Pinterest-worthy

Sometimes there's a moment when you look around at the talent around you. The talent proper might not still be in the house with you...but you look and think "How awesome is this?!" I have several (and many!) favorite people but the two that take the top of that list consistently just shine when I look at this wall right now:


What a wonderful start to kick of Valentine's season! (There can be a season, right?? A season of looooove...) JMom brought over this Valentine's countdown for Homey. Little treats and surprises in each envelope...how enchanting! It's just lovely...


Look! Look at the little birds on the paper! Precious. Along with the precious envelopes of treats.

Answer me this...when is it not fun to buy surprises for children. NEVER. Never is the answer. It is always fun and beneficial and enchanting to buy children surprises!

But what's funny about this one is that it made me take notice of the hook we hung it on...Scroll back up...Mr. B made me this ledge with hooks modeled after a page in my "Keep this page out of a magazine because I love it" binder. Made it from scratch.

Painted it.

Wrapped that bad boy up and put it under the tree on Christmas eve a couple of years ago.

I love this part of my house. It's one that doesn't need changin' (I change and move everything regularly. It's annoying even to me.)

I change the hooks out for seasons (and if your coat or hat matches my living room you can hang it there!). But the shelf on top...I'm used to it being there, so I don't study it so often anymore...holds delightful images. Awesome sepia images that make my heart happy:



This picture just makes me want to squeeze those chunky legs. And I am SO not consigning that bubble from Gymboree. This is classic Homey...survey the situation before you barrel in and play hard.

Then there's this:


Sweet picture...Hubby with coffee at the cabin on Homey's 2nd Thanksgiving. I love this shot. It's just the essence of the day ("Hey what are you doin'?, "Chillin' and full, you?")

What started out as an overexposed moment between Daddy and Daughter became priceless to me in sepia.

And the newest:


It came in the form of a Christmas card. My niece and nephew continue to be some of the cutest kids on the planet. No bias...it's the honest truth! This picture looks right at home with the Homey in Sepia homage (it's absolutely pronounced "oh-modge"...lol! Makes me think of the "endive commercial".)

Anyhoo...

Seeing the start of my Valentine's display with JMom's craftiness on my homemade, better than I could find in a store, hooks just warms my heart! Favorite people=happy thoughts, and that's what i want my house to be. A place where Happy Thoughts live and thrive. Enchantment is a staple here.

Meatloaf Revisited...

Let's use up that fantastic meatloaf we just made! Of course you could be predictable and have a delicious meatloaf sandwich...

OR you could be super crafty and creative like Tracy! That Tracy...she can pull anything into an awesome meal. I try to eat at their house a lot. It's like watching an episode of Chopped (man, I miss Food Network...).

Anyway, she had some leftover meatloaf and roasted potatoes...with a wave of her wand, she turned it into a frittata! A freakin' frittata! I would have never thought of that...here's what she did:


Pull out your leftover meatloaf and potatoes.


Gather 5-6 eggs, salt/pepper, paprika, olive oil, and some shredded cheese (whatever you have on hand).
Have your favorite Tiny Person beat the eggs.


Meanwhile start the potatoes in an ovenproof pan...just heat a little EVOO, then warm those potatoes up. Season with salt, pepper, and paprika.


Add in the meatloaf and crumble it up.

Add the eggs and cheese, and cook on low to medium heat until the bottom is set.



Throw that whole shenanigan into the oven with the broiler on.



Just let it hang out in there until it's cooked through.



Delicious. And creative. And tricky...that Tracy. You gotta keep your eye on her! Never know what she's going to invent!

Striving for DIY Greatness

Well...it was Weekend 1 of Operation Bath for Homey. The excitement began Friday evening:


Once we finally got the water off! Oy. But in the couple of hours we worked Friday, the fixtures were outta here! Goodbye blue potty! Goodbye horrible vanity and wonky mirror!

Saturday was the first full day. Let me tell you what fun that was! Well, look:




Welcome to the town of Vesuvius...forever buried under a pile of rubble...Lots and lots of plaster rubble. And dust...


Our footprints were everywhere! Along with a layer of very fine dust.

Working hard!! And very dusty. Yuck.


Oh dear...


Lawsy mercy...

Homey couldn't take it anymore! Dust away, sistah...

And then end of Day 2:


Holy cow...it's all gone....

Like, all of it...I'm thinking this means that we're committed to actually finishing the project...

Oh, and look at our nice hole...right now it's kinda like a drive through window to the hallway! This is/was the "well installed" house alarm that came with the house...
Here it is from the other side! Hey, Mr. B! Good job today...can I get you a beverage?



No worries...I got him a beverage!

More Interesting Meatloaf

Blah--meatloaf. One of the more unexciting meals, if you ask me. Especially if it's coated in ketchup-y weirdness. I do not love ketchup-y weirdness. BUT! There is always a way to reinvent, to think outside the ketchup stuff. Let's do that!

Here's what you need:



1 1/2 lbs ground beef
2/3 cup bread crumbs
1/2 of an onion, diced
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
a jar of roasted red peppers

The key to this is the roasted red peppers and Parmesan. Mmmm. Dice up those peppers:



Very much like all my other complicated and complex recipes: Dump all of it in a bowl.

Feel free to doctor it up with a splash of A1, a dash of worcestershire, or a little garlic powder.

Now, either form it into a loaf shape in a casserole dish or shove it into a loaf pan. If you go with the loaf pan option, lay 2 pieces of bread in the bottom to soak up the grease.



Bake at 350 for right at an hour. Check to make sure it's registering 160 degrees (that's 70C for my favorite canucks). And you're done!




Serve with PW's mashed potatoes and green beans that you've cooked all the nutritional value out of.

See:

This more interesting version of meatloaf is even suitable for royalty!


Tiny, surly royalty :)

Stay tuned for ways to reinvent the reinvented meatloaf!

The Organized Nest: Rise and Shine!

She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.

Proverbs 31:27

I tend to be a little Monica Geller-ish. I actually enjoy cleaning. Cleaning is good edifying fun! Right??

But I often get to a point where one of the following situations happens:

1. I clean too much and don't have time for other fun stuff.

2. I get crazed by my routine and completely neglect certain areas in my house.

3. My schedule changes and I make myself insane trying to get our house back to the way I like it.

All of these things can pose a problem. But the fact remains that my house really does need attention every single day. Here's why:

Jake

Has anyone else dealt with a giant husky in South Carolina? It's not pretty. Not pretty at all. We're coming up on shedding season, so things really get interesting around here in the "Keep the House Clean" department.

Thing 1 and Thing 2

I'm continually amazed at how filthy little girls can get. But they do...my house proves it.

'Nuff said.

A couple of years ago, I found Flylady. She does a great job of making sense out of a mess without getting overwhelmed. She also gets you to establish routines making certain chores second nature (genius!). On top of that, she sends one tiny chore a day (that really no one likes to do, but it only takes a few minutes), so you really don't ever have the huge need of "Spring Cleaning" because you keep up with it all through the year.

But even things like Flylady sometimes need to be tweaked to work for you. So although my house is not the cleanest house in the world, I try hard to make sure it's close! Let's look at how to start the housework list to quickly check those items off My Listy...

Morning Routine:
I admit that I'm not that person that "gets dressed to shoes" first thing in the morning like Flylade insists that I do. I need a minute. I need several cups of coffee and some quiet moments with my iGoogle lists. One list reminds me of what actually has to be accomplished that day. Another reminds me of what we're having for dinner. Since the lists were made in advance, I just have to check them instead of thinking them up!

Then I'm ready to hop up and get dressed for the day. But what I do accomplish right off the bat (usually) is starting a load of laundry. Since the washer and dryer are "conveniently" in the master bathroom, I just throw a load in after I brush my teeth. Then, as I'm waiting on that oh so important pot of coffee to brew, I unload the dishwasher (it only takes me about 2 and 1/2 minutes to do that). With an empty dishwasher, I have no excuses for letting dishes accumulate in the sink for very long. I tell ya, when I get off schedule with the dishwasher, my whole day is wonky. Along the same lines, if I make sure my sink is shiny (or as as shiny as it's going to get!) and my counters are wiped down after breakfast, I am far more likely to keep them clutter free for the rest of the day. Disclaimer: I have gone years without a dishwasher in the past and it's misery. It really is. But I found if I keep up the shiny sink goal, I would still keep dishes washed and out of the sink.

Once everyone is up, we make sure the beds are made (and Homey is responsible for making her bed right after she eats). I feel like a made bed just makes you feel calm when you walk in the bedroom. It is, after all, a room that you rest in. It should look restful. For adults and munchkins. I did not agree with this at all when I was a munchkin. But JMom had other plans and now I'm a bed making nazi. It's one of the most important things I do as far as making the house look put together as opposed to the House of Free For Alls.

At this point, Homey and I can spend some time learning or creating together, and planning our day (obviously when I'm working I am dressed and out of the house rather early, and Homey goes off to school...I try to keep the school routine the same at home, though). When we know our plan for the day, we take a break to play(her)/exercise(me) then get dressed and ready. Right after I get out of the shower, I take Flylady's advice and "swish and swipe" my bathroom (I do the same to Homey's while she's taking a bath at night, but hopefully that will all be under construction soon!). Switch the laundry over then, too, and you're good to go! And it's not even 10 am...sweet.

There's more housework to be done later in the day, but I find that these very fast and simple tasks really set the tone for staying organized all day long. I take on the responsibility of creating a calm and pleasing home for my family. I don't succeed everyday, but overall, I enjoy the calm of my home.

What are your tips for starting the day in an organized and calm way?

Hashbrown Casserole

Now there is nothing healthy or low calorie about this. But it is warm...comforting...cozy...delicious. So don't have it for breakfast every day, but certainly make this for a weekend brunch or when you have breakfast-for-dinner (something that shows up on a meal plan in some form or another at least once every three weeks around here).

This is a big casserole, so it's a great way to feed a crowd. Or just eat the leftovers for snack over the next few days. (In fact, I'm going to go heat up a bowl of it now!). And actually, it's a lot of bang for the buck since you get so much food out of it. Super inexpensive, look:


A bag of frozen hashbrowns, thawed
A can of cream of chicken soup
A half an onion, diced
A cup of shredded cheddar
A stick of butter, softened
Salt and pepper to taste

Stir the cheese and onions into the hashbrowns.


Add in the butter and soup. Stir this very well; seems that the butter doesn't want to play well with others sometimes. Add in a little salt and pepper now.
Once you have everyone in there and getting along, toss the mixture into a large casserole dish. My largest is about 9x13 but I think it's deeper than most. Seems like it anyway....

Bake in a 375 degree oven for at least 35 minutes. It may take more like 45 to 50, so be prepared. It really depends on how thawed the hashbrowns are. If they're even a tiny bit frozen still, that really ups the baking time. But its worth it, and it doesn't change the outcome:


All bubbly and golden and warm and delicious!

Serve it up with eggs, bacon, fruit, biscuits, grits...who needs to wait in a line of rocking chairs playing checkers when you can have this all at home??

Anatomy of a Birthday Party: Part 2

Now it's time to delve deeper into the intricate inner workings of a child's birthday party. In part one we talked about establishing a theme. Now let's talk about taking that theme to the next level to make this party a step (several steps!) above a typical party. This step is really more of a honing in on the details and thinking about the guest list.

I'm going to just start with a few aspects of some of Homey's past parties. We are just going to look at a few details that help get the ball rolling.

I've gotten several great ideas from etsy shops. You can find almost anything on etsy. I get ridiculously specific with party detail, but you know what? It's never anything that etsy can't handle! For Homey's 4th birthday, I found this adorable t-shirt at Vintage Lucy's etsy shop. I don't personally know the seller for Vintage Lucy's, but I have the feeling we'd be fast friends. Please go through her shop...you can find the most adorable retro-inspired things there! Tell her I sent ya! Maybe she'll be my friend.


I never thought I'd be the person to do a western themed party. But that shirt was just adorable. And it wouldn't just be a cowboy/girl party it would be a vintage cowboy/girl party. Very reminiscent of this awesome pin up that Pioneer Woman uses on her site.


This is when I start getting giddy and over the top. It's okay to get giddy and over the top because you'll start to sort some of the details that get cluttered in your brain, and you'll eventually throttle it back to something manageable. It might still end up a little over the top. Whatever. It's a BIRTHDAY, for cryin' out loud.

Here are a couple of other etsy items that we've used:

Mermaid dress for Thing 1

Retro pirate dress for Thing 2
(and doesn't her cousin look perfect in her mermaid shirt?!)

Yes, I was able to type in a search for retro cowboy cupcake picks. Ta-da!!





The fact that there exists retro cowboy cupcake picks is proof that I am not as crazy as you people might think I am!! And that is great news.

So we've found a few items to get us started with the party planning. All you have to do for this next step is think about your guest list. You have to know who your guests are to plan anything else. It seems like to me there are three basic kinds of parties:

Equal-ish amounts of adults and children of various ages.

Just a few adults and children of various ages.

Just a few adults and children that are mostly the same age.

In order to think about food, cake, activities and favors, you absolutely have to know who will be there. Obviously, you can't know exactly how many will be there until you get RSVP's in, which won't be until a lot closer to your party date. But I have found that I can usually call it within 2 children. And you will obviously know the number of adults as well (really only important as far as logistics, space needed, and food amounts). Homey's parties have all been just as many adults as children. She has her grandmothers, aunts, and uncles there as well as the parents of all of her friends. If your child is older, you may not have the parents there for the whole party. You may have a separate gathering for family members. If this is the case, I do recommend that you have someone (or 2 someones) there for crowd control. Everyone should have a JMom. Like I said, I'm not about to throw a kids' party without JMom around.

So, wow. Part two is really easy, and pretty fun because it involves window shopping and making a list! In the next installment, we'll start talking more about decorations and food...this is where things start getting really fun!