Score 1 for the Papaya

My favorite section in the grocery store, is without a doubt the produce section. Thankfully our household is full of avid produce eaters. Occasionally we still have produce turn a little faster than we can eat it.
Like the papaya. I have never aquired a taste for papaya. Every couple years I buy one to make sure I'm still not a fan, and so far my tastes haven't changed.
My husband picked up a papaya at the grocery store on Sunday, and it's been sitting on the counter taunting me. Everytime I walk into the kitchen I'm confronted by the huge oblong shape of a papaya just waiting to meet it's destiny.
Today I finally gathered my moxy, and chopped that tropical fruit into small pieces, I threw half of it into the blender with a couple pears, a banana, a peach and a handful of frozen strawberries. A little fake milk to help it blend and voila! I made a smoothie. A smoothie that I had every intention of feeding to small children so I didn't have to drink it.

Except my conscience started bothering me. Apparently I had to try some to get Jiminy Cricket of my back.

Would you believe it, I really enjoyed the smoothie!
I think I drank half it!

So apparently all I needed was a lot of other flavors to help mask the taste, and I'm good to go.

Who knew?

Household Hint

This is a entry from a old journal of mine dated September 18, 2008.



How to make your kitchen smell unappealing in creative ways.

You will need
-1 gallon size jar of bread and butter pickles
-1 large jar of salsa any brand and heat factor will do. DO NOT SUBSTITUTE hot sauce for salsa
-1 Jar of a delicious marinade
-1 Jar dill pickles any cut

All containers MUST be glass

You can throw each container on your floor and watch as the glass shatters, carefully sidestepping any broken pieces. Or you can take the shortcut [like I did] and simply place these item in the door shelving of your refrigerator. However you MUST have a loose railing.

Be careful as the ocean of pickle juices overtakes the kitchen floor as it will carry small pieces of glass, and if you have a tile kitchen floor it will making walking DANGEROUS!

This is guaranteed to make you kitchen smell funky and leave a sticky gritty feeling on your kitchen floor through at least 3 washes!



**Use at own risk. Author does not assume responsibility for any accidents that may occur. Side effects may include: dizziness, loss of blood, nausea, gagging, physical injury, mental injury and in extremely rare circumstances even death.

Gravid

For the past several weeks all my energy has been devoted to a project that was 2+ years in the making.
I've actually become slightly more obsessed, and find myself doing a lot of planning in my down time. My to-do list has expanded so far beyond what I expected, that I can't even write it all down to visualize the progress I'm making.

Rather than being discouraged, I find myself excited about piling more and more projects on my list. If I'm completely honest, I have to admit that I'm a little saddened that eventually it will be finished.

So, enough of that. Now is time for The Project in Three Photos!




It's been a while since this little piece of equipement was considered a staple. Tehnology has moved forward, but this little guy's track record leaves less room for inaccuracy.



Don't be fooled. These little creations are too cute for words and worth they're weight in gold. If you aren't careful you may need a 12-step program to break the addiction!!

And just in case there was any lingering doubt. This is my current reading list.



For the record. The top book is a GREAT resolurce for all mothers. Regardless of whether or not they have a preemie.

Basic Carseat Info

It's common knowledge is that there are 3 basic types of carseats; infant, forward facing, and booster. Some companies have taken pity on parents and designed convertable carseats that can be used for all 3 basic carseat types. *insert rejoicing here*

Unfortunately there seems to be some confusion over guidelines and regulations for the use of each car seat. Here is a very basic rundown on carseats.



Infant carseats (also known as "Baby buckets") are for rear facing use only. Children need to be kept rear facing for as long as possible. Rear facing is the SAFEST position for a child in the event of a collision. It protects their spinal cords, heads and necks.

"Very young children have immature vertebrae that are still partly made of cartilage. These are soft and will deform and/or separate under tension, leaving just the spinal cord as the last link between the head and the torso. The spinal cord can stretch up to 2 inches, but ruptures when stretched more than 1/4 inch. Real-world experience has shown that a young child's skull can be literally ripped from her spine by the force of a crash."
Paraphrased from carseat.org

The bare minimum for turning a child forward facing is one year AND 20 lbs. However the AAP recommends that you use your carseat rearfacing until your child meets the maximum weight set by the manufacturer.
Read more about the safety and protection extended rear facing offers at cpsafety.com and
car-safety.org

Forward Facing Carseats
Children who have been flipped forward facing in their carseats need to remain in a harness until they are about 4 years old and 40 pounds. If your carseat harnesses up to 65 pounds, go ahead and use it! A forward facing carseat has a harness. A booster seat does not. Look at your child objectively before you put them in a booster seat. Do they stay in their carseats without trying to escape? If you wouldn't put it past them, they're probably not ready for a booster seat.

Remember everytime your child "graduates" to the next carseat, their protection in a crash drops dramatically.

Booster seats
Booster seat come in two packages: Without backs or with backs. Booster seats with backs need to be used if the top of the child ears are higher the the back of the seat top or headrest. Booster seats CANNOT be used with just a lap belt.
Booster seats should not be used unless the child weighs at least 40 lbs and is 4 years old.cpsafety.org


Like food products, carseats have expiration dates. I believe most carseats are good for 6 years, though some of the newer convertible carseats have a life of 8 years. The expiration date should be stamped on the back of the carseat shell. Carseat safety standards are constantly being changed so a carseat that was "safe" when you were a child, probably isn't safe anymore.

All carseats have height limits in addition to the weight limits, a good rule of thumb is that whenever the child's head is 1 inch below the top of the carseat shell, it's time to replace your carseat.
The weight, height and installation requirements should be found either on the side of the carseat or in the user manual. If it doubt, call the company!

Never use a carseat if you don't know it's history. A carseat needs to be replaced if it's been in an accident or has expired.

Saturday September 25 is Nation seat check day. Get a free inspection!!

A hunting we will go

I have been working on a very time consuming project for a few months. It's no where near done, but I have a delightful sense of accomplishment for what is finished so far.
When I first started the project it took all my time and left me feeling exhausted. Thankfully I had some salvation! Now that the deployment is over the father-son combo in my house have been trying to make up for lost time, and they share a passion for cooking(!). So for a few weeks they took over kitchen duties. It was PURE BLISS!

Now the tables have changed. Sweet husband decided to end a 15 year relationship with his glasses. And rather quickly the staff at the Warrior Refractive Surgery Center had scheduled a hot date between him and the laser. He has orders to sleep as much as possible for the first 3 days, and to not raise his heart rate for the first week. So basically I have a husband who has to do a lot of resting, and a 5 year old who cannot understand why his Papa is at home at NOT playing with him.

After we returned home from the surgery, Alex helped me put his Papa to bed and then we headed to the kitchen to make grape jelly. That kept us occupied for most of the day.
The next day we had a post op appointment. So Alex spent the morning with a friend and then we had a friend come over for a few hours in the afternoon.
Today I've got nothing.
We could go to the pool... Or bathe the dog... I could take a nap....

Cookies

Do you want to know a secret?

I love baking.

I mean, seriously truely love baking. It's like a spiritual therapy that I get to enjoy twice. Once while baking, once while eating.

I made oatmeal raisin cookies last week. They were soft and delicious. Biting into one of them made me feel like I was suspended on a peaceful quiet cloud. Mmmmm.... Bliss.

In a pure June Cleaver moment, I piled a small plate with the freshly baked cookies, poured a cold glass of almond milk and presented my efforts to the small dictator. After the fourth cookie, the small dictator announced that he was HORRIFIED the cookies did not contain chocolate chips. *GASP* And that the best oatmeal raisin cookies contain no more than one raisin per cookie.

That's what I get for sharing.

Hello. My name is Needs Inspiration

I have a confession.

The domestic goddess in me is on hiatus. She took my motivation with her.

I should fire her since I didn't receive any notice.

There is build up on my faucets. Candle wax on the floor.
There is army equipement taking up more room in my living room, than my actual furniture is. I know where my mop bucket is, I just don't want to acknowledge it.

Over reacting? Never

For some reason dealing with a sleepy, cranky child who just won't go to sleep isn't not high on my list of "relaxing atmospheres".

Bubble baths with candles. Check.

Curled up in the papasan chair with a good book and a quiet house. Check.

Standing in the middle of my street at 2 am waiting for the dog to pee. No, but preferably to trying to calm squalling loaner toddler for three hours until she finally fell asleep.

Just as I began to rethink my plans to ever have sex again, my husband called. Even from the Middle East that man has the talent to talk me down from the edge.

I won't lie. My super power is being able to bottle stressful feelings inside, and then use them to majorly freak out about anything I cannot control. Big, small, it doesn't matter.
Today's freak-out featured topics such as "We're never going to finish paying off our car!", "I'm never going to finish my degree because I can't talk to a real person at UTSA" and "I know you want to homeschool, but all he talks about is his fictational teacher. And I can't compete with her!!!"
Somewhere in the midst of the education related "coversations" I realized that I wasn't frazzled anymore. In fact I would almost call the feeling abducting my body "calm".

Two hours later I went to the airport and picked up some Spring Breakers! So my house is now the refuge for not one. Not two. Yes THREE! Three young people who are of age to need a babysitter.

I love children (obviously), but I can't help wonder if I'm the only one person who manages to add people to her household while sucessfully practicing absintence.

carnations and castles

Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch.
Who watches over you?

Not to put too fine a point on it
SAY I'M THE ONLY BEE IN YOUR BONNET
-They Might Be Giants "Birdhouse in your soul" aka "Today's soundtrack"

Somedays I make plans that deep down in my soul, I just know they're destined for failure. Yet for some unexplainable reason, I have to test it.
Today was one of those days.

Surprisingly the part I thought was destined to result in my being banned from a certain part of town, went off smoothly. Of course the "safe playdate" was disasterous.

I took two small children with me to meet with a florist/event designer this morning. I've been helping a friend plan her wedding, and our assignment this week was to pick out a florist and someone to handle chair covers/bows for the reception. Since I am not the bride, bringing children along for professional meetings is a gray area. I can get way with bringing one, but two is questionable.
The children were fantastic.

Absolutely fantastic. It was actually quite surreal. I left the meeting floating on a cloud of maternal pride.

10 minutes after we got home, we had visitors. For anyone keeping count, we are now at 2 adults. A 4-year old (mine) a 13-month old (loaner) a 3-year old (visitor) and a 2-year old (visitor). Almost immediately, everyone not old enough to cross the road by themselves tried to end civilization as we know it. Castles were destroyed. Balloons were stolen. Vehicles were crashed. There was much crying.

But wait. That's not the end.

Instead of cleaning up the spilled milk and crushed cereal after everyone had gone home, Alex and I packed a picnic lunch, harnassed the dog and headed to the park for a picnic dinner. As I watched the sun highlight Alex's big brown eyes, I realized just how lucky I am to have friends that don't mind me bring my child plus an extra to business meetings. Or to have friends that can come visit us, but most importantly, to have the world's greatest 4 year old, and live 2 blocks from a park!

Oh an Ode to Maytag

The Trojans had a horse.

Achilles had a heel.

Superman had kyptonite.

I have laundry.

As I tried to stare down the pile of laundry homesteading on my laundry-closet floor, I had to ask myself how it could be possible for two people to generate so much laundry. I could swear that when we left the house today I only had one load of laundry sitting in the que, yet, when we returned I had three. The only logical explanation is that my laundry has been cross-bred with rabbits.

I started running the washer and dryer with a vengence. Load after load of clean laundry popped out of the washing machine, into the dryer and then onto my bed, where it waited patiently for me to fold it.

I moved it into baskets so I could sleep.

The next day I adjusted the papsan chair and converted it into my new clean-laundry-needing-to-be-folded holding center.

Instead of feeling accomplished, I felt guilty. What kind of June-Cleaver-Wannabe shuffles laundry from one place to another place, perpetually procrastinating on folding and putting it away? A tired one.

I need a laundry gnome.