Schedule Throw Offs...and a long story..bear with me!

What am I to do when I actually get a job!? I am going to have to be completely organized and scheduled or I will just fall apart. So I had my week pretty planned out since this week was my week of waiting to see if I got the job and pretty much just chilling and getting things caught up and done and most importantly, making time for my little girl. Well, unfortunately that planned scheduled week just got completely thrown off.

First, today I indulged in some peaches. We had two peaches left that were sadly prejudged by my picky husband. I was going to give him one for lunch but he felt they were too soft (they barely gave to pressure) and so denied the large succulent and aromatic fruit. However, as I split into it I discovered that he denied the most perfectly riped peach. It was soft but with a crisp crunch which made the most perfect slices that held without getting mushy. It was perfectly juicy and the flavor was tart and tangy, yet sweet, leaving it full of flavor, unlike those that are overripe. I was so happy to be able to indulge in such a beauty and rub it in Tim’s face for judging, denying and missing out on something he would have extremely enjoyed..OH WELL. Well, as a kid I loooooveeed the microwavable peach oatmeal packets..actually I loved them all..but thinking of those yummy before school morning breakfasts, I decided to make some creamy peach oatmeal. I stirred in cream cheese to make it creamy as well as my diced peaches, some flax, cinnamon, vanilla, ginger and a bit of chopped walnuts. It was once again another blast from the past revisited in happiness! Amerie had peach oatmeal, yet another plum, peach slices and some cottage cheese…

Because I get up so early, I always end up making two breakfasts. Well I kept eyeing Amerie’s oatmeal and peach slices (It was my snack time anyways!) and I wanted to try my homemade cottage cheese with some fruit so what better than with a juicy peach. I whipped this crazy concoction (The cottage cheese) the other day, knowing I’ll never be able to match the real thing! It came out okay, but it was my first time, so as I continue to make it I will definitely be experimenting on how to make it taste , look and even feel like real cottage cheese, or so I’ll try. So I had cut up the other peach which was slightly overripe and therefore, not as tasty as the last, but I served it with a couple tablespoons of cottage cheese and it came out pretty decent. Then things got crazy!

This mid-morning after fighting with a very moody and whiney toddler, I finally got a phone call from the job up north. I was waiting for a simple yes or no, but instead I got “Can you come in tomorrow for a second interview around 1 or 2?” What! Tomorrow…yes!!! I am so excited because I have been offered a second interview which brings me a step closer to the job..but NO!!! Tomorrow, already? That’s ok I can manage and rearrange my “schedule”..but ARRR…we have another problem! NO OUTFIT!
Before I became vegan, I of course, had Amerie and nursed her for about 13-14 months. Well around last October, maybe, I had gone back to my pre-baby weight, but I began gradually losing more weight. During the time I began weaning and eventually stopped nursing, I became vegan, I began working out, and unfortunately, lost even more weight bringing me somewhat under 100 lbs. Everyone blames the veganism, but trust me you can be vegan and still enjoy hearty or fatty or even junk foods if you really want to; therefore, you can still be a curvy vegan. I mean, I found out Nutter Butters were vegan yesterday, and my husband and daughter just grabbed a snack bag size of mini ones, Who do you think has been in the bag eating sneaking in a bite of the half broken full cookie pieces or partnerless cookie halves..hello it’s peanut butter!! And I’m not sick. To me I feel healthy!

But as a result though, I have no clothes..seriously..all I have is about 5 shirts, 3 tank tops, 2 shorts, and a dress. I have a really hard time finding clothes that fit and plus, I’ve been waiting for a job so I can have money go shopping. Therefore, after the call, I immediately got stressed because I couldn’t wear the same thing again! It would make me look so sad and pathetic, but at the same time, as my mom joked, it would really show them how bad I need the job and maybe they’ll give it to me..very funny, but I have too much pride left in me to go that far! I just couldn’t do it! So I panicked, got Amerie and I dressed, whipped up a horribly sad lunch for Amerie with a biscuit, a piece of puto (which is Filipino sweet sticky rice cake), some cashews, sliced apples and a yogurt. As for me I had a Cinnamon Sugar Grilled Cream Cheese with sliced green apples and a bowl of applesauce with some cinnamon and flax. That grilled cheese was the bomb! But we devoured and went on our way to go shopping!!!

We went to our local mall, searched for almost 2 hours..nothing fit! Half the stores didn’t carry my size or a small enough size…I was frustrated!! I soon gave up when Amerie began throwing screaming and crying fits left and right. She was extremely tired and I couldn’t blame her. She did so well sitting in her stroller, eating snacks, playing with my phone, being patient and being overall very well behaved. So Tim mentioned going south to another mall to try which nixed the dinner plans!

We headed on south where we immediately dived into the food court for food. Amerie had been asking for pizza all day so I grabbed her a kids pizza meal consisting of a huge slice of grease laden pizza, a sugary drink and animal crackers which were actually healthy! I dabbed the oil off as much as could, sliced it into pieces, hid the drink and let her have away at it, with a fork of course (she can’t eat without utensils!). She was in heaven. Meanwhile, Tim grabbed his bourbon chicken and rice with a large sugar water with tea and I went to Great Steak and Potatoes where I had a better be vegan grilled veggie sub. Usually it called ofr mayo and two cheeses, well I asked him for my sub without it and to only use light oil when “grilling” my veggies. His response, “That’s the bulk of the meal!” I know but I’m vegan and then I see light margarine as I ask for little oil so I question him on any use of butter or margarine and he replies saying he just used that as reference….yeah he better be! Some people can beat around the bush and be sneaky just to get your business. Fortunately, I found no buttery flavor and my sub was very, very hot and savory. Who could go wrong with grilled veggies in a sandwich!

It was getting late so we headed on the road to search for a pair of pants and after about two stores we finally found a pair of dress pants at Dillards; Size 0 and perfect fitting around my waist. A little loose around my legs but so what..they fit!!! What a relief; we could finally relax and breath. Before we left, we took our time and gave Amerie a little freedom to walk around and play in the kids area and even gave her a treat of riding on the expensive 1$ horse carousel. She deserved it for being so good and so well behaved. I couldn’t have been any more proud of my little toddler.

Overall, another stressful day. I guess that’s what you get being in the life of a mother, wife, house keeper and vegan!

Grocery Shopping yeah!!

We finally went grocery shopping! Unfortunately it was mostly for Amerie and Tim…but hey at least they have food..now as long as they don’t eat it all within a week!!! When there’s no food they complain but they survive..when there is food, they eat all of it too quickly so within a week they are once again complaining! Crazy kids I have..you would think that I had two teenage boys or something with the way they throw down!

So I woke up early this morning slightly hungry…hanging on by a food thread and decided that I wanted old-fashioned restaurant style oatmeal. As a kid (and teen =-)) I always loved going to a breakfast diner and ordering oatmeal or cereal. Sad, I know, (trust me they all thought I was crazy) considering I could make oatmeal or cereal easily and probably more affordable at home, but I liked the fact that it came ready to be assembled by the hungry, crafty me..I mean what kid doesn’t like to assemble his/hers meal! So I decided I would make my oatmeal that way..I cooked my oats in a little less than recommended water, served it in a bowl with a small dollop of buttery spread and assembled it with three mini-bowls filled with almonds and flax, cinnamon brown sugar and cold soy milk lining the bowl and on the side, some cantaloupe sprinkled with flax and almonds. I had a blast stirring my oatmeal, pouring in some milk, and topping it with my sugar and nuts! I also actually used less milk and sugar then what I would have used if I cooked and prepared it all together. That made preparing it “restaurant style”, so worth it!!!! As for Tim and Amerie, they had their “becoming a Saturday Tradition” bowl of cream of wheat and some fruit! Yum-Yum!!

So I decided after breakfast I would do a quick ab workout; double crunches, side “crunches”, bridges, etc. Well that was a bad idea because for the rest of the day I had the worse stomach cramps and pains! Silly me. But before we left to go shopping we went ahead and had lunch and I got in a request for Garlic-Ginger Broccoli and some spaghetti noodles, so while I prepared and cooked Amerie and Tim’s meal, I decided to have a simple grilled hummus sandwich and some Garlic-Ginger Broccoli topped with cashews, but then I thought about my one apple slice snack from yesterday and decided to add apple slices into my sandwich. Very, very good!
I loved the creamy hummus combined with the juicy crunch of the apple. The combination was just as good as yesterday…mmmmm..mmm

As for our grocery shopping..I was pleased to find that Tim and Amerie finally filled their area in the food pantry, fridge and freezer back up..as for me I was very very disappointed..I usually buy Giant brand Natural Smooth Peanut Butter but decided to go for Smucker’s Natural this time since I had a coupon (Gotta save money!!) and I wanted to see if there was any difference in taste, texture and oil content. But as I went to grab two jars I found that Wal-Mart had ran out!!!! I was sooo upset!!! So tomorrow I’m going to Food Lion to go get my PB….I have to feed my addiction!!! We had so much fun though. We explored the food aisles, finding old favorite and discovering new things to try… a good family trip in all. Afterwards we were starving so we stopped by Chipotle on the way home and had a enjoyable, relaxing and delicious dinner outside in the warm and breezy afternoon weather before we had to go home and unpack.


Chipotle is one of our favorite “fast food” restaurants to go to. The meals are pretty reasonably priced and very filling and satisfying; and they support local family farms buying all natural food and naturally, hormone free, organic meats so even though I’m vegan, I love the fact they support our locals and that my husband and daughter’s meal is actually healthy for them in so many different ways! For more info, definitely check out the site at www.chipotle.com. Anyways. As for my meal: I love to get a Burrito Bol which is a Burrito in a Bol instead of in a tortilla. It’s layered with Cilantro-Lime Rice, Grilled Veggies, black beans, corn or tomato salsa, creamy guacamole and lettuce..the best vegan meal ever!!!!! Seriously! Tim adores the place and Amerie loves eating rice, meat, guacamole and cheese and, most of all, the freshly made warm, salt and lime flavored, Tostitos chips. If you have never been you need to go, because as a Vegan it’s the most satisfying, delectable Mexican meal you could ever dream of!!!

Super full and now, feeling tired and reluctant to go home and unpack..we headed out and finished our day unpacking, slicing and washing meats and other foods that needed to be stored in separate packaging, rearranging and kind of cleaning the fridge, freezer and pantry with Amerie and Kaya running around talking and screaming, keeping themselves entertained while we finished up. Then the Redskin’s (YEAH REDSKIN’S) VS the Jets came on just in time, so we ended the day with a well deserved Ice-Cold Bud Light to relax…..auhhh!