food fight

i've heard somewhere that the top three things couples argue about are money, sex, and work.  what is the main thing that j and i seem to argue about?

FOOD.

some back story.  j has always been a very picky eater.  he hates vegetables.  his sister hates vegetables.  his dad hates vegetables.  and even though his mom likes vegetables, she never made the rest of them eat any.

when i met him, the only things he ate were:
pizza. spaghetti. ham & cheese sandwiches (white bread and american cheese of course). burritos. hamburgers. hotdogs.

i am not kidding - that is ALL he ate.  of course, him and his family are blessed with good genes and they are all crazy tall, a healthy weight, and appear healthy.  so because he looked fine, he didn't think there was anything wrong with his diet.


when we moved in together, a typical night would go like this:  i would make a balanced meal for dinner.  he would take one look, wrinkle his nose, and cook a burger on the grill.  or eat a frozen pizza.  because his schedule was so weird, he was only home 3 nights a week, so it wasn't a huge problem for me, although it was very annoying.

recently, he has been home every night and i have taken on the responsibility of making dinner.  i was pretty lazy for awhile and we had a lot of pizza, which resulted in me gaining 20 pounds.  i realized that i couldn't keep going like that and i needed to start eating healthy again.  then we went on the 17 day diet, and although he hated it, jared was able to eat the vegetables.  he kept commenting about how great he felt and how he wants to incorporate healthy eating into our lives.  i was thrilled!

well, the strict part of the 17 day diet is over and j has completely reverted back to his old eating habits!! sausage and pepperoni pizza with ranch dressing.  spaghetti with plain meat sauce.  he has made a *few* changes - wheat bread, eating more yogurt, cut back on coffee - but the veggies have basically vanished from his diet.

last night we got into a fight because i made lasagna for dinner.  i used ground turkey and whole wheat noodles, which he was ok with.  but then i also chopped up some zucchini,  mushrooms, and red peppers to put into the sauce.  you would have thought i was trying to poison him by the reaction i got. 

he can't understand why i would "ruin a perfectly good dish by adding vegetables", and i can't understand why he wouldn't want the veggies to be "hidden" in the meal, since they add more flavor and texture to the dish. 

i can't get through to him that we need to add as many veggies to things as possible, in order to get more fiber and nutrients.  I would rather have them in my main dishes instead of having to eat 5 bowls of salad a day. 

it seems like if i want to compromise i have to either
a) let him make his own dinner - which he doesn't have time to do because of his school/work schedule and which will result in him having pizza or fast food every night
b) make him something different - which i just refuse to do on principal
c) make what he likes and try to eat more salad

none of these seem like a viable option to me.  is it wrong to think that if you are the one making the meals for the family, then the other person should be happy you're cooking and eat what they're served?  or do i just not understand what it's like to be a picky eater?

i'm so sick of this being a battle every night.  it's making me feel like he's a child, which is NOT good for the marriage. 

how does mealtime work in your house?

homemade sugar scrub

anyone who knows me, knows that i love me some sugar scrub.  now that i've been on a budget, it's been a little out of my price range.  it's usually $20 for a smallish tub that i end up having to ration*.

so in the spirit of being more crafty, and also because i have sugar in my cabinet that i won't be *eating* due to my weight loss attempts, i looked up how to make it myself..

holy crap is it EASY!!!

here's the gist.

50% white sugar, 50% brown sugar.  mix and place in container (i used a glass storage container that normally goes in the fridge).

pour some sort of oil until the sugar is almost saturated (i used olive oil).

add a bit of vanilla extract or any type of essential oil.

mix it up a bit. 

voila.

my skin is SO soft.  for approximately $3.

now i know what to make for my clients next christmas!  if i can find cute packaging, i might try to sell on etsy. 





*and yell at j if he decides to use it!

today was a good day

i haven't had the opportunity to utter those words much over the last year or so.  i feel like there's been this black cloud following me around a bit.  but today, 3 little things happened to give me a little hope and make me realize that it will be sunny again someday.

1) this morning i finally broke my plateau and was down 1/2 pound.  that equals 10.5 lbs since Jan 1.  i was getting discouraged because jared was losing so much more, but 10 pounds in a month is still pretty good.  if i can keep this up, i'll be at my goal weight in 3 months.

2) i found out that i made my sales quota for january - this is the first time since i started with the company that this has happened.  january and february are notoriously slow and i am usually behind until about april.  this will help us tremendously with our finances this month.

3) jared and i started the fertility testing process.  i had my bloodwork taken this week and the doctor just called me and said that everything is normal.  of course, there still could be other issues with me (scarring, etc), but getting one unknown out of the way is a relief.  jared goes in for his tests on sunday, so we're crossing our fingers that he has lots of strong swimmers.

it's always nice to have some of the stress in our lives alleviated. 

brand name fail

i usually avoid going to establishments which imply that their customers are akin to livestock.  the golden corral is one of them.  the second is dressbarn.

next week i have my annual sales meeting in new orleans and i realized that i have no nice business casual clothes to wear.  i work from home, so my usual outfit is jeans and a hoodie or a sweater.  i have 2 pairs of dress pants and a few cardigans that i wear when i visit customers, but i don't have enough cute outfits for a whole week with my coworkers.  i decided to do a little shopping, but i didn't want to invest heavily since i am determined to NOT be this size for much longer.

my first go-to spot was old navy and i did pretty well.  i got some cardigans, a jersey wrap dress,  and a pair of skinny jeans (which i never ever ever thought i would buy, but i need them for my cute new boots*).  i didn't find a good blazer or anything business-y though.   as i was leaving, i noticed that there was a dressbarn next door.  since the weather was bad, there was virtually no one around and i decided that i could quickly check out the store, just to see if it was a bad as i thought it would be.

i ended up spending $136 there.  i got a cute silk tank (pictured on the model) in a colbalt/black paisley-type pattern to wear under a black sweater with black pants.  i got a clearance brown/green patterned gauzy tank ($7!) to wear under this blazer (although mine is a dark tan color, not black).  i got this grey long sleeved tunic with a cute monochrome rosette detail at the collar.   i also got a cowl neck scarf (brown/grey) and 3 pairs of earrings. 

i was happy to shop in the "misses" section and not the "womens" section, although the "womens" section actually had some really cute things that weren't available in the smaller sizes.  that kind of sucked.

anyhow, i was surprised. i'm not sure what i thought i would find in there, but i assumed it would be hideous, all based on the name.  i'm guessing that when it started, their brand manager was like "i have a GREAT idea for a name!  hint:  it's where all the self proclaimed "clothes horses" will want to shop!"  



*so annoyed that these are only $26 now.  I paid around $40, which I thought was a good deal at the time!! i am also pissed because they are now sold out of black ones.  they are very comfy.