I am so sick of people peeing all over my house. (And no, we’re not talking about my Ex being drunk.)

My soon-to-be three year old does this Jekyll and Hyde act. At school, he parades around in a dry diaper all day, politely using the potty whenever the urge strikes him. His teachers insist he is potty-trained and want to move him up to the next classroom where the kids no longer where diapers.

I refuse. Why, you ask? Well, once home, Mr. Potty Trained turns into a peeing machine. We put him in underwear - he peed right through them. We put him in pull-ups training pants - he adjusted himself such that he was able to pee outside the training pants without actually wetting himself. While very resourceful, he did wind up wetting my couch.

We make the potty available to him. We encourage him to use the potty instead of diapers / pull-ups / underwear. I’ve even bribed the kid with ice cream. (In my defense, my Ex bribed him with a pet goldfish.) Nothing.

Does anyone out there have any potty-training tips for me? I am getting really, really tired of waking up to the sound of “Uh-oh, Mommy. I peed on my bed.”

I’ve recently been thinking about how much money I spend on Gavin’s clothing and whether or not I am getting my money’s worth. Generally, since he grows out of and/or ruins clothing pretty quickly, I don’t think I am.

The Ex and I, ever the entrepenuers, have recently come up with a cool concept that has the potential to save families a LOT of money when it comes to buying their children clothing while at the same time, allowing them to select from a wide variety of high-quality items.

Our concept is in its initial stages of development, but if you’re interested in learning more, leave a comment with your email or website, and I’ll shoot you the link once we’re in beta. For now, I’m interested in learning how much the average person spends on their children’s clothing. Please answer the poll below (if you’re so inclined).

This blog is slowly morphing into a food blog. I realized that most of my time not blogging is spent cooking or simply thinking about food, so I suppose that writing about it is quite appropriate.

Anyway, my new food obsession is making my own handmade bread. The scent of fresh bread baking in the oven is heavenly! Today I made a whole wheat oatmeal bread and yesterday, I made a delicious, hand-braided loaf of challah. It was so good that me, the Ex, and Gavin ate all of it within minutes of taking it out of the oven.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups flour
• 1 package yeast
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs for challah dough
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 egg for egg wash

Recipe:

Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a big bowl. In a separate bowl, pour 1 cup of warm water, add the yeast, and let it soak for 5 minutes. Add 1-1/2 cups flour mixture to the water, beat, set aside with a dishtowel covering it. Let sit for 30 min. Add two eggs, beat, then knead in the rest of the flour mixture for about 10 minutes. Let rise again for about an hour.

Knead the dough on a floured board for about 3 minutes, and cut dough in thirds. Make three “snakes” with each and braid, pinch ends, tuck under. Let rise again for a about an hour or so while covered with a dish cloth.

Brush gently with egg wash (1 egg and 1 tsp. water), bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees. Reduce to 375 degrees and continue baking until a nice, golden crust forms.

Enjoy!