LaurenTom's Xanga

Monday, June 18, 2007

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 16:19:09 GMT

I’m Officially an Addict

A Trader Joe’s addict that is. I shop there weekly now and buy most of my groceries exclusively from there. With that said, I though I’d devote a little Xanga space to reviewing some of my weekly purchases so that I can turn all of you into addicts as well. Well not just for that reason…but because they’re doing some great things at Trader Joe’s.

If you haven’t been there, you must go! They have exceptional quality food at affordable prices. You can eat like a gourmet and not break the bank. Who said you have to sacrifice taste and good food that’s actually good for you just to save a few bucks? Also, many of the items are organic and most don’t have any unpronounceable ingredients that you need advanced degrees to decipher.

Onward!

Currently eating Smoked Turkey Sandwich on Tuscan Pane Bread with Yellow & Orange Tomatoes, lettuce from my humble little garden and mayo.

Trader Joes Smoked Turkey: $3.29 for 7 oz.
Fat Free, No antibiotics, no hormones, vegetarian fed, no nitrates, nitrites or MSG..
OK so it’s a little pricier than average priced sale deli meat at approximately $6.50 a pound. But I think it’s totally worth it not to have the nitrates/nitrites. Plus it tastes pretty darn good too!
The con: use it within 3 days…that’s the downside of not having some of those icky preservatives.

Tuscan Pane Bread: $1.99 for 1lb 11oz
A stone hearth oven baked classic Italian bread
This is the stuff great paninis are made of. It comes is a sort of oblong loaf in ½ inch thick slices. It’s got meat…no air filled fluff here. Nice and appropriately dense with a fresh slightly sour-dough-ey flavor. I like it with my pasta, with any sandwich or grilled for a panini.

Colored Tomatoes: $1.69 for a 4 pack, 2 yellow and 2 orange
I thought I’d be a little adventurous and opt for some non-traditional tomatoes. My incentive, they were the lowest priced tomatoes there. $1.69 a pound..come on people..now that’s a bargain! And the taste…totally garden fresh! These tomatoes are beautiful, not a blemish and with brilliant color! They’ll liven up any tomato dish. I plan to use the rest of them for tonight’s panini (fresh mozz with baby spinach, roasted red pepper, basil from the garden..delish!)

Wrong...so wrong.

Sun, 03 Sep 2006 01:01:47 GMT

One things I've learned from being a parent is that there are definitely some nutty parents out there. Me included. But I would like to think I'm not crazy enough to do this to my child.

Here are some costumes I've come across.

Someone is going to eat this kid!

This is supposed to be Chewbacca.

Corn? What is cute and cuddly about corn?

Is that poop on her head?

I like hot dogs...but not this much.

Look at this poor child.

This is wrong on SO many levels.

Friday, March 31, 2006

Fri, 31 Mar 2006 16:09:25 GMT

Since I've been home I've been catching up on some daytime TV. I've come to enjoy "Ellen" (the Ellen Degeneres Show) and also Martha. I used to really rag on Martha, but she redeemed herself with a pretty decent show and some great guests. But today...I was just left shaking my head.

Here are a few topics addressed (no joke):

Vaccuuming your Moss: Here's a "Good Thing" for keeping your moss looking great.
She basically used a dust-buster to vaccuum her moss.

Arranging Your Garbage so that it is Pleasing to the Eye
The promo showed a metal trash can tied with a big yellow ribbon and two neatly folded paper bags full of trash and what looked like two bags of trash wrapped in tissue paper.

Today's Cooking School Lesson: Charring
"The goal is "inedibility". This is what you want to serve to the friends that you DON'T want to entertain." She burnt steaks and even angel food cake to a crisp. (She used a blow torch on the angel food cake.) Martha was dead serious and said this all with a straight face.

OK....note...just talked to mom..aparently it was her april fools day episode. I guess I got fooled.

Friday, March 31, 2006

Fri, 31 Mar 2006 16:08:40 GMT

Since I've been home I've been catching up on some daytime TV. I've come to enjoy "Ellen" (the Ellen Degeneres Show) and also Martha. I used to really rag on Martha, but she redeemed herself with a pretty decent show and some great guests. But today...I was just left shaking my head.

Here are a few topics addressed (no joke):

Vaccuuming your Moss: Here's a "Good Thing" for keeping your moss looking great.
She basically used a dust-buster to vaccuum her moss.

Arranging Your Garbage so that it is Pleasing to the Eye
The promo showed a metal trash can tied with a big yellow ribbon and two neatly folded paper bags full or trash and what looked like two bags of trash wrapped in tissue paper.

Today's Cooking School Lesson: Charring
"The goal is "inedibility". This is what you want to serve to the friends that you DON'T want to entertain." She burnt steaks and even angel food cake to a crisp. (She used a blow torch on the angel food cake.) Martha was dead serious and said this all with a straight face.

Friday, March 31, 2006

Fri, 31 Mar 2006 16:08:14 GMT

Since I've been home I've been catching up on some daytime TV. I've come to enjoy "Ellen" (the Ellen Degeneres Show) and also Martha. I used to really rag on Martha, but she' redeemed herself with a pretty decent show and some great guests. But today...I was just left shaking my head.

Here are a few topics addressed (no joke):

Vaccuuming your Moss: Here's a "Good Thing" for keeping your moss looking great.
She basically used a dust-buster to vaccuum her moss.

Arranging Your Garbage so that it is Pleasing to the Eye
The promo showed a metal trash can tied with a big yellow ribbon and two neatly folded paper bags full or trash and what looked like two bags of trash wrapped in tissue paper.

Today's Cooking School Lesson: Charring
"The goal is "inedibility". This is what you want to serve to the friends that you DON'T want to entertain." She burnt steaks and even angel food cake to a crisp. (She used a blow torch on the angel food cake.) Martha was dead serious and said this all with a straight face.

Friday, March 31, 2006

Fri, 31 Mar 2006 16:07:36 GMT

What is she thinking?

Since I've been home I've been catching up on some daytime TV. I've come to enjoy "Ellen" (the Ellen Degeneres Show) and also Martha. I used to really rag on Martha, but she' redeemed herself with a pretty decent show and some great guests. But today...I was just left shaking my head.

Here are a few topics addressed (no joke):

Vaccuuming your Moss: Here's a "Good Thing" for keeping your moss looking great.
She basically used a dust-buster to vaccuum her moss.

Arranging Your Garbage so that it is Pleasing to the Eye
The promo showed a metal trash can tied with a big yellow ribbon and two neatly folded paper bags full or trash and what looked like two bags of trash wrapped in tissue paper.

Today's Cooking School Lesson: Charring
"The goal is "inedibility". This is what you want to serve to the friends that you DON'T want to entertain." She burnt steaks and even angel food cake to a crisp. (She used a blow torch on the angel food cake.) Martha was dead serious and said this all with a straight face.

Monday, March 20, 2006

Mon, 20 Mar 2006 20:25:04 GMT

Adventures in Mommyhood

You know, I’m really enjoying this stay-at-home mommy business. Aside from the hard work, there are excellent benefits and perks. I get to enjoy the nice weather on sunny days, dress code is pretty lax, Jayden smiles a lot, and sometimes I get to take naps with him (although we’re working on phasing that out).

But being the uber-competitive woman that I am, I’ve been playing a little game with Jayden for the past couple months. Some days I keep score on how many changes of clothes we go through (for various reasons…peeing, pooping, getting spit up on..etc.). Lowest number of changes wins.

Here’s today’s tally as of 4:14 PM:

Jayden 4
Mommy 0

Winner: MOMMY!

Reasons for his changes:
1. Getting out of PJ’s
2. Pooped up the back of his diaper. YUCK.
3. Peed himself after nap.
4. Peed himself after nap..AGAIN.

Of course I’m really the loser for two reasons:
1. I’m stuck changing him four times today.
2. My score is zero…which means that I haven’t even changed out of the shirt I wore to sleep! What a scrub.

Excerpt from a Late Night Conversation

5:00AM

Me: Honey I’m going to go check on Jayden. He’s still crying. Maybe he pooped.

Him: (Patting my rear end) It feels ok. I just changed him.

(I was very puzzled..but got up to change the baby.)

5:10AM

Me: Honey, did you just check my butt for poop?

Him: Sorry, I thought you were the baby. I’m delirious.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Thu, 23 Feb 2006 13:29:51 GMT

Continuing the SOS

Well I made it through a very stressful day yesterday. Having 10 guys come in and cart off everything you own in a matter of hours was very crazy. What was crazier was coming to terms with the amount of "stuff" that two people can accumulate. It's definitely very convicting to feel the tug that material possessions has on our lives. My back is still feeling it!

I'm also beginnign to feel the strain of this temporary living situation. Being a woman with a baby...the nesting instinct is strong and not being able to settle is ..well..unsettling.

We are out of our old place and into out temporary apartment in the same complex. BIG THANK YOU to everyone who helped out with the munchkin or packing or moving or cleaning. We really feel the love of the community. No joke. I feel so loved.

Now we're left to clean up the old place and make sense out of everything that was dropped into out new place.

If anyone is free today...I could still use a few helping hands to hold the little guy while I unpack. I promise..he's an easy baby. Really nice to aunties and uncles. Again no diaper changes required. Laurence will also be busy cleaning up the old place tonight if anyone wants to help him out.

Give me a call if you're free or drop an email.

Thanks again for the luv.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Thu, 16 Feb 2006 12:07:49 GMT

Desperate plea for help.

We're moving soon. Details to come..but things in our apartment are about to become a little inhospitable to raising a youngster so we're headed out. Where? Not sure yet. But we definitely need to clean out our basement by Tuesday.

Which means we'll be throwing out lots of stuff...some of which might just be useful to you. But the catch is that you gotta take it soon. We start throwing out stuff this weekend.

Here's a preliminary list:
small white wood dresser
brown wood dresser
assorted chairs
popcorn popper (new)
pizelle maker
small steamer (electric)
assorted pots/pans
assorted mugs
assorted plates

In the mean time...any friends wanna come over and help with the cute little guy. Only holding and playing with required..diapers are a plus..but I can handle that. Just need some extra hands while I get some work done.

Anyone free today?

Gimme a call or drop me an email. legosgurl@yahoo.com

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Tue, 07 Feb 2006 21:24:21 GMT

What's wrong with this picture...

This past week I came across what seemed like an incredible deal. You buy 4 12 packs of pepsi products and 3 big bags of lays potato chips and get $5 bucks off from Stop and Shop. Then you send in the UPC's and rebate form and get $10 bucks back from Pepsi...and voila!...everything evens out and I get the items for free. Makes sense except that what do I need with 48 cans of soda and 35 oz of potato chips? Sugar and fat will definitely not assist with post-pregnancy weight loss. But the whole mess of it all was FREE..so how could I resist. Plus (enter justification) I figured I could use it all when people came over.

Fast forward a few days and I have finished one bag of chips and a few cans of soda. I have left the empty bag on the counter and told my very helpful mother not to throw it out because I need the UPC symbol. But what do very helpful (and semi-forgetful) moms do...they clean up! So alas, my bag is in the dumpster..and I can't get the rebate without it.

So I'm left with a new dilemma...I need to buy another bag of chips...approximately $3 bucks ..just to get my $10 dollar rebate. But I kinda need to do it because I would be out $7 if i don't. And back to the original issue...what do I do with another whole bag of chips! ARRRRGGHHH!

Just wanted to share that . :)

Anyone wanna come over and eat chips and drink soda to help me justify my recent expenditures. :)