2 Must Read Library books

You've got to check out Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor and Bad Kitty by Nick Bruel. They are both hilarious picture books perfect for toddlers (and parents).

Bout of Strep Changes Bad Rep

HotDog and Jedi both have strep. HotDog has it so much worse than Jedi that he hasn't been able to eat anything today because he says his throat stings. Beau Brummel and I were trying to spray some Clorets in HotDog's throat and he was crying and trying to run away. Jedi said, "HotDog, if you let them spray your mouth I will give you a prize. Do you want a toy prize or a candy prize?" HotDog wanted a toy prize and promptly opened his mouth. Then Jedi went to his toy box and got out three toys he thought HotDog would like and said, "Since you got three sprays, I will give you three toys." HotDog said, "Wow, FANKS (not a spelling error, he really pronounces thanks this way) Jedi!"

You know, sometimes I am so focused on the less positive aspects of having kids so close in age (constant bickering, tattle-tailing, physical violence) that I forget how sweet they can be to each other and occasionally helpful to their parents. This is our fourth or fifth bout of illness this winter, but I am going to try and be more positive and praise the kids this week and not let this slew of winter blues and bugs get us down.

I especially want to focus on Jedi. It is true that he is usually responsible for most of the mischief around our house. Yesterday he put on bright red lipstick, decided it looked dumb on him (what, all the 8-year-old boys around town aren't wearing Revlon's Ruby Sparkle?) and then smeared it on a white wall in the basement. But since he is the oldest we expect the most from him and discipline him the most. I think I should ease up on him because he is like the little girl with the little curl right in the middle of her forehead. When he is good, he is very very good . . . and I'll just overlook the rest. 

Far from home

I am currently in Siena Italy traveling with a friend. I landed in Venice and from there took a train to Florence. Venice was interesting because of the location on the water, there are no cars and you travel everywhere by water taxis. The only thing is that the Euro is so expensive now! Its about 1.70 to every 1 euro. The people in Venice never smile....excuse me anywhere in Italy they never smile! I was looked at like I was crazy because I smiled the first few days. It didn't take me very long to find out the reason. The water taxis take forever to come so its very frustrating and freezing. There streets are so small and full of so many people that your constantly feeling like a sardine. Water is not free and with the exchange your sometimes paying 4 to 5 dollars a bottle. Florence was worse. I stayed in the heart of Florence down town next to the Duomo. Unfortunately the window of our hotel room was facing a bar! Ah yes one other important detail of Italy, the bars don't close until 3 or 4 in the morning. We were told that the food in Italy was very good and portioned healthy. This is just not so. In restaurants they serve you huge pizzas that are nothing like American Pizzas. Salads are piratically no where to be found and usually are much more expensive. Walking around can be frustrating because the streets are very small and easy to miss. Using a map can be dangerous because its a give away that your lost. Gypsies are in everytown begging and steeling what they can. Its my opinion that I will need a vacation after this vacation.

Duck (duct) Tape Evening Wear

I might be the only one who wishes she were eligible for this contest, well maybe Chicken Little is too. I am amazed at these creations! Check out these prom outfits made from Duck tape.

Turning Wheat into a Treat

So I made blender wheat pancakes for the kids (perhaps they were too wholesome tasting) and had a flash of early American inspiration and made them into stacked pancakes from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Farmer Boy,

"Ten pancakes cooked on the smoking griddle, and as fast as they were done Mother added another cake to each stack and buttered it lavishly and covered it with maple sugar. Butter and sugar melted together and soaked the fluffy pancakes and dripped all the down their crisp edges. That was stacked pancakes. Almanzo liked them better than any other kind of pancakes."

Instead of cooking the pancakes in butter on a hot skillet, I just left the skillet dry. Instead of 10 pancakes, I used three per stack. With the leftover pancakes you can make stacked pancakes the next day in the microwave by layering pancake, butter, brown sugar three times and then zapping in the microwave for about 15-20 seconds. HotDog, Jedi and I love them. Beau Brummel hates butter or else he would love them too. (Hmaimai, these are similar to Scotch pancakes, not crepes.) I am happy to post the blender wheat pancake recipe if anyone wants it.

Teen Crafts

Does anyone have any good ideas for crafts to do with preteens and teenagers? I might get to go to girl's camp and help in the craft shack and want to start getting prepared early. Or even if you know of some websites that would be helpful, please comment. Thanks!

Home swap

I have looked today on trocmaison.com (homeexchange.com) dreaming of holidays, but definitely, I could never go to somebody else's house with my 4 kids so young without being overstressed that they will damage something. Hey, Opal, would you like to homeswap with us someday? I am sure it could work. If anybody (not too cautious about his stuff) wants to exchange house with me (in the suburb of Paris France), we have 4 girls age 18 months, almost 3, almost 5 and 6, we could arrange something one day.
Also, we laughed one day about the idea of creating a website called kidexchange.com. Don't think it would work.

Chicken Run

Two weeks ago we purchased six baby chicks. Flashlight and I had been talking about getting chickens for a few years. Once we were established in our new house with a big yard, it seemed like the right time.

This is one of the Brown Leghorns. They were so small and fluffy when we first got them!

We looked into ordering some rare breed chicks online, but eventually decided to get them locally. We picked up a White Leghorn, a Black Star (or Sexlink), two Brown Leghorns and two Rhode Island Reds. When we got them, they were only a day old and covered in cute little chick fuzz. They looked as though they could fit back into their eggs. Now, they are several times bigger and gaining weight at a tremendous rate. Many of their adult chicken feathers have grown in and they can fly. Yes, that's right, chickens can FLY. But only when they're little. Soon, they'll be to fat to lift off.

For the moment, the chicks live in a box under a heating lamp in our sitting room. Russ has nearly finished building their coop and they'll start living outside in a few weeks. I check on them a lot during the day and recently, they look startled and guilty every time I walk into the room. I think that they might be plotting to escape from their box. I've seen one of the Brown Leghorns fly up onto the rim of the box and I think that the Black Star is probably just as daring. One of these days Russ and I will no doubt wake up to find them on our bed.

Headbanger looks at the chicks.

But I have to say that they make great pets. While they're small and cute, they live inside and then when they grow into adult chickens, they spend the rest of the lives outside. And Headbanger adores them. She has taken to throwing her toys into their box - I think that its her way of "sharing". Every morning, she crawls into the sitting room and uses their box to pull herself to standing and begins to talk and squeal at them. I'm not sure that the chicks love this, as they often run to the other end of their box when they see her head peaking over the rim.

Flashlight built most of this last week - it still needs front doors. It is eight feet long, four feet wide and six feet tall.

Flashlight and I try to handle each of them every day, in an effort to keep them tame. Headbanger desperately wants to touch the chickens, and we often hold her hand and help her do that. She's also shown some interest in licking and head butting the chickens, but we try to prevent her from doing these.

In a few months they will start laying eggs, but their ability to do this will decline after they are a year old. We're contemplating eating them at that point, if we're not too attached, and getting a new batch of chicks. Is it wrong to eat your pets?

junky kids

Has anyone else noticed that most parents/carers don't bother with their child's appearance beyond getting them dressed? I take my 4 year old, Sally, to school every day and to church every Sunday and the number of children who are poorly groomed is shocking to me! The funny part is that most of the parents of those kids look well groomed. Kids are fairly helpless in that category, why don't parents help them out? I can understand kids who play so hard that by the end of the day their clothes & hair are a wreck, but I often see kids who look like their hair has NEVER been touched by a brush and their clothes are dirty and wrinkled, as they are being dropped off at school. My Sally very rarely goes out without her hair combed (and if it happens, it's because daddy took her out before I could comb it!) and even if she doesn't always match, her clothes are clean. I realize that this is incredibly silly, but it really bugs me.

Worst thing I ever did (as a mum)

Last summer, I turned 30 as well. My objective for the next decade was to become an organized mum. Not the one I've been until then, always tired, sometimes exhausted, running after my kids, being utterly unprepared for everything (like going out without nappies or water for the baby or coming to somebody's house without a gift). I had decided I was not young anymore and could not benefit from this kind look from others "oh, poor young mum". It was time for some change. It started pretty bad. I did the worst thing I had ever done in my life during the summer. Being at the beach with relatives, we split in 2 groups, the ones that come home on foot, the ones that take the car. My husband goes with the 2 elder ones, and I am supposed to go home with the 2 small ones and all the picnic and beach things. I bring all the stuff to the car, attach the baby, attach my nephew in the other child seat (while my daughter aged 2 had gone back to the beach playing), my sister in law gets in the passenger seat and I turn back, see that the 2 child seats are taken, I drive home. 30 minutes later, my husband comes home and ask :"where is Bouclette?". The sister in law and I immediately realize that we totally forgot her! My husband and I rushed back and found her at the beach in a police car. I think if we had not found her alive safe and sound, my marriage would have not survived this could-have-been tragedy. The conclusion I draw from this event is that I should never put myself in such state of exhaustion where I can not pay attention anymore.

Do you think I'm a good mum?

One day, trying to find comfort, I ask my elder kid (aged 5 at the time) before bedtime :"do you think I'm a good mum?". -"No. I wouldn't say that" she answers. "I think you are a beautiful mum. And I think Dad is a beautiful dad." She concludes by :"you are a beautiful mum and dad". Uh... oh... thank you. So, let's put it that way: it's no use I struggle to be good at everything because it does not matter to my kids. All they want is to have a good-looking mum and dad! :-))

That's Love 3

This isn't anything major, but I read to each kid individually every single night. Jedi likes Harry Potter so he only gets about 5 pages read to him, PetShopgirl gets a whole chapter of a Ramona Quimby book and HotDog gets a whole book because right now one of his books is still shorter than a half a page of the other kids' books. This takes an extra hour or more at night because they also want me to lay with them for awhile and talk. Usually I like to do this because I feel like I did not get near enough one on one time with my mom or my dad. I also am huge believer in reading almost as an extreme sport. I want my kids to know that you can travel the world or go back in time or learn new and exciting things just by reading. Sometimes, after an especially rough day, I just don't feel like it, but I make myself do it anyway because I know it means a lot to them and I want them to each have some time alone with me, even if it is just a bit. Are there small things you do for your children like this? 

The Secret Life of a Soccer Mom

Have you all heard of the new series on TLC? Read about it here: http://newsweek.com/id/120362/page/1

It is actually causing a little controversy. The show has a different SAHM (stay at home mom) each episode pretend she is going to a spa for a week (so her spouse is all alone at home with the kids), but she really gets thrown back into the type of career she gave up to stay at home and have kids. At the end of the week, if she has performed well she is offered the job. So she has to choose between the awesome dream job or going back to the life she had before. I agree with some of the comments of the dissenters on TLC's website who wanted the show to go back 6 months later and see how the family was doing with their mom working full time and the kids in daycare. 

Have any of you felt like you gave up your dream to have a family and sometimes wish you could go back?

I don't, but it could be because I am lazy or because I feel like I rushed through my education not so I could get out into the work force, but so I could stay home with my child, Jedi, at the time. He was born when I was in my third year of college. When I had him I was going to school full-time and also had an internship. Beau Brummel was also in school full-time and was studying for the MCAT and taking some really challenging classes. 

Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like had I waited to have kids. My original plan was to be a news anchor, but when I found I was pregnant, I switched to print journalism in order to graduate sooner. Plus, the broadcast classes were much more demanding time and energy wise. But if I didn't have Jedi when I did, would I have become a news anchor or switched my major to film?

Right now, with just three kids, I feel like it would be crazy and way too hectic to try and work and still get all their stuff done and make sure they felt loved. Tonight PetShopgirl had to do about 2 hours of make up work because she was sick this week and Jedi had a report on Howler Monkeys due tomorrow that had to be typed up and edited. I wasn't doing their homework for them, but I did have to sit there and encourage and help them a ton. HotDog somehow got glitter glue in his eyes and I had to wash it out while he cried and cried. How could I have done just those things if I had been at work all day? I don't think I could. I don't think I would have the energy or patience. Of course this week is a little different since Beau Brummel is in the Dominican Republic, pouring concrete and holding people down while they have their teeth pulled. When he goes away I have to be a single mother. I don't know how single mothers do it, you don't realize just how much your spouse does for the family until they are gone.   

Do you gals have careers you gave up and miss? I guess some of you are still working. How do you fit everything in?

Life at a glance

I just turned 30 yesterday (I know, I'm old) and even though 30 is the new 20, I was thinking about decisions I have made in my life and alternately feeling proud, annoyed or embarrassed about some of the things I have done. So I would like everyone to share the best decision they have ever made as well the worst decision they have ever made and also their best quality and something they would like to change. Here are mine:

The best decision I ever made was to marry Beau Brummel in spite of different forces that were opposed to us getting married . My mom wanted me to go on a mission, finish my education and see the world and HAH! I did all three.

The worst decision I ever made to getting a butterfly tattooed on my right hip. I now have to shop around more selectively to find bathing suits that cover it. Plus, Jedi, PetShopgirl and HotDog are always asking me why I got it when I knew it was wrong.

I think my best quality is that I am a creative doer. I love to make and start things and get out there and actually do stuff instead of just thinking about it.

Something I would like to change is following through with my ideas. I get distracted and want to do and try everything. I think if I set some limits for myself I can be more productive in a few things instead of average at a bunch of things. 

There are quite a few things I would like to change right now: lose 10 pounds, eat healthier, exercise more and I am working on those things, but darn it, I love food! But turning 30 is a serious wake up call for me. I am going to really get going on my health issues, I don't want to end up as one of the people I see at Wal Mart in the little scooter shopping carts.

Please Share! Don't be shy, I just told y'all I have a tattoo on my booty (a rainbow colored butterfly with stretch marks running through it). I guess another goal could be getting it removed by the time I am forty (or 50 since 50 must be the new 40). 

A Weekend to Remember

Over the weekend, Guy Noir and I attended a marriage conference. We got a babysitter for the whole weekend, went to another city 45 minutes away and stayed in a fancy hotel, ate out (that almost NEVER happens!) and attended marriage seminars. It was really fun to re-connect (ALONE) with my handsome hubby because he just returned from a 2 month long business trip. Anyway, so my favorite part of the seminar was when they had us answer a few questions in the form of a love letter for our spouse. We each wrote one and then read them together on a date. I reccommend doing this for your honeys... I mean, how often do we really sit down and write out love letters anymore? It was things like describing what you loved about your spouse when you were dating, what you appreciate about them now, and what you would like to improve about yourself to show your love for them. If any of you are like us, we've been married for several years and after a while, things become really routine. Life is busy: you've got kids, work, etc. It really pays to take a little extra time for each other!

By the way, sex during a marriage retreat is AWESOME!!! There are NO interruptions!

p.s. if any of you are wondering what we did, it was called A Weekend To Remember. It was done by a christian-based organization called Family Life that does them all over the U.S. It's all about your roles/responsibilities as husband and wife and incorporating God into your relationship. Depending on your religion, you have to go knowing that not everything they say about God will be accurate in terms of what you believe, but it was really good anyway.

This is Sad

Usually my posts are funny or useful. This one is just sad. But I would really appreciate some comments as I feel really disturbed by this:

My friend in California had a baby with a heart condition. He had surgery right after he was born and was in the NICU for four months. Just when they thought they could take him home, he died. They are really nice, wonderful, good people. 

Why are so many horrible murders, rapists, evil evil evil people allowed to live and keep doing bad things while innocent people die? What could possibly be the purpose of someone being born only to die 4 months later? I feel like I will never understand why this happens, especially when the families really want the babies and would raise them with such love and care. This is actually the third time in the last couple months that someone I know has had a baby die so soon after being born. Then there are women out there who neglect or abuse or abandon their children and really should never be allowed to reproduce at all and they have baby after baby in appalling conditions. 

Does anyone have any answers? This happened to my sister in law as well around the time I was pregnant with HotDog. I just don't understand it.

That's Love II

I loved OpalQ's snot story. My story isn't as funny, but I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced something similar...

When Headbanger was born and for several months after, it would take her 1 hour and 15 minutes to eat a meal and she ate 10 times a day. That meant that I was spending 10 hours a day just feeding her. Thankfully, my Buffy and Angel DVDs got me through. By 3.5 months, she was still taking 45 minutes to eat. Has anyone else been through this or was my otherwise normal child just an exceptionally slow eater? I'm pregnant with another and am hoping that this one will be a faster eater.

A knock-knock joke that will make you laugh

Opal*Q asked where my screen name came from. She might be sorry. Here's the long version of the story.

My husband, Muscles' company was recently acquired by a regional CPA firm here in the SF Bay Area. So now, after 4 plus years of freedom, he has a boss. Being the domesticated woman that I am, I offered to have the new boss, let's call him Cross Yourself (he's very Catholic), over to dinner with his wife. I don't think I've ever been so nervous to have someone over for dinner in my life. Dinner went well and they are both very nice people. We ate Sesame Pork Ribs over jasmine rice and Roasted Asparagus (I do love living in California!). I guess I'll post the recipes since it seems at least a few posters are foodies. I digress. Back to the point.

After dinner, we were sitting around on the couch talking while Going on 16 and Mama's Boy were doing their very best to be the centers of attention. So, they started telling knock-knock jokes. I thought I had heard them all. Even the not so funny ones. Turns out Cross Yourself has a favorite and he shared it with Mama's Boy. I got such a kick out of it I decided to make part of it my screen name. Here it goes:

Cross Yourself: Knock knock
Mama's Boy: Who's there?
Cross Yourself: Dwayne the bathtub.
Mama's Boy: Dwayne the bathtub who?
Cross Yourself: Dwayne the bathtub, I'm dwooonnning.
Me: Almost rolling on the floor.

Maybe you had to be there but, it worked in the moment. Try it on your kids and hubbies.

Here are the recipes:

Sesame Pork Ribs

3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. soy sauce
1/2 c. honey
2 T cider vinegar
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes (more if you like it hot!)
1 med. onion, sliced
4 lbs. boneless country-style pork ribs
1-2 T cornstarch
2 T sesame seeds, toasted
2 T chopped scallions

In a medium bowl combine the first 7 ingredients. Place onions in bottom of a slow-cooker; arrange ribs in a single layer on top of onions, pour sauce over ribs. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until the pork is almost falling apart. Remove ribs to a platter, strain sauce, pour into a fat separator. Pour sauce into a sauce pan. Mix a few tablespoons of cold water with the cornstarch to make a slurry and add to the hot sauce. Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 1 minute or until thick. Garnish with sesame seeds and scallions. Serve over hot rice or on rolls.

Oven Roasted Asparagus
This recipe is so simple and it is my favorite, healthy way to eat asparagus.

1.5 lbs. asparagus, washed and trimmed
1-2 T olive oil
generous kosher or sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 400F. Lay asparagus on sheet pan and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in oven for about 6-8 minutes depending on thickness- 6 min. for pencil sized, up to 8 min. for average size. I don't like to use the really thick spears, as they tend to be a little tough. They should be just fork tender when you take them out. No droopy moustaches when you lift them up! These babies were made to be a bit crunchy. I love asparagus! If you're feeling froggy, sprinkle on some grated Parmesan cheese.

Cute Cards

I don't know if any of you are into card making and scrapbooking, but I sure am. The weather has been awful and I have been bored out of my head sometimes with the writer's strike and sick kids and housework and being cooped up. My neighbor invited me to a stampin' up! party and we got to make two of each of the cards shown. It was really fun and free, but now I feel obligated to buy some stuff. I would love to go crazy and buy a bunch of stuff, but you all know how it goes with a budget, the crafts usually don't even figure in. Anyway, I would love it if you all shared pictures of your projects. This is a good spot to show them off. I wish stamps weren't so expensive! 

Molten Chocolate Cakes

Since my husband is going to the Dominican Republic for 10 days and my 30th birthday falls within that time, we decided to celebrate a week early. He actually made me cake this year (the first time in 10 years of marriage)! The cake was really rich and so chocolatey. I had mine with raspberry sauce and dulce de leche Hagen Daz. We ate the leftover cakes the next day cold and they were still delicious. PetShopgirl asked Beau Brummel to make these for her birthday as well.

I have actually made my own birthday cake a few times and that just stinks! So I was naturally thrilled about this.

Molten Chocolate Cakes from Every Day Food

4 T unsalted butter at room temperature, plus more for muffin tins

1/3 c granulated sugar, plus more for muffin tins

3 large eggs

1/3 c all-purpose flour

1/4 t salt

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted

powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 400 F. Generously butter 4 cups of a standard muffin tin. Dust with granulated sugar, and tap out excess. Set aside.

In bowl of electric mixer, cream butter and granulated sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. With the mixer on low speed, beat in the flour and salt until just combined. Beat in chocolate, do not overmix. Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups.

Place muffin tin on baking sheet; bake just until the tops of the cakes no longer jiggle when the pan is lightly shaken, 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes.

To serve, turn out cakes and place on serving plates. top sides up. Dust with powdered sugar and serve with any of the following: whipped cream, vanilla ice cream (with black specs), raspberry sauce, dulce de leche ice cream. 

A good opportunity for me to stop lurking

By way of introduction, I am a housewife, presumably like most of you. I have been married to my hunky husband, we'll call him Muscles, for about 8.5 (mostly) blissful years. We have three super cute kids. The oldest is a 6 year old girl we'll call Going on 16, a son, 4 we'll call Mama's Boy, and a son 1.5., let's call him Calanator. We live in the Bay Area, have a dog, aka Perfect Pooch (PP), house, minivan and a pretty average life.

My interests include:

• Cooking for non-picky eaters
• Reading almost anything
• Listening to Conservative Talk Radio
• Watching Reality TV and Foreign Films
• Having "Me" time

Wow, that's a sad list. Sadder still, it took me about ten minutes to remember the things that I (used to) like to do. I'm going to get a life in about 18 years, I hope. In the mean time, it's a good thing my kids are so darn cute.

That's Love

As I was sitting here typing the English translation of Como El Grinch Robó la Navidad! for PetShopgirl (her class was asked to bring in all their Dr. Suess books for Seuss week and two of ours are in Spanish), I was thinking about how mothers do crazy, tedious, heroic or just plain stupid things for our kids. So aside from typing the English translations for two LONG Dr. Seuss books, I tried to think of some other stuff that would fit the title of this post. 

Please share your stories in post form.

1. We were in the unpacking stage in a new place and on the plane on the trip over, the flight attendant had given us some magnetic checkerboards with magnets for the pieces. The checkers were about the size of match heads and looked like green and red candy sprinkles. PetShopgirl managed to stick one up her nose and couldn't get it out. We tried tweezers and plugging one nostril to try and get her to blow it out. It wouldn't budge and by this time she was crying pretty hard (she was only two). I remembered that I read about a parent blowing pepper up their child's nose to make them sneeze out a pea they had shoved up there. We had just moved in and had not bought pepper yet, but I looked through the cupboards anyway, hoping that a former tenant had left some behind. Instead I found chili powder. I had  PetShopgirl close her eyes and I blew some chili powder up her nose. Well that made her cry even harder and did not induce sneezing at all. However, tons of snot was pouring out of her nose. Finally, as she was in hysterics and I was desperate to help her and ease her discomfort, I put my mouth on her nose and started sucking on it to try and get that darned magnet out. You know what tastes disgusting? Warm CHILI SNOT sucked out of a two-year-old's nose! I sucked and sucked at her little nose and all the while she is screaming at me, "Suck it out mom! Suck it out!" It did finally dislodge and plop out on the floor in a puddle of hot spicy snot, but only after I had sucked out what seemed like 1/4 cup of the stuff.  

2. Another time when we were living abroad (again), PetShopgirl was only about 4 months old and she would only nurse lying down. In Europe, as some of you know, there aren't that many places to lie down in public. Many times you would find me with PetShopgirl attached lying on a park bench nursing. But the best was the time that we went to the Hard Rock Cafe and she of course wouldn't eat with me sitting and her in my arms at the table. I tried to line the floor of the bathroom with paper towels and feed her there, but she wasn't having it. So finally, and she is starving by now (and there was nowhere else to go) I took her outside and stretched out on my side, with her on lying on a baby Bjorn and nursed her on the sidewalk outside of Hard Rock Cafe in Madrid, Spain.

I love Jedi and HotDog, and I am sure I have done similar things for them, but I just can't think of any right now. Maybe they are just easier kids. Please share your That's Love stories, I would really like to read them!

Orange Tic Tac Review

Well, Revenge of the Orange Tic Tacs is over. We had relations every day except for Wednesday because one of us had a sports-related injury. A few times we did it during the day instead of the same time every night. We had a lot of variety in positions as well.

Here are the pros and cons as told by Frijoles:

Pros: Cons:

1. Sex is fun 1. it was hard to always be up for it because of timing or fatigue

2. Felt like it was a bonding experience

3. Because we did it so often, there weren't

any uncomfortable or awkward moments

it seemed natural and we both enjoyed 

ourselves

4. He didn't have to pester me about it so the 

atmosphere was more relaxed and nice

Summary:

It was wonderful and we both hope it is a turning point in our sex life.

Here are my pros and cons:

Pros: Cons:

1. Frijoles was nice to me all week (less tension) 1. I was really tired by the end of the week

2. He didn't pester me at all about sex because 2. Sometimes it was hard for me to get going

he knew every day he would get it

3. We felt closer as a couple 3. body aches

4. Had an orgasm every time

5. Got good use out of lingere collection

6. Frijoles was way more helpful around the house

Summary: I don't think I will be doing this every week, but I think I will try to maintain 1-3 times a week. I did enjoy myself and it seemed easier the more I did it. It was hard to fit it in every day, but I didn't work out all week because I felt like I was getting enough of a workout.  Once we forgot to lock the door and one of our kids came into the room. I managed to whip a sheet over Frijoles and myself about a second before they came in. Another time this week one of our kids jiggled the locked doorknob and said, "What's that noise going on in there?" Frijoles told him we were exercising (true). I followed through with this bet not just because I lost, but I actually wanted to see if I could do it. I am actually really proud of myself because I turned what was a weakness into a strength. Yay me!