MommyCoddle

things she loves

I completely owe this idea to a picture I found on Eren's photostream. It was the perfect find, not only because it was the day before Valentine's, but also because I was looking for something a little "light" for our school day that afternoon. 

At Christmas I had purchased a three-pack of painting canvases for the girls and stashed them away--forgetting to put them under the tree. They were perfect for this project. 

On each canvas I painted the text. That day, the girls sat at their desks and started brainstorming on a piece of paper all the things they loved...they kept their paper handy and as inspiration hit, they jotted something else down. (Can you tell what book Emma just finished reading?)

They were so into this project. It was so much fun. It kept such a positive focus. And they revisited it over and over. In fact, I still catch them pulling their canvases down from the ledge where they hang and adding something new. 

I painted in acrylics. They wrote with my set of colored sharpies. 

And I can't recommend this simple, fun project enough. 

P.S. Click here for a "translation" of Mary's words.

oh, monday morning

My children will tell you, I love Monday mornings. The promise of a new week laid out before me, sinking back into our weekly routine, the pleasure of being able to ease back into it all with a slow start to our morning. 

But alas, this morning could use a do over. A rewind. And that's okay. A breath. A little space. A little quiet. A little room to get that breath, and I think we'll all be just fine. I hear laughter in the other room.

Meanwhile, as we all start fresh, here are a few links I've been stashing away that never made it "to print" last week. 

Enjoy. 

And happy Monday morning. 

Target + liberty of london = beautiful temptation.

Martha Stewart's Every Day Food iphone app looks very good.

cinnamon bun pancakes : (need no words)

If you read nothing else this morning, take a few moments to read this: Simple Mom:  Fighting The Tyranny of the Urgent at Home

New Orla Kiely bags. A girl needs a new diaper bag with each baby, no?

Martha's Uniform Natural HOME line

These peeks around a baby room at L'E Dans L'a

This week's tumblr finds

pie with a twist

I suppose Fat Tuesday is an appropriate day to be posting this recipe. So I will do it without feeling guilty for the inch I may be adding to your waistline. 

This recipe has been in our family's repertoire for quite awhile. I've always loved how simple it is, as well as the moan and groan response (the good kind) you get when you serve it up for guests. 

And while this might seem like something that should be served up in the dead heat of summer, with my current no-oven handicap, it is the perfect thing. And personally, I can do peanut butter and chocolate year round. Can't you?

So the original recipe is for an easy Peanut Butter Pie, but this time I wanted to somehow add a chocolate element to the recipe. And not just any chocolate...I wanted a fudgy, rich layer of chocolate in the pie.

And man oh man, if I didn't hit the nail on the head with my first try....you're welcome. :)

Peanut Butter Pie (with a Twist)

4 oz. cream cheese

1 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup milk

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

Beat together these ingredients until smooth and combined. Fold in 8 ounces of whipped topping (ie. cool whip). Set aside.

Meanwhile, over medium heat melt about 8 ounces of milk chocolate chips and about half of a 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk. Stir constantly until smooth and chocolate has melted. 

Evenly spread the chocolate into the bottom of a 10-inch pie pan with a Graham Cracker crust. (note: I had to use store-bought crust b/c of not having the oven and it does keep this recipe simple. But homemade is so very yummy.)

On top of the chocolate fudge layer spread the whipped peanut butter topping. 

Cover and freeze overnight or at least several hours. 

Serve in petite slices, trust me. 

FYI: The photograph is of the very last piece. When I brought the pie to dinner at my dad's the other night, my only request was to save me one last piece--for photographic purposes, of course. Next time I should remember to take a picture of the first piece. She was much more attractive. :)

sniff, sniff

A few weeks ago, two of my dear cousins came to town for a visit and stayed at my grandmother's house. On their last day, we sat together in my grandmother's bedroom on her boldly upholstered sofa, knitting, looking at old scrapbooks, reminiscing, and assessing the future. 

One of my favorite things in my grandmother's bedroom, aside from that great sofa, are the throw pillows that cover it. I've said it before but one of the things I love about my grandmother's house is that her handiwork is everywhere. And those pillows are no exception. Some were gifts, some made by her children and many made by her. 

To me, they are little gestures that carry so much love, care and effort. 

And during the time we spent in her bedroom that Sunday afternoon, I determined that I would make each of the girls a pillow of their own for Valentine's Day this year. 

When I was living on my grandmother's farm, she gifted me a small basket of her fabric scraps and many of those fabrics went into the girls' pillows. At the bottom of that basket, I also found a piece of the same fabric that upholsters her bedroom sofa--enough to back each of the girls pillows. 

As I ironed and stitched the fabrics together and appliqued a special design on the front of each pillow, for each girl, I said to my husband, "This fabric smells like her still." It made me teary, but happy.

And when those three little girls opened their presents Valentine's morning and pulled out the pillows, they clutched them and buried their noses in them. "This smells like Meemu!" And they recognized that fabric and knew bits of it were from her. 

It made all the effort and the sneaking-around sewing, and the borrowed sewing machine, and the stuck fingers, and the ripped out stitches and silly mistakes worth it.

this + that

We just got back from our first outing since the snow storm. Who knew a trip to the grocery store could be so exciting? But we survived. Dan made it back to work today. The chickens got their first taste of daylight this morning. And all the cats and kittens are accounted for. 

There was much craziness, crafting, a bit of whining, knitting, toaster-oven baking, and warm meals in the crockpot. And I appreciated my electricity every minute that it stayed on. We also miraculously managed to require the baking of not one, but three batches of scones. And once the chocolate chips ran out, we moved on to butterscotch. So much better, in my opinion, and in everyone else's, I believe. I'm looking forward to trying them soon with some fresh berries thrown in. 

I'll leave you with a short list of goodness for your weekend browsing pleasure:

RikRak Studio's 2010 Handmade Olympics. (lots of new etsy inspiration to discover)

This print from LeSophie. 

"Making Your Home A Little Piece of Heaven" at Clover Lane. 

This picture makes me both nostalgic and giddy for what may someday be in our future here at Thomas Run.

I think I may have found my knitted blanket, if I can just figure out how to make the yarn purchasing a bit more affordable. But this blanket also tempts me....

This print now hangs beside my bed, thanks to someone special. 

And speaking of special, two lovely ladies made me feel very special over at CafeMom. 

What goodness are you enjoying today?

Wishing you all a warm, peaceful weekend....

the winners

Despite my late posting today, the power is on and the storm has passed. Now the cleaning and clearing fun can begin...

The winners of the Moleskine giveaway are :

Deb who said:

My kids love them because of the famous people they know who also used them :)

and

Kristin who said:

oh, I would love to win! I've never even had a moleskin, and I keep hearing people rave about them!

Congratulations! Please send me an email with your contact information and we'll work out all the shipping details. 

mouse is a good cat

I'm popping in here to share these two pictures that I've been loving lately. A little before and after of Mouse, Mary's cat. I have been meaning to get a good picture of him, all grown up, all grown into all that fluff and fuzz. He is a patient sweetheart. 

Mouse, circa June 2009

During all of Mary's "doctor stress" in the past few weeks, she had to go in one afternoon for blood work. It was horrible. Her fear-reaction to any shot or blood test is so strong, that the pediatrician was even offering a sedative. Needless to say, trying to get her out the door and in to the car that afternoon was difficult. 

When we finally got her outside, she was still so upset and afraid. Dan sat her down in the car and then bent down to scoop up Mouse and put him in her arms. "Take him with you to the doctor." he said. After initial shock to what her Daddy had just said, all her energy and attention that was focused on the impending shots was focused on her cat curled up in her arms. And she settled right down.

Meanwhile, Mouse has never been in the car, except for maybe falling asleep in the back while it has been parked in the driveway. I had visions of driving to the doctor's office, Mary screaming in the back seat about shots and needles, Mouse clinging, claws out-stretched to the back of my neck.

But, he surprised me. He fell asleep in her arms while we drove to the doctor. A few times he opened his eyes to look out the window at the passing cars and then settled back down. He could care less, really. 

When we got to the doctor, we set him down in the seat while we went inside. He curled up again and fell asleep, waiting there quietly when we got back. 

He was the perfect antidote to the panic and the fear. 

Mouse is a good cat to have around.

give scones a chance

Since my "season" of being oven-less, I've had a hankering to bake a number of things. One of those being a batch of scones. Don't ask me why, but I've had scones on the brain. I neeed to make scones.

But lately, most of my attempts at any sort of dessert baking in the toaster oven have been pretty disappointing. I seem to be hitting the over-baked and under-baked marks, and have yet to find the perfect balance.

Maybe it's being snow-bound. Maybe it's pregnancy cravings. But this afternoon, I decided to give scones a chance. 

In this house, scones are a perfect dessert. Dan drinks a cup of coffee after dinner each night and likes "a little something" to go along with it. Yet he's not big on anything super-sweet or super-rich. So scones, with a touch of sweet are perfect. And with a small handful of chocolate chips thrown into the dough, it makes everyone happy. 

This recipe is from Alton Brown on the Food Network. You can find the original source here. They were light and fluffy, just a touch buttery. So, so good. (I admit, I sampled one pre-dinner.)

Chocolate Chip Scones

2 cups flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoons salt

1/3 cup sugar

4 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons shortening

3/4 cups cream

1 egg 

(we finally have two hens laying again so our eggs were farm-fresh. yay!)

What I did: Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl and "sift" with a fork to combine. Using two knives, cut in the butter and shortening. In a separate, small bowl, add the cream to a beaten egg. Make a "well" in the middle of the dry ingredients. Add the egg/cream mixture to the well and mix until combined. It will be sticky. Stir in a handful of dried fruit, chocolate chips, etc. (Here the recipe calls for you to turn the dough out onto a floured surface and cut into biscuit-sized shapes). I like "free-form" scones and just dropped them by spoonfuls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 15 minutes until lightly browned. 

(For baking in my toaster oven, I "eeked" back the temperature a bit and babysat them while they baked, cutting back the time by about 1 minute.)

Show & Tell : moleskine

  

 
 

 I have a problem. Maybe even an addiction. And I'm pretty sure this is a safe place to admit it. To come clean. Because something tells me there are other addicts among us. 

I am addicted to journals and planners. All things organizational. All that blank space for ideas and lists. 

It used to be that almost any journal could suck me in --lined, unlined, spiral, hardbound, wide ruled, college ruled...

  

 

But with time and experience and as I've honed my addiction, I've come to realize that there is one company that just gets it right. That has managed to think of all the things I want in a journal/planner -- from a tiny pocket in the back, to the "feel" of the page, to the amount of writing space. 

That company would be Moleskine. They have really managed to capture the perfect balance between planner space and journal space, and they do both very well. 

 

 

So I am really excited this morning to be able to offer a bundle of moleskine goodies to TWO lucky mommycoddle readers.  

 

 

Each bundle will include a Color-A-Month calendar and a pocket sized address book, as well as a few other tidbits, that I know you'll use and enjoy. 

Be sure to check out all that Moleskine has to offer as well as their new colors--blues, pinks? I love it.

In order to enter, simply leave a comment on this post and I'll announce the two random winners on Thursday. Good luck!

*Please note: I will be shipping out the winner's prizes myself, so I am asking each winner to pay for shipping (via paypal). Please be sure you are willing to do this, before you enter. Some of the products have been removed from their clear plastic packaging for "inspection" for my review, but are in perfect condition, otherwise. 

worth sharing

Yesterday morning, cleaning up breakfast dishes in the kitchen, I found myself thinking, "I can't remember what kinds of things I blog about." I think we all go through these blog-phases where it doesn't seem like there is much to be said. Although this seems to contradict my thoughts just a few posts ago...hmn. 

But if I really stop to think, there are plenty of things each day worth noting...

*I'm beginning week 4 of no oven. It's a challenge, let me tell you. Someone wrote and said they hadn't used an oven in two years. That blows my mind. Especially when I'm itching to revisit my Artisan Bread book after Erin's post, and cookies just don't turn out well in the toaster oven, and I'm really wanting to whip up a good scone recipe, and make granola and, and....  Dan said to me last night, "Why don't you just try using it again? What's the worst that could happen? You blow up the house?" Yes, exactly. I'll wait for a new one, thank you. (He was kidding, of course.)

*We got a little snow yesterday and of course my chore companion was still happy to join me to let out chickens and feed the cats. The chickens weren't as fond of the snow as she was. You'd think they were walking on fire, the way the avoid stepping in the snow. Poor things.

*I went to the "baby doctor" yesterday. The baby is breech. And I'm measuring almost 36 weeks instead of 32. She also told me to "take it easy" after some "incidents" the week before. Taking it easy isn't so easy. Dan said maybe we should think about starting to get prepared... What!? The one measly sweater I've managed to knit for this baby isn't enough?? How am I ever going to fit in the knitting of this blanket I'm dying to make?? 

*There are new faces over at habit. 

*I'm really liking the discovery of the NewYorkTimes skimmer. For someone who doesn't (often) read the newspaper and never watches the news, it's a quick and easy way for me to stay current. 

*I found this article about snacking yesterday. It was really eye-opening and interesting to me. 

*Does anyone have a good solution for crazy-static-y child hair? My girls' hair is crazy and it's driving me crazy.

*The final season of LOST is here. I remember thinking when it started, "There's no way I'll last all the way until 2010 to see how it ends!!" Yet here I am.

*I'm inspired by Rachel's "thrifted wardrobe" set on flickr, once I get out of these maternity jeans.

*After a brief hiatus around the holidays, I'm back to collecting goodness on tumblr. Go take a peek. (And click on the "following" link. You may see what a few familiar faces and names are "collecting" as well.)

See? I guess there were a few things worth sharing. As always, friends, hello and thank you for stopping in here.