Naturally clean oven BIG FAT FAIL!

This morning I woke to a very stormy, gloomy day which is my favorite when I know I can stay in my pajamas all day & not leave the house.

I had an early start, so I decided to clean my disgustingly dirty, greasy oven.  I pretty much use all natural cleaners that I quickly whip up for use around the house.  Click here to see some of my most used products.  They're inexpensive, quick, smell yummy & are safe around the kids & pets.  I typically use a harsh, chemically, stinky oven cleaner on the rare occasion I actually take the time to clean my oven, but I wanted to find something natural since chemicals & food never seem to be a smart mix.  I checked out a few sites online, whipped up a mixture & got going.

I mixed the juice of the lime with about 4 drops of Dawn, 1/4 cup of baking soda & 1/4 cup of vinegar.

Slowly add the vinegar or you'll have an eruption going on.

Mix & spread all over your disgustingly dirty, greasy oven!

I let it sit for a couple of hours & wiped it clean with a wet rag.  As you can see, it cleaned the bottom of my oven fairly well.

The door would not get clean no matter how many methods I tried & how much elbow grease I put in.  This picture was taken after multiple other failed attempts.

I sprinkled Dawn, & baking soda all over the door & drizzled on enough vinegar to make a paste.  After allowing that to sit there for 20 minutes, it still did little to nothing. Then I made a thick paste with just water & baking soda, scrubbed that on, waited 20 minutes, scrubbed it off & then sprayed it with vinegar & waited another 15 minutes.  Nothing.  What a waste of time!  Before I got out & resort to the chemical oven cleaner, does anyone else have any other suggestions that actually work?

I was frustrated that the oven didn't get clean, but at least I was able to spend a cozy day in with these little loves!

This saucy little minx sure has a lot to say!

I'm soaking up my time with Cam this summer since he starts kindergarten in a little over a month.  Cannot believe my boy will be going to school full-time!

My two loves had a little lunch date of PB&J & turkey sandwiches.  Dempsey was hoping for a little schnagel!

Our little Puggy has gotten to be quite the chicken during storms & can now be found hiding behind the couch during our daily summer thunderstorm!  Hope you're all having a happy Wednesday!

A day in the life

Every so often, I like to do a post about a day in the life so I can look back & see what things looked like at different stages of my life.  I work four days a week & take Wednesdays off to spend with the kids & organize the house so our weekends can be more laid back.  I'll run through a typical work day since Wednesdays home can be very uneventful, so much so that we sometimes don't even get out of our pajamas!

4:30am: Alarm goes off & I want to throw it through the window & cry because I'm so darn tired.

4:50am: Drag myself out of bed & vow to go to bed earlier that night which never happens.

5am: Pour my coffee & get my lunch bag thrown together.

5:10am: Head out the door for the gym.

5:35am: Workout.

6:20am: Hit the gym showers & get ready for work.

7am: Clock into work, print reports & screen patients for nutritional risk.

8am: Drink a protein shake at my desk while I work.

9am:  Head up to round on patients.

10am: ICU rounds.

10:30am: Run downstairs & heat up my unsatisfying, frozen breakfast sandwich & take a 15 minute break. 

10:45am: Head back up to the floors to finish seeing patients & consulting with other staff members   as needed.

12:30 pm: Head back to my office & get ready for lunch.

1 pm:  Clock back in from my whopping 30 minute lunch break & chart my nutrition assessments.

3:30 pm:  Yes, it's time to clock-out!

3:45 pm:  Hit the grocery store if needed & pick up stuff for dinner.

4 pm: Swing over to get the kiddos at daycare.

4:30 pm: Get home & let the madness begin!  This is when I do ten million things in the matter of an hour & a half:  Make ten trips from the car to bring in the throng of groceries & things accumulated in the car, let the dogs out back, set the kids up with a snack & some TV & meet their seemingly never ending requests, do baths, set up the coffee for the next morning, start laundry, get my gym bag re-packed, make Cam's lunch if needed, set out clothes for the next day, tidy up the house & start dinner.

6 pm: Mike gets home & we sit down for dinner.

6:30-7:30 pm: Clean up dinner, let the kids watch some TV or play, get teeth brushed & begin the bedtime corralling.  Bedtime in our house is very hectic for me since I'm exhausted & impatient & the kids are very hyper & fighting my need to get them in bed so I can finally have a moment of downtime.

8 pm: Finally, finally the kids are in bed.  What's that I hear?  Oh, Reese is crying for a drink of water, Cam is getting out of bed to tell me he's not tired...

8:30 pm: The house is quiet at last!  Mike heads to the gym & I pour myself a glorious glass of wine & head to bead with my Kindle in tow.  Ahhh, finally time to relax.

9-9:30 pm:  Lights out!  Time to force myself to sleep so I can do it all again the next day!

Supper glamorous & exciting stuff, eh?!

Ya just gotta laugh

It's really amazing how much things change once you have kids.  In this case, I'm referring to a day at the beach.  I met some girlfriends at the beach yesterday with the kids in tow.  In pre-kids day, an outing to the beach meant a chair, a towel, book, sunscreen & some drinks.  Now it means, towels, snacks, sunscreen, swimmies, beach toys, diapers, change of clothes...  Mike had to work, so I set out yesterday morning in hopes of a fun, relaxing afternoon.  Um, not so much.

This was the only picture I managed to snap in the three hours we were there.  In the three hours we were there, I probably spent an hour in the beach bathroom.  Reese is doing amazing with potty training when it comes to going pee, not so much on the poop part.  So, I slapped her in a swim diaper yesterday since we had a nearly hour drive & I wasn't going to risk her pooping in her bathing suit.  So, when she yelled out, I have to poop!  I rushed her to the bathroom where I found she already started to poop in her diaper & then finished in the toilet.  After getting her cleaned up, we headed back to the beach with her in her swimsuit bottoms sans diaper.  Big mistake.  About fifteen minutes later, she started making that distinct, I'm pooping face.  Ugh, seriously?  So I rushed a screaming, kicking two year old to the beach bathroom with a huge log in her bottoms.  Bottoms now gone to a bag, swim diaper back on.  Take two.  We head back to the beach where I try to focus & chat with my girlfriends for a few.  That did not last for long.  I went to the water to swim with Reese when I decided to check her swim diaper & was horrified when I saw that she had pooped in her diaper yet again which had now turned into poop soup from the water.  Now what??  We headed back to the bathroom where there was a line of women waiting.  This is so gross, but as I watched Reese walk, she had poop water literally dripping out of her diaper & down her legs.  OMG.  It was so unsanitary, but there was nothing I could do about it so I ripped her diaper off & tried to begin cleaning the disaster with wipes.  Finally the bathroom cleared so I stood her in the sink & literally bathed her with the hand soap while Cam stood by, continuously complaining, My feet are dirty!  Uh yeah, kid, you're at the beach where there's sand.  I'm wiping poop off your sister in a public bathroom sink, so put a sock in it! (I thought this part, didn't actually say it!)  We called it a day after this & I gave up on that relaxing beach day I had in mind & vowed to not take the kids to the beach without Mike for the next four years. 

We were all exhausted by the time we got home.  I now know that a day at the beach with kids is definitely not a day at the beach!

Trying to bust out of my rut with My Fitness Pal

My fitness & nutrition plan has been stuck in a major rut & I'm still ten pounds up from when I stopped breastfeeding Reese about a year & a half ago.  I've been very frustrated & discouraged but this past weekend when I had trouble buttoning my jeans, I decided it was time to crack down & get serious.  I absolutely refuse to buy a larger size & accept this current weight because I do not feel good where I am right now.  It's so important to feel confident when you're getting ready in the morning.  I, on the other hand, feel like a stuffed sausage when I'm getting dressed.  That will not do!

So, to shed those ten pounds, I've started tracking each & every calorie I consume throughout the day using the free app, My Fitness Pal.  It's super user friendly & has an insane amount of foods in their data base.  Every food I've ever scanned has been in their system which makes it easy to stay consistent.  In getting serious, I've vowed to enter every bite I take & don't ignore the creamer in my coffee or the scoop of food I've snagged from the kids' plates as I'm washing up the dishes at dinner.  Using this app helps me plan ahead which reduces the chances that I'll flub up.  When you only have 1200 calories allotted each day like I do, you get a lot more creative in choosing your calories wisely as well as exercising so you can get those calories back.  Normally I don't exercise on Wednesdays since I'm home with the kids, but I got up early today & took a half hour walk before Mike left for work which gave me 150 calories back.  It also helped me reach my goal in getting 10,000 steps/day on my fitbit.

 

When I initially started My Fitness Pal a few weeks ago, I found myself being drawn to pre-packaged foods since they're so easy to scan in & stay portioned-controlled.  But, that completely jacks up the amount of sodium I should be consuming, so I've gotten back to preparing my own meals.  Yesterday I copied a wilted spinach & citrus quinoa salad that I love from Publix. 

I didn't have a recipe, but I did the best I could & it came out great.

Wilted Spinach & Citrus Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:
Quinoa, 1c uncooked
2c water
1 orange, zest & juice
1 Lemon, zest & juice
Baby spinach, heaping handful
Red wine vinegar, 1-2T
Olive oil, 1-2T
Mixed nuts & seeds 
Dried cranberries to your taste
Salt & pepper to taste

Cooking instructions:
Rinse 1 cup quinoa in a mesh strainer until water runs clear.  Bring to a boil with 2 cups of water & reduce to a simmer until water has absorbed, about 20 minutes.  While the quinoa is cooking, mix juice & zest of lemon & orange with olive oil & red wine vinegar; salt & pepper to taste. When water is absorbed from quinoa, mix with fresh, baby spinach until wilted.  Add citrus vinaigrette, dried cranberries, nuts & seeds of choice such as honey roasted peanuts & sunflower or pumpkin seeds & salt & pepper to taste.  Enjoy while hot or chill in refrigerator & enjoy cold.

Approximate nutrition information per 3/4 cup: 171 calories, 9g total fat, 3g protein.

We served the salad along with a Swai fish fillet which was baked with fresh orange & lemon juice, lemon pepper & salt.  The entire meal was under 300 calories; not too shabby!  So far, so good in keeping on track & within my calorie goals, but I have a feeling the weekends will be a bit more of a challenge.  I'm usually not motivated to workout & I'm more inclined to eat less healthfully & have that extra glass (or three!) of wine!!  The other thing is trying to be patient & not expecting the pounds to immediately come off.  I do have to say, it feels great to be actually doing something about getting back on track instead of feeling discouraged & out of control.

The princess & the potty

Reese moved up to the next class at her daycare so she's offically in P2 which is the 2 1/2 year old room.  Normally I have a hard time when the kids transition to the next class, but this time I was totally ready since they focus more on potty training.  Not to mention, the teachers in this class are total dolls, so Reese was more than happy to move right along.  Once I found out she was moving up, we headed to Target & I let Reese pick out her undies.  She chose Frozen!  The teachers told me that's she's doing great & going on the potty each time they try, but they've been keeping her in pull-ups since she continues to wet those.  But she had still never peed on the potty at home!!

Until today, that is!!! Yay!!!  Who knew that going pee on the potty could be so darn exciting?!  She got her undies off herself, sat upon the potty & off she went.  I was so happy!

We celebrated by going to Chick-fil-a for lunch today.  This morning Cam said, I want to go to Chickaletta today.  Mike and I looked at each other like, huh?  After much description, we figured out that he meant Chick-fil-a.  Can you tell we don't get out much?!

We're ending the evening with Sleeping Beauty while sitting on the potty in a Princess Aurora dress.  Hey, even princesses go potty!

We're dining on some honey mustard pretzel chicken which looks pretty darn tasty!  Click here for the recipe.  Happy Wednesday!

Father's Day 2014

We had some jam packed days last week since Grammy & Auntie Erika took a trip down from Chicago for a quick visit.

The kids stayed home with them & had a blast all week.  You can hop over to their blog to see a few more pictures.

We headed to Orlando to catch up with our friends from Illinois.

We were positively connected at the hip with Matt & Amanda before moving down to Florida ten years ago, so we miss them dearly.  I've known Amanda since we were about 6 or 7 years old, so we go way back.  And I'm not one to brag, but I did some match making in high school & they've now been married for 14 years & have three boys.  Not to shabby on my part!

We headed to Sarasota after work Friday to not only celebrate Father's Day weekend, but also Mikayla's 7th birthday!  Based on the pictures above, it's safe to say that she was pretty darn excited about her presents.

Reese was pretty excited to be wearing her Elsa crown.

Cam apparently was too.

Our kids, like most, adore Frozen!

The kids & Mike spent a LOT of time in the pool.  Reese is finally able to swim confidently in her water wings.

 

I watched from the sidelines with the girls since I just got a tattoo on Thursday & couldn't get it soaked in the pool.

Over three years ago, I got Cameron's name put on my shoulder when I was unknowingly pregnant with Reese.  When I saw the positive sign on the pregnancy test a few days later, I thought to myself, well, I guess I'll be adding another name to my shoulder!  Only took me two & a half years to finally do it!

Goofballs.

We ended the weekend with some grilling & presents.

It was a great week spent with Mike's family & a great weekend spent with mine.  Too bad we all can't live close enough to be together all the time!