Vacation time!

I'm finally getting a week away from home to just relax, although we're only going less than an hour away from home lol.  We will be staying in a resort villa, which means kitchen!  So although I'm on vacation I have no intention of eating out, I will stick to my calories!  I may not be eating quite as healthy...think pb&j, frozen pizza, and skillet dinners, I am after all still on vacation!  But I'm not letting go of my goal to lose or maintain over the next two weeks so I can have my cheesecake on the 30th (yes, I really do like cheesecake that much).  The harder week will be when we get back but have mil, nephew and ex-bil visiting... I know they're going to want to eat out, and mil loves Chinese...I've never been a fan of Chinese, and the salt....oooo I can feel the puffiness now!  Also, today's date is the 14th, that means one month until my surgery...eep!  I have been reading and researching tons about others experiences with abdominoplasty and I think it'll be good that I probably won't have wi-fi on vacation.  Give myself a little mental break too.

5 weeks to go!

Eek!  Only five weeks left until surgery!  It seems so long yet so close.  Next week we will be on a family vacation, the week after my mother-in-law, nephew, and ex-brother-in-law are coming to visit, the next week is my pre-op appointment, the next week all the kids start school, then the next week is my surgery... Holy busy! We also have hair appointments, dentist appointments, school shopping, etc to fit in there somewhere.  Although I'm nervous I'm also feeling pretty good about my choice, I know the recovery is long and hard but I know it'll be worth it.  So far I have my recliner and loose pjs with button down tops to wear after surgery, now I just need to wait for my pre-op appointment to know what else I need.  The folliculitis on my legs is almost gone, which is good because I'm getting hairy!  I can't shave, wax, or go swimming until it goes away...since we're leaving for vacation Sunday it better be gone soon! The healthy eating lessons with the kids are going well, I'm down a total of 6 pounds.  But better than that my oldest has started telling me how good he feels and how he feels great after he exercises with me... After this mornings workout he randomly went and weighed himself (I swear I'm not making this about weight, not asking him to lose weight or anything like that!  I'm just asking him to be healthier) and he cam out so proud of himself, he's down two pounds and he's so happy because he says he's getting healthier and feels nice and light, lol.  I'm just happy that he feels so good about himself.

Busy day, Bumps, etc.

I finally got my new washer and dryer today.  Is it sad that I'm so excited?  Haha I don't really care.  They're so pretty and quiet and they are so much faster than our old dinosaurs, and did I mention quiet?? Aren't they pretty :)

As I've been doing load after load of laundry today trying to catch up I discovered that for some reason my lower legs felt really raw.  Now this morning I had a few red bumps on the area near my ankle where I tested out the sugar wax yesterday. I figured that was just normal irritation but when I looked at them a few hours later the bumps had spread most of the way to the knee and were larger...

Yikes!  I started off with a Benadryl wondering if it was an allergic reaction, but what would it be to?  The sugar wax was just sugar, water, and lemon juice... All things I've never had a problems ingesting. When an hour later there was no improvement I started wondering... Could I have given myself some sort of skin infection/ folliculitis?  It actually reminds me of the rash my youngest had that was folliculitis.  I think I may know exactly what I did wrong.  Sometimes I'm an idiot, and even though my youngest will be 3 next month I still reserve the right to blame it on "mommy brain".  After I tested the sugar wax, which did pull out a few hairs, I was all sticky.  Since I was in the kitchen what did I do?  I grabbed the closest damp thing to wipe off with, the kitchen sink sponge, all nice and bacterial ridden. Like I said, I'm an idiot.  So I coated the area with antibiotic ointment and will continue to do so a few times a day in hopes it goes away... It really, really needs to go away before I go on vacation next week!  I can not go in a pool with infected legs!!  Now I'm wondering if I'll even be able to wax before surgery.  

A little off the subject (my idiot brain also reserves the right to jump from topic to topic like a flea), I have started wondering if my husband is having second thoughts about me getting a tummy tuck.  He's been asking me on a regular basis the past few weeks if this is what I really want.  We've been planning on this since my oldest (9 in August) was a few months old and my doctor said the only way to get rid of the saggy extra skin was to cut it off when I was done having kids.  We specifically put money into Walgreens stock, watched it closely, and sold it at its high point so that we could afford this surgery.  The money is specifically for this, so it's not about the cost (something I'll go over in another post when I know costs of meds and supplies too).  I think he's genuinely worried about me being in pain.  I've been doing lots of reading, which is my way of coping with stress, I over prepare, I am not a fan of not being in control...yes, I'm a control freak.  So, as part of my over preparing I share everything I find out with my husband, and I think it's starting to freak him out.  I guess I'll freak out closer to the surgery, but for right now this blog and my "research" is enough to calm my nerves.  I even made him watch the video of a tummy tuck last night, and he agreed with me that it was pretty cool...although that may not have been the best way to make him feel better hahaha.

Sugar Wax FAIL

Well, as all things recently seem to originate from thoughts on prepping myself for surgery I started thinking again.  I know for a fact I won't be allowed to shower for at least a few days, maybe even a week or more after a shower.  I've given in to the fact that my hair will look awful for a while, super thick naturally curly hair is just not something I can brush and look "ok" or even use dry shampoo on...and my hair is short enough that although I can pull it back its a very stubby tail that would cause headaches being laid upon in my chair *sigh*.  But as a typical mommy of three my showers this week were a bit limited, I haven't shaved my legs all week and I went three days without shaving pits and bikini area.  I realized that this will probably bother me more than nasty hair... Stubbly pits and bikini area...ewww. It makes me itchy and scratchy just thinking about it!  I've never waxed but it figured, hey, why not?  I know it's painful for a bit, but the payoff is being hairless for weeks!  I looked into a local waxing center and the prices were along the lines of $30 per leg, bikini area free, and another $30 for the pits... Adding up to almost $100, yikes!  So of course I started researching natural hair removal and came across sugar waxing.  It sounded great, just heat sugar, water, and lemon juice to make a nice "wax" and viola!  Cheap hairless me!  So I tried making it, I had all the ingredients... And even after cooling it was just too thin, all it did was make things sticky, no hair removal.  So I cooked it longer.  This time it was thicker but again it wouldn't take off any hair!  So I called my husband in to test it on him, maybe my short leg stubble was just too short.  So I picked a spot on his back (no he's not all that hairy, but he does have a few small patches on his back perfect for testing).  The sugar pulled at his hair, pulled out two or three hairs and generally was a thick sticky mess.  Upon more research I discovered that sugar wax making was a very temperamental thing and exceedingly difficult without a candy thermometer to get the temperature just right.  Well, shoot!  I guess me and my candy thermometerless hairy self was not going to get waxed that way!  So I packed the kids into the car and headed to the Walgreens down the street, determined I could still wax myself and save money.  I found several types of home wax kits but the one that caught my eye was the Nads "natural" wax, which was essentially a sugar wax!  Great! And at $14 still way cheaper than a salon!  So I brought it home and started reading the directions where I discovered part of my problem... The hair it took my legs a WEEK to grow was too short to wax.  The hair needs to be 1/8-1/5 inch long to work and my hair was only 1/16... Darn.  Well, at least I still had hubby's back to test it with!  I tried it out on a new patch and... It worked! Really well too, I could re-use the wax several times!  He now has a nice smooth patch on his back, lol.  I guess I'll wait another week before trying my legs (or anywhere else)... But if its to long enough by then I'm shaving!  After all, I'll be going on vacation for a week at that point and I refuse to go to the pool all hairy.  Fingers crossed I grow my hair long enough before then to wax.

Greek Yogurt Soufflé

I really like to cook, especially baking...and when I get stressed I bake, it's how I relax.  First, this morning our disposal stopped working.  I'm pretty sure my husband can fix it, I know there's a reset button somewhere, but I can't find it!  Then I did a load of laundry, but on the second load the machine started making an awful sound, I checked it and its not adding water and not spinning... crap!!  I really hope my husband can fix it because washers and dryers are expensive.  Now I'm stressed about money... I'm already putting tons of money into this surgery, then we bought the fabulous recovery chair which was a definitely not cheap unplanned expense... Can we really afford this too?? Like I said, when I get stressed I bake, but we're doing this whole healthy eating thing, remember?  I can't in good conscience just cook and eat a dozen cookies. Well, I could...no, no I can't... Must be a good example for my kids, darn.  So I made my favorite healthy dessert, breakfast, whatever!  I could eat these all day!  Greek yogurt soufflé, so yummy... And super easy and healthy!

Ingredients-

1cup plain Greek yogurt

3large egg yolks

3 large egg whites

3Tbsp all purpose flour

1/8tsp salt

1tsp vanilla extract (sometimes I do 1/2 vanilla and 1/2 either coconut or almond extract for fun flavors)

1/8tsp cream of tartar

1/4 cup sugar

Directions-

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees (regular heat, NOT convection).  Butter six ramekins and lightly coat the insides with sugar, then knock the excess out and place on a cookie sheet.

In a bowl mix together the yogurt, yolks, flour, salt, and extract.  With your stand mixer whip the egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy.  I also recommend putting the mixing bowl in the freezer for about 30 minutes before using it on the egg whites, it helps them whip up faster.  When the egg whites are foamy slowly add the sugar and continue to whip until stiff and it makes soft peaks.

Gently fold the egg whites 1/3 at a time into the other mixture.  Fold gently and try to keep as much volume as possible, this makes the soufflés light and fluffy!  Spoon the mix into the ramekins and place in the oven for 15-18minutes.  DO NOT open the oven to check on them, if you must look use the light and look through the door.  The soufflés should come out puffy and slightly golden, full of light, fluffy cheesecakey goodness.... They are even delicious cold.  Yes they fall soon after coming out of the oven, but they still taste just as amazing!

Nutrition information-  calories 100, fat 2g, carbohydrates 12.3g, protein 7.2g

Happy 4th of July!

In celebration of Independence Day the kids and I decided to make a dessert.  Of course we tried to follow our healthy eating rules, but just fruit and yogurt wouldn't do!  So we made shattered glass jello-o.  My oldest son (8) found the recipe online and asked to try it, so he's actually the one that made it, with a little parental supervision of course!

(Fingers courtesy of my two year old)

To make this go with our healthy living learning we used real jello, not sugar free, because we don't want artificial sweeteners!  And we used fat free condensed milk to lower the calories a little.  Plus we are learning serving size, only one small square with lunch or dinner is necessary.  Here is a link to the recipe 

http://www.foodlibrarian.com/2009/03/broken-glass-jello.html

I was discussing the idea of my needing a recliner for recovery from my surgery with my husband this am and we both realized that we didn't really like the idea of a "used" chair.  It's not that I have a problem with hand-me-down type things in general, but if we bought the chair off Craigslist we know nothing about the previous owners or the chairs history.  All I could think of was the episode of "Big Bang Theory" when Penny gets a chair off the street that seems nice but when Amy sits on it there's something crawling around in it that bites her butt...yikes.  So I tried looking online to try to find something new for cheap and I found a likely candidate at Walmart, until we went and saw it...so incredibly ugly!  Ugh! I was not about to spend $300 on it!  So we broke down and tried going to La-z-Boy, hoping they would have a floor model or something on sale.  After looking around at their chairs I fell in LOVE with one of their recliners... It was leather, and automatic!!  No using my incredibly sore tummy muscles to try to recline the chair into a comfortable position!  But on sale it was $1000, I was sure there was no way my husband would agree to it, it was just too expensive!  And then he sat down on it. His face was priceless... You could tell he loved it.  I still thought that there was no way he'd let me get it, but then he asked if it was what I wanted.  I said yes, but it was so expensive.  His response was that he'd rather spend more money for something nice that we'd keep and use and love than spend a lot of money on something we didn't want to keep and would throw away.  So yay!!  I am getting the best "recovery chair" ever!

Left is the chair floor model, top right is the control (hands again by my two year old), and bottom right is the color...it's hard to see but the light piece is our living room couches color, the red blanket is the same as our couch blankets at home and the chair under it is a chocolate brown.  We go pick it up from the warehouse on Saturday and I can't wait to re-arrange my living room to put it in! This is one step closer to being ready for surgery *gulp*

Making lists already??

I'm not sure if I'm reading too much or just doing a good job getting prepared.  At least all the reading seems to help calm my nerves.... Six weeks to go ACK!! But I've learned there are a few things I will need to help my recovery. First, button down shirts.  Apparently I'll have a hard time lifting my arms over my head to take off a regular shirt for a while and it allows easy access to cleaning out drains (yum :p ). And of course I don't have any button down shirts, and anyway these and some type of stretchy bottoms will need to be big on me because of swelling and also accommodating a binder (think girdle) and the aforementioned drains.  So I've been trying to find something cheap.  I think the best way to go is a type of pajama set, and although I'd love some of the soft satiny ones from Victoria's Secret, $50 each is way too much for something I'll probably never wear again.  Plus, it's summer, in Arizona... So I found some for $10-15 per set at wal-mart, plus they are shorts/short sleeve... It's really hard to stop myself from going out and buying them right now.  Like I said in a previous post, I can be obsessive!  I hate feeling unprepared even though I have a whole six weeks to go!  I also apparently will really need a recliner chair or the ability to prop myself into a recliner position on my bed with pillows.  Problem!!  We don't have a recliner and my headboard on my bed is one of those giant monstrosities with shelves and drawers and a mirror, not exactly my taste but it was free (wedding gift from mil).  But because of the headboard I can't prop myself up with pillows because they slide into all the cubbies... Thank goodness for the Internet again!  I will get myself a lay-z-boy type recliner off of Craigslist, hopefully for less than $100.  And again, so hard not to go out and get it RIGHT NOW!! Then I can't figure out where to put myself.  Should I put the chair in my bedroom or the living room?  No matter what it means moving furniture, whatever.  Bedroom means darker, quieter, out of the way.  Living room means I'll be in the middle of everything so I can see what's going on and ask for help easier and the tv remote actually works.  The strange thing is I'm leaning towards the living room (although it means sleeping there for a few weeks).  Biggest issue here is that my two (almost three) year old still wakes up at night sometimes to pee and he's so quiet, he just shows up at my side of the bed.  It might be silly to worry about but I'm afraid of him either freaking out that I'm not in my bed or finding me in the living room where I can't help him and me being unable to call to my husband or mom to help (my mom will be here for the first week and a half to help).  It's probably silly but he is my biggest worry right now, he loves me to carry him and to sit on MY lap... He's not a big fan of doing things with anyone else, even daddy.  I'm sure it'll work out, but I can't help but think about it.  Have I rambled enough for today? Hahaha, see I'm nervous!  And if you know me in real life you can attest that I don't shut up!