My newest nephew

My sister Beth and her husband James welcomed their first baby yesterday, sweet little Preston James- don't you just want to bite those cheeks! I can't wait to see him again.

Oh Martha!

I ran to Walmart over the weekend for "a couple" things and found myself over in the crafts department (I don't know how that always happens...) but they had several of the Martha Stewart crafts kits on clearance and I picked up some fun puppet kits for the kids, and this awesome "Honeycomb Birthday Card Kit." I love being able to put cards together without using too much of my brain! I also put together this cute card below-

It was from my card class last month. I especially love the little elephants, they came from a Martha Stewart craft punch- can you tell the little ears stick up? SO cute.

Dreaming of redecorating...

I've been wanting to paint Miss B's room a dark pink- I think these white "swirly poppies" would look so cute on her walls when I do it! Check out these and tons of other beautiful designs from Dali Decals HERE.

Party time?

Oh man I start searching online for something I need, and I get caught up in all the amazing, beautiful and creative things out in blog-land! These custom photo cupcake toppers have to be the cutest thing ever! You can find them at bugandboo HERE.

So cute

I love stamps! These are now available online or by long wait at the post office- I need to hurry and finish my Disney stamps so I can get these, and the Simpsons ones...

Food Storage Friday: Pasta & Squash Frittata

How's your garden coming? Mine is small but good- we've been harvesting little cherry tomatoes almost daily, and the basil is growing with no problems too. (so go plant some if you haven't yet, it grows fast!) You can check with your county extension website to see what will still grow where you live. Yesterday I suddenly noticed we have 2 big zucchini and a couple good sized summer squashes already! So tonight's dinner is coming from our garden, I love it but I wonder if the kids will eat it...

Pasta & Squash Frittata

1 TB oil

2 zucchini, sliced 1/4" thick

2 yellow squash, sliced 1/4" thick

1/2 onion chopped

10oz pkg rainbow rotini pasta

6 eggs

1 cup mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Cook pasta according to package directions.

In a large, oven safe skillet, (dutch oven style) saute zucchini, squash and onion in oil till softened, cool.

In large mixing bowl combine eggs and cheeses, then stir in cooked pasta.

Pour pasta mixture over veggies in pan and mix well. Cook on stove top until bottom is cooked, then place in oven and broil at 350 for an additional 10 minutes.

Serve with warmed spaghetti sauce on top or the side.

Reality Check

When I first started blogging I wanted to make sure that I didn't make myself and my life look picture perfect- because it's not. I did some "reality check" posts to try and keep it real. I kind of got over it and decided everyone knows I'm pretty flawed so I stopped doing them but I was really surprised the other day to hear from a good friend, someone I thought knew me better, ask "how I do it all without going crazy?" And the answer is of course I don't do "it all" and I do go a little crazy sometimes anyways! A little evidence of what goes undone- my office space- which resides in my bedroom!Shameful, I know. That's my goal this week, get it in order, and we'll see how long it takes to get back to this state. Maybe sometime I'll give you a peak at my kitchen- Sam was marvelling yesterday at how it is a completely different mess every time he sees it, which in my defense, is breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But I promise, in-between those meals it does get clean, at least once or twice a day!

Yep.

Since I can't decide if it's more embarrassing to deliberately get pregnant when you have a baby already, or to "accidentally" get pregnant, I'm going to leave that to your imagination.

PS- The Dr. seems confident he saw boy parts, we'll see next month!

Did your mother's day rock too?

I got a haul of the usual cute, Mother's Day cards and crafts,

And one that was not quite the usual...

It sings something about how I'm not like those other moms, with a needle and thread, cause I'm a rock star, I don't scrapbook like those other moms, cause I'm in a rock band... and something about how I like to raise H-E double hockey sticks. "Because you rock, mom" Sam took them to Target and let them each choose a gift- Miss B got me some earrings, Miss G chose a cute snow globe with a mother and daughter inside "It's me and you mom." and Miss E chose some Wet and Wild lip balm- that she has already ruined. It was a good day though, I hope yours was too!

I did it

I won't tell you all my issues with it, but it is much cuter than my current key rack and fits in the same tiny spot next to the garage where I need it. I love projects like this that can be done in no time, very gratifying! I used a cupboard door because that's what I had.

Devastated

I'm a little slow, (or just busy with life) but I have been thinking lately that I haven't gotten a Home Companion magazine in the mail for a while, and it is my very favorite magazine, the only one I read cover to cover, the only magazine I save because I can't bear to get rid of it, so I'm surprised it took me so long to wander over to their website to see what's going on, and to my dismay, it is no longer being published! It is another in a string of awesome magazines gone now, but I am really sad! I did start recieving (very battered) issues of Martha Stewart magazine a few months ago, which I have enjoyed somewhat, but I didn't realize they were sending them in place of my beloved Home Companion. I am in mourning. Besides being a wonderful magazine with gorgeous pictures, great articles and fun DIY ideas, I am really going to miss adding to my ME paper doll collection- I have a really strange attachment to them, my kids are not allowed to touch them. I carefully cut them out, scan them so I have a digital copy, and file them away in a safe place! Aren't they cute?

Recipe Swap

Nannygoat is doing a recipe swap to help fill out those 30 dinner recipe cards! Here are a couple of our favorites right now that will be on my ring when I finally do it! Join the swap HERE.

Rachel Ray's Chicken Burgers with Slaw

Ingredients
1 tablespoon butter, cut into pieces
1 small red onion, 1/2 finely chopped, 1/2 thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, eyeball it
1 tablespoon hot sauce, eyeball it
1 1/4 pounds ground chicken
1 tablespoons grill seasoning (recommended: McCormick brand) a palm full
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons honey, eyeball it
1 lemon, juiced
3 rounded tablespoons sweet pickle relish
2 cups shredded cabbage mix
Salt and pepper
4 cornmeal Keiser rolls, split
Directions
In a small skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Add chopped onions, garlic and tomato paste and sweat them for 5 minutes to soften and sweeten. Sprinkle in sugar and remove from heat. Cool in a bowl, 5 minutes. Add tomato paste mixture, Worcestershire, hot sauce to bowl and combine. Add chicken to the bowl then grill seasoning and combine the burgers well to evenly distribute the flavors and form 4 patties. Wash up.
Heat 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, a turn of the pan, in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook patties 6 minutes on each side.
Combine the honey, lemon juice, and remaining extra-virgin olive oil in a bowl. Add relish, cabbage mix and sliced onions and season with salt and pepper. Toss the slaw to coat and reserve.
Serve burgers on bun bottoms topped with slaw and bun tops.

Italian Roast Pork Loin

1 tablespoon no-salt lemon pepper
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried rosemary
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 garlic cloves, mashed or put through a garlic press
1 (2 1/2-pound) pork loin, trimmed of all exterior fat

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Combine the lemon pepper, fennel
seeds, oregano, rosemary, and salt in a small bowl; set aside.
Combine the olive oil and mashed garlic in a second small bowl.
Rub the olive oil mixture evenly over the pork loin, coating it
thoroughly. Sprinkle the herb mixture over the entire pork loin.
Place in a shallow roasting pan, broiler pan, or shallow baking
dish.
2. Roast until golden brown. An instant-read meat thermometer
inserted into the thickest part of the loin should register
160°F for medium, about 65 minutes, or 170° for well done,
about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Creamy Chicken and Rice

5 cups cooked rice
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 can chicken (or about 1 ½ cups diced cooked chicken)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup mayo
1 TB lemon juice
½ cup or so of French Fried Onions

Mix together cheese, chicken soup, mayo, lemon juice and cooked chicken.
Spread half of the rice in the bottom of baking dish and layer half of the creamy
Chicken mixture, then the rest of the rice, and the rest of the chicken, and top with onions. Bake at 350 for 25 mins or so

Also, if you want to see a great blog with tons of recipes already typed onto cute recipe cards, check out the Lickable Spoon HERE.

PS- Thanks for all the kind comments about the hand sanitzers! To answer a couple questions, you can get rub ons from the Scrapbook store, and I don't know where to find a clear bottle with a black pump, but I really liked that idea of putting a transparency in a soap bottle! I want to try it too!

My Teacher Appreciation gifts: hand sanitizer

Today is National Scrapbooking Day and I thought I would actually do some but then I remembered that Monday begins Teacher Appreciation Week (I think?) so I decided to decorate some hand sanitzer for the girls teachers and it was so fun! I used Glitz rub-ons, except for the Orange "C is for Curious" one, which is Cosmo Cricket "Jack's World." I am really excited about how they turned out and can't wait for the girls to give them to their teachers. I bet they are using a little more of the stuff than usual! Target was completely out, and the Walgreens I went to only had these 2 colors of the store brand- crazy.

Food Storage Friday- Pandemic! (of course)

If you've spent any time watching or listening to the news you are either:
a. totally freaked out, locked in your home, wearing a mask, with a bottle of hand sanitizer in your pocket, or
b. totally tired of hearing about it and completely immune to any concern of swine, avian or any other flu with pandemic propensity.
The facts are, there is a flu, originating from pigs, (which happens to make great news stories because they can talk about it with giant, hideous pig heads next to their own) At this point, it does not seem to behave differently than any other flu, (which kills thousands of people around the globe every year) The ways to keep from getting it are the same as any other bug going around, and the way to recover is the same as any other illness. Ok, now that that is out of the way, I think it is important to see things like this (and SARS, and Bird Flu etc) as warnings- don't freak out and go to extremes, but don't ignore warnings just because so many "scares" have turned out to be nothing. It is still possible, and many people who study these things say it is in fact PROBABLE that that at some point, a serious, highly contagious, illness could quickly spread around the world- in the same way the swine flu has- or worse. And if you are prepared for such an occasion, you will not be panicked when it happens. FEMA’s plan for a confirmed case of the Avian Flu is to quarantine the entire neighborhood around where the outbreak occurs. No one would be allowed in or out of the area at all. No ill person would be evacuated; those in the area would just have to “hunker” down in their homes and wait out the quarantine, which could last for weeks, until the last case has run its course. Those in the quarantine zone would not be able to go to the store for anything. So, to be prepared, make sure you have a few weeks of food and supplies, (you know you should have 3-12 months) some gatorade or pedialite (to help with sickies getting dehydrated) and basic pain and fever relievers. For worst case scenarios, you may want to invest in some gloves, plastic sheeting, masks etc... but I think those things are probably not necessary. Here are some links with more information than you ever wanted to know:
www.iwillprepare.com/
www.survivetheflu.com/
www.pandemicflu.gov/
www.cdc.gov/other.htm#states
www.meridianmagazine.com/emergency
www.cdc.gov/swineflu

Today he found a new way to get around...

When I was notified during my shower that Miss E. tied a belt on Mr. C and was pulling him around I nearly had a heart attack, so when I arrived dripping wet and a little soapy I was quite happy to find them doing this. (I often catch her trying to put "collars" around his neck...)