How I trick myself into "cleaning"

I am not very good about chores and cleaning. I think I heard Kendra Adachi once mention that what Martha Stewart says to do once a week, she does once a month, and what MS says to do once a month, she does once a year, and what MS says to do once a year, she never does. I think I'm like that, but probably one notch even worse.

So I'm writing this because I desperately need more tips. I'll share a couple tricks I use to get myself to clean, and if you have anything to add, please let me know in the comments!

1. Set a timer.

This is usually a good stand-by. If I don't feel like cleaning, I set a timer for 5 or 10 minutes and just see how much I can get done. Usually I end up either finishing what I need to get done, or getting really into it, and working past the timer until everything is done.

2. Tell myself to pick up five things.

I don't tell myself what exactly I need to do (no one likes to be bossed around). I just pick a number (usually five) and then I do one thing, a second thing, a third thing, and so on until I reach the number. And if I've gotten momentum from doing the first five, and I start over again with five more.

3. The Dave Ramsey snowball method.

Lol, The Lazy Genius wrote about using the snowball method to pay off your TV debt (i.e., Netflix queue), and I have used the same method to clean my house. I start with the smallest mess: the dining table, and sometimes just move everything to the counter, then clean the counters, and then finish off with the sink.

Perhaps this is more a method of geography than size, but sometimes just getting something accomplished gives me that emotional boost to keep moving.

4. Address the thing that will give me the most bang for my buck.

I've recently realized that if I clear off the living room rug of toys (we don't have a coffee table because more horizontal surfaces = more clutter) I immediately feel better about the living room.

5. Have a specific order in which I do things, every single time.

I think this is one I could improve on. I find that my morning routine (i.e., the order in which I open the curtains, make the bed, change and put away my clothes, and start my coffee) really helps me be mindless about things (especially at a time of the day that I am pre-coffee). So I think I could benefit also with some other set routines for other house chores.

6. A home for everything.

This is one that I am really stuck on. It takes the most work, but I do also see that there is a ton of payoff in doing it. Any ideas on how to work on this one?

--

After I wrote this I saw this funny article entitled A Real Mom's Guide to a Clean House and it's the perfect conclusion for this.

Also, we are three week's strong on menu planning so I'm going to keep sharing it here.

m: pad thai / t: bbq chicken / w: spaghetti / th: sirloin tip roast / f: pumpkin chili / s: lentil falafel / su: lazy genius ribs

Emilyn, lately {13 months}

Here's a little bit about Emilyn at 13-ish months, although this first set of photos is from 7-9 months.

Kathy calls her Jack-Jack because of this picture (upper-right) where she looks like the baby from The Incredibles. Bottom-right is Sharkfin-soup-Emibaby

She is generous with smiles and laughter. She has this goofy grin that is hard to capture on camera but is classic Emilyn. All teeth and no eyes.

Speaking of teeth, she has at least 9 teeth already and is cutting a million more (feels like 6 more but I don't dare stick my finger in there for too long to check!). 

She mimics behaviors such as rubbing her hands together if she sees you washing hands, or if she is near a bottle of lotion or hand sanitizer.

When Kathy washes her hands with our family-splurge Williams-Sonoma Meyer Lemon soap, Emilyn will sniff her own hands, even if she's clear across the kitchen, and she loves when Kathy comes over to let her smell her hands. You can audibly hear Emilyn make the sniffing sound out of her nose.

She is great at picking up her toys after independent play in the crib. She will squat down, grab a toy, and throw it over the crib rail into the basket I hold for her. She can understand directions to grab a specific toy.

She opens her mouth like a bird when you bring food to her mouth.

She can sign: please, milk, water, book, banana (she points with her index finger at the bananas on the shelf, which is half of the sign; the other half is to "peel" your finger with your other hand), avocado, all done, help. She loves to learn new signs and has copied when I've taught her "doll" and "sister"/nuna.

She can wave and say, "hi!" David has heard her say "ball." 

She says "mama" and "dada" but it's not clear she's necessarily using it to call for us; she says "da!" for Theo, and she can say "nunu" for Kathy. She jibber-jabbers a lot and it's super cute. (Update: since drafting this earlier this week, she did say "Appa" for David at the library yesterday and it was clear she was calling him.)

She just started blowing kisses, but she does the release very slowly, like a generous royal person. For regular kisses, she opens her mouth super big and comes at you like she is going to eat you.

Theo has a wooden motorcycle rocker (like a rocking horse but a motorcycle) and when you put Emilyn on it, she makes engine revving noises. 

She knows she's being cute when she all of a sudden she lays her head down on a soft surface (e.g., bed, sofa, rug) because we all go, "aww...." She thinks it's a thing, "going aww." We call it "flump-da" when she does it, especially if the rest of her body is on the ground too, in froggy position. Sometimes she will just get in that position, wait for you to notice her, and then give a mischievous smile.

It's hard to describe her personality. In some ways, she seems like she has a vast serenity about her, that it takes a lot for her to be disturbed. But lately, she can absolutely get upset, most often when you are eating something in front of her that you are not willing to share. (No idea where she got that from.)

I used to joke when I would take her out of the high chair and put her on the ground that she could clean up after the mess she made because she eats everything (food and otherwise) off the ground. Once we found her in the kitchen happily chewing on a piece of red onion. The robotic vacuum that Kathy got us from Christmas is Emilyn's frenemy.

We weren't as consistent with reading Emilyn bedtime stories as we were with Theo (#secondkidproblems) but since last week she has gotten obsessed with Llama Llama Hoppity-Hop. She asks for it (there's a jibber-jabber she uses to say "llama llama" and I think I'm the only person in the world who could decipher it, ha), brings it to me, or (newly) signs "book."

We are still going strong with nursing and I'm sure that helps with the bond I feel with her.

She has a short morning nap and a slightly longer afternoon nap but we may be entering into the transition phase for dropping to one nap.

Oh and she's not quite walking yet, although she has taken a couple steps in a row without support, including some pivots.

She is a pure delight to me and I'm so thankful I get to be her mama.

Black bean not-burgers

Inspired by the cilantro-turmeric salmon patties I wrote about a couple weeks ago, I set out to make a black bean burger that I'd actually like. I think the key is to not try to make a burger per se, or to think that, when you are eating one, that it is supposed to be anything like a burger. You will just be disappointed, like I always am.

But when I packed these with chopped cilantro and quinoa, the whole concept changed for me. It didn't hurt that I fried them in that morning's bacon grease.

I served these with buns for those who wished, but just having it with tomato, avocado, and onion - similar to the salmon patties with salad concept - was, imho, perfect.

Black Bean not-Burgers (patties? fritters?)
inspired by these salmon patties

I made my first and only batch so far* with egg because we were challenging eggs last week, but the mixture was very wet (maybe I didn't drain my beans too well, either) and I had to add in gluten-free flour to dry it up. So I'd probably just skip the egg, and add flour only as needed to make a slightly thick batter.

2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup cooked quinoa
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 t salt
freshly ground pepper
1 egg (optional, see note above)

Throw everything in the food processor and blend together. Add a little flour if it looks way too watery. It's not going to be firm because we're not making burgers, but you do want it to hold some shape. Start with 1/4 cup flour and go from there. Too much flour makes it bready and dilutes the impact of the flavor you're going for here.

Heat up olive oil (or bacon grease!) on medium-high, and fry patties in batches. Serve on buns and/or with salad ingredients

_______________________________
* Yes, it was on the menu for last week but we didn't get to it.

And here's this week's meal plan, while we're talking about it:

Challenging soy, hence the tofu and soy-sauced based recipes. Also, changed the structure to put Sat and Sun at the end because it's stressful to have to plan Sunday's meal on Saturday night without groceries when there is church on Sunday morning.

A few randoms

1. New guilty pleasure: Nashville. Connie Britton, singing, love triangles... um, swoon, basically. "No One Will Ever Love you" = so haunting I died.

2. Let's talk about meal planning for like the 50th time. I decided that not feeling ecstatic about having a set meal plan > stressing out about what we are having for dinner every day. I'm trying to think of it like Anne Lammott's shitty first drafts: my inner critic should not be criticizing until there is something to critique.

We are challenging dairy this week on the elimination diet, if you were wondering.

And if you didn't catch the post on sheet pan chicken, do it meow.

3. "Focus on being a verb, not a noun." This was referenced on the The Mom Hour podcast on radical self-care, and attributed to a poet who was on Liz Gilbert's Big Magic podcast. The poet was trying to tell an aspiring artist, "don't try to be a poet, just write poems." I really like that, and I think that is a good thing to tell myself. I don't need to try to be a blogger, I'm just going to focus on writing blog posts. Such an easy and freeing shift of perspective! 

4. Another good quote. "One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time." --Andre Gide

5. Related to #1, because I cannot get enough of Connie Britton, I am getting back into Friday Night Lights while working on a crochet project. So fun.

6. Green chocolate smoothies with mixed baby greens, rice + coconut milk, frozen banana, cocoa powder, medjool dates, and chia seeds.

Pro tip courtesy of my friend Karen: when you can't finish that box of baby greens from Costco (you know the one), freeze it so it's ready for smoothies.

7. I am not a nail polisher by any stretch of the imagination, but Kathy surprised me with this amazing bottle that looked good even when applied by someone with the nail-polishing skills of a 12-year-old boy (that's me). It gave me that my-nails-but-better look; I had no idea that what would look like a perfect neutral on me would appear so pink in the bottle. Consider me enlightened.

8. This red lentil soup. If Molly Wizenberg and Melissa Clark tell you to make something, you listen up. Follow every step, including blending half of the soup. (Though I have to admit, I held off on the salt until later because of my extreme fear of the lentils not softening. Kayla, you know what I'm talking about!)

monster trucks provided by Theo

Tell me what's up with you! Any inspiring quotes, good podcasts, satisfying meals, fun shows, tips/tricks, stupid stuff that makes you laugh?

If I'm not feeling good, have I:

• gone on a walk? / spent time outside?
• eaten?
• texted a friend?
• written out what's on my mind?
• had enough water?
• prayed?
• finished the most critical thing on my to-do list?
• meditated?
• cleaned up the kitchen counter and my desk?
• had my vitamins?
• made art?
• had a second cup of coffee?
• taken a nap?

What's on your list of things that help you feel better?

Sheet pan roasted chicken and vegetables

I am so late to the party, but: sheet pan meals. Of course I had seen these all over the internetz before (it may seem like my head is buried in the sand but I'm not completely unaware), but what changed the game for me was watching Kendra Adachi (@thelazygenius) explain her version on Instagram Stories last week. Her method makes THEE most sense. (I've made it twice in seven days so that tells you how good it is.)

This is her method and I asked her if I could share it on the blog. She was super sweet and said yes, that she'd probably write about it on her blog at some point, too, so when she does I'll link to it here as well. (Update: Here it is!)

Sheet pan roasted chicken and vegetables
from Kendra Adachi

Note: Kendra didn't specify these exact vegetables, but here's what we did with what we had that day.

6-8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
1 red and/or yellow onion, 1-inch dice (I think shallots would be beautiful too)
1 lb green beans, trimmed
1-2 carrots, sliced on the bias (I don't like cooked carrots, so I grated 1/2 of one for salad and put 1.5 in the pan)
1 large Russet potato or two Yukon golds, cubed about 1-inch plus
olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 500. This (high temperature) is a brilliant move that I've not seen mentioned on other sheet pan recipes, but it makes so much sense (tastes better, cooks faster), and is what inspired me to even try this.

Cover a sheet pan (get yourself an over-sized one already if you don't have one!) with parchment or foil, and throw the veggies into a pile in the middle. Drizzle over generously with olive oil as you would for roasted vegetables and sprinkle on a nice amount of sea salt and black pepper. Massage it all together (I like to use a plastic kitchen glove) and then spread it out on the pan.

Lay the chicken thighs on top skin-side down and salt and pepper underneath.

Then, and - here's the magic - flip them over and generously salt and pepper underneath the skin. (I've always heard about this with roasting whole chickens but it seemed like too much work. Thighs are a great place to try this method out.) Don't be scared to over-salt. Good salting makes all the difference.

(My salting tip: Because I may be getting my hands all chicken-y while marinating, I usually scoop about 1.5-2 t of salt into a bowl, grind the pepper into it with my clean hands, and then stir it together. Then I can grab from there with my chicken-y hands and marinate away, without having to get the pepper grinder all gross.)

Pat the skins dry, then toss it in the oven and let it go for 40-50 minutes. I check mine at 40 and it seems to need 5-10 minutes extra at that point. The second time we made it, I even broiled it for a minute at the end.

This method produces some soft vegetables and few crispy ones. The amounts I've listed in my ingredients list above may be a little crowded, especially if you're using a standard sheet pan. Reduce slightly if you want things more on the crunchy side.

We served it with rice. (Surprise!)

The beans are my fave. It reminded me of this recipe I posted before and I think a marriage of these two would be amazing!

The second time we made it I left out the carrots and didn't have red onion so it's less pretty, but we did get to focus on what we really liked, which was the green beans.

There are so many glorious things about this meal: there are no prep bowls to wash because you prep it on the pan you bake it in; it's meat and vegetables all in one dish; you put it in the oven and forget about it until dinner; and perhaps most importantly, the fat from the chicken melts and gives extra flavor to the vegetables.

P.S. While we're talking about chicken, remember that time I told you about how to cut up a whole chicken like a master?

P.P.S. And, an inside joke that David turned into a family portrait the other day. Related because we're talking chicken today.

Emilyn Jack Jack, Kathy Chicken Noodle Nuna Hearts, Father Chicken Hearts, Mother Chicken Hearts, Mr. Chicken Hearts

Theo says {3 years, 1 month}

Theo has been cracking us up lately with the things he is doing and saying. I have a running list in my iPhone Notes to keep up with it, but here are a few of my favorites.

Singing "Happy Birthday" with two homemade cakes

1. For as often as 3-year-olds say, "No!", he will often surprise us with cheerful compliance. E.g., "Theo, can you please give that to Emi?" "'Course!"

2. When we got back into the car after an errand, he once said, "Mama, remember to turn your codpast [podcast] back on."

3. He often adds an extra syllable to the end of words. (I think he is entering the stage of self-correcting this stage so I've gotta record it here.) E.g., "I have an idea-da!" He used to call Emilyn "Baby Gerda" because we sometimes call her Baby Girl. It evolved to "baby-girlda" at one point as well.

4. "I'm going to do my demonstration."

5. "Can I see my Frango mint chocolate?" We had a season of difficulty with him crying after we put him to bed, or crying in the middle of the night, or crying at 5 a.m. So after Christmas, I started putting out a quarter of a Frango chocolate outside his door so if he makes it to wake time with no issues, he gets a tiny treat. If we have to attend to him, we eat it.

6. He often volunteers to say grace at dinner. Usually he says "Thank you for the day and for this food. Thank you for..." and proceeds to say everyone's name around the table (e.g., umma, appa, Emilyn, Kathy nunu, and sometimes family that's not at the table). When he was probably 2.5 he used to say "Thank you for umma feel better, thank you for appa feel better, thank you for Kathy nunu feel better, etc." because one time David gave thanks for someone's recovery.

One time when he had overheard us (hours before dinner) saying that my sis- and bro-in-law were going to stop by, he prayed for them to arrive safely.

7. When you make a suggestion he likes, he has been known to say, "That's what I'm talkin' 'bout."

8. The biggest parenting tool I use is choices (ala Love & Logic). I'm usually quick about coming up with two alternatives where I'm fine with either outcome. But one day I was pretty weak. My parents were in town and my dad overheard me asking Theo, "Do you want to go potty and then have coconut juice (from a real coconut that David cut open) or go to the potty and not have any coconut juice?" 

My dad observed that this was a case of Hobson's choice (i.e., not really a choice at all). Though it was spoken to me, Theo apparently heard it, too, because this is what happened after the potty. My pathetic lameness continued and I asked Theo if he wanted coconut water or just regular water, Theo exclaimed, "Hobson's choice!" and dissolved into giggles on the couch. 

9. This one was so amazing I even wrote down the date so that I can remember it forever, in case he never says it again. "You're perfect, Mama." (1/11/17)

10. One time when I couldn't figure out how to tie a string to the tire of his monster truck, he said, "No, you do it. It's your job." Wow, Theo.

11. When Theo heard David coming home from work one day, he came down the stairs with his pointer fingers sticking out of his head like antennae and said, "Is Appa home?"

12. For a couple of weeks he would sometimes tell me, "I watch a show in my nap" when we would wake him up for nap or nighttime. Then I realized that maybe he is saying he is dreaming! I wouldn't be surprised because one time he described the "show" and it was so random that it really did sound like it could be a dream.

13. If when Kathy asks if she can give Theo a treat I say, "Sure, just one, though," and she gives him a big one or a one-and-a-half sized portion, she says, "Extra love from Kathy nunu." Theo has adapted the phrase, but he calls it "peshul (special) love." He served me broccoli the other day, and gave me an extra big serving, calling it "peshul love for umma." For him, there was no irony (just iron!) because he actually loves broccoli. ^__^

14. Some other Theo pronunciations:

• "Chiple A" which sounds to us like "Triple A" = Chipotle
• "yester age" = yesterday
• "orangen" = orange
• "popsicle course" = obstacle course (as in, "I drew this red crayon track on my floor because I am making a popsicle course!")

Theo at Chiple-A

15. And this is my favorite, the one that just had me dying. I had no idea he had learned the word "unfortunately" but he used it this past week. True story: "Theo, do you have to go potty?" "Uh, unfortunately, I do not." Like the ham that he is, he put the emphasis on the new word all by himself because he knew it would make me crack up.

Later that evening during dinner, he looked up from his food and said, "I don't eat food anymore, unfortunately."

Kathy smartly retorted, "Well then, unfortunately, you can't eat dessert."

Emilyn's 1st birthday

With all of the holiday busyness (yes, yes, I am writing this a month late), I had wanted Emilyn's first birthday to be a small family affair, but since both sets of grandparents flew in for it, it ended up anything other than simple.

Although my mom, mother-in-law, and I all love cooking and entertaining, I think we are accepting this season of life where we recognize that we don't have to overexert ourselves with home-cooked food to show our love.

So I encouraged us to cater and do take out where it made sense. I set the tone by ordering 40 fried chicken wings and some vegetable fried rice from our favorite King Noodle.

My mom made Chinese stir-fried noodles (symbolizing long life on a birthday) and red-dyed eggs. She picked up roast pork and roast duck from Ranch 99.

My mother-in-law made savory Korean mung bean pancakes from scratch (soaking and grinding the beans from dried), shopped for boxes of fruit, and ordered jjap chae (sauteed glass noodles - the best!), kimbap (Korean sushi), kimchi, and dduk (rice cake).

When my mother-in-law went to pick up the cake at the bakery, the lady asked her how many candles she needed. She replied, "It's for a first birthday party." The lady was shocked because she somehow thought that such a big cake necessarily meant this was for something on the order of a 70th birthday celebration.

Emilyn v. cake for a 70-year-old

We had zero trouble finishing it. Asian cakes are so fluffy, so they are basically calorie-less, right?

My favorite moment of the day was seeing her get her first balloon from her Auntie Coleen.

We did the traditional Korean dol activity, where you lay out a bunch of objects and let the baby pick an item. Whatever she picks supposedly represents what she is going to be when she grows up (e.g., money = success, book = scholar, paintbrush = artist, etc.) My father-in-law forgot to bring his stethoscope so they had to go out and buy a toy set.

She ended up picking up the pen (my favorite black Pilot Precise V5!) probably because I never let her play with mine.

(Theo actually did the same at his first birthday; he grabbed a highlighter. Are they both going to be writers??)

Princess Emilyn thinks to herself, Whatever shall I choose?

I'm so not that mom who is into all the regular things, tradition, etc. Thankfully, my sister-in-law (are you reading this now? hehe) helped pick up the slack and provided so much support with the spread, the activities, and even wrapping up stuff my MIL would have bought for Emilyn anyway just to ensure that there would be plenty of gifts for Emi-baby. :) Thank you, Diana! As a fellow youngest sibling, I so appreciate everything you did to make Emilyn's party as fabulous as it was!

~

Previous Emilyn mentions on the blog:
first cameo | seventeen weeks | four months | twenty weeks | five months | ten months