I am just that old

The other day, as I lay awake tossing and turning in bed, it hit me: I couldn't sleep because I had drunk a cup of coffee that afternoon. How could it affect me? I have always been an afternoon coffee drinker, although I've gotten away from the habit now that my afternoon commute is shorter. And then I realized: I can't drink caffeine late in the day because I am just that old now.

It has been coming for a while. Subtle lifestyle shifts here and there have led me down this path, and how, here I am.

A few ways I know that I just that old:

1. No full caff. in the afternoon.
2. I had Lasik ten years ago, and now I need glasses again. 
3. I have to wear makeup now. I made this realization on a day that I, unfortunately, did not wear makeup to work. I look so old and tired that I don't think people can even take me seriously.
4. I think I am getting jowls. If nothing else, I am fuller in the cheek/chin area. I also wake up puffy.
5. I constantly age-up my family. I practically assaulted Beth when she registered as 30 for a race we ran this spring, and accused her of lying. The whole ugly incident only took a minute, but for that minute, I couldn't believe that I was that much older than her.  And I always say Tim's age as one year older than he really is. For the record, he is only 33 now, and he just turned 33. I was 32 when Oli was born and that seems FOREVER ago.
6. I pee when I run and exercise. Forget laughing.

I'm sure that there is more, but of course I can't remember them, because I'm old!

The laptop Lunch

The other day I mentioned that I bought a laptop lunchbox to try to keep Mac eating healthy at school. Her Teacher has a morning snack policy, which means that the kids can take out their lunches and start eating them in the morning. I hate it b/c Mac goes through more snacks this way, for no reason (although if I was in her class, I realizable I would totally appreciate this policy). Anyway, hopefully the the portions will provide ample snack for morning and lunch. And I like that I was able to incorporate items I wouldn't normally put in b/c now, instead of being thrown in a baggie, they will be
protected, and also have the illusion of being a "side dish."

Mac is super excited now. We'll see what comes home uneaten.

In the spirit of not wasting...

How do carrots go from this:

to this:

to this:

The magic of a juicer! On the heels of my last post about wanting to be healthier and more economical, I have found a great ingredient in the mix. I got a juicer for Christmas, and have been making fresh juices for the last few days. Carrot is a staple ingredient, and I have mixed spinach, apples, oranges and ginger in it, too. It tastes great, but takes a surprisingly large amount of fruit to make a glass of juice. So maybe in that way, it isn't economical. However, the fruit and veggies produce pulp, which gets left behind in the juicer. So, I drink the juice, and then use the pulp for baking later. Although I try to keep us away from too many sweets, I have started to think that baking treats with fresh and sometimes organic ingredients is better than sending the kids off with a store bought snack, even if it is a 100 calorie pack, all of which have a surprisingly high amount of fat. (BTW -- I realize this sounds both crunchy and pretentious all at the same time, but believe me, we have our share of sam's club snacks in the house. How else would I know about the fat content in a 100 calories snack?)
Last week, I used a recipe from the Deceptively Delicious cookbook to make carrot muffins. They were okay, but not a hit with the kids. Last night we made these no bake oatmeal raisin carrot cake bites. They were more of a hit.
So, Mac enjoyed the carrot cake bites, I got my juice, and we didn't waste any food. All is good.
However...
Mac only got 3 of the 18 carrot cake bites. Tim and I ate the other 15! And we ate all 12 muffins last week in 24 hours. And the cookies I made two weeks ago, we finished almost all 24 of those in less than 24 hours. I have gained at least 2 lbs. from my "healthy eating experiment" and there are never any snacks left past the next day to pack in Mac's lunch!
And speaking of experiments -- I tried a new fried rice recipe with frozen trader joe's dumplings tonight. Mac literally spit her first bite back onto her plate (we are currently addressing table manners). Granted it was the dumplings and not the rice, but the rice wasn't much better received.  She ate what she had to eat to get dessert, and not a bite more. And you can imagine what happened to the rest.
That's right -- Tim and I ate it.