fake food and diy potpourri

thursday night i left my honey at home with the kids so i could go to a presidency meeting at my secretary's house.  my christopher is always so willing to watch our kids when i have things going on.  thursday night he was just slightly less than happy about it though because he'd woken up at 5am (as usual but it's still exhausting) and had had a super extremely rough day at work.  my meeting was at 8 and brady woke up at 8:30 (timing with his naps has been tricky with dropping the swaddle... i swear we'll eventually get back on schedule) and was wide awake.  all of this is really not relevant... why do i always share so many details?  anyways, towards the end of the meeting, he was texting me and anxious for me to get home so he could go to sleep.  i told him we were allllmost done.  then i told him i was just leaving.  but i stayed a little longer talking with my friend.  so then, as i was walking to the car, i told him i was just leaving again.  

i clicked to unlock the car, climbed in, grabbed the keys from my lap, and... couldn't find the car key to start the car!  i had driven my christopher's car and he had recently taken his key off my keychain and put it on again.  sooo he must have put it on a loose link because it came off.  well, it was pitch black and i spent a good while using my cell phone light to try to find this key.  i knew christopher was getting impatient for me to be home and that brady needed to eat and was probably getting fussy and tired.  but ohmygoodnesswherewasthatkey?!  then i got an obviously annoyed text from my honey "let me guess... you're just leaving again?"  ha.  i guess i'd cried wolf too many times.  so i told him i was looking for the key and would be back asap.  eventually i got desperate enough to call kylee and tell her i was still parked in front of her house and i needed a flashlight.  she brought out a huge flashlight and we laughed as we searched every inch of my purse and the car.  one of her first comments was "wow!  your car is so clean!"  so i had to tell her, actually, it's because it's not my car and our kids never ride in it.  three minutes later, kylee pulls a dried orange out from under the passenger's seat.  so much for that "clean car."

she put the orange in the cup holder (i think?) and we laughed some more trying to guess how old it was.  eventually i found the key (lodged down between the driver's seat and the console) and texted chris that i was on my way home.  he responded and told me that his mood had deteriorated fast in the last hour and that when i got home, i should probably just let him be.  i really love those warning texts because it completely avoids so many situations where i would get offended about something that didn't concern me, just because christopher was having a bad day.  so when i got home, he handed me brady and went to bed.  

today he had another crazy horrible day at work but sucked it up and put on a good face when he got home.  he wasn't home more than two minutes before he said "you put fake food in my car?!" and handed me the petrified orange.  

i laughed out loud telling him the story from the night before.  it literally looks exactly like the potpourri my mom has in a basket in her kitchen.  this naval orange has shriveled down to the size of a clementine and is as light as air.  

 

i think the last time i bought these oranges was the beginning of june.  so here's my three step do it yourself recipe for homemade potpourri:

1. send your husband to work with an orange for a quick and healthy snack

2. have him forget it under the seat of his car

3. retrieve it three-ish months later and put it in a decorative basket

made my day.

that mom

today i had a wonderful text conversation with my friend sarah about being "that mom."  the one with a messy house and hair in a pony tail and kids with crazy mismatched clothes.  and i told her i'm working on being that mom... and today i was!

my house was a wreck, i looked like death, and my kids were wearing outfits i'm ashamed to post pictures of.  but we spent hours outside today soaking up the great weather and all three of us were crazy happy.  it was a success.  

 

a stolen picture

papa has been in the hospital with the flu since yesterday afternoon.  my granny is by his side 24/7 taking care of him but could you please send a little prayer their way?  it would be much appreciated.

one picture

 

i sure love this kid.

where'd it come from?

welcome to the show!  it's time for another episode of "where'd it come from" with your host, .... just kidding.  i'll stop with the game show pretending.

as we were about to leave for church (we now have church at 10:20!) i decided to snap a quick photo of baby girl.  she was all decked out for some fun with friends at nursery.  as i watched her during sacrament meeting i was feeling especially grateful for friends and family that have contributed to baby girl's wardrobe.  as i've mentioned, i rarely need to buy her anything because of the generosity of loved ones.  

in case you didn't know... you're not a real blogger unless you do OOTD posts.  that's short for "outfit of the day" for those not in the know.  normally it's like "sunglasses: marc jacobs" and "infinity scarf: michael kors" and "my super trendy cognac color riding boots: tory burch - for a mere $495!"  just kidding on the last one.  kinda.

anyways, here's our own version... baby edition.

 

white bow: aunt keen
red pea coat: jodi
dress and shoes: tracie
tights: sarah
undershirt and bloomers (not pictured): tracie
diaper (not pictured): we actually bought that

yes it's nice to save some money and dress my kid entirely in hand me downs, but really, i just love love love looking at my child and seeing her clothes as a constant reminder that we have so many people that love us and take care of us.  it's amazing.

apparently, it takes a village...

to dress my child.

first day of school

 

success!  

linoleum floors

it's a happy day when you find out that these red marks all over your kitchen floors are actually nail polish and can be removed with some nail polish remover and a whole lot of elbow grease!  why didn't i try this 14 months ago?!

 

and although this makes me dislike our kitchen floors a little less, it still doesn't take stone tile floors off my wishlist.  you can remove the red nail polish but you can't fix the rips and tears and incessantly dirty nature of linoleum floors.

until then... i'll just keep delighting in my little success!

bath time

when life gives you a diaper rash..

 

take the opportunity to have a nice relaxing soak.

19 week bump

ps- t minus 12 hours til we find out [hopefully!] if this is a boy or a girl!  i'd planned to spend a few minutes and write my feelings about that but i'll just summarize it and say that i don't have a preference this time (last time i was DYING for a girl... i'd always wanted a girl first) so i know i'm going to be disappointed either way.  it'll be fun to have a boy because it'll be a new experience and it would be awesome to have a girl so i could continue with my pink love fest and because i think baby girl would absolutely love a little sister with bows and everything.  i have visions of of our yellow room upstairs with side by side twin beds and matching duvets.  sooo, instead of letting myself get sad over not being able to have both we'll just try to look at this as a win win situation.  

can't wait for this ultrasound tomorrow so let's all cross our fingers and toes that everything tomorrow goes great!

toasted almond chicken

last night, i made this recipe from my easy weeknight favorites cookbook.  it astonishes me every time how quickly those meals come together.  when they say 20 mins... they mean it!

to make this recipe less taxing on my wallet and my hips, i used half and half instead of whipping cream, i only used 2 chicken breasts and, after pounding them thin, cut them each in thirds, and served it all over rice. also... you totally don't need THAT much butter to cook the chicken.  you could easily half it.  also, i cut out the red pepper flakes because i don't have them and it doesn't interest me.

sooo, it was excellent but since it's not the first time i've made it and i was in a huge hurry last night getting dinner on the table and everything ready for the young women activity, i took no pictures.  but it should look something like this...

except my sauce was definitely whiter and creamier looking.  anyways, like the grilled stuffed zucchini recipe, this was a hit with baby girl.  and if a certain recipe actually gets her to eat more than two bites of meat at a sitting then i'm for it!

anyways, i bet you could even make this with whole milk.  which means if you have some chicken in your freezer, you probably have everything else already on hand for a dinner you can throw together in less time than it takes your honey to drive home from work!  and if you're lazy like me you can trust me when i say that measuring anything in this recipe is absolutely optional and it's more fun just to eyeball it and go by your own taste preferences.  no measuring = virtually no dishes!  amazing.

the day i gave up fried foods*

monday night i attempted to make okra.  epic epic epic fail.  i knew it would be difficult because frying food (at least for me) seems to be extremely challenging.  but i was not prepared for how badly this would suck.  not only did this grease up my whole stove, countertops, and like five dishes, but it didn't brown, it turned to mush, the breading fell off and never got crispy, and was so gross that baby girl wouldn't touch it, even after begging for it for like half an hour, and when honey got home, from the corner of my eye, i saw him try a bite and gag a little bit.  when did that sentence even start?!  like ten years ago?  yikes.

anyways... i tried to eat a little bit but couldn't handle it.  but you can tell i'm still in mourning because i didn't have the heart to throw it out... it's sitting in a tupperware in the fridge.  i'll probably wait a few more days before tossing it.  so disappointed.  my dear grandmother would be so ashamed.

the good news though is that when i'm not attempting to fry something in the kitchen, i mostly get it right!  last week i made a recipe similar to this one for sausage stuffed french loaf and it was excellent.  it's the second time i've made it and it's awesome.

and i made rice krispies for that bbq on saturday and was so tempted to dig in that i just decided to make a half batch for myself and finished my whole 8x8 pan before i even went.  i'll write my weekly post tomorrow but let's just say that for several days in a row, i was gaining a pound a day.  heaven help me i'm eating so much food these days.  but just for the record... this recipe is better than the official one on the rice krispies websit

tonight, i made chicken pot pie based on this recipe.  i used potatoes, carrots, corn, and a little bit of celery.  it ended up being a whole lot of stuff, especially when i added the whole ton of cooked shredded chicken from my freezer that i was trying to use up.  sooo, i made modifications and doubled-ish the the sauce. so it wouldn't be dry.  and because i knew it wouldn't fit in a pie dish, i put it in one of those 2 or 3 quart dishes.  sooo, the way i draped the crust over wasn't the prettiest but it got the job done... it just barely fit everything in.  and... it tasted wonderful.  win!  short notes on modifications: probably 2 cups potatos, one cup carrots, half cup corn, third cup celery, at least half cup onions.  onion powder in sauce instead of celery seed.  boiled the veggies (and chicken just for good measure) in 3 cups water with 2 chicken bouillon cubes.  and when i drained that, that's the broth i used for the sauce.  2 cups broth and 1 and a 1/4 cups whole milk.  probably a third cup of flour... just eyeballed it.  and tasted the sauce as i went to make sure it wasn't bland.  for next time... maybe less flour so the sauce isn't so thick.  i like the pot pies that are runny when you spoon them out!

and as a side note, just because i thought it was kinda funny, baby girl kept referring to it as a cake.  and she would eat the pie crust part off the top and leave the rest and ask for more cake.  oh baby girl.

ps- to anyone that has ever seen the movie 'how do you know'... shame on you for not warning me that it is boring beyond belief.    

* i will always love and savor fried foods... this is just merely referring to the delicious fried foods i had envisioned my domestic self preparing for my family for dinner.

the marlboro man sandwich

this afternoon while i was at walmart and dreading already the idea of making dinner, i walked past the meat section and saw cube steak on sale.  i grabbed it knowing i had a delicious recipe for it.  but then when i got honey's "i'll be home in 45 mins" text i checked out the recipe and saw that it was supposed to simmer for two hours.  hmmm, i hadn't remembered that part.

enter pioneer woman's marlboro man sandwich!  i already had all of the ingredients and nothing was too difficult and it didn't require me to multitask and it only dirtied one pan and it had tons of butter so it would probably be delicious.

next time i make it i'll: 

     remember to buy sandwich rolls... we may have eaten this on tiny french bread slices which was delicious but messy.  

    be more generous with seasonings and sauce.

    maybe split it in half and make christopher's spicy.

    definitely add more onions.  onions are always the best part.

pioneer woman's marlboro man sandwich

mmm delish.

in other news: 

tonight we went to a small birthday get together for one of abigail's closest friends.  i need to have jodi email me the pictures because oh my goodness those girls were soooo cute.  we had tons of fun and baby girl had the time of her life.

my anxiety is kinda out of control.  i have way too much to do before we leave town.  as a side note... my suitcase is sitting in my closet and has been for months... it's still not fully unpacked from dubai.  if that gives you any idea of how much i dislike packing/unpacking.

BABY GIRL SAID "THANK YOU" before bed tonight!!!  i was waiting for the kissing noise and instead, she actually said the words!  it was exciting but very bittersweet.  although it does sometimes get tiring explaining that when baby girl blows them a kiss after stealing their cheese-itz, she's actually saying thank you in sign language. 

and because she's been unloading tons of new words on us lately i have to note just a couple more.  at elle's party, baby girl picked out bubbles as her party favor.  it was probably the lamest thing in the basket but i let her make the decision and when we got home i put them on the counter and forgot about them.  as we were heading up for bed she kept pointing at them saying "bubbles! bubbles!" clear as day.  bubbles is a very cute toddler word.  

and then of course we were reading one of those picture vocabulary board books before bed and when i'd say the word i'd ask her to say the word and she did a good job with the words for at least half of the pictures and so many of them are words she's never tried to say before.  it's seriously crazy how fast kids learn.

finally white shoes!

oh my heavens!  who would have thought it would be so difficult to find white dress shoes?!  well, actually, who would have thought it would be impossible to find cream dress shoes?  because i had to give up and get white ones instead... which wasn't much easier.  i've been to target FOUR times (5's should not be so scarce), walmart, famous footwear, kohls... OH MY HEAVENS.  then finally last night i walked through walmart and found these for $9.  

SOLD.

just let me be done with it!  

shopping is not my favorite.

dubai pictures on fb

today i posted pictures on facebook.  they're only pictures from our first 24 hours in dubai but it's a start, right?  i'll get other pictures from the trip up eventually.  so, should you be dying to know what we did our first day in dubai, click here.  if not, click here.

it involved A LOT of walking.

centerpiece

honey did this

i think there's a reason the trends for toddler photography are different than those of bizarre newborn photography.

ps- today was really great but especially this evening.  i can't get over how much fun i have with baby girl.  i just sit down and she entertains me with books, puzzles, and antics.  it's a dream come true.

random fact of the day

notice that extra room?

my right foot is a half size smaller than my left. so my right shoe is always too big on my foot and comes off when i try to walk fast or run anywhere... which does not help when i am late for something.

know of anywhere that will let you buy two different sizes of shoes? because that could possibly help me not hate shoes and shoe shopping so much.

can you tell i have nothing to write about and i'm too lazy to edit any pictures?  we had a fun day today running errands with mom, playing with my non blogging sister liza and her two kids, and hanging out at home.  and then i went on a girl date and didn't get home til 2 am.  probably wasn't the wisest move ever but it was insanely fun.  i wish i could import friends to colorado.

random

sometimes when i'm sitting on the floor taking pictures of baby, she wanders off and i get bored waiting for her to return. so i tend to take pictures of whatever is nearby that doesn't require any movement on my part. it's always wonderful to catch gems like this when i dump my memory card on my computer.

so in case you were aching to know what the top of my dining room chair looks like... it's your lucky day!

diana, is it you?

because i've racked my brain and i'm sure you're the only person in india that could possibly have an interest in this blog.

ps- i made pork for the first time tonight.  it was very similar to this recipe for molasses grilled pork tenderloin... but i made some adjustments and the recipe i used was out of a real live cookbook. that's more legit than online, right?  but for the record... it was delicious and i highly recommend it.

why bows are non-optional

from a month or two ago:

walmart greeter man making friendly small talk with me as i got my baby buckled in the stroller slipped in "a girl?" i just smiled and told him to have a good day, not sure if i heard him correctly. well, apparently he really needed to know. "a girl? is it a girl?" so i told him "yes, she's a girl." to which he said "i thought so!"

yes, you thought so, but apparently not enough that you could refrain from asking. ;-)

old people are so cute.

ps-  my mom is here!!!  we're having so much fun!!!!

a picture