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Daddy's Girl

Ginny & DH, July 2013

When I was growing up, I always considered myself to be a bit of a "daddy's girl." My dad meant the world to me (and still does). I guess there was some hero worship thrown in there too. It seems appropriate, somehow, that my oldest would feel the same way about her dad. Ginny is a "daddy's girl" through and through.

It was clear that Ginny would be a daddy's girl even when she was a baby. After I would be done feeding her, she wanted my DH holding her. She loved how he would play with her toes. Once she reached toddlerhood, her admiration of my husband became even more apparent. It was beyond clear that not only did she love her daddy, but he was her favorite. Heck, what am I saying. He IS her favorite.

Helping Daddy out! February 2012

Ginny adores her daddy. I don't blame her. He is pretty fantastic. But she adores him in a very visible way. On days that he is home, she will follow him most anywhere. I will ask Ginny for something. If her daddy is in the room, she won't give the item to me. She will give it to her daddy. Right now, in the midst of potty training, it is her daddy she goes to for help. I will tell her to come to me so I can help her out. She ignores me and goes straight to her dad.  Even at dinner, I'm relegated to second class citizen. She wants her daddy to blow on her food, not Mommy. It is her daddy that she gives her plate and fork to once she is done eating, despite the fact that I asked for them or that Daddy gives them back to me.

Chicago, July 2012

I know that part of her Daddy-worship comes from him not being home as much as me. She wants to soak up as much time with him as she can. And, her daddy complies with her wishes. After all, she has him wrapped around her finger. She will demand something of my DH and he often does as she asks. The other day my husband and I were discussing Ginny. He mentioned that "Ginny wouldn't let him do" something. I balked. I reminded him that she was two-years-old, and he was the adult. He gave me a look and mumbled something and the issue was dropped. My husband is firm with her. I'm not saying he is a push over. He isn't, but Ginny does get away with a few things I wouldn't fall for or allow her to do. For example, I still change Ginny's diaper on the changing table. It is far easier on my back to do so. Apparently my husband does the changes on the floor because Ginny insists. I find it rather amusing how much he has fallen under her sweet, adorable spell. They have a mutual admiration society that is endearing to watch.

 I wonder if Grace will also become a daddy's girl too. Right now she prefers me, most of the time. If she does join the Daddy fan club in my house, I won't blame her one bit. He has captivated all the females in the house, even our dog. Not bad for a man who struggled with dating when he was younger. Not bad at all.

Playing around with Daddy earlier this week.

And So It Begins....

Ginny on her potty last night.

Not long after the new year started, I began contemplating when I would start to potty train my toddler, Ginny. Her second birthday was coming up. Logically, that meant it would soon be time to stop using diapers with her. In an effort to start the process, I bought her a potty and placed it in her bathroom. She would follow me into to the bathroom and would sit on her potty when I sat on the toilet. It became a game, of sorts.

Yet, I kept putting off the inevitable. I wanted to make sure she was ready. I even bought a book, "Toilet Training for Dummies" (yes, that is real), plus two read aloud stories for Ginny. Reading done, I still felt (and still feel) ill-prepared for potty training. Potty training a two-year-old is not nearly as easy as potty training a dog. That was easy! My dog was potty trained in less than three days. I stuck her in her crate then took her outside every couple of hours. Apparently, that method is not recommended for children.

So, after delaying and delaying, I made the decision to go for it. I'm not 100% sure if Ginny is ready to be potty trained. I keep hoping she will be like other kids who self-train. My husband has a cousin who has a son that is 6-weeks younger than Ginny. He potty trained himself at 18 months old, maybe younger.  A college friend's daughter did the same right around the time she turned two. Why can't Ginny be that motivated?

Watching Sofia the 1st while sitting.

Since that miracle of self-training seems unlikely to happen, I am doing my best to get Ginny out of diapers and using the potty. Yesterday, I introduced the concept to my daughter. After dinner, I took off her pants and diaper, leaving her half-naked. I placed the potty chair in the living room and put Ginny on the potty. She happily sat there as she watched Mickey Mouse on T.V. I let her get off the potty after 15 minutes to play and then 15 minutes later, repeated the process. It was difficult to get her off the potty. It bothered her that she was lacking a diaper. We did this pattern for an hour and half until it was time for her to go to bed.

This morning, I started everything again. First thing after putting a top on her and taking off her diaper, I had her sit on the potty for 15 minutes. Then, we ate breakfast. When she was done, she had to sit on the potty again. We did the same pattern for a while, but after about an hour and half, Ginny rebelled, refusing to get back on the potty. She was done with sitting on the potty and not having a diaper on no longer concerned her. For over three hours, she ran around the house half-naked until it was time to eat lunch and take her nap. She sat on the potty a good portion of that time. Did she use the potty though? Nope. Not once. Luckily, she also didn't have any accidents either.

The empty potty. Ginny rebelled.

I suppose it was too much to ask that my daughter would miraculously take to the potty right away. I did learn that she has a greater deal of bladder control than I had ever realized. We will try again after her nap this afternoon and try again tomorrow in the same manner. I don't have high expectations, just high hopes. If nothing happens, then we will take a break for a couple days and try again next week.

Family Time in Iowa

Ginny in her car seat, thrilled to be
going for a drive.

Every morning, when my toddler wakes up, she asks if we are going for a drive. She really loves going for drives. I don't understand the thrill, but if it makes her happy, so be it.

This past Friday morning when she asked, we told her that we were indeed going on a drive. It would be a long drive, though. We were heading to Iowa to visit her cousins, aunt, uncle, and grandparents. She was quite thrilled at the prospect.

As she ate breakfast, DH and I finished any last minute packing and loading the vehicles. Our trip had two purposes this time. We were going to visit my DH's family, and drop off the DH's old Buick with his parents. So, instead of riding in the same car together, Chris would drive the Buick and I would drive the minivan with the kids.

Once we were in the minivan, Ginny became concerned because Daddy was no where to be seen. I explained that he was in the car in front of us. For the first hour of the drive, I heard my toddler asking, "Daddy?" I would point Daddy out in front of us, which would satisfy her, until five minutes later when she would ask again. The drive took about 6 hours, with the girls and me getting off I-80 before my husband as he headed to his parents to deliver the car and I headed straight for his brother's house.

When we arrived at my BIL and SIL's house, Ginny was extremely excited. She couldn't wait to see her cousins, Jacob and Ainsley. We were able to relax a bit after our arrival, but soon had to change clothes and prepped for family pictures. I readied Grace and Ginny in their blue jeans and black Ts that their Aunt Kim picked up for the pictures. Then I got myself ready. We headed over for the pictures where we met up with my FIL, MIL, my foster BIL, and husband. The pictures seemed to go nicely and didn't take too long, a blessing after a long drive. From there we went out to dinner then back to my BIL's house.

Riding the train with Jacob

The next day was fabulous! It also meant another drive. After all, we didn't want to disappoint Ginny, our two-year-old. We loaded all eight of us in the van and drove an hour to Des Moines so we could go to the farmer's market.

The Des Moines Farmer's Market is unlike any farmer's market I have ever been too. I have been to farmer's markets in larger cities (Des Moines really isn't that big), but they don't come even close to rivaling the size found in Des Moines. The market is HUGE. The market has a great variety of goods. Not only does it have your standard fare of fresh produce, but also lots of crafts, baked goods, ice cream, and cooked delights to try.

Grace loved the Farmer's Market too,
can't you tell?

We arrived around 10 a.m. and didn't make it through the whole thing in the 2 hours we were there. (The market ends at noon.)  The food was quite good. I started my day there buying (and eating) a cream horn. My husband got a sausage filled with cheese that we ended up sharing. We tried Gooners, a food made like crab rangoon but filled with stuff other than crab. We tried the sausage queso gooners. Quite good. We also got some chicken dumplings from a Russian food vendor. Our market food adventure ended with homemade ice cream.

At one point, we stopped for a bit while my SIL went to get some more cash. We waited next to a small tent that had a young man playing guitar and singing. Ginny loved this! She was released, temporarily, from her stroller. She proceeded to dance, even trying to get her baby sister to dance with her and her dad, who happily complied despite his aversion to dancing.

 From there we found the little "train" that is set up to give little ones rides. Ginny and her cousins rode the train. Ginny couldn't wait to ride with her cousin Jacob, holding his hand in anticipation. Grace found her stroller seat comfortable enough that she napped for over an hour while we walked around. Overall the day was a huge success. The rest of our day was spent relaxing, with Ginny taking a nap then playing in the back yard with her cousins. She even discovered a sand box for the first time. She loved it! Don't most kids?

The joys of a sand box

The next day, we went to mass then headed to my FIL and MIL's for a visit. We stayed for lunch and visited the rest of the afternoon. We felt awful because there was some miscommunication between my DH and his mom. She thought we were staying for dinner too, but we had told his brother we would be at his house for dinner. We would have changed our plans, but Chris had promised to play golf with our niece after dinner. It was a tough decision on what we should do. We decided should keep his promise to Ainsley. I'm glad we did that. We found out once we arrived that Ainsley had been looking forward to golfing all day. They ended up having a lot of fun on the golf course.

Grandma holding Grace!

Yesterday morning, we headed home after our long weekend. Ginny was still just as thrilled about taking a drive. Eventually, we made it home. I had plans to get things done today, but I feel like I need a day of rest after all the driving and visiting. I'll join the real world again tomorrow.

Pizza Friday

The finished pizza. Yummy!

The last few days I've had issues with being motivated enough to blog. Sad, right? It isn't that I'm lacking stuff to blog about but just didn't feel like writing. So, instead of doing anything deep, I figured I would let you know about another recipe that I found on Pinterest and tried. Nice and easy blog for the day.

Last Friday, I decided to try a new pizza recipe. I adore pizza. I especially like calling my favorite pizza joint and ordering it, but that isn't always the smart way to go financially speaking. So, making it at home it is. My typical pizza involves a Boboli pizza crust, some pre-made pizza sauce (I love Taste of the Hill sauce), and my toppings. Quick and easy.

I figured it was time for a change of pace. When I want something fresh and different, I will make my own pizza crust, but I stuck with Boboli this time and changed up the toppings. The recipe I used was for Chicken Ranch Pizza on Fake Ginger's blog. I've only had a "white" pizza once before and it was good. I decided to take the chance with this recipe, especially since it seemed simple.

To start, I mixed up 2 cloves of minced garlic and 2/3 cup of Ranch dressing after I preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Then I spread it on the pizza crust. From there, I mixed up 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, 1/2 cup shredded cheddar, and 1/4 cup grated parmesan. I put half of the cheese combination on the pizza crust. I added 1 cup pre-cooked chicken, 1/4 cup chopped green onions, and 2 cups diced tomatoes to the pizza. Once I had all the toppings on, I added the last of the cheese. This pizza is quite cheesy.

After the pizza was put together, I put the pizza into the oven and let it cook for 12 minutes. I probably should have left it in for another minute or two, but it still tasted great. My husband really enjoyed it. My toddler was not interested in it at all. She loves pizza, but this pizza didn't look like any pizza she had ever had before so she wanted nothing to do with it. Oh well. More for my DH and me.

Classless, Profane, and Cheap

When I started blogging, I had no idea how prevalent blogging had become. What I knew of blogging came from my sister who started her blog, Family Times, in 2007. Her blog was the only one I read. I thought blogs were like the Geocity pages of the 90s, all hobbies that didn't do much. My sister encouraged me to blog, at the time, but I couldn't imagine what I would write about. I figured my life was far from interesting. I was a single 1st grade teacher with no prospects in the dating world. Boring.

My mind was changed a mere 3 years later. I started reading some blogs and discovered the richness of the prose in some cases and just plain fun stories. It was nice reading about others going through the same things. I also had come to discover that I was pregnant for a third time after suffering two losses. I hoped to document the pregnancy, more for myself than anyone else. Unfortunately, I lost that baby too, but I continued to blog. I had tapped back into my love of writing and didn't want to stop.

Two years after I started by ramblings, I got on Twitter and discovered a whole word of bloggers I didn't know existed. These bloggers, like The Blogess Jenny Lawson, took blogging seriously. They wrote in their blogs frequently and had developed huge followings. Not only that, but these fabulous bloggers were earning money from their blog. While I can never hope to have a following like Scary Mommy, I found inspiration to do more.

During this journey of discovery, I found out that even popular mommy bloggers have heaps of critics. Some over some pretty inane things, like judging their skills as a parent. So, criticism over a post I make is expected. I have had a couple of challenges to posts I have made based on the content; all of it polite and respectful.

Recently, though, I faced something I didn't expect. Something I hadn't seen other bloggers face, although it wouldn't surprise me if they had. A person was critical of the title of my blog post, Mouthgasm! I have to admit to being floored. What was wrong with the word? I had posted the link of this blog post in a Catholic group I participate with on Facebook. A woman started a thread saying that we should refrain from posting made up words with sexual connotations and to keep things classy. I never have associated the word "mouthgasm" with sex since it has nothing to do with sex, and she was implying that I lacked class. Not cool.

My daughters reenacting my recent battle over my blog title.

I defended myself and my blog. To make matters worse, she later went on to tell me that the title "cheapened" my post and implied that I was trying to gain readership by using a racy headline (mouthgasm is racy??). She then said I had "reduce[d] [my]self to the profane." I was furious when I saw these words written. Cheap? Profane? If I decide to do a post on something cheap and profane, that is my right and I would have stood by that and said "thanks for noticing."  But, in fact, I hadn't done either of those things. I defended the title of my post and it seems I had several defenders backing me.

The funny thing is that all her ranting and claiming I would likely lose readership over a "racy" (again really?) title only increased traffic to the blog in question. Maybe I need to stir up controversy more often. Then I might be able to earn enough money from Google Ad Sense for them to cut me a check ($10 FYI).

The moral of the story? No real moral. However, this is my blog. I do write my opinions whether you like them or not. I will title things to help gain interest but never just to be racy. I want the title to be descriptive of the content inside. If you don't like what I write or my titles, then don't read my blog. I'm sure you can find a blog meant for you. Well, maybe. And if you do decide to still complain in a disrespectful manner, be prepared for me to rant about it on my Facebook page and later blog about it. I need material after all. ;)

Fire Chicken and Cheesy Potato Gratin

During the summer, my husband loves to grill. I guess that is typical of most men. I, on the other hand, do not go near the grill. It freaks me out. I have this weird phobia with fire. It is so bad that I can't even light a match, much less a normal size lighter. (I can light one of the extended ones though.)

Therefore, when I see a recipe that will involve grilling, I know it will require me to recruit my husband's help. Luckily, Chris is usually up for the challenge.

The other night I recruited my DH to grill something called Fire Chicken that I found on Pinterest (via Plain Chicken). She named it fire chicken because the marinade causes the grill to kick out some fire. It isn't called fire chicken due to any extra spice, so no worries. Fire Chicken is basically grilled chicken that has been marinated in a lemon concoction. Oh, and let me know forget to mention that it is delicious!

Our meal of Fire Chicken & Potatoes

I marinated the chicken a bit longer than asked, letting it soak in the flavors for 24 hours before serving. I really think that the long time in the marinade and poking the chicken with a fork made a huge difference. The chicken had a lovely flavor that brought a huge grin to my husband's face. I think it is his favorite marinade now!

I served some potatoes, also found on Pinterest, with the chicken. They were a "healthy" version of au gratin potatoes called Asiago, Potato, and Bacon Gratin. Let me start out by saying they were good, but they weren't my favorite. I imagine that is because I made a few mistakes, but I don't see trying this again either.

The first time you try a recipe, you need to make sure you read it through. I did that. When I read it, it sounded like it made sense. When I got into the heart of cooking the dish, I realized that there were issues either with my skill level or the recipe. While you have 1 1/2 pounds of sliced Yukon potatoes simmering, you saute in a saucepan some shallots (I had none but I did have some green onions on hand) using cooking spray. I ended up adding a bit of olive oil because the onions were sticking a bit.

Me attempting to get things nicely blended

Now here is where I began to have issues. Maybe the problem arose because I used the green onions instead of shallots, I'm not sure. I think it unlikely. The recipe says to keep the burner on medium heat and add 1 cup of flour (by sprinkling it). From there you had 1/2 cup of milk and blend it with the flour using a whisk. Sounds like it will work, right? Not so much. I ended up with paste. Right before I did it, I had a feeling it wouldn't work. Then you add the rest of the milk, gradually, until it is well blended.

Honestly, it took longer to get a good blend. If I were to do this again (or if you want to try it), then I would add a little bit of flour then the milk, blend. Add more flour, more milk, then blend, until it was all in. I would also do it over medium heat and not medium high heat since it thickened way too fast. Once everything was blended, the recipe says to let it simmer for 9 minutes until it is thickened. I had no need to do that. By the time I had things blended, it was thick so I went on to the next steps, adding cheese and bacon. I was unable to find asiago cheese by itself at my grocery store so I used an Italian blend instead. I also cheated and used bacon pieces.

Once everything is mixed together and the potatoes are drained, place half the potatoes in an 8-in square baking dish then half the sauce over it. Repeat the layers then add parmesan on top, if you wish. I did not because the cheese blend I used had parmesan in it. Then bake for 35 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

The potatoes are ready to go into the oven.

The potatoes were delicious, but needed just a bit of salt.

The meal, though, was completely lovely!

Our 4th on July the 4th

My bathing beauties and I

The Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays. It brings back fond memories of cookouts at my Aunt Nancy and Uncle George's house, playing in their metal pool, as well as going to the VP Fair in St. Louis (now named Fair St. Louis) and maybe even seeing a parade. Of course, my favorite part was the end of the evening watching the fireworks.

Four years ago, the 4th took on a whole new special meaning for me. On that day, in 2009, I married my best friend, Chris. It took me a long time to find "the One," and I couldn't wait to be married to him. Saying yes was one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life.

In the past four years since we've been married, we have bought a house, gone through 5 pregnancies, had two beautiful daughters, dealt with family drama, attended the funeral of my fantastic and fabulous Aunt Nancy, traveled quite a bit to visit friends and family, and even, just recently, bought a minivan.  We've been busy.

Each year, I look forward to another 4th of July, another anniversary to celebrate. My husband's job as a meteorologist for the NWS does have a tendency to limit our celebrations since it is likely he will have to work on the holiday. In fact, the last time he had the holiday off was in 2011 (oh, and the only reason he had it off in 2009 was because he requested it off). We don't let his schedule stop our celebrations, but it usually means we don't go to see fireworks.

This year, my wonderful DH actually had the 4th off, kind of. (I'll explain the "kind of" in a bit.) We all slept in until 8 a.m., a shocking, yet pleasant surprise. My husband and I exchanged cards in the morning, but no gifts. When we discovered that the traditional gift for the 4th is flowers, we figured we'd come up with something different. And we did. We gave each other an ice cream maker attachment for our KitchenAid Stand Mixer. I can't wait for it to arrive so I can try it out.

After breakfast with our girls, we hung out in our living room watching them play while we relaxed. I had hoped to take Ginny and Grace to see a parade, but there were none near me. That shocked me. I'm used to there being parades wherever I have lived on the 4th. So, my girls had fun playing instead. Who knows, they may have preferred that anyway. Then we made our way out to lunch. Of course, our fave place to eat, a local place called Darcy's Pint, was closed for the holiday (good for them) so we ended up eating at Chili's.

Playing in the pool

We got home, put our children down for their naps and watched baseball. Once our girls woke from their naps, we went to play in the back yard. I had recently bought a wading pool. So the girls and I played in the pool for 15 to 20 minutes. We might have stayed out longer, but I didn't want my little red-head, my baby, to get too much sun.

Ginny kicking back in the mini-tent I got for the girls.

DH and I got the girls dried off and rediapered and headed back inside, out of the sun. Ginny was greatly disappointed at the prospect of returning inside. She wanted to continue playing outside and in the pool! I let her know we would play in there again someday soon. I don't think her two-year-old mind was able to grasp that because she wanted to go out "now". She cried and threw a fit in classic toddler style. What aggravated things more is that DH went back outside to grill. Ginny felt she should be outside with Daddy too. He tried allowing her to be with him, but she was desperate to get off the deck and back into the wading pool, so she was sent inside. Luckily, it didn't take long for my husband to grill up the steaks for dinner. We ate and enjoyed our meal together as a family.

Soon after dinner, though, our day came to an end. As soon as our girls were sleeping, Chris said goodnight to me as he headed to bed. Last night/this morning, he started a string of seven Midnight to 8 a.m. shifts. He needed to take a nap before leaving for his first shift. So, although he did have our anniversary off, it was only in part. Oh well. Maybe next year. Until then, I really enjoyed our day as a family and celebrating my time married to my awesome spouse!

Mouthgasm!

The mouthgasmic dish
(see my lovely hand model? Thanks, hone!)

Fewer things make me happier than strawberries! They are my absolute favorite food! Usually, I pass up any recipes that involve strawberries. I generally love strawberries, the best, in one of the following forms: fresh, cut up & sugared, and in or on ice cream. There is no need to bake it in a pie or any such thing. (Although, I'm starting to consider doing just that some day soon.)

A couple of months ago on Pinterest, I saw a recipe with strawberries that looked interesting so I pinned it. I left it sitting on one of my food boards for a while. Lately, strawberries have been on sale non-stop where I live. I decided I might as well take advantage of the situation and pulled out the Fruit Salsa recipe I had pinned.

The recipe itself does take quite a bit of prep work. Don't let that dissuade you. It is beyond worth it!  For this fabulous sweet dessert, I did make a couple of small changes. Not because I thought it needed changing, but rather the changes were made out of necessity.

All the fruit waiting to be prepped

The first thing you need is your fruit for the salsa. I used 2 Golden Delicious apples, 2 kiwis, between 16-20 ounces of strawberries, and approximately 4 ounces of blueberries. The blueberries were not part of the original recipe, raspberries were. However, my husband hates raspberries so I worked with what I had. I would have added a few more blueberries, but some had turned so...back to the salsa dish.

Strawberries being sliced

Now it is time to prep the fruit, the most time-consuming part of this recipe.  I had to "wing it" a bit because I forgot that our peeler had broken, and we had yet to replace it. I'm okay with a knife, but not when it comes to peeling apples. I feel like I get less apple than I should had I used a peeler. So, I did not peel the two apples. Having the peel on the apples worked for this dish!

You will want to core then dice your 2 apples. My apple pieces ended up in various sizes from small to a bit larger than I would have preferred. I blame my baby girl for that. She was fussing, so I held her as I diced. Not the best way to dice apples, but hey, sometimes as a mom you must roll with it. You will need to peel and dice up your kiwi then add it to the bowl with the apples. Add the blueberries (no need to cut them up, but you can if you want).

Last, but certainly not least, you will need to hull and slice up your strawberries to add to the fruit mix. I'm pretty quick with the strawberries. Probably due to being such a strawberry lover and eating them a lot. I also once worked in the winter strawberry capital of the world, Plant City, Florida. Every March, strawberries would become available in vast quantities. I was able to buy a flat of strawberries for $5-$7. Being single, there was no way I could eat all of that at once so I would slice them up and freeze them for future use. So, I'm quite quick with it.

All the fruit mixed up

Once you have all the fruit prepped, go ahead and give it a quick stir to jumble things up. Then, add 2 Tbsp brown sugar, 1 Tbsp white sugar, and 2 Tbsp jelly. Any flavor will do, I imagine. I used the blueberry preserves I had on hand.  Give the fruit and another stir or two until the sugars have dissolved and coated the fruit.

Fruit with the sugars thoroughly mixed.

Go ahead and put the fruit in fridge until you are ready to serve it.  I did this a few hours before I served it as a dessert to my husband one evening this week. When we were ready to eat it, I got the special cinnamon chips ready. These were super easy, and perhaps even my favorite part of this whole dessert.

You will need some flour tortillas and cinnamon sugar (1 cup of sugar mixed with 3 Tbsp cinnamon). I had a pack of 20 small tortillas. Since it was just Chris and I, I only pulled out 5 tortillas. I spread melted butter on one side of each tortilla then added the cinnamon sugar on top. I cut each tortilla into slices and then placed them on a cookie sheet into a 350 degree oven. They baked for 8 minutes then cooled for 10 minutes before serving them.

Honestly, I wish I had known how good tortillas with cinnamon sugar tasted before now. It may be my new favorite quick snack. Mmmm.....I even have a new recipe idea I plan on testing out soon using them.

After your chips are ready, just serve them with the salsa. Scoop that salsa onto your chip and enjoy. It is truly mouthgasmic! Not to be missed!

My Little Helper: Doing Diapers

Welcome to the third post in a series called My Little Helper. I hope you enjoy it!

Doing Diapers

About a year ago, my darling toddler was not a helper. Completely normal. At times she was the complete opposite of helper--a destroyer. Being a "destroyer" was particularly evident on what I call diaper days (the days I wash diapers).

When I would need to wash the cloth diapers, I would have to wait until Ginny was distracted before I could load the washer or hang the diapers on the drying rack. The latter proved to be a particular challenge on bad weather days when the rack had to stay inside. Ginny would seek out the rack on those days so she could remove the wet diapers from the rack. If we weren't paying attention, we would look and see wet diapers every where from the kitchen to the living room. In order to avoid any more issues, we would put the drying rack in our bedroom, with the door closed, on bad weather days.

Not long ago, a switch in her little head was made. I don't know what prompted it, but Ginny stopped removing the diapers. She would leave them alone. The poor diapers could dry in peace.

Helping Daddy put the diapers on the drying rack

Recently, Ginny has decided to help us with diapers. She helps DH and me in a few ways. When we remove the diapers from the washer and put them on the rack, she wants to help place them on the rack. It is incredibly cute. At times, this can be very sweet and nice. Other times, not so much because if she doesn't help as much as she likes, she may have a "terrible two" meltdown. I appreciate her efforts though.

Another way Ginny helps us with diapers is when it is time to change diapers for her sister. As I leave the room with Grace, I will let Ginny know that I'm off to change Grace's diaper. Ginny will then shout out, "Coming!" and race to the nursery. She will wait at the changing table until I get there with her baby sister. I then open the drawer filled with the cloth diapers, and Ginny picks out the diaper for Grace to wear. Such a sweet and helpful big sister my toddler has become!

I'm grateful to have a little one so willing to help out! At times, it proves more work and patience for me, but the end result of the pride in her smile makes it worth it.

**To read the others in this series, just click the following links:
Bath Time for Grace
Closing the Doors

When Nothing Gets Done

My baby Grace on her knees and ready to crawl, maybe.

In recent months, I feel as though I have lost most control of my home, my activities, and sometimes, even, my sanity.

• I used to be able to multitask quite well. 

• I kept things quite organized, a skill I have possessed for most of my life but put to a new level when I was a first-grade teacher. 

• Posting new photos of my girls so the grandparents (and even aunts, uncles, and cousins) could see their development was something I did with regularity. 

• And so many more things....

Now, I feel like I can barely keep my head above water on some days. Some days I don't get much accomplished beyond changing diapers, laundry, making breakfast and lunch for my girls, and sometimes dinner for my family.

I will admit that I put some of this issue upon myself. I've gotten even more involved in blogging and all that goes with it in terms of trying to promote it and get a larger readership (I dream of actually making money from my blog someday, for a little spare change just for me.) I also have two little girls who keep me busy. With Grace about to crawl any day now and Ginny into absolutely everything, I don't often have that many moments in the day to accomplish all that I hope.

The other part of the problem is sleep deprivation. Since Grace was born (and honestly, probably the month or so before she was born), I have been operating on very little sleep. Grace is not a sleeper like her sister. She decided to take after me. How unfortunate. Where Ginny would sleep in 6 hour chunks quite regularly at this age, I'm lucky if Grace sleeps in 4 hour chunks. What doesn't help matters is that Grace keeps waking herself as she "practices" crawling in her sleep.

Ginny keeps me quite busy.

Adding to the issue is my husband's work schedule. Lately he has been working a lot of night shifts. In the past few weeks, his schedule has been as follows: 7 overnight shifts in a row followed by a couple day shifts, then he had 2 midnight shifts followed by a few day shifts. Then, another string of 7 overnight shifts. Those shifts ended Friday morning with him only getting one day off and now he has 3 day shifts. In a couple of days, he will have a string of 7 midnight shifts.

When my DH is dealing with all of these shifts, I feel limited in what I can do while he attempts to sleep during the day. The last thing I want to do is wake him from sounds of cleaning and banging in the kitchen. And, again, I find myself in a situation where I feel like nothing is accomplished.

So, I'm tired and stretched and ready to get into a routine for me again. My girls are in a routine, but my routine long ago disappeared into the ether. I want to get it back. I need routine almost as much as my little munchkins do.

This week, I plan to power through and try to get a routine back. Get control in my life plus organization. It won't be easy, especially after a night of 5 hours broken sleep. It won't be easy as I try to remain quiet once my husband starts the string of midnight shifts on Friday. I will do what I can though. I will push myself to achieve something at least once a day. Well, that is my plan anyway.

My New Creation: Verde Chicken Lettuce Wraps

For what seems like ages, I have been wanting to try lettuce wraps.  I've seen them on T.V. and in magazines. A handful of times I've even seen them listed on a menu. Usually, though, I would bypass the wrap for something else I wanted to have. Yet, curiosity abounded. What did a lettuce wrap taste like? It looked like it could be good. In recent months, I started seeking out recipes on Pinterest for a lettuce wrap. I found a few, but hesitated on making any of them because they often seemed complicated or even had ingredients that I had no hope of finding in my local area.

Not long ago, I found a lettuce wrap recipe that appeared doable. Yay, me! I pinned it immediately. This morning, as I was working on my menu planning for the week before going grocery shopping, I decided that we would try the wraps, Chipolte Chicken Lettuce Wraps, for dinner tonight.

The wraps did not take a lot of effort to make, and ended up tasting delicious! My DH and I enjoyed them very much. I say this before getting into how to make them because I significantly changed the recipe. That was not my intent, but when you can't find an ingredient, you sometimes improvise. At least, that is what I do if I want to try something bad enough. However, despite my changes, I followed the basic idea of original recipe. Basically. (Some day, I do hope to try the recipe as it was written.)

The first thing you need to do is to roast some corn. Put one cup of corn that has been mixed with 2 Tbsp of olive oil, salt, and pepper, onto a cookie sheet. Place it under a broiler for about 7 minutes.

While the corn is roasting, you will work on the sauce. The sauce is what changed in my version. The original recipe calls for 2-3 chipolte peppers and adobo sauce. I had problems locating both items at our grocery store. I found dried chipolte peppers and picked them up. I fully intended on soaking them once I got home, but forgot. (My baby was hungry. I needed to nurse her and got distracted.) I tried to soak them about 15 minutes prior to prepping them, but that wasn't nearly enough time. So, the chipolte peppers were not used at all in my recipe. Instead, I used one jarred roasted red pepper.

The adobo sauce was impossible to find as well.* I searched on the internet for a substitute when I got home and found none. I realized that adobo sauce is just a spicy tomato sauce with a chipolte base. I decided I would use the salsa verde that I had left over from the tacos I made the other night.

So, back to the sauce. In a food processor, place 1/2 cup cilantro, the juice of a lime, 1 roasted red pepper, and 3 Tbsp salsa verde. Process this combo until fairly smooth. (It tasted pretty good. Lucky me!)

The chicken mixture

In the meantime, you will be heating up some chicken in a skillet. Now, the original recipe called for making the chicken right then. That step seemed pointless to me. My husband had recently grilled a bunch of chicken for recipes that call for cooked chicken, so I decided to use that chicken. I got about 2 1/2 cups of the pre-cooked & diced chicken and let it warm up in the skillet. Once the chicken was warm, I added the sauce to the chicken as well as the roasted corn and 1/2 of a roasted red pepper (another change...not a fan of bell peppers but I can handle them like this so it was my cheat so I would like it more).

I let the mixture sit on low heat as I readied the Bibb lettuce. You will want to wash the lettuce, drain it, and then pat it dry before serving (about 6-8 lettuce leaves).

The final step is to serve it all with about 3 chopped scallions on the side. You (hopefully) won't be disappointed! I'm so glad that my changes worked! It really was delicious. :)

*My husband pointed out to me that I could have picked up a can of chipolte in adobo sauce because it would have the 2-3 peppers and adobo sauce. It never dawned on me until I got home. Duh. Nearly 8 months of sleep deprivation is taking its toll. LOL

Verde Chicken Lettuce Wraps

2-3 cups cooked & diced chicken

1 cup frozen corn

1 lime, juiced

1/2 cup cilantro

1 jar of roasted red peppers

3 Tbsp salsa verde

3 scallions, chopped

Olive oil

Salt & pepper

1 head Bibb lettuce, rinsed and separated

1. Mix frozen corn with olive oil and salt & pepper. Spread out on a 

cookie sheet to broil for about 7 minutes.

2. In a food processor, add cilantro, lime juice, 1 roasted 

red pepper, and salsa verde. Process until smooth.

3. Heat up pre-cooked chicken in a skillet. Once warm, add sauce from 

the food processor, roasted corn, and a chopped up roasted red pepper.

4. Spoon chicken mixture into lettuce when served and 

add scallions as a garnish.

My Little Helper: Closing the Doors

This blog post is the second of a series on Tuesdays called, My Little Helper, featuring my adorable toddler, Ginny. The first one was about how she loves to help at bath time for her sister. Today is all about how our daughter is destined to be a doorman someday, or should I say, door person.

Closing the Doors

Closing the door to the laundry room

When Ginny first started toddling, we decided it was necessary to start shutting many of our doors. Child-proofing had been done in all the rooms, but we didn't want to lose sight on our little one. Who knew what trouble she could get into. We had a fair idea of the type of havoc she could cause because we have a dog who loves to eat paper, so we were already in the habit of closing all bathroom doors.

As Ginny has gotten older, we started leaving doors open a lot more often. Okay, that may be stretching it. Basically, if we had no laundry in the laundry room, we would leave that door open and her bedroom door. Our bedroom and our office have been deemed off limits when we aren't in those rooms with her. She will find something to play with that we don't consider a toy.

At some point in the last few weeks, Ginny decided that we needed help in closing our doors. No longer are my husband and I allowed to close a door, whether it be our bedroom door or even the door outside or to the garage. Nope, closing the doors is now her job. You can ask her to do it, but often that is unnecessary. She will run up and close a door before you are even ready for the door to be closed. Often when you are still in the other room and have yet to leave it, prompting you to open the door again, much to her dismay. The dismay is short-lived since she will realize that she gets to close that door again.

She loves her job closing doors!

The problem comes when you decide to close a door on your own. Ginny will let you know, in no uncertain terms, that ONLY she is allowed to close the doors. After pitching a fit the size of KU's Allen Fieldhouse, I will inevitably reopen the door just so she can close it again. Hey, you choose your battles, and if closing a door makes my two-year-old happy, who am I to complain?

Ginny has not yet learned how to open doors. She can reach the door know, but hasn't figured out how to twist the knob and then push or pull the door. Once she has figured out how to do that, I imagine my husband and I will no longer be allowed to touch the doors at all.

Baked Crunchy Taco Casserole

Finished tacos with the toppings just waiting to be added

One of my go to things to cook at home is tacos! They are easy to make, and difficult to screw up. I make them often enough that I stopped buying the packets of seasoning. Instead, I buy the jar of seasoning. It is more cost-effective after all.

I do try to vary how I make tacos. So, when I see a new recipe for a basic taco, I will pin in onto my "Food Porn" board on Pinterest. Tonight at dinner, I tried one recipe that I spotted on Pinterest last week for Baked Crunchy Taco Casserole. (This taco dish comes from the food blog, Heather Likes Food, FYI.)

Part of what attracted me to this dish, beyond the fact that it looked yummy, was the simplicity of it. Nothing beats easy.

Beef mixture ready to be added to the shells

To start off, you need to preheat the oven to 400 then start browning your meat. Once the meat is browned (and the grease drained), you add a packet of taco seasoning, or in my case 5 Tbsp of the stuff, along with 1/4 cup salsa verde, 1/2 cup shredded cheddar, and a can of diced tomatoes. The recipe specifically calls for a 14.5 oz can of tomatoes. That seemed boring to me so I added a 10 oz can of Rotel (I used mild because that was all I had on hand) and put in a 1/2 cup of salsa verde to compensate for the difference. Blend the beef mixture until the cheese melts.

While the meat was browning, I put the taco shells in a 9x13 casserole dish. Doing this ahead helped make the next step a bit easier, at least for me. After the mixture is ready, you need to spoon it into the taco shells. Oh, I only used 12 shells instead of the 15 called for. I couldn't justify a second box for only 3 more. (Because I was short, I did end up with extra meat. I saved it for nachos on a later date.) Then, you will add a 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar on top of the tacos. Now the tacos are ready to bake. Put them in the oven for about 15 minutes.

When they are done, serve them along with your favorite taco toppings. It really is simple and delicious! My DH and I really enjoyed the tacos. I believe we will have them quite often in the future.

Baked Crunchy Taco Casserole*

 1 pound ground beef (or any meat you prefer)

1 can Rotel (10 oz)

1/2 cup salsa verde

1 packet taco seasoning

1 cup shredded cheddar, divided

1 box taco shells (12 shells)

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Brown meat then drain grease

3. Add Rotel, salsa verde, taco seasoning, and 1/2 cup 

cheddar. Stir well, mixing until cheese has melted.

4. Spoon beef mixture into 12 taco shells placed in a 

9x13 casserole dish.

5.  Bake for 15 minutes then serve with your fave toppings.

*My variation of this recipe