Blabberings of a hypothetical hurricane

I decided that maybe I would just write out all the stuff going on in my head about the impending possible Hurricane Isaac instead of blasting every thought on Facebook. I have a lot to say about it anyway. Well, I think I do. I bet now that I decided to write it all out here, I won't come up with enough to talk about. But, in the mean time, here we go.

Last year in September we lived through our first tropical storm. All the hype building up to it and the possibility of it turning into a hurricane of course had this Midwest girl completely freaked. Probably the way people down here freak out about tornadoes, which of course are nothing to sneeze at, but I've lived with the tornado watches and warnings my entire life before Disco joined the Army. Back to the tropical storm. For goodness sakes, it was just rain. A little wind and a lot of rain. No lightening really. I ran to and from the store both days to get typical storm fare of frozen burritos and rocky road. We even hung out in the back yard for a bit, in the rain, hunting an annoying frog that just wouldn't shut up.

Here comes the threat of a hurricane watch for the panhandle. Cat 1. If people were freaking over that measly tropical storm last year, then all this panic for a cat 1 hurricane has to be unwarranted, right? I've been sitting at home doing stuff like painting my nails. I figure we have a generator hard wired to the house, so I don't really NEED to buy canned food because I can still cook and I will still have a fridge. What we are worrying about is flooding. We have gotten so much rain this summer, it's ridiculous. The mower was stalling on Disco when he was cutting the grass because the ground is so saturated. And you can't wait for it to dry out to cut it because it will rain two hours later. So, if the ground is already holding too much water, where is all this expected rain supposed to go? Probably in my house. I spent all day yesterday putting all my documents in water proof sleeves, and all my loose photos in waterproof tubs. I will probably spend Tuesday unplugging electronics, rolling up the rugs and placing everything we own on top of beds, dressers, and counter tops. Maybe it's unneeded, but that is how I plan on coping with my anxiety about the storm.

Today I decided I probably needed to put some food in the house, grab extra water, and extra baby wipes in case water becomes an issue I can bathe myself with the Boom's poo cleaners. On my way to the store I drove the long way through the neighborhood. People already have their windows boarded up. Okay, so maybe this hypothetical hurricane, that may or may not actually affect Pensacola, needs to be taken more seriously on my part? Off to the store I went. I tried to avoid "the Mart" at all costs. Down here our Target isn't a market, but they carry a large food section including frozen and refrigerated foods. I hardly ever see anyone grocery shopping there, so I figured that would be my best bet to not have to deal with crowds or cleared out shelves. I immediately ran into another mom around my age grabbing water who had just been at "the Mart" and said to not waste my time over there. During our whole conversation I kept seeing people briskly walk past me towards the food section, and I started to panic myself that I wouldn't be able to get what I needed. Sure enough I overreacted. Target had everything we needed. Except frozen burritos. Damn it, I'd have to go to "the Mart". Talk about Apocalypse style shopping. I apologize if you need toilet paper, because you won't be able to wipe your bum for a while. There was none in stock. Five shelves of bleach were empty. They were hauling generic water out of the back stock room like it was the last fresh water on God's green Earth.

People around here are panicking. They are all in mission mode. I'm still on the fence. I'm without anxiety for the moment, but I feel like I should be anxious. I'm supposed to be anxious. So I'm anxious about not being anxious. On the plus side, we are all enjoying the music selection The Weather Channel plays during the local forecast. Death Cab for Cutie seems to be one of their favs.

More random food ramblings

First of all I went to the store and made sure I bought my multigrain tortilla chips to eat with salsa. I came home, put all the groceries away, fed the baby and laid her down for nap, prepared to make salsa and alas I forgot the flippin' tomatoes. Grrr. And then I was kicking myself for not buying any hummus so I could at least dip SOMETHING. So I made myself actually eat a sandwich, not just the lunch meat like I usually do. I started buying Ezekiel bread because it's supposed to be so much better for you than even the 100% whole wheat stuff, but every time I've tried it with previous to today it just tasted healthy. Come on, you know what "healthy" tastes like. Not horrible gag me, but not good either. I couldn't find the sugar free bread that is my usual purchase, so I was stuck with this stuff that I need to eat and get out of my fridge anyway. Apparently you can make some mock french toast and a whole bunch of other stuff out of it, but I just wanted a turkey sandwich! So, I toasted it until it was uber crunchy, threw a little mayo on it so it wasn't completely bland and dry, the turkey, and then I cut up a green pepper to eat on the side. Can I just say best.turkey.sandwich.ever! I'm very excited I didn't give up on the Ezekiel bread and finally found it appetizing :)

Anyway, this is what the product looks like, and you can find it in the freezer section at your grocery store or possibly the organic freezer section. I know our Walmart Supercenter does not carry it, and I have to either buy it at Publix or the commissary. I avoid Winn Dixie like the plague so I am not sure what they carry.

Have a happy Friday and uneventful weekend! Hope this hurricane fizzles out.

Gall Bladder

Surgery is scheduled, they did a bunch of blood work on him today, and he has to go back in next week for additional blood work. I hope in the end it's all a precaution, and that it ends up just being gall stones flat out period. He's going to be home with me until the procedure, and goodness I love that man but he's invading my territory. I stay home with the kids and enjoy having the house to myself. I can't clean and crash around and make noise, I can't blare the stereo and watch trashy TV during nap time, and I'm always afraid he's going to catch me eating the things that both of us know I should not be eating...but I do it anyway.

Other than that I have a serious Sudoku addiction going on right now. I refuse to buy more than a book a week for my Nook, and I hit my quota for this pay period within 4 days. So Sudoku it is. I've mastered the easy level in just over 14 minutes. I can solve the extreme, but I don't have an hour to sit there with one puzzle. The easy ones are good to sit down on a break and do. Yes, I'm a huge dork but I honestly think it's helping my brain function quicker. And since I just started reading again after a summer of nothing, I missed how my vocabulary always picks up when I'm actively reading. I know these words and they are always on the back of my tongue, but I can't spit them out and end up saying, well you know what I mean. Doh.

Enough of my stupidisms for the evening I guess!

I'm not Giada

And I'm 100% sure I'm not Italian, but I am capabale of making a meat sauce for my spaghetti from scratch. Sometimes it's just more convenient to buy jarred sauce. Like when you are leaving the gym at 5:00 pm and have to get home and get dinner cooked and served by 6, but have to stop by the store first because you have nothing to make a complete meal at home. You can turn your nose up in the air, but the kids will eat it and that's all I care about! I've done well in the past couple of years with limiting certain foods from our house completely, only buy whole grain breads and pastas, and try really hard to buy things that don't contain HFC. Now, I'm narrowing that down even further and trying to eliminate partially hydronated crap and anything related to sugar if I can help it. So when I was reading labels in the 5 minutes I had to run in the store, purchase jarred sauce, and head home, I found this brand I hadn't tried. Organic and made with agave nectar instead of sugar, and tastes fabulous to boot. Just thought I'd throw a name drop for anyone with similar food habits.

Organicville Marinara! Threw some cooked ground white turkey in it and over whole wheat pasta. It was a little more expensive (like $2 more a jar) but I guess that's the price you pay for health. What I pay at the store I won't spend in future medical payments hopefully.

I kicked the habit!

That is my horrible Starbucks habit. So much money wasted that should be going to pretty shoes. I had a coupon for the Starbucks Via ready brew. So yes, I kicked one 'Bux habit for another, but this one is cheaper and healthier! It's lightly sweetened instant ice coffee. Not sweet enough for me so I add a packet of Truvia in with it when I'm mixing. I pour half into my reusable 'Bux tumbler, add ice and then a splash of unsweetened vanilla almond milk and viola! Better than the real thing on many accounts.

On another note, Richard and I have both been doing a lot of thinking about our futures in light of some recent events. He's got a strong idea about what path he's going down that we will benefit from military or civilian. But I'm at a stand still. I know I need to go back to school. Addison won't be home forever, and well I like having my own money to spend on needless crap. I like the idea of teaching so I can have my summers off with the kids, but do I really want to be a teacher? I like the idea of being a nurse, because one thing I've learned as my stint as a stay at home mom for the past 6 years is that I don't belong behind a desk, and it would be a good transferable career to follow Richard around the world. And then I also like the idea of getting a degree in nutrition since I've become mildly obsessed with food and fitness. BUT and it's a big but...how do I get this done as a stay at home mom with a husband that has a demanding irregular work schedule??? Online would be the best answer, but finding the perfect online school is like finding a needle in a haystack.