Furniture Tetris and–Finally!–Fruit Cobbler Green Monster

A few minor events happened today. For one, I caught the girls’ horrendous summer cold, which rendered me face down on the dining table this morning during breakfast, trying my best to answer my daughters’ usual rapid-fire questioning by mumbling through the tablecloth.   Also, I started clearing out Saoirse’s room in preparation for Quinn’s big sleeping quarters switcheroo.  We ordered the little one’s new bed this weekend, so it should be here in a couple of weeks.  I’m not too worried anymore about the girls themselves sharing the room–at bedtime, Quinn and Saoirse have been climbing under SK’s covers together to read books, and it takes the two of us to tear them apart–but actually trying to figure out how to stick all this furniture into one small room with baseboard heaters is like playing the world’s worst Tetris game, only with expensive wood.  Seriously, I may have teared up a little. Twice. Keep in mind a few months ago we thought we’d be in a larger house by now, but we all know how that worked out, which is fine, but still.  THE WORLD’S WORST TETRIS GAME.  In my house.   Also, don’t try to move a bed with a trundle around a room by yourself when you’re pregnant, especially if you’re so impatient you don’t actually remove the rug from under said bed and trundle first, because you’ll pull something in your side and your back will hurt and you may or may not break the headboard a little in the process.

Yeah. It was one of those days.  And because it was one of those days, and because our outdoor thermometer read 101 degrees at one point this afternoon, and did I mention I’m pregnant and instantly wilt into cellophane when the temperature climbs above a balmy 78, when SK told me she didn’t want to go anywhere, that she wanted to stay inside and have a “nice and cozy day,” as it’s called around here, I may have jumped on it.  I mean, as quickly as a sick woman with a weird belly that pokes out can do.

So, today:

• Furniture moving. And breaking, a little.  Yes, David, I should’ve waited for you.
• Little Einsteins, the Safari episode, looped twice by request, the fifth time in three days.  If I have to hear those little kids singing (the ones in the TV, not mine. Mine are cute when they sing) again I may punch that favorite rocket ship in its nose.
• One On Demand exercise program with kickboxing, which is really hard to do with a) short lower level ceilings, 2) two small children who enjoy doing jumping jacks in between your legs, and c) no one around, two small children notwithstanding, to keep you motivated (i.e., women in better shape than you). Also, heart rate monitors are stupid.  Or rather, trying to keep my gestating heart rate under 140 beats per minute is stupid.  Well, maybe not stupid.  But frustrating as all get out.
• Twenty minutes of “Anderson” after I turned annoying exercise program off, despite small child nagging me to turn on Einsteins.
• The selection of seventeen stuffed animals by both of our daughters from their collections to be given to charity, thereby decreasing their menagerie to a mere 752 furry inanimate pets.  Small steps, you guys.  Small steps.
• Me finally–finally!–conquering the Green Monster I was telling you about, because you know I bought another club pack of spinach like an obstinate fool (see aforementioned “furniture moving” and “pulled muscles”).  But I just ate another cheeseburger, and it’s 9:28 p.m., so at least I start my day off well, and the girls have taken a liking to them (the smoothies, not the cheeseburgers), so yes, whee, I tried one again, and I figured out how to do it well.  I finally got it, and I’m seriously so excited to try it again tomorrow (it’s the small victories around here, anymore, as you can see…).  You may thank me, and ignore the other recipes I posted for the green monster.  Just do this one.  Trust me, it’ll even help you ignore the spinach.

Fruit Cobbler Green Monster

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup organic or Greek yogurt (vanilla or “banilla” flavored)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tbs. flaxseed
• 1/3 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract (optional)
• 2 handfulls spinach, rinsed
• 1 ripe banana
• 1 cup frozen fruit (peaches work well)

Directions

Layer all ingredients in the blender in the order listed.  Puree until very well blended. Make sure you can’t see any large pieces of spinach or flax seed, because if you can see them, you can taste them.  Pour a big glass for yourself and divy up the rest between your children, who will be circling your ankles. You know, because “I like dis geen monstah!”