Brace Face #2

Zacky has finally lost all of his baby teeth.  The kid is going to be in High School and he just lost his last baby tooth!  As soon as that puppy fell out we marched right over to our orthodontist and slapped some braces on that boy.  He did really well.  Fortunately there's not much wrong with his teeth so it looks like he'll only have to have the braces for about a year.  Once the braces are off we'll work on the funky tooth.  Dr. Stern says we can have it "built up" whatever that means.  Anyway, we got the braces on Monday.  He felt pretty rotten the first two days.  Now he's pretty much up and running, but just working on figuring out how to chew.  They had to put two little plastic bite adjustor things on the back of his two front teeth so it's making it very difficult for him to chew.  He's handling it like a trooper.  Now the best part... the requisite braces pictures....

Before

Getting ready

Traditional horror mouth picture

Brushing buddies

After

First Sign of the End Times

It's the first official day of summer and both my children got up at 6:00am to go RUNNING.TOGETHER!

I feel like I should be in the basement prepping the fallout shelter!

Can't Freakin' Believe it!

So this is it.... Last official day of Middle School!  Not sure who is happier...Zack or me.  Although, the  thought of my sweet, pweshus, baby boy up there at the High School interacting with all those delinquents and MEN!  Makes me a little bit nervous, but he'll do great!  But how will Mom do?  Sometimes I just want to stop the time train and get off!

Could he be any more handsome and grown up?

Julie, Julie how does your garden grow?

Garden update... It's growing very well. I can't complain about the size of the plants, but I'm a little worried about the zucchini and squash again.  I see lots and lots of boy flowers, open, ready, willing and able...but the girl flowers...  Those that might be girl flowers are small, tiny and closed up tight.  WTF???  What do I have to do to make my squash have sex?  The cucumber plant is growing like crazy and I can't quite tell about it's flower, so I'm just going to let it go and see what happens.

First tomato

Start of peppers

Boy flowers, everywhere

You say Diet, I say Eating Awareness

I have embarked on a new "eating awareness" program.  I've been on a non-stop, crap eating binge lately.        This summer we're all meeting at Aunt Linda's for a mini "family reunion" to celebrate my mom's 70 birthday and I don't want to be a soft, squishy blob.  Do I think I'm fat... No.  Do I really need to lose weight... probably No.  Would I like to use 5-10lbs...who wouldn't!  Do I want to make drastic efforts to lose weight...No.  But I can make some small changes, in the hopes that I'll get healthier and possible lose some excess weight along the way.  It would be awesome if I could by some miracle loss one pound a week.  Then by the "reunion" I'd have lost 10lbs.  Probably wishful thinking especially since I'm really not upping my exercise amount.  I still walk the dogs 60-90min every day, but I really can't do much more than that, so a change in eating is about all I can manage at this point.

Started it May 1st - 134lbs.
I've been measuring out my portions, writing down everything I eat - if I know the calories I write them down otherwise I just keep track.  I have fresh fruit and cut up veggies in the refrigerator.  I've eaten more servings of fruit and veggies in the last month than in forever.  I figure I can eat as much of the fruits and veggies as I want since on Weight Watchers they are all zero points.  I'm feeling much healthier and definitely more virtuous. :o)  I am hungry a lot, but I realize it's not a bad thing.  Probably the biggest change is I am trying (and succeeding) not to eat anything after dinner.  That's my worst downfall, 8-11pm when I'm watching TV.  Can you say mindless snacking to the nth degree.  Now if I'm really hungry, I drink a cup of tea and that usually tides me over until bedtime.

I'm proud of myself... I've stuck with it and I feel pretty good about how I'm doing.   I weighed myself today... 131lbs.  Not great... but 3lbs... better than nothing.  But even better, I can feel my thought process changing and myself making new habits.  Yeah for me!

New Recipe Night - Unqualified Success Again!

Another fabulously successful New Recipe Night... either I'm turning into a Top Chef or I'm just getting better at choosing my recipes!  What was so fun about this recipe is that it combined 2 things I've never really had before... asparagus and gnocchi!

Skillet Gnocchi with Shrimp and Asparagus

1 Tbsp + 2 tsps olive oil

 1 - 16oz package of shelf stable gnocchi

1/2 cup sliced shallots

1 bunch asparagus (about 1 pound), trimmed and cut into thirds

3/4 cup chicken broth

1 pound raw shrimp

1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

pinch of salt

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1.  Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Add gnocchi and cook, stirring often, until plumped and golden in spots, 6 to 10 minutes.  Transfer to a bowl.

2.  Add the remaining 2 tsp oil and shallots to pan; cook over med heat until beginning to brown, 1 to 2 minutes.  Stir in asparagus and broth.  Cover and cook until the asparagus is barely tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Add shrimp, pepper and salt; cover and simmer until the shrimp is pink and just cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes more.

3.  Return the gnocchi to the skillet along with lemon juice and cook, stirring until heated through, about 2 minutes.  Remove from the heat, sprinkle with cheese, cover and let stand until the cheese is melted, about 2 minutes.

This was delicious!  Brenna loved it.  Zack ate the shrimp, tried the gnocchi - but didn't like the texture and wouldn't even let the asparagus on his plate.  Despite that... home run!!!