I'm Baaaaaaaaaack! And Pinterest is Busted!

Oh my goodness . . . I'm baaaaaaaacccckkkkk!!! Can you believe it?

That's right, I'm back online, after almost three years, or maybe it's four? I should look but that's not going to happen. Why? Because I'm too traumatized by my dinner tonight.

I know, right?

After all these years, I'm "back" because I'm traumatized by my dinner? Yes my friends, yes, that is correct, back because of what just occured in my kitchen.

So here you go, my first posting in a lotta years.

Sooooo, 

Pinterest failed me in the recipe department again.

I made some chicken . . .

It's hot, 

spicy hot, 

make your nose run hot.

We had to dip it in ranch dressing to survive it.

But, let's back up a moment shall we???

For this recipe, I finally, after THIRTY SEVEN AND A HALF YEARS, pounded out some chicken breasts with a mallet.

Do you KNOW how TRAUMATIZING THAT IS???

CUZ it IS!

It went something like this:

First, I cut off all the nasties, like normal.

They looked good, like normal.

Then I got out the mallet and starting pounding and hitting and smashing them . . . it seemed very barbaric!

I wanted to cry.

I felt awful and dirty and disgusting.

I may have well gone and broken the poor chicken's neck myself  . . .

 . . . and chopped it's head off  . . . 

 . . . and then plucked all it's feathers . . . .

 . . . AND, to make matter worse, there were even some creepy things in there that was NOT chicken breast but like NECK TUBING or something and it was all bloody.

WHAT?!?!?!?!? Was the original butcher BLIND?!?!?!?!?! 

This is NOT OKAY IN MY BOOK PEOPLE!!

So anyways, I'm beating the snot outta this stuff and pieces of it are chunking off and flying all over the cookie sheet it's on.

Seriously, SO SICK AND WRONG!!

Anyways, so I finishing whacking the snot out of it and I take off the top layer of the wax paper and HOLY SCHNIKEES!!!

THERE'S A WHOLE NOTHER SLEW OF VEINS AND BLOODY THINGS AND WHITE THICK STRINGY THINGS IN THERE. WHAT THE FREAK?????

Hadn't I just gotten rid of ALLLLL OF THOSE???

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh.

So I pull myself together and slop the rest of the mess together and roll it up and toothpick it and then think I feel like I should pray and repent for all the chaos I caused to that poor chickens body today.

It was terrible.

And to top it off, it burned the snot out of our mouths, nose running kind of heat, stupid cajun seasoning!

What a waste.

FAIL PINTEREST, FAIL!

Sometimes I think Pinterest is just one person . . . and they are laughing at me.

Holy Smokes, this is AMAZING!

Our nephew who's living with us is awesome. His wife's sister served her mission in LA and apparently learned to make killer Mexican food. He got these recipes and we tried them out over the weekend. They are HEAVENLY so I thought I would share.

Guacamole
4-5 avocados mashed
1 finely chopped tomato
4-5 minced cloves of garlic
1 shallot or 2 small green onions chopped
juice of one lime
salt to taste

Refried Beans
1 bag pinto beans
4 garlic cloves cut in half
garlic salt to taste
pepper jack cheese

Put a bag of dried pinto beans and 4 cloves of garlic in a crock pot and cover with a lot of water. Turn the crock pot on high and let cook for about 6 hours. Once the beans can easily be mashed with a fork you'll know they're done. Blend them up in the blender along with the cloves of garlic. Use the water they were cooked in to help the blending process a long. Add garlic salt to taste. (If you dont' have a blender you can mash them yourself.) Then put beans in a pan with some butter and a lot of pepper jack cheese. Stir it all around till melted. YUM!

Carne Asada
Add the following ingredients to a bag and let marinate at least 6 hours but even better over night!

about 2 pounds of milenasa meat chopped in strips. (You can use whatever your favorite steak is, just be sure to cut it in thin strips. Milenasa is almost paper thin and it's amazing!)
1/3 cup vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1-2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 tsp oregano
2 limes juiced
4-5 garlic cloves minced
optional 1 tsp salt

Once meat is done marinating simply place in a pain on the stove and cook till cooked through.

Place beans, guacamole and carne asada on a flour tortilla and enjoy!

My Favorites Part 1- Decorating Blogs and Websites

I keep thinking I wanna start doing a weekly segment on my favorite things. Life is made exciting by the dreams we have and the things we love, so here's the first of my favorites- a review of my favorite decorating blogs and websites that inspire me. I hope to make my house look like these one day . . . even if it is in the after life!

The Inspired Room

Teens Themed Bedroom Decorating Ideas

Elegance Redefined

Kelly Rae Roberts

Material Girls

Absolutely Beautiful Things

Daisy Pink Cupcake

Anthropologie

Feed Your Soul

So there you have it. Enjoy!

And so it begins . . .

Last week, on August 24th, we started the 2009-2010 school year. I was thrilled because Sk8r and CR had been a bored all summer as I was swamped with emergency preparedness stuff for church. Therefore, to finally have something to do for them was fantastic! We spent Sunday evening packing up backpacks and making sure clothes were out and ready, pencils sharpened, snacks in lunch bags and so forth.

Excitement filled the air!

On Monday morning they both woke early and jumped into the outfits they'd picked out:

What cute little darlings!

I drove each one to school (they go to different schools now since she's in 4th and he's in 6th) and then came home to . . .

silence.

At first I wondered if it was the good kind, the I-dream-of-silence-so-I-can-get-stuff-done kind, but as soon as that garage door shut I realized . . . I was wrong.

Here's the door (yes, still surrounded by the ugly smoker tan). Look just to the right between the lock and knob . . .

Do you see it? If not, here's a close-up I darkened of it . . .

A sweet little hand print of one of those cute little beings on lend to us from God. How lucky we are! How wonderful and adorable those kiddos are and what joy and happiness they've brought to our family throughout the years.

I just stood there.

That hand print stayed for a few days till I could be okay with them being gone. They are so big now, to the point where holding your mom's hand at school is no longer cool. To the point that they long for name brand clothes or specific shoes and pants with certain designs. To the point of having favorite bands and wanting to collect big kid movies. To the point of realizing it's more fun to talk to your friends on the phone if you are secluded in another room where no one else in the house can hear you. Sk8r goes to the local Walgreen's all the time on his skateboard accompanied by his skater-buddies and CR is finally wanting to have her hair done every day.

What happened??

When did these little ones grow-up? I think I missed it and I feel ripped off.

But alas, it has begun and I can't stop it. I suppose all I can do is love them when they are home and spend as much time with them in the evenings as possible.

A friend asked me if I wanted to carpool but you know what? I'd rather spend the gas and have those few extra moments with them each day than to give them up and save a little money. Financially it might not be the best decision but in the long run? That money is well spent on allowing me to have just a few more magical moments with my babies before they grow up and leave us for good. And so I'll milk those drives and miles for all they are worth because those little hands have already grown so much and are only going to get bigger and bigger and farther away.

Decor Dreams

Everyday, for at least one moment, I find myself whisked away in a sparkly whoosh of glitter to daydream land. It's beautiful and bright there, bold and elegant and I feel so relaxed! It goes something like this:

Darn that Sarah Brightman, she's so amazingly beautiful! And her CD spreads are always topnotch. I'm gonna photograph people like this one day . . .

And sometimes those dreams look like this:

except I don't' have that much black eye shadow on cuz that's just creepy.

Sometimes they look like silly Nicole Richie. I can't decide if she's a good girl, or a bad one but still, she looks great all dreamy and such . . .


And sometimes, I just dream of this cuz it's really funny and makes me laugh every single time I think about it . . . what the . . . ???


But anyways, I'm mostly not really dreaming of me as some fabulous model or animal pilgrim but rather of another subject.

No, I'm not dreaming of finding my prince one day like I did as a school girl, cuz I've already got him!

And I don't dream of making it through college like I used to cuz I've already got my Masters degree and not anyone, I mean NO one can convince me to go further than that.

And nope, I'm not dreaming of summer because we've been kinda bored this time around.

So what am I dreaming about?

Decor.

I find these dreams sweet and delightful as appealing as those pictures above or a pint of my favorite Ben and Jerry's:

Mmmmm, Mmmm!

I dream of painting this home in bold colors that pop and bring life to space. Colors that say

"Welcome!"

and

"Stay a little longer!"

So in an effort to pop those dreams into reality I often plop into our big, comfy computer chair for a few moments to unwind for the day by searching Google for pictures that inspire me. Here's some of my favorites.

Maybe I'll paint the wall behind our red couch a lime green. That'll teach em! At least that's what it makes me feel like, like I'd be breaking a rule and it feels good.


Or maybe I should paint the brown couch room a rich royal blue with an orange accent for the fireplace and TV hole. Dang, I still need to build shelves for that hole. One day, one day.


Sometimes I think I'll keep the smoker tan paint and just add some crazy curtains. Why'd I think "smoker" tan was a good idea in the first place? Okay, it's really called "Pony Tail," but you catch what I'm gettin' at . . . and probably, since I'm a photographer I should probably actually print some of my pictures and put them on the walls. Hmmm, yeah, probably.


But isn't this pink wall so fun? I'm definitely not a total pink kinda gal, but shoot, this looks fabulous!


And you'd better believe I'll be doing this. This is gonna happen as soon as September hits, along with the rest of the soon-to-occur-different-holidays-decor. Watch out festive season, I'm gonna blow you away this time!


Maybe JoAnne's will have a huge sale on fabulous fabric. Oh, wait. That would mean JoAnnes would have to actually BUY fabulous fabrics first. Do it! Do iT! DO IT!


Or maybe I'll get creative like my Alicia Jane blogger friend who was really Danya's friend first but then I joined in the fun. She's so incredibly creative making photoshop art and stuff. Maybe I should figure out how to do something like she does, or like in this picture and just go wild with the colors and frames. After all, look how happy and relaxed those people are . . .


Or maybe I'll do something really crazy and bold like this dark greyish purple wall except darn! I just remembered I don't have a pink couch. Umph, scratch that.


I could do purple, that'd be crazy huh! Or a teal? But my mom says that could turn out too turquoise and tomahawk-ish so maybe I'll nix that one.

Or maybe I'll learn how to make my bookcases look super cool like these. This pictures makes me wish I'd have bought the white ones and not the black. I could always paint them though right???


And how about a zebra rug under the kitchen table?


Oh yeah, I already bought a zebra chair. If I'm not careful everything will be zebra camouflage and we won't be able to find anything.

Or maybe I'll go with some pale colors with bold accents. Is that boring? I feel cold.


Maybe just a simple cream with bright accessories and curtains?? Oh yeah, I've already bought like 12,000 different cream shades of paint and none of them are right.


So back to the dreaming table I go to hunt nightly for inspiration that will bring light and joy to our home . . . besides the light and joy Mr. Funny, Sk8r and CR already bring me. The more I think about it, I'm a lucky girl to have those 3 dazzling beings livening up my space.

Sweet Riley!

We ventured up to Riley's Farm yesterday for quite a delicious treat: divinely red raspberries and strawberries. I had high hopes that they would be yummy, but heavenly? I would have never guessed! I'm so used to sour, looks-ripe-but-tastes-totally-not-fruit that I had my doubts. I quickly learned however, that there's something about growing fruit from real dirt in real open space that makes it simply amazing! So if you have a hankering for something sweet, fresh, and fun, go up there soon because I'm not sure how much longer those berries are gonna last.

Irresponsibly Sparkley

The boys left last Saturday to join a dozen or so other sweaty men and boys on a 30 mile scout bike ride to a fancy-schmancy beach I've never been to.

And naturally?

CR and I went shopping. Mind you, I'm money conscious! Especially since I've got a Halloween shin-dig to prepare for and am constantly in the "emergency preparedness" mindset thanks to my job at church. But after having spent our free $150 Visa debit card from Verizon (for signing up for Fios) on water barrels I figured hey--this Walgreen's check that I got in the mail for a free $25 would be fabulous to spend on something . . . medicinee . . . foodee . . .responsibly . . . ??? NAH! Instead we spent it on something . . . sparkly! And this is what we bought:



7 bottles of sparkly nail polish.

And you know what? That much glitter really DOES make the world go round.

Thanks Walgreen's!