I work out (like the song) :)

I'm not a believer of the cabbage soup diet or any similar fad diets. I believe you should be able to have everything in moderation.  Moderation being the key word.  Lately, my moderation hasn't been so moderate.

I work out so I can eat.  If you don't count running around after the children and washing floors by hand at least once a week (4 kids, remember?),  I work out hard about 5 hours a week doing kickboxing, cross training and swimming. Perhaps I am overindulging a tad too much lately.  In an effort to lose those last 10 stubborn pounds that have taken up permanent residence on my lower half I've decided I need to cut back on a few things we usually stock.

1.  Diet Coke.  As I sip a diet coke as I type I know this one is a constant struggle for me.  (It is so much easier to grab a cold caffeinated drink in our house.  I don't drink coffee, By the time I get around to drinking my tea,on those days I actually find time to make it, it is already cold...  Mmmm cold tea.  NOT.

2.  Open bags of chips.  I detest Ranch Chips.  However, if there is an open bag of ranch chips laying around it usually takes me about a handful to remember how much I really really hate them.  No more buying chips.

3.  Milk Chocolate Chips.  Mmmmm.  Just thinking about them makes my mouth water. We were going through a one kg bag of milk chocolate chips a week and most of them weren't making it into the cookies or muffins that they were intended for. I even labelled the jar POISON in attempt to thwart any intruders. It didn't work. Jeff and the girls weren't fooled either.  Perhaps the happy face makes it less of a deterrent?  Maybe I need to work on the label a bit, or just not buy them.  I think we'll secretly go back to semi-sweet chocolate chips and I'll record the first person who attempts to eat a handful of those!  Bahaha.

4.  Snacking while making school lunches at 10 pm.  I'm not intentionally trying to become a sumo wrestler but perhaps if I continue down this path you may see my name associated with the sport!  :)

Stacey "sumo mama" does not have a nice ring to it.

I think that about covers it.  I'll keep you posted.  :)

Shopping

I took the boys grocery shopping today.  We didn't need much so I thought we'd be quick. They boys haven't been grocery shopping in a while as Jeff usually does it. Alone. Now I remember why..

They are sooooo fast!  Initially, they were trying to be helpful.  One grabbed bananas so the other would grab bananas.  How many bananas do you need?   All of a sudden it seemed like they were grabbing random things off the shelves and putting them in our cart.  It was like a whirlwind around me.   Our 2 year old even put a head of cauliflower is some unsuspecting elderly lady's cart.  Luckily, we both saw immediately or else she would have had a surprise at the checkout!  (and probably wondered if she was going crazy)

I was putting things back where they came from as fast as I could catch them.  I didn't catch everything.  Finally, almost an hour later we got to the till. I gave the cashier 1 package of freezies and 1 extra box of crackers.  I still managed to come home with the items below that I did not put in the cart.

1 box of Hot Wheels Sugar Water.  I don't think there is any juice in it at all.
1 overripe tomato.
1 whole orange in okay condition.
1 head of cauliflower which had been in the elderly lady's cart.  I felt bad for it and figured we'd use it at least.
1 box of Mario Gummies which I swear I took out of the cart. They somehow made their way back onto the conveyor belt unbeknownst to me.

I forgot to mention the dancing at the till.   I'm glad they had fun. Myself, I would consider it a sanity workout.

I'm hoping not to have to do it again anytime soon.

So beware of little boys around your grocery cart.  You may end up with items you didn't intend on purchasing!