Happy third trimester to me and Baby P!  I enter the third trimester with excitement and trepidation.  Every day, we get closer and closer to meeting Baby P.  I know I have been saying this for months, but it just keeps getting more and more real.

According to Babycenter, this week Baby P is sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing his eyes, and sucking his fingers. With more brain tissue developing, his brain is very active now. Also, his lungs would now be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if he were to be born now. This is kind of a reassuring thought, although we don’t want him to come now!  Please keep baking, Baby P. 

Also, baby hiccups are common from now on.  I don’t think I have felt any yet, although it is difficult for me to tell because I feel so much movement from him all day long.  I haven’t felt a steady, rhythmic movement (at least that I have noticed) but am on the hiccup lookout!

This week Baby P weighs almost 2 pounds and is 14 1/2 inches long.  The size of a cauliflower!

And thus, my cauliflower week   You know… this is the year of the dragon?  And it is the week of the cauliflower.

My 27-week check in:

• Total weight gain: 21 pounds
• Stretch marks? Nada.
• Sleep: Still sleeping well, although I am starting to get a little more uncomfortable.  Since I only have two sleeping positions (on either side), my nights are pretty much spent switching from one side to the other.  My arms and body parts start to fall asleep and get cramps.  But overall, I can’t complain!
• Workouts:  I can finally do something other than stationary bike!  I slowly ramped up my elliptical workouts this week, since my back is feeling better.  Yippee!  Next week I hope to incorporate in some walking as well.
• Saturday– Rest
• Sunday – 40 min on stationary bike
• Monday –40 min on stationary bike
• Tuesday– 40 min on stationary bike
• Wednesday – 10 min on the elliptical, 30 min on the stationary bike
• Thursday – 20 min on the elliptical, 20 min on the stationary bike
• Friday – 30 min on the elliptical, 15 min on the stationary bike
• Food cravings: Nothing too crazy.  My coworker was selling homemade cake pops to raise money for Susan G. Komen so I bought some.  They are sooo good, I have been downing cake pops like it’s my job
• Aversions: None.
• Symptoms: Continued heartburn, particularly at night.  And more discomfort.  I am starting to be able to feel that the baby is growing higher into my upper abdomen and chest, and sometimes it hurts.  It feels like a baby body part is sticking into one of my organs or something.
• Best moment this week: Being able to go on the elliptical!  I never thought I would be excited to be on the elliptical, because it was my least favorite workout machine before.  But now I am so grateful that I can do anything, I will TAKE IT!
• Belly Button in or out? Still flat
• Wedding rings on or off? On.

By the way, here is an update on my Schwaggle customer service complaint.  On April 3rd, a full week after their email to me saying that I could NOT have a refund, I received another email from them.  It said:

Thank you for your patience. To recieve the full $30 value on each voucher, you can add more than one vessel to your cart. If you do not wish to do this, and you have not yet redeemed, I would be happy to cancel and refund your order. Please let me know what you would like to do. Thanks!

That is nice, right?  Yeah… except for the fact that it was one week later, and I had of course already redeemed my coupons. One of them was for my stepmother’s birthday, which I was already late for due to the initial fiasco.  So basically… since they were redeemed already, I am screwed.  For me to return them, I would lose the shipping amount that I paid to ship it to me, as well as to ship it back, which of course nullifies the money I would get refunded.  Le’sigh.

I think that Active.com should give me a refund anyways, or at least a partial refund, due to their serious customer service issues.  That would be the only way they could possibly keep me as a customer at this point. 

Now I am off to go see “The Hunger Games” movie with my friend.  She has been patiently waiting for me to finish the book, which I did last week.  I am excited!

Glory Hallelujah – my back is on the mend!

I am not completely pain-free, but I am feeling better than I have in weeks.  I am still resting it, with my occasional stint on the stationary bike.  The other day, I felt so good and the weather was so nice outside that for a fleeting second I considered going for a short, slow run.  Fortunately, I talked myself off of the ledge.  Truth be told, this injury really scared me.  I have never had any sort of back injury, or pain that made it so I couldn’t walk let alone run.  I did have stress fractures, and of course my stomach surgery, but this was different – it was something that I brought on myself but pushing too hard and running when my body told me to stop.  That being said, I think my running now is done for the duration of the pregnancy.  I would rather stick to walking and be a healthy, happy runner with a baby than risk injuring myself more seriously and not being able to run after Baby P is born.

So on to other things, like cauliflower.

Last weekend, cauliflower was on sale at the grocery store so I bought 2 heads.  One head I have been using as a vehicle for hummus.  I don’t dip my vegetables in hummus… but rather I eat huge globs of hummus under which I do believe there is a vegetable buried somewhere. 

The other head of cauliflower?  It was destined for pizza!  Nope… not on top of pizza… but in the crust!

I have seen recipes for Cauliflower Pizza crust in several places, but the one that looked amazing to me was on eat.drink.smile.

After buying the cauliflower, I had all the required ingredients on hand.  I began by grating the cauliflower.  I started with my grater, but that got too annoying (and too scary once I got down to the small bits near my fingers).  I am always afraid I am going to grate the tips of my fingers off.  I was trying to avoid breaking out the food processor because then I would have to clean it… but it ended up being the better option.

I mixed the grated cauliflower in with the egg, mozzarella cheese, and spices.

I flattened it out into my pizza crust.  (Note:  I forgot to grease the baking pan.  Although it wasn’t a total disaster, it was kind of difficult to get off once it had finished baking and I would definitely recommend not forgetting this step!)

Then I baked the crust for 10 min or so.  Once it was browned, I pulled it back out and started topping.

I wasn’t feeling that creative, so just went with mozzarella cheese, cheddar cheese and mushrooms.

Then it went under the broiler for 5 min, and done!

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Serves 1; Adapted from Eat.Drink.Smile

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked, riced cauliflower
1.5 oz  shredded mozzarella cheese
1 egg, beaten
1/2 tsp garlic salt
salt and pepper to taste
pizza sauce, shredded cheese and your choice of toppings

Directions:

Take 1/2 large head of fresh cauliflower, remove stems and leaves, and chop the florets into chunks. Add to food processor and pulse until it looks like grain. Do not over-do pulse or you will puree it. (If you don’t have a food processor, you can grate the whole head with a cheese grater). Place the riced cauliflower into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 8 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup cauliflower, egg and mozzarella. Add spices, stir. Transfer to the cookie sheet, and using your hands, pat out into a pizza crust shape of your choice.

Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.

Remove from oven. To the crust, add sauce, toppings and cheese. Place under a broiler at high heat just until cheese is melted (approximately 3-4 minutes).

Enjoy!

This recipe was tasty.  You won’t fool anyone into thinking it is a regular pizza crust, but it is a delicious and guilt-free way to get an extra serving of veggies into your diet (or your family’s diet).  It is definitely on my list to make again.

As for the other reason why this is a cauliflower week.. that will be for tomorrow.  But here’s a hint… it has to do with Baby P

I am a sucker for those deal sites – Groupon, Living Social, Zozi… all of them.  So when I heard about Schwaggle from Active.com, I was psyched.  Deals on exercise equipment, active gear, etc?  I’m in!

A couple of weeks ago, I bought my first Schwaggle.  It was $15 for $30 worth of KOR water vessels.  I have been searching for the perfect water bottle for a long time – I find something wrong with every one I try.  I saw the Special Edition KOR ONE and loved it.  It was really pricey – $34.95 – so I decided to go for the Schwaggle.  Even with $15 off, it was not cheap, but I bit the bullet.  I also bought a second Schwaggle (same deal) to buy a water bottle for my stepmother because it was almost her birthday.

I picked out the KOR delta bottle for my stepmother and started the check out process.

So… the water bottle was $22.95.  Shipping was an additional $6.95.  Sum those together, and you get a total of $29.90 – which should be covered under my $30 Schwaggle, right?  (Not including tax, I realized a couple bucks would be tacked on for tax as well.)

Not right.  Even though the Schwaggle I purchased was for $30 and should easily cover 99% of the order, when I started to check out it told me that the deal would not cover the shipping.  So… the Schwaggle covered the $22.95 bottle, but I would still have to pay the $6.95 shipping + tax… even though there was $7 left on my Schwaggle coupon.  Not fair.

Not only that, but the Schwaggle is only redeemable in one transaction.  So I couldn’t take the remaining $7 and use it toward my other order (for myself) which was over $30.

Not only THAT, but only one Schwaggle is redeemable per transaction.  So I couldn’t order both bottles in the same transaction to use all $60.  NOT FAIR.

When I realized all of these things, I contacted Active immediately (within the same day of my Schwaggle purchase) to ask for a refund.  One reason that I purchase Groupons and Living Social deals so frequently is because their customer service is awesome.  If I purchase a deal and something like this happens, all I have to do is contact them and they will give me the credit for what I paid back to my account – no questions asked.  I assumed that Active.com, trying to compete with these companies, would have the same policies.  NOPE.

First of all, when I contacted Schwaggle customer service through their online form, I got no response for 5 days. I then contacted them again, not only reiterating my initial complaint, but also complaining that I had not heard a peep from them for 5 days.  After that, I got a single line response:

I apologize for the inconvenience. I have reached out on your behalf and will let you know as soon as we have a resolution.   Thank you for your patience!

Fair enough.  I waited another 4 business days (by this time, it was my stepmother’s birthday and there was no chance that even if I got this gift for her that it would be on time.)  On the 4th day, I got this response:

Thank you for your patience. Unfortunately I was not able to get a refund authorized, as it is clearly stated in the fine print before you buy that the voucher does not cover shipping or taxes. The voucher will cover UP TO $30 worth of merchandise in your cart.To receive your full potential discount, I suggest adding additional merchandise to your cart.

Um… sure, buddy.  Except for the fact that the cheapest water bottle on KOR’s site is $20, which would put me WAY over my $30 Schwaggle value.  Oh, and… I DON’T WANT TO BUY ANYTHING ELSE THANK.YOU.VERY.MUCH.

I ended up buying the two bottles in two different orders, and pretty much throwing away a good portion of one of my Schwaggles (since the bottle I bought for my stepmother was $22.95 and I still had to pay shipping.)  When you sum up the total for the two $15 Schwaggles plus the added amount I had to pay for shipping and tax, I ended up paying a total of $49.31 for the two water bottles.  And that is supposed to be a deal??

The bottom line is:  Active.com’s Schwaggle customer service sucks.  Their responsiveness is a joke, and they clearly don’t put the customer first or put high priority on customer satisfaction.  I am always sorry to feel disappointed like this, but in me they have LOST a customer and I will be spreading my experience to all who will listen so that others don’t have to deal with a similar situation.  Active.com – I hope you guys get your act in gear. 

So let’s end this post on a positive note, shall we?

Here are some things that piqued my interest this week:

Chocolate chip cookie mousse bombs, what??

This blog post about loving your body.

13 recipes using Cadbury Crème eggs – including homemade cadbury crème eggs!  These are on my list of must-makes for sure.

Oh, and this gem:

I’ve officially entered the people-are-touching-my-belly phase of the pregnancy.  This week, two people touched my belly.  They were both people who I knew, and were both women, so it wasn’t a big deal. But it got me thinking about the whole belly-touching thing.  I remember hearing, before I got pregnant, that sometimes strangers would come up to women when they were pregnant and touch their belly.  That seemed really weird to me…  I don’t think a stranger should ever come up and touch a person in normal circumstances, so why would they do it when they are pregnant? 

I also think it would be especially weird if it was a man. I don’t really like people touching me in general, so if a random man came up and touched my belly we’d have a problem, yo.

But like I said, these two were women, and I knew them, so no problem

So… 26 weeks.  I have read conflicting things about when the third trimester technically begins.  Some things say 27 weeks, some say 28.  Either way, I’m just one or two short weeks away.  Babycenter, which has been one of my sources of truth throughout this pregnancy, says my third trimester begins April 4th.  So scary.

But for now, I’m still enjoying my second trimester.

According to Babycenter this week, the network of nerves in Baby P’s ears is better developed and more sensitive, so he can hear S and I talk (ugh.. baby is already listening to our bickering!!)   He is continuing to put on baby fat and now weighs about 1.67 pounds and is 14 inches long.  The length of an english hothouse cucumber!

My back is slowly feeling better.  It still hurts, especially when I carry something or at the end of the day when I have walked around a little, but I’m thankful for the improvements.  I am still only able to do the recumbent bike to exercise, but I’m grateful that I have something I can do.

My 26-week check in:

• Total weight gain: 19 pounds
• Stretch marks? None yet.
• Sleep: I am sleeping pretty well.  I do get heartburn in the night, but usually a couple of antacids later I am a-ok.  Sleeping with my snoogle is my favorite time of the whole day!
• Workouts:
• Friday – 30 min on stationary bike
• Saturday – Rest
• Sunday– 30 min on stationary bike
• Monday – 30 min on stationary bike
• Tuesday– 40 min on stationary bike
• Wednesday – Rest
• Thursday – Rest
• Friday – 30 min on stationary bike
• Food cravings: Ice cream.  I finished those 2 containers of Breyer’s in a week   I also have eaten my fair share of See’s chocolate (see evidence below)
• Aversions: None.
• Symptoms: This week I again got major stomach pain in the middle of the night one night (like last week).  It hurt so badly that I couldn’t sleep or get comfortable, no matter what position I tried to sit, stand, or lie in.  I am wondering if this pain I get only occasionally is due to the baby being in a particular position.  It’s on my list of questions to ask at my next Dr appointment.
• Best moment this week: The massage at my chiropractor appointment.  Holy amazing.
• Belly Button in or out? Still flat
• Wedding rings on or off? On.

The weather here is starting to get warmer, too.  I am not looking forward to being as big as a house in the middle of the California summer heat – but what can you do?  I have a feeling there is a lot more ice cream in my near future.

I leave you with photographic evidence of what the garbage can in my office looks like at the end of my working day.  At least once a quarter, See’s candy comes to my work and sells their incredible chocolates at a discount to employees.  I always treat myself to a little box, but this time my pregnancy appetite, as well as my feeling sorry for myself about my back, got the better of me.  I walked away with (gulp) 3 boxes.

Two boxes of their chocolate butter eggs (to die for) and a big 1lb box of their milk chocolate assortment.

And thus, what my garbage can looks like at the end of my work day:

See the See’s?

In case you haven’t noticed, this blog has changed.  It is no longer Eat, Write, Run.  Welcome to… Rachelhop!

My other blog name was just too boring and common.  I see a gajillion (yes… that many…) blogs out there with the words Eat, Run, and Write in there, plus pretty much any other three word combination you can think of that is along those same lines. 

I’m not the most creative person in the world, not even close.  So using a play on my name was the best I could come up with.  I like it

So reset your bookmarks and your feeder URLs.  And welcome to Rachelhop!

Now let’s get down to the exciting business of… My Tuesday.

Tuesday morning I had the dreaded glucose test.  The test is administered between weeks 24 and 28 of your pregnancy and it checks for gestational diabetes.  Depending on which test your doctor selects, you have to drink either a 50g, 75g, or 100g glucose drink.  It tastes pretty much like REEEEEEEAALLLY sweet Kool-Aid.

I went into the test with the understanding that I would have to drink the drink, wait for an hour, and then have my blood drawn to check my glucose levels.  It turns out… I had to wait two hours.  Ugh.  Good thing I brought my Nook.  (PS:  I am currently reading the Hunger Games book 1.  I have only just started, but these 2 hours gave me a good start!)

So I was given the 75g drink.  I had a choice between lime or orange and I went with the orange. 

You have to drink it all within 5 minutes, which wasn’t a problem for me.  I’m used to drinking things quickly that I don’t want to drink – I used to drink apple cider vinegar every morning and night before I got pregnant and couldn’t stomach it.  But don’t worry, it will be making a comeback soon   So I downed the Sugar-Aid in just a minute or two and got the timer started.

At first I felt fine.  A sugar buzz hit me, and I felt like I was bouncing off the walls for a little while (which was difficult to do, considering I was sitting in a tiny waiting room waiting for my 2-hr timer to go off).  Then… I totally crashed.  All I wanted was a nice, long nap – which was the first thing that they told me I could not have. 

Luckily, I had “Hunger Games” on my Nook to keep me company.  I have now gotten a few chapters in and am hooked.

After the test, though, I started feeling weird.  I couldn’t wait to have my breakfast, since I had to fast for 10 hours before the test and didn’t get to have my breakfast before I went.  I ate a protein-heavy breakfast (scrambled eggs and a greek yogurt with cereal on top) to try to counteract all the sugar, but I felt off for the rest of the day.  I also was totally craving sugar and sweets for the rest of the day.  Something about having that drink first thing in the morning triggered the sugar monster – not good.

I don’t have the results of the test yet.  I am assuming that they will send them to my doctor and she will go over them with me at my next appointment which is a little less than 2 weeks from now – unless something is off in which case I am assuming I would receive a phone call in the next few days? 

But if the reading is too high, that doesn’t necessarily mean that one has gestational diabetes.  In fact, the article I read on Babycenter said that the readings come back as too high 15-23 percent of the time.  If that happens, apparently I will have to go back for a 3 hour test to see if I do have gestational diabetes.  I’m really hoping I don’t have to do that…

One thing I was surprised about was how little Baby P was moving around after I drank the sugar water.  I expected him to go nutso, as I have read that other babies get really active after all of that sugar.  But Baby P was no more active – perhaps even less so? – than normal.  Hopefully that doesn’t mean he already has a really high sugar tolerance?  Or maybe he was just in a sugar coma…

The craigslist fairy has come again.

This time, she brought us a 3-phase Exersaucer for Baby P:

And a Bumbo!

Both barely used, and after a good disinfecting clean – good as new!

S is really enjoying himself with the Exersaucer.  Each of the little jungle toys makes a different sound and/or lights up.  It plays songs, makes animal noises – the works.  S has taught himself how to say “Cat” and “Ape”, he can sing along about the colors red, yellow and blue, and he does a jungle dance across the new hardwood floors to what I call the “jungle song”.  Boys and their baby’s toys! 

I’m afraid next I will come downstairs and find him sitting in the Bumbo.

Dinner this evening was quick, easy and tasty.  At Safeway yesterday, I found salmon on sale for 50% off and scooped it up.  I haven’t made fresh salmon in FOREVER – it has been just frozen fish for this girl.  I drizzled it with olive oil and sprinkled garlic salt and chili powder on top.  Into the oven at 350 degrees:

And out it came.  Served on top of mushrooms, cheese and cauliflower – and served with hummus on the side.

I have got to get fresh fish more often.  It is so much more delicious than frozen!  The problem is that S doesn’t like it.  But heaven knows that I eat enough of it for the two of us, so buying a large portion isn’t a problem! 

For dessert, there is a big bowl of Birthday Cake oreo ice cream calling my name from the freezer.

Tomorrow is the dreaded glucose test.  Wish me luck!

The past week has been bizarre.

Being pregnant has made me feel free.  Free to do what I want, to listen to my body and choose my actions accordingly.  I know that sounds like something I should have been doing before the pregnancy, but it didn’t always happen that way.

Sometimes I felt too tired or sore to exercise.  But I did it anyways.  Sometimes for the right reasons – because sometimes you have to push yourself even when you don’t feel like it.  But sometimes it was for the wrong reasons.  Sometimes I was afraid of what people would think or say, or I felt like my junk food intake had been particularly high that week so I really should work out.

But now, it’s not just me anymore.  Now Baby P comes first.  When I am too tired to work out, I know I have to listen to my body because it is telling me how to take care of myself and my baby.  When I ache and hurt, I know it is my body’s way of telling me to rest.  When I’m hungry, I know it’s important that I eat to sustain myself and my growing boy.  And I feel so free to just be able to do what I feel like doing.

As much as I shouldn’t care about what other people think, I still do.  And since I have been pregnant, people are kind and understanding.  When I don’t work out, they encourage me to rest.  When I eat a big piece of cake, they exclaim that I should have another piece because I’m eating for two.  They encourage me to take a day off of work when I don’t feel good, and to relax and just take it easy.  And that, my friends, is nice.

This feeling of freedom has shown me two things:

1. I care too much about what other people think and say (about me)
2. I am too hard on myself

I pretty much knew both of these things before the pregnancy, but this has certainly solidified it.  I am learning life lessons that I know will stay with me long after Baby P comes into this world.

There is another side to this, though.  Along with my freedom, I feel trapped.  Particularly now that I have sprained my back.  Did I mention that I went to see a chiropractor last Friday? It was the first time I have ever seen one, and I do think that she helped.  She said that I had an acute sprain, and that I should just continue what I am doing (icing and resting).  So I am very limited in what I can do.  It hurts to walk, but it hurts me to sit or lay for too long.  Running and gym are, of course, out of the question.  Even going into the office for work, or going to the store to go grocery shopping, is a huge effort that makes my back hurt even more and requires significant rest afterward.  So I feel trapped in my house.

On Sunday mornings, I wake up happy – happy because I get to sleep in, because I wake up when I want to and see the sun shining through my window.  It is the only day of the week that I have that option (since I have German class early on Saturday mornings).  But a few minutes after I wake up happy, I feel sad. I feel sad because I know that I’m not out running my weekly long run.  I know that the SFMTP program is out there running without me.  Up until last weekend, I could go there and somewhat participate – with a walk or a walk/run if I was feeling good.  But now that my back is hurt, I can’t even go.  Now I feel like my freedom is taken away. I am trapped.

I’m sure this feeling of being trapped will subside significantly once my back has healed.  Once I’m able to be out, walking around.

I love being pregnant, I do.  But in some ways I am looking forward to July as well.  Not only will I have my precious Baby P in my arms, rather than in my belly, but I will be able to run, eat sushi, drink caffeinated coffee.  So now I live in the moment. I enjoy every day as it comes.  I enjoy the things I get to experience now that I have never experienced before.

Like these two new flavors of ice cream.

My two favorite types of oreos – Golden oreos, and birthday cake oreos!!  In an ice cream!

After eating a ton out of both containers, I made myself a reasonably sized bowl of the golden oreo.

Totally reasonable.

This week I have to go for my gestational diabetes test, which I’m not looking forward to.  I’m glad I ate all of this ice cream to prepare.

G’night, ya’ll.

I am now well into month number 6 of the pregnancy. The whole time tracking aspect of pregnancy is pretty weird, which I didn’t realize before I got pregnant. Everybody always says a pregnancy is 9 months, but it is actually 40 weeks long, which is closer to 10 months.

And I am pregnant.  I have strangers asking me when I am due now, and coworkers joke that they can’t believe I still have all the way to July to go.

I was actually able to hobble into the office on Wednesday and today, and slowly made my way from my desk to the bathroom a gazillion times.  So I am walking… but slowly.  My coworkers laugh and seem to think I’m just slow because I’m pregnant.  I try to tell them that I hurt my back, but they just say things like, “yeah, I’m sure your back hurts!  All that extra weight in your belly…”  Ah well.

The good thing is, I have my first ever appointment with a chiropractor tomorrow.  A running friend of mine recommended the the chiropractor that she went to throughout her entire pregnancy with twins, and who really helped her with back issues.  So we shall see!

According to Babycenter, this week Baby P is 13 1/2 inches long and weighs a pound and a half.  He is also growing more hair, and by now if we were able to see it we would be able to discern what color it is!  S had light blonde hair when he was young, and I have been a brunette from day one.  So which one will Baby P get?

My 25-week check in:

• Total weight gain: 18-19 pounds
• Stretch marks? None yet.
• Sleep: Laying down is one of the few positions that feels good right now, although my back gets very stiff after a night’s sleep.  In the morning it is sooo hard and painful to get myself out of bed.
• Workouts:
• Saturday – Rest
• Sunday– Rest
• Monday – 30 min on stationary bike
• Tuesday– 30 min on stationary bike
• Wednesday – Rest
• Thursday – Rest
• Food cravings: Not really anything in particular, my eats have been pretty usual.
• Aversions: None.
• Symptoms: This week I got major stomach pain in the middle of the night one night that really scared me.  It lasted for a few hours, and I even woke S up because I didn’t know what to do and was in so much pain that I couldn’t fall asleep.  Not sure what it was, but it did eventually go away…
• Best moment this week: Not to be a Debbie Downer, but… this week sucked!  I am hoping next week is better.
• Belly Button in or out? Pancake flat.
• Wedding rings on or off? On.

My eats have been pretty boring.  Since I can’t move that much, I am trying to decrease my food intake a little bit – and I am actually not as hungry.

Three times this week, lunch has been a chicken salad sandwich.  Not so much because I was craving it, but more because I was too lazy and in too much pain to make anything that required too much effort.

I used my favorite Costco rotisserie chicken, combined with mayo, mustard, celery, chili pepper, salt and pepper.

Simple, but hit the spot.

Off to read and go to bed.  I am reading John Grisham’s new book, “The Litigators”.

I think I have read every John Grisham book.  Love them!

I have a pretty high threshold, but right now I feel like a total baby.  Pretty much any standing hurts – any movement that is not sitting or lying down.

I am working from home, as the thought of having to get into the office, sit in my office chair all day long, and walk to and from meetings makes me want to cry.

Something that lifted my spirits today:

My new Coach diaper bag that I ordered!  Yes, I work hard to find good deals and penny pinch when I can…. so that I can splurge on things that I really want like this diaper bag.

Aaaaand…. this wallet.

Because clearly, diaper bag was for baby.  Wallet is for mommy.

Pretty much the only time I stood up the past two days was to bake chocolate chip muffins.

Which also made me feel better.

The muffins, not the standing up to bake them part.

My favorite part is the brown sugar crispies on top.

And… since I have nothing better to do than lie down and and surf the web, I share with you these amazing finds I stumbled upon in my couch-ridden boredom

Cadbury Crème deviled eggs?  Yes, please!

I hope a Sprinkles Cupcake ATM comes to my town next!

My favorite store-bought cookies… homemade and in bar form!

Cadbury Crème eggs benedict, funfetti pancakes, and leftover cake french toast… all in one post!

I have been bitten by the “look for baby-stuff on Craigslist” bug.  In fact, I seem to have been bitten by the even more general “look for stuff on Craigslist” bug.  I have done some serious damage in the past two weeks (including a new Pottery Barn bed and bedroom set).  My latest Craigslist purchase?  A stroller for Baby P.

As far as strollers go, S and I had a plan to get 3.

1. An umbrella stroller for quick, easy, short trips (already got this on Freecycle)
2. An every-day stroller for regular walks, trips to the store, etc.
3. A jogging stroller

We had originally picked out this Graco stroller for #2 and put it on our registry.  However, after thinking about it some more we decided we would rather have one that came with an infant car seat option.  The benefits of this are:

• We will have the infant car seat as a secondary one for our other car.  We have one on our registry (this Britax one) as our primary car seat and this one would just be secondary, in the other car.
• We really wanted it moreso for the stroller because now we can have the baby facing us when it is young in the stroller, and then when it gets older we can use it without the car seat holder like a normal stroller for the baby to face forward.

So I found this one on Craigslist!

The stroller is used but seems like it still has a lot of life in it.  It is very sturdy and folds up easily with just one hand (although it is still quite big, even folded up!)  And we will have a good little infant seat and infant stroller to use while Baby P is just a little thing.

Speaking of little things…   When I was younger, my dad used to call me “Shrimp”.  Even when I got older, and I wasn’t really small anymore… I still got to be called “Shrimp”.  Maybe I will call Baby P “Shrimp”?  Who knows, maybe not.  It might be different for boys, they might not like to be nicknamed after something small.

Anywho, I picked up these from the store last week because they were on sale and looked intriguing.

Veggie Shrimp!  Put together in a bowl of… more veggies, hummus, shirataki noodles and cheese.

Overall, they were pretty good.  They tasted a little bit like that surimi (artificial crab meat) that is sometimes used to make crab salad or california rolls.  A little more dense and sweet than real shrimp.

The final verdict?  I would only buy these again if they were on sale.  I love real shrimp, and these are quite expensive at their regular price (I believe 3.99 or so for 2 small servings).  I’d rather invest in the real thing

I have also been snacking on another little thing:

Sorghum grain mini-pops that I picked up at Cost Plus World Market.  I got some butter flavor, and some white cheddar flavor.

These taste just like popcorn… only smaller.  So small, in fact, that I kinda thought they were annoying to eat.  When I eat popcorn, I can grab a few pieces at a time and shove them into my mouth.  But in order to get a good mouthful of these it’s tricky to round up a million of the small litter buggers.

I ended up dumping out handfuls at a time into my hand, and then scarfing them…

And then eventually just putting the bag to my mouth and pouring them in a mouthful at a time.  Oh well.

The verdict?  I probably won’t buy these again.  They were 99 cents for each single-serving bag, and I feel more satisfied after eating a less expensive bag of popcorn.  I also thought they didn’t have enough flavor – I could barely taste the cheesiness on the white cheddar.  And this girl needs her cheeeeeeeeeeeese.

What should I look for next on Craigslist??  Feed the addiction…