Miscellaneous Updates

Okay, we'll see how this goes, but I'm going to try to catch the ol' blog up on what's been going on with us since February. I'm officially the worst/laziest blogger ever, and I'm pretty sure that everyone who has my blog bookmarked already knows the major details of our lives lately, but it just feels too crazy to skip ahead without recapping the highlights. So to borrow from Wendi, here are a few miscellaneous paragraphs of updates, in no particular order:

So Cody decided not to be a State Farm agent after all. :) This was a pretty big, hairy decision for us, but one that we feel really at peace about. He was about halfway through training (top of his class and knocking everyone's socks off, of course!), but with each passing day, he felt more apprehensive and nervous. A certain level of that is to be expected, but there comes a point when you have to wonder if maybe you should trust your gut. Once he made the decision to drop out of the program, we felt SO much more at peace. Of course, it helped that he had a job to go right back to with Brent Allen SF, but really, it was more than that. It's scary to walk away from a plan that you've had for years, but it's was really great to see the joy come back to Cody's face after months of anxiety and self-doubt. So no State Farm agency for us, at least not now. But if you need insurance in the state of Texas, Cody can still hook you up!

I guess the other big news is that I'm pregnant! I'm about 18 weeks along now, and we'll find out the gender a week from Friday! We're really excited, and I feel so blessed to be having such a mild, pleasant pregnancy! No morning sickness (just a few weeks of light nausea), no weird cravings, and even no falling asleep driving to work - even after cutting out my morning cup of coffee!! I was pretty tired for a while there, and between working and commuting to work, I was pretty useless domestically, but now that I've got my energy back, I really have no excuse to not be cooking, cleaning, and exercising. So... I guess that means I need to drive to HEB tonight instead of watching TV? Bummer. :)

One super fun thing about this pregnancy is that my sister-in-law Charis is also pregnant (with her third child, and first girl!) and due about 10 weeks before me. Her pregnancy announcement was actually what kicked us into baby-making gear - our kid needs a cousin his or her age!! - so we're super grateful that we were able to get the job done so quickly and our kids will be in the same grade growing up.

I'm sure there's more to say about baby stuff, but I'm going to wrap this up for now and find a snack - for the little baby, of course. :) But other things I need to blog about are: my transition to veganism, how much I love our huddle, and of course, our sweet puppies. Oh, and I need to take a belly picture for my mom, so I can probably post that as well. :) If I ever get around to it! Maybe I'll just wait until it really looks like a baby and not just like one too many cookies...

A Recipe I Love!

I don't usually have much to blog about, but I figured I should get something new on here for 2010. :) So in the spirit of Valentine's Day, I thought I'd post a recipe that I love! I've been making this for years as a nice healthy snack/dessert - it's filling, chocolately, and full of protein! What more can you ask for?

So here it is:

Chocolate Cottage Pudding

Ingredients
2 cups (16 oz container) fat free cottage cheese
2 cups skim milk
1 (six-serving) package chocolate instant pudding mix, fat free, sugar free

Directions
Mix cottage cheese, milk, and pudding mix in blender until smooth. It takes some work to get all the chunks out, but if you just keep stirring & blending, it will get there. Refrigerate until it's set (which doesn't take long). Makes 8 half-cup servings.

This is slightly thicker and tangier than regular instant pudding, almost like a cheesecake flavor. In fact, this would probably make a good pie filling or trifle layer! Half a cup makes a great snack or dessert - a full cup serving will really fill you up!

And since I like this because it's healthy, here are the nutrition stats for a half-cup serving:
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 61
Total Fat: 0.3 g
Cholesterol: 4 mg
Sodium: 40 mg
Carbs: 6 g
Dietary Fiber: 0 g
Protein: 8 g

Hope you enjoy!