If I ate this massive bag of chocolate chips to stop the temptation, it would take a heck of a lot of step classes to work off the damage

I find that one of the draw backs of being a stay at home mom is having easy access to the refrigerator. Before having darling daughter, I worked in an office located in an industrial park. The nearest restaurant was Tim Hortons. And to be brutally honest I'm not a big fan of Tim Hortons. (What a very unCanadian statement!) I find their service to be slow. I'm not a fan of coffee and once they switched from Coca Cola to Pepsi products, that was it. No more Tim Hortons for me. Plus, I was too lazy to walk there, so I rarely went. Basically I ate whatever food I had brought from home. Ocassionally, I'd go out to lunch with my co-workers, but those lunches were a special treat.

But now, I find myself around an ample supply of food. When I was breastfeeding, I'd make allowances for myself as I told myself that I "needed" extra calories to make milk for darling daughter. I'm no longer breastfeeding, so that excuse doesn't hold water. For the most part, I eat fairly healthy, but there is always room for improvement, including not opening the freezer door to help myself to a tiny handful of chocolate chips.

Me and semi-sweet chocolate chips have a long history. They are a great when you need a chocolate pick-me-up and you have no chocolate in the house. They give my banana muffins a sweet little something. And they just the perfect topping on my toasted English muffins coated with peanut butter.

I bought the two kilogram bag about two months ago when I was shopping in Costco. I thought it was a steal of a deal for $10. At the time, I was making a lot of banana chocolate chip muffins and I thought I'd save some money by buying chocolate chips in bulk. To be fair to myself, I mainly use the bag for when I'm baking. However, there have been days where I've grabbed a handful of chocolate chips to satisfy a chocolate urge. A couple of days ago, I asked dear husband to put the bag in the downstairs freezer. Out of sight, out of mind, I reasoned. He did. But somehow the bag managed to find its way back in my refrigerator's freezer.

I'd eat the entire bag so in order to stop the temptation. However, that is a lot of chocolate chips to consume and it would take a lot of Body Step classes to work off the damage. In a couple of minutes I'll hide the bag in the freezer downstairs. Thankfully I have no Halloween candy in the house. Then I'd really be in trouble.

It is one of those days

Although I won't get into any details, I will say the last couple of days have been pretty rough. In an attempt to cheer myself up, I decided this morning that darling daughter and I needed to get out of the house and partake in some retail therapy. And as a tightwad, I consider retail therapy going to Wal-Mart. That way, I know I won't break the bank too much.

Until we reached the check out line, our shopping trip had gone fairly smoothly. I found some yarn, hair conditioner and a Fred Penner CD as well as a cute Halloween shirt for darling daughter. As she enters the toddler years, darling daughter wants to touch everything. Every time we are in Wal-Mart or the grocery store, she likes touching the grimy check out counter, which gives me the hebbie-jeebies because who knows how many germy little hands have touched the same grimy check out counter.

Thinking I was being smart, I moved her away from the grimy check out counter. But at the time I didn't realize I had moved her beside the candy display. As I was paying for our purchases, darling daughter opened up a plastic container filled with candy beads and spilled half of the container's contents onto the floor. I was embarrassed. If it had been any other day, I would have picked up the beads and insisted I pay for the candy. Instead I tried to hide the candy beads by sweeping them to the edge of the check out counter with the side of my shoe so they wouldn't get caught underneath the stroller wheels. Before I could make a quick escape, the cashier spotted the beads. I did make a half hearted attempt to pay for the candy beads, but my offer was turned down, although reluctantly. In hindsight, I really should have cleaned up the mess, but I didn't. And for that, I'm sorry.

The next stop was Loblaws to stock up on fruit and to find something to make for dinner. Lately, I've tried to have dinner ready for 5 p.m. I must say my cooking skills are a work in progress, but I'm getting better at it. Parking beside a cart carousel area, I quickly grabbed a cart. While I was busy tending to darling daughter, I spotted a brown sedan two spaces away from us. There was a little old lady sitting in the passenger seat. I didn't think anything much of this until I went to put darling daughter into the cart. But it was gone. It had rolled into the side of the brown sedan. I'm not too sure if the cart bumped the car hard, but luckily the lady didn't seem all that concerned when I retrieved my cart. I, however, did say sorry.

After getting home, the first order of business was to get to lunch on the go and to put away groceries. I let darling daughter into her playroom. As a new parent, I have quickly learned that if she becomes too quiet then she is definitely up to some kind of mischief. When I poked my head into the playroom, I saw darling daughter dumping clothes onto the floor. I had totally forgot that I had a clothes basket filled with folded clothes. The clothes are now folded haphazardly, waiting for me to put them away.

So it is basically one of those days when nothing seems to be going right. It is also one of those days where I am eating semi-sweet chocolate chips out of the bag (that I hid in the freezer so they wouldn't tempt me) because I need a chocolate fix. It is also one of those days where I fell off the Diet Coke-free wagon. Yep, it is just one of those days. But on the bright side, thankfully tomorrow is Friday.

Encroaching on my territory

Dear husband is sick. He decided to stay home today and keep his germs to himself. God bless him. I hope he is well enough to go to work tomorrow because he is encroaching on my territory.

For whatever reason when dear husband is sick from work, it feels really weird when he is home. I've got no problem when he is home during the weekend. In fact, I love the weekends, especially Sundays as he dedicates this day to watching football. I take that time to do errands, go to the gym or read a book. But when he was home during a weekday, it just feels plain weird. But to be fair, he is sick and was in no shape to go to work today.

And to make things worse, darling daughter refused to nap today. REFUSED. There was tears, tears and more tears. After several separate attempts by dear husband and I, we had to abort all nap plans. Although it was manageable between the two of us, there was no countdown to 5 p.m. to look forward to because dear husband was already home. So basically we had to watch our poor congested, red eye rimmed baby, who desperately needed a nap, walk around the living room all day, playing with her toys. At least she was in a relatively good mood. But having darling daughter skip her nap time made for a long day.

So hopefully dear husband's germs disappear tomorrow, allowing him to go back to work tomorrow. I've come to the conclusion between the hours of 8 a.m. at 5 p.m., Monday to Friday, the house is my territory. And maybe it is just me being weird, but I don't like anyone encroaching on my territory during these time periods. Not even my husband, despite the fact I love him to death. I'm not too sure what we'd do if we ever won the lottery. I guess one of us would be working for fun.

Giving thanks

Right now I'm feeling a bit down so I thought I'd count my Thanksgiving blessings not only to cheer me up, but to remind me how rich and blessed I am to have the life I have.

So in no particular order (and although some are trivial), here I go:

* Darling daughter. I'm so blessed to have her. She is my walking, talking miracle.
* Dear husband. I couldn't have asked for a better husband and man to walk hand in hand in with in this topsy turvy world.
* Good and dear friends. You know who you are and I thank you so much for your friendship.
* A roof over my head.
* Food in my tummy.
* The freedom to do what I want, when I want.
* My doctor's office. It is so reassuring to call and get an appointment that day and not be told to go to the emergency room.
* My library card. I've saved tonnes of money over the last couple of months by borrowing books from the Ottawa Public Library.
* My gym membership card. It is always good to exercise and get out of the house at the same time.
* My health. I've really got nothing to complain about.
* Laundry facilities. It would really be hard not to have a washer and dryer in the house.
* Our car. It gives me freedom.
* My next door neighbour who picks up our mail when we leave to visit family.
* My family.
* Clean water.
* A soft bed to sleep in.
* Dear husband's job.
* The Internet. I'd be lost without it.

I ate you so you wouldn't tempt me

Oh peanut butter, you are too much of a temptation to have in the house.

I love peanut butter. I especially love peanut butter on buttered English muffins. If I could eat peanut butter and English muffins all day, I'd be a happy girl. Yum. And when I'm in the mood to jazz it up a bit, I sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Yum, yum!

My love for peanut butter started when I was pregnant with darling daughter. When you have gestational diabetes and the thought of eating meat makes you almost physically sick, you have to look for protein alternatives. And peanut butter was the main alternative. I don't know how many jars I went through during the third trimester. Maybe three or four. At the time I thought my peanut butter addiction was a pregnancy thing, that my addiction to peanut butter would wane after the baby came. But that wasn't the case. I kept on eating peanut butter. But after awhile I came to the conclusion if that I wanted to fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans I'd have to cutback on my peanut butter intake as it wasn't really helping the cause.

I've been pretty good over the last couple of months. But sometimes I get the urge and I go out and buy peanut butter. I bought this jar after spotting it on a shelf at a convenience store.

Tonight I was having another craving for buttered English muffins and peanut butter. I couldn't deny my grumbling stomach anymore, so I took a peek inside of the jar. There wasn't much of the yummy goodness left inside the jar. After thinking about it for a brief moment, I reasoned if I ate the rest of the peanut butter there would be any left to tempt me anymore. Out of sight, out of mind, I concluded.

Minus the chocolate chips, I indulged. It was good. And now I don't have any peanut butter left. Let's hope the chocolate chip cookies I made last week that are stashed away in the deep freezer don't call my name any time soon. I don't need a new addiction.

No one wants to play in cigarette butts

Excuse me for the following rant, but I've got to get this off my chest.

I live in a condo/townhouse development. One thing I have had to learn to tolerate since moving here more than three years ago is cigarette smoke. Most people seem to smoke outside of their homes rather than inside. I totally understand as people don't want to expose their children, loved ones, pets, furniture and belongings to second hand smoke.

I can usually smell it when I have the windows open. As a result, I'll shut my windows as I don't want my child, dear husband, furniture and belongings exposed to second hand smoke.

This afternoon when I was preparing dinner (that should be a post in itself as I hate to cook) I could smell cigarette smoke. At first, I thought it was my next door neighbour, but when I looked out into the parking lot, I didn't see her car, so it wasn't her. Minutes later, I could still smell smoke. When I looked beyond the parking lot and into the playground I spotted the culprits: two parents. They were swinging on the swings, enjoying their cigarettes.

This really bothers me. In Ontario, it is illegal to smoke inside a vehicle with children. It should be a no brainer not to smoke with such small passengers in a car, but it seems we live in a day and age when you have to legislate common sense. Some municipalities already have bylaws prohibiting parents from lighting up at playgrounds and sports fields. I'm not too sure if Ottawa has such a bylaw, but it wouldn't matter anyway as the playground in question is on private property.

The smell didn't bother me as I shut my windows. But what did bother me is the fact that the neighbourhood children will come across ashes and cigarette butts while playing, which is a disgusting image when you think about it. I don't think any parent wants to see their children playing in cigarette butts, even those who are smokers. Sometimes I wish people would use their common sense and have some respect for others. If you got to smoke, don't smoke at a playground. Thanks.

Fun in Montreal

Sometimes it is good to wear something else other than Lululemon and go outside of your comfort zone.

This past weekend I went to Montreal with friends. It is important to note that we all went sans baby. All our babies were safe and sound with our respective dear husbands. And it was fun. We took the train, shopped on Saint Catherine Street, dressed up, ate a delicious meal, had a couple of drinks and went to a 80s bar. And most importantly, we had tonnes of fun.

It was the first time I had been away from darling daughter for more than eight hours. And I did much better than expected. In fact, I felt a bit guilty when I came home last night as I basically dropped off my luggage, spent some time with darling daughter and then headed to book club. (I love book club. I don't like to miss a meeting.) However, we are making up for lost time today.

So yes, it was a fun weekend with the girls. I still have Pump Up the Volume stuck in my head. (One of the many songs we danced to at Club Electric Avenue. I think I even spotted a Andrew McCarthy look-a-like dancing to Madonna's Vogue. . . ) It was good to get away. I'm still tired, but it is all worth it as who knows the next time we will be able to do that again.