my other hand the entire time. Because my pain was not under control, they opted for staples at my incision site in order to get me into recovery faster.

At this point, I was handed my little baby girl. I remember feeling drowsy and having to concentrate to hold onto the baby as they took me back upstairs. Once I was back in the room, I threw up but immediately felt better and was ready for skin-to-skin with my little one. My parents and Tim's parents both were invited back one by one for a quick visit. The nurse then suggested no more visitors until the next day which was a blessing as it gave us lots of time to bond as a family of three and get to know our sweet Charlotte.

We were moved to a "mom and baby" room and we were lucky enough to get a water view room. I was still not allowed to eat or drink as they didn't want me to get sick again. It wasn't till after midnight on Monday that they FINALLY let me have juice and ice pops... my first "food" since Saturday. It was phenomenal! :)

I was pretty much bed bound so I just spent lots of time snuggling my baby girl. At 4 in the morning, I was finally allowed up. It was painful but not unbearable. I was still hooked up to all sorts of wires which made it more difficult but those got removed later that day. I really pushed myself because I wanted nothing more than to go home with my baby. Monday was full of lots of visitors and doctors. I was told I was one of "the best C-section patients" by my nurses, so much so that we got to go home a day early! The next few days were filled with lots of "firsts" and it has been such an amazing adventure so far. I LOVE being this little girls mom!

Since I love having the weekly updates from my pregnancy, I am going to being photographing baby girl monthly and writing up a post to document her growth. Here is the first photo, taken the day we got home from the hospital.

I hope to get her one month post up this weekend so I will be all caught up going forward :)

Rats, Dachshunds and Iphones... oh my

These three things really have nothing in common aside from making last week quite the action packed week around here. While this week is proving to be much less chaotic on the home front, work is picking up the slack in that department!

So what's been going on here? Oh ya know.. Just relaxing last Monday night, husband does into the pantry for a snack and finds a huge RAT sitting on the shelf like he owns the place! Tim quickly shut him in the pantry and blocked under the door with towels and stacked books to make sure our friend didn't wander off anywhere else. I went to Lowe's to get a trap. Tim was brave enough to shove the trap in the pantry overnight until I could get an animal control company out the next morning.

Luckily, I remembered that a local Animal Trapper lived on the next street over. I called them at 8am the next morning and they agreed to come over. Good news: the rat was no longer in the pantry and we  knew how he got there so we were able to remedy the situation ( a small opening in the electrical from when the pantry was built). Bad news: the company did a free inspection of our property and found several "access points" and droppings in our attic. Just what you want to hear when you are 7+ months pregnant. We ended up contracting with them to close off all the access points around the exterior of the house, set traps in the attic and treat the attic for any bacteria. Unfortunately, I don't have a "rat removal" line item in my budget and it wasn't exactly cheap... although it was necessary.

So exactly one week later, our house is secure and the traps are set in the attic. The animal trappers come over every other day to check the traps since the rats cannot escape at this point. After a week or so of consistently empty traps, they will treat for bacteria.

Let's see... on a related note. Lucy, our middle Dachshund, somehow got in the pantry when the rat trap was set and decided to eat the peanut butter out of the trap. Let's just say she is lucky to still have a tongue!! It was an AWFUL, AWFUL sound and she was quite frightened but 100% OK... Thank God!

While we are on the subject of dogs.. Lily, the baby dachshund, started acting really strange. I took her for a walk one night and she got spooked by something and literally could not walk home. So I carried her home but after that she was fine. Several days pass and she is fine so I thought it was a one time thing. Then on the 4th of July, she started doing it more consistently. We would take her out in the grass to go potty, her eyes would get glassy, she would start shaking and be unable to move. She literally fell over on her side with all 4 feet in the air when she tried to walk...almost like she was having a seizure. So Friday I called the vet and brought her in. They ran some lab work and everything came back normal. She gained a lot of weight and has been increasingly hungry and thirsty which the vet said is because of the prednisone she was on for a hot spot (even though she finished the medication a week before). At this point, they want me to try to catch it on video so they can consult with a neurologist. Of course, now she hasn't done it since Saturday!  I am hoping its some weird reaction to prednisone or the antibiotic... even though not a known side effect, it is a better alternative than a seizure disorder. Poor little girl!

And while minor, it still contributed to an eventful week... Tim dropped his IPhone in the salt water while fishing. Since we just got the phones relatively recently, we have to pay a ridiculous sum of money to get a new phone without signing a contract. Needless to say, It has been sitting in rice and silica beads since Wednesday. Surprisingly, it looks like it is going to regain most of it's functionality. We may have to get a replacement camera for it because that seems to have been damaged. Oh and a waterproof case, definitely a waterproof case!

Fingers crossed for a "normal" week ahead! :)

Everything is Breaking!

So, I think I jinxed myself! I mentioned here that we still had one more door to replace in the house but weren't in any huge rush. Well, the door decided to give up on me the other night. I went outside to take the recycling out to the curb and the bottom of the door literally fell out.

 Upon closer inspection, I realized the whole thing was completely rotting and peeling off. My dad has been SO busy and unfortunately, this door is going to be a challenge to replace so this isn't something I feel comfortable doing alone. I picked out a door and contacted Lowe's about installing it... they charge double the price of the door for install. It KILLS me to pay for labor!

Oh and the door isn't the only thing happening on that side of the house. The other morning, I woke up to this.

My side gate literally fell off the side of the house! I think it happened because the lock fell off and the gate swung too far inward with the wind and ripped itself off the wall. It also took a nice chunk of stucco with it! Nothing that can't be fixed :)

Doing my mini guest bath makeover inspired me to switch out the shower fixture. Only things are never as straightforward as they seem. That being said, my guest bath shower currently has no water and looks like this.

I will share more about this little adventure once things are all wrapped up. It has been quite the eventful week over here. I am hoping I have had my fair share and things will calm down. Needless to say, you know what I will be doing this weekend!

Pinterest Inspired Sunday

The past two Sundays have been very unproductive. Actually, unproductive is an understatement. They have been lazy. Last Sunday, I did not get out of pajamas the entire day. Its bad. So with losing an hour of sleep due to Day Light Savings, my expectations for today were not too high. While the morning got off to a slow start, it quickly turned around!

We had our first big rain since the tile installation and realized we had a drainage issue. So around 11 today, the problem with solved by drilling a few drainage holes into the half brick wall with the largest drill bit known to man.

We marked the areas with pencil after the rain so we could come back and drill where the water was pooling.

Since the weather was PERFECT today, Tim decided to go fishing for a bit while I got a head start on food prep for the week. In addition to washing and chopping all the fruit. I also made roasted brussel spouts and a pinterest find, Balsamic Rosemary Butternut Squash. I typically buy squash whole at the produce stand but I was in Sam's Club the other day and they had 2.5 pounds of peeled and cubed Butternut Squash for $4.50. Let's just say convenience won.

I have also been dying to try this Crockpot Tomato Basil Soup I found on Pinterest. I went through the first 23 years of life declaring I hated tomato soup because I hate tomatoes. It just seemed like a logical conclusion. Now I feel like I am making up for lost time. It has quickly become one of my favorite soups (Especially Panera's). Tim on the other hand isn't a huge fan. So I made the patch for lunch this week. I was nervous about how "chunky" the soup would be with all the vegetables but it ended up being fine and DELICIOUS!

This isn't the best picture.. It looks much more appealing in person! 

Not only did I tackle my regular Sunday cleaning projects (laundry, change bed sheets, etc) I tried a few I Pinterest cleaning ideas. I used this method to clean my dishwasher. After that I was on a roll. Next up Microwave. I used this method. Super easy:  1.5 cups vinegar, .5 cup water. Heat in microwave 5 minutes. Wipe clean.

Success! 

I also noticed that a few of our bath towels and our gym towels had the "funky towel smell". I remembered pinning something about that a while back. I ran the towels through a hot cycle with soap and vinegar in the rinse cycle. Then a second cycle with baking soda ( as outlined here). Totally did the trick.

The rest of my night consists of grilling steaks and Sunday night TV. Revenge and Red Widow anyway? Last weeks opener has me hooked!

Random Updates

-About a month ago, I was approached about a promotion at work. I was asked to take on two additional programs. Tim and I had a long talk about what this would mean workload wise. We want to start our family soon and didn't want my job to prevent that from happening. My supervisor was very supportive and let me give input on how I would like my role to change and adjusted my job description accordingly. So I agreed to take on the new programs but will no longer be required to carry a caseload or do any field work. A GREAT compromise, if you ask me! I started my new role 12/31. So far, it has been fairly easy to manage the increased demands. I have been in the process of hiring which takes a lot of time and energy but is only temporary.

- I have been crafting secret projects for the past month that I can't wait to share. I am co-hosting a baby shower for my sweet friend, Lee Anne, at my house in February. Being the overly ambitious person that I am, I decided to hand make all the decorations for the party. My poor fingers are covered in hot glue burns and x-acto cuts...totally worth it though! 

- I DESPISE cleaning glass shower doors. It's probably my least favorite household task. We have hard water here so its a nightmare to keep clean. Well, one of my friends  pinned a Martha Stewart cleaner on Pinterest and I decided to give it a try. Check out the end result...looks brand new, right?

1 cup baking soda, a few drops of Lemon essential oil, and 1 tbsp Dr. Bronner's almond liquid soap. Add enough water to make it into a paste. I applied a thick layer to the shower doors with a old rag and let it sit for a while. Then I rinsed it off with water. Lastly, I wiped it down with vinegar and squeegeed it off. Then on went a coat of Rainx... we will see how long it stays clean. I have been making Tim squeegee after each shower... he is not too happy about that!

- The "Basketball court" reno continues. Honestly, they have not gotten as far as I imagined they would. I took the dogs to my parents for three days so they workers did not have to hear their incessant barking. Its crazy how much we missed them! So glad they are back at home. 

Christmas 2012

It's hard to believe another Christmas has passed and we are approaching the end of another year. It is so crazy to me how quickly the years are passing. December 20th marked two years since we purchased our home..two years? Feels like two months!

Things have been very busy around here as we prepped for the holidays. Right before Christmas, I got a promotion to Director at work. This means I will be running three programs instead of one. It was very unexpected but I am very excited to start this new challenge! And it definitely started the Holidays out on a great foot!

Regardless of how the holiday falls, I always take Christmas Eve off. I very rarely take time off but I just don't feel right working that day. This year we got a little visitor on Christmas Eve:

Meet Milo. He belongs to my friend, Lee Ann, but is staying with us through the Holidays. Much of Christmas Eve day was spent prepping food for our big Christmas Dinner. Every year for Christmas Eve, we go to the Olive Garden for dinner with my in laws before heading to their church for a 9pm service. This year was much of the same:

Christmas morning, Tim and I head over to my parent's house in our jammies for breakfast and presents. We then go home to get ready as we host dinner. His parent's then come over about an hour before my parents so that we can exchange gifts. We both have relatively small families so it just works out best this way. This year's meal was prime rib, roasted brussel sprouts, mac and cheese, salad and rolls with fresh homemade cinnamon butter. Oh...and the dessert! I attempted to make my very first cheesecake. Only it wasn't just cheesecake, it was white chocolate peppermint bark cheesecake. Oh.my.word. It was delicious! Totally worth the extra work!

I had a really hard time coming up with things I wanted this year. Maybe that is a sign that I am getting old? To me the holidays are about giving ( I have always been more to enjoy giving more that receiving) and family. Oh, but I did get one thing that I really wanted:

Hope everyone had a fabulous holiday! Only three more working days till the next one! :)

Midweek Confessions

+ I woke up this morning with a sore throat. Not that there is ever a good time to get sick but this week is really not a good time.

+ You can tell that the time change is quickly approaching. The daylight hours are definitely becoming shorter. Because it is so dark in the mornings, we have all been sleeping in till 7:30 which makes the morning a little too rushed.

+ I am SO glad to put September behind us! It was a rough month for the Harrigan's. One of the cars was in the shop the majority of the month footing a $1600 repair bill. Between the added cost and being a one car couple, it was a stressful month. On top of that we had a bunch of other unexpected expenses including broken phones, weed wackers and a hefty school bill. Hello, October you are a welcome sight :)

+ While I have still been running, I am becoming increasingly aware of how quickly December is approaching. I am not feeling so prepared for the Color Run.

+ I have been OBSESSED with Iced Cinnamon Coffee from Dunkin. Like hitting up the drive-thru everyday obsessed. Sadly, I am also realizing how quickly this adds up and need to calm it down.

+ We had friend's over on Sunday and they brought their 5 month old doxie pup. This is the result of their play date:

+ Speaking of Lily, the food and tummy issues continue. I am feeling very frustrated with the whole situation. The vet has found nothing wrong with her yet she has unexplained stomach issues and is super picky. We have eliminated duck from her food, tried a medication, switched to a simple diet with limited ingredients...nothing works! Today, I made another trip to my favorite store, Dog Lovers, and the employees were super helpful and understanding. I am keeping her on her regular food she loves and adding a pro biotic...fingers crossed that this is a solution!
+ This morning, it was pouring right around the time I needed to leave for work.  I didn't pull the car into the garage last night for some reason. I run a group at 9:00 am and knowing that I had a room full of people waiting on me, my sweet husband ran out in the rain and pulled my car into the garage so I wouldn't show up drenched. Little things like this make me remember how blessed I am.

Labor filled Labor Day Weekend

Don't you just LOVE three day weekends? That extra day makes such a difference! If I had the choice, I would work four 10-hour days to always have a three day weekend.

Tim and I didn't really have too much on the agenda for the weekend. Friday night we had an impromptu date night and went to our favorite sushi restaurant: Mikes Sushi and Sake Bar. We then went to Macy's to shop for the husband. He has lost close to 20 pounds over the summer and needed some smaller pants. Macy's had an awesome Labor Day Sale where the men's dress pants were buy one get one free. Between the sale and my Macy's coupons, we got 5 pairs of pants for under $100.

Saturday we made a list of all the projects that needed to be finished up over the weekend. I did the laundry, Tim did the lawn. I weeded and... we FINISHED the backsplash. I also made an awesome dinner of homemade Bang Bang Shrimp and roasted brussel sprouts.

Sunday was the errand day: church, Target, Publix and shoe shopping. After coming home, unpacking everything and having lunch, we decided to go look at a couple of thrift stores nearby. Two out of the three were closed so we headed over to a large Goodwill that we have had a lot of luck at in the past. We left empty handed..nothing stood out to us this time. The rest of the evening was spent cleaning out drawers and closets.

Today was super productive. I was at Lowe's by 7 am picking up a few items to finish off two projects. I chopped fruit for the week, made a homemade soup and rearranged some things around the house. I swore to myself I would tackle my embarrassingly large "to be ironed pile" but I am slowly losing momentum!

Tuesdays are the longest day of the week for me due to a late standing appointment with a client. I plan to made Beef Fajitas in the crock-pot so that dinner is ready when I get home.

Midweek Confessions

                              

+ Work has been crazy lately with a big accreditation coming up. I have really been feeling it these past few weeks and today my boss surprised me with a gift card and a "don't think everything you have been doing has gone unnoticed". While I love the gift card, the acknowledgement means the most!

+ This is the first week both Tim and I have been home together in three weeks. I must say it has been a little odd having both of us home in the mornings.

+ I made a large purchase earlier this week. I have been eyeing a new area rug for the living room, something larger that will go under the sectional.  I found this guy on Overstock for $100 less than Home Depot.

When they emailed me a 10 % off coupon the next day, I knew it was meant to be. I ended up scoring this 10X 8'6 rug for under $300. It shipped today and I am excited to see what it looks like in the living room.

+ Last night I made Fajita from 100 Days of Real Food. AWESOME and super easy...my favorite kind of meal.

+ I didn't have it in me to cook dinner tonight. I mentioned this to my mom and she delivered a hot plate of chicken cutlets. LOVE that woman!

+ I have been off my exercise game this week. I have consistently been working out 5-6 days per week for the past several months now. This week I have only gone twice so far and the couch is calling my name again tonight. I am not sure where this laziness is coming from...

Vacation Recap

Tim and I left last Monday around 8:30 am for our drive down to Miami. Everything was going well until we entered into the Miami-Dade area then the traffic became horrendous! Luckily, we made it to the ship with plenty of time to spare.

We checked our luggage and I tipped the man well, hoping that my luggage would be one of the first to arrive at our cabin (Seinfeld anyone?). This was our first time cruising with Royal Caribbean. Since we JUST booked the cruise about 10-days ago, we opted for an interior room to save money, another first for this girl! The room was smaller than what I am used to but was comfortable enough for 2 people! As soon as we got to our cabin, we took a Bonine, just to make sure we wouldn't get sick. I then realized I left my camera in the car. Since we were not allowed off the ship, we decided IPhone pictures would have to suffice!

Tim's luggage arrived right away but my bag was no where to be found. Tim and I went up on deck to enjoy the sun and a fruity beverage but frequently came back to the room to see if my bag had made an appearance.

 When no bag showed up by 7pm, I checked with our room attendant who stated all bags had been delivered and sent me to guest services. My bag was located in a locked glass room and I was told I needed to wait for security. Turns out my bag was searched and flagged for "containing a rice cooker". I love rice as much as the next person but I can assure you that I did not feel the needed to bring a rice cooker on a 4-day cruise. When the security officer asked me to open up my bag to she could confirm this, she spotted my travel coffee pot and confiscated it. I love cruises by the coffee is AWFUL! Tim and I have been on numerous cruises and ALWAYS bring a coffee pot and Dunkin Donuts French Vanilla coffee. It was never an issue but apparently this a big NO with Royal Caribbean.

Between the stress of the lost luggage, the motion sickness medication, the fruity drinks and the dark cabin...Tim and I fell asleep at 7:30pm in our regular clothes and did not wake up till 8 am the next morning!

Tuesday we were docked in Nassau, Bahamas. Tim and I had been there before but noted that things were much cleaner then out last trip there in 2007! We shopped, went to the Atlantis Resort and ate at a fabulous little Greek restaurant in the main downtown area. Yes, we ate Greek in the Bahamas. There were Greek restaurants EVERYWHERE. Apparently, a high population of Greeks immigrated to the Bahamas in the early 1900's...who knew? We boarded the ship around 4pm....worked out and relaxed on the main deck.

For some odd reason, we were assigned to 9pm dinner...Who eats that late? Tim and I typically eat around 6pm so this was not feasible for us! We were only able to get into the 7pm dinner one night so we skipped formal dining and opted for the buffets at a more reasonable time.

Wednesday was spent at CocoCay, Royal Carribeans' private island. It was gorgeous but they nickle- and- dimed you for EVERYTHING. We rented a paddle board and a floating beach mat and enjoyed the shallow, crystal blue waters! They ran out of food this day so no lunch for us until we returned to the ship. We both got a little too much sun this day!

That night, Tim tried out the rock climbing wall on board!

Thursday we docked in Key West. This was the best port day in my opinion! I had never been to Key West but there is SO much to do! You can walk/bike to just about anything. I would love to visit the Keys for a vacation! We walked Duval street, shopped, visited all the popular bars for their trademark drinks, and ate at a fabulous little outdoor restaurant, Fogarty's.

Tim at Fat Tuesdays!

We stopped by a little shop called Key West Tea & Spice Trading Company owned by a husband and wife. She gave my a sample of her Organic Sweet Tea and it was easily the best tea I ever had! I bought a glass to walk around with and ultimately had to come back to the store to buy some loose leaf tea to take home. She shared her recipe with me and I am seriously hooked!

Friday we walked off the ship with our luggage around 7:30 am. We were then sent to security to obtain my contraband ( aka: coffee pot). Then headed out of Miami. We made a quick stop by the Miramar Outlets in Naples then headed home to pick up our girls from Grandma's house. It's strange how much we missed them!

Why do bad things always come in threes?

It has been quite an eventful week over here, hence the absence in blogging.

It started late last Thursday night when one of our dogs, Lucy, wouldn't bear any weight on her back right foot. Being the overprotective pet owner that I am, we immediately went to the vet with thoughts of IVDD running through my head. They thought she tore her ACL which is around a $1200-$1400 surgery ( Thank God for pet insurance). Two trips to the vet, 4 X-rays and $500 later, the diagnosis was torn/pulled ligament. She is on crate rest and meds for two week which is tough with two other dogs in the house. Thankfully, she seems to be doing OK now!

Tuesday night, I was headed out to a nail appointment. I stepped foot into the garage and noticed a large stream of water. I thought maybe Tim left the door open on the outside fridge but open closer inspection it was clear that it was coming from out water heater. I called my dad to brainstorm a possible diagnosis. He stated that if the water was coming from the bottom, we had problems. Sure enough, that is exactly what happened. The unit had so much sediment in the bottom that we could  not even drain to move it. We had to roll it with all 40 gallons of water in it! Of course this was around 8pm so it was a scramble to get to the store for a new unit. My dad wasn't too pleased to have to help at that hour but of course he came through as always. Two hours and $338 later, we had a new tank and hot water. Turns out my previous water heater was over 20 years old!

Thursday I picked up a client as a favor to one of my staff since I was in that general area. We were driving back to our main office. We were next to a large semi truck and heard this awful noise. We both assumed it was the truck. When we passed the truck and the noise got louder, I realized it was coming from my car. I pulled over and had a flat tire. Luckily, I have three companies that offer me roadside assistance: AAA, State farm and Walker Ford. I just happened to be in a Valvoline parking lot and since I had roadside assistance they quickly popped on my spare, free of charge. My tire looked like Swiss cheese! Apparently, I hit some kind of metal/  debris in the road. I submitted a claim with my warranty and was told it was 50/50 as to if they get approved when it deals with tires. I didn't even make it back to my house before the denied my claim, forcing me to pay $226 for a new tire and alignment.

I am looking forward to putting this week behind me and starting out on fresh ground. Let's hope things are a little less eventful!

Random Thoughts

+ The puppy, Lily, consistently wakes up early. After waking me up at 6:15 am each and every morning over the holiday weekend, the past two mornings she has slept till 7:15! I am hopefully that this will last. However, I have decided if she returns to the 6:15 wake-up calls, I am going to try to embrace it and go for a walk BEFORE work.

+ My husband told me this morning that it takes me longer to decide what shoes to wear then it does for me to pick out an outfit. This made me smile because it is 100% true: I LOVE shoes!

+ We have been rocking the workouts lately! Yes, you read that correctly, WE. Tim and I have gotten into a pretty good gym routine. Last week I worked out 5 days and this week I already squeezed in 4 workouts! I really want to register for a couple of 5K’s to help on the motivation front. I am considering the Color Run this December.

+ How is it almost June?

+ Last night, we had a swarm of flies in the house. We have no idea how they got in the house. The dogs were going crazy. Tim and I think it may have had something to do with the rainy weather? We walked around the house swatting flies for a good 30 minutes before heading out the gym. I am happy to report that we got them all. While we were grossed out about the flies, we also laughed hysterically at ourselves afterward. FYI: I am FAR superior at fly swatting then my husband! On a more serious note, it is moments like these that I feel so blessed to be married to a man who makes me laugh each and every day. 

+ I tried something new for dinner tonight, A Kale and Sweet Potato Fritatta. I got the inspiration from a new blog I discovered, Peanut Butter Fingers. I added a bit of cheese and spices and served it with a side of fruit, Strawberries and Pineapple. I liked it. Tim wasn't impressed. I think it was the Kale that he disliked. He dipped it in ketchup but I don't think I will be able to make it for him again. The good news is I have enough leftovers for two lunches. 

+ I am trying to fight off a cold. A sore throat came on me out of no where tonight. I had fresh pineapple with dinner ( Am I the only one that believes in this old wives tale?), lemon and honey tea and some Alieve. I am hoping a good night sleep will help! 

Sensational Sunday (in pictures)

Last week was VERY stressful at work. I was so looking forward to the weekend. We got into a house project yesterday so I really needed today to be productive. Let's just say I haven't been this prepared for the start of a week in a while.

I was at Publix at 9am doing my weekly grocery shopping. I also had to make a quick trip up to the Natural Food Store to pick up Chia seeds for one of my afternoon experiments. I was home by 11 and then spent the next 3 hours in the kitchen! 

Oh and I had a little "help" from Lily with putting away the groceries....

First up was a pot of homemade sauce and sausage. I let it cook ALL day. It makes the house smell AMAZING. 

I struggle with breakfast during the week. I always have intention of making oatmeal but never have time to sit down and eat it ( My Blackberry usually starts around 6:30-7 am). So I usually end up eating a 100 cal English Muffin and then I am hungry by 10. So when I saw this on Pinterest I decided to give it a go. 

I made 3 Vanilla Strawberry and 3 Apple Cinnamon. I am counting points on Weight Watchers again and these are 5 points plus and I am hoping they will be more filling. I guess we will find out in the morning. 

Next up, Homemade yogurt. I make this every few months when I go on one of my "no artificial sweetener" kicks. It is still cooking as we speak. 

I have also been OBSESSED with raw kale salads lately. I could eat it everyday. I try to make it only every 2 weeks or so. I don't want to get sick of it. I got the idea from Roni over at Greenlitebites but I adapt it to what suits me. So we have four salads already dished out for lunches this week. 

I also washed and chopped all the fruit in the house for easy snacking. 

I know watermelon is not in season but it is surprisingly good!

And made Tim's lunch...everyday, a ham sandwich! Our tastes couldn't be more different!

We just ate dinner, the laundry is done, and  I have been doing some work stuff. Now its time to relax. Even with a productive Sunday, I still find myself asking "How is the weekend over already"? 

Our One Year Anniversary

Sunday Tim and I celebrated our one year wedding anniversary. Hard to believe how fast the year went by!
Since Tim had class in Orlando most of the weekend, we had a pretty low key anniversary.

We started the day off with breakfast ...( or as Tim would say a "Meaty Breakfast").

Southwestern potatoes, bacon and ham and veggie eggs. 

We went to the gym together then Tim went fishing while I tried to get caught up on some work stuff. Since not all of us are on Spring Break this week, I wanted to go to an early dinner as I had to be to work early on Monday. We chose to go to Island Way, one of my favorites. If you are not familiar, they have an AWESOME early bird from 4-5:30. You get 2 soft drinks, 2 entrees, either a salad or soup and dessert for $25. They also have great drink prices and their sushi is amazing. Regardless of the price, the atmosphere is by far the best piece!

We then came home to enjoy our wedding cake!

And my favorite...champagne in the toasting flutes from our wedding.

The cake was slightly drier but surprisingly delicious!

....so much so that Tim has eaten it every night since!

Tim also got me this sweet "Key to my heart" Pandora charm.

I went the more traditional route and stuck with the first anniversary paper theme. I ordered a print to hang in our master bedroom from this Etsy seller. She customized it to my color scheme and both Tim and I love it.

We have had an amazing first year together and I am so excited for what our future holds.

The story behind the house

As I eluded to here, this post is all about the story behind our home. 

Tim and I began house hunting in October 2010. It all actually happened rather quickly when we saw a house we liked for a GREAT price on a Sunday afternoon. It had become habit for me to drive around and look at properties but up until this point, I had not contacted a realtor. Well, as soon as we saw this house, we called the listing agent to make an appointment. The next day, we looked at the house and put in an offer. It all felt super rushed but we knew there was another offer on the table so we had to move FAST. Needless to say, the house ended up going into a bidding war and selling for $21K over the listing price.

After that, we decided to continue to work with the listing agent of that property. She sent me lots of houses to look out but I was quite particular and was only willing to look at houses within a small radius. A lot of what we looked at needed far too much work for the price being asked. We ended up finding a house that we both really liked in Dunedin but the Master bathroom was so small that the door hit the toilet when entering. With no way to expand the bathroom, we decided to pass on the house.

Then one Sunday, after showing us a house on our list, our realtor said she wanted to show us another house that was sale on the same street. She showed us the listing printout and I immediately knew I would love the house. I also knew it was listed for $20K more than my “feel comfortable” price. Of course, we both fell in love with the house. My parents did too. The house needed a new a/c and the yard was a disaster. The realtor also thought the house was overpriced for comparables in the area. So we decided to give them a low offer, ask them to replace the a/c and cover 3% of our closing costs. We knew it was a gamble but our realtor said it was the best place to start.

The next day, I started pricing insurance etc. Even typing/writing out the address felt like it would be my home. That quickly ended when the seller countered our offer, stating he would replace the a/c and take $2k off the listing price. Clearly the seller was not ready to negotiate and we walked away from the house.

We continued house hunting almost every weekend. We wanted a house BEFORE the wedding so we did not have time to deal with any foreclosures or short sales. Our realtor would not even take us to look at any of those properties, knowing our timeline. Every house we looked at, we compared to “The” house. Nothing even came close. Every house felt like we would be settling. In the middle of November, we went to look at a house in Safety Harbor. It was the nicest house we had seen since “The” house. We had one more house to look at the day, which was just put on the market, on the same street as “the” house, but were considering making an offer on the Safety Harbor Property. While we were there, the seller of “the” house called our realtor, over a month later, and said he was now ready to negotiate. We put in our best offer and the seller accepted the next day!

The listing agent requested to be present during the inspection which we all thought was odd. It was the inspector, myself, my realtor and the listing agent for close to three hours of awkwardness! It was at this time that we learned the house was a flip. The inspector made some recommendations, including replacing the a/c, but nothing too major. He noted that the irrigation was not functional and that the electrical box was weird: added circuits that appeared to go to nothing. Even though the contract was signed, the seller then stated he did not want to replace the a/c but wanted to give me a credit to do so on my own. After some haggling, we agreed on a credit amount so that I could then get the tax credit for replacing the a/c.

Everything from this point on went rather smoothly! We had to have two appraisals since the house was a flip and we were going with an FHA Loan. The house appraised for more than our buying price so there were no issues. The week we were scheduled to close, I called to have the utilities transferred on the house. The water company was not a problem and required a standard deposit. When we called progress energy to have the electric transferred, we were shocked to learn that they wanted a $1000 deposit. When asked why this was so much, they informed us that it is based on the average of two months usage and the bills at the address were running over $500/month! At this point my anxiety kicked in because we could not afford that type of electric bill each month. Luckily, they were able to run my credit and waive the deposit. We had our final walk thru on 12/16 at which time we were given the keys to the house and then we closed the next day.

We knew at this point there were a lot of different projects that we need to be done to the house. Some we wanted done before moving in (carpets out, paint, wood floors, a new fence, etc) others could wait. It seems like we got started right away. Every waking moment for the next three months was spent at the house. We would be there at night after work and all weekend long. One night, shortly after closing, we were in the garage getting an estimate on the a/c replacement since this had to be done prior to December 31^st to get the tax credit, when two of our neighbors came over to introduce themselves. The asked if they could see the progress on the house because they hadn’t seen the house since "the bust". We had no idea what they were talking about and they were shocked when we asked them. They informed us that the house had been a grow house for marijuana and that the tenants were arrested for child abuse. They told us how the ceiling in the family room had been ripped out when the Sheriff’s office tore down the grow lamps. Of course at this point I was curious so I did a Google search and found the whole story. Apparently they confiscated 147 marijuana plants worth more than $250K. It was part of a drug ring with another house in Clearwater. I was then able to look up the previous tenants on the jail website. All were arrested on trafficking and possession charges. In addition, the two tenants at our house were also arrested on two counts of child abuse for having two children residing in the home where they were growing the marijuana. Of course, I was working in Child Protection at the time which made it even more insane to think about!

The crazy part is that everything kind of made sense now: the high electric deposit, the weird electrical panel, why the seller wanted to be at the inspection, and how the seller was able to pick up the house so cheap to begin with. We knew the druggies rented the house for at least 4 years, meaning that the house wasn’t taken care of during that time. All of this was confirmed by our neighbors who are just thankful to have “normal” neighbors again. The whole drug house thing is even weirder to think about when you consider the number of police officers that live in our neighborhood who were just as unsuspecting.

Knowing what we know now: the drug house, the flip, all the extra (unexpected) projects, would we have changed anything? Nope! We love our house and feel confident that we at right where God wanted us. We are just thankful it wasn’t  Meth or another drug that could be potentially hazardous to our health. We have wondered if our realtor knew about it and didn’t tell us. Technically, the seller did not have to disclose because the house was a flip and the seller never lived on the property. Which in my opinion is a funny little loophole.

So that’s it! The crazy (& long) story behind our beloved home :)

A rough picture of our house the day of our walk- thru.