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Cool off with Tide Coldwater

Y’all know how Jenny and I feel about Tide. If this is your first visit to this Mommin’ It Up you don’t, you can read about it here, here, and here. Oh, and here, here, here, here, here, or here. Ok, I will stop now.

Needless to say, Tide is one of our favorite companies to work with because their PR people are fab we believe in the product and we use the product ourselves. (And also their PR people are lovely.) Ever since we first started learning more about the science behind Tide way back at BlogHer ’09 (the conference when I got stuck in an elevator), we’ve been totally brand loyal.

In particular, we love Tide Coldwater. I know that since learning about how much energy can be saved by washing in cold water (and finding out how well Tide Coldwater actually works), our family hasn’t used anything else. It’s such an easy, simple thing to do – but it can have such an impact on the world.

Think I’m exaggerating?

Take a look at this.

Isn’t that amazing?

The first two lines of that image have some pretty incredible stats, but read it again from the third line on. We may not be able to get every household in Dayton (or anywhere else) to wash with cold water, but we can definitely make sure our household does – and what an impact that has.

And seriously, it works just as well as regular Tide. Which works much better than anything else. It’s a win-win.

This summer we’re going to keep encouraging you to Cool Off with Tide Coldwater. Jump on in!

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Up in smoke.

On November 4, 2011, I wrote a post that contained a list of things I needed to do that weighed heavily on me. Some of those things I’ve actually done (cleaned the room in our basement)… some of them I haven’t (lost 7 pounds).

One thing I hadn’t done was change the batteries in the smoke detectors.

That was six months ago, and I’d say that 70% of nights since then, I’ve laid in bed and worried about the smoke detector batteries being dead, the house catching on fire, and all of us dying. Each morning, though, when I was actually able to do something about it, I wouldn’t think of it. Until I tried to go to sleep again, of course.

Wednesday night I decided enough was enough. I bought some batteries and was determined to finally put my OCD fears to rest. I pulled a chair into the hallway, under the smoke detector that is right outside the bedrooms. The one I had worried about for months on end.

As it turns out, the damn thing is wired in to the electricity of the house.

It was so anti-climatic! But it occurred to me that there was a lesson in it. I had spent so much time and energy obsessing worrying about something that was a complete non-issue.

How many other things do I worry about that have no basis in reality?

Anyway, I discovered that the smoke detector did have a battery as a back up, so I went ahead and changed that. But when I reassembled the thing, it started chirping. You know that sound – the one that means the battery is about to die? So annoying. And I couldn’t get it to stop. Obviously the battery wasn’t dead. I thought maybe I had put the battery in wrong so I took it all apart again and checked. It was situated the right way, but the chirping continued. It was after nine by that point. The kids were ready to go to bed, and I could sense a giant melt down brewing under Kate’s surface. I was about ready to cut the wires just to make it stop when I googled it, and basically found out that I needed to leave it alone for 10 minutes and my problems would be solved.

Fortunately, that worked.

So then I modified the lesson learned – worrying about problems that don’t exist can lead to problems that actually really do exist.

Basically, I need to calm my ass down. We’ll see if that happens.

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Pin for the Wednesdays: Grilling with Cilantro

I loooooooooooove cilantro and in my opinion, you can never have too much – as evidenced by my “Food & Drinks” pin board. Cilantro, cupcakes and pretty cocktails. Those are my three favorite food groups.

I also love to grill, so last weekend I was excited to try out a couple recipes I found on Pinterest.

The first – Margarita Chicken.

The original recipe is from DisneyFamily.com.

Margarita Chicken

Ingredients
zest from one lime
1/3 cup fresh lime juice, from about 4 limes
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons tequila, optional
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
2 cloves garlic, mashed
1 teaspoon chile powder
pinch salt and pepper
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, 6-8

Directions
Place all ingredients, except for the chicken, in a gallon-sized zip top plastic bag. Squish to combine. Add chicken, seal bag, and turn to coat. Refrigerate for one hour or overnight.
Coat grill pan (or grill) with cooking spray. Heat pan (or grill) to medium-high. Cook chicken for 4-5 minutes on each side, turning breast a quarter turn after two minutes if cross hatch marks are desired. Serve immediately.

Unfortunately I made this approximately three minutes before I wanted to put it on the grill, so it didn’t have time to marinate. It was still good, but I think it would have been even better if it had had time to soak up all the flavor.

Like I said, I have a thing for cilantro, so I went with this as a side dish.

Roasted Corn with Cilantro Butter

From one of my favorite recipe sites, SkinnyTaste.com. I put all the seasonings on the corn, wrapped each ear in aluminum foil, and grilled them for about 20 minutes. YUM!

So that’s what I’ve been up to… what about you??

There are just a few rules:

1) In your post, please link to your original source – the pin you got the idea from.

2) Make sure and link back to our original Pin For the Wednesdays Post here at Mommin’ It Up! (please!)

3) In the Mr. Linky below, leave a direct link to your Pin FTWednesdays post, not to your main website.

4) Totally optional – grab our cute #PinFTW button! The code box is over there in our sidebar.

Don’t have a blog?  Just leave your winning pin in the comments!

We can’t wait to see what you have to share!

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