Oklahoma Homemaker

Favorite Things Friday - Mesh Fruit Feeder

2012-02-17T19:03:00.001-06:00

One of my favorite baby supplies is the mesh food feeder!! It's roughly $4-$5, and not only can you use it to introduce fruits and other things to a baby working on solids, but you can use it as a teething reliever by putting frozen fruit inside.

That's my Lily (14m), cutting her 5th tooth and loving the relief the frozen fruit provides! She's been wandering around for 20 minutes now, gnawing away.

Chicken Stroganoff for the Crockpot

2012-02-14T10:51:00.001-06:00

Have I mentioned yet that I am IN LOVE with my crockpot? I would marry it if I wasn't already married and it wasn't an inanimate object.

Because today is Valentine's Day I decided to make one of hubby's favorite dishes: Chicken Stroganoff. I make it in the crockpot and it takes literally 5 minutes to throw together. Want to see this in action? Watch and learn!

Crockpot Chicken Stroganoff

Ingredients:

16 oz container sour cream
1 packet dry onion soup mix
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 lb (ish) frozen chicken breasts

Ready? Here is how simple this is....

Dump the entire container of sour cream into a medium mixing bowl (or tupperware, if you follow my example).

Next, dump the entire can of cream of mushroom soup in. (Did I mention this is EASY!?)

Thirdly, dump the entire packet of dry onion soup mix on top of that. Really, these first three steps can be done in any order. Why?

Because you just mix it all together!!

Put the frozen chicken breasts in the bottom of the crockpot.

Pour the soup/sour cream mixture over the top and smooth around with the spoon.

Cook on low for 7-8 hours or high 4-6 hours!! I cut up the cooked chicken roughly as I am getting ready to serve it, then pour over cooked egg noodles. This stuff is YUM!!

This bowl and spoon is all the cleanup you will have after prep is done.

Simply rinse it out after starting the crockpot and cleanup will be a snap, as there will be NO dried up food to scrub off!

Incredibly Easy Valentine Snacks

2012-02-13T13:44:00.001-06:00

Hey all!

I'm very lucky to be apart of a super awesome stay at home moms group that gets together for play dates, meetups,and parties. We do a good job of rotating the responsibility of who hosts small group play dates in their homes-because lets face it-inviting a bunch of moms and their kids to your house to play is a chore to prepare for. I ABSOLUTELY love to host small group play dates and go all out on a theme. I've had The Hungry Caterpillar, Dr. Suess, cupcakes, and Halloween play dates to name a few. I usually serve snacks to go with the theme, have a fun and easy craft, and read a book for story time.

Tomorrow I'll be hosting a Valentine's Day themed play date and have lots of fun things planned. I'm going to share some of the easiest snacks I'm making (2-3 ingredients) that I got the ideas for on Pinterest (I am OBSESSED with that site!). I love snacks like these because they are high impact with minimal effort. I will be making other treats for tomorrow that will require more time and ingredients than these but I wanted to post these easy peasy ones first in case anyone is in crunch mode for ideas.

The first snack I'm sharing is Pink Fudge.

You will need two things:

White Chocolate Chips
Strawberry Frosting

I doubled up this recipe and used two bags and two cans.

All you have to do is melt the chips in a large bowl. I did this in my microwave stopping in 30 second increments and stirring until completely melted.

Then simply dump the strawberry frosting inside and stir it all up until combined.

I poured the mixture into a large sheet pan and swirled a butter knife through the top to make a pretty swirly design.

And because I love sprinkles, I put some heart sprinkles on top, but that is completely optional and not necessary.

Pop the pan into the fridge for a few minutes to harden up and then you can cut in small squares. I busted out my handy dandy heart shaped cookie cutter and made these cutie pies.

On to easy snack #2!
Heart Shaped Twinkies with Berry Sauce
Again, you will need only two things:

Twinkies
Berry Pie Filling

Cut the Twinkie on a deep diagonal starting about an inch down on the left side and finishing at an inch up on the right side. Fit both halves together and shape into a heart. Drizzle with the pie filling and viola!!!

Now, if you all will excuse me I am off to go make a heck of a mess of my kitchen and work my dishwasher overtime making more snacks for our playdate. Hope you all have a fantastic Valentine's Day and get to share it with the ones you love.

LisaAl

Favorite Things Friday-Freckled Lemonade (in cake form!!!!)

2012-02-10T14:21:00.001-06:00

I have two very favorite things from the gourmet burger restaurant Red Robin. Neither of which is a burger-although, those are delicious too! But without a doubt, every time I eat there I'm gonna get Freckled Lemonade to drink and about five extra sides of their ranch dressing. I simply cannot have fries at that place without having some ranch to dip it in.

The other night when looking up some Valentine's Day dessert recipes I happened upon a pink lemonade flavored cake. I filed it away as a contender for an upcoming post. Yesterday, I realized I had some strawberries that we're needing to be used up fairly fast so LIGHTBULB-put the two together to make my favorite Red Robin drink-in CAKE FORM. Sometimes my genius surprises even me.

If you are not aware of the awesomeness that is Freckled Lemonade let me give you the low down. It's a tall glass of their lemonade with strawberries added to it. It's delicious. Droooooooollll.

What you will need-
A box of lemon cake mix
A box of instant lemon pudding
4 eggs
1 can of pink lemonade frozen concentrate
1/2 cup of milk
1/3 cup of vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups of strawberries (chopped and macerated with sugar)
(Not pictured-extra sugar/pink food coloring/whipped cream (optional))

The first thing I did was chop up the strawberries and sprinkle them with sugar in an airtight container. Gave the container a few hard shakes, then put in the fridge for a few hours.

Next I mixed the cake mix, pudding mix, milk, eggs, and the vegetable oil in my stand mixer with a paddle attachment on low until it was thoroughly combined.

Next I added 1/2 cup of the pink lemonade frozen concentrate mixture and let my mixer go for about 30 seconds more.

And then I added about a cup of the strawberry mixture.

And to make it pink and more "Valentines-y" (yes, I make up words) I added some pink food coloring until I got a pretty pale shade of pink.

I poured that mixture into a greased bundt pan and baked it in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes (you are gonna wanna start checking for doneness about the 35 min mark).

While I was letting the cake cool, I made a sour strawberry mixture to go over the top of the cake. Super easy....the rest of the can of pink lemonade concentrate, the rest of the strawberries, and 1/2 cup of sugar. I stuck it all inside my blender and pulverized it until it was nice and smooth. OOOOOOO pretty.......

I ran into some complications getting my cake out of the bundt and the top stuck quite a bit (PEOPLE-you need to grease, and flour, and spray the HECK out of those things!!!!!)....but since I was putting the sour strawberry mixture over the top I didn't sweat it too bad. The sour strawberry mixture was able to soak in easier and it didn't affect the taste at all.

I cut myself a big slice and put on a huge dollop of whipped cream to cut some of the tangy flavor of the lemon and this was oh so yummy and delicious. Just like my favorite drink, but in cake form-Ta da!

Wordful Wednesday - Benign is the Word of the Day!

2012-02-08T12:10:00.001-06:00

You see this little boy? Today the surgeon declared he DOES NOT HAVE CANCER!! It's been a journey for us, from the first time his lymph nodes swelled up two years ago until now. He finally had the biggest lymph node removed, along with his tonsils and adenoids, a week ago. The biopsy for lymphoma came back benign and we are SOOOOO THRILLED!!! Knowing that cancer was a possibility has been a life changing thing for us. We have learned that no matter what you should always appreciate the loved ones in your life. You never know when they might be taken away from you.

~*~Hannah~*~

Enter the Blender

2012-02-05T06:00:00.000-06:00

Okay, it is time for a confession. Ever since the acquirement of my new blender (thanks LisaAl!) I have gone nuts throwing things in there to see what happens. Dangerous? Quite possibly. No worries, I only use edible items.

The above was my first batch, and it was delish!

I was nervous about having the "right" recipe to use. What if I didn't have all the ingredients for whatever specific online recipe I was using? It's not too hard, actually. All you need is:

A cup or two of ice
A binder of some kind (yogurt, slim fast, etc)
Anything else your heart desires (chopped spinach, fresh or frozen fruit, etc)

The above picture came from the following:

1 cup ice
1 cut up banana
1 cup peach applesauce

My 3 year old just had his tonsils/adenoids/1 golf-ball sized lymph node removed and he begged for it.

Today's batch:

2 cups ice
2 cups frozen (semi thawed) mixed fruit including peaches and strawberries
1 vanilla slim fast shake

Use your imagination! I will be working on a smoothie list for upcoming Smoothie Week! That's how obsessed I am becoming!!

Hannah

Doctored Up Football Brownies

2012-02-04T11:00:00.000-06:00

Are you ready for some football?????

You guys, I love football. Seriously. I was born and raised in Colorado and honest to God, my childhood hero was (and still is) John Elway. I love that guy! (And NO, I did not just jump on the Denver Broncos bandwagon because of a certain new quarterback whose name rhymes with Jim Jebow!!!) I’m kidding, I like Tim. He’s a genuine good guy. But I loved the Broncos LONG before he came around! Unfortunately, my team will NOT be playing in the big game but it’s hard to still not get excited about the game, and the commercials, and the performances watching for monumental screw ups and wardrobe malfunctions (am I the only one who does that?).

You know what else I like? Ridiculously easy ways to dress up a box mix of something that makes it seem like I worked much harder than I actually did baking something. But now that I shared that tidbit with THE ENTIRE INTERNET, my secret is out. But that’s ok. Because now everyone will love me for sharing my secrets, so it’s all good. I need lots of affirmation-it’s good for my self-esteem.

We’ve been invited to a friend’s house for a Super Bowl Party and I have a very super busy weekend planned. My husband is taking me out for my birthday this evening to dinner and a movie while my in-laws watch the kiddos for us (THANKS DEE AND GARY!!!!) because he is having to have minor surgery on my actual birthday (Wednesday-so prayers and happy thoughts appreciated please). Tomorrow we have a birthday party to attend in the afternoon before the game so my free time is pretty limited to make a snack to take with us to the big game. I obviously still want to make something that’s super delicious and I almost ALWAYS make some sort of fun, sweet treat. I decided to make some doctored up boxed brownies and make them into fun football shapes.

What you’ll need

2 boxes of brownie mix (I use Ghirardelli because it’s a really good dense brownie as far as boxed mixes go and it has chocolate chips already in the mix)

2 eggs

2/3 cup of vegetable oil

½ cup water

Instant coffee

Caramel sheets used to wrap caramel apples (these are usually found in the produce section)

One tub of vanilla frosting

First thing you are going to do is heat up the water in a microwave safe cup to boiling. Add 1 teaspoon of instant coffee, mix, and let sit until cool.

In a big mixing bowl add the oil, coffee mixture, and eggs and whisk until combined.

Add both boxes of brownie mix and stir until all the batter is mixed (this particular mix is very thick and chunky because of the chocolate chips inside).

Grease or spray a sheet pan with non stick spray and add half the brownie batter.

It will be thin and you will have to smooth with a spatula considerably to get it all covered.

Then add the caramel sheets until the brownie mix is covered. I used 7 discs and had to cut one up to fit the areas that had brownie mix showing through.

Spread the second half of the brownie batter over the top; again, spreading to cover the entire dish.

Bake at 325 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until done. Don’t overbake. There is nothing more sacrilegious than an overbaked, dry, brownie.

NOW FOR THE FUN PART!

If you have a football shaped cookie cutter, more power to you, but I looked through my gazillion cutters and couldn’t find a single one. Not cool. But I found a pretty easy solution by cutting the brownies into rectangles like normal, and then using a circle cutter on both long sides to make it look like a football. TADA!!!

Since we are going for fast and easy here, I used some canned vanilla frosting, put inside a disposable piping bag, and decorated the brownie football shapes with laces.

For the record-footballs have 8 laces. You know, in case you are ever on Jeopardy or Who Wants to be a Millionaire and they ask that question. I love trivia. I didn't have quite enough room on my brownies for 8 laces...oh well.

I hope you all have a wonderful Super Bowl Weekend, and even if you aren’t a football fan, you can still enjoy this brownie recipe. And if you don’t like brownies…..well then I’m sorry, but we just can’t be friends. Kidding. Sorta.

LisaAl

Favorite Things Friday

2012-02-03T06:00:00.000-06:00

Yesterday afternoon I made a rookie mommy parenting mistake.

I went to the bathroom for longer than 30 seconds and I closed the door.

Wow, the messes than an almost 4 year old and almost 3 year old can make in no time flat.

An entire box of Rice Crispy cereal spilled out all over my daughter’s room and smooshed into the carpet. The kids were pretending that it was sand or something because my son had the back of his dump truck full of delicious pop cereal. Sigh.

Thankfully it was very easy to vacuum up and I was only out the cost of a box of cereal. When you are a parent you quickly realize how much more expensive and time consuming kids messes can be (Sharpie on new leather couch anyone???!!! Oh yeah, been there done that).

Since this is my Favorite Things Friday post you may be wondering where this is going. Does she like Rice Crispy cereal so much she wants to blog about it??? Is she about to share her affection for Sharpie markers???

Nope.

I am going to simply remind myself that my two kiddos are my favorite things.

I have been blessed with a daughter who has SO MUCH personality, who at such a young age has an amazingly generous and giving spirit, and is full of precious giggles and wonderful make believe stories.

I have been blessed with a son who is such a sharp young man. He tinkers and tries to fix any type of knob, screw, buttons, building blocks, you name it. He is so incredibly polite and every time he says “Thank you, Mommy” I feel like my heart will explode into a million pieces.

You get these two together and it can be absolutely crazy! I hit the ground running every single day trying to keep up with these two kiddos.

But they are absolutely, without any doubt, My Favorite Things.

LisaAl

Wordless Wednesday - Momma's Little Helper

2012-02-01T15:41:00.002-06:00

Yay for Wordless Wednesdays! I have a fever and bad cough, so enjoy the picture while I take myself to the ol' doctor!

Orion (3) voluntarily (omgoodness!) vacuuming his sisters' bedroom floor. Why yes, he does insist on hanging out in a pullup all day. Hopefully that will stop when he starts preschool this fall, or he might make some girls swoon.

Proof that even young children can (and should) have chores. Can you see the character building on this kiddo?

I'm so excited....and I just can't hide it!

2012-01-31T12:41:00.000-06:00

I’m so excited!!!!

So I have a pretty big announcement to make.

Are you sitting down?

Do you have a brown paper bag ready in case you hyperventilate?

Have you eaten lately? I don’t want your blood sugar low and have you pass out on me….

I’M THE NEW CO-AUTHOR OF OKLAHOMA HOMEMAKER!!!!

Ok-in all honesty the above precautions were mainly for me because I am just SO DARN EXCITED to be a part of this blog with my friend Hannah.

I am not a big fan of talking about myself….but since an introduction seems to be in order I’d like to present myself in a nutshell.

I’m 27 years old.

I’ve been married for almost 6 years to my husband Jeff.

I have two kiddos. Lily age 3 and Garrett age 2. Two fur babies-Duke and Abby (the cutest mini-wiener dogs ever).

My absolute favorite things in life besides my family are reading, crafting, baking, upcycling used items, ZUMBA, and taking ridiculously long hot baths.

I look forward to sharing more about myself and my awesome family.

I sincerely am so grateful to be a regular contributor to this blog. I know how hard it was for me to get into a mommy groove and still have things that I felt were something that was for ME. I hope that any tips, tricks, ideas, recipes, etc. that I share will come to good use to someone. This is a great motivator for me to keep on top of documenting all the cool projects I do and a place to share the recipes that are keepers at my house.

Thanks to sweet Hannah for asking me to be a part of this awesome blog and special thanks to you all -the readers new and old. Hope you continue to check out our blog and share and leave your comments and feedback!

LisaAl

Crockpot Mac n Cheese with Beef

2012-01-30T10:18:00.001-06:00

Who is up for mac and cheese like you have probably never had it before?

I made it in the crockpot. It was SUPER yummy!

Ingredients:

16 oz macaroni (approximately 2 cups dry)

1 lb. ground beef

24 oz sharp cheddar cheese

3 cups milk

2 cans evaporated milk (12 oz can)

1/2 cups melted butter (1 stick)

2 whole eggs

1 tsp salt (or to taste)

1 tsp garlic powder (or to taste)

1 tsp parsley (or to taste)

1 tsp thyme (or to taste)

1 tsp basil (or to taste)

1/8 tsp black pepper (or to taste)

Prep:

Cook macaroni according to package instructions and drain. Brown ground beef and drain excess fat. Mix all other ingredients together and add to macaroni. Spray crock pot with nonstick cooking spray. Pour mixture into crockpot and cook on LOW for 4 hours. Stir occasionally.

Easy? Yes, I quite think so.

Sunday Snaps - Welcome to the Newcomers!

2012-01-29T00:00:00.000-06:00

I am so thrilled that people are finding this blog! We have gotten over 5,000 views this month and we have three days left!

I have a big announcement for you all and I just can't wait to tell you about it!! You have to wait though...it will be public soon!

I have a new recipe coming up this week, along with other goodies for you all! There is LOTS in store for Oklahoma Homemaker this year and I am so excited to see it grow and improve!!

Sunday Snaps Ahoy! Sharing the love from Jasmine and DH! Aren't they sweet!?

Stop in my comments section and say hi!

Wordless Wednesday - Too Many Chargers!!

2012-01-25T10:31:00.003-06:00

Not completely wordless, as I want to explain this picture. It is a tub filled with chargers. They are separated into baggies, and I wrote on the side of the baggies with permanent marker as to what the contents went to. Now, I can find my phone charger with ease, among other things. When you have various games and phones to charge, you need to know at a glance which charger goes to what item so you can grab and go! I keep the empty baggie in the tub while charging whatever gadget, then return the charger promptly to its home when charging is complete. :)

The Burnt Pan Solution

2012-01-23T17:27:00.002-06:00

If you are like me, you may regrettably burn things on the bottom of the pan about as often as a rabbit breeds. Which is....all the time.

I have not found a good cure for this and I have a stack of pans that have suffered such a fate that cannot be used.

Until today.

On a whim, I tried out a pinterest method on wouldn't you know it? It worked! I now have a small skillet that is in usable condition again. Want to know how I did it?

I found a burnt pan, which took all of 2 seconds.

Looks awful, doesn't it? I sure thought so. Hubby had even mentioned throwing it away.

I filled the bottom of it with water.

Then, I added a cup of vinegar and brought it to a boil on the stove.

As soon as it got to a rolling boil I removed it from heat and added 2 teaspoons of baking soda.

I gave it a good stir with my measuring spoon, and watched as black flakes quickly rose to the surface as I did so. Then, I poured it out into the sink and took a scrubbie to it and with NO elbow grease, the leftover bits of black burnt-ness came off as smoothly as butter!!

And here I am showing off my newly clean pan!! So nifty and took about 5 minutes to do!!

Now go forth and clean all those burnt pans you gave up on ages ago!!

Wordless Wednesday - Self Portrait

2012-01-18T07:12:00.003-06:00

I rarely post pictures of myself so here you are...two days ago when it was nice and 70something outside. Now it's 23 out. Gotta love Oklahoma.

2012-01-17T13:04:00.000-06:00

I'm baaaaaaaaack!!!!!

And I have a wonderful surprise for you all.

Remember the teaser I gave about the table and chairs makeover in my play kitchen post?

Well, lucky you all, because I'm gonna share it with you and you didn't have to wait long at all!

I had been keeping my eye open on Craigslist and at yard sales for a children's wooden table and chairs set. I wasn't being too picky on color or any aesthetics as long as it was built sturdy.

I found this table and chairs for a steal on Craigslist from a daycare center that was closing.

The table itself was a light oak color and there were two blue and two red chairs. Obviously, it was in pretty used condition as there were chipped paint skuffs, marker and crayon marks, and sticker reside all over. I got out the magic eraser and cleaned up what I could and settled in for a fun time of painting YAY! -and math and angles BOO!

I started off by giving the red chairs a new coat of red and finishing with clear coat. I wanted the table and chairs to go with the kitchen set I had painted so I covered the blue chairs with black paint and then a layer of clear coat.

The oak table got several coats in white paint and then my headache began.

Before I go on to the next portion of this makeover let me give a disclaimer.

I hate math.

I hate angles/geometry/algebra/pretty much anything math oriented.

I rarely do things the easy way and usually find said easy way well after my project is complete.

End disclaimer.

I wanted to paint a checkerboard on top of the kids table so that it would have a useful decoration on top of what would have been a plain white table.

Really? How hard can it be to paint a checkerboard with even squares?

I started by taping off a square and painting it red.

Then I went back with pencil and outlined the correct number of squares needed for a checkerboard (8x8 if you are wondering right now).

Remember my disclaimer? That part about me not doing things the easy way? Well this picture above is a bright and shining example of this. I hand painted each tiny little square, with a tiny art brush, pulling my hair out trying to keep perfect, neat, straight lines.

Don't be like me.

A smart person would have taped off those lines to be able to get perfect straight lines in those squares-with no hair pulling and tiny artist brush usage involved.

Me, I'm just building character doing things the hard way.

Anywho----Tada! Black squares complete!

At this point in the project I think I'm all done. All that is left to do is remove the blue painters tape and I'm good to go.

WRONG.

When I pulled the tape off some of the paint had seeped under leaving tiny unsightly lines.

No problem. I just got out my trusty little artist brush and painted a black outline around the whole thing. It actually gave a good border and made the whole checkerboard kinda pop. I threw on a couple layers of clear coat....

...and the final complete project came out looking awesome!

Thanks again to my girl Hannah for letting me use her blog to share some of my cool projects with you all!

Lisa Al

Wordless Wednesday: Open Mouth Kiss

2012-01-11T16:57:00.002-06:00

THINK FAST, MOM!

Bacon Grease? Yes, please!

2012-01-10T08:54:00.002-06:00

The scene happens all the time. I am leaning on the counter flipping through recipes until I come across a particularly yummy-looking one. I can do this one I think, as I begin copying the recipe down for my notebook. Then, I come to one ingredient that always throws me off: bacon grease. Really, how many people fry up a load of bacon just to have grease to use in their dinner recipe which, of course, contains NO bacon?

I came up with a solution.

First, I fried up bacon for breakfast one morning. Yes, I couldn't exactly skip that part. Since I have become an avid coffee drinker the last few months, I had plenty of coffee filters leftover, although cheesecloth or other methods of straining will work just as well.

When the bacon was done, I let the grease cool off a bit and meanwhile put a coffee filter into a large cup, folding the edges over and sealing with tape to ensure it wouldn't fall into the bottom of the cup. After about 30 minutes of cooling the grease, I poured it into the filter. I came back about 30 minutes later to find beautifully strained bacon grease in the cup, and the crumbs in the filter. I detached the filter and tossed it, then poured the clean grease into a canning jar and put the lid on. It sits in my refrigerator. And, of course, I don't currently have any recipes that use bacon grease. At least now I am prepared, right?

It will store for quite awhile in the refrigerator, and I did use a few teaspoons of it the other day to make a non stick surface, which worked out very well. It cools off into a white pasty mixture, which is fine because as soon as it starts heating up it becomes the brownish clear liquid we all know and love.

Wooden Play Kitchen Makeover

2012-01-07T00:00:00.000-06:00

Hello!
First off-huge thanks to my incredibly awesome possum cool friend Hannah for letting me share this guest post on her blog. Having met her only a few times-let me tell you all-she is one awesome Chica-and I have the upmost respect for her and all she does for her kiddos. I have a hard enough time with my two and I'm convinced Hannah must be superwoman or something!

Anyways-enough sucking up (hehehe-I better stop or we won't get her head through the door LOL)-let's get on to this super cool makeover I have to share with you all!

See this?

I bought it super cheap on Craigslist. I had just got rid of my kiddos plastic kitchen and wanted to get a wooden kitchen playset that I could redo to match a kids table and chair set that I made over (future blog post???).

Honestly it was good enough the way I bought it. However, with a daughter and son I wanted something that was a little more gender neutral color wise and something that matched the colors in our house.

I had paint that I had bought with the sole purpose of this kitchen redo and table and chairs set makeover in mind. A quarter gallon of both red and black and two of white and I even have paint left over for another project!

Well, that pastel piece got transformed into this classy red/black/and white kitchen.

Wowza huh?

I especially love the burners.
I just took some CD's and spray painted them silver and then topped with a layer of clear coat. Same goes for the sink bin! I even used some red and black plastic safe spray paint on an empty dial soap container, covered with clear coat again, and used a Sharpie to right the word *SOAP* on it!

Most of the red outlining was done with red electrical tape that I had on hand already as well.

My kids love love LOVE this kitchen and I definitely think its slightly more appealing to the eye now. It certainly fits the feel of the house more too!

Thanks again for letting me share this makeover with you all! Hope to come back and share more of my projects with you!

Mamacita Lisa (Lisa Al)

Lego Bin

2012-01-03T13:04:00.002-06:00

I have made it a goal to do one thing off pinterest every week, whether it's a recipe or a craft. I'm not a very artsy person, so anything I choose will have to be something I can accomplish without thinki- SQUIRREL!

Today I made a lego bin for my boys. One son got Star Wars legos for Christmas and they're already starting to get spread around the house. When I see tiny pieces of something that Lily can swallow, they immediately go into the trash, no questions asked. So to save my son and myself much chagrin, here is what I did:

Wash Folger's coffee can:

Print off 3 Lego Labels and cut out:

Glue securely around the 3 panels of the coffee container:

Now all I have to do is fill it, put the lid on, and set it securely on the top shelf of my son's closet.

You can do this with crayons, Hotwheels, and all kinds of other things!! Visit this blog to get the .pdf printable labels.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Hannah

2012 - The Year of Inevitable Doom and Happiness

2012-01-01T14:40:00.000-06:00

I foresee many good things about the future of Oklahoma Homemaker! I am putting some thought process into adding a co-author to the mix, and being more diligent with the house and recipe entries.

Here is to a new and great year! Last year sucked so we can only go up! And remember....by the end of this year we will all be roaming flesh-tearing zombies. Enjoy each other's company now, because in less than 12 months we will be gnawing our neighbor's arm off and chasing down the local zombie hunters.

Making friends

2011-12-19T21:05:00.003-06:00

I have been reading "Pretending to be Normal" by Liane Holliday Willey, thanks to a friend who stuck it in my hand and told me to read it. It's the autobiography of a woman living with Aspberger's. I find that in many respects I could have written it. Today I found myself with about two hours of time to read at the dentist's office...unfortunately no one said the book wouldn't make me nearly cry.

"...as the first semester moved on, I seemed to be left behind. I noticed groups forming and all of them without me....soon I saw I was invisible....I did not understand why I was being excluded. To choose to be left out is one thing, but to be locked out, is quite another. A smile and a few minutes of conversation used to be enough to make a friend, and for the life of me, I could not figure out when or why this had stopped being the rule (after high school) (53)."

This struck home for me. I have always felt like something of an outsider even when surrounded by acquaintances and friends. I learned how to act like I understood the joke even if I didn't, and to react like those around me to fit in. I would have given my left thumb to be able to socialize without feeling awkward inside, stumbling over my words, or saying the wrong thing or the right thing the wrong way. Or worse, hiding my true opinions about things for fear that they weren't the majority and I would be ridiculed.

I thought I found a "bosom buddy" earlier this year. We seemed so much alike. We got along great, and helped each other through some rough times. Suddenly, she threw me off all her social networks, refused to answer calls or texts, and that was that. I still, to this day, don't know what I did or said that was so horrible that she would destroy a friendship at the drop of a hat. While I'm not completely bothered by it, I am bothered enough by not knowing why, or what social line I had inadvertently crossed.

I know so many sweet people I wish I could become closer to, but I feel so awkward. I am afraid. I don't think they will get me...I have certain issues that result from my severe anxiety and ocd that I am afraid would seem repulsive to neur-regular people.

My husband seems to sense I have had a harder time lately with my sensory processing. Last night my oldest was twirling multi colored nunchuck lights and twirled it directly in front of my face. The flash into my eyes made my head feel like it was exploding and triggered an almost instant migraine. I covered my eyes and ran from the room. My husband, bless his heart, followed me and hugged me firmly until I stopped shaking. He then kissed me tenderly and told me it's okay. In that moment I felt warmth and love and comfort.

Now about that friends thing...

Lily is 1!

2011-12-17T08:52:00.001-06:00


7 weeks pregnant

16 weeks pregnant

July 21, 2010: And so my head's all in a whirl, because we're having another girl!


24 weeks

29 weeks pregnant

32 weeks


34 weeks

36 weeks

December 12, 2010: I am officially pregnant the longest I ever have been with any of my kiddos.

December 14, 2010: 38wk3d appt...baby still breech. Momma in a lot of pain from baby's feet hitting nerve endings causing my entire right side lower back/hip to spasm when I'm moving (aka attempting to walk). 3 more days to c-section.

December 16, 2010: Eating my last food for 12+ hours. C-sec at 8:15am.

December 17, 2010: Lily Ann-Marie: 8:44am. 6 lbs 14 oz. 19.5 inches. Smooth sailing and already seems to be a champ nurser. Time for a nap.

December 20, 2010: Gabriel walked in the door, asked if I got the baby cut out of my tummy, then asked "Did she bite or was she nice to the doctor?" LMAO

December 23, 2010: Did I end up with a daughter who will look like me?

December 23, 2010: My Christmas baby

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months


5 months

6 months


9 months

Halloween 2010

My darling 1 year old princess

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SWEET PEA!!

Head Bruise

2011-12-08T12:33:00.001-06:00

This morning started out testy. Those days when you seem to make bad decisions at every turn. Sadly, it should have been a great day. My 2yo SPD daughter slept 7 hours straight in her own bed and own room, and woke up in a good mood. I have not slept more than 1-2 hours at a time in....a long long time. I got up, woke up my 11yo ds who had overslept, and made coffee.

Maybe it's because I hadn't had coffee yet. Maybe I just had too much sleep for what my body was used to. Either way, I made a bad decision that ended in a spat with my husband. I am an overly-emotional person, and I take it hard when we fight, though there are few things we actually do fight about. I get embarassed and cut myself down.

When that was finally over with I took the boys to school and went in to rummage through the lost and found lockers. The boys have lost a ton of winter gear already, and I hoped to locate some of it. I did, in the form of 3 hoodies, 1 mitten, and 1 beanie hat. Still 4 pairs of gloves and 3 beanie hats missing.

Upon arriving home, I went to Facebook and chatted briefly with the ladies in my Flylady Way group. They helped me motivate myself enough to clean the kitchen, dining room, fold and put away 3 loads of laundry, make lunch for myself, hubby, and kids, mop the dining room (my MOST HATED chore!!!), and get more accomplished than I expected to given the mood of the day already.

Then, I noticed the miniature prelit Christmas tree that had been on the entertainment center. Why was it unplugged and moved? I asked hubby, who responded that the kids kept messing with it. He suggested I put it on the middle cabinet that separates the dining from the living room. The previous tenants had put their tv there, and cut a circular hole in it with wiring down inside the cabinet with plugins. So, I moved the tree there (hopefully) out of the reach of scalawags. With my head inside the big part of the cabinet containing the plugins, I attempted to wind the tree cord back up through the hole. Unfortunately, no one was there to grab the end for me, so I moved up to grab it myself and smacked my head soundly on a drawer sticking out just above me.

That sent me into overload. I laid on the floor and cried. Hubby and kids rushed to see what happened, having heard the crack of my head meeting the wood. My 3yo comforted me, while my hubby laughingly asked how I managed to hit my head, and shook his own head at my clumsiness. He then helped me finish getting the cord through and plugged into the tree.

I am hoping my little meltdown will help keep away another overload today. Don't despair, fellow aspies, rest assured we ALL have those days!!

Month of Thankfulness: Day 3

2011-11-03T09:13:00.000-05:00

Day 3: I am thankful for the beast.

Without our van, we would get nowhere in life. Literally.