Pining about the Pines

We're heading to the doctor tomorrow to get Nicky a referral to an allergist and a dermotologist down here. I've been researching allergies, particularly to pine. We're absolutely surrounded by lodgepole pines. Now it seems that since we've moved down here, every time Nicky goes outside, he comes in with flaring eczema and itching eyes. Which is frustrating when we try to enjoy our back yard. Hopefully, we'll be able to get a resolution to this. We've kept him inside the last two days and last night he slept all night without waking. The night before, he was up for three hours because he couldn't stop itching. Poor little guy.

I did a preliminary weigh today. I shouldn't do that. I know I shouldn't. But sometimes it's necessary to see if I'm on track for the week. Unfortunately, if it's a good weighing, I get worried for the last half of the week, wondering if it's a fluke or an actual weight. We'll see. It does tend to keep me behaving better than a bad weighing. Now I want to make sure I get that good number as an official number.

We trekked to Raleigh today to go to a Natural Science museum. Nicky doesn't get a whole lot out of the displays. He tends to look for a second and then say, what's over there and run on. We had a nice sensible lunch there. We split a cheese and spinach sandwich and a chef salad. But by the time we hit the mall, I was hungry again. That's the thing about DTG meals. They're filling. I was glad I had my salmon at home for dinner. John had the red snapper. I like the snapper but I like the salmon better.

Our swing set gets delivered tomorrow afternoon. I've got to clear room in the garage to lay everything out and label it. We've got our drill charged up and we're ready to go. John has already said he's expecting a traumatic experience so he won't get frustrated as easily. Does that make sense?

Could Have Been Worse

I've been bad. This week was an indulgent week. But again, I'm wondering if my idea of an indulgent week is a non-DTG person's idea of a normal week. Because I stayed steady exactly where I was last week. Even though I had pizza for lunch and dinner on Sunday and some cheesecake. John went back to Chicago over the weekend and brought home an Eli's chocolate chip cheesecake. Now, I'm not normally a cheesecake fan but there's is NOTHING like an Eli's chocolate chip cheesecake. Of course 1/8 of a 10" cake is over 300 calories and about 20 grams of fat. So a meal.

We've been exploring things around town. Found a bouncy world for Nicky. Discovered the Joe's Crab Shack down here has a huge playground. Remembered that the best diet in the world is taking babies to a restaurant. And we took three! So I didn't get a chance to eat a lot of my crab nachos which wasn't such a bad thing.

On the DTG meal front, our delivery today arrived well and frozen. The meals have been very yummy, as usual. I've got them stacked and organized in the freezer so that every night, I take out the top two lunches and the top two dinners for the next day. Then, if something comes up, like going out to lunch today, the meal that was going to be today's is still good tomorrow.

We hope to get Nicky swing set delivered in the next couple days. While I'm tempted to set up the video camera as I'm sure there will be some America's Funniest Home Video's moments, we don't have the battery life or the storage for the amount of time it's going to take us to put it up. Steve, if you've got any DIY advice, I'd be happy to hear it!

Busy week

Okay, one more installer to go today and then we're done with installers and repairmen. Hopefully. The washer turned out to be an easy fix. Not one we could do but they did it in about two minutes.

I've found a meal on the frozen plan that isn't as good as the fresh. The Hungarian Turkey just lost something in translation. I'll be changing that one out next cycle. Everything else, though, has been quite satisfactory. And I posted another weight loss this week. At least I did before I made Toffee Bars to take to the neighbor as a thank you. You never return an empty plate! So I was at 183.6. I've lost 25.8 pounds!

We're picking up a new kitchen table today. It'll be nice to be able to eat at a table again. Our dining room table is too big for the eat-in kitchen and the dining room has genuine hardwood floors. I'm not sure what squash and pears or oatmeal with applesauce, not to mentioned regurgiated formula would do to that so the babies are staying out of there. And of course, there's no way I'm letting Nicky carry food there. So, we will be eating in the eat in kitchen. We also ordered a swing set for Nicky. Putting it together will be fun, I'm sure. The hardest part will be finding safe things for Nicky to do to "help".

Our delivery came yesterday and everything was just fine. We have a freezer full of meals. Taking them out one day at a time is working well. That way, if something comes up, they'll keep until the next day and we're not wasting any food. So we're both really happy with the delivery plan. The food still tastes great and if anything, it's even easier to use. The lunch sandwiches are already put together for you! The turkey ham salad on pretzel roll (one of my favorites) was ready to eat from the fridge. Perfect to stick in the cooler to take on outings.

Speaking of outings. Nicky and I went to the local children's museum. A far cry from the Baltimore children's museum but actually better for him. It was only one floor and much simpler. He's not a fan of crowds, especially louder older children. So he had a grand time. On Saturday, they have a model train display so we'll probably go back.

So we're settling in down here. It's so quiet and peaceful. I have to admit, though, that I giggle watching the traffic on the news. They actually devote airtime to that! Oh, look. A car! DC traffic has warped my sense of normalcy.

Another Town, Another Zoo

We've been here less than two weeks and we've already headed to the zoo. It was only 80 today! Had to go. It was a pretty nifty zoo. But boy, is it sprawling. It actually warns you on the map that there are over five miles of paths. And I think we hit them all! Nicky had a grand time. He got a little startled at the sea lion pool. And I don't know which he liked better, the tram ride or the polar bear. Both were huge hits.

So I got my exercise for the day. Which hopefully makes up for the peach pie that our new neighbor baked for us. I was doing pretty well this week. I did my weekly official weigh-in this morning and I'm at 184.2. So I lost almost a pound since I found the scale over the weekend for a grand total of 25.2 pounds so far!

I think thawing the meals is the best option. I tried cooking a frozen lunch the other day, the turkey-swiss sandwich (John and I are sharing the lunches he got). The cheese is oooey-gooey anyway so the extra time needed to defrost as well as heat wasn't so good. I heated it for a minute at a time so the cheese didn't melt out everywhere and I wasn't able to get the middle totally warmed before I got too hungry! So I'm putting two lunches and two dinners in the fridge to thaw for 24 hours before we eat them.

Dinner tonight was chicken parmesan. It was quite good and the only difference between the fresh and the frozen was that the chicken was just a little tougher. However, as the chicken in the fresh meals is tender enough to cut with a fork, I'm okay with that. The pasta, sauce and cheese were exactly the same. And I think the broccoli was actually a little better.

One thing I learned, however, is that it's best to not stack the meals as I thaw them. The chicken hadn't totally thawed and it was because there was some ice between the packages.

So the shipped/fresh comparison is doing fine. I always said that frozen dinner plans were terrible but I think there's a big difference here because DTG flash-freezes them and then ships them to you right away. So they don't have to add all those, well, additives to get them to you still tasting like food. Oh, speaking of shipping. This week's shipment arrived perfectly. The frozen ice packs in the cooler were still frozen. So a freezer full of food to eat this week. Which is good because I have a garage full of boxes to unpack. (or look through and leave out there!)

Liquid Cheese and Other Tales

We had our first frozen meals last night. I had the salmon with rice and vegetables. The salmon was a little dry. That's easily fixed. I always add a sprinkle of water to rice when I re-heat it so I just need to put a little moisture into the salmon. The taste was still good and I thought the rice and vegetables were yummy.

John had the chugwater chili. After an overly long debate on re-heating, it turned out mostly well. The instructions on the frozen meals say heat for 5-9 minutes. I had the hardest time convincing him that bread, shredded cheese and sour cream should definitely NOT be heated that long. The heating instructions on the fresh meals are very specific about removing items before heating. I always got a bit of a giggle out of that. Kind of like restaurants needing to label a coffee cup as hot. However, I see now that specific instructions are very helpful in preventing arguments with literal people. Sigh. His shredded cheese got a little liquified due to a bit too much heating but the bread and sour cream were salvaged.

I found my scale! So many boxes to unload. I was pretty happy, though. After two weeks of stress, sleeping on the floor for a week, and eating fast food or packaged convenience foods from the grocery store, I managed to lose more weight. I'm down to 185.0 now for a total of 24.4 pounds lost. I probably would have lost more if I'd been able to eat my DTG food what with all the exercise I've been getting. But I like being able to get a chicken mcnugget happy meal with apple slices and be satisfied. Part of what I've learned eating DTG is what a full stomach should actually feel like. Not bloated, not stuffed, not I've-got-to-get-out-of-these-pants-and-into-sweats feeling. Treats are fine in small amounts and sensible eating is a lifestyle.

I'm here!

We made it. Finally. You would not believe what's been going on. Oh, I was reading something in my last post and I needed to clarify. I stated that I couldn't use the ramp on the big truck but didn't say why. It drizzled all day. I tried going up the ramp once and about halfway up, had to hold the dolly steady while I slid back down. Needed a video camera for that one.

So, let's see. What a mess. The worst move I've had. We were told during John's relocation meeting that we would have movers pack and load on the 25th and 26th. Well, the day before they were supposed to get there, I still hadn't heard from them. No walk through. No interview. So I had John go by TMO (the military office that handles moving people). They said oh, here's the phone number of your mover. But don't call them for half an hour because we need to fax over paperwork. THEY HADN'T SCHEDULED US!! So I called the guy and asked if he wanted to do a walkthrough and he said they didn't have time and the packers would be there the next day. So the next morning, we moved everything we didn't want them to pack into Nicky's room, set up the babies in the playpen, established Nicky with some videos and waited. And waited. And waited.

I called and the guy said, oh, traffic, they're on their way. An hour later, I called again and he said he'd see what was going on. So he calls back and says, well, we're going to have to pack and load you in one day. Okay. That's doable if they get there at a decent hour. So we head to Chuck E Cheese to spend the tokens and tickets we've accumulated over the last two years. They have a chicken ciabatta sandwich which, if you leave off the mayo, and get fruit on the side, is a reasonable lunch. Nicky was pretty happy because Mommy got on a roll on the drop-in-the-coins-and-see-if-anything-falls game and won almost a thousand tickets. So the other kids watched in open mouthed awe as Nicky picked out a 5000 ticket Matchbox set.

Friday comes. Once again, we move everything into Nicky's room. And we wait. And wait. I call again. Oh, traffic, they're on their way. They finally show up at 11:00! One man and two women in a 16' truck. We live in a three story townhouse and have about 10,000 pounds left. They were expecting a 4000 pound job. At 6:00, another team with another truck shows up. Then they go and bring another truck. At 11:30pm, they moved the remaining items into the garage because we had cleaners coming the next morning. John stayed in town to outprocess but me, grandma, and the kids headed out. So indoor camping for a few days.

Our food delivery came on Wednesday. Unfortunately, our furniture with the spare freezer didn't arrive until Thursday. So I had to make a lot of room in the kitchen freezer. Not as much as I would have, however, if the cooler hadn't had a serious warpcore breach. One side of my cooler was basically broken off. Not good in the Carolina summer. My dinners were fine as they were on the other side. The lunches were totally thawed and at room temp. So those had to get tossed and I got a credit for those. Once again, the customer service department at DTG demonstrating their client-centric attitude. I love those people.

Anyway, waiting around for furniture on Thursday until 11. Maybe it's just because I get up at 5 but 11 is late. My day is half over by then! All of our things arrived, which is a plus. Not in one piece, which is a minus. Our solid pecan bedroom set which has been in the family for over 50 years is majorly gouged along with scratches in basically all the other furniture. Two wooden DVD storage units had the bottoms ripped off, and then the nails tacked down! Tall lamp and wooden uniform stand both snapped in half. Finally found the crib hardware in a box of hangers so the babies can get back to a normal schedule. And my washing machine no longer works. I had to trek to the laundromat early Sunday morning. Sigh.

Oh, and we get to do it again in two years.

Anyway, we haven't had a chance to try the frozen as my parents are still here. Mom forgot to do a final weigh before they packed the scale and I haven't found that yet. But she said it's obvious to her that her energy level is a lot lower not eating DTG.

Lots to do but it's so nice here. Nicky seems to be developing allergies but he loves being able to run in the backyard and go to his sandbox whenever he wants. After I get the ants out of it in the morning. I've sprayed with vinegar which helps but I've never seen so many ants. They're everywhere. Which makes the plethora of orbweaver and wolf spiders very happy.

So I'll let you know how the first frozen meal goes. Trying to decide if I want to thaw them in the fridge first or just put them in the oven or microwave frozen. I must say that so far, I like the convenience of frozen. Now, we'll see how they taste!