The toothbrush

Today I used the tooth brush as a bribe. 

Riley was quite rowdy after dinner, as is his usual. He and I (and daddy usually, but not tonight) play a little before bedtime. One of his favorite things is to be tossed into the middle of our bed. (And before anyone screams out in alarm and calls CPS on me, just know that my hands don't leave him until right before he hits the pillows.) He is completely safe. :) The best part of this story though is the fact that my son can count to 3. :) He has been able to do it for some time now. He will put up his first finger and say "uh" (read "one") until I pick him up and count to 3 with him. Upon reaching 3 he will land in the middle of our bed in a fit of giggles, immediately turn on all fours and get as far away from me as possible. Because, the next part of the game is keep away from mommy. (If I were to reach him, I would likely take him down, and make him go play some place else.) Our king bed is incredibly high off of the ground. I need a kid's step stool to get up easily. So I will also count to three and do a belly flop onto the bed. He gets a kick out of it. :) 

He then had a good time playing with some toys and I started telling him it was time for "night nights." This means: run away from mommy. Don't let her near you. If she catches you she will make you sleepy. As long as you stay away from her, you won't be tired. 

I tried to get him to come close to me by setting a flash light within arms reach, but he came up to it, and just as I moved to get him he threw the flash light toward me and ran away. Little booger, sure is smart. :)

Then I decided once his pajamas were on we would brush his teeth, so I said, "Let's get your pajama's on so we can brush your teeth." He was excited about it, and finally decided to come to me. 

The kid loves brushing his teeth. It is adorable. He patiently waits for me to brush his teeth first, then loves brushing himself. The other day I noticed him making a noise while brushing. I couldn't figure it out at first until I realized what he was doing: every adult he has seen brush their teeth, has used an electric brush. He is making noise so that he too, has an electric brush. :) I will try to get a good video of it. Because I'm sure, as with most things, he will quickly grow out of this cute phase. 

Just an aside: He officially has 3 molars (he doesn't have one yet on the bottom left) and 4 front teeth (two top and two bottom). 

My Bountiful Basket

I heard about Bountiful Baskets on Facebook. I know that after you read this you are going to scurry on over to their website and look around.

Today my basket contained: (the prices in parentheses are what I would expect to pay for the produce in a retail store)

($2.80) A 5-pound bag of Russet Potatoes (+3 extra)
($1.69) A head of green leaf lettuce
($2.50) An 8-ounce package of mushrooms
($4.50) Spaghetti squash
($2.78) 2 cucumbers
($1.35) 5 bananas
($3.00) A mini watermelon
($5.00) 2 pineapples
($2.80) 5 apricots
($2.80) 5 plums
($3.75) Green grapes
($30.17) Total estimated Retail price


I paid $16.50 (plus a $3.00 newbie fee)

Plus I paid extra for some blueberries. I got twelve 6-oz clam shells of beautiful blueberries for $14.50 (That is just $1.21 each! You can't find them in the stores for that price.) Usually I find them for about $3.00 a piece.

($36.00) Twelve 6-oz clam shells of blueberries
($66.17) Total estimated Retail price (blueberries + above basket ingredients)
-$34.00  my contribution
$32.17 My total savings.

Honestly, I feel like I saved more than that, it kind of depends on the store. I rarely would find all of the above on sale during any given week.

The only downside to the basket is you don't really get to pick what you get. (Other than the blueberries) I had no choice. So, things like spaghetti squash and green leaf lettuce made their way into my home and they wouldn't normally. I got an extra pineapple, because sometimes there are extras and the volunteers just throw them in a basket. (There were other baskets that had extra lettuce, but I'm just hopeful I'll get through one head of lettuce let alone two.)

In a way though, this will force me to try new things. I will have to look up some recipes for spaghetti squash, if you have one, shoot it my way. :)

Now I have to figure out how many of the blueberries I am freezing, and how many I am keeping in the fridge. Riley and I already devoured one package. :) He saw the rest of them after his bath and got really excited. He would eat them all day if I let him! :)

I plan on cleaning all of the fruit using this tip I found on Pinterest. Oh my do I feel thrifty today! Hopefully Riley will allow me to get all of this done.

**UPDATE** After I posted this (and Riley went down for a nap) I started unloading my haul and noticed I had miscounted: there are 3 cucumbers, 7 plums and 11 apricots. Also, the price I used on the grapes was for 1.5 pounds and I actually have 2.5 pounds. Here is the updated tally:



($2.80) A 5-pound bag of Russet Potatoes (+3 extra)
($1.69) A head of green leaf lettuce
($2.50) An 8-ounce package of mushrooms
($4.50) Spaghetti squash
($4.17) 3 cucumbers
($1.35) 5 bananas
($3.00) A mini watermelon
($5.00) 2 pineapples
($6.16) 11 apricots
($3.92) 7 plums
($6.20) 2.5lbs Green grapes
($36.00) Twelve 6-oz clam shells of blueberries
($77.29) Total estimated Retail price
-$34.00 (my contribution)
$43.29 my total savings!


That's a little better. ;)

Happy Anniversary

7 years ago today Jamaal and I were sitting on his couch in his apartment watching Shark Tale. We were at an awkward place in our relationship. We had started talking in emails back and forth while I was at school across the state. Then I came home for the summer. We hung out everyday (after I was healed from having my tonsils removed) from about May 15th on.

I got an email from him around June 3rd (or so) that basically said: I like you a lot, I want to be more than friends, but I'm not sure what you want.

It was a very tricky time. We both felt the same, but didn't know how to move past being friends.

So there we are on his couch, he had his arm around my shoulders, my head resting on his chest. Completely comfortable, and yet oh so awkward. The ending credits began to roll and there we sat, both of us afraid to move. Unsure of what to do. I wanted him to kiss me, he wanted to kiss me. But he was in a position where he would have to really jostle me in order to be able to find my lips.

After nearly watching all of the credits...seriously folks it was so awkward, I finally decided that it just had to be done. We had to break that tense line. And I kissed him first.

We still laugh a little about that. And Shark Tale holds a special place in our hearts.

7 years later, I am married to my best friend. We had our first kiss as boyfriend and girlfriend on the same day as our first kiss as husband and wife (albeit 4 years later).

Happy Anniversary Babe. I love you!

Mother of the Year Award

On Tuesday I learned an important lesson: always have gauze and tape on hand at all times, especially with a little man in the house.

Prior to Tuesday, I lived in a land where I thought Band-aids were the key to everything. Wounds tend to heal faster when they are covered with a cartoon character, right? And perhaps this is true in the land of little girls (those of you with young girls in the house will have to help me on this one) but in this house, Band-aids are something to be pulled off immediately. The tighter it is placed, the harder one tries to get it off. If shaking the hand fiercely does not get it off, the other hand gets involved with pulling it off. One does not rest until said Band-aid is off. (Okay, because this is my blog I will admit to one thing: the Band-aid's I used were not actually brand name...so really I should refer to them as "adhesive bandages" instead. But I thought perhaps people might recognize the name easier. And while I'm clearing the air, I should also say that the adhesive bandages I have are plain old brown and not covered with fancy cartoon characters. Perhaps if I had the fancy ones he would have just let it be?!)

This week, my mom planned to go out of town Tuesday afternoon, and that meant we had to go to Weight Watchers on Tuesday (instead of our usual Wednesday). I called her to see when she was going to come by and she said she was going to take a shower first. This sounded like a good idea, though I dislike taking showers when a little man is wide awake. But I have done it before, so I hopped on in. I shut him into my room and left the bathroom door open so he could talk with me while I showered. I have checked all the drawers before, to make sure there isn't anything dangerous for little boys, but as it turns out I didn't check thoroughly enough. I saw Riley walk out of the bathroom with the cradle for Jamaal's face razor and thought I saw a battery drop. While I am not okay with him playing with batteries, I did not think he would hurt himself in the short time I had left of my shower. A minute or two later I heard him making noise. He wasn't crying, but maybe whimpering is an appropriate descriptive word. I called for him to come to me, and in he came holding a razor blade in his hand. (You know the kind us ladies use on their legs, that has 4 different blades in one, only this is my husband's and used on his face). It turns out the cradle to Jamaal's razor has a secret place on the back that can store razor blades. I didn't realize this when I looked through the drawers.

I didn't want to panic him. So I crouched down low, held out my hand and calmly said "Can mommy have that please?" He handed it over, and once I had it in my hand I scooped him up and rinsed his hands, to assess the damage. Miraculously his only wound was a little cut on the top of his ring finger on his right hand. It appears that he scraped off a layer of skin, but a very very small area. Just a little smaller than a pink pencil eraser. But boy did that sucker bleed. I used a wash cloth with cold water on it, to put pressure on his finger, and after 15 minutes (of fighting him to let me hold it) it was still bleeding. It didn't seem to make a difference. I placed two different adhesive bandages only for him to take them off immediately (see above :) ). I was at my wits end. Since my mom was on her way, I called her to tell her my predicament, and wondered if she had any ideas. She told me she would bring some gauze and tape and we could try that. Now, mind you, I am completely naked. After I placed the first adhesive bandages, I jumped into the shower (which was left on of course) and rinsed the last bits of soap off of me. But my next priority was getting him to stop bleeding. At least it was my mother that came to help me and not someone else. :)

I passed him off to her when she finally arrived, brushed my hair, and got dressed. Then we proceeded to cover his "owie" with nonstick gauze and tape. As I was wrapping his finger I realized that he would just as easily pull it off as he did the adhesive bandages, so I decided to wrap his pinkie finger as well. Just to help make sure it stayed on. With the exception of one time when he was in the car, he left this bandage alone.

Later that afternoon I had a meeting to go to, so my FIL was in charge. I left the roll of tape and some gauze with him just in case it needed to be wrapped again. But I figured we wouldn't need it anymore.

Fast forward to the evening. Jamaal, Riley and I are in the living room. Riley went around the coffee table to his dad, and Jamaal swept Riley's feet out from under him to pick him up, but Riley wasn't expecting it and collapsed his torso forward. Hitting his forehead on the coffee table. We knew it was one that hurt, it has happened many a time. Jamaal looked at me with empathy for the little guy as he held Riley in front of him, comforting him. As he swayed side to side, I caught a glimpse of blood, and I sprung from the couch and ran to get a cloth. I said something like "Crap he's bleeding" or something, and that is when Jamaal turned Riley to look at him. Blood was all over the place. I came back with a washcloth and looked at Jamaal (who had Riley's blood all over his arm) and said "Let's get him in the bath." It just seemed like an easier place to assess him, because his clothes were getting messy. By the time we got him in the bathtub (and because I was worried about him, I went in too) it had stopped bleeding. I was surprised, because head wounds usually bleed the longest, but we lucked out this time. (I think it has something to do with the grape sized lump that formed under the cut...) After his bath I tried putting a butterfly bandage on it, but he didn't hold still, so it wasn't put on right. We didn't want to mess with him so I left it on him. Over that we put gauze and tape, and he actually left it alone pretty well.

We gave the little guy some Tylenol, a bottle, and he fell right asleep in my arms. After not having much of a nap, and all of the excitement, I wasn't surprised at all. I was glad that he was asleep when I put him in his crib, so I knew that he didn't mess with his bandage. He still has the butterfly on, because he won't let me take it off. So he looks pretty tough. :) (I started this post on Thursday...after Jamaal got home from work, he had a personal vendetta to remove the butterfly bandage, and after chasing Riley around the living room, it finally came off. Along with about 20 pieces of the kid's hair.) He didn't cry though, as he is tough as nails.

Thursday I went out and bought tape, gauze, wound glue, and a large first-aid kit. I'll be ready for the next adventure. (Though I would prefer none at all!)

The Joy of Scrubs

With my new job I have come to realize that a major reason I became a nurse in the first place is to avoid having to dress fancy on a daily basis. Seriously kids, scrubs are easy. My biggest decision is usually which color scrub pants to wear in the morning.

And...*gasp*...I sometimes even pick out my outfit the night before. In the dark. By feel. Let's face it, I close my eyes and grab a top and bottom.

Haha. I wish, but seriously it is that easy. I have enough assortment that I'm not bored. (I have several tops that look great with at least 3 different colored pants, which completely changes the look of the ensemble.)

And you know what? I don't have to worry about flab or bloat, because scrubs pretty much take any shape you have and turn it generic.

(Can I just add that I have a few tops now that I don't like to wear, because they are a size Large, and make me look about 50 pounds heavier! Just another example of what I thought after I had Riley: I would never lose the weight, and might as well just deal with it. I seriously thought that. 25 pounds. That is two 10-pound bags of potatoes, and one 5-pound bag of potatoes. Picture yourself carting that around the grocery store, without a cart. And I had just succumbed to the idea of never losing that weight. I could talk all day about this simple fact. But I thought that extra weight was meant to stay on after having a baby, and it was something I would have to live with forever. Lesson learned: don't go to a scrub store during it's "Closing for Good" sale, after having a baby.)

Ahem.

So here is the scenario that spurred the idea behind this blog post:

I went to a meeting/seminar for Weight Watchers, and had to dress in business casual attire. It wasn't gorgeous out so I picked some grey slacks and a blouse that looks fancy. The meeting got over a bit earlier than I thought, so I went to Starbucks for a Grande Nonfat Caramel Macchiato and Venti Ice Water. I wanted to add some money on my gift card (because I have my cards registered, and recently became a Gold Member, so I want every drink to count toward my buy 15 get one free!!) so that meant I went inside instead of going through the drive thru. This was fine with me, since I had some time to kill.

I sat inside for a few minutes sipping my coffee and water, reading Divergent on my Kindle app. (Let me pause a moment only to say, that this book is the next Hunger Games, it is hard to put down. I cannot wait for the next book, and I'm not even finished with this one yet!)

After relaxing and enjoying my book, I had to drive to work in Seattle (a good 35 minute jaunt). By the time I had arrived, I realized that I was going to wet myself if I didn't find a bathroom soon. Seriously folks it was a pee-mergency. I don't think I've had one that bad since I was pregnant. And honestly, I feel like this was 10 times worse. Arriving at an odd hour, the usual parking spots were all taken, so I had to park at the other end of the lot. An extra 500 feet at least. I was desperate enough to see if one of the buildings back there had a rest room, but had no luck there. Then, as I passed bush covered trees, I contemplated making a tinkle camping style. I weighed the pro's and con's, but chose to sacrifice wetting myself (and calling in sick) to possibly losing my job for "indecent exposure."

I am pretty sure I walked a mile to get to the nearest bathroom. No joke, they make staff members park as far away as possible.

Now, let me just say that I had previously used the restroom after dressing that morning, so I already knew the disturbing fact that the slacks I was wearing had FIVE buttons on them, plus a zipper. Beauty is pain, they say.

As I was walking, I couldn't stop thinking about getting to a bathroom. I even prepped by unbuttoning 3 of the 5 buttons. And yet I still had trouble with the 2 remaining, and the zipper.

Don't worry, though. I made it safely into the bathroom without embarrassing myself.

After this day I realized the profound respect I have for those business women who dress in ridiculously buttoned slacks on a daily basis. And how much I appreciate scrubs.

7 quick takes...

1. I just realized I've sort of dropped off of the face of the blogging world...again. Oops. Didn't mean to. But these things, they happen. ;)

2. Last weekend was my birthday. My husband and I made a quick trip down to Portland to visit with his (and my) friend. We went with a few other people, so I didn't really have time to visit with MY friend. Sorry Kristina, wished I would have had time to visit with you.

3. This week I will begin making invitations for Jamaal's Grandma's 80th birthday. I am nervous and excited to see how they turn out. I've done a practice version to figure out the dimensions I will need, and it seems pretty simple actually. Thursday my MIL will come over to help me get started on making them. Mostly, I think she will be in charge of the little tyke. :)

4. I have been busy making new recipes lately. Mostly I have inspiration from Pinterest. But, I also had to get creative. I took a couple ingredients and Googled recipes with those ingredients. I made a pretty tasty Cottage Pie (Shepard's Pie made with ground beef instead of ground lamb), some bacon wrapped chicken tenders, and a Potato and bacon torte. All were good. I plan on writing out the recipes, but don't know when that will happen. :)

5. I have finished my online training for Weight Watchers, now I get to do my in house training, and I am a bit nervous. The unknown certainly is a bit nerve wracking isn't it?!

6. I am a bit obsessed with Draw Something, a game app I have on my phone. (If you have an android or I-phone you should check it out. But consider yourself warned, it is addicting!) Unlike some other games you play with friends, it isn't really competitive. In other words, you don't really beat the other person. The whole point is to draw something and the other person guesses the word. The nice thing is that the guesser has some clues: the length of the word, and the letters (with some extras to throw them off). I crack up laughing most of the time while drawing or guessing. And, sometimes it is funny to watch the other person trying to guess my drawing. The longer they take, the worse my drawing usually is. :) The app sucks the life out of my phone though.

7. Our house is a disaster area at the moment. We went out of town for the weekend, and when we left it was already a little messy. Now it is in disarray. I wish I had the next couple days off so I could organize and tidy up. But alas, I have to work the next couple days. :( Oh well. The good news is when I get home tomorrow it will still be light out, so I should have some energy left in me to get a little tidying in. :)

Happy Monday To you all!

My Little Helper

I haven't really written about my little man lately. He has really started to grow up in the last few weeks. He's talking a lot more, and is interested in what I'm doing. And does a lot of mimicking.


I had read here about a single chore they had given to their toddler: throwing away dirty diapers. I thought: "I should have Riley do that too." The first couple times, he didn't really get what I was asking him to do, but shortly (after only a day) he was anxious for me to hand him his dirty diapers so he could toss them. He usually doesn't need any coaxing, except for an occasional "here." as I remind him he has a job to do. Now, I'm pretty sure if he saw me throw his diaper away, he would get upset that I didn't let him do it. ;)


Shortly after I had started doing this with him, he went to spend the weekend with his Nana. The first day back home, he spent 30 minutes (nearly straight) lint rolling my kitchen floor. I had to call Nana (my mother in law) to see if she had been using him as free labor. She laughed and said, that he had been helping her sweep. She said he grabbed the dust pan and held it for her as she swept her dust piles into it. She said he even helped her to throw it into the garbage (with her assistance). BUT, she insisted, it was his idea. She didn't care if he helped her or not. He wanted to.


Today, as I was making dinner, he found a piece of fluff on the ground (likely from a dog's toy). I asked him to throw it away for me, and he walked right to the garbage and threw it in. After the lid was shut he clapped his hands and said "yay!" 


He goes around the house shutting doors and toilet lids and closing drawers. Sometimes it is sweet, and cute. And oh so helpful. But other times, like when mama's arm is still inside the refrigerator, it isn't. It hurts even. ;)


But maybe, just maybe, we have a tidy little mister in the making. One who enjoys cleaning and being neat. A mama can dream, right?

We use his wagon as a toy box for now, because toy storage systems are quite expensive! 

Yogurt and oatmeal for breakfast one morning. He insists on feeding himself. He will then accept a spoon from me, as long as he has one in his hands. 

Peanut butter on crackers. He sucked the peanut butter off, then crumbled the remaining crackers. I thought he was eating some of them, only to find them in his lap when I got him out of his seat. ;) What a goose!