the pregnant brain

is definitely taking over. At least that's my latest excuse. I used to be able to blame the rigors of school and planning a wedding. Then all I had to fall back on was the color of my hair. When D left last year, I had a ready-made excuse to be scatterbrained again. Then he came back, and I was excuse-less once more. Until now.

example number one: this morning, I told D he could have the shower once I finished rinsing the water out of my hair.

example number two:
Last week, I made an appointment with the local WIC office to see if I was eligible for a "grocery supplement." They gave me a short list of what to bring, and told me where to go. I wrote everything down like a good little girl, including directions, and put the paper somewhere safe. So safe, in fact, that I have yet to find it. SO, on Tuesday while I was getting ready for this appointment, I decided to call a few of the WIC offices to confirm my appointment, figuring that once one of them said, "yes, you have an appointment here today," then I would know where to go. Well, they won't confirm appointments over the phone, so I had to trust my intuition. Bad idea.

The first office is located right outside the main gate. Very convenient. Unfortunately, that's not where my appointment was. Too bad, because I would have been 10 whole minutes early! The distribution center was my next destination. Luckily, it turned out to be the right place, and I was only 10 minutes late. Irritating to me, but nobody else seemed to mind.

The appointment went well; I forgot to bring proof of residence, but they let that slide. The second problem was with proof of pregnancy, since our insurance co. took the only doctor's note that I had. I tried to show ultrasound pictures as proof, but I guess that isn't good enough. Luckily, they let that slide as well, provided I brought a note and proof of residence before attempting any more pickups. No problem. Once the paperwork was complete, I was informed that I didn't qualify, since D makes too much (wow! there's a first for everything!). The lady conducting the interview told me to go on to the nutritionist anyway, just in case.

After studying both my list of what I'd eaten for the past 24 hours (including homemade whole wheat bread with real peanut butter, and real pineapple, yum) and my iron count, the nutritionist decided that I did qualify after all. Apparantly, I was missing one serving of fruit and had a low iron count (11.6 out of 12).

Since I was already at the distribution center, they let me make the first package pickup, which was an experience in itself. I never realized that WIC food came with choices! I am now the proud owner of:

*15 quarts of milk (the kind that comes in boxes, like soy milk does. Little bit of an aftertaste, but I think it'll be fine for homemade yogurt)
*24 oz. peach/grape juice (yum!)
*24 oz. orange juice (kinda weird tasting. Like tang, only not)
*24 oz. pineapple juice (haven't dared on this one yet)
*1 lb. black beans (good thing, I couldn't find them in our excuse for a commisary, and I've been craving* cuban black beans and rice for a couple of months now)
*16 oz. montery jack cheese (maybe my new favorite)
*16 oz. cheddar
*48 oz. liquid eggs (good thing I like to bake)
*1 big box of dry milk
*3 boxes of cereal (including a couple of brands I don't buy because they're usually too expensive!)

yay. Our government really does do things right sometimes.
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*well, I don't really have cravings so much as I think about foods that I haven't had in awhile, and I keep thinking about them every once in awhile until I have them. For example, I thought about french fries for about 3 months before finally asking D to pick some up on his way home from work. I am currently thinking about a small hot fudge ice cream sundae. I don't think I'll wait 3 months this time.
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ps: before anyone (ahem, mom. ahem, Dr. Sam) complains about my diet, I am a VERY healthy eater, overall. Goodness knows I've done enough food diaries for various classes to prove that =)