All Things Hold Together

I am going to be reviewing some products from the Huggies Cleanteam line of bath products for toddlers designed to make cleaning fun.

While I am waiting for my products to arrive, I would like to give two readers a chance to try some Huggies Cleanteam products in their own homes.

Just leave a comment and you will be entered to win a prize pack containing shampoo, hand soap, and flushable wipes.

The contest will be open through Wednesday at 6:00 PM eastern, at which time I will select two random winners. Each will receive all three products!

Make sure you use a valid e-mail address with leaving your comment, so I can contact you if you win.

For more information about the Huggies Cleanteam products, be sure to visit the website or watch this video.

I decided that I would start a new feature on my blog: Weight Watchers Wednesday.

Every Wednesday, I will update you on my progress, pass along any helpful tips I have (if I have any) and post a favorite recipe and its points value.

I weighed myself on Monday, a week after starting Weight Watchers, and I had lost 4 pounds. A good start.

I can only reasonably expect the loss to be 1-2 pounds per week moving forward, but the first week loss is always a nice confidence boost.

This week’s recipe is one of my favorite. My long-time readers have surely seen me mention it before.

Slow Cooker Red Beans and Barley

• 1 cup uncooked barley — rinsed (use long-cooking variety; not quick barley)
• 1 small red onion — finely chopped
• 1 large stalk celery — chopped
• 1 medium garlic clove(s) — minced
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes — crushed, or more to taste
• 15 oz canned kidney beans — drained and rinsed
• 28 oz canned crushed tomatoes
• 2 piece bay leaf
• 3 cups fat-free vegetable or chicken broth
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp salt

Place all ingredients in order listed in a 5-quart slow cooker. Do not stir.

Cover and cook at low setting of slow cooker for 7 hours. Stir and serve. Yields about 1 1/3 cup per serving.

Makes 6 servings.
Points: 4

Suggestions: Use fire-roasted crushed tomatoes, if available, to give this recipe a robust smoky taste.

I add 1 Tbsp chili powder and 2 tsp cumin to give it a Tex-Mex flair, then pair it with…

Corn Bread

• 1 cup uncooked cornmeal, yellow
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp table salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 14 3/4 oz cream-style corn, canned
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 2 large egg white(s)
• 2 tsp corn oil

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Coat an 8-inch square cake pan with cooking spray.

Combine cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a large bowl. Mix well with a fork, then make a well in the center; set aside.

Combine creamed corn, buttermilk, egg whites and oil in a medium bowl; mix until blended. Fold mixture into dry ingredients; mix until blended. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake until a wooden pick inserted near the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Allow to cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely before cutting into 8 squares.

Points: 3

Points permitting, the Red Beans and Barley is also great with turkey kielbasa.

A while back my sister told me that an old friend found her through her MySpace page. I decided that I would join and try to find some of my old friends.

I was totally shocked at the people I found. I always thought of MySpace as a place for high-school and college kids, and singles.

It turns out there are a lot of people I know who are using MySpace.

I reconnected with my best friend from high school, my cousin that I have not seen since high school, a best friend from college, my neighbors who moved to Seattle, and I found a couple of other people who I have not made contact with yet.

So, if there is someone you lost touch with that you would like to reconnect with, try MySpace. It’s worth a shot. It worked for me!

For more Works-for-Me Wednesday tips, head on over to Rocks In My Dryer.

This week, I finally got around to posting my menu plan on Monday. Sometimes I don’t do my menu plan in time. It depends on when I am going to do my grocery shopping.

At any rate, here is what we will be eating this week.

Monday: Crockpot chicken (This is an old stand by. Just throw some chicken in the crockpot with some veggies, spices and chicken broth. Thicken the sauce with some corn starch and water near the end of cooking time, if the mood strikes.)

Tuesday: Turkey meatloaf with couscous and broccoli

Wednesday: Leftovers night

Thursday: Homemade pizza

Friday: Vegetable Enchiladas

Be sure to head on over to Organizing Junkie to check out the rest of the menu plans. Laura also has a list of recipe websites that allow you to search by ingredient list.

This week, I have been experimenting with crochet washcloths to see which ones I like best (making and using). The winner(s) will end up in my Etsy store, which is a major work in progress, just to warn you.

Here is what I have so far.

The back left is a simple double crochet with a single crochet border. The back right is a simple single crochet with a single crochet border. The blue and white one is, obviously, a granny square. And the one in front is a face washing pad, made with single crochet in a round.

I wanted to make gift boxes with soap and a crocheted wash cloth to sell for Mother’s Day, but I am not sure if I will get my act together in time.

In other news, I found this neat idea on Family Fun today: Chore Dice.

I am not sure I would ever use anything like that - the kids have set chores - but it looks like a fun idea, so I thought I would share it.

The die template could be used for a whole host of other things, too.

Bob has never been very good at getting me gifts. He’s not horrible; it’s just that he often waits until the last minute and settles for something so-so.

I have to admit, though, he has had a few successes throughout the years.

Back when we were dating, he once bought me a mug that I absolutely loved from a pottery store. And a necklace and earring set from this really funky jeweler. And for Christmas 2006, he bought me an iPod Shuffle. One of those cute clip-on ones, which I totally *heart*.

But his overall success rate left me with a low expectations. (You know, to avoid disappointment.)

Let’s face it, buying good gifts is a skill. And like any skill, if you really want to get better at it, and are willing to work at it, you will get better.

Well, he has been working at it. I gave him some tips about paying attention to the things I look at in stores and the things I talk about, then acting on that information at gift-buying time.

Today was my birthday and I told Bob that I did not want much because I need some new clothes and sneakers and I don’t want him to spend a lot of money on a present for me.

I admit, I was nervous. I cannot stand the idea of spending money on something we don’t need (or I don’t like). Plus, it’s nice to get a good gift. I’ll admit it.

But he knocked it out of the park.

First, he went to Costco and bought me a huge thing of Ferrero Rocher. Then, he took the boys to Michaels (craft store) where they picked out some pens from Martha Stewart’s craft line and something to make me (which I will post pics of tomorrow). Finally, he got me this.

I love Burt’s Bees lip shimmer. And now I have this cute case (with mirror) to keep in my purse. Is that not adorable?

What a great birthday! Gifts I loved in a price range I don’t feel bad about. And an awesome husband, who took the time to pay attention when I saw this in a store once and remembered to go back and get it for my birthday.

I am blessed.

This morning, Little E came over to my side of the bed when I was just waking up.

As I groggily opened my eyes, I joyfully exclaimed, “Oh! You here to snuggle!”

He hasn’t been snuggling with me lately because he would rather draw with Big E. He’s reaching that age where boys (maybe girls, too, I have no idea) start to pull away. Big E was the same way, but I had a baby on the way, so it was not as hard to accept.

Needless to say, I was so happy to see him there this morning. I just felt like I really could use a good snuggle. (I am not sure if that had anything to do with the fact that I started my period shortly thereafter.)

“Uuuummmm…” [pause]

I could tell by the look on his face that he was conflicted. He hadn’t come in to snuggle, but he could see that I was excited to snuggle and he didn’t want to break the news to me.

Realizing my mistake, I let him off the hook.

“You didn’t come in here to snuggle, did you?”

He shook his head.

“That’s okay,” I said quickly, before he had a chance to feel bad, “we don’t need to snuggle right now. What did you want?”

I can’t even remember what it was.

All I can remember is how broken hearted I was when I realized that my little guy is too grown up for his morning mommy snuggle time.

After he left, I remarked to my husband, Bob, that Little E once said, when he gets to be too old to snuggle, Dad can snuggle with me.

It wasn’t the same, but it was nice nonetheless.

How did you cope with your baby growing up?

Do I even have any readers who do not still have a baby?

I didn’t get around to doing Menu Plan Monday this week because I used my regular Sunday afternoon menu planning time to plan something else. My Weight Watchers strategy.

I have had a love-hate relationship with Weight Watchers ever since the first time I tried it back in 2001. I lost 25 pounds and I looked good. (Just ask Bob. He didn’t even have to tell me; the look on his face every time he saw me said it all.)

Well, then I had a major gall bladder attack - or whatever you call it - and had to have it removed.

When the doctor came in, he said those dreadful words that would make dieting psychologically terrifying for the rest of my life (so far, anyway), “It is often caused by rapid weight loss of 20 pounds or more.”

Ugh! Ever since then, Weight Watchers has terrified me!

I know how irrational it is, especially since I no longer have a gall bladder to develop stones, but what can I say - fear is irrational.

In my defense, do you know how much gall stones hurt? I thought I was dying, people! I even had to take an ambulance to the hospital. (And I am one of those people who never goes to the doctor for anything.)

Well, since then, I have gained back that 25 pounds, plus about 30 more, and it is time I overcame my Weight Watchers phobia.

I am going to be 32 on Thursday and my body is just not as willing to let go of extra weight as it used to be. I need to get serious about this.

So, I sat down Sunday afternoon and planed out how I would spend my daily points allowance. I figured that I would not have the time to calculate points values and carefully write everything I eat down during the hectic weekdays, so I made an outline of meals and snacks I could have throughout the day. When I get hungry, I just grab my list to see what my choices are to eat.

So far so good. It is definitely easier to follow with the planning done ahead of time.

Now that I have the foundation set up, it’s back to my regular menu planning next week. Only now with healthier meals!

Every night, Bob and I get ready for bed together. We have two sinks in the bathroom, so we brush our teeth side-by-side and talk or joke around. It’s just one of our nightly rituals.

The night before last, I was washing my hands and he was standing in front of the toilet with the lid up, about to use it. The soap I was using was a small round bar that I had made out of a shea butter soap base that I bought.

I started going on about how much I love the shea butter soap - it’s so creamy and luxurious - when all of the sudden, the soap popped out of my hand, flew up in the air, came down, bounced off the counter, and landed - plop! - into the toilet.

Needless to say, our toilet has not been flushing well. And yesterday, I had to take a plunger to it every time one of the boys went number two.

Now I know why we keep the lid shut.

Last night, Little E came into our room because he had a bad dream. This morning over breakfast, he shared what it was about.

It seems some giant clock tower came to life and was chasing him. (I think that was because he was watching Power Rangers Time Force yesterday, in which the Rangers live in a clock tower.) He was running to me for help, but I wasn’t paying attention because I was on the computer blogging!

Did you hear that? I wouldn’t save my sweet baby boy from the clock tower monster because I was too busy blogging.

I looked at my husband and said, “Gee, does that mean I spend too much time blogging?”

At least my husband reads my blogs, so he knows there is no way that is true.