Hello, Beautiful.

The Bissell. With TurboBrush. Bed Bath & Beyond had them for $170, Costco had them for $85. This is what Kris' hard earned money is buying and wow does our carpet look amazing.

The answer to a dirty white kitchen floor: Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Mop (right) and Mr. Clean "Classic" Squeezy Mop. Both under $15 each.

A Befloor and After:

Bliss. Now if only everyone would go away so it would stay like this HAHA

Weaning Day 1: Yeah, Right.

Yesterday was my baby's 15 month checkup appointment. When she was a tiny baby she had the chubbiest thighs and this booty that her pants wouldn't fit over. I really thought she'd be off the charts in the height and weight department (repeat after me: its not a contest. its not a contest. its not a contest.) but ever since she started walking her clothing started falling off of her and she has turned into this picky eater who only likes raisins, black olives, and edamame!

The doctor did not like what she saw after we had wrestled Autumn on to the scale and gotten an average of the three attempts. She had only gained 4 ounces in three months and had "flat lined" on the growth chart. "Let's see her back here in a month. Meanwhile, what are you feeding her?"

I cringe when people ask me this question. It really depends on where we are and what mood she is in. When we go to my friend's house she seems to be interested in EVERYTHING such as Pop Tarts, Fruit Loops, dill pickles, quick breads, peanut butter, baby bottles, etc. At home she wants one thing and its down my shirt.

I told her that I offer her a variety of foods but it comes down to that she wants crackers. Anything crackery or bready she seems to like, and also cheese. She refuses to let me feed her anything and she won't eat without a fork or spoon. Don't I kick myself for thinking introducing those utensils at 11 months was a good idea.

"What should I do? Give her bacon and donuts???" I asked.

"Yes. Well, donuts are empty calories but stuff like that that has fat, protein, and calories. Oh and give her chocolate milk." The benefits of the milk outweigh the chocolate's tasty badness apparently.

Ah, the milk dilemma. She really does not like milk unless I make it personally. As of late I have been thinking to myself that I really want my body back. I want to be able to eat less if I want to, to drink 3 coffees a day if I want to, and if I want to exercise so hard that a bunch of ketones go into my blood, well, I want that to be my business. I also do not want the cold hand of death going down my shirt everytime I sit down on the couch. I want feeling to return to my....well you know.

The pediatrician yesterday said "You can wean her now. She doesn't need it and it sounds like you are ready." Boy am I ever. The past few nights she has acted like she wants to nurse and then bites the crap out of me. So I was thinking chocolate milk might be the answer to this issue.

Wrong.

She hates chocolate milk. The above picture was taken right before she actually took a gulp. That's why she's smiling. Shortly after she made a face of horror and then chucked the sippy on the floor. So glad I put it in one with a plug in it. Maybe I put too much chocolate in (didn't know there was such a thing...) or maybe she just wasn't thirsty. I will try again today. But as usual when she woke up at the unexpected hour of 6:30am and I had only gotten about 4 hours of sleep and my poor husband had gotten home at 2:00am my first response was to lift shirt and insert baby. Perhaps I can just step it down for the first few days and only do mornings. I'm stronger after my first cup of coffee.

The Cinderella Secret Workout #1 -- Abs

Today was a day that I had to mop. I hate mopping. Well, I don't hate the act itself, but I hate that as soon as it is done it needs to be done again!!! Mopping is also a 4 or 5 step process in my house with the three kids and 2 cats and all. Its sweep, vacuum, sweep, vacuum, and then if I'm not distracted by something shiny then the actual wet mop soaked in disinfectant happens.

Today is my 18th day of using the Wii Fit Plus system that I got for Christmas. Shockingly it has actually helped me out. I haven't lost any weight (I actually think I gained about 4 lb LOL) but it has done what expensive physical therapy would have done. It has helped me strengthen my puny muscles enough so that I am actually able to bend at the knee without having to pop a Vicodin. I hate taking pain meds so I am all for whatever else works. Using it also gives me energy and makes me want to do more since it doesn't hurt.

I have been avoiding that damn mop for several days now and spot cleaning instead and spraying Lysol on the floor figuring I'd "Do It Later" or DIL. I'm a wicked DIL'er. I remember a book in the Serendipity series (remember those?) about a girl who put off today and didn't do it tomorrow either and really identifying with her. And however many years later I am still that girl. But every so often I drink a coffee at 1:00pm and get all revved up and go to town on something. Today it was the kitchen. I put my latest acquisition of Third Day into the CD player that I have in my kitchen and cranked it, gave Autumn a buttload of goldfish crackers and raisins, and proceeded with my sweeping/vaccuming/mopping.

You may wonder where I'm going with this or if I've forgotten myself. Me too. Oh yeah EXERCISE!!! LOL There wasn't a Serendipity book about a girl with an attention span of a moth, but there should have been.

So my breaking point is that Autumn had dumped an entire box of Life cereal on the floor and I just had had enough filth. I put her highchair on the other side of the gate and got that floor nice and shiny. When I mop I use a crappy squeezy sponge mop thingy that probably needs a replacement head but I'm too cheap to pay $8 for a freaking long sponge so I keep lysoling the end of it. It doesn't do a very good job of spreading the water thin enough so that it dries quickly and I'm usually locked out of the kitchen for a good hour waiting for it to be walkable. Today I had a new idea that is useful too and makes me want to mop the kitchen every day.

You will need:

3 pack of Microfiber cloths (sold in the car accessory aisle at the Dollar General for $5)

A wet floor

No shame

Now here is my super duper ab work out that gives you the same result as the $19.99 as seen on TV AbRoller!!

Get down on your hands and knees gripping one of the Microfiber cloths (in your hands!).

Place both hands on the cloth on the floor in front of you. Start sliding away from your lower body but keep your knees in place. Pull back in without lifting your hands off the floor. Repeat, pivoting in every direction you can reach. When that section of floor is dry, move on to the next one. When that cloth is soaked grab another one and KEEP GOING!!!! This exercise works your abs, shoulders, back, and procrastinate muscles.

Trouble following the instructions? Here is a snapshot of me doing this exercise, give or take 100ish pounds:

I look hot in this picture don't I??? Give it a shot I promise you will feel the burn ;)

And now I'm off to find all the Serendipity books on Amazon. Wait, what?

Cod's Well That Ends Well

Autumn gets to be my guinea pig. She wasn't thrilled with the fish but ate an entire roll and a half cup of edamame!

My husband and I went grocery shopping together as we only had 1 child with us. I am sick of eating chicken, cow, pork, or turkey.

We walked past the seafood section and I stopped in my tracks. I forgot about fish!

"Kris, what do you think about Cod? Want to try it?"

Kris shrugs his shoulders. The man behind the fish counter laughs and pulls out a pound of Cod and I then proceed to interrogate him on how to cook it, how do you know when its done? What do you eat with it?

"Its basically like Haddock." he says. Yeah and THAT helps. I pretend I know what he is talking about and when I get home I Google "How to bake Cod".

The recipe that came up that was the closest match to the 5 year old spice collection I have is here. It was delicious and I highly recommend it. If I can do it, you can do it!

Now, the problem is that it calls for both lemon and lime juices. I had seen a bottle of lime juice in my fridge earlier that day. You know, the kind that is cleverly shaped like a lime but is the color of NOTHING nature would ever be capable of producing? I assumed it must be fresh. We all know what assume means.

It also called for Cracked Red Pepper which I miraculously pulled out of the spice rack (that doesn't go bad right?) and Kosher salt. Why does my salt need to be blessed by a Rabbi??? I of course had none so I sent Kris to the DG to see if he could find that and the Onion Salt that I threw out during the last cupboard cleaning.

He came back with Sea Salt (close enough right??) and Onion Powder, which the recipe said you can also use instead of Onion Salt. Kris greased the ceramic baking dish (I had no idea we had one of those) with butter and plopped the fish down in it. I mixed the ingredients together in a bowl and when I got to the lime juice I happened to glance at the bottom of the container. "April 2008" it quietly stated. Crap. Then I look at the recipe and it calls for a clove of garlic, freshly chopped. I figured there must be some garlic left over from the last time I cooked a few weeks ago so I searched the fridge door but to no avail. CRAP. And apparently we do not own any Garlic powder or salt.

Kris brought several odd spice jars to our relationship when he moved in here. There's lots of Mediterranean spices, Greek, and Indian. I usually skim past those when I'm searching for the Cinnamon Sugar. He pulled out the Greek spice mixture and proclaimed that it had BOTH Onion Salt AND Garlic Salt with the added bonus of.....peppermint?? Hoo boy how was that going to taste? Sounded nauseating. I used it anyway. What choice did I have??

We did not mix in the cat food or the Prego, just so ya know ;)

I poured this interesting liquid over the fish. It was quite thick surprisingly, and me being a closet perfectionist had to take a spoon and cover every part of Cod that was showing!

It actually smelled pretty good! We cooked it for 25 minutes at 400 degrees. Seemed excessive to me for fish but I'm not the expert.

It came out PERFECT nice and flaky and tasted heavenly. We served it to ourselves with Wild Mushroom Pilaf and shelled Edamame (I LOVE STEAMBAGS).

Cleanup of the ceramic dish was a snap also. It is important to me to know how long I will need to let something soak before the crud that I usually burn onto it comes off. In this case it slid right off, probably due to Kris' butter coating!

Kris enjoying MY cooking hehehe

I also slept like a baby last night. Not sure if its related, but I thought I would throw that in! ;)