Zaboga’s Neighborhood

Thanks to Scrivener for his tireless efforts in putting up the Friday5.org questions each week!

1. What are your feelings about milk?  I haven't had real milk in years. Ever since I discovered soy milk, you'd be hard-pressed to find a carton of milk in my refrigerator.
   
2. What are your feelings about cheese?  I love cheese, especially Gorgonzola, Bleu, Feta, Parmesan, Mozzarella, heck... almost any kind of cheese, as long as it's not too stinky.
   
3. What are your feelings about yogurt?  I love yogurt, too, but don't eat it nearly as much as I should. Probiotics are good for you. :)
   
4. How do you feel about soy milk?  Totally dig soy milk. I drink it daily with my cereal and cook with it when the recipe calls for milk.  Costco Plain Organic Soy Milk FTW!
   
5. How far are you from the nearest cow?  Who are you calling a cow?
   

Admittedly, I've been totally slacking on the Friday 5's.  But, never too late to begin again.  Here's this week's Friday 5:

1.  What kind of out-of-school lessons did you take as a kid?  Okinawan dance, hula, ukulele, Japanese school

2.  What valuable lesson did you learn this past week?  A tired baby is a VERY unhappy one.

3.  Who in your life really needs to be taught a lesson?  My neighbors (very irresponsible and inconsiderate dog owners) who are disregarding the house rules of our townhouse association by relieving their dog on property in the common areas -- namely, right outside my window. Grrr.

4.  What kinds of lessons would you love to have a private teacher for right now?  Japanese language, Adobe Illustrator, Chinese brush painting, web programming.

5.  What steps have you taken to lessen the impact of these rough economic times?  I've been trying to shop smarter by going to Costco for items that we frequently use and buying locally grown produce at the farmer's market, which is usually cheaper and fresher than buying from the supermarket.

1. What’s your favorite frozen heat-and-eat food?  Due to the high sodium content in most heat-and-eat foods, I generally don't partake in them. However, before I was conscious of nutrition labels, I used to enjoy Hot Pockets: Pepperoni Pizza and Ham & Cheese. 
2. How sensitive are you to cool temperatures?  Being from Hawaii, I'd say I'm pretty sensitive to cold, mainly because I haven't been exposed to freezing temperatures with the exception of my visit to Sapporo Japan a few years ago.  It's been chilly in Hawaii lately and I have been LOVING it.  I'm usually on the warmer side, but I have to admit that there have been a few nights lately when I've had to don a pair of socks to bed.
   
3. How many ice-cube trays are there in your freezer?  4
   
4. What aspect of your life seems to be frozen in place?  My career, since I just resigned from my job at the end of February 2009.  My new job: stay-at-home mom.
   
5. What’s your favorite blanket like?  I don't have a favorite blanket, but I prefer cotton blankets. No satin edging or fancy-shmancy stuff, either.

Courtesy of Friday5.org.

1. How often do you get paid?
   I don't get paid anymore.  I work for love. As of today, I am officially a full-time mommy. (Today is my official resignation date.)
   
   
2. Do you tend to splurge a little on (or shortly after) pay day
   Not so much now, since we're on a pretty tight budget due to being a one-income family and it's much harder to do date nights with a 4 month old baby.  BB (before baby) when we were DINKS (double-income no kids) and we had "disposable income," the answer would likely be yes.  It would usually entail a nice, sit down dinner with the Hubby and if we had the time, we'd catch a movie or go shopping.
   
   
3. What are the few days leading up to pay day like for you?
   Usually no different than most other days, unless it was the week our mortgage was due. Then, maybe we'd have to curtail spending a bit.
   
   
4. If you had the option, would you like to be paid daily for each day’s work?
   Probably not since it's so much easier to spend that way. I'd have a difficult time saving up each day's wages for the bills at the end of the month.
   
   
5. When did you get your first paycheck and what was it for?
   I think I was 14 years old and my first paycheck was for correcting math papers at the neighborhood Kumon facility.
   

It's been a long time since I've been tagged to do a meme. This one is by Ryan, so let's give it a shot...

The rules are--

1. Link to your original tagger(s) and list these rules in your post.

2. Share seven facts about yourself in the post.

3. Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.

4. Let them know they’ve been tagged.

1)  I regularly freak out when I'm too busy to keep the house as clean as I would like.  It happens about once every week and a half to two weeks.  That's when Hubby steps in, takes care of the baby for a couple of hours, and lets me do my whirlwind cleaning frenzy.  Imagine the Tasmanian Devil, but with a vacuum cleaner.

2)  I secretly love casseroles.  Okay, maybe it's not so much of a secret.  If there's a potluck, you can bet I'm making some kind of casserole.

3)  I have a low tolerance for television. I can only usually watch one show, maybe two tops, before I start to get TV'd out.

4)  I don't aspire to be rich, famous, or successful in my career. My goal in life is to raise Baby Champuru to be an asset to society, to love the Lord, to be a blessing to others, and to be happy with herself.  I am hoping that raising baby can be my full-time "job," at least until she starts school.

5)  When I was a child, I believed that I would never have a baby of my own. Thank God I was wrong.

6)  When I met Hubby, I just turned 18 and he was 25 (turning 26 in a month).  He thought I was older and I thought he was younger.  We wondered if 8 years was too much of a gap to make a successful relationship. 17 years later, the age difference is completely inconsequential now.

7)  In high school, I was a rocker geek. A typical outfit: rocker t-shirt, jeans jacket with a Stryper patch on the back, plaid shorts, converse hightops, and Bon Jovi hair.  I had my own "style" and took pride in refusing to follow trends.

If you're reading this, consider yourself tagged. ;)

I consider myself an animal lover as much as the next person, but sometimes I think PETA goes too far.

PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an organization that lobbies for the animal rights, recently sent a letter to the founders of Ben & Jerry's ice cream urging them to replace the cow's milk used to produce their ice cream with breast milk.

They're concerned about the welfare of dairy cows -- but what about the welfare of the women producing the breast milk?  Does animal rights trump human rights?

Sure, we all know "breast is best," but really, would you eat ice cream knowing that it was made from human breast milk? 

I intend to breastfeed Baby Champuru for at least 6-12 months, knowing the health benefits for her.  But would I consider spiking Hubby's breakfast cereal with my breast milk or using it to cook up some corn chowder for the next family potluck?  Um, no.

Honestly, I'm not sure what it is that freaks me out about it.  I mean, if it's good enough for my baby, why wouldn't I consider consuming it myself?  I'm not sure, but it just seems so... wrong.  What do you think?

If Ben & Jerry’s decided to go with PETA’s suggestion, I guess they’d have to change their logo, now wouldn’t they? I wouldn’t want to imagine what that would look like.

Today I went to the Kapiolani Medical Center for the Sweeter Choice program, designed for expectant mothers diagnosed with gestational diabetes (GD).  We met in a small conference room adjacent to the hospital cafeteria where we learned the basics about gestational diabetes (what causes it, potential risks to the baby if left unchecked, and how to manage it), how to monitor our blood sugar levels, and a dietitian explained all about portion sizes and healthy eating.

They gave us each a blood glucose monitoring system (OneTouch Ultra) and showed us how to use it.  They also had us each take turns doing a test with the nurse observing closely to ensure that we could perform it properly to get accurate results.  A few women were very hesitant to do the needle poke, but ever since going through IVF and being poked everyday for months on end with much bigger needles than that, it didn't phase me at all.  My blood glucose measured at 78 -- but that was about four hours after my last meal, so it wasn't a good indication of my levels.

They also fed us a hearty lunch to end the class: meatloaf with mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli, salad with French dressing, assorted fruits, sugar-free jell-o, and a small carton of milk.  It was more food than I could eat, but the instructor said that it was a good example of a healthy meal within our GD guidelines.

Two hours later, I took my first reading and it was a bit high at 134.  It's supposed to be less than 120.  Tonight, two hours after dinner, I took my evening reading: 123.  Better, but still higher than it should be.  I have a feeling that this isn't going to be easy.  I just hope I can manage the GD with diet and exercise and that I won't have to go on medication.

Recommencing my food and exercise diary and also including my blood sugar levels:

Breakfast:  Special K with Strawberries cereal with milk
Lunch:  Meatloaf with mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli, salad with French dressing, assorted fruits, sugar-free jell-o
Snack:  Glucerna mini snack bar
Dinner:  2 pieces of shoyu chicken, brown rice, salad, a small serving of salsa and tortilla chips
Dessert: Sugar-free jell-o
Late night snack:  Glucerna mini snack bar

Exercise: 2 mile walk, 5:30 - 6:15 pm

Blood Sugar Tests:
(Guideline is less than 90 fasting and 120 after meals)
Fasting: none
Breakfast: 78 (not accurate, taken 4 hours after eating)
Lunch: 134 (high)
Dinner: 123 (high)

Not sure why, but around this time (11 pm), I start getting the munchies.  It's driving me crazy.  I think I need to buy some caffeine-free diet soda to stave off the hunger at these odd hours so I don't go nuts and eat something I shouldn't.

The other night, I drank a Coke Zero close to bedtime.  That was a mistake.  It kept me up until 1:00 am and I was completely hanging the next day.  Not good.  Not good at all.

For now, I guess I'll drink a glass of water and imagine it's something yummy,

I know, I know... it's all starting to look the same.  I can't wait to attend that class next week. Hopefully they'll provide me with some sample meal plans and recipes.

Breakfast:  Glucerna Crunchy Flakes n' Strawberries cereal with milk
Snack:  Glucerna oatmeal raisin mini snack bar
Lunch:  Chicken donburi from Sushi Man with just a few bites of white rice
Snack:  Healthy Choice sugar-free fudge bar
Dinner:  The last 2 pieces of leftover shoyu chicken, brown rice, salad, diet cherry coke
Dessert:  Carb Watchers ice cream bar
Late night snack:  Sugar-free jell-o

Breakfast:  Glucerna Crunchy Flakes n' Strawberries cereal with milk
Snack:  Glucerna oatmeal raisin mini snack bar
Lunch:  1 pc. shoyu chicken, brown rice, salad, beets
Snack:  Healthy Choice sugar-free fudge bar
Dinner:  Whole wheat pizza with spinach and garlic, diet cherry coke
Dessert:  2 pieces of sugar-free chocolates
Late night snack:  Sugar-free jell-o

Exercise:  1.5-mile walk