How to make Ladybug Pretzels

Posted on by
Reply

For baby’s party last week, I made ladybug pretzels.  For the most part, I was happy with the way they turned out.

I got the idea from a few posts I saw online but all of the folks who did them seemed to be the type who find this sort of thing easy.  I ain’t one of those people.  I wish I was though.  Wop wop wop.

In case there are others out there who are like me, I thought I’d do a tutorial post on how to make these ladybug pretzels or “Ladybug Pretzels for Dummies.”  :)   I’m going to try to include what the others don’t tell you!

What you’ll need:

  • Large bag of thin style pretzels
  • Red colored candy melts (I bought a small bag made by Wilton from Michaels)
  • Chocolate Chips
  • Two bowls
  • Parchment paper
  • Cookie Sheet (if you want to use the refrigerator to speed up the cooling time)
  • White frosting (optional)
  • #2 or #3 decorating tip and piping bag OR zipper bag

I bought a 1 pound bag of pretzels, thinking it would be plenty.  Believe it or not, it only yielded about 35 ladybugs.  Why?  Well first, so many in the bag are broken.  Next, so many of them are deformed.  And I even looked for a bag that didn’t seem so broken up.  I also bought a good brand, thinking that would minimize the number of misshapen pretzels.  Not so. Third, I um…broke a whole bunch of them.

Step 1: sort through the pretzels and pull out all the ones you can use.  I actually made three piles – one for broken piece rejects, one that had definite first stringers and one pile of maybes (you can call these sloppy seconds if you’d like).

Step 2: Line your baking sheet (or sheets, depending on how many you plan on doing) with parchment paper.  I made the mistake of thinking it would be fine without the parchment paper.  I was wrong.  Once I had done the first dip and they dried, every single one of the buggers broke when I tried to pick it up off the cookie sheet.  The chocolate stuck to the sheet and the pretzels are too delicate to make it through the break up.  So sad.

So I had to go back and do it again.  If you don’t have parchment paper, I had success with a flexible cutting board.  Since I could peel back the cutting board, the pretzels were spared.

Step 3:  Melt the red candy in a bowl per the instructions on the bag.  For those that don’t know, the candy melts are basically white chocolate that’s dyed different colors.  A quick note here (again, this is for dummies like me who could have benefited from someone telling me this)…make sure the bowl is big enough to fit a pretzel width-wise and also make sure you have melted enough candy melts to fill the bowl up to a height that will cover 2/3s of the pretzel if you stand it up on it’s edge.  No one told me this.  I dipped the pretzels by sweeping them back and forth to cover 2/3s and some of them looked sub-par.  Don’t be chintzy with the dipping chocolate!

Step 4:  Dip your first string pretzels in the red candy melts (hold the rounded bottom and dip the two winged top side first) and remove the excess chocolate.  I did this by gently flicking the non-dipped part of the pretzel over the bowl.  Oh ya, and don’t be a dope and use a red bowl.  It makes it hard to see the melts.  Seriously, this didn’t even occur to me.  See how the middle wasn’t covered in red?  That’s because the bowl should have been more full.

Step 5:  Let the pretzels sit until the coating is dried and hard.  (by the way, this is about where I stopped taking pictures.  sorry)

Step 6: Melt the chocolate chips per the instructions on the bag.

Step 7: Dip the undipped side in the chocolate chips and lay on parchment paper to cool.

Step 8:  Create the ladybug dots by filling a piping bag fitted with a #2 or #3 decorating tip (I’m not going to get into how to do that – I had to figure it out, you can too!) with the brown chocolate.  Pipe dots onto the red end of the ladybugs.  If anyone has good tips on how to make dots, please leave a comment – I was shocked at how hard of a time I had making nice round dots.

Optional:

Step 9: Use the white frosting to create little eyes on the brown chocolate end of the pretzel.  If you have it in a small tube, it’s super easy.  I had some white and black frosting for some ladybug cookies I had made so I just used the back of a chopstick (Woah!  So high-tech, I know!!!!) and dipped it into the white frosting and dabbed it onto the pretzel.  They weren’t perfect but they got the job done.  If you’re a perfectionist, you can always use a piping bag and tip.

Step 10:  Use the melted chocolate to put pupils onto the white eyeballs you created in Step 9.  I just used a toothpick to do this.

Admittedly, the eyeballs were a little creepy.  But I think I liked them better with the eyeballs than without.  They tasted great and I liked this little touch at my baby’s party.  Ideally they would have been set out on a nice tray but the bowl we used worked out just fine.

Alternative Fuel Vehicles

Posted on by
Reply

It’s been an exciting few days in our area because I’ve seen SO many alternative fuel vehicles; in just a 1.5 mile stretch, I spotted three LEAFs.  Interestingly, each was a different color.  Then yesterday a LEAF neighbor flashed his lights at us and we waved.  Silly but it’s kind of a little thrill.

On top of that, on another short trip, I saw two different hydrogen powered vehicles.  The first was an F Cell from Mercedes Benz.  How’s that for fancy?

I didn’t even know these puppies existed.  So I did a little reading to learn more.  These vehicles are in limited available in select markets in the US (CA is one of the few areas) and are for lease only.  The car has an estimated range of up to 240 miles and emits only water vapors as its emissions.  These have been sold in the Europe based on both the A Class and the B Class but this US run is only based on the B Class.  They’re positioning the car as “mobility free of range anxiety.”  I love that these cars are on the road and the fact that the range is 250 miles is great.  I still prefer our LEAF due to the convenience of fueling up at home, though.  Seeing it did get me wondering if there were hydrogen fuel stations nearby and if so, how many.  I remember when I was in college (this was in the mid 90′s), we used a campus vehicle that used an alternative fuel (I think it was Hydrogen but I’m not 100% sure; I know it wasn’t diesel!) and I remember the driver had to make sure he filled up at the ONE station that was available along our 40 mile trip.  Hopefully it’s more convenient than that.  I think it’s also great that there’s a luxury branded alternative fuel vehicle.  I think there are people out there who might like driving something like a LEAF but are accustomed to luxury brands and think of it as a step down to drive a Nissan.  This solves that problem.

A few minutes after seeing the F Cell for the first time, I saw a Toyota FCHV.

This vehicle is based on the Highlander body and shares some of the technologies with the Prius.  Like the Prius, the FCHV (which stands for Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle) is able to drive on battery only for about 50 miles but it’s kind of a moot point because it has to be at very low speeds.  Might come in handy if you’re stuck on a freeway trying out get out of an evacuation zone?  I just don’t know why they tout this – it’s really not all that useful.  The technology is very similar to the Prius but instead of using gasoline in the Hybrid Synergy Drive, it’s using four hydrogen tanks.Anyway, the car has fantastic range – the four fuel cells can power the vehicle for upwards of 400 miles, making it a contender with traditionally fueled cars.  Awesome.  There are several versions of the FCHV and I believe it’s on version 5.  Toyota is apparently looking into using the technology for buses and trucks too.  With Toyota’s reputation of reliability, I hope this one does well!

It’s really really great to see these options in the market and on the road.  We see a lot of LEAFs driving around these days and the more hydrogen vehicles there are out there, the more fuel stations there will be!  Hooray for clean burning vehicles!

 

Meal Plan Monday

Posted on by
Reply

It’s a new week and a new challenge, it seems.  This week we’re going to eat vegan dinners every night.  Or, erm…my husband is going to eat vegan every night.  I’m going to try to support this.  Last night I had a chicken salad, which, for those of you paying attention, is clearly NOT vegan.  :)   Here’s the plan:

Sunday: Panera – I had the aforementioned Chicken Salad (it was dressed with a spicy thai dressing; strong but quite tasty).  My husband stuck to his vegan guns and had a mediterranean sandwich with hummus and veggies

Monday:  Creamy Avocado Pasta & Salad

Tuesday:  Spicy Potato Curry

Wednesday: Hot & Spicy Tofu

Thursday:  Quinoa Bowls

Friday:  Rice and Lentils

Saturday:  Eeks.  Don’t know yet.  We’ll work something out!

Let’s hope these taste good.  We were talking about eating vegan and it’s actually not as hard as it may seem if you know what to look for.  For example, MANY of the indian meals that our parents love are actually vegan (as long as you omit the ghee).  It’s when you eat out that you starts seeing cheeses (paneer) and cream put into the vegetables.  I’ve been wanting to learn how to cook indian food but I haven’t really made any effort to do so.  :(   Boo.  If you like tofu, you can also do quite a bit of vegan cooking with chinese food.  As long as you’re not using fish or oyster sauce and using veggies and tofu, you’re in good shape.  There are also a lot of meat alternatives that are vegan but also seem highly processed to us.  So in this first trial, we’re going to steer clear of those.

#14 on the LIST – Cloth Wipes

Posted on by
Reply

Time to tackle something else on the LIST.  I’m going to start using cloth wipes.  Right now, I use disposable wipes that we had purchased before our baby was born.  We bought so many that they lasted us over a year.  Crazy, right?  Well we bought a whole case, which meant four boxes, each with nine packages that each had 88 wipes in them.  That’s a lotta wipes, folks.  I still have 3-4 packages but I wanted to start transitioning to using cloth wipes.  There are a few reasons for this:

  1. The wipes seem wasteful.  We produce a lot of extra trash because of these wipes.  I could probably buy the flushable kind and that would help but ideally, we would be greener than that even.
  2. I cloth diaper my baby so it’s easy to throw these wipes in the wash with the diapers.  Actually, using the disposable wipes is one extra step; I have to throw the wipe away.
  3. I don’t like the idea of poopy wipes hanging out all week until it’s trash day.  Especially now that baby has started taking interest in exploring the garbage.  Luckily she hasn’t figured out the step top garbage in her room but I was mortified to see her holding a used disposable that she had found in the trash.  The bathroom trashcan now sits on the counter out of her reach.
  4. Cloth wipes are cheaper than the disposable kind

I think I’ll need to ease into this.  My plan is to first start using the cloth wipes on wet diapers at home.  If that goes well, I’ll start using them on the dirty diapers too.  And if THAT goes well, I’ll consider using them while on the go.  At this point I’m thinking I’ll still need to keep disposable wipes in my diaper bag though.

So where to start?  I know you can buy cloth wipes.  I’ve also read that you can make cloth wipes out of old receiving blankets.  I’m going to use thin washcloths similar to these:

These are super simple – no border, cotton, small.  And they’re cheap.  I just picked up a four pack for a buck. I usually wash diapers once every other day or so, so I’ll probably need about a dozen cloths.

Next, I need to figure out what solution to use.  There are a ton of options when it comes to the solution so I think there’s going to be some trial and error.  I did a little research and found this site as well as this one.  Since I cloth diaper and my baby has sensitive skin, I want to start out simple and then I can get fancier as time goes on.  I am going to start with:

  • 2 Tbsp Baby Wash
  • 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
  • 2 Cups water

I like it because it’s simple, natural, and I have all the ingredients on hand.  The baby was will cleanse her skin and the olive oil will help moisturize.  Easy peasy.

The next consideration is how will I store and apply the solution?  Some people use a spray bottle and spray baby’s bottom or the wipe, others store wet wipes in an airtight container, others put wipes in a wipe warmer with solution, and still others use a pop top bottle (like a sports water bottle) and drip wipe solution on to the cloth.  I think I’m going to use a spray bottle and spray the cloth.  It seems mean to spray Miss K’s bum with a cold solution.  I don’t think I’d like that so I’m assuming she wouldn’t either!

I’ve also read that you don’t want to make too much in advance otherwise the solution will get musty.  I’ve read that once a week should be fine. I was curious about whether or not other moms wash their dirty wipes before throwing them in the dry pail with the other used diapers.  I asked on the gDiapers facebook page and most moms said that they didn’t wash it out.  I don’t know how I feel about that.  I’m thinking that I would prefer to wash them off before putting them away, since I’m using the diaper sprayer to wash off the cloth inserts anyway.  We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it, I guess.

We’ll see how it goes!  Wish me luck!

Ain’t Nuthin’ but a Ladybug Party

Posted on by
1

Did I really just change a Tupac song to go from talking about gangstas to ladybugs?  I’m sure he would have loved that.

On Sunday, we threw Miss K. her first birthday bash and I’m really happy with the way it turned out.  After hemming and hawing over the location, we finally decided on having it at a small amusement park in Anaheim called Adventure City.  It has several attractions that little bitties like some of our younger guests (1-3) could ride and then a few that were exciting for the slightly older kids (5-7).  What I was most proud of was how incredibly well Karina did.  It was a long, exciting day but she was a trooper.  The only time she cried was when we took her on the Merry-Go-Round; I think it was too much for her.

Other than that, she smiled and laughed the whole time.  Our guests arrived and checked out the park before the party began inside the Party Station.  We had the Party Station all to ourselves and the hosts at Adventure City were awesome.  They set up all the silly ladybug items I had bought and the place looked super cutie:

My sister-in-law made this over-the-top-incredible cake.  I could not have asked for more.  And she’s not even a baker.  She’s a radiologist.  I really really loved the cake; not just in how it looked but how it tasted.

She also made her a little smash cake (more on that later):

I made some ladybug cookies, put them in cellophane bags and tied them with a black ribbon and a custom tag:

And I also made some chocolate covered ladybug pretzels.  I have mixed feelings about the eyes but I’m pretty happy about how they came out.

No kiddie party is complete without some fun red and black goody bags that had pencils, ladybug poppers, red and black licorice, the cookies, ladybug hair bows for the girls, plastic bugs and lizards for the boys, bottles of ladybug bubbles, stickers, hot wheels (for the boys), and polly pocket dolls for the girls.  And yes, I do realize that I’m totally enforcing gender stereotypes but oh well.  We had a couple infants on the guest list so I threw in some ladybug teethers for them.  We decorated the bags with four little customized tags designed by TomKat Studios.  The different tags had a 1, Karina’s name, Happy Birthday, or a ladybug on each and were tied on with black and red with white polka dot ribbons.

Lunch was pizza, drinks, salads, and fries, mozzarella sticks, and onion rings.  The pizza was actually pretty good!  Once we were all done eating, we gathered around and sang happy birthday.  My babe didn’t cry at all.  She just looked around and smiled.  I’m so proud of her.

Her Monica Mammi (aunt) made her a cute little smash (cup)cake

At first the little ladybug princess just looked at it.

Then she started feeling it.

Then she realized she could eat it.

Then it was over.

Notice how one hand is always in the cake.

“Hey Daddy, what do we gotta do to get mom to feed us this kinda food all the time?” It was Miss K’s first time having any kind of processed sugar and I think she takes after me – she loved it!  Weird part was she didn’t get all hyper like we thought she would.

After the party station, the super cute guests were free to visit the attractions and ride the rides.  It had rained that morning so I was SUPER nervous that the weather would be crummy but we got lucky.  Intermittent cloudiness but no rain.  Phew!

All in all, I’m thrilled with the way the party went.  I know my little one won’t remember it all, but she was happy that day.  And that makes me happy everyday.

Short hair, baking cookies, kiddie parties…who am I?  I just don’t know anymore.

 

Meal Plan Monday – January 16, 2012

Posted on by
Reply

Man, was it a eat-a-licious weekend.  The use of the word eat-a-licious was completely unnecessary, by the way, since there are so many words that appropriately describe foody-type things, like scrumptious or delicious, for example.  Anyways, it’s time to get back on track.  Last week feels so far away and I’m having a hard time remembering what we ate so I don’t even know if we ate at home four days or not…let’s see.  I know we did take-out on Saturday, In-N-Out on Friday (yikes), Cheesy Broccoli Quinoa on Thursday, Soup and Salad on Monday, Enchiladas on Wednesday, and on Tuesday we met up with a friend of my husband’s and went to Red Robin.  What did we have last Sunday?  I don’t know…hopefully it was something home made so we can say we met the four-day-dinner-at-home goal.

Like I said, time to get back on track.  This week’s not off to the best start, but I think we can still salvage it.  I also want to do some refrigerator and pantry cleaning so there might be some strange/awkward meals.

Sunday: Left over take-out from Saturday night

Monday:  Pad Thai and Bok Choy Salad

Tuesday:  Omelets and salad

Wednesday:  Lasagna

Thursday: Poker Night, so most likely pizza

Friday:  Puff Pastry Samosas
Saturday:  Some sort of pasta dish with orrichiette pasta (I think I spelled that wrong)

We’re starting to transition Miss K. to cow’s milk so I’ve been mixing the two bottles of formula she has each day with milk.  So far, it seems to be working; she’s drinking it and no stomach issues that I can see.  I now need to start giving it to her in a sippy cup instead of a bottle. That may not go over as well.  Wish me luck!

#4 on the LIST – Begin using a natural toothpaste

Posted on by
Reply

I was shopping at Trader Joe’s the other day and saw that they had a number of natural toothpastes to choose from so I decided to pick one up. They had both Tom’s and a Trader Joe’s brand. I opted for the Trader Joe’s brand and picked this one:
Haven’t tried it yet but honestly, I grabbed it without much thought and without doing my homework first.  So I started looking at the label a little closer when I got home.  Here are some of the things it says:

  • Contains no artificial sweeteners.  Ya!  one of my goals with a natural toothpaste!
  • No Sodium Laurel Sulfate  Sweet!  Also on my list!
  • No Propylene Glycol Cool – according to EWG’s Skin Deep Cosmetics Database: “Propylene glycol is a small organic alcohol commonly used as a skin conditioning agent. It has been associated with irritant and allergic contact dermatitis as well as contact urticaria in humans; these sensitization effects can be manifested at propylene glycol concentrations as low as 2%.”
  • Active Ingredient:  Sodium Monofluorophosphate .76% – anticavity toothpaste This doesn’t sound very natural but it’s basically fluoride.  I think for now I’m ok with using a fluoride toothpaste for me and my husband.  Baby’s toothpaste is fluoride free.
  • Inactive ingredients: Calcium Carbonate, Glycerin, water, Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Hydrated Silica, Menta Piperita (Peppermint) oil, Sodium Cocoyl Glutamate, Chrondos Crispus (Carrageenan).
  • All Natural.  No animal testing.  No animal products.  I like that.

I’m confused though.  I don’t understand the definition of “natural.”  So I thought I’d break down some of these ingredients (and PLEASE take this with a grain of salt.  I did this research at a very surface level.  I’m no expert with this type of thing):

  1. Sodium Monofluorophosphate: (MFP) – inorganic compound that is a salt, that is believed to protect tooth enamel from cavity causing bacteria
  2. Calcium Carbonate – commonly found in rocks, and is the main component of egg shells, pearls, snails.  According to wikipedia, the majority of calcium carbonate used is extracted by mining or quarrying
  3. Glycerin – This one confused me somewhat.  Again, according to wikipedia, glycerol is largely created as a by-product of soap making.  I don’t understand how this is natural.
  4. Sodium Bicarbonate – Baking soda…I’ve often wondered why this is considered natural.  Apparently it is commonly extracted from the ashes of many plants but is synthetically produced in large quantities for industry.  I wonder where the sodium bicarbonate in my toothpaste came from..
  5. Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate – A foaming agent and sugar replacer that is non-toxic, biodegradable and safe.  But I don’t see how it’s natural either.  My gut tells me it’s better than SLS and artificial sweeteners, though.
  6. Hydrated Silica – Found in opal.  Used as an abrasive to clean away plaque.
  7. Peppermint OIl – Not going to research this one :)
  8. Sodium Cocoyl Glutamate – Extremely mild, gently sudsing surfactant derived from the amino acid glutamic acid and coconut fatty acid
  9. Chrondos Crispus – Irish Algae used as a thickening agent.

Man a few minutes of googling and you learn a lot.  So I’m not 100% satisfied that it’s ALL NATURAL but I’ve drank the Kool-Aid for now and do think it’s better for me than my usual Colgate or Crest.  Aww…I’ve been a Crest kid my whole life.  Times are a-changing.  In case you’re wondering, here’s what’s in the Colgate tube in my cabinet:

  • Active Ingredients:  Potassium Nitrate, Sodium Fluoride
  • Inactive Ingredients: water, hydrated Silica, glycerin, sorbitol, PEG-12, PVM/MA copolymer, sodium laurel sulfate, flavor, poloxamer 407, trisodium phosphate, sodium hydroxide, cellulose gum, sodium saccharine, xanthan gum, titanium dioxide

Some of the same suspects but way more chemicals, especially in the inactive ingredients.  I’m glad I don’t swallow too much of this stuff.

 

Happy Birthday Punkin!

Posted on by
5

I can’t believe it.  In a blink of an eye, my baby’s first year is already through.  What a fantastic year.  I’ve always been thankful for the things I have in life but I can’t recall a year in my life where I’ve felt so incredibly blessed.

When I was pregnant with Karina, I used to hear this song everyday on the way to work and usually on the way home too.  Call it hormones or whatever you want but I would dream about this beautiful little daughter of mine and how much I would love her.  This isn’t typical for me.  I’m an optimist but not so much a dreamer.  I’m rooted in my little reality and I’m a practical person.  But when it comes to my baby, I dream.  And I dream big.  So I used to think about her, not knowing what she’d look like or what it would feel like to see her face or hold her and just the hope of what she’d be got me through those stressful days at work.  I had high hopes and high expectations for this little critter.

Then she arrived.  January 10, 2011 at 6:27 pm in Newport Beach.  And she was perfect.  Over the following year, she became my best friend.  She was with me at virtually every moment of the last year.  Her laughter was the soundtrack to 2011.  And despite my optimistic nature and my big dreams for what she would be like, I underestimated her because she was more than I could have imagined.  Beautiful, not just her face, but her soul.  Her little soul gives me hope.

So now you know.  I’ve lost my marbles.  I’m not apologizing.

We took a lot of pictures this year.  More than any other year in the past, that’s for sure!  And while I don’t have a picture for every day, I grabbed one from every day I could and it ended up being about every third day.  I can’t believe how much she’s changed!  I couldn’t think of a more appropriate song to use than that one that I used to dream to in my preggy days.  Happy happy birthday to our sweet little girl, Karina Omkar Nalamwar.  I cannot find words to explain.

A Week of Trials and Errors

Posted on by
Reply

I realize today’s post may be a bit of a downer.  But sometimes I have to shine a light on what’s bad in order to get to what’s good.  This week I had a lot of intentions and not a lot of them came to fruition.  That’s always a downer.  It’s especially disheartening when it’s the beginning of a new year and you really really REALLY want to be good.  Here are a few things that went awry:

1.  I was supposed to drink more water.  I didn’t.  I had a few glasses here and there but nowhere near the 64 ounces per day I’d like to be at.  I think I even felt a bit light headed a few times.  Argh.  So hold on just a second while I go fill up my water bottle and take a big swig.  Ok.  At least I can now say that I’ve had 16 ounces of water today (a little earlier and a little just now.  Ya, I actually did go fill up my water bottle and drink some).

2.  My husband has this super duper awesome blog, www.irvinehousingblog.com.  It’s going through some changes and I wanted to help him with it.  I want to be able to take some of the workload off.  But I didn’t do a very good job.  I wrote a post for it.  But then my pictures sucked so he couldn’t even use it.  I wanted to go take a second set of pictures to use today.  But that didn’t happen.  Sucks.  He does so much for me and here’s a way I can help and I failed him.  Now it’s 3:35 and my baby’s going to wake up soon and she will need to eat.  Maybe I can still go take a few shots but the lighting isn’t usually quite right…I know the camera can compensate but I don’t know to make it do that.  Darn.  Maybe tomorrow.

3.  I wanted to do a few test runs of some cookies with flooded frosting for my baby girl’s birthday next week.  I did one batch that’s drying right now.  So far they’re ok but not great.  Had I done a few more batches, I think I’d be more confident going into next week.  And to make things worse, I ate a whole lot of cookie dough.  Now I feel like I’m made out of cookie dough.  Soft, buttery and simply sweet.  What can I do now?  Well, I know i have a cookie recipe that I like.  I need to practice baking at least one more batch to the get the thickness right.  Otherwise, I can whip up another couple batches of icing and practice.  Maybe I’ll just trace the cookie cutter onto some paper and use that to practice on.  I think that’ll go a long way because making the icing is one of the stressors and then using a pastry tip and doing the decorations is also up there.  I’m not throwing in the towel yet!

3.  Remember how I mentioned the crazy burrito at taco bell with spicy fritos in it?  Ya, I had a bad headache on Wednesday night and not only did I have that burrito, but I asked my husband to pick it up for us on the way home, after he had worked a long day at work, thereby cutting into his time with Karina.  He only gets a few hours a day with her and I ate into that by not being prepared.

4.  I wanted to make it to the gym a few times this week.  But I didn’t.  I did a yoga video (well, it was sort of yoga but my muscles are so tight and out of shape that it was hardly recognizable!) and we went on a long walk on Monday but that was it.  On the bright side of things, though, that’s two more workouts than the week before!  And there’s nothing stopping me from getting in another video or time on the wii fit board tonight.

Sorry for the negativity but the nice part is that we’re heading into a new week and I’m still hopeful!  I got my eyebrows threaded, I made an appointment to get a haircut, and my baby is turning one next week.  I’m gonna keep trying.  I think I can…I think I can…I think I can!

Oh ya, one last bit of humiliation I just have to get out of my system.  This morning I was diligently frosting cookies (very focused).  My daughter pulled my pants down.  Like all the way to my ankles.  That kid punks me in ways that I never imagined.