Classical Conditioning

Yes, as in Pavlov and the salivating dogs.

Yesterday after I made rice krispie squares, I must have stepped on one and it stuck to the bottom of my sock. C has a tendency to tickle feet these days. Yesterday she started to tickle my foot but noticed this piece of rice cereal stuck to the bottom of my sock. She noticed it. I noticed it. I was too lazy to sit up and pull it off. She wanted to eat it. So as she reached her little finger to touch the rice cereal I moved my foot and said "buahh!"

You all know where this is going.... tears. Now before you go calling CPS I can assure you that I didn't think I'd scare her that bad!

Anyways, it couldn't have been too terrible because she tried again. And again I moved my foot and said "buahh!" This time she retreated into daddy's open arms.

Conditional stimulus + unconditioned stimulus = conditioned response
Sock + scary noise = not fun... run away

I have one smart kid!

She must be lucky because she experienced some more classical conditional that must have become extinct in her mind. She was playing with the buttons on the TV (as she usually does). This time she hit the wrong button and sent the TV to a static channel, with the volume way up high!

We are evil parents. We laughed as she dove away from the TV getting tangled in her long abandoned play mat, eventually freeing herself and scampering away looking very guilty. This time she did not cry.

Do you think a airhorn could be used in place of a firm "no"? I think it would be more effective! lol

Decisions Decisons

I haven't written lately because I've been too busy thinking. I hate thinking! If somebody could do all the thinking for me, I think I would be a much happier person. If somebody just came out and told me what to do, I'd do it. Ok, ya, that's probably not true.

I'll give you the long and short of it. The short story is that K and I have been on EI since before C was born. If anybody's counting, that's 14 months ago today. Needless to say money is really tight, and despite our efforts we still haven't found anything.

The long of it is that a good friend of the family works for a small but growing company that would be a great place to work. I think the company is perfect for me, and I dare say I'm perfect for the company. I had a meeting with them on Tuesday and it went really well. They would like me to come back and see the co-founder next week. Great! You say. Yes, great. And not so great. Not so great because traveling to the office would take 1.5 hours each way. Leaving the office at 5pm probably wouldn't have me home until 7ish because of the GO train schedule, and with C going to bed at 7:30 I would only have 30mins with her. Ugh. But with the way finances are, I hardly feel like a have a choice in the matter. As my friend says, "pull on your big girl panties" right? Right, so that's what I'll do. If they offer me the position, I'll take it. It's all about what's best for the family right? Paying our mortgage and bills is the most important thing right? Then why have I had a headache and been nauseous for the past 2 days?

I really don't know what to do.... somebody tell me what I should do! What would you do?

How Many Brides Does it Take...

This is a long one folks, but there is a product review mixed in! =)

* for those of you who don't live in Toronto. TTC stands for Toronto Transit Commission (in other words, over priced public transport. ;) *

Yesterday I had a get together with the ladies from my bridal forum. Because we're all so spread out, we decided to meet in Downtown Toronto. We live in Ajax, and I don't drive... which means, public transit! So two of the lovely girls offered to meet me at Union station and help me with the subway. (Thanks again J and K!) K dropped C and I off at the Go train station in Ajax, which was fine. The station has elevators to get you to the platform, and they also have accessibility cars with ramps, operated by some eye candy (at least they were yesterday), so you can get in and out of the train. BUT the TTC isn't so nice.

I don't really understand how a public transit system as big as Toronto's still doesn't have accessibility at all of their stations, and the accessibility that they do have leaves something to be desired. Didn't they just increase fares to $3.00 for adults! I really don't know where this money is going because I saw no changes to anything after not using the TTC in almost 2 years. Anyways, C and I get to Union GO station which is attached to Union TTC station. I meet up with my girls, and we head off to catch the subway. Our first challenge is a flight of about, oh, 5-6 stairs to get to the collector booths. Being independent (read stubborn) I decided to use the elevator. It took the three of us reading the directions to figure out how to work the damn thing! First you have to press the call button.

Collector "How can I help you"
Me "Umm, can you make the elevator work?"
Collector "Press and hold the black button"

In I go to this tiny... I don't even know what to call it. Really it was a platform on hydrolics that barely fit me and the stroller. I get in, the door closes, I press the black button. Nothing happens. Great! I press a bunch of the other buttons. Nothing. I look down, (by this time J and K are already down there looking up at me) and there's another lady there mouthing 'press the black button'. I am pressing the black button lady, settle down! Turns out the door didn't latch properly behind me, I had to open it again and let it shut all the way.

Obstacle 1 overcome. The elevator finally works, and we're down to the collector's booth... Here comes obstacle 2. There's a huge line at the booth, and not much room to navigate with the stroller because I would have to pay the money, then back out of the line and go over to the accessible entrance. So J suggests that I buy a token and do it that way... well the token part is out of service! (Good job TTC!) Then J says why don't we take the token for you and you wait here, we'll get the guy to unlock the gate. Well the line isn't moving. Option three. J hands me her metropass and says flag down the guy, show him the pass then maybe he'll let you through. After all of that we finally get his attention, and he unlocks the gate! Yay!

Don't stop reading now, it gets better! Off we go to College station. Problem 4, (I don't know 4, 5, I've lost count) College only has an escalator. Yes, I know this is doable, but really I don't think it's the safest thing to take a stroller on an escalator. I've been on them when some idiot presses the emergency stop, it's definitely not fun, and I've seen people fall due to the abruptness of the stop. But again, I'm an independent woman right?! Fine, up the escalator (backwards I might add), through the little gate (which has a sign that reads "please close the gate after use!" Thanks again TTC!!) Almost there now, except for the 4 stairs on one side or the gazillion on the other that I have to manage in order to get out of the station.

Now here's where I get mad at Graco. I have a Graco glider travel system. The first time I used it on public transit C nearly fell down the stairs. The streetcar driver who was helping me grabbed the footrest to help me out of the streetcar, just as we were lifting it down the stairs the footrest flew off! Thankfully I was holding the top of the stroller, and we were only a few inches off the step, otherwise the stroller would have gone all the way down. So I get home and e-mail Graco immediately like a good little consumer to let them know there's a fatal flaw in their design. I relay the story, and what is the response I get? (after 7 days I might add):

"Sorry for the delay in responding to you, I have not been at my desk.

When you do to go up and down stairs or street cars; it is recommended in the manual to remove child and fold it to transport the stroller. If you do leave the child in stroller to carry it up or down stairs there is a bar underneath child’s footrest, on your model of stroller (the one that is removable) you should hold it by the bar or on the side of the stroller frame, but the best and safest way to transport your stroller is to follow the manual."

What?! You mean the bar that is halfway under the footrest, the footrest that has the sharp plastic edge that digs into your forearm (ask J)... and you're supposed to explain that to a complete stranger, who may or may not speak english, trying to help you up some stairs? Oh, so you mean take my child out, carry her in one arm, fold the stroller up, somehow manage to also throw the diaper bag on one shoulder, the cup in the cup rest into your coat pocket (and hope it doesn't spill) and carry the 20lbs stroller, the 20lbs kid and the rest of the stuff up the stairs?! Are you kidding me? That's safer??? Never again will I buy a Graco. NEVER!

Anyways, J helps me up the stairs and we finally make it to our get together. The rest of the day went off without much of a hitch. Conversation was great. C even decided that she would stand for the first time on her own in front of the ladies! My little show off! lol Service was a little less than good, but the company was definitely the important part. We need to do it again soon... but next time I'm leaving the stroller at home! Heck, next time I'm leaving C at home too, and let's get some drinks!!

Really me,
The forever bride
Nik

Begin With the End in Mind

This post is dedicated to our friends J and E who are expecting their first baby in February. *applause* But any time now would be good, right J? lol They had little cards to write advice on at their shower, but I neglected to do so. I'm trying to make up for it now. :)

The best advice that I can impart on any first time parent is this simple phrase; Begin with the end in mind. Take a couple of minutes to sit with your partner and talk about how you see life after baby. There are so many different parenting techniques/models/styles. So talk with your spouse or partner and figure out what is important to you.

Do you want baby to sleep in bed with you or in their crib in their own room? Do you want to carry them around in a sling? Do you want them to play well on their own? Do you want to teach them about healthy eating? Do you want them to be able to sleep through the noise of a party? Do you want to rock them to sleep every night? Do you want them to have a pacifier or not? Do you want to teach them that reading is important?

I'll give you an example. K and I always said that we wanted to make sure that C would sleep through anything. When people first came to the house to visit they would whisper if she was asleep. We quickly told them not to worry, speak normally, in fact, speak loudly. The dog would bark, the phone would ring, and C would sleep right through it because she was used to the noise. On the flip side I heard of a couple who would turn the phone off when their kids slept, and any little peep would wake them up.

There are of course things that will come up that you didn't anticipate. K and I said that we didn't want to give C a pacifier, well, she had a really strong suck reflex, so really the paci was something that turned out to be beneficial for the first bit. That is, until she started waking up from sleep because she had spit it out. We realized, after a couple of restless nights, that we would have to go back to our original plan of no paci. It took another few restless nights to break her of the habit, but she slept much better after that. It's much easier to avoid developing a habit, than it is to break one, but that's not always possible.

Now you might think that some of these issues won't arise until they are much older, but I would argue that that is not the case. Everything you do as a parent develops attitudes, personality traits, habits and values in your child right from the start. If eating healthy is important to you, then you as a parent need to lead by example, maybe even think about making their baby food. If you want them to love reading, then maybe a book before bed every night is the way to go. I'm not trying to say what is right or wrong or even if there is a right or wrong. What I am saying is you need to decide what is important to YOU which means acting in a way that will lead to your goal.

Really me,
The mommy
Nik

Word to the Wise

Never, I repeat NEVER sign up for anything at your door. I know there are probably articles all over the net about companies like Direct Energy, Just Energy, National Home Services (recently acquired by Just Energy), Universal Energy Corp. and a host of many other companies. But I wanted to put it out there once again and warn all my readers.

When K and I bought the house we were first time owners and I'll say it, we were dumb! Somebody from Direct Energy came to the door the day we moved in. My father answered told them we were busy, so the lady came back about a week later. I answered the door and she told me she was from our gas company (Enbridge). She had a gas bill from Enbridge and an ID card from them as well. She told me that she wanted to make sure that we were on the savings plan and that everybody in the neighborhood was being switched over to this service. She made it sound like it was inevitable, that we'd eventually have to do it, so she wanted to make sure we were setup. I was very skeptical. I continued to ask who exactly she worked for. Long story short, she called into the call center so I could confirm that I wanted to switch our service. Again I was skeptical with the person I spoke to on the phone. About a week later we figured out what the heck was going on when we got a letter from Direct Energy. Well let me tell you, I was none too pleased. I called the office immediately, asked them to pull my call because I was certain they never said they were Direct Energy, and I wanted them to send me the copy of the contract I signed. Luckily for us, they were not able to pull the call (they probably realized I was right) and they couldn't find my contract, so we got out of the deal.

This is not the case for my parents. Once again shady sales tactics were used, agents did not identify themselves as working for X company, instead they flat out said, or insinuated that they were with the power or gas company. My parents got signed up with Just Energy and now their electricity bill is almost $200 dollars more than ours, and we use more electricity! Their gas bill is also significantly higher. We're talking $455 every 3 months! And they are now locked in for 5 years!

So here are some pointers to make sure you don't get yourself into the same situation.

1. Don't talk to people at the door. You just never know these days.

2. Do not EVER show anybody your bill for ANY REASON! If they really do work for the company they would know what you were paying.

3. Specifically ask them who they are working for. "DO you work for Endbridge?" "Who do you work for?" and be careful because these sales people are sneaky!

4. If you realize that you've been signed up with one of these companies call and cancel immediately. According to the laws you only have a 10 day cooling off period, so time is of the essence.

For information about Gas prices click HERE
For information about Energy prices click HERE

CBC's Market Place ran a show about The Power of High-Pressure Sales you can watch it HERE they interviewed two former employees of Direct Energy who explain how they are trained and taught to approach and lie to home owners.

Really me,
The reporter
Nik

One of Those Moments

When K and I bought our house we walked around for months feeling like we were renting the place. Every once in a while one of us would get one of those "OMG we own this" moments. It was so surreal. It must have taken a good six months to a year to get it through our thick skulls! lol

Tonight we went to my parent's for dinner. I was feeding C, who was of course getting food all over the place, and something to the effect of "Food goes in our mouth, not on the floor" came out of my mouth... then I had one of those moments. 'Holy crap, I'm a mommy!' Really now, who's bright idea was it to let ME have a baby!? I felt the same way when we were driving home from the hospital. I am responsible for this little person. WHAT?! How could that possibly be? I am the one who is going to have to teach her right from wrong. I'd better learn the difference fast! I'm going to have to provide advice about boys, life, education etc etc etc. Who's going to give me that advice? I'm going to have to feed her, clothe her, do her hair, make sure she brushes her teeth and eventually send her off to university or college. Wow, what a revelation to have over dinner! How can I be responsible for a whole human being?!

But tonight when I put her to bed, we hugged Night Night Bear, and she kissed me goodnight, everything felt exactly right. We'll learn together. She'll learn how to be the best daughter she can be, and I'll learn how to be the best mom I can be. And hopefully, if we're lucky, we'll meet somewhere in the middle. Anything after that is just gravy.

Really me,
The philosopher
Nik

Driving me Crazy!

Yesterday we drove to the city for our good friend's baby shower. This involved 30mins driving on the highway. I now HATE driving on the highway. We have a van and C is in the back row so I cringe any time K steps on the brakes a little harder than normal, for example, when some dumbass decides to cut in front of us because the car in the other lane isn't going fast enough for him. Or when a driver decides that he really needs to get off at the next exit, but, OH MY he's in the freaking fast lane! This is why you plan your drive people. That's pretty much the whole purpose of GPSs and Mapquest! Anyways, we're driving in the middle lane and there's a spiffy car driving slightly in front of us (don't ask me what kind it was, I'm car dumb, but it was pretty and sporty). The car starts drifting into our lane. As we pass the car (while I grip the arm rest) I look over and notice that the woman is texting! And here's the kicker, she's got a child in the back seat. Seriously now?! This is where I feel I need a whiteboard in the car so I can tell these stupid highway drivers off. Can you just imagine scribbling down. 'Hey Azshat! Put the cell phone down and watch the damn road!!!!'

Unfortunately K says I'm not allowed to have a whiteboard in the car for fear that somebody will shoot me. Oh well, it was a good thought.

Really me,
The backseat driver
Nik

Savings, Savings and More Savings

Our lives are full of fixed expenses. Things like our mortgage/rent, insurance, car payments, utilities (gas, hydro, water). There's also extras like cable, internet, home phone and cell phones. Most companies today offer bundle packages for all the extras. We are currently with Rogers, with a bill of approximately $235 a month for our internet, cable and cell phones. $235 isn't so bad, but with our finances being what they are, I wanted to see if we could get that down. Here's the breakdown of what we pay.

1) Internet- High speed express 60GB, 10MGH for $52.73/month
2) Cable- 4 PVR boxes (for free, it was a really good deal I worked out last year) HDTV specialty channels, Digital VIP cable for $79.63/month
3) Cell phone- Family plan, 100 pooled minutes, free between us calls, weekends free for $102.95/month

Plus taxes and occasionally cell phone overages that gets us to $235. So my first step was to call Rogers to find out if we could lower our payments. The first guy I spoke to was nice, but not very helpful. He basically told me that there wasn't anything they could do. So I decided to call their competitor, Bell. When I spoke to the woman I told her exactly why I was calling, I would be willing to switch our 3 services to their company if they could give me a better deal. The lady made a good deal for me, $58.80 for cable, $49.99 for internet and $67.80 for cell phones. Great, now I had my ammunition. So I called Rogers back and requested their customer retention or sales department (these departments tend to be more able to discount prices for you and make sure they keep you as a client). I spoke to a nice man named Brian. I told him straight out that we needed to lower our bill for the month and I told him that I talked to Bell, and although I really would rather stay with Rogers, I would switch to Bell if need be.

Brian was excellent, after about an hour on the phone with him he had pretty much beaten everything Bell was going to give us, and in most cases improved the service we were getting. Here's our breakdown as of next month.

1) Internet- Upped to extreme with 95GB, upped to 14MGH, 1 year contract and a 30% discount for the year which comes to $47.80/month
2) Cable- everything that we had before but he's giving us a 20% discount for a year $60.06/month
3) Cell phone- 600 pooled minutes, free between us calls, free weekends AND evenings, and 2500 text messages (that's where most of our overages came from) $10 off for a two year term and I have the option to upgrade both phones for about $9... totaling to $62.33/month

With all these discounts that brings our bill from $235/month to $170.19/month. That's a staggering $65 in savings... every month! That's $780 for the year! Ok, so Rogers only beat Bell's deal by $6.40 but all in all it decreased my bill by a lot more! Here are my tips for doing this yourself.

- Ask for the Sales or Customer Retention department. These agents have greater access to the system than your regular CSR (customer service rep).
-Be nice! I mean kill them with kindness. Before you give them your name say "Hi (repeat their name and write it down) how are you doing today?" then provide whatever info they were asking for.
- Tell them why you're calling and be honest. I'm going on mat leave, we can't afford the bill, whatever the case may be.
- Get ammunition. Call a competitor, do your homework, know what else is out there in the market.
- Be a little demur. Don't be a bull in a china shop i.e.: "I just talked to Bell and they are going to give me XYZ, you guys better do more or I'm leaving" That's probably not going to get you very far. (I hate to say it but I've seen a lot better results when women call as opposed to men.)
-If you don't feel like you have a good rapport with your rep, end the conversation, call back and try again.
- Tell them that you would really rather stay with them, but with the economy etc. "maybe you can help me out" (generally people like to Help others, it makes them feel good)
- Last but not least, ALWAYS ask to speak to the manager afterwards. The rep will probably freak out and ask you why so just let them know that you would like to commend them for being so great. Tell the manager what you liked about the rep. Reps have a really hard job, they are often told off my customers, so compliment them when it is deserved, and I wouldn't be surprised if they leave some kind of note in your account *good client* which might help you out next time you call.
Good luck saving!

Really me,
The negotiator
Nik

Have Fun Getting Dirty

Ok, now take your mind out of the gutter... I'm talking about fun learning activities for the kids. Getting their hands dirty, forgetting about the cleanup, and exploring with new textures. Some of these activities might be better suited to summer time, but we spend so much more time indoors during the winter that we need some activities to brighten the day.

Today's fun activity was finger painting (read whole body painting!). We have an unfinished basement, so it makes for the perfect place to get messy and not worry (kitchen floors usually work well too). You can buy all the supplies you need at the dollar store.
-1 shower curtain or plastic table cloth
-Some non toxic tempra paint in the primary colors and some white (Tip: you might want to do a test patch on your child a few hours before to make sure they don't have an allergic reaction.)
-A paint brush (or two or three)
-Some bristol board
-paper plates

Get your LO stripped down to a diaper, and put on some old clothes you don't mind getting dirty. Set out your shower curtain and bristol board. Paper plates are perfect for mixing the paints and provide ample room for little hands. Get comfy and encourage your LO to touch the paint, feel the texture, experiment with finger painting, toe painting, even crawling on the paper! You can offer them the paint brush, or any other household item that will make a unique design in the paint. A comb, a sponge, handprints, footprints anything you can think of. Teach them about the colors. Red and yellow make orange, yellow and blue make green (in less you work at Home Depot, in which case green and yellow make blue *sigh*) blue and red make purple. Teach them that all colors come from the three primary colors, red, blue, yellow. And most importantly, join in, get messy and have fun!

Really me,
The art teacher
Nik

Looking up!

I have been doing body casts for a while now, and since my maternity ran out I’ve been trying to figure out what I could do to make some money and stay home with C. Well last week I contacted my midwife who runs a very cute office in Pickering Village. I suggested to her that I could offer her clients a belly casting class and conduct the class in their loft area. Well I heard back from her today and her response was very positive. She likes the idea, and aside from a couple of logistical issues it looks like it will be a go. The next step is to talk to the office manager and figure out the when and hows of it all. I’m absolutely elated! So I ask you to keep me in your thoughts so that everything goes down without a hitch. We are looking at doing 1 class per month (more if the demand is high) and possibly doing another (small) class at their new office in Markham. Here are some of my casts.

To top it all off I came home from our usual Tuesday shopping day to find these on the table for me. What a sweet husband I have!

Really me,

The entrepreneur

Nik

Sunday Dinners

Usually on Sundays we go to my parent's for dinner. This can be a downfall in our healthy eating regime. Last night, for example, we had chicken wings, ribs, corn, potatoes, beans and broccoli. BUT if you stick to portion size, you can still enjoy everything you're being served. "I don't have my scale!" you might say. Worry not, your body comes with it's own built in scale to help you along. A portion size of anything is usually about the size of your fist. Easy enough right? Another great piece of advice is to fill up on veggies. Even if you have more than a portion size of veggies it will rarely affect your calorie count (this of course is assuming you're not piling on cheese sauce or butter and salt). Try and stay away from the starch ridden veggies like potatoes and corn, stick with the veggies with dark rich colors like broccoli, beans, carrots et. al. And eat your veggies first. The more veggies you eat, the more full you will feel, the less 'bad' stuff you'll have to put on top of it! Another great tip is to ask/use a smaller plate. When I look at a plate half full my brain says 'look you hardly ate anything, you must still be hungry!' (evil brain eh?) So if you use a smaller plate, the plate looks full and your brain says 'hm, that's better. Look at all that food!'. And last but not least, you don't make your host feel bad because you've had everything they served.

When I say 'bad' I don't really mean BAD because I don't believe anything is bad, in moderation. We work on a 80/20 scale in our house. Eat healthy 80% of the time and don't stress over the other 20%. Like I said before, we couldn't survive without our pizza nights, but the trick is to make it healthier which means making it yourself rather than buying it. When you make pizza at home you can control how much cheese goes on, you know exactly what went into the dough, and you can even make your own pizza sauce with veggies pureed in. The 'wings' are super easy and really, who wants to fight with the bone anyways!
Here's our pizza night recipes.

J's Pizza Dough
1 c warm water (just a little higher than your body temp)
1 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
3 c flour (you can use up to half whole wheat flour and not affect the texture of the dough)
2 1/4 tsp (or one package) of breadmaker yeast
If you have a bread maker, throw in all the ingredients in order above, set it on a dough setting, and let it go!
If you do not have a bread maker... go get one! (I kid) mix yeast water and sugar in a bowl and let it sit for 20 mins (until you see bubbles forming on the water). Mix all dry ingredients in a separate bowl, create a well. Gradually add your water mixture into the well and mix. Kneed your dough for about 5 mins. Cover and place it in a warm location to rise for about an hour. (Tip: place the dough in the oven with only the oven light on. This should give you just enough heat to make it warm, but not too much to kill the yeast.)

Eat, Shrink and Be Merry Wings
Bonless skinless chicken thighs (or de-bone and skin the chicken yourself at home)
One thigh will give you 2 wing pieces.
BBQ or Oven with a drip tray
Your favorite low fat BBQ sauce
Cut your thighs in half (oh if it were only that easy! lol) we prefer to cook them on the BBQ because you get added flavor from the fire and it leaves the outside crispy and the inside moist. You can also put them in the oven at a temp of about 400 C on a sheet that has a drip tray so all the fat melts away. When they are cooked, coat them in your favorite BBQ sauce (sometimes we use Frank's Red Hot Wing sauce) Serve!

Really me,
The Chef
Nik

Nutritionist and Chef

My husband and I LOVE food. Especially pasta! We could eat pasta every day of the week. BUT we have both gained some weight over the course of my pregnancy and being at home afterwards. We would both really like to lose about 30lbs. So we get to count calories. Fun... not! We started our healthy eating regime before the holidays, which probably wasn't such a great idea on our part, but we managed to lose 9lbs and 6lbs respectively. We know HOW to do it, but our heads like to play games and tell us that we want more food. To help combat our heads I've created a pretty spreadsheet to keep track of our calories. (I love my excel spreadsheets!) At the top it has our current weight, how many calories we need to consume a day both with and without exercise, then each day has breakfast, snack, lunch, snack and dinner with columns to put what you are eating, the portion size and the calorie count. The last line on the bottom keep a tally of how many calories you have left for the day. It doesn't do you any favors if you don't eat your required amount of calories. You're not going to lose weight any faster, in fact you might not lose any because your body thinks that you are starving yourself and therefore it holds on and stores any calories you do consume. It's best if you eat 5 smaller meals a day and keep your metabolism up throughout the day. You burn more calories that way.

In order to figure out how many calories we need per day we used a great tool on About.com
http://nutrition.about.com/od/changeyourdiet/a/calguide.htm for anybody who's interested. I like the fact that it breaks it down for you depending on whether or not you will be doing exercise, or not, and how long you have to work out. Now that we're on this healthy eating regime the big word in our house is PORTION SIZE! We are not attempting to be on a diet or to restrict ourselves from eating our favorite foods because they are high in calories, we are just being aware of how much we take in. We can have our pasta... we just can't have a huge overflowing bowl of it (to my chagrin). Healthy meals can be fun and tasty so I will be posting our eating plans as best as I can, follow along if you dare. Which leads me to my appliance of the week!My kitchen scale! It's old, it's ugly, but it was free and it works measuring in both grams and ounces! To count calories often times you need to weigh your food which is why this is my appliance of the week!

The white chocolate lava cake turned out very well. As promised, this is the recipe I used and simply substituted the dark chocolate for white chocolate and added about 2 tbs of raspberry jam I put through a mesh to get some of the seeds out. We also shrunk the portion size of the cakes so that it still fit in our healthy eating regime. Enjoy!

Really me,
The chef/nutritionist
Nik

A Regular Friday Night

My husband and I rarely get a night alone, but that's just the way it is with a one year old. So tonight we've decided to have a nice dinner together after C goes down for the night. We are very lucky that we have the world's one and only one year old who actually likes to go to bed. My husband baths her at 6:30, then I take over nurse her, read a book and then go into her bedroom. We pick up Night Night Bear (she's had him since she was a baby). Then she kisses mommy goodnight, hugs Night Night Bear and practically throws herself backwards into her crib. She rolls onto her tummy with one hand over Night Night Bear, and that's the end of that.

After she goes down we'll start on dinner, nothing fancy, just some homemade pizza and bone less chicken wings (which are boneless, skin less chicken thighs cut in half and cooked on the BBQ. They satisfy the wing craving, but they're much better for the calorie count). This is my husband's favorite meal... I think if he were on death row, this is what he would request. To make dinner a little more special tonight I'm going to make some white chocolate molten cakes for dessert in a heart shape mold. I haven't been able to find a white chocolate molten cake recipe, so I'm going to attempt to modify a milk chocolate recipe (my husband only likes white chocolate). Desert is slightly off of our healthy eating regime, but it's a treat night so we will enjoy.

I'll make sure and post the recipe when I know it worked.

Really me,
The romantic
Nik

And so it begins

Many of my friends have blogs. I think their blogs are interesting, funny and sometimes they even provide useful information. I do not think that I am all that funny or interesting. So as a test to myself I've decided to start my own blog. (everybody else is doing it right?!) I worry that nobody will read it. I worry that if they do, they won't like it. I worry if they read it maybe they won't like me, or what I do/say. So here's me stepping out of my comfort zone. Like it or not, here I come!

Really me,
Nik