Well Isn't That Pinteresting?

As with most of the ever-changing social/online inspirational world, I have a bit of an ambivalent relationship with Pinterest. I often hear people comment on how they get completely lost in Pinterest, spending hours upon hours just pinning away.

My problem is that I take it a step further. For some reason, in my {somewhat crazed} world {where I am a delusional combination of a 1950s housewife, 1970s Stepford wife, 1980s power career woman and present day crafty, blogging, baking Super Mom}, I can't simply just pin great ideas. I have to implement them. This might have something to do with the aforementioned strange psychotic issue of proving to myself that I am capable of it ALL. And so I tend to pin with a bit of caution, planning to actually reference each pin in the near future to create, craft or cook.

{Were you getting a little uncomfortable with my therapy session above? I was :)}.

On a good week, like the one we are in, my innate desire to "complete pinned projects" is beneficial to the entire family. Case in point - our meals for this week are all recent pins. Tonight, a Cheesy Chicken and Rice Bake as originally posted online by TastyKitchen.

As you can tell from the remnants, the dish delivered. Simple to create, all the main food groups in one casserole and enjoyed by all of my discerning diners. A few things to note should you decide to pin it and make it...

• I used Uncle Ben's Boil-in-a-Bag Brown Rice. Not my typical MO. In fact, I had to turn my eyes away from the plastic bags boiling in water as I was nearly convinced I could see the BPA leaching to our meal. However, Tuesdays are typically a late day home {afternoon ballet followed by early evening run}, and with us out of town this past weekend, I wasn't as prepared for the week as I like to be. So, BPA-leached rice for us it was. And, I hate to admit it, but jeez, this stuff is pretty good. Rice is sort of a running joke in our house - I can't ever get it right. I'm a pretty good cook friends, and yet, for some reason, rice is the death of me. Fortunately, I do have a pretty handy rice cooker for days when I have a bit more time. For tonight - Uncle Ben's BPA Brown Rice it was.
• I didn't use lowfat cheese. That is just gross. 
• The recipe actually makes a larger casserole size, but I often split casseroles and freeze half to avoid throwing food away and to stock the freezer with ready-to-heat meals. The above picture is post-dinner, so we have plenty for leftovers on Thursday night.
• I used a mild salsa in my dish, since I have a pint-sized palette to serve. However, a salsa with a bit more kick, and maybe a pepper jack cheese, would really take this casserole up a notch.

 On the menu for tomorrow night...

Screen snapshot is kind of hard to see - Slow Cooker Cheesesteaks, thanks to the pinning prowess of my friend Linley :).

While the recipe pins tend to be well-received in the household, projects are not always a hit with the hubby. He likes to ask me "why I'm tinkering" instead of relaxing and also gently remind me that I'm not as crafty as I think I am when purchasing endless supplies for projects :). 

Pinterest Project Addiction set in back in December, with several holiday projects about putting me over the edge. Conversations went something like this on a few different occasions:

Friend and Half-Marathon Training Partner, Shannon: Want to go run?

Me: No, I can't.

Shannon: Why not?

Me: I need to finish this d@#$ tree skirt.

Said tree skirt turned out pretty cute in the end. I might even add some ruffles to it next year, as long as the two Needle Nanas {that would be my mom and Shannon's mom} are willing to lend their expertise and {much faster} skill again. Pinned version was a hot-glue project, but that would have been too easy, right? Over-achiever here HAD to have it sewn. If I were to ever want to sell a similar tree skirt... going price - $600, at least. It was not easy. Never again. {And yes, I do appreciate all those ruffle dresses Nana creates with a whole new perspective.}

Me at a sewing machine - not a frequent site to behold. However, I do pom pom.

Especially once I find the correct pom pom maker that doesn't take 10 minutes per pom. This little wreath adorned peanut's bedroom door.

Snowman Rice Krispie Treat snacks for school turned out okay. They were among the more stressful of projects and I later learned that Tax Man allowed them to topple when he delivered LE to our neighbor's for morning car pool to preschool. Fortunately, said neighbor is a great friend and I do believe she straightened the little Frostys up before taking them to school.

Another Pin-ject... Candy Cane Playdoh for classmates. Easy and cute.

Teachers also received pinned love for holiday gifts...

 

A copy of The Happy Everything Cookbook by Coton Colors, mason quart jars full of the delicious Tomato Soup from the cookbook and the Beer Bread ingredients {also from the cookbook}.

Many of Elfie's antics through the holidays were pin-spired {somebody stop the pinterest-isms!}

Enjoying a snack of peppermint candies from the pin-spired candy display {I did eventually add a picture to that frame, by the way}.

Getting all clean in her marshmallow bubble bath.

Are you still there? Clearly I had a lot pinned up inside about Pinterest {sorry... I couldn't resist}. I also managed to squeeze in some neglected photos from December once again. Pretty sneaky, I am.

Bringing it full circle to that 1950s housewife and back to present day... This was a recent scene in our home.

She has her laundry setup right alongside mine... washer, laundry basket, ironing board and all. Samantha's clothes were as clean and crisp as Tax Man's shirts by day's end! By the way, he is a little scared I'm grooming her into the next generation of a neurotic, cleaning housewife. Especially since that washing machine topped her list for Christmas gifts.

And yet, he doesn't complain a bit about his clean, pressed clothes as he dresses each morning.

Isn't that just Pinteresting...

Christmas Blessings

There is something about doughy-eyed, bedheaded children discovering the gifts Santa Claus has left behind that makes parents' hearts melt with gratitude - gratitude for all the blessings in life.

Not the kind of blessings that arrive in packages under the Christmas tree, but that feeling of "life is really, really good" which truly makes us stop and thank God for those blessings.

Yes, we are fortunate beyond words. We are blessed with a roof over our heads, more than enough food to eat, healthy bodies and the opportunity to give an abundance of gifts to those we love the most.

She is blessed with her own "roof" for the yard now too :).

I'd like to think if we awoke to just one simple gift from Santa under the tree or even none at all, we would have still known the magic of Christmas. I'd like to think we are teaching this bright-eyed girl the gifts of giving to others, of being grateful for what we have, of practicing patience and kindness, of living with purpose.

She and the coveted American Doll Samantha, checking out the new digs.

Her excitement to give the gift she had selected for Daisy was palatable and contagious. Please note, she chose this blue tug-of-war toy as it nicely mimicked the tug-of-war toy Fancy Nancy's dog {Frenchie} receives in "A Splenderifious Christmas."

And though she must have asked three hundred times as we opened gifts on Christmas morn - "is that present for me?"...

Christmas PJs - made my Nana, up-cycled from the red/white table runners from our Jolly Holiday 3rd Birthday.

By day's end she was savoring the moment, experiencing the magic and even remembering a lovely "thank you" after opening each of those presents.

Evening present opening at Nana and Papa's was at a slightly slower pace. Perhaps the exhaustion was starting to set in? Or perhaps she was realizing she could actually stop and play for a moment with each new gift before tearing into the next?

Much to her happiness, Aunt BeBe delivered with the "wedding dress" for her "American doll" {she was quite vocal about the fact this present was missing from Santa earlier in the day}.

And Aunt Kassie gave her a much-loved "blue line to Boston"....

It plugs into our iPhones and functions as a real phone.

Meant to allow her to call Aunt Kassie anytime she wants... the peanut had quite the time calling Uncle Brandon at the fire station where he was working several times. They had several long conversations. Not sure about what. He is a trooper!

As the day drew to a close, we snuggled in with my family - her sleeping with sisters, Blaine and I tucked in my childhood room - and rested with the gratitude of a happy day celebrating Christmas, and with the gratitude of knowing there were a few days of relaxation and family time ahead {aka, letting my mom take care of us!}.

It was a lovely Christmas indeed.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Hello blogosphere. You are still here. Though I've taken a hiatus for the last month, it appears the world has continued to turn without me. My blogging break was somewhat intentional - a bit of me trying to limit evening time on the computer to savor the sweetness of the season. Instead, I've kept my hands busy ruffling tree skirts, creating pom poms to adorn gifts, ordering and in some cases making said gifts, baking, cooking, baking some more... oh, and enjoying the beauty that is Christmastime. 

Between the hundreds of unedited, un-blogged photos and a Tax Man that not so subtlety reminds me when I drop the blogging ball, I thought it high time to check in. I have many a blog to catch up on {I feel so disconnected from not reading Blogger regularly} and many a blog to post. So why not start with the best... the most wonderful "sale" of the year. 

This is what I overheard the crazy peanut singing the other day. Clearly she saw one too many Macy's commercials {is that the one this jingle was in?}. I laughed so hard at her, she now entertains me singing it over and over. Ahh... the joys of being three.

Speaking of, Christmas was magical. Yes, it was full of frenzy and entirely too many gifts, but we also made every effort to remain mindful of the reason for the season.

She talked all afternoon about being Mary in the Christmas Eve pageant, but apparently that star crown on the angel costumes really spoke to her when we arrived at church. {Mary's costume of a mere blue scarf was clearly a bit too simple for her taste}.

She happily perched among all the other characters to help in telling the Christmas story. 

Earlier in the day, while I did the baking and preparing, she and her daddy took charge on the creation of the gingerbread house.

Strike that... she did a lot of candy eating while her daddy handled the house creation.

She was also rather amused to find Elfie taking a bubble bath on Christmas Eve morning... just a bit of relaxing before her final return to the North Pole until next year.

Peanut asked me today where I put the marshmallows Eflie was taking a bath in. Um... I threw them away after Elfie left?!?!

Happiness awaited us upon return from church service - in the form of Aunt Kassie arriving from Beantown {LE declared Christmas Eve "Aunt Kassie Day" the moment she opened her eyes on Saturday morning} and in FINALLY getting to open a present. Please make note - a well-prepared mother may wrap and display gifts around the tree by her crazy, self-imposed deadline of Dec. 15th, but a smarter mother knows that not putting any presents under the tree until Christmas Eve is at least 10 less days of the "no, you can't open that present yet even though you can read that it says it is for you" conversation.

Make that a two-gift opening for Christmas Eve - the new Christmas PJs were not quite as exciting for her {though I love them}, so we gave in and let her open the shiny green package that had arrived from Aunt Nancy and family earlier in the week.

And though said package was not the "American Doll" she predicted it was when it arrived {thank goodness Santa had one of those for her on his sleigh}, it was just as good - a large Hello Kitty backpack and Hello Kitty necklace, which immediately took its place around her neck.

A few quick photos under the Christmas tree...

She is actually sleeping with her eyes open watching TV here, not staring serenely into the heavens.

The dissemination of midnight snacks for Santa {and for his reindeer on the driveway}....

Please note the glimpse of the ruffle tree skirt there. You can also ALMOST see one of the aforementioned pom poms.

And we were all tucked in. Well, most of us were... Santa's elves were hard at work, but at least one peanut got a good night's sleep in preparation for the day ahead!

No Excuses - We're as Pleased as Pumpkins

Well hello strangers! I would love to be writing with some great excuse as to why I've disappeared from the blog. Funny thing is, I don't really have one. We are busy these days, but just as busy as the rest of you - full of commitments, soaking up the gorgeous fall weather, and doing silly things like taking endless "self-portraits" on our phone while waiting for the school carpool. Case in point:

 

Yep, if you know me a tiny bit, you know it is nothing short of a miracle that we would be ready for school with enough time to play before our ride arrived on Friday. I'm not exactly sure how that happened, but little Miss and I did manage to enjoy the "found time" with lots of giggles on the kitchen floor.

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Just to prove we haven't been lazy pumpkins around here, here are a few shots of our front-porch fall decor {dated September 29th and October 6th, by the way... I do have my act together, though I haven't stopped long enough to share}.

I spotted this in a late-summer Williams-Sonoma and dog-eared it as a potentially fun craft project for LE. 

 

 

 

 

I've written before and I'll say it again, I'm not really a particularly crafty person. I do much better at "borrowing" ideas and engaging Nana Boo's services to recreate. But in this case, we did pretty good. For about $30, we had fun creating the $99 Williams-Sonoma version.

October issue of Southern Living inspired us to metallic-paint a few pumpkins. Confession, I wasn't the nicest with LE when working on this project {painting polka dots out of permanent, acrylic paints may be a bit much for a three year-old, or a 31 year-old for that matter}. Nonetheless, the finished project was pretty cute... until bottom pumpkin rotted.

A few days later during a shopping excursion at a local boutique, LE pointed out that we needed to "paint the stems" like they did in the store. So much for not creating a perfectionist.

The process of getting the fall decor down from the attic was like Christmas morning for this little one.

 

 

I do have step-by-step photos of the pumpkin wreath creation project, but let's face it, I'll never turn this into a crafting blog, so who really cares? The project took two trips to Michael's, a trip to Hobby Lobby and lots of Goo-Gone to remove sticky spray adhesive from our fingers. Yes, it was a success in the end, but buying the wreath may have been an easier route.

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Upcoming week is busy, so I may or may not be back with more excuses for non-posting. Someone turns "old" {as his sweet daughter pointed out}; he takes the 3rd section of the CPA Exam {chuga-choo.. I think I can, I think I can... we're almost there!}; we have Pumpkin Patch Pictures with Terri Smith for a great cause; an abundance of Halloween gatherings; a Nana jet-setting off to Beantown}....whew, it will be another full one!

Happy Fall, Ya'll!