What??? How do you do it?

I am starting a diet.  Whenever I decide to seriously monitor what I eat, I need to psyche myself up for a few days.  I sometimes diet to lose weight.  Sometimes I diet to monitor what I eat to make sure that I'm not going overboard with my calorie intake each day.  When I closely monitor what I eat, I am also more likely to exercise regularly and I really want to get back into working out now that we are hibernating for the winter!

Nursing a baby gives you lots of extra calories and I need to adjust my daily eating habits as Elena starts to wean.  She's still nursing a lot but not as much as a few months ago.  But I'm still eating the same!  Ergo, I'm gaining weight.

So I have been mentally prepping myself to jump into healthier eating.  Usually it takes a day or two to really get myself ready to commit and ready to limit what I indulge in.  Believe me, I know how to indulge and I'm NOT ready to slow this gravy train down!!

And this is how I prep myself.


Don't judge.  They're made with applesauce instead of oil.  That cancels out the extra chocolate chips I added.


If you need tips, motivation or healthy ideas for dieting, please - go talk to Sophia Franklin...not me.  :)

My little hoover vacuum

Elena's favorite spot while I am cooking is the kitchen floor.  I am a sloppy cooker and I throw things around like a complete spaz.  Usually I misjudge timing and have to rush to get things chopped and in pans quickly.  You would think she was starved to death.  She was ecstatic to find a piece of raw daikon radish on my floor while I was preparing my soup.

If I am not cooking something, she will just go help herself to the pantry. 
More specifically, the red onion in my pantry...

This one red onion has been tortured, drooled on, gouged, pinched...

But that onion finally found the perfect hiding place to escape the torture. 

Shhh...she doesn't even know it's there!!

Thank you for not being a serial killer

A couple weeks ago, a fellow blogger, Colleen at Martin Family Moments, emailed me and let me know she would be in my area for Thanksgiving and we should meet up!  I was super-pysched.  It's flattering knowing someone might want to meet you after only "meeting" you in the online world.  And after following her blog for a few months now, I knew that we would get along smashingly!

(Pic of Colleen and 3 of her kids stolen from her blog)

Or would we???  Then I started to worry that she might be a 65-year-old woman trying to come and steal my baby.  You know - the crazies with the fake dolls who try to pass them off in public until they can snatch a real one??? 

Okay - moving right along.  Colleen and her husband both attended Franciscan University, our alma mater, so we were certain we would get along well.  So, Colleen, her husband and 4 adorable kids came over for the morning.  They were 100% normal and super fun.  I'm a little sad they don't live closer to our area and we can't hang out more often.  Jason and her husband are both Theology majors AND work in exactly the same field.  Colleen and I both studied business/accounting and are now moms trying to save money and raise our families.  So we have a lot in common.

We are also thinking of doing a child swap.  That way, when our children are driving us batty, we can trade and see if the grass really is greener.  I'll take Maggie any day.  She's adowable.

Colleen - Thank you for not being a serial killer!!  And thank you for sharing your awesome family with us.  We are already looking forward to your next trip to the area!!

Except next time we will leave Maggie in charge and head out to happy hour for a bit :)


(Initially, they laughed a little at our "unconventional" toy bin full of PVC pipes, vacuum tubing, back massagers and shower nozzles, but we all know that those are the toys kids like the best!!  Throw a little duct tape in the mix??  Then it's a REAL party!!)




Colleen blogs over at Martin Family Moments.  She is witty, hilarious and honest.

Thanksgiving Feast

I was put in charge of an appetizer and Thanksgiving desserts this year...
and apparently I went a little overboard...

My sister and I had the genius idea of preparing a big and filling lunch so everyone would then stop eating and have a full appetite for dinner.  Too bad we served Spinach and Artichoke Dip, Cheese Soup and another amazing Artichoke Dip.  We grazed...and grazed...until close to 3:30.  And there was still a ton of food left...Perhaps next year we will choose a light salad lunch instead of cheese dipped in more cheese.


Our Thanksgiving feast was awesome this year.  The babies had tons of cousins to play with!

Even the newest little additions to the family came by!!  This is Mike with Audrey,

And Austin is shocked over how small Liam is!!

Notice the post-feast pass-out couch is strategically placed right next to the buffet...

...because clearly this one is in use...

Happy Thanksgiving from the fuzzy yellow trio.

And I would walk 500 miles

She would walk 500 miles all around the house if she had pulled the long straw and been born first.

But she must navigate through a multitude of boobie traps and obstacle courses that change depending on Leo's mood.  She is very aware of the dangers that loom around every corner... 

...named Leo... 

We never can tell where he is going to pop out of next!


Anyone want to borrow a 2 1/2 year old boy for a few weeks???? 

A game of baby "Keep away"

How to keep your toddler's train and train track intact with an 9 month old in the house:




Sorry Elena. 

As close as we're gonna get...

Leo is only 2 1/2.  He doesn't know much about Christmas or Santa.  I've been prepping him with the Happy Birthday song to Jesus and a book we have about Santa.  All he learned from that book is that he wants to eat cookies just like Santa! 

After Elena's 9-month check-up at the doctor yesterday (she's the picture of perfect health!!!)


I decided to go for Mom of the Year Award and take the kids to the children's play area in our mall.  The last time I braved this disaster of a mall was well over a year ago.  There is a lot of turn-around and apparently gang activity!!  But their playland is the best!

So, we booked it through the mall only to find that the playland is gone!  In it's place is a huge Santa "village".  Oh great.  I didn't even check how much it cost.  I know Leo well enough to know that there is no way he is going NEAR some strange old man in a huge chair.  So, in my most frugal moment yet, I propped Leo up on the wall right next to the "Mall Elf" and I snapped a photo.

And that's as close as we're gonna get :)

Rockin' Green Cloth Diaper Detergent Review & Giveaway!!

If you have been following my blog, you have seen my recent troubles with detergent for my cloth diapers.  While Elena's rash had disappeared, my homemade laundry detergent just wasn't cutting it for the diapers.  My kids were perpetually stinky.  There was no solution that I could think of and I was quickly wasting money using lots of disposables. 

Cathy over at Catholic Mom in the Country suggested I try out Rockin' Green Detergent so I contacted them for a sample.  They sent me three samples and let me know I could host a giveaway for one bag of their detergent (45/90 loads)!!  This stuff is worth it's weight in gold so I thought I'd share some.


Last week I gave it a whirl.  I have a high effeciency machine so I used a little over 1 tablespoon of the powder.  The very first load came out smelling...like nothing!  Which is EXACTLY what I want!!  You don't want your cloth diaper to simply smell more like perfume than pee.  That's just silly.

So, the diapers smelled fantastic and I was excited to see if Elena could manage to have a smooth bum for more than one diaper.

Day 1 - FANTASTIC!!  No diaper rash.  No redness.  No stink. 
Day 2 - Some stains left on the diapers.  I'm not worried about those.  They usually wash out after 1 or 2 more washes.  STILL no rashes.  I'm tentatively in love
Day 3 - Stains are there.  I'm not surprised.  Elena is still breastfeeding with a couple solid foods a day.  But my diaper smell great and no rashes
Day 4 - I stopped paying attention.  Diapers are now moved to the lowest importance in my life.  I can move on without checking Elena all day for rashes.  LOVE LOVE LOVE this detergent!!!

I have been using the detergent for a week (4 loads) and I'm in love.  It's fantastic.  My options were either pay tons of money for disposables or shell out a little dough every now and then for Rockin' Green! 


If you cloth diaper, I strongly suggest you check out Rockin' Green Detergent!  Especially if your child is prone to rashes.

If you would like to win a bag of Rockin' Green Cloth Diaper Detergent, please leave a comment with your email address!  (Please make sure I have a way of contacting you if you win!)

For additional entries (1 comment for each extra step):
- Visit Rockin' Green and leave a comment with the flavor you would like to try. (1 comment)
- Join Rockin' Green's Facebook page. (1 comment)
- Follow Rockin' Green on Twitter(1 comment)
- Follow me on Facebook
- Follow me on twitter and Tweet: Win @RockinGreenSoap from @lisamgale for your #cloth #diaper #giveaway http://bit.ly/eeyhRH.” (You can tweet once daily and leave a comment with link to each Tweet)

I'm going to leave the giveaway open until December 13th at 5 PM EST.  The winner will be chosen using random.org.  (Please be sure to complete each step as I will verify!!) 

Good luck everyone!!

Tasty Tuesday: Stuffed Acorn Squash

Tasty Tuesday

I have been waiting all year to make our favorite recipe!!  Stuffed Acorn Squash!  I made it for the first time last year when I received 20 acorn squash from our Crop Share and had no idea what to do with them (I was only just starting to cook foods other than boxed Mac'N'Cheese.

So, I found this recipe on Cooks.com and modified it a little bit to make our most memorable meal.  It turned out to be a great way to get us both to eat our veggie!!

INGREDIENTS
3 small acorn squash
1 lb. ground beef or turkey
1 large onion, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 cup dry stuffing mix
1 cup chicken or beef broth
melted butter

DIRECTIONS

1) (Optional) Lightly sautee the onion in a small amout of oil or butter until translucent.  Add the garlic during the last minute.

2) Combine ground meat, stuffing, chopped onion, garlic, paprika and broth. Mix lightly but well. Season with a pinch of salt and black pepper.

3) Wash and cut squash into halves; remove seeds. In a large pot, boil the squash partially, with the cut portion facing down in an inch of boiling water. Boil for 5 minutes, then remove and brush liberally with melted butter.




4) Stuff each squash with meat mixture. 

5) Pour melted butter over the top of the meat.  Be generous!  Lots of it will fall off the squash anyway...right??  ;)  Anyway, the healthiness of the squash cancels out the butter.  Promise.

6) Bake in the oven at 350°F for about 1 hour.  If desired, brush a few timnes with butter while they are cooking.

We've not yet seen the end of Captain Destructo!

I had been feeling overwhelmed lately with the cleaning.  The culprit?  4 baskets of laundry that were clean but never got put away.  You know what I mean.  The ones that you dig through day-after-day to find the clothes you need and figure you'll just empty the basket rather than put them away.  They'll be empty in no time!!

Not so.  These never-ending baskets of clean laundry are still full to the brim, there are 3 huge piles of dirty laundry and no one has anything to wear.  Leo and Elena were wearing dirty pants yesterday.  Now they just aren't wearing any!! 

Last night, after 5 pm Mass, I went back to my mom's house.  I didn't want to be anywhere near mine.  The disaster areas were messing with my head.  Every corner was taunting me and I couldn't get going on any of the cleaning.  I actually ran out of dish towels.  I have over 20...things were getting bad!  (This is usually when I stuff my face full of junk-food.  And true to form, I had McDonalds fries for the first time in months!!)

So, Jason assured me that our game-plan this morning would be to clean up everything.  Once Jason gets started, I find my motivation.  We got the house spic'n'span! 

Then, Captain Destructo did something he's never done before.  He decided the toy bins would serve as great...well...I'm not even sure.  He just dumped everything out...




Elena couldn't be happier stuck in the middle of the mess!  I just curled up under a blanket...


And in completely unrelated news, keeping with the Gale family tradition, Elena took her first official steps today, her 9 month birthday!!  Leo was exactly 9 months old when he took his first official steps.  As soon as I saw it, I ran to our calendar to check what day it was.  The 22nd!  What are the odds?!?!

She has been attempting steps for a couple weeks now but could only make one half-step before falling.  Today, I watched her take 2 steps away from a toy when no one was assisting.  I'm going to have to put a helmet on her Amazon wish list ;)

(Thudguard image from http://bit.ly/hBCeV2)
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