Summer Planning

May 18, 2013 in Crafts | No comments

I know this is going to sound a little crazy and a little Type-A (or maybe a lot crazy and lot Type-A). I have definitely had summers where I felt like we just didn’t DO anything.  I’m sure we did SOMETHING.  In fact, I KNOW we did something, but it felt like I missed a lot of opportunities.

I’ve tried to be loosey goosey with our summer plans and I’ve tried being more structured and neither of things seemed to work.  Being too loose with our plans leaves us with too many missed opportunities and being too structured makes the fun like work.  And, who wants that?  Not me.   This summer, I knew I needed to settle some place in the middle.  I needed a rough plan, but nothing too set in stone, especially considering the amount of time we’re hoping to spend on the road for the Princess’s Oral Immunotherapy.

Last year, I pinned an idea that I think will give me the best of both worlds; a plan without too much structure.  Just what I like.

I’ve decided to have 5 jars with the following labels: places, crafts, events, activities and extra. The extra jar will be carry over if we’re looking for something to do if we’ve pulled from each jar already that week and to cover some fun that doesn’t fit in any of the other categories. I’ll be sharing some ideas that I’ll be using to fill our jar over the next couple of weeks PLUS my summer daily routine (read: how to get the chores AND the fun in).

Only 8 more days of school.

Rain on a tin roof?

May 15, 2013 in Making it a Home | No comments

This winter, I noticed some black “smudges” on our garage ceiling.  I didn’t worry much about it because, well, it’s a garage and I figured that we, or the previous owners, had probably rubbed something against the ceiling while trying to maneuver it.  I mentioned it to Big Daddy and he agreed that there was something there, but didn’t know what.  He said he’d climb up and check it out.  He never got a chance.  A few days later, a huge strip of dry wall tape had released from the ceiling.  The black smudges? Mold.

Of course under further review, the previous owners must have had a water problem too.  They masked it by repainting the area the mold was growing in.  Thanks, Previous Owners!!

Anyhow, we had some people out.  We talked to them.  Our contractor pointed out where he thought the water was probably coming in but said, sadly, that the roof’s major problem was poor workmanship.

Great.

Thankfully, the insurance agreed that the problem causing the leak was weather related and they’re covering more than half of the replacement, which is great.

Big Daddy and I spent some time talking and decided that we were going to replace our traditional shingled roof with a metal roof.

We live in a neighborhood with traditional homes.  OUR home is a traditional home.  We spent weeks agonizing over the color, but decided for the price and the benefits, we couldn’t NOT go with a metal roof.

So, why metal roofs?   They’ve doubled in popularity over the past five years.  Here’s a few reasons why you might want to consider metal roof when it’s time to replace your roof.

Our roof is Energy Star compliant.   What does that mean?  The reflective coating of the roof will lower our cooling costs by 10-15%.  Energy Star roofs also qualify for a 10% tax credit up to $500 of material costs.

Metal roofs will “last a lifetime” and are virtually maintenance free.  We have a40 year guarantee on our roof.  That’s more than double the expected lifetime of a traditionally shingled roof.

Steel roofs are fire resistant, a big plus for those of you in dry, hot climates.

A metal roof could reduce your home insurance rates.  Statistically, metal roofs sustain less fire and wind damage than traditional asphalt roofs.

Metal roofs suffer less hail and wind damage than traditional roofs.

Another great benefit, is that many metal roofs are made from recycled materials and are superior at allowing for rain water collection, if you’re into that.

I’ll update you as to how much rain we’re lucky enough to hear.

 

 

Pillowcase Nightie: Version 2.0

May 14, 2013 in Crafts, Pinned There Done That | No comments

I’ve debated for some time how to address sewing on my blog. To be honest, I’m never going to be a pattern or tutorial maker. It’s just not where my talent lies. I can sew from patterns and tutorials, but I don’t think I’ll ever have the ability to make my own.   Since my mission is to make homemaking easier, I decided the best way to handle my sewing is link to tutorial and patterns I use, show you how they turn out and give them a bit of a review.

A few weeks ago, Littlebit made the startling announcement that she was out of pajamas.  I really didn’t think it was possible that she or Baby Bee could run out of anything in their dressers (they are two very well dressed little girls), but it was true.  Littlebit had grown some and she was down to just a few night things, far less than a week’s worth (and, really, I think you should always have at least a week’s worth of whatever because otherwise, you’re doing a lot of laundry in an emergent situation).

I sewed a top for Baby Bee (I’ll share that next week) and then it was Littlebit’s turn.  I asked her what she wanted me to sew; a top for her like Baby Bee’s or a new nightie.  She thought it over for a minute and said she thought she needed a new nightgown.  I, of course, had the exact tutorial I wanted to use, the pillowcase nightie from Everyday Chaos.  I pulled out some old fabric from my stash and sat down to sew.

First, let me be honest.  This nightie takes a LOT of fabric.  This isn’t a project for our treasured, hard to find fabric.  This is a project for the “why did I buy this?” or “this was cheap, but what will I do with it?” fabric.  Little bit’s nightie took two panels that were  the width of my knit fabirc (which I think was 60″ wide) by 25′ long.  It then took three bands of 60″x4″ for the ruffles and the tie.  This is no small fabric project.

I repeat, no small fabric project!

And it’s heavy.  REALLY heavy.  This is a lot of fabric, folks.  It’s a lot of heavy fabric.  It’s a heavy nightgown.

But, my word is it pretty.

The tutorial provided by Bridget at Everyday Chaos is really easy to follow. This really isn’t a hard nightie to sew.It’s very simple and mostly straight sewing and a good way to try your teeth on some knit fabric if you’ve never sewn with it before.  Sadly, my serger is out of order but it even came together nicely on my regular machine using a stretch stitch (but it would have been so nice had the serger worked.  Really).

Also, this came together in the time time it took Cinderella to go to the ball, to marry the Prince and for Hercules to become a full hero and fall in love with Meg..  About three hours from cutting out to string trimming, which is pretty quick.  It’s definitely a good nap time project.  I sewed a nightie for the Princess following and it went together even faster, having been through the pattern once.

In all honesty, ladies, if you’ve been debating on sewing something up for yourself, this nightie could be it.  Bridget suggests using panels that are 60″ wide giving you a total garment width of about 120″.  That’s going to fit, well, most people if not all of them.  I made one for the Princess (who is now probably 5’4″) using the same general formula as I did for Littlebit’s.  I used the width of my knit fabric to make two panels (this was another nice, wide knit) and cut it to 36″.  It comes just to under the Princess’s knees when I added the four inch ruffle.  The Princess declares it comfy and perfect for summer.

The one problem we’ve run into is that we’ve had trouble keeping Littlebit’s shoulder strap tied.  Of course, we have a lot of options to fix this and Littlebit has used her own ingenuity and simply double knotted it.

 

 

Menu Plan Monday

May 13, 2013 in Menu Plans, Recipes | No comments

I hope you all had a lovely Mother’s Day. I know it can be a difficult day. It is for me, sometimes. I’m so thankful and glad to be a mother, but the mothers in my life are missing and that’s not always easy. I know for some friends that the path to motherhood has been so hard or still not realized and it’s heartbreaking.

It’s cooled off here in Ohio. At least in our part. We’ve been hoovering near eighty degrees for the most part of the past few weeks and now we’re seeing 500 degree temperatures. What gives? That’s okay. It gives me a little room to eat up a few of those cold weather things I’ve been holding on to but haven’t felt like eating because it’s been warm. And, I have to move fast. It will be 80 again on Wednesday. I know my friends in the upper Midwest haven’t had a great spring, but ours has been fantastic.

Monday- Slow cooked corned beef brisket with potatoes and carrots and the dear, dear hope that they’ll be enough leftover for has on Tuesday morning. Because there is nothing NOTHING like making your own left over corned beef hash. NOTHING.

Tuesday- Chicken and Potatoes Oregano

Wednesday Grilled Chicken with lime and  cilantro with grilled veggies

Thursday  Chicken Stir Fry (a great way to use up LOTS of veggies with dinner!)

Friday Date night.  Oh, Auntie Awesome, how we LOVE date night

Saturday The Princess is having a sleep over.  I found a recipe for knock off deep dish Chicago pizza I may try.  There was just a school trip to Chicago (the Princess skipped due to her allergy, but not next time!) and I want to put our favorite pizza up against what they may have ate when they were there.

Sunday Everything permitting, I hope Big Daddy will smoke chicken.  Big Daddy’s smoked chicken is really the next best thing to heaven. I think anyone who has tasted it will agree.

 

Windex and Carpet Stains.

May 9, 2013 in Pinned There Done That | No comments

I make no secret that I turn to Pinterest for a lot of things. For years, I used stumble upon and book marks for organizing all the great ideas I found on the web, but it really wasn’t efficient. Now, I use my categorized Pinterest boards. There’s never a lack of inspiration or ideas.

Sometimes, I’m a bit skeptical about a pin and I have been disappointed by recipes (and leave honest feedback when I repin them as to-done), but there have been a few cleaning ideas that I’ve been eying for a while with some obvious distrust. Could they really make that big of a difference? Could it be that easy?

Two years ago, we removed the carpet from our downstairs. It was a happy, happy day. However, the upstairs? Still carpeted. And, not only carpet, but carpeted in a very very light beige. I’m not going to kid you, the carpet looks gross. I have two different carpet cleaners (a spot bot and a hoover upright), but they only work okay and I can’t afford to dry clean the carpets as much as I would like them to be.

To make all this better, last week Baby Bee dumped a cup of Yoohoo! on my bedroom carpet. I didn’t catch it quickly and now I have a stain. I debated on pulling out the spot bot and letting it have at it, but I thought there wouldn’t be a better time to try a frequently repinned Pinterest tip; an iron and Windex.

The premise seems easy. Mix ammonia and water (OR simply use Windex in clear or yellow preferably). Saturate the carpet. Lay down a rag and iron the carpet at high cotton setting for ten second increments. Apparently, this will absorb the stain.

But would it?

Here are my shameful Yoohoo! stains.

Isn’t Baby Bee lucky she’s so cute?

I decided to try a test first.  I saturated the smaller spot with water.

And to my actual surprise, most the stain lifted out with just blotting.

Just a slight brown aura, don’t you think?  The other stain, however, was large, dark and in charge.  I opted to try just using Windex on it without the iron.

A lot of the stain lifted off.  Probably, the debris.  But, there was still a pretty large brown stain on the carpet, so I re-saturated the area with Windex, laid down my cloth and pulled out my iron.  While ironing, I wondered if it was smart to iron an ammonia solution, but I didn’t pass out so it’s at least safe enough to not asphyxiate you.  And the verdict?

Holy cats!  It worked!  Since I could see a blue haze around the stain from the windex, I opted to put some water on the carpet and mop it up.  Blue haze all gone.  Then I opted to try this on an older, fainter stain.

I am not punking you. There’s a stain there.

And, et voila! No stain!

So, armed with this handy knowledge, I gathered up my supplies and decided to tackle a mystery stain in the playroom.  I had a lot of options, but picked one close to a plug for the iron.

I cannot begin to even guess at what this may be. Besides gross, that is.

This was definitely something old on the carpet. After one application and ironing, there was still some stain left.

But, I reapplied the Windex and gave it another cycle with the iron and…

Holy cats!  The stain is gone!

Because I’m such a good blogger and I want to give you the REAL DEAL, I had one more stain mind.  It’s fruit punch.  In a nauseating shade of red.  I saved you the pain of scrolling.  The original stain is on the left.  The first application is top right and the bottom was when I gave up after four applications.

So, it’s no real miracle formula.  That fruit punch stain was quite old, however, and it lifted it off with much better results than I would have guessed.  Here’s the good new, Windex is a lot cheaper than Spot Shot and resolve and I think you’ll at least get similar results with less money and equal work.  Actually, in considering this fruit punch stain, I think it came out better than I would expect with the Spot Bot or the Hoover Upright cleaner and that took a lot less work and a lot less money.

Oh, and the blue Windex did leave a bit of a blue haze on the carpet around the stain.  I’m not bothered as I think it can be rinsed out (and it has rinsed out), but if you’re really paranoid about that (or if you’re in a rental OR if you want to preserve your carpets and not just clean them so you’re not embarrassed while waiting for new flooring to appear in the budget) be sure to buy the clear.  Happy cleaning and good luck!

Creamy Ranch Chicken Pasta

May 8, 2013 in Recipes | No comments

Are things getting insane in your neck of the woods? It seems like the entire year of school activity is concentrated into May (and December. Christmas programs). We coast through so many month and then, all of a sudden, everything comes due. I try not to think too hard about our schedule because I’d probably cry.

Quick dinners are, once again, king.How quickly can we put dinner on the table and NOT serve sandwiches.

This recipe was born out of desperation. We had a six o’clock meeting at school and it was 5. I hadn’t been to the grocery store in a week, to further complicate finding a quick dinner in our pantry. I knew I had a couple of good staples :boneless chicken and whole wheat pasta, but then what? Well. This.

Creamy Ranch Chicken Pasta

serves 5 as a main course with a vegetable side

 

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken cut into chunks

1 box of rotini, penne or your pasta of choice

1-2 block of cream cheese

1 packet of Hidden Valley Ranch Dry Ranch Seasoning

1 cup shredded Italian cheese blend

 

1.  Start your water boiling for pasta.  If your chicken isn’t already diced, dice it up.  Add pasta to water when the water is boiling.

2.  Throw chicken into a pre-heated pan with your choice of cooking oils (I used a little butter, but olive oil or your choice or oil would be fine).  You can also season your chicken at this time, but I left mine plain, but only because I forgot to put anything on it.

3. Continue stirring your chicken to cook it.  When chicken is mostly cooked, season it with the ranch packet.  Stir your chicken around to distribute the seasoning.

4.  When chicken is cooked, drop the cream cheese on top and stir to melt.  One block is fine, in a pinch.  It does make a for a drier (but still tasty) pasta.  Two will be more creamy, but desperate times and all that.

5. Combine with your cooked pasta.

6.  At this point, you can serve as is.  I opted to drop mine in a casserole dish and melt some Italian blend cheese on top.  Your choice.  Skipping this option, dinner can be on the table in about 20 minutes.

It was even enjoyable al fresco.

Is there anything sweeter than tiny little shoulders?

 

 

 

Peanuts

May 7, 2013 in The Biggest One | 1 comment

Twelve years ago, in a mall in Northern Michigan, we let The Princess ride a merry-go-round. It was her very first ride. The ride operator, a lovely woman, wanted to give the Princess a sucker. She was so little I was concerned about her choking on the candy, so I declined. She then offered half a cookie. She got them from Subway, she explained, pointing across the food court. Would the Princess like one?

We were on vacation. The cookie was peanut butter. It crossed my mind, briefly, that the Princess hadn’t had peanut butter yet. We’d followed suggested guidelines that we hold off on peanut products until after the first year and had never introduced them. After the ride, we loaded the Princess back into her stroller and continued strolling around the mall while she ate her cookie. The next time I looked down at the Princess, her eyes looked swollen.

Over the course of a few minutes, her little eyes seemed to swell completely shut. We felt as though she was having an allergic reaction to something and rushed to Meijer to get some benedryl to try and stop the reaction. We called our pediatrician. He advised that since she wasn’t having trouble breathing, that we could continue to dose her with benedryl and not worry too much, but I was a new Mom and I DID worry. A lot.  When the swelling hadn’t gone down by the next day and several benedryl doses, we decided to go home and drove back to Chicagoland.

We checked in with our doctor.  We told him about the peanut butter cookie.  He told us while it was possible it was a reaction to the nuts, we couldn’t be sure.  His advice was to withhold nuts and test her for allergies when she got older.  That’s what we did.  We were careful.  We didn’t give her nut products.  We weren’t overly diligent, allowing her to consume things like M&Ms that are “may contains” (meaning they’re processed with peanuts and may not be safe).  It wasn’t until the Princess was four and had a few more reactions (semi minor, mostly swelling of her lip.  “Fat like a tummy!”, she’d chirp) that we opted to pursue testing.  The news was shocking.  The Princess had a severe peanut allergy.  Class six.  The worst she could have.

Our lives changed.

No more M&Ms.

Epi-pens at school.

Calling ahead to any and all restaurants.

Hardly every having bakery cake for birthdays.

Telling the Princess, at just barely five, that consuming the wrong foods could kill her.

Encountering less than helpful people who “just couldn’t monitor the food in the class”.

Having the Princess go hungry the day she forgot her lunch, couldn’t contact me and couldn’t have a school issued PB&J sammie.

The boys who teased her and said they were going to make her eat peanuts (the Principal handled them quickly).

Allergy plans and peanut free tables and no school lunch.

Recently, we realized that all the restaurants on the Ohio Turnpike are labeled as being technically unsafe.  As is every single item packaged by Walmart, including their meat.

Over the course of the last few years, we’ve settled into a routine.  We read labels on new things.  We stick to tried and true things.  I make the Princess’s birthday cake.  We worry about ordinary things.  Sleepovers.  Sixth grade camp.  Seventh grade class trip.  I mean, beyond the usual worries about how late they’ll stay up and how close the chaperones will watch.

A few years ago, I began hearing about a new treatment for peanuts.  The theory was, an allergic person could be given small doses of peanuts, building up their resistance slowly until peanuts were no longer a threat.

I waited.  I watched.  I googled.  I waited for news.  Studies.  We applied. I wanted an out for the Princess.  I wanted her to be safe.  I wanted her to throw herself heard first into the fun of growing up.  I wanted that peace for her.

Could we relocate if we could get into the study?  Could we live some place else a year, if that’s what it took?  Could we commute?

Peanut Oral Immunotherapy seemed just out of our grasp.

Until now.

In two weeks, the Princess has an appointment with a semi-local clinic (semi-local in that we can go there and back in a day without too much trouble).  We meet with the doctor to begin a preliminary assessment and hopefully, very soon, the Princess will begin to consume small amounts of peanut every day, slowing working her dose upwards with once a week visits to the semi-local doctor until she can consume 8 peanuts at one sitting with no reaction.

Let that sink in.

Birthday cake from anyplace.

Sleepovers with no phone calls and no epi-pens tucked in her bag.

School trips.

Band trips.

Not worrying about what frat boy ate peanuts before he shared a beer with you.  But, who wants to think about that?

A gift.  The biggest gift we can give the Princess.  Safety.  Something we haven’t been able to give her completely in so very long.  The biggest gift we can give her as she’s striking out on her own more and more.  If our process goes well, if the Princess tolerates all her updoses and doesn’t get ill during treatment (from colds or something) she could be through this process before school begins in the fall.  She’ll start her eighth grade year with a lighter burden.

I’m so excited for her.  My heart is so full.  What a great big step for our young lady.

 

May Days-Menu Plan Monday

May 6, 2013 in Menu Plans, Recipes, Tied Up | No comments

My kiddos only have a few days left of school. Just seventeen (well, sixteen actually. We have some really exciting news about the Princess’s peanut allergy coming up that I can’t wait to share). I was asked the other day what I thought about the coming of summer. My answer, of course, was that I couldn’t wait. I like having all my buddies home with me. I like having days with no obligations or schedules. I like the days we spend all day in our pajamas in a cool room watching videos. I like the days we run errands or play the whole day long. I love summer. I’m sad when the school year dawns anew because our summer of fun is over.

I want to make something clear. I’m not some perfect, martyr mommy. I like it when my Aunt takes the kids and Big Daddy and I get to do grown up things like Sleeping In and Watching a Movie without Interruptions. I enjoy my time away from my children, but they’re fun little people and I like being with them, too.

My thoughts are already drifting toward the summer and with the temperature creeping upward, my menus are headed that way as well. I love that summer dinner can be such easy fare. Seasoned meat on a hot grill, fresh veggies from the garden or farmer’s market or CSA subscription. It’s so easy. When fall kicks off, I look forward to the heavier, more complicated cooking of the season but right now I don’t want to look at a stew or casserole for months and months.

In other news, our garden is finally growing asparagus!  I mean, only, like, four stalks at a time, but it’s a great start!  As you can also see our strawberries and dandelions are in full bloom.

Monday BBQ chicken salad with creamy BBQ cilantro lime dressing

Tuesday Gnocchi with summer veggies Can I stop for a moment and tell you that I buy my gnocchi from Aldi’s. It’s pretty good, inexpensive and peanut free! I’ve been getting a lot of my produce at Aldi’s as well lately. Some of the things we like to eat; mini bell peppers, persian cucumbers and bananas are cheaper there hands down.

Wednesday Grilled pork tenderloin (I buy the small seasoned ones and then slice into medallions) and creamy spring pasta

Thursday Make your Own Salad

Friday Make Your Own Pizza

Saturday

Sunday

I’m so very glad to be back.

A New Month

May 1, 2013 in Tied Up | Permalink

Two and a half months ago I disappeared into the ether. It wasn’t because I was on a self imposed blogging break, but due to technology problems, I wasn’t able to spend one more second trying to blog on Big Daddy’s stability ball.

While we love technology, we must have been feeling slow about acquiring it this time because it took us this long to decide to order a new lap top (and it took a LOT of pushing and prodding from me. I’m pushy and proddy).

I’ve spent the last two and a half months growing ideas for this blog and missing it so badly I could feel it. I like to write here. And share here. Regardless of who is or is not reading. Writing here makes me feel good and I was sorry that my ideas were jostling around in my head wishing for an outlet.

This comes, of course, on the heels of having just finished a site redesign that I like a lot and that, I think, finally manages to define what I want to write about. It killed me to have sit around with all my ideas waiting for a place to go.

So, I know there’s this huge debate about whether or not you’re supposed to address a prolonged absence on your blog. Apparently addressing it is really narcissistic, but if you and I were meeting for coffee and suddenly you stopped for 2.5 months, I’d want to know where you’d gone. What you’d done in the meantime. I’d miss you. So, there you go. I couldn’t handle Big Daddy’s dumb stability ball or natural keyboard. Now, I can sit on the couch and have a normal keyboard.

I missed you all!

I’m back!

7-up Biscuits

February 22, 2013 in Pinned There Done That, Recipes | Permalink

Well, I used Sprite but it was on sale and on hand it’s close enough.  About, this isn’t about engineering a Pinterest fail.  There are tons of sites doing that, though I do want to talk about ingredient substitution for a minute.

 

When spending time in the kitchen, you begin to learn when you can seamlessly substitute something with no change in quality and when you cannot.  If you are a cooking novice, while you can substitute your brand of choice don’t substitute other ingredients unless you are very sure (water for chicken broth or Greek yogurt for sour cream).  The reason why so many of this Pinterest fail site projects, well, fail is because the blooger did not follow the posted ingredients or instructions.  Follow things as written the first time through and then start making changes.

So, after all that, my first batch of these 7-up biscuits were made with changes.  I reduced the butter by 1/2 and used a different sized pan.  I also swapped Greek yogurt for sour cream (which I always do as a matter of face now). The biscuits were just okay.  IN fact, the following morning I threw out three and I never throw out biscuits.  People eat them.  So, while palatable, no one loved these biscuits.  I decided to heed my own advice and follow the recipe as written with the only substitution being the yogurt for the sour cream.

Can I tell you how lovely these biscuits looked while baking?  The butter bubbled up around them and then I pretty much knew they were guaranteed to be better than yesterday’s batch.

They were!  The results were much better than the day before.  They were buttery and loft and an easy alternative to the refrigerated biscuits I usually buy.

7-up Biscuits (adapted from Plain Chicken)

Ingredients

  • 1/4c butter
  • 2c bisquick
  • 1/2c lemon lime pop
  • 1/2c fat free greek yogurt

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees and melt your butter into a 8 inch or 9 inch cake pan

Combine the other three ingredients and mix.  Dough will be soft and sticky.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and work a little more flour/bisquick into the dough until it becomes less sticky and rollable.

Flour a rolling pin. Roll out the dough and use a biscuit cutter, glass, measuring cup or any available round item to cut the biscuits into circles

Place into the pan in the melted butter and bake for 10-12 minutes.

An 8 or 9 inch pan will hold 9 biscuits.  I found that I probably could have made another 4 to 6.  These little guys only have 3 Weight Watches Points!

 

« Older entries