Good morning friends!  How was the weekend?  We had a quiet, productive weekend over here!  It started off on a delicious note- I was browsing pinterest and came across a roasted blueberry ricotta crostini recipe from two peas and their pod and decided I was going to make something similar for a pre-dinner snack.  I covered a cookie sheet in aluminum foil, sprayed some cooking oil, covered the sheet with blueberries and topped them with a few drizzles of honey.  After roasting them for seven minutes at 400 degrees, I placed the berries on sourdough smothered in goat cheese.  Yum!  I definitely want to try this with ricotta as the original recipe calls for, but you can’t go wrong with goat cheese!

In addition to berry bread concoctions, wine was consumed-

This wine was really good!  Although I can’t quite drink an entire bottle like I used to- I am usually done after one glass.  Cheap date, right?

There were bedtime stories- our current favorite is Little Blue Truck (so cute!)-

Audrey got a new toy- if you are looking for something to hold your little one’s attention for at least a few minutes (ha)- puzzles are where it is at!  She loves them!

This weekend I tackled one of my most hated chores- cleaning the shower.  Ugh.  Between the hard water and the glass shower door, it seems like the shower gets gross quickly.  I think I’ve found the perfect storm of cleaning supplies to help me get the job done as quickly and painless as possible.

First I combined equal parts blue dawn and white vinegar in a spray bottle (heat up the vinegar in the microwave)- I used about a quarter cup each.  I found this concoction on pinterest and it is supposed to be a miracle worker on soap scum.  Yeah, not sure about that.  Anyway.  I sprayed the dawn/vinegar mixture on the glass door and let it sit for a bit while I worked on the shower.  For the shower, I misted it with water and then covered it in barkeeper’s friend (another pinterest recommendation).  Then I scrubbed my little heart out.  The pinterest peeps make you think that you put these miracle cleaners on the shower/shower door and then voila- the shower is clean!  Nope!  The glass door has to be rubbed down with wet and then dry paper towels a few times to remove the film from the dawn/vinegar and you need to SCRUB with the barkeeper’s friend.  However, after all of that work my shower is absolutely gleaming and I kind of don’t want to use it so it can stay clean.  :D  So, I do recommend this method, although it is almost a workout- it works!   What is your most hated chore?  Any cool cleaner tips for me?

Onto fun stuff- there was baking- cherry chocolate fig muffins (minus the fig- we ate all of the ones we purchased in less than an hour, ha)-

and pureed cherries for Audrey- we aren’t really giving her purees anymore but I am still making a few fruity ones to mix into her morning yogurt

And my coup of the weekend- I saved almost fifty percent of my grocery bill at Publix!  Woot!

See that?  That is 53.29 spent and 37.30 saved- hell yes!  So not quite 50/50 but I think that is the most I’ve ever saved at the grocery store.  Here’s the thing- I didn’t even use one single coupon!  I went through the publix circular and noticed that a bunch of the buy one get ones was stuff that we actually buy and use- so I made a list and off I went!  I am so inspired by the savings that I want to start seriously couponing- saving money is addicting!

Going through the circulars this weekend inspired me to come up with a solid meal plan- normally we purchase the meat and fish at the grocery store and farmer’s market for the week without any real clear plan- just that one night we will have some sort of chicken dish, some sort of salmon dish another night, etc.  Not this week!  I really would like to be organized and feel less discombobulated at dinner so I’m hoping having a solid plan helps.  This is what’s on tap for the week:

• Monday- Broiled salmon with a blueberry glaze, served with baked sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli
• Tuesday- Breakfast for dinner- Sausage omelettes and sauteed okra
• Wednesday- Turkey quinoa loaf with baked zucchini fries
• Thursday- Stuffed peppers
• Friday- Chicken with olives and dates served with a side salad

I think it looks like a solid week of eats!  I feel calm having a plan going into the week  I’m thinking that concrete meal planning will be crucial in making dinner less stressful

This weekend also brought some workouts!  On Friday I finally met Lily!  Brian put us through one of the baseline Crossfit workouts- 500 meter row, 40 squats, 30 situps, 20 pushups and 10 pullups.  Lily smoked me!  Homegirl is in some serious shape  It was so nice to finally meet her after all of these years and I’m looking forward to hanging out again!

Hot damn this was hard!  During the first bench press round my spirit was almost broken (dramatic much) and I felt like I wouldn’t be able to finish the workout. However, once I finished it (in 16 minutes and change) I felt great!  I’m not sure how I am going to carry around my little 20+ pounder today though

She had a good time watching us

All right friends, that’s a wrap!  I hope you have a happy Monday- I’ll see you soon with an Audrey ten month update and a ten month post baby body update! Have a good one

Katie

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