Oh dear Wheel Works....

So I have been posting a lot on Facebook lately about my ordeal with new tires. I thought that I would sit down and type the whole story out, so that anyone who is curious could see what all happened. A year ago last May Alex tells me we need new tires and that he is going to get them while I'm at work. I'm thinking they're a couple hundred dollars, tell him ok and off he goes. $512 later, there are new tires on the car (can you tell I have NO idea what car things cost?) He got 60,000 mile tires (so we wouldn't have to replace them in a while) and also got the alignment tested and adjusted. I was in a major case of sticker shock, but found out that that is just what tires cost. Fast forward to May of this year. We had been getting our oil changed wherever was convenient at the time, didn't have a line, and had a good price, and all of the places we'd gone to rotated the tires as well. This time we went to a place across the street that did the oil change cheaper than we'd found elsewhere, but didn't rotate the tires. No problem! Off to Wheel Works. Now I will admit that I have been checking the air in the tires, and filling them periodically, but I have been paying NO attention to the tread at all. I figure they have at least another year (since we were at 20k of the 60k) before I need to keep an eye on them. I also drove the car far more often than Alex, so he only gave them a cursory glance every once in a while. When he went to take the car in to get the tires rotated he actually looked at them and realized that they were in terrible condition. He talked to the guy at the counter, was told that he would get a pro-ration when we decided to get new tires (since they barely lasted 1/3 of their projected lifespan). While he was there they also did a complimentary alignment check to make sure that everything was ok there, and that that wasn't why the tires went to crap.

Fast forward to the current.

We both knew that tires were coming up soon for us, and thanks to a little unexpected windfall Alex told me that it was time to bite the bullet and get the tires. Unfortunately we found out about this little bit of extra cash RIGHT before he had to leave for 2 weeks to somewhere he has NO cell phone signal. It may sound old fashioned, but he takes car of the car stuff. I put air in the tires occasionally if they need it and I'm at the gas station, otherwise he did the oil changes, dealt with the repair shop when the spark coil went bad (though I was the one insisting that they take it at closing on a Friday so I had a trust able rental car to use that weekend), and all in all is responsible for car maintenance. I have my own tasks that I do. It works for us. I knew that I was going back to work soon, and that it would be harder to get a quote and the work done when I work until 3, so on my last day of summer break my friend Ginger offered to pack up her two kids and follow me to the tire place so that I could leave the car for a quote. When I got to the location the guy asked to go get some specs off my car, he came back a few minutes shaking his head,
"Your suspension is shot"
'What?!?!?!'
"Your back tires are messed up, your suspension is shot"
'Wouldn't I notice that? The car doesn't have /that/ many miles on it, and I don't drive crazy!'
"I'll have the guys take a look at it when it's up on the rack, but I'm telling you, it's shot"
at this point he offered to take me outside to see the cupping on my back tires. I was in shock, I knew I couldn't drive my car if the suspension was broken, this definitely was not in the amount I'd budgeted, and now I'd have to look into getting myself a rental car. We went out to my car and he had me run my hands over the back tires. Though he said that there was a bulge in the tire, I honestly felt nothing. He offered to call me in a couple hours when it was up on the rack so I could feel it. I didn't want to drag my friend and her kids all over town, so I told them that no it would be ok. If they could just run the diagnostics I'd figure out a plan from there. At this point the mechanic offered to put it on the lift now so I could feel. Awesome! It goes up, he spins the tire, feels, spins, feels, puts the car down. When I ask wasn't I supposed to feel as well the associate who'd been helping me rolled his eyes and had the tech put it back up. I felt. I felt nothing. I was told that the alignment check would take 5 minutes if I wouldn't mind waiting. I agreed and we waited, and waited, and waited. Have you ever waited 40 minutes outside, at lunch time, with a hungry 5 year old? And a hungry yourself? It wasn't fun. Finally the associate calls us inside (after conferring with the tech, the monitor, the tech, the monitor, and not us. Which made both Ginger and I go, "Either something is really bad, or nothing is wrong and they're trying to find SOMETHING to blame on me.") Inside I was told that my suspension was fine (I thought so!) but my alignment was off on a rear tire. I asked him to explain and he rolled his eyes saying, "well you said you don't really know anything about cars..." I told him that I was a college educated woman and to give it his best shot. So he gave me a quick run down (which Ginger later laughed at saying that was the version he should have given her daughter, and gave me an in depth, but still understandable version of what alignment is and how it works). When I asked for a quote to replace them he said that unless I could provide proof of every tire rotation, I am not eligible for a prorate. I was less than thrilled to hear this. At this point Ginger asked him some more questions about what was off with the alignment, did it make sense for the wear pattern we had (outside treads on both front tires were almost non existent), etc etc. After they talked for about 20 minutes she asked why he was no longer willing to honor what was told to Alex in the past. He hmmm'd and haw'd and eventually said, "Well I'm not supposed to but I guess I can prorate (which I know means he had the ability the entire time and was still trying to make this all on me). He quoted us a price, and we left (making sure we had the proof of inspection since the alignment check Alex had two months ago isn't in their computer). **After looking at the quote today ($340 with an alignment) I noticed that it says that the prorate will only be honored if I could bring in proof of every tire rotation. Even after saying he would "take care of us" he still went back on his word.

We were headed to In and Out in Union City anyways so Ginger recommended I visit her tire place on the way and get a quote. We went in, guy asked if he could look at the car, came back and started punching stuff into the computer. At this point he told me that the tires on my car weren't rated for the weight of my vehicle, and that that was why they wore down so fast. He quoted me $304 (without an alignment), and said that if I wanted to I could bring my car in every week to have them do a visual on the tires, make sure it was still safe, and if I couldn't afford all new tires they'd find someway to get SOMETHING on there that is safer than what I had. Why thank you America's tires. **After talking with a District Manager for Wheel Works, and looking up online, it turns out the tires were correct. The gentleman at America's tires accidentally wrote down the wrong number for my load index. Human error does happen, however this mix up still doesn't justify what later happened.

Needless to say at this point I was pissed (because I thought the wrong tires were on my car). After dealing with Wheel Works nonsense all morning, and then being told the wrong tires were on my car (something I felt Wheel Works should have noticed that afternoon) I was ready to go in swinging. We left my car there, got lunch, ran errands etc. While we were at my parent's house I decided to call corporate while the information was fresh in my head, they were closed. I got the, not so, bright idea that I should just call the store. They would realize their mistake, and I wouldn't have to involve corporate. So I called, and I got the same guy as earlier. Awesome. I informed him that I had been told that the wrong tires were on my car, and his immediate response was, "No".
I asked him to look in his computer what was in my car,
he clicked through, and read me some numbers and a letter.
I told him that that was not what I was told by another location was on my car.
He asked me to bring it in.
I said I didn't have it at the moment.
He said that the computer says they're right.
I pointed out that the computer also didn't have my last alignment check in it.
He pointed out that I was unable to provide proof of the alignment check (Alex is not good about getting paperwork in the filing cabinet. Love him to death, not a strong point).
I asked if he was implying I was a liar. (PLEASE REMEMBER I genuinely thought that the incorrect tires were on my car.)
We went back and forth like this for a while. One of those little arguments where neither side is willing to give and you just keep asking the same questions and making the same points over and over just in different words. I will freely admit that I was angry during this phone call, I was less patient than I would have been in other situations (by now he kept talking over me which I didn't appreciate), but I was not yelling, nor was I swearing or insulting. There was a 5 year old in the same room as me, and I did not want to say anything inappropriate or raise my voice around her. At this point the sales clerk said,
"M'am I'm sorry that your "condition" has caused you to be upset however.. " and I cut him off
'My "condition" has nothing to do with this!' (I was a bit louder at this point)
I don't know if he said, "Well you're the one who's pregnant" or "You're the one who said you're pregnant" but either way, at this point I lost it. I can't remember what I said, something along the lines of 'My "condition" has nothing to do with you guys performing terrible service. My 'condition' has nothing to do with my tires crapping out. My 'condition' has nothing to do with you guys selling my husband the incorrect tire' Have you ever been so mad that you were incapable of getting words out of your mouth that other human beings would understand? You want to scream and cry at the same time, and they both just seem to get stuck in your throat? I'd seen my mom get to this point in the past, pretty much every time she felt she was getting screwed around by a company, she would become unable to converse with them, and I would take over the phone calls (it's not a secret, she'll admit it, she hates confrontation and doesn't do well at standing up for herself to faceless strangers on the phone, so I do it for her). I had never had this happen in my life. I have been VERY mad in the past, I have had people accuse me of marrying my husband for the benefits, I have been called horrible names (especially when I worked at Mervyns. Customers thought I was a manager since I was in the office, nope!), I have had a woman curse me in Russian (no joke), but I have never been THAT mad before. I in no way shape or form want to even IMPLY that I know what it likes to be hit with a racial slur. I have been called many things, but I have never had anyone insult me based on my race (other than call me a racist for the simple fact that I am Caucasian and they weren't, so of course that was why I was disagreeing with them). But to me, this felt like something equally hurtful. I felt like I was being belittled, and should feel like less of a person simply because I was carrying human life. Like something about carrying a child made me completely void of all reason, and incapable of human interaction. I like to hope in my heart that he didn't realize that the words he said would be so hurtful, but they just made me feel like I was worthless in his eyes, because of the simple fact that I was pregnant. And don't even get me started on how hard I had to work to get in this condition! So I spent all that time, getting myself to worthless. Ginger took the phone from me, told him that he messed up big time, that I was going to corporate, his name WAS coming up, and that we were not going away quietly.

This was the story I told Steve the DM on Thursday when he called me. During the beginning part about the wear, the tires, etc. He occasionally interrupted, politely, to clarify a point or to have me check my tires (this was when we realized the guy at America's tires mis-wrote down a number) etc. He was very "manager"ish. Not wanting to place blame on them, but wanting to make sure I felt like I was being heard. He said that if it was him even without the proof he'd have offered a discount as a teaching point, and to try to keep a customer and get good word of mouth. At this point he had mentioned getting credit for 66% of the cost of the tire (since I'd used 33% approx). Things changed when I told him about the phone call. When I got to the point about "my condition" (earlier in the phone call did the whole, "I want you to see me as a human" thing that all middle management does, asked questions about me that aren't really personal but allows him to share some stories about himself. It came up that I was pregnant, he said congrats and that he had an almost 3 year old and a 5 year old at home) he stopped me mid sentence and said, "He said what? Could you please repeat that?" I told him what he said, I told him how it made me feel, and even then I couldn't keep the emotion out of my voice. I wasn't crying, I hadn't gotten any louder, but I was obviously upset. And his response was, "I am going to say something unprofessional, but I am pissed right now. If someone said that to my wife, heads would roll, and hearing that one of our associates would say that to anyone is making me.. I don't have words". I was very happy to hear that he wasn't taking this situation lightly. We talked for a little longer, he kept apologizing over and over and the 66% that was mentioned earlier was raised to 75% ("I know a tangible offering won't fix an intangible mistake, but I hope that this will at least help you realize that we are taking this seriously") It is possible that he was just mad because the sales associate opened them up to a potential law suit (not that I would over a comment made, but the point is I COULD and whether I won or not, it would have gotten them bad publicity), but the optimist in me likes to think he was upset that one human could treat another like that, and he really did, in that moment, feel how he would have felt if it was his wife whom someone had said that to. Anyways he offered to go to a retail location, run some numbers, and come back to be with a more set price. Later that evening I get a phone call saying that they don't have much on hand in my size (I have small tires, this I already knew). He gave me a few options, but asked if he could call me back the next day after he has more time to devote to checking their warehouses and distributors to find a tire he was "comfortable" recommending. (At this point he had two that he was recommending, and the ones he was leaning more towards was actually the cheaper of the two). He also told me that he wanted to make things right as best he could, and I was getting 100% credit for the retail cost we had paid for the tires (about $280). That SHOCKED me. When I first called, if the tires were incorrect I wanted free everything (since it was 100% their fault)however if they were correct I was hoping for 66% off since I did use 33%. Of course I didn't mention what I wanted, I just deferred the question with, "I don't know what is fair in this situation." so they had to throw out the first offer). I got a phone call back on Friday with a new tire recommendation, and this was the one we went with. 50,000 mile rating (and known in the industry for getting close to that. I did my own research on it as well, good ratings online). All of the specs match what my car needs (confirmed with the door sticker, and the manual). I would still be responsible for labor, gov't fees, and tax. Got the tires put in on Saturday (feel the need to point out I went to a different location to have this done). I had the alignment double checked at the new location, since I didn't trust the old one, and it turns out that I_______ need one. so all in all my grand total was _______.
I have had some people tell me that I over reacted, that he was a dumb kid and it didn't warrant a call to corporate. That I disagree with. If he had called me a bitch, manipulative, or even a liar to my face, that would have been inappropriate, but at least based on our interaction. Instead he chose to make a comment based on my genetics, that is not ok.

Another person argued that if I was ok with America's tires making a human error in telling me that my tires were incorrect, why could I have not used the same logic to forgive them for selling me wrong tires, if they had. The fact is I would have understood the human error on behalf of the original sales man, but after bringing in the car two months ago, and then now, to have that many people not notice that they were wrong would make me question their knowledge on the subject. America's tires mistake just got me madder for an incorrect reason (however it did not make the WW sales clerk make the inappropriate comment, which is what most of my "deal" is based off of), the WW mistake would have been dangerous. Had the tires been wrong we could have gotten hurt in the last year, or any time I drove the car until new tires were put on. I do not want to put myself, others, and my unborn child at risk because individuals were either not trained well enough, or were trying to cover a mistake.

Some have said that I got way too good a deal, I am almost inclined to agree. Of course I'm not going to say, "Oh but please let me pay more." But I was pleasantly shocked when I found out the final agreement (and I never disagreed with any of the previous percentages). Others feel like I should have pushed for more, a free alignment, free installation, etc. I feel like that would have simply been greedy. The fact is I did get a years worth of use out of the tires, hence why I would have been willing to not get comped that 1/3. It breaks down to under $150 for four brand new tires, even if they fell off the back of a truck you can't find a better deal than that, and while I can't put a price on my pride and the part of me that was hurt by the comment, I do feel like they did what they could to try to right a wrong. As for the alignment, an alignment check is supposed to be done every year or 15k miles, or if the car starts pulling, we were past that point, so since the check said it needed to be done, it would have needed to be done regardless, and I never considered that as a comp-able item.

While I will still never go to the Fremont location again, I feel that the DM was a pleasure to work with, and that he genuinely wanted to make the situation right, and I can at least say that management seems to have their act together. I plan on making Alex get all the rotations done at an actual WWlocation so that it is all(in theory) in their system, so I guess the next 50k miles approx will let us know how other locations fare.

	Dear morning sicknesses, I don't know if anyone has passed on the message, but I am just days away from being 12 weeks. That means I am a little over a week away from ending my first trimester. You have been a guest in my presense for 8 weeks now, and I am sorry to say but you have out stayed your welcome. I appreciate you letting me know that the baby is healthy, but you are no longer welcome. Please stop showing up when I wake up, when I cook food, or when I am trying to wipe something down that is the SLIGHTEST bit grungy. The time has come, dear morning sickness, for you to find a new woman to share your gifts with. Please don't take it personal, sincerely, me p.s. Sorry for punctuation and spelling issues, thanks to you the computer makes me nauseus, so this was all done on my phone.

10 week ultrasound

This past Wednesday Alex and I had our first appointment with the OB practice that will see us through out this entire pregnancy. (I had a few cycle issues so we went through a fertility clinic to actually get pregnant, shoot me an email if you want all those details). Anyways, so we went in for our first appointment. They seem like a good practice, a little busy (we had to wait for an US room for 20 min), but all around good. First we talked with the doctor about the pregnancy so far, any concerns I have (I'm hyper mobile in my joints and am already having really bad left hip pain so that is a little worrisome to me how things will progress), health history, etc etc etc. When we finally got our US my eyes were glued on the screen. Alex kept saying that he was going to record this one (since we were bummed that we didn't record the heart beat the first time we saw it) but he didn't... no idea why. Too bad though, because we had another first at this appointment. I was staring at the screen not really able to figure anything out that I was looking at (we had just recently seen the episode of Friend's where Rachel is crying because she can't see the baby on the US picture.. that was how I was feeling). The Dr. pointed out, "here is the head.. and here are the arms" ok.. I was kind of seeing what she was pointing to, but the baby just looked like a teddy bear. No sooner did I say this out loud, it gave a BIG stretch and I could see everything head, body, arms, legs, and the tiny nubs of fingers and toes. I started crying again :) She tried to snap a picture while it was, "looking cute" but unfortunately /just/ missed it. Ah well

So here they are, the pics of my baby/octopus/teddy bear/monkey (and I will fully admit that I was a bit upset that it looked so teddy bear/monkey like so I googled 10week US pictures. I do NOT recommend that!!! I did see some US's that showed me that yes it was supposed to look abnormal, but I also found a ton of pictures from anti abortion websites, not exactly what you want to see when you're up with insomnia.. Ugh!)


Next appointment is in a month, Alex is bummed because he won't be able to make it (Marine stuff), but such is life.

Let's talk about food

Cravings.. or in my case aversions.

I started throwing up 3 days BEFORE I found out I was pregnant. We went to a seafood buffet (that we have since decided we are NEVER going back to ever again) and as soon as we got home that night I threw up my lunch. Actually it almost happened in a mall trash can, but I was able to hold back. We attributed it to bad food, and my predisposition for puking, and ignored it. For a week before that I couldn't get enough jalapenos. Coincidence? Probably, but I was eating those suckers every chance I got. Maybe it was my body's way of letting me stock up on the spicy flavors I loved before everything under the sun started giving me heart burn. The next few days after I found out I was pregnant was when the real puking began. At first Alex thought it was in my head, "You know you're pregnant, you know you're probably going to have morning sickness, so you're thinking yourself sick." So I started texting him a number every time it happened. #1 was inevitably when I was brushing my teeth every morning. #2 would usually be within an hour of me getting to school, and losing my breakfast. etc etc. one day I got up to 8 or 9, and three of those numbers were in suck quick succession that he realized that each in between I was only able to get to the bathroom door before I had to turn right back around. After that he realized it wasn't in my head. All of this started leading to some very odd food choices.

Safe foods:
Sourdough english muffin or sourdough toast: minimal butter, sprinkle of sugar, sprinkle of cinnamon. Would stay down 90% of the time
Yogurt: a God send. So long as it wasn't too sweet I could eat almost every flavor of yogurt. Since I was eating so little I switched to the full calorie non light yogurts (also artificial sugars have been rough on the stomach)
Saltines: I tried the crackers first thing in the morning thing, it didn't help with the nausea, but I could keep crackers down on a consistent basis.
Ginger snaps: same as saltines, didn't really help, but they stayed down most of the time.
Baked potato: honestly I usually threw up about half of it, but for some reason I didn't lose my taste for it. And for some reason I felt like I got SOMETHING from it, maybe because it was heavy and some of it stayed down.

Bad foods:
Eggs: Eggs actually caused my sister in law to call a "code round" on me a week before I found out I was pregnant. We had switched from farm fresh eggs to store bought (just wasn't making it to the farm as often) and I commented that since the switch my scrambled eggs in the morning didn't smell good anymore. That was when she knew I was pregnant. I can eat some boiled eggs, and one or two deviled eggs, but beyond that eggs are off limits. I can't even stand it when Alex cooks eggs.
Cheese: A week before I found out I was pregnant we went to Red Robin after a friend's baby shower. I ordered a cheese boca burger (meant to get garden burger, boca is NASTY) and remember thinking that if the cheese was melted it was going to be amazing, if it was just sweaty it was going to be gross. It was sweaty. After that the thought of melted/partially melted cheese is enough to send me running for the bathroom. I have been able to do cold grated cheese on a salad once (forgot to ask for no cheese) but beyond that, no thank you.
Most meats: I can, on occasion, do grilled chicken or steak but for the most part I haven't been wanting to eat much meat. I still do because I am dreadfully low on protein, but I usuallly wind up heating it up and then passing it off to Alex.
Almond milk: or it might just be chocolate almond milk, I'm not sure. On two occasions this sounded AMAZING. On two occasions I almost didn't make it to the restroom in time. I think I may have just drank it too quickly.
Anything carbonated: heartburn!!!
Water: I have started to master this one. Adding some lemon (a full capfull for my nalgenes, half a cap for a glass) a TON of ice and drinking it slow I can usually drink about half my daily amount of water. Not enough by far, but better than what I was doing in the beginning.
Most fried things: Alex made the awfulest smelling fried mushrooms the other day. He said they were amazing, I had to lock myself in the bedroom.
Most sweets: There will occasionally be an exception, and this is slowly backing off, but for, what felt like, the longest time, the thought of eating anything sweet turned me green.

Foods that have had temporary runs (aka they sounded good for a day or two, but have not really made their way back into regular rotation)
bacon, peanut butter, hot dogs/cheese dogs (nitrate nitrite free), guacamole, lime tostitos, cottage cheese, french toast, ice berg lettuce, fruit loops, ranch dressing (could not get enough of it. Still sounds pretty good but not to the extent before)


Now I am on a slightly more normal eating route. I don't know if the nausea is finally subsiding, but I have found that if I eat small meals every 2-3 hours I do much better. It is funny how foods go though. For example this morning waffles sounded amazing. It was a lazy morning and lazy morning screams waffles. We don't have waffles but I do have a waffle maker, Perfect. I did some googling and found a recipe for waffle batter that said it also worked well with whole wheat flour. Since we could always use more fiber I decided to use the whole wheat flour. But now it doesn't taste like waffles how I'm used to them, and I'm not interested. Lol. I know it's silly, and I am still slowly eating through it because I don't want to waste any. But it's just not the same.

So there you have it, whether you wanted it or not, a little insight into my brain and stomach.

Though right now I think I would do some pretty outrageous stuff for some apple juice. :)

Heaven help me I think I'm adicted to fluff

Now before you start thinking that that is perverse (or that I'm craving peanut butter and marshmallow goo), "fluff" is the slang term for cloth diapers. And I completely blame my addiction on my friend Marni (seriously she is my inspiration in cloth diapering, breast feeding, and toddler baby food making :) Check out her blog she is AWESOME). I'm only two months in and Alex laughs whenever I get on my computer and goes, "Doing more diaper research?" Hehe. Now I do know that I am exceptionally lucky to have a husband who is all for the idea of cloth diapers. I mean here are some stats:(I don't remember EXACTLY where I read these, but the numbers have been repeated multiple times)

• A baby in disposable diapers will create, on average, 1 ton of land fill trash in diapers alone. This was Alex's big selling point. While we don't live "super" green. We still try to recycle everything we can, he has a compost bin outside, and we do the little things like not using 1 time water bottles when we can help it, and using reusable grocery bags.
• Because of the amount of plastic used the diapers are estimated to take anywhere from 200-500 years to fully disintegrate (though we don't know for sure, since we haven't been using disposables that long)
• Disposables cost, on average, $2000 per child. Cloth diapers can range from $100 (plain covers and old fashioned flat diapers. Even cheaper if you re purpose old flannel sheets, receiving blankets, and t shirts) to $500 for the super fancy "Works just like a disposable but you don't throw it away" All in one's. AND you can more than likely use them again with your next kid! (provided that you're not too rough on them, but even if you can't it's still a better price). When you are done with kids you can also sell your cloth diapers on diaper swapper websites. Some people may find that gross, but remember, some soap, a little bleach (or some people say vinegar), some hot water, and some sunlight (nature's bleach) and they are good as new. Most used baby clothes have been puked, pooped, and peed on and we never think twice about it. Personally I haven't ordered any used diapers yet, but I have no problem with used baby clothes, I throw them through the wash two or three times and consider them good. Most polls that I have read have approximately 90-95% of people having no problem with it because of the steps you have to do to "strip" a diaper to make sure that is is not water repellent (several washes in the washing machine to get out any creams/oils or boiling on the stove. You have to do it with new or used diapers, but you should only have to do it once, maybe twice through the life of the diaper unless you have to use a diaper rash cream and choose not to use a disposable liner). Or just don't buy used, it's still cheaper all the way around. You can also try to win cloth diapers as well! Many cloth diapering blogs have fairly frequent give aways of different types/brands of cloth diapers that they have been asked to review. This could be a nice free way to test out a style you're not currently using. (Remember Marni? She has pretty regular give aways of all kinds. I even won a gift card to Victoria Secrets from her, seriously, go visit).
  
• Researchers are currently researching the correlation between disposables becoming very popular, and the surge in asthma. I'm not saying that one caused the other, but the time lines do go together, and no one knows the long term affect of that stay dry gel stuff anyways (we used it to make fake snow at the school I work at)
• Disposable diapers smell "chemically". Yes sometimes they smell like baby powder, but if you pick up the average diaper and just smell it, clean of course!, they smell like chemicals, not something I'd want near my bits and pieces.
• Never having to run out to the store in the middle of the night for a diaper!! Absolute WORST case scenario you have to run a load of laundry and wrap the baby up in a receiving blanket and perhaps a less than fresh cover (but the clean blanket is what is actually touching their parts)
• Less likely to cause diaper rash. Since the diapers breathe, even with water proof covers, babies are less prone to diaper rash. This was a HUGE seller for me. According to my mom I had such terrible dry skin that she had to take me to the hospital because she was worried. I'd love to give my babies a better shot.
• There are kids that are just as convenient as disposables. The all in one diapers have the absorbency built in! All you do is take it off, shake off any solids into the toilet, spray if necessary, and toss in a bucket to wait for wash day. If you don't want to deal with the solids, there are several companies that make biodegradable/flush able liners for the diapers as well. Just toss that in the toilet and all the poop is gone! And let's face it, if you have kids, at some point or another, you WILL have to wash poop out of something. (I've also read that Viva paper towels work really well for that too because they are so thick). Also TECHNICALLY most disposable diapers state on the package that you should put as much solid waste in the toilet as possible, since the sewage system is better equipped to handle feces than the landfill. (Can anyone say poop in the ground water?)
• These aren't your grandmother's disposables! While the pull on plastic pants are still available, the water proof covers are now a poly urethane laminate (PUL) which is VERY waterproof, and has some kind of cute fabric on the outside. Some kids (depending on the system you like) have flannel, cotton, or hemp on the inside layer (the layer that touches the baby) while others you wrap the baby in a separate cloth for absorbency and the liner itself can just be wiped out with a damp wash cloth and used again. Yes I know that PUL is a type of plastic, which goes back to all of the plastic related reasons against disposable diapers, but when you are talking about 8-20 re-usables -vs- thousands of disposables, you can forgive them for the plastic. However if you REALLY don't want to use plastic, wool is also an option! It is naturally water resistant, and dissipates heat really well (down side is that it is more expensive than the PUL ones, but still cheaper than disposables). You can also use polar fleece, the down side is that it is water repellent, not water resistant, so if it is super soaked and they sit down.... their clothes will be wet.
  
• Since the cloth of the diaper doesn't stay "dry" feeling like disposables do with their gel innards, cloth diapered babies, on average, potty train faster because they can "feel" wet. I have read that some moms purposefully use slightly less absorbent fabric towards the potty training years so that the child is able to put "wet" and "toilet" together. Also if they see you, or even help you, dump the solids in the toilet, they figure out that that is where poop goes.

Finally, they are SUPER cute. Here are some that I have already ordered (mostly Ebay, so I've spent very little so far).


Slightly masculine looking "fitted" diapers that will still need a cover. These can be closed with a diaper pin, a snappi (looks like a T with teeth on all the ends) or just wrapped snug and have the cover keep them closed. They were made by a work at home mom, and the price was amazing. I figure I'd rather have masculine stuff on a girl than feminine on a boy (I've owned more than my share of blue and trucks) also since these go under a cover, a girly girl could still have something super feminine on the cover if they wanted.


This is a cover that I am having made by another work at home mom. You would put one of the diapers above (or some old fashioned flats, I have some of those as well) inside for absorbency, this is just the waterproofing part, but man is it cute!! This one is also called a "one size" there are multiple snaps across the waist to adjust there, and snaps in the rise to make it taller. It might not last (size wise) until potty training, but there are always kids in between sizes in disposables as well.



These are both One Size All in Ones. As you can see it has the same snaps as the cover does (side note, some diapers have super strong Velcro called Aplix across the top instead of snaps, it's all a matter of personal preference. I plan on buying some Aplix ones as well, just haven't yet. I'm also talking to a woman who makes them with buttons like in kids clothes). Instead of having to put a separate diaper or flat inside for absorbency it has it all built in.
Pro: most like a disposable diaper, easier to get non cloth diapers to put on your kid. Fastest/easiest to get on a squirming kid, no need for pins or snappis.

Con: More expensive, takes longer to dry (PUL has to be air dried or line dried, the heat from the drier can damage the integrity of the waterproofing).



This is currently my favorite one. It is a Thirsties brand cover. Instead of being a one size (which usually are said to be too big for infants or two small for toddlers) it comes in two sizes (6-18 lbs and 18-40 lbs). They come in several cute prints and colors (aren't those birds ADORABLE) and snaps and Aplix. For covers they recommend you have between 6-8 if you want to do laundry every other day (since they have the PUL you can wipe out moisture, so they will last through several changings without having to toss them in the wash). For the average errands running trip you only need one backup cover and a few flats, saving room in the diaper bag (as opposed to AIOs which are bulky and cannot be reused without being washed). I plan on building my stash mainly with covers, and flats/pre folds (extra absorbency up the middle). I have found several patterns for pre folds and have every intention of making some (also plan on hitting up the thrift store for some flannel sheets and receiving blankets to make some nice warm/super absorbent ones since my little one is due in January). I even say a fitted cloth diaper (like picture #1) made out of a "Fat Tire" t-shirt, so it had the emblem on the hiney. So cute!! I do plan on getting a few different brands of covers, since what works for one person doesn't necessarily work the best for another. But this cover was only $12, so even if it isn't the best and I only use it for laundry day, it's not any worse than buying a different brand of disposables than you normally use, only to find out that they are terrible. (Though I have a sneaky suspicion I'm going to love my Thirsties).


And just because they are adorable, here are some other brands/patterns that I have my eye on




So there you are, a peek into my current obsession. For some people it's furniture, for others it's nursery colors, clothes, little socks, or blankets. For me, it is cloth diapers :)

So I'm having a baby...

Alex and I found out about three weeks ago, but we just had the first ultrasound today. Alex doesn't want me to post allllll of the nitty gritty details of the ordeal we went through to get to this point, but to summarize: It took 11 months and a little bit of medicine to get my cycles normal. Also I would not recommend Reproductive Science Center to anyone. But hey, I got my little octopus out of the ordeal, so it was all worth it. (If you really want to know the nitty gritty details shoot me an email or a phone call, he just doesn't want them up public)

Today I went for the ultrasound. After fighting a major backup on the freeway, and having the wrong appointment time written down (I was off by half an hour in my favor) we finally got to San Jose for my appointment. Up onto the table, and off with the pants. This was a wand ultrasound, so me and the doctor got very personal. First he was showing us the baby, and confirming that there was just one baby in there. Alex made him check a few times, since everyone has been wishing multiples on us. After that he turned on the video so that we could see the tiny heart beat. That was breath taking. I didn't know that something so small, it looked like a little blip on the screen, could completely steal your heart. I knew that they would be looking for the heart beat at this appointment, but everything I read said that you don't hear the heartbeat until after ten weeks. Well everything I read was wrong. As soon as he turned on the volume I was like, "Wait, we get to hear it too???" And he laughed and said, "Well if you stay still." And then I heard it. It sounded absolutely perfect. 150 BPM, perfect. I started crying, and laughing, and throwing off the machine :) Alex and I were both in shock and neither of us thought to take a video of the heart beat until I was putting my pants back on. I will DEFINITELY have to remember that for next time though.

Who knew something that is only a few weeks developed, the size of a blue berry, with flippers and a tail could utterly and completely steal your heart.

The Vegetarian project - day... I've lost track.

I have discovered tofu

When I first started this project I figured I would stay away from "fake meat" I have had veggie burgers before, I like them, but they are expensive and part of this project was to save a little money as well. When I was at the store the other day I was grabbing some salad and it happened to be right next to the tofu section (in my Safeway that is in a bin underneath the refrigerated salad dressings, next to the individual packed celery that is just silly to buy). I was very surprised. It was only $1.99 and that is 5 servings. I hardly ever find meat that cheap so I picked up two packages to see what I could do.

Oh my goodness I am in heaven.

I have cooked with it two nights in a row, and of course have forgotten to take pictures both nights, but here are the recipes I used.

Lemon tofu (like Chinese lemon chicken)

* 1 serving tofu (3oz) pressed (wrap the tofu in paper towels and press between
   two plates with something heavy on top, I used a cast iron pan. Let it press for
   an hour)
* Cut the tofu into small pieces, dredge in a mix of corn starch, garlic powder,
   onion powder, paprika, and cayenne.
* Pan fry in approx 1 Tb of olive oil, cook until tofu is crispy.
* Add 1/4 C water
* In another bowl mix a little less than one teaspoon corn starch with one
   teaspoon hot water. Add 1 Tb lemon juice with 1 Tb sugar (or splenda). Add
   liquid ingredients to the pan with the tofu and cook on low until sauce is thick
   and sticky. Taste test and adjust as needed.
* Serve over rice with some grilled veggies on the side. Enjoy and wish you made
   leftovers.




Hot and Spicy Tofu (been craving Chinese hence why we had it two nights in a row)


* 3 servings of tofu because this time you're going to have leftovers, plus 1 serving
   cooked pork chop for the husband
* Dredge tofu in the same spice mixture as in the Chinese lemon tofu. Cook in a
   little under 1 Tb olive oil that has a little bit of sesame oil added (to equal 1 Tb
   oil)
* After tofu is crispy remove to a plate and cook up your choice of veggies in the
   remaining oil. I voted for red/orange/yellow peppers, a little bit of hot green
   pepper, broccoli (stems and all they are turning into some of my favorite
   veggies), mushrooms, red onion, and garlic.
* In another bowl mix 1 teaspoon  corn starch with 1 teaspoon hot water, 3 Tb
   white vinegar, 3 Tb soy sauce, 1 Tb brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon crushed chili
   peppers.
* Add tofu and sauce back with veggies and cook until sauce is thick and sticky.
* Make up one plate over rice, put two servings over rice in tupperware for future
   lunch, pick tofu out of remaining serving and eat. Add cut up pork chop to
   remaining serving of veggies/sauce and serve to husband over rice.


OM NOM NOM NOM

The strep throat diet

Oh joy oh fun, let me tell you how lovely the last few days have been. It started Tuesday evening, Alex was laying next to me on the couch and he put his hand on my head, "babe you feel warm." 'I'm fine. You're crazy.' Cut forward to 5am Wednesday morning, I woke up feeling like I'd lead a secret double life as a glass eater in my sleep, and I had no voice. I only had a 4 hour shift at work (YAY minimum day Wednesdays) so I decided to just go in.
Stupid.
Stupid.
Stupid.
Around 9:30/10 am I started shivering so bad I had to put my jacket on, while everyone else at work was complaining that the classroom was hot. I'm guessing that this was the beginning of the fever. I spent most of Wednesday on the couch, choked down some macaroni and cheese, and figured I'd be feeling better in the morning. I slept from 9:30-midnight and woke up feeling like it was August during a heat wave. I went out to the livingroom and watching tv until 1:30 (side note, streaming Netflix is the BEST thing when you are sick. You can just pick a show and watch episode after episode). At 1:30 I got back in bed, cuddled my cat (he was sleeping on my pillow) and fell asleep around 2. Up again at 3. Gumby was still nearby so I cuddled him again until 4. Fell asleep and was back up at 5. UGH!! Went back out to the livingroom and stayed there. I called my Dr.s office at 7, and called in sick to work at 730.
Yesterday was TERRIBLE. I didn't want to mask any of my symptoms for the Drs appt so I didn't take any motrin. My fever just kept going up and up and up (maxed at 102.7). I could barely eat oatmeal and the Frosty that Alex brought me (so in love with this man) made me whimper. The Drs appt confirmed what I thought, strep throat. So now I get antibiotics and vicodin. So skip forward to this morning.
After dropping Alex off in San Bruno this morning (he has drill) I stopped at Safeway on my way home. I was in the pajama pants I got for Christmas, a sweatshirt Alex acquired when we were volunteering for the San Bruno explosion, and no bra. I looked hot! (oh yah and hadn't brushed my hair). In the last two days I've barely eaten as many calories as I was eating in one day for my diet amount, that isn't counting the extra calories needed to fight the sickness, and to counter the lack of sleep. So I walked the aisles looking for anything that may whet my appetite. I know that people say that all you need is soup and tea when you're sick, but I have that in my house already and not once did it sound good. So here is what my haul looked like

(ignore the wine bottles, they just hang out on my counter). We have pasta roni, white cheddar macaroni and cheese (I have regular at home, but right now it just tastes funny), boxed alfredo pasta mix, cheesey broccoli rice, greek yogurt (to help counter the antibiotics on the stomach), avocado, better than buillon in vegetable base (I also have this in chicken, this stuff is AWESOME. It really is better than buillon cubes, and I like it more than canned/boxed stocks), tapioca pudding (my home made tastes better, but this is FAR easier), Jello mousse temptations (it was on clearance, not too bad), apple juice, lemonade (I read in a lot of places that warm lemonade feels good so I'll give that a shot), fudgecicles, chocolate sorbet, and peach sorbet.

So far, even with all this yumminess I've only managed one tapioca and one pudding (was curious if they were any good, I normally make both of these at home) and a little bit of juice, and that was after taking half a pain pill. Well if nothing else maybe this will help me finally break my 200lb plateau.

The vegetarian project - day 5

I have found a new recipe I love!! Alex and I are eating dinner right now and he piped up "you should totally blog this" sorry no pictures since I'm eating it as I type.

From Allrecipes.com

• 1/2 cup dry lentils I had some red lentils left over from some jarred soup mix I made for Christmas so I used those
  
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained drained well!!!
  
• 2 tomatoes, chopped I used regular tomatoes, if I make it again in non-tomato season I'll use canned, they taste better right now
  
• 4 green onions, chopped Two green onions and a hand full of diced red onion. (I throw red onion in my lunch salads so I have a tupperware of it in the fridge)
  
• 2 minced hot green chile peppers Used canned peppers, also to go with the tomato comment might just use canned tomatoes with peppers
  
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped Don't like, didn't use
  
• 1/2 yellow bell pepper, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 lime, juiced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro Mom's allergic so I didn't grow up with cilantro, and don't really like it. I read in the comments that some people used mint so I used that instead.
  
• salt to taste
• onion powder
• garlic powder
• cumin
• crushed red peppers
• sliced black olives
• handful of spinach shredded
  
• a tiny amount of feta cheese (adds almost no calories bc of how little I used, but adds flavor)
  

Directions

1. Place lentils and water in a pot. Bring water to boil, reduce to simmer. Cook for 30 minutes or until tender.NOT thirty minutes!!! That is why we are eating at 8 pm, I cooked them for 30 min and they turned to mush and I had to start over. Mine took 10 min tops.
   
2. In a medium size mixing bowl combine lentils, chickpeas, tomatoes, green onions, green chilies, bell peppers, lime juice, olive oil, cilantro, and salt to taste. Toss well. Chill for 20 minutes. Serve chilled.

I served this over 2/3 C (all my other measuring cups are dirty) brown rice. It tastes kind of like salsa over rice, with the added creaminess of the garbanzo beans and the nice zing of the lime juice. For Alex I gave him more rice, next time I'll probably cook up some chicken or pork for him to go with it. I don't need him losing any more weight on me. :) With the salad and the rice it sits right around 300 calories.

_________________________________________________________________
Since I posted my dinner, I figured I'd post my snack today too

1 serving fat free sugar free chocolate pudding made with fat free milk
5 frozen strawberries (no the exact number does NOT matter, that is just what I defrosted)
2 Thin Mint girl scout cookies
2 Tbs Cool Whip (I bought the off brand bc you got twice as much for half the price, they didn't have light though. Oh well it adds 25 cal/2Tbs. I think I'll live)

Put half the chocolate pudding in a wine glass
Slice the strawberries and add on top
Put second half of chocolate pudding on top
Crumble half a Thin mint on pudding
Add Cool Whip
Crumble second half on top
Eat remaining cookie :)

210 calories (170 if you don't eat the second cookie)
and Yes something about eating it out of a wine glass just feels extra special, a martini glass would achieve the same effect. It also doesn't make the serving look pitifully small (like it does if you put it in a cereal bowl)

The vegetarian project - day 3

Well today I feel much more prepared for the upcoming month and a half. We went to the grocery store :) Now I know that I could have fulfilled this with the stuff that we normally buy, but I tend to get less than enough protein when I do eat meat, so I wanted to make sure that that number wouldn't dwindle down to almost nothing now that I am temporarily not. We got several flavors of yogurt (I put vanilla in my morning smoothies, and use plain to make sauces already, but flavored varieties just sounded yummy, and I had a coupon). We also got several different types of beans, both canned and dry. (Once again we had beans in our pantry already, but I know me, and I'll want some variety).

Breakfasts have been easy to convert as they were pretty basic already. My smoothies needed no altering, and the breakfast burritos only needed to have the bacon removed. Breakfasts on the weekend are usually non existent, or cereal, so no issues there.

Lunches aren't that hard either. For the last two or three weeks I have been taking salads to work for lunch, to convert these over I simply stopped bringing the meat to put on top and tossed some cheese on there instead (the salads are so low in calories even with the meat that I deem it necessary to replace those calories).

Dinners are where things get creative. Since I've been dieting I've been cooking all the dinners anyways. Alex knows how to cook, and he is a good cook, but he doesn't remember to measure the amount of ingredients he uses. Our dinners prior to the challenge were fairly straight forward, 3 oz of some kind of meat (I weigh and individually wrap portions in parchment as soon as I buy meat, makes it WAY easier to cook for jsut two people), vegetables, and a starch. The last two nights, and two lunches (I eat lunch at home on Wednesdays, and I'm eating the last serving of this right now) it's been brown rice with a little bit of jarred Alfredo sauce, and stove top grilled veggies. It is delicious. filling, and an easy dish to add or subtract calories from depending on where I am at the end of the day. If I need a few more calories the veggies are cooked in butter and get a sprinkling of cheese, if I need fewer I use Pam and more seasoning. Tonight we are having Moroccan garbanzo bean wrap things from the recipe on the can. I'm hoping it turns out yummy :)

The vegetarian project - day 1

Yup you read that right, I have decided to forgo meat for a little over a month. Alex and I were talking about what we were going to give up for lent (despite the fact we're not catholic). He chose swearing, and I chose meat. I know that lent doesn't start until next Wednesday, but since I already know that I am going to break the rule on Thursday for a mass consumption of corned beef, so I decided to start a week early to make up for the day off.

Today I had a fruit smoothie, a salad (my go to lunch for the past month and a half), and dinner was brown rice with sauteed mushrooms, roasted garlic, and alfredo sauce, with a side of broccoli and asparagus.

I'm WAY down on my calories for the day, and I am a little hungry, but I'll have a snack in a bit.

Here's to seeing how my body likes no meat until Easter :)

I'm hitting a brick wall

With my diet today. This is the first true "hungry" day that I have had since I officially started about a month ago. I think it is because I'm sitting at home with nothing better to do, but I am STARVING. I had breakfast about 4 hours ago, so I just ate lunch, but I want nothing more than to just re-eat my entire breakfast, and lunch all over again. It doesn't help that when I go to make myself something (that has been carefully thought out to get the maximum amount of flavor for my calories) I find that Alex has eaten half of the ingredients I was hoping to use. The loaf of bread we bought that I've only had 2 slices of? Just heels in the pantry. Sorry I'm not wasting calories on heels. The turkey lunch meat that I've had none of? Gone. Same with the cheese. HARUMPH!!!! The lettuce went twice as fast as normal because he would make himself big salads (and then not finish them) and we are out of eggs because he decided to hard boil 12 at one time (not that I don't like hard boiled eggs, but why tie up a full dozen on only one preparation??)

Ok bitch fest over. On a plus side of all of this, I have lost 14.5 lbs since my birthday. I am half a pound away from goal #1 (goal #1 changes the number my weight starts with AND takes me from obese to simply over weight). I am 10 lbs away from goal #2, the weight loss goal my Dr. set, and half way to my ultimate goal. I know that it is worth it to be a little hungry every once in a while, and that I can just go grab an apple, celery, carrots, or even have a more substantial snack since I'm only half way to my calories for the day. Just feeling a little grumpity at stupid husbands who can eat crap all day and still lose two pounds.

Wordless Wednesday

Us:

Wordless Wednesday

Him: