I have learned many things over the course of my short life. Lessons such as not spitting into the wind or eating yellow snow have proved invaluable. Haven’t they for you?!?! One even greater, however, reminds me that I should never say never. Such a gem of a lesson applies to all things in life.

• Your wellness – never say you will never get past body image, eating, motivation, etc issues. You CAN and with the right mindset and approach you will. I learned that when I busted through my binging issues years ago and continue seeing improvements in how I view and love myself every day.
• Your goals – never say you will never reach a goal. A positive mindset can help you achieve the desired outcome. I never thought I would compete in a fitness competition. I did. And I will continue to work towards new goals with the trust they are worth it. Like my first article or becoming group fitness/personal training certified after this pregnancy.
• Motherhood – never say your child will never watch TV. I simply have to succumb to the virtual babysitter once a day for a mental break right now. I’m okay with that now. After all, my under two daughter already knows all her letters and can count to ten.
• Social Media – never say you will never join Twitter. I succumbed to the call today and am officially tweeting my life away. That’s not a bad thing. Until my husband decides I will have to choose between the computer and him. Don’t worry. He will win in a heartbeat. But..c’mon! It was love at first tweet!

And now a shameless plug – please click on my Twitter Button to the left side of the screen to follow me. Or you can just click here. Another life lesson? If someone puts a cherry on top, you simply cannot say no.

And I could buddy up with Ghandi today because I have yet another important lesson to share. I tweeted about it earlier.

Despite my new styling gel that could rival (Something About) Mary’s, I had a much better day today. I always knew that allowing adults to get under your skin ended up giving the other person the control they wanted. Why wouldn’t this work on toddlers? It does. She got over her “look at me and how naughty I am,” “I’m bored and want to get a rise out of you,” and “ watching your face turn red is funny” moments much quicker today. And I learned cleaning a messy table takes less time than picking yourself up from a mental breakdown. Success!

Now for some advice I don’t have…and  that my ole buddy Ghandi can’t quite give. You all didn’t let me down with your suggestions on what to pick from CSN Stores. There were many recommendations for a quality blender, food processor, or griddle/grill/panini press…all of which we already have. Then a few mentioned a spiralizer and that caught my eye. I finally decided a tofu press would be the best thing to go for…only to find out they don’t have one on their site. I will still take any suggestions you have!

I also need fashion help. Where would you recommend shopping for some nice, relatively inexpensive (like $50 range or less) dresses? I need two dresses that will suit my growing belly to wear to the wedding and rehearsal we are attending in a month. I have looked at Ann Taylor Loft and NY& Co with no real winners. I’m hitting the stores again Saturday with my sister and want to know of some good places to check into. Help!

Now give me a comment..

• CSN stores product to choose?
• Good store to shop at for dresses?
• Do you Twitter? If so, where can I find you if I haven’t already?

Dang hump day! Get out of the way please so we can be closer to Friday. I’m ready for the weekend and a semblance of a break around here. How about you?

You know what? You all bring lots of insight to calorie counting and why or why not it works for you. I agree with the many of you who decided to forego counting and focus on other things in your eating habits. But on the other hand I completely understand the need some of you have to count, such as needing to be more diligent for health purposes, to break past a plateau and using it as a temporary tool, or to be certain of eating enough food. I certainly agree with what a few of you mentioned about being aware of calories in the sense of watching portions or choosing how to ‘spend’ your food wisely, but without needing to count every single one. When I thought about it, I discovered that I eat similarly to that approach.

After years of counting and measuring things to the gram, my brain is a wellspring of useless calorie knowledge. So even though I don’t tally up what I’ve eaten through the day I am still aware of what a proper portion is and how to be sure I have a balanced meal that leaves me satisfied for an appropriate length of time and isn’t more than my body needs. For example, if I serve up a small breakfast and recognize it probably isn’t more than the 300 cal range, I will know I need to add more or be prepared for an extra snack. Or another example would be how during that rough 6-8 weeks of early pregnancy (when I only wanted to eat bland, carby, heavy, greasy foods) didn’t end with me gaining an exorbitant amount of weight because I was still aware of portions and keeping things reasonable. I don’t count, but it’s still there to help me gauge how I set up my meals if that makes sense. Obviously this can be a hot topic for me which I can discuss without end. So I will end with saying if you haven’t weighed in on the topic yet and have something to add, please do so.

Yesterday was a rough day for me. Sweet little M turned into a terrorizing M for the majority of the day. My buttons were in a tailspin from all the pushing she did to them. I like to consider myself a fairly calm and patient mother…not person because I can easily get wound up on other things…but being loving and doting to Ms. Sweetcheeks I can do. Not yesterday! By 1 pm I was calling my sister in tears begging her to come over asap for our weekly get together. Yes, I cried. No, M does not comprehend sympathy yet. So, yes, I cried some more. Hormones, fatigue, and no naps are a recipe for disaster. I’m telling you so you don’t have to learn the hard way.

My sisterly knight in shining armor arrived armed with laughter and great ideas to calm me down. One would be a couple rounds of Friends Scene It! play and the other would be an hour of hilarity watching people join a competition that can only end in needing your jaw reset. <— ABC’s Wipeout

Another knight in shining armor, by the name of Frontier Soups, saved the day. More precisely, dinner. I did NOT want to take the time to cook. Luckily I had on hand an easy to prep soup mix courtesy of the kind people at Frontier Soups. I pulled out the Tortilla Soup Mix for a healthy dinner in 30 minutes.

Very few ingredients, very little prep work, and fast cooking sound perfect to me. Here’s just how easy it was.

Ingredients

• 1 package Frontier Soups Tortilla soup mix
• 2 cups shredded COOKED chicken
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 3 cups water
• 1 cup salsa

How-To

1. Pour chicken broth and water into a 4-6 quart pot and boil.

2. Once boiling, add the shredded chicken and the soup mix to the pot. Stir well. Lower temperature and simmer for 20 minutes.

3.  Add the salsa and stir until evenly combined. Simmer another 10 minutes. Then, you’re done!

Perfect for this Mexican food/taste craving preggo! Filling and healthy. The soup mix even contains all natural ingredients! Who can argue with that?

• What convenience food do you find yourself choosing when necessary? I love having options like these on hand or will do a quick cook all veggie meal if we have good options available, but frozen items will make their appearance as well. Check out my post for quickie meal ideas.
• I’ve been offered a $60 credit to review a CSN Stores product as a thank you for the giveaway I did awhile ago. I have no clue what I want to use it for. What are your favorite kitchen gadgets or other useful household item that you think would be great for me to have? What would you choose? I need ideas!