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Seduced by Sweetness

March 18, 2010 by lessonstolearn

I used to keep Dannon Light n’ Fit in business!  I bought their yogurt all the time and never really thought about the artificial sweeteners.  Gradually, I have cut a lot of artificial sweeteners out of my diet.  I still eat them, but I don’t eat them regularly and haven’t bought a Light n’ Fit for months.  Well, this week, Dannon was on sale.  And I saw this flavor:

Apple Pie!  APPLE PIE!  And for a limited time only!  I glanced at the $1.99 Chobani and Oikos, and then the on-sale $.59 Dannon in APPLE PIE FLAVOR…..and put 3 in my cart.

All day yesterday I was thinking about what to do with my apple pie yogurt.  And then it hit me….A topping for my very favorite pumpkin, apple, raisin combination!

Was it overly sweet?  Yep.  But here’s the thing…I love sweet!  This was a great combination!  Probably not the healthiest of yogurts, but as a dessert???  Apple, pumpkin, raisins, and calcium rich yogurt….not bad.  I won’t go back to buying these again on a regular basis, but I have to admit, I do like them.  Blasphemy in the blog world, but the truth.  :)

I had a super productive day today finishing up my paper on the interview I did with Gina, and the powerpoint presentation that went with it.  I’m just about done, but took a break for a very satisfying dinner.

A Dr. Praeger’s veggie burger on gluten free bread, with some mixed veggies.  I stirred in some Laughing Cow too….is there anything you can’t add Laughing Cow to?!

It was wonderful.  But let’s look a little closer at this picture…

That is a lima bean!  I very carefully picked out about 15 lima beans from this serving of mixed vegetables.  But this one got by me!  First of all, there is no reason to have such a high ratio of lima beans to other veggies.  Even if I liked lima beans, that would be too many.  But I don’t like them.  Its the only vegetable I can think of that I really, really hate.  Other beans???  Bring them on!  But limas?  I will pick them out every time!

Any vegetable that you just can’t stomach?

Dave is back in Boston and on his way home shortly.  I think we will celebrate with this week’s episode of LOST!  Typically, that would be reserved for Friday night.  But this week, Flash Forward is back!!  2 hours of it!  So I think that will be the Friday night event this week!

I’d better sign off…..  I’ve now told you: (1) I like artificially sweetened yogurt,  (2) I pick out lima beans from mixed veggies, and (3) the highlights of weekends in this house are television dramas.  I’m going to go hang my head now!  :)

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day

March 17, 2010 by lessonstolearn

I didn’t remember that it was St. Patrick’s Day until half way through the day!  No green for me today.

When I was growing up, my mom would make corn beef and cabbage, along with my very favorite….Irish Soda bread.  But since then, I really haven’t done anything to mark the holiday.  Maybe one day I will adopt my mom’s recipes and make the traditional meal for my own family.  But tonight, I am home alone, plugging away with school work, and not really motivated to make corn beef (something I wouldn’t otherwise eat) for just myself.  Instead, I had a repeat of last night.  That’s okay because this hit the spot!  This time, I had less spaghetti squash, so I added some steamed broccoli slaw to bulk it up.

Last night I told you I had a yummy dessert planned.  It turned out not to work out so well. I used a portion of Betty Crocker’s gluten free chocolate cake and mixed it with canned pumpkin.  I had done the same thing with Betty Crocker’s gluten free brownies and they were wonderful!  I like using things like pumpkin in mixes because it adds fiber and beta-carotene to an otherwise nutritionally void food.

Unfortunately, the cake didn’t work as well as the brownies.  It came out very dry.  I did manage to save it to some extent with the “frosting” I made.  I mixed a giant scoop of plain Chobani with a smaller scoop of Better n’ Peanut Butter.  I find that this peanut butter “wannabe” is great for mixing in things because it is much thinner and stirs in easily.  It is also half the calories of other nut butters which not bad either. :)

The “frosting” helped moisten it a bit, but I will probably stick with the brownies in the future or make the cake mix as directed.

Tomorrow Dave comes home.  Only one more trip this month for him!  I like a night or two to myself sometimes, but a string of nights by myself starts getting lonely.  Good thing I have a couple of cuddly kitties to keep me company!  :)

Now if I could only get them to reliquish my spot on the bed…..

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Let the Sunshine in!

March 16, 2010 by lessonstolearn

Today is the first sunny day since the monsoon that moved through over the weekend.  It was great to see the sun.  But several schools were canceled for a second day and people are still pumping out their basements.  I haven’t see rain like that in a long time!  But now we have a week of sunny 50-60 degree weather coming our way.  Come on spring!!

Lots of and cooped up people were out running and walking today.  Its was great to see, but I have to admit, I saw someone run by and though, “I used to be a runner.”  You may have noticed I haven’t been posting much about my workouts lately.  All I can say is pregnancy is very humbling.  Its hard to imagine that only 2 months ago I ran double digits a couple of times a week.  Now, running for 30 minutes is tiring, and most days, I move on over to the the elliptical at that point.  Some days, I have more pep and I can run 30, take a breather, and run another 30.  But double digits are a thing of the past.

I’m okay with that.  All I want is a healthy baby.  But noticing changes like this are awe-inspiring.  How amazing is it that something the size of a small plum can sap so much energy!  I am 11 weeks tomorrow, and aside from some bloat, no one would know I am pregnant.  But my body knows and is directing all of its energy to growing a baby instead of powering my runs.  Isn’t that incredible!  I love biology and find it absolutely amazing that our bodies know just what to do.

All that being said, I will look forward to the exhilaration of completing a long run again….someday.  For now, I will settle for my less exciting workouts.  Ultimately, I feel very lucky that I haven’t had morning sickness and have been able workout most days.

***************

I had a fun assignment to work on today for my “Careers in Dietetics” course.  The assignment is to interview a dietitian and summarize it in a paper.  I have never looked forward to school work so much.  I had a “phone date” this afternoon with Gina, The CandidRD!  I was sorry I had to ask so many prescribed questions because I had such fun just chatting with her.  I have always been impressed with Gina and how knowledgeable she is in the information she shares with us on her blog.  But now, I am beyond impressed.  It takes real guts and real skill to build up a business from the ground up.  And she’s doing it!  I can’t wait to see where her company goes.  Thank you so much, Gina!  I so wish you lived closer!

****************

Dinner tonight was my new favorite.  Spaghetti squash with Laughing Cow cheese.  So simple and so delicious.  I love dishes where everything is thrown in one pot.  Easy prep and easy clean up.  Doesn’t get better than that!

Into this pot went a few giant scoops of spaghetti squash, diced tomatoes, spinach, canned salmon, and 2 wedges of Laughing Cow light swiss….

Five minutes later, you have this!

You can’t tell from the picture, but this is a huge bowl!  I love volume eating.  Psychologically, I feel so much more satisfied with a big, leaping bowl.  But this big, heaping bowl is less than 300 calories.  Not to worry…I have a dessert idea in the works.  Hopefully I will have something fun to show you tomorrow!  :)

I DVR’ed 20/20s report on The Bachelor last night, so I am going to spend the evening on the couch with the kitties.  Dave is away on business this week so none of “our shows” are allowed.  I think this is a safe show.

Goodnight friends!  :)

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First Time Ever!

March 15, 2010 by lessonstolearn

First of all….thank you all so much for sharing so much excitement with me.  It is such fun to post about something exciting in my life and to feel like people are genuinely happy for me.  I thank you!  :)

And because I love you all so much, I have never done this before….  But today, for the first time ever, I clicked “mark as read” in my google reader.  As much as I love reading all of your blogs, I simply can not keep up!

I am on the computer a good deal, so I asked myself today, “Why are you suddenly so behind in reading blogs?!”  It was an easy answer.  I spent several hours over the weekend looking at different properties on-line, both before and after we went to the actual open houses.  And just today, I spent an hour on babycenter.com, an hour and a half pricing baby furniture, strollers, and car seats ($$$$!), and then another 45 minutes or so looking at the updates on the baby center forums .  It seems almost all of my “recreational” computer time has been spent on babies and houses!  So my apologies for missing any news you’ve posted. Please let me know if there were any big weekend announcements.

This weekend, we had a monsoon here in the northeast.  It is still raining!  It was perhaps the worst weekend ever to look at houses.  But in another way, with 6-8 inches of rain, we definitely got to see how basements held up to extreme rain!  We actually did find a couple of houses we liked.  One, I really love!  The only con is that it is on a main road.  I always said I wouldn’t live on a heavily traveled street.  But this house is set back on a hill, and is behind a fence.  the entrance to the house is also on a quiet side road….a side road that leads to beach access and a playground.  It doesn’t have the feel of being on a main road, so perhaps I need to rethink my house criteria.  Its an old house with a lot of character, but it has also been updated and the kitchen and bathrooms have been renovated.  I really love it.  But its early, and there are no other immediate offer, so we have time to really think it through.

In all of the house excitement, there was a lot of good food too.  I’ll leave you with a few highlights!

Roasted eggplant, tomato and Laughing Cow on gluten free bread

Polenta pizza

Shrimp Salad with Acorn Squash

Veggie Burger/ Laughing Cow Panini

It was a busy weekend (and a wet one!), but it was productive, and I feel like we are well on our way to finding our home.  Even if this house isn’t “the one,” it is great to see that Dave and I are very much on the same page in terms of what we want.

It is still pouring out and the raods are flooded, so I am hunkering down for the night.  Thank you all once again for sharing in our excitement.  To all of  my local friends… you will have to join us for a housewarming when we finally move and settle in!  A dinner party perhaps!  :)

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More Big Changes

March 12, 2010 by lessonstolearn

So I’ve told you the baby news. And I’ve told you the exciting trip we have in April when Dave will be the opening act for Louie Anderson at the Excalibur.  But we have one more exciting thing on the horizon…and tomorrow marks the beginning of it.   Tomorrow morning we have an appointment with our realtor to visit 5 or 6 promising properties.  This is the year we buy a house…..and hopefully we can pull it off before I am too big and too uncomfortale to be much help in the move!  We would love to be moved in and settled before the baby arrives in October.  It might be tough, but our realtor knows our timeline and she’s really good at what she does.

I have rented so many different apartments and homes since graduating from college.  I have never really felt settled.  I am thrilled to be on the verge of finding a place to call home….somewhere we plan to be for more than a couple of years.  I grew up in the same house until I left for college, and my parents still live there (Lucky for me since I grew up on Cape Cod and still have a Cape house to crash at anytime!).  I know some people love the excitement of moving around.  But I am definitely someone who likes to feel part of a community.  I hope that we find that in this move.

Do you like moving and living in different places or would you rather stay put somewhere?

I have had that excitement in the back of my head today while trying to plug my way through my chemistry practice problems.  If anyone out there is a whiz at chemical kinetics and rates of reactions, I want to be your new best friend!  :)   I finished the assignment (with the help of my genous brother) and am now ready to enjoy Friday pizza and LOST.   This is an extra exciting LOST night because, with Dave away last week (and with both of us forbidden to watch our show alone), we now have two episodes on the DVR!  We are going to have a real predicament in a couple of weeks when Flash Forward returns….which show will get the coveted Friday night slot?!    We are such nerds!

In the interest of getting right to the evening’s entertainment, I am blogging now, before dinner.  The pizzas are in the oven and ready when Dave gets home from work.  I can, however,  show you an especially yummy lunch…

I love being home at lunch time and being able to make a real meal, instead of packing my lunch for work, like I did for so many years.  Today, had a banana, and made a spinach, tomato, and cheese omelet.  On the side, I steamed broccoli slaw that I mixed with Laughing Cow cheese and tomato.  Yum!

Here, you see the banana.  The onelet.  The broccoli slaw.  And oh!  What’s that on the right hand side?!  My food safety inspector!  Rudy likes to make sure that anything I eat is up to code!

It was very good, although I could have done without the piece of cat hair that made its way on my plate!

I hope you all have a wonderful Friday night.  I hope I can report back about a successful first run in the search fo rour dream house!

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An Up Day

March 11, 2010 by lessonstolearn

Everyone offered such encouragement the other day when I was struggling with out of control hormones.  Thank you!  For no rhyme or reason, that was a bad day.  But yesterday, I felt good, and today I felt even better.  I only cried once today!  (Mental note: Do not to watch episodes of “A Baby Story” on TLC when eating lunch at home!)

So again, I thank you all for your kind words and encouragement.  You all put me in a good mood, and as a result, I think I rocked my last microbiology test yesterday. One class closer to getting into the dietetics program!

While I am on the subject of thank yous….I am long overdue in thanking Julie for giving me the Sunshine Award last week.

I have had a little sticky note by the computer, reminding me to thank Julie in my next post…and then I would forget.  So thank you Julie!  :)   I love Julie’s blog because she always posts something positive about her day at the end of each post.

Since this is a feel good sort of post, I have to show you my feel good dessert from last night!  As I’ve mentioned, I am obsessed with the combination of apple, pumpkin, raisins, and cinnamon.  It is my favorite topping on pancakes or french toast or oatmeal, and now, I have found a new favorite way to dish up this yummy combo!

I microwaved the apple, pumpkin and raisins until the apple was soft, then added cinnamon and a couple of packets of Truvia.  Then I put it in the fridge to cool.  A few hours later, I layered the mixture with layers of vanilla Chobani.  Topped with Fat Free Cool Whip, this is a keeper!  I give you….my Pumpkin-Apple Parfait!

Needless to say, I have another bowl of apple and pumpkin cooling in the fridge as I type this! :)   But before I can enjoy my new favorite dessert, I need to digest my dinner.  This makes an appearance once a week because I can’t get enough of it!

Eggplant parm with gluten-free Rice Chex, in place of bread crumbs.  Amazing!  I add some parmesan cheese, some Italian seasoning and 2/3-1 cup Rice Chex to a plastic bag, and then crush it with a rolling pin.  Its a great gluten-free way to get the eggplant to bake up nice and crispy.  I paired my crispy eggplant with steamed spinach, Shirataki noodles, and marinara sauce.  Perfection!

I haven’t sold Dave on a meatless eggplant parm, so he got regular pasta with turkey meatballs and…..crescent rolls!

I have one more night of leftover crescent rolls before I need to open a new canister.  Who wants to come over in a couple days to open the new canister????  I was surprised by how many people enjoy opening these heart-stopping, explosive death traps!  By all means, come over and open them for me…you can stay for dinner!

Gossip Girl is finally back and its been sitting on the DVR since Monday.  I need to take my spot on the couch now.  Enjoy your night everyone!

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Home Stretch!

March 10, 2010 by lessonstolearn

Tonight is my very last microbiology class!  It was 8 weeks of cramming a whole lot of information into my head, but after tonight I am done!  Because there is so much to pack in, the professor gave us the option to take it next week during the school’s spring break.  I was planning to do that, but I think I know it as well as I’m going to, so I am taking the test tonight and I will be done!

I never got to blogging last night.  And as far as dinner goes, there was nothing to blog.  One of the things I am struggling with is the intense hunger of pregnancy.  Unlike anything I have experienced before! On Tuesdays I have a chemistry lecture in the morning and then a 2-3 hour lab in the afternoon.  I packed my usual snacks, but by the time I got home, I was ravenous.  I ended up snacking my way from 4:30 to 5:30 and had no appetite at all for dinner.

On top of that I was an irritable, moody wife by the time I sat down with Dave for his dinner.  Why???? I don’t know!  These hormones are crazy and my wonderful husband deserves a medal for not committing me to the nearest loony bin!  I have always been an emotional, sensitive person, but it feels like all of my emotions are amplified.  An innocent conversation turned me into a weepy mess.  Poor Dave doesn’t know what to say!  Luckily, he’s read the pregnancy books so he knows that the crying and irritability are normal under the circumstances.

Normal or not, I will be glad when my hormones even out a bit.  I’ve heard the second trimester is much better.  I hope that means that the pimples will go away with the crying.  And I hope that the general fat, bloated feeling will be replaced with a nice little rounded belly.  Time will tell.

All of this bellyaching makes it sound like I’m not thrilled to be pregnant….and I am!  But some days are a little rough.  Today, on the other hand is much better.  I haven’t felt sick, the exhaustion hasn’t set in yet, and I ran this morning, which always makes me feel better.  I don’t run as far or as fast or for as long.  But I am grateful I can still run…for now!

I am off to take my test shortly.  But first I have to work my magic with my concealer so that I don’t walk into class looking like I have an infectious case of the Chicken Pox!  I’m still open to any natural acne cures anyone might know of….. I am trying to get lots of veggies, hoping that those antioxidants and vitamins will help clear my skin.  No luck so far, but the veggies sure are good….especially in a salad like I had for lunch.

Steamed spinach and broccoli slaw (mixed with Laughing Cow), with tomato, cucumber, artichoke, salmon, and dried cranberries.  I’m ready to rock this test!  Wish me luck!!

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A Pregnancy Perk

March 8, 2010 by lessonstolearn

Queasy stomach, sore boobs, and moodiness aside, there are some definite perks to being pregnant.  Right now, as I type this, my dear husband (jetlagged after taking a redeye home from LA this morning and working all day), is cleaning the litter box.  What a guy!  Let’s forget for a moment that our cats are indoor cats and there is no possible way they could have picked up toxoplasmosis…. I am listening to what the books say and requiring the husband to do the dirty work.  I have 7 more months of not having to scoop the poop or change the litter…and I am going to take advantage of it!  He’s a good sport.  The job is already done and he has crashed on the couch.

I need to go join my sleep deprived hubby since he has been away for a week.  But I will share with you first my colorful and nutritious dinner.  Salmon, veggies, and acorn squash…

Dave’s plate looked very much the same except he had brown rice instead of squash and a couple of crescent rolls.  Speaking of crescent rolls…. I am going to admit a random, but very real fear.  I hate the crescent roll tubes.  You unroll the paper and sometimes there is a gently pop and the canister open.  Other times, you have to push a bit and then all of a sudden there is an explosion!  There is so much pressure in some of those canisters!  You just don’t know which ones are going to be especially explosive, so as I am unwrapping it, I am holding my breath, hoping it doesn’t erupt.

Tonight, it erupted!

After regaining my composure, I snapped this picture.  The dough is split in all the wrong places, and making the rolls involved piecing half of them back together.

Ah, the things you do for love!  Anything to give my guy his nightly fix!

I’m off to watch last Thursday’s episode of the Office.  I have waited patiently to meet Jim and Pam’s baby.  I promised not to watch until Dave got home. I have to hurry or he might be asleep before I get there!

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Back to Blogging

March 7, 2010 by lessonstolearn

I don’t think I have taken that many days in a row off from blogging before!  I kind of let everything go for three days….  I vistited my mom, ate Cheesecake Factory cheesecake (!!), didn’t sign into my blog once, and didn’t touch any of my school work.  It was wonderful!  But that meant todays was…not so wonderful.

I came home yesterday afternoon with bags and bags from our mother-daughter trip to BJs and Trader Joe’s.  After hauling everything into the apartment (and thinking repeatedly how much I miss having a driveway leading right to my door), I crashed!  I do really well in the morning.  I feel good, I have energy, and have (so far) been able to work out.  But about 2-3 in the afternoon, I crash!  I don’t know what it is about that time of day, but that is when I feel pregnant.

I did nothing after getting home, today, reality hit me hard!  I worked out this morning (feeling good).  I vacuumed (still feeling good).  I dusted (still feeling good).  I had lunch (with a yummy Dr. Praeger’s burger on gluten free bread, I was definitely still feeling good!)

But after lunch I started in on the chemistry…and realized how much I do not understand what I’m learning.  I worked for 2 1/2 hours before I started crying.  At this point it was the dreaded 2:00 hour.  Tired + hormones = crying!  That’s an equation I understand.  Here’s another equation I understand: Pregnancy = PMS X 10

I finally called my brother and left him a message pleading with him to help me tomorrow.  Then I gave up and moved on to preparing my microbiology notes.  I was just starting in and feeling overwhelmed by how much I have to memorize, when Dave called from LA.  I have missed him terribly this week, but you wouldn’t know it by the moody monster who picked up the phone.  Sorry sweetie!  I was kind of a mess.

But I pushed on and ended up being able to prepare all of my study notes for my very last microbiology test!  I had planned to take the test on Wednesday night, but the professor gave us the option to take it during the spring break.  So I am cutting myself some slack and letting myself take it a week from monday instead of on Wednesday.  So unlike me!  But then again….           Pregnancy = my usual productivity / 2.

Dinner tonight was something I had been concoctingin my head while I ran this morning.  I added spinach and tomato to 1/4 cup quinoa and cooked it until the quinoa was done.  Then, once it had cooled, I added Trader Joe’s canned salmon, artichokes, cucumber, and dried cranberries to the quinoa mixture.  It was wonderful!

Its amazing how lots of veggies make one serving of quinoa quite large!

Dessert was inspired by my very favorite French toast topping ( softened apple, pumpkin, and raisins). Remember?

I took that same topping, let it cool, and then added a container of plain Greek yogurt.

I may have also added a generous scoop (or 2!) of fat free Cool Whip to the bowl after snapping this picture!  Its my guilty pleassure!

I have a full day of chemistry ahead tomorrow, and hopefully, my brother can work his magic and help me decipher reaction rates.  But for right now, I am exhausted and am putting my feet up for the rest of the night.

Have a great start to the week!

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A Quick Review and a Happy Birthday to my Mom

March 3, 2010 by lessonstolearn

I’m posting early and quickly today because today is my second to last microbiology class!!!  It was 8 weeks of cramming knowledge in my head, but I think, given the chance, I will take an 8 week class again.  It goes by so quick!  I have my last exam next week, so I have a lot of studying to do this week/weekend.  But then it will be all over and I just have to focus on chemistry and my dietetics class.  And, of course, as Dave likes to say, “growing a baby from scratch!”  That is taking a bit of work too. :)

Since I haven’t eaten anything especially exciting today and since my dinners on Wednesdays consist of several snacks before, during, and after, class…I thought I would do a review for you instead.

A couple of weeks ago, the kind folks at Sequel Naturals sent me a couple of their Vega bars and a couple of their smoothie mixes to try.  They also sent me this book to review :

I am excited to read more of this book.  So far, I have just flipped through it.  It is written by an Ironman triathlete who discovered through his own experience the optimal diet to enhance his athletic performance.  He went on to create the Vega line of supplements and bars.  Now, I am not aiming to do any Ironman race, but I am always curious to read about nutrition tips that will make me run better, farther, and faster (at least I will be in about 7 months or so :)   ).  As I expected, most of his recommendations boil down to eating whole foods, something I can definitely get behind.  And with many recipes included in the book, I look forward to trying some.

I have seen the Vega bars and smoothie mixes on several blogs, so I was looking forward to trying these products.  So far, I have tried all 3 bars they sent.

Honestly, I didn’t notice a huge difference in taste in the 3 varieties.  But that was okay, because I liked them all a lot.  These bars are raw and gluten free, and made with nuts, seeds and fruit puree.  Each bar is about 200 calories and has about out 5 grams of fiber and 9 grams of protein.  When I look at nutrition bars, those are the kinds of stats I like to see.   The bars were soft, which I always love. ( I prefer soft bars to crunchy ones.) And the nuts were finely chopped.  I have always disliked nuts, even though I know how good they are for you.   In fact, I have only discovered a love for nutbutters as an adult.  But to this day, I still do not like nuts…so I love when products include these nutritional powerhouses, but chop them up so finely that I don’t have to be reminded that I’m eating nuts!

I loved these bars and would gladly buy them.  However, off the shelf they are pretty pricey and don’t really fit in my budget. So I will have to look for sales and treat myself only occassionally.

I haven’t tried the smoothie mixes yet.  Its been so cold that I just haven’t had a taste for smoothies lately.  But they sent 2 different packets to try, so I will look forward to reviewing those soon.

I only received a couple of bars and a couple of smoothie packets, so there was nothing to give away after reviewing.  But another company sent me a huge sample to review.  So I will be doing another review next week, along with a giveaway!  Stay tuned for that!

I’ll be blogging from good old Cape Cod tomorrow. I will be heading down after my class because today is my mom’s birthday!!  I have no idea what we’ll do, but that’s the magic of my mom…we don’t have to do anything particularly exciting.  I just enjoy her company so much. “  Happy Birthday mom!  I love you!! :)

Time to get ready for class.  Have a great evening everyone.

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