Do you love heating your money up and then throwing it away? I did, until last week.

Most home water heaters are terribly inefficient – they account for about 20% of all energy used in US homes. But you can easily make them a little less crappy by turning them down to about 120 degrees.

Below is mine.  When finally opened that eerily tiny door on my patio, the big red dial just about slapped me in the face. There were three setting and all I had to do was turn it a little to the left. They might all be this easy… but for safety reasons… read the instructions first.

Today I installed a 1.5 gallons per minute aerator on the bathroom sink. Why? Because it saves a bunch of gallons of water by slowing down the water flow.  All you need is a new aerator (don’t be afraid, it’s only a small little $3 metal piece) and a pair of pliers.

Carefully follow these installation instructions

Step 1: Remember what pliers are.  Look for pliers.  No, not a wrench.  Pliers. Look in the tool box for pliers.  Look in the junk drawer for pliers.  Look all over the condo for pliers.  Finally find them tucked safely in the top drawer of your bureau right next to your pens and lipgloss. Approximate time: 25 minutes.

Step 2: Use pliers to unscrew your current aerator (make sure to take out the washer too). Use your hand to screw in the new aerator.  Tighten a little with your pliers.  Approximate time: Less than one minute.

Tags: 1.5GPM, aerator, installation

Yes, this is my fourth post about getting 2 year old Audrey to (insert expletive here) eat.  But happily, this is the most success I’ve had and a major source of calories.

And yes, I have asked myself how Audrey would have gotten along in the caveperson days before blenders were around.  I have no answer for that. I only have this recipe for modern parents who want to stop pulling their hair out.

Audrey’s Phat Smoothie

- 1 Avocado

- 1 Banana

- 1.5 containers of honey flavored whole fat greek yogurt

- 3-4 Tablespoons of whole wheat baby cereal, I use Happy Bellies DHA + Probiotic immunity support

- Handful of spinach leaves

- Optional: any strawberries or blueberries in the fridge

- Enough organic milk so that it blends up well and can be easily sipped through a straw.

Directions: Blend, blend, blend

I pour this into 3 cups and put them in the fridge.  On a good day she’ll drink two of these, and then I have one ready for the next day.

Other reads:

Getting a Toddler to Eat: Make Cookies

Getting a Toddler to Eat, Part 2: The Snack Tray

Getting a Toddler to Eat, Part 3: Iron Rich Spaghetti

If you have three minutes in Santa Monica, swing by the Santa Monica Museum of Art. Not only is there a gigantic cactus garden planted in an old Mercedes, there is an epic video installation by Marco Brambilla. My favorite piece being the gigantic 3D video collage showing the evolution of man through cinema.  You’ll spot clips from the I Heart Huckabees, Star Wars, and everything in between looping every three minutes.  I would have watched it at least five times, but the two-year-old preferred to play with the rubber chicken in the gift shop

At a recent trip to The Getty, two things happened. First, baby Audrey excitedly pointed out that “The Getty Museum” sounds a lot like “Spaghetti Museum.”  Imagine her disappointment when we finally arrived…

Second, Ms. Spaghetti Pants fell asleep in the Ergo carrier for awhile and I got a chance to fall in love with the photograph below.  Communism vs capitalism and every social structure in between is on the very top of my things-to-ponder-and-discuss list. This photo taken by Alberto Korda at a rally in Cuba in 1959 just speaks volumes.

Photo found on Museum Syndicate

Talk about cliche. A pic of a kid with spaghetti in her nose? But this is special spaghetti. As I’ve mentioned in part 1 and part 2, I can’t get my child to eat. At our last checkup Dr. Barrow said Audrey is borderline anemic. He said to give her leafy greens.  FAT CHANCE.  I can barely get the kid to eat ice cream let alone LEAFY GREENS. Deep breaths, deep breaths.

So in order sneak iron into her diet without resulting to supplements, I’ve been cooking everything in a cast iron pan. According to Alice when you cook tomatoes or other acidic foods in iron, the amount of dietary iron jumps significantly (like from .6mg to 5.7mg ). For Audrey’s spaghetti, I browned some organic grassfed beef in my cast iron and then added classic organic marinara sauce over it and let it simmer on low for about a half hour. She ate it. Well, she ate some. V for Victory.

Audrey and her cousin waiting for shave(d) ice in Kauai.

Audrey somehow manages to subsist on pears, milk and sunshine.  The child will just not eat.  So I turned to my fave baby instruction book: “The Baby Book” by the Sears folks. I’m a big Sears Family fan. They’re proponents of Attachment Parenting… which boils down to this: There are no shortcuts in parenting. Do it the hard way without weird gimicky tricks and it will pay off in the end.  It’s a child-centered philosophy, which I like.

Anyway, their idea of getting a toddler to eat is to give them options. He is a big proponent of the snack tray.  Put out a bunch of healthy snacks in a little tray and let your child graze all day.  It has actually worked a little.  And it’s really interesting how Audrey chooses something different to eat every day.  Toddlers are darn picky by nature, and this little snack tray idea lets them be super finicky… but still eat something.

It’s working for now.  I’m pulling less hair out, and sleeping more at night knowing she ate seven peas and a ravioli.

This is at the Huntley Hotel’s restaurant.  If you haven’t been there, go check it out.  The decor is outrageously awesome and hideous.  The view is amazing.  This is a self pic of me through the chandelier in the women’s restroom.  After a mimosa at brunch.