I’m at Blissdom ‘09 this weekend struggling to start conversations without a small cute child to use as a social crutch.  It is much harder than I remember.  I used to even be kind of good at it.  Socially awkward would be the phrase of the day!

I’ll be back next week with all sorts of pithy comments about things I observed while lurking in dark corners or standing uncomfortably on the fringes of groups or spending a questionable amount of time in the ladies room to avoid standing alone during breaks between sessions.  Or I could take a flask and be the hit of the party!

Don’t forget to enter the Valentine’s Spice Giveaway!

You can win a $50 gift card for Eden Fantasy’s.  Go on now.  Enter. You know you want to.  I won’t tell your mom.

I received a sample of Clorox Green Works Wipes to test and share my thoughts about.  Thanks to Clorox and Mom Central for the opportunity.

I’m a fan of the regular Clorox Wipes.  I’m a lazy housekeeper.  I am much more likely to clean if it is easy.  I’ve always found if I keep a canister of the wipes under the sink of each bathroom and the kitchen, I am more likely to pull them out for quick clean ups.  They do a great job.

When I saw that these were biobegradable and could be thrown in the typical family compost, I was happy that I could keep my lazy ways while being a bit friendlier to the environment.  We are not hard core green in our house but I try to do what I can.

I tried them in the bathroom and in the kitchen.  I was a little afraid of them shredding easily or streaking my fixtures.  I am pleased to report both concerns were unfounded.  I used them on my toothpaste spotted bathroom sink and faucet.  As you can see, it is clean and streak free.

The real test my the stove.  I have a black stove so streaks are a constant problem.  And I had made spaghetti sauce that night so there were splatters and herbs around the burners.

No streaks, no lint, no shredded wipe, and no dirt left.  I was pleased with the wipes and will replace my regular Clorox Wipes with the Clorox Green Works Wipes in the future.  Oh and they smell pretty good too!

I love hearing about all of the families who adopted from Guatemala and are now working to give back!  It is so wonderful and inspiring to see people keeping Guatemala front and center in their hearts and actions.

I’ve been contacted by a new organization: Across All Borders.  They are wrapping up a cook book salethis week – proceeds go toward a mission trip to Guatemala.  Go visit their site, check out their mission, and buy yourself a cookbook full of yummy recipes – including some traditional Guatemala dishes. You have until Friday to order your book so visit today!

Today is all about Tessa.  Why? Because I have some cute photos of her to show off and because she had a doctor appointment yesterday.  And the doctor had a med student (or resident? or intern? I don’t know – they left him alone with us so he had achieved some level of trust) shadowing him – that’s often good for a chuckle.

The med student wasn’t horrible…he just needed to work on his social skills.  Really work. His grasp of the English language was better than many native speakers but his accent was a little rough.  The nurses hate him.  Our regular nurse rolled her eyes at me behind his back no fewer than 4 times.  We painfully plodded through the well check questions.

Med Student: Do you give her fluoride regularly?

Me: Ummm…no.

MS: So you give her bottled water?

Me: Huh?

*Awkward Silence as I try to puzzle out what he is talking about.*

Me: Oh you mean do we use tap water with fluoride when we make formula bottles?  Yes.

Med Student: Do you have a nickname for her?

Me: Tessa or Tess is about it. (I wasn’t about to go into the odd and silly things we call her at home.)

MS: I like to call my patients Sweet Pea or Honey Pie.

*Awkward pause while I try to formulate a response to such a weird declaration.*

Me: Have at it.  She is only 6 months old so she’ll answer to anything.

Med Student: It says here that your other child (pointing at Sabrina) is adopted.  Does he/she have any communicable diseases?

*Dumbfounded silence.  Does he not see my child sitting right there? She is 2 and very aware.*

Me: No.

Med Student: Are all of Tessa’s shots current?

Me: I assume so.  This office is in charge of that though – perhaps you want to check the file?

MS: Oh. Yes.

Med Student during his nervous examination of Tessa’s soft spot on her head (I think he was afraid of her – or maybe me): Hmmm…very flat.

Med Student scribbles something in his notes but says nothing more.

Me with some anxiety: Is that a bad thing?

MS: Huh? Oh. No. Flat is good.  Bumpy is bad.

He continues his examine making all sorts of worrisome sounding noises.  If I was an nervous mother, I would have been climbing the walls by the time the real doctor came in the room.  Med Student also looked like he wanted to floor to open up and swallow him when asking about breast feeding.  Thankfully, our regular doc joined us.

New was that Tessa has gained over a pound in the past month but has fallen %tile wise.  She was in the 9th and 8th %tiles for weight and height last month.  Now she is in the 5th for both.  He reassured me that since she has remained proportional he thinks she is just going to be a “late bloomer”.  He wants us to keep shoving food into her as often as she’ll eat but otherwise he said to not be too worried.  We are going back in 6 weeks for another weight check to keep an eye on things.  Hopefully Med Student will be back in school by then.

Several of you have commented on my luck at winning things a few times on other blogs.  Now is your chance.  A fellow Steelers fan contacted me about offering my readers a little spice, a little sass, a little saucy fun for Valentine’s Day.  We are all adults here so I thought it would be fun.

You can win a $50 gift certificate to Eden Fantasies, which offers a wide variety of erotic movies and books, lingerie, massage oils and lotions, as well as some things for naughtier fun.  Wouldn’t your honey enjoy an intimate gift for Valentine’s Day?

With your $50 gift certificate you could wrap yourself in a big red bow, tickle his fancy with strawberry scented powder and oil, find some fun fiction to read together, or pick out some lingerie that makes you feel pretty. Or you could give your sweetie the gift certificate and let him/her choose something.

To win, all you have to do is visit Eden Fantasies and tell me what item name made you laugh the most.  For an extra entry, tweet it on Twitter and leave me a comment letting me know you did.  I will announce the winner (chosen randomly) on Tuesday February 10th.  This contest is open to anyone over 18 (except my mom…I can’t afford the resulting therapy).  Have fun!

PS Make sure you leave a valid email in the email field so I can contact you with your prize! (Your email won’t be published.)

We might be just a little excited around here.

Look what I won on Mommy Bits Reviews - The Ultimate Super Bowl Party Pack from Pepsi!

This awesome prize includes everything you need to host an awesome Super Bowl party:

• 1 football
• 1 beverage pail
• 1 snack helmet
• 2 key chains
• 2 hats
• 2 t-shirts
• 5 Pepsi 24 pack coupons (free diet pepsi – woohoo!)
• 5 Frito Lay coupons

It came today!

So excited to celebrate the Super Bowl in style!

GO STEELERS!

Shrimp, Spinach, and Feta Orzo

3/4 lb medium shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails off

8 oz sliced mushrooms

1 bag pre-washed fresh spinach

5 oz crumbled feta cheese

1/4 cup favorite vinegrette

2 cloves garlic minced

8 oz orzo (a generous cup before cooked)

Cook orzo according to package directions.  If you are unfamiliar with orzo, it is a rice shaped pasta.

While orzo is cooking, saute mushrooms and shrimp in a drizzle of olive oil until shrimp is pink.  Throw in garlic, salad dressing, and spinach.  Stir over medium heat until spinach is wilted down.  Remove from heat.  Toss cooked orzo and feta into the pan.  Eat and be happy.

I used my own vinegrette for this:

1/2 cup grapeseed oil

1/2 cup white balsamic vinegar

2 cloves minced garlic

1 1/2 Tablespoon Dijon mustard

salt and pepper

Throw it all in food processor and then use 1/4 cup of finished dressing in the above recipe.  But it would work with any light flavored vinegar based salad dressing.

I didn’t do a post about the inauguration on the day of for a couple of reasons. The first was because everyone was doing it and I’m one of those dance-to-the-beat-of-my-own-drum kinda girls.  The second was because I needed a little bit of time to process my thoughts.

Like most of my blogger friends, I was torn between wishing my children were old enough to appreciating what a historic event they were whining over witnessing and being amazed that for them this would always be normal.  It would never seem extraordinary that our president is bi-racial or black.

So many around the country and the world have shared what this election and inauguration meant to them but I was sent a link to a very special group sharing thoughts.  A group of children from Chicago had the incredible opportunity to be there in person at the inauguration.  These twenty four 5th and 6th graders attended and documented their experience through blog posts and videos at http://www.sharemyinauguration.com/ under the moniker DC24.  After reading and watching the reflections of these students who are part of the next generation, I decided that perhaps what I had to say wasn’t so important.  They spent Martin Luther King Jr Day at Howard University, knowing his dream had been realized.  They had their own inaugural ball (and they all looked sharp!). They staked claim to a spot on the lawn and waited hours in the cold for the festivities to begin.  Go visit them.  See it through their eyes.