Cinnamon Sugar Pizza Sticks
I was a meal planning ninja last week. I was repurposing main ingredients into 3 different meals like a Food Network star. It was a sight to behold and a taste to savor. I had the dishes to prove it. It was in one of those moments of complete humility that I stumbled upon my greatest creation EVER. On Saturday night I was transforming the last of the Italian sausage and tomato sauce I had reserved from an earlier meal into homemade pizza. I had enough ingredients to make one pizza, but enough pizza dough for two pizzas. Huh. That was the start of a really delicious word problem. Don’t worry,…
Phonics Books for Star Wars Fans
Teaching boys to read can be tough. If you have a boy who immediately dove into books and all things phonics, God bless you. That has not been my experience. My son is in kindergarten and is doing a great job learning to read – better than I expected, actually. Here’s where it got tricky. My son would practice reading with my husband and me, but only the Bob Books. Both of my kids started reading using the Bob Books and they were fantastic. At some point though, you have to move on and start reading other things. Mac and Mat said so! A friend told me about a set of LIFE CHANGING books. I’m not…
Travel: Charlotte, North Carolina With Kids
I spent a very fun, but unromantic Valentine’s Weekend with my love and our offspring. I find it amusing that whenever we stay in a hotel, my husband and I never end up in the same bed. It’s always the kids’ chance to sleep the entire night in either mommy or daddy’s bed. I’m not going to say one of us is more popular, but one of us did grow the children in her womb. Infer what you will. It’s fun to explore new places and we loved downtown Charlotte. It was clean, well laid out, had some interesting green space and parks and had a fun mix of shops, restaurants and…
Kitchen Tweaks
I went to TJ Maxx/HomeGoods the other day for something really important. I can’t remember what it was, but I do know I didn’t find it. What I did find was a new rag rug. I’m not joking when I say there isn’t a rag rug I’ve met that I haven’t loved. It all started 17 years ago. For a wedding gift, our pastor’s wife MADE me us two rag rugs. I still use those rugs today and not a thing is wrong with them. I don’t know how she made them, but it kicked off my love affair with rag rugs. My husband’s cool with it. TJ Maxx/HomeGoods had an entire display…
Time is the Coin
**We interrupt our regularly light-hearted and slightly sarcastic programming for some Monday morning introspection. Don’t get used to this.** I’ve learned the hard way to be fairly guarded with my time. 12 hour days climbing the corporate ladder to more 12 hour days will do that to you. The older I get, the more cognizant I am of just how precious and fleeting time is. Maybe it’s being a parent. Maybe it’s seeing my parents age. Maybe I’ve actually learned a few things in my 30-something years on this planet. With this in mind, I try to keep my priorities straight because I don’t like the feeling of being over-committed and stretched too thin.…
Red Velvet White Chocolate Cookies
If you can’t bear the thought of fighting over the last heart-shaped box of chocolates at the drugstore for Valentine’s Day, this recipe is for you. If you really want to impress your Valentine with a homemade treat, this recipe is for you. If you really, really want just one freakin’ hour to yourself to binge on Netflix and cookies, this recipe is especially for you. And me. If only someone would invent a cookie where the calories didn’t count. Can I get an AMEN? Google should put some resources into developing that instead of the self-driving car. Way more market potential. These red velvet cookies are filled with decadent white chocolate…
How to Remove Ring Around the Toilet
I am so sorry if you are reading this post during breakfast. The images contained herein are not appetizing or pretty. It’s time to get down to the dirty truth. I clean the toilets in our home regularly. I really do. Despite that, to varying degrees, the toilets always end up with a ring around the water line. It mocks me. Depending on the minerals in the water, the toilets also get marks where the water runs down the bowl to refill. More mocking. Everyone swears their product or cleaning method is the best way to get those marks off the toilet. Maybe it is…for them. For me, they never work. Ever. Did someone order melodrama?…
Favorite Things
Today, because it’s Monday and I’m in the mood, I thought I’d share another list of my favorite random things of late. 1. THIS IS WATER: 2005 Commencement Address by David Foster Wallace My husband and I were mesmerized by this commencement speech. Take the time to listen to it and I guarantee it will give you many things to think about. “The point here is that I think this is one part of what teaching me how to think is really supposed to mean. To be just a little less arrogant. To have just a little critical awareness about myself and my certainties. Because a huge percentage of the…
17
Tomorrow this fella and I celebrate 17 years of holy matrimony. Golly. We were babies! As I was looking for a wedding photo to scan, I found a book of advice written to me by women whom I respect and who have been married decades. It was a blessing to peruse their words and have the experience and confidence to nod my head, yes, yes, oh no way, yes, yes. If I was to add my advice to the book, here’s what it would be. Don’t try to measure your relationship to anyone else’s. Seriously. Don’t. There is no one who wins at that game. And frankly, you don’t know what goes on behind…
Sheet Metal Map
I’m not sure if it’s all boys or my son in particular, but my 5-year-old doesn’t give a rip about decorating. Now, if I put something new in his room – it doesn’t matter what it is – he’s stoked about the shiny thing for all of 3.2 seconds. Then he’ll move on to the important matters of a kindergartener – whatever those are. In all reality, I’m decorating his room for me. The blank walls in his room gave my wandering mind something to focus on while I read LEGO City: Fire in the Forest! for the 217th time in a row. It’s a fascinating read. I wanted a huge piece of…
