I'm in love with Pinterest!

Don't tell my husband though! I have been surfing Pinterest the last week or so while I've been laid up sick and have found so many amazing and easy projects.  I know this is not something surprising to most of you and I have done several Pinterest projects in the past but here lately the crafting bug has bit me and bit hard.

Yesterday I made a bib for a friend who will be having a baby soon (I can't wait to meet this little guy!!) It was my first time sewing sharp curves so it didn't come out exactly like I wanted but I have some time to work on this!  I had cut a pair of jeans off for Brooke and used the cut off part for the denim and the backing is from a receiving blanket that Brooke had when she was little.  This blanket has special meaning for me.  I found out I was pregnant in December of 2007 and had a few issues.  On Christmas Eve we got a phone call that everything was fine and my mom got me this blanket and a few other baby things for Christmas that year.  It was the very first thing she bought for Brooke.

My mom thought of my friend as her other daughter so I know she would be proud to see me making something for her baby boy that she had put thought into for her baby girl :)

Like I said there is still some practicing I need to do for this one but I think if I can bang out a few more then it'll be no problem. I used the pattern found here for this one.

I also made a pair of sleep shorts that was going to be for Brooke but I measured wrong so they were a wee bit small....but seriously the easiest way ever to make a pair of pants and I will definitely be making more! This tutorial is amazing!

This afternoon I made a short sleeve shirt into a long sleeved one.  I found this blog where she takes socks and makes them arm warmers, but I thought I would try sewing the socks onto the sleeves so she wouldn't lose them.  Because I know she would!!! It was so simple and took maybe 10 minutes just because I was going slow to keep my stitches straight and pinning the socks to the sleeves took a little bit, because I used a ton of pins to make sure they stayed put.  But Brooke loves her new-ish shirt!

Hopefully I can get her to take it off soon so she can wear it to school tomorrow!

What are some of your favorite Pinterest projects that you've done?

Peacetime

Yesterday I'm trying to take a nice, hot, relaxing bath.  Just sitting there soaking and listening to some relaxing music on my phone and someone gets a little jealous that mommy is getting alone time.  She starts yelling for me.  I tell her I'll be out shortly, she continues, Mommy I want to take a bath with you.  I tell her she can take one when I'm done. 

Then there's this...

But mommy, she says, I stink! Haha!

This kid will do anything to not let me have a single moment of peace.  But I did end up getting my bath to myself and she doesn't stink anymore as she got a bath as soon as mine was done! Happy Sunday y'all!

Interview B is so much fun!

1. What is something Mommy always says to you?
You’re a sweet princess.

2. What makes Mommy happy?
Me!

3. What makes Mommy sad?
Having to spank me.

4. How does Mommy make you laugh?
When you say I am a sweet princess it makes me laugh.

5. What was Mommy like as a child?
Me!

6. How old is Mommy?
Old!!! (I’m thinking I need to go over this with her again….Mommy will never be older than 25 J)

7. How tall is Mommy?
(holds her arm up) This tall

8. What is Mommy's favorite thing to do?
Eat ice cream (I have to say the kid is pretty close)

9. What does Mommy do when you're not around?
Text Sassy

10. If Mommy becomes famous, what will it be for?
Me! (She’s probably right)

11. What is Mommy really good at?
At being a mommy ;)  (I sure do love this kid)

12. What is Mommy not very good at?
Not very good at shooting people (I’m not sure where this came from, but I guess that’s a good thing right?)

13. What does Mommy do for her job?
Takes care of my house.

14. What is Mommy's favorite food?
Ice Cream!

15. What makes you proud of Mommy?
Papa told me too.

16. If Mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be?
A baby Bratz….(Hmmm..)
17. What do you and Mommy do together?
We watch TV together, and we make cookies.

18. How are you and Mommy the same?
We are both princesses.  (I’m loving this kid even more) J

19. How are you and Mommy different?
Our hair is different colors.

20. How do you know Mommy loves you?
Because you always tell me you love me cause I’m your sugarbutt.

21. Where is Mommy's favorite place to go?
Papa’s house J

Super Delicious Porkchops

C & I were perusing Pinterest this morning trying to figure out our weekly menu when we came across this pin talking about the best pork chops you will ever eat. We've been buying quite a bit of chicken lately so decided that we wanted to change it up a little and went with pork chops.  This sounded really good and the only ingredients we need to buy were the pork chops and Parmesan cheese.

The original pin had some weird link on it that took me to a beauty blog but the caption on the pin simply said "Pork chops ..dipped in ranch dressing and coated in Italian bread crumbs with Parmesan cheese and garlic".  Simple enough, I thought.  So, C went off to the store and got the few things we needed for this.  I made them tonight and I have to tell you, they pretty much live up to their name.  I'm not sure if they are THE BEST but they are certainly near the top of my list.  And I love something that is delicious and super easy!

I have fixed the link on the original pin after doing a quick Swag search, this had the original picture posted, so I linked this page to the pin.  I did do things a little differently than the original blogger did, mainly because I didn't find the page until after I had already eaten my chop :) But mine still turned out amazing!  So here's how I did mine:

You'll need:

5-6 medium/large boneless pork chops
2 cups Italian bread crumbs (*These are usually at Aldi's for about $.99)
1-2 cups of Ranch dressing (not the seasoning)
Grated Parmesan cheese ( I used an entire small block that I grated myself, we like a lot of cheese)

Preheat oven to 400 Fahrenheit.

Mix bread crumbs and cheese together and pour the ranch in another dish.  Dredge these just like you would if you were going to fry.  Ranch first then the bread crumb mixture.  Also, you want to shake off any extra ranch, you want just enough to have a thin layer for the bread crumbs to stick too.  This will help your chops to crisp up.

I put mine in a 9x13 glass baking dish.  However, after reading the original posting and some of the comments, next time I will use a darker pan with a rack in it to allow the air to circulate all around the chops.  Mine came out a bit soggy on the bottom, but were still yummy!

Next, place in your 400 degree oven and I cooked mine for 25 minutes, make sure to check for doneness before eating.  Raw pork is not something you want to consume.  Mine were perfectly cooked after 25 minutes so it will depend on your oven.  Some of the comments left on the original blog were cooking theirs upwards of an hour.  My chops were also only about 1/2 - 1 inch thick.

You can see here were some of the crumbs were still a bit soggy, but really I didn't mind that so much.  The crisp parts were delicious as well but either way it's totally going to be something that will be made again at this house!  My brother ate dinner with us tonight and he couldn't stop raving about them and about how this is the only way he is ever going to fix pork chops again! 

Enjoy!

Another conversation with B

Four year olds are funny creatures.  They come up with some of the most interesting things to say.  She keeps us entertained on a daily basis and can make even the absolute worst day seem not so bad. 

I decided since the last conversation I did with her was about me that we would do this one about daddy.  She loves doing these and having her "work" published.  She thinks it's super cool for mommy to show here where I put her words on the internet.  I sure do love that little girl.

My Daddy is 4 years old.

His hair is grey and his eyes are blue.

Daddy likes to wear clothes.

He loves to eat chicken.

He is smart because he knows I break things.

My daddy works hard at school.

Daddy always tells me he loves me.

It makes my daddy happy when I’m good.

If he could go on a trip, he would go to the park and he would take the computer.

I really love it when my Daddy is happy.

If I could give my daddy anything it would be a present.

My favorite thing about my daddy is when he takes a nap with me.

 

Love, Brookie

 

 

New Crockpot Family Favorite

A friend of mine sent me a list of crockpot meals last week that had some amazing recipes on it.  There were a couple that sounded exceptionally good and something I knew my family would eat.  I planned my menu out last week and found a great deal on skinless boneless chicken breasts.  There were 8 HUGE breasts in the package for right around $10 and I knew I could make that last for at least 2 meals. 

Today I threw 4 of them in the crockpot with a few things and made a new family favorite meal.  I had intended to make Creamy chicken chilli that was on the list my friend had sent me, but ended up with something just a touch different.  I didn't realize this meal would be bloggable so I didn't take any pictures but I'm going to be super nice and share my made up recipe with you all.

Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup

(Serves 5-6)

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: Crockpot 4 ½ hours on high

 

4 large boneless skinless chicken breast

1 can vegetarian beans
1 pkg cream cheese
1 medium onion (optional)
2 small cans Cream of Chicken soup
¼ carton chicken broth (equal to approximately 1 ½ cups)
Garlic powder
Cumin
Salt
Chilli powder

 

If you wish you can cube up the chicken before you put it in the crockpot, but I just left mine whole.  Put the chicken on the bottom them pour in the beans, cream cheese, onion, cream of chicken, and chicken broth.  I then stirred the mixture up and added the seasonings.  I added approximately 1 -2 teaspoons of each but it will depend on your family’s taste.  Mix all this together again.  I then let mine cook for 4 hours on high and then shredded the chicken, put the lid back on and let it cook for about another half hour on high.  My crockpot has a keep warm function so I turned that on until dinner time.  We served ours with yellow corn tortilla chips and it was amazing!

Seriously, my family could not stop raving about this meal.  My husband took one bite and said this was definitely something he wants to eat again. Let me know your thoughts and if you try this out I would love to hear how you liked it.

 

P.S. I will be doing the drawing for the giveaway tomorrow, so make sure you got your entry in!

Homemade hair detangler

B's hair is crazy curly and crazy tangled in the mornings.  She is also a wee bit tender headed.  M's hair is a super straight but super thick but her hair tangles extremely easy and she is one of the most tender headed people I have ever met.  So in order to keep my girls happy in the mornings I have to use a detangler.

I have been buying it at around $2-$4 a pop depending on which brand we bought.  I was testing a few different brands out to see which one worked better for them.  Well, none of them worked great and I was still having hurting girls.  So anyway, one morning I realized that we were out of detangler and with no time to rush to the store before school, threw a little concoction together.  They don't cry anymore!!! Best thing ever!

Basically all I did was take the top off the empty detangler bottle, fill it about 2/3 full of water, then dump in about 1/4 - 1/2 cup of regular conditioner.  Shake well and spray on.  My girls are much happier in the morning and I am much less stressed out from brushing hair.  This is a great leave in conditioner as well and their hair doesn't look greasy after it dries either. 

This nice little recipe only costs a few cents per bottle (we use Suave organics so I estimate our cost to be approximately .14 per bottle of detangler, price per bottle will vary depending on what kind of conditioner you normally use) compared to the 2-4 dollars we were spending every couple of weeks.