Sappy!

I've been having a lot of migraine/tension migraine problems for a while now. I went to the clinic here in town and the doctor I visited with set me up on two new medications and referred me for physical therapy once a week to help with my neck/shoulder tension and pain. I started one of the new medications right away last night, instructed to take the medicine before bed time. This one is to help with sleep and that, in turn, will help with my tension migraines.

This drug must be really loopy because I had the absolute most vivid and disturbing dream I have ever had.

In my dreams, I never see faces. I only see shoulders and down and I am left with the context clues to figure out who is who in my dreams. The feeling that the person gives me is what I have to decifer and make out who that person is supposed to be (or represent) in my dream. In the dream I had last night, I knew who everyone was because I saw every part of them, including their face.

I don't recall what was going on in the beginning of the dream, I'm assuming that part isn't supposed to matter. But my husband and I were being chased and we had our daughters with us. We parked outside of a house and Miss C chose to stay in the car. Miss A decided she wanted to come with us. We were only going in the house to trap the person chasing us. Just when we thought we had it figured out and had the guy trapped and secured, we noticed A wasn't with us. I panicked and ran back into the last room I had seen her in. The guy was standing over her lifeless body, laughing manically. Christian dragged me out of the house, to the car and drove away. I remember feeling like there was nothing left in the world. I drove myself back to that house to take A's body only to find that her body was gone.

My father had come and picked her up and buried her next to my paternal grandmother. Flash forward and it's after her funeral (to which I'm assuming I didn't attend; I had no memory of it). I remember riding in the car and just wailing in the backseat, looking across from me to where A should have been seated. We arrived at a family gathering that was at a park near the cemetery where my first born child lay. My dad kept reassuring me that I didn't have to be there; no one expected me to be out in public. I kept telling him that I HAD to do it. I HAD to be out, I HAD to be around others. I did, after all, have my second born daughter still depending on her mother. I remember holding C, sitting at the grave where A was buried, just sobbing.

Then, back in real life, my husband opened the bedroom door and I smelled bacon.

As I woke from my dream, this confused stupor ran over me. I hadn't seen A that morning before she left for school, so I was feeling super disconnected from her. I had a range of emotions and felt like picking her up from school right away. I resisted this urge; I knew she was fine. But this dream just reminded me that I am too hard on her. I expect too much and I get too frustrated too easily. She deserves more of a mother from me. I have to stop being Erin and starting being A's Mom. I don't plan on losing myself, but I've got to be more for her. I have to remember to let her be silly and weird. When she does something that makes me cringe my nose, I have to remember that she's only seven. She will learn from her experiences and become her own person. I still have to raise her. I still have to punish her and reprimand her. But I don't have to do it with a vengence. That isn't parenting.

She reminds me of everything I was as as child. I must not ruin her. She's amazing.




-Erin

Jake and the Neverland Pirates!

So Miss C had her birthday party on her birth date, which was September 28. I, naturally, was not feeling very well that day. But that is still NO excuse for not posting the pictures here. I am absolutely losing my mind when it comes to updating my blog. I really should stick post-it notes all over the house to remind me.

Nevertheless, here are too many pictures from that wonderful party!

This is the full view of the food table. 

I am overly proud of my table tent signs!

Peg Legs (bbq weenies with sword toothpicks)

Celery Planks (celery sticks trimmed down)

Carrot Planks (carrot sticks sliced)

Tic Toc Croc Slop (Watergate salad)

Gold Nuggets (colby jack cheese cubes)

Skully's Crackers (Club crackers; because Skully is a, ya know, parrot)

Fish & Chips (goldfish and Lay's wavy chips)

Cannonballs (black olives; everyone in the family LOVES them)

This is a full shot of the gift table

"X Marks The Spot" 

Pixie Dust (Wonka PixyStix in jars with cork stops,

strung with leather cord to emulate Izzy's pixie dust pouch)

This table also had:

Pirate's Booty (Rolo's and Hershey's bars as gold bars)

Strawberry and yellow buttercake cupcakes with gold sprinkles

And these are all pictures of Miss C opening her

presents and blowing out her birthday candles! 

Everyone that attended said that this was a wonderful birthday party. I am so glad so many people enjoyed it. I was also informed that most of the kids were talking about it for quite some time. Makes me beam with pride! One of my neices were over a while back and found some leftover party necklaces. 

She instantly smiled. "Were these from C's party?"

I nodded in confirmation.

"I had the best time that day."

-Erin

Homemade Salsa!

       So a friend of mine on Facebook asked for me to share the recipe for this really awesome salsa I made a little while back. I thought about if I REALLY wanted to share it. Even my husband was a smidge shocked when I told him I'd be sitting down to post this recipe. But I figured that this recipe should be enjoyed by as many folks as possible!

-EDIT-

Said friend commented on the link I posted to her facebook and here is her review:

   "Forgot to tell you, but we did make this salsa!! It was delicious! Matt was working 12hr night shifts when I did and he took it to work and everyone there raved over it too! Huge hit!! Thank you for sharing!!"

I do all of my prep work first. It makes for easier clean-up along the way.

Know this up front: you need a food processor. It's a great investment. It does all the hard work for you and makes for super easy clean-up. Just...get one. DO EEEET.

Start off by removing the seeds from your jalapenos. I always cut the stem side of the jalapeno off, then slice it in fourths. I then remove the seeds by slicing the whole white part off of the pepper. Make sure that you have removed all seeds! Even if you think you did, double check. Set the peppers aside. (As you can see, I went all pro-status and had my little glass bowls ready.)

I, then, take four cloves of garlic and peel them and cut each of them in half. Set those aside as well. (If you're anything like me...you never know what part of the garlic is the clove. Lol, jk. But seriously. When you go to the store, you'll see garlic bulbs in a crate. Buy just one of those. Then you break the bulb apart and each little segment is the clove.)

Grab your tomatoes next. Slice off where the stem grew on the tomato. I prefer to take the tomato and chop it up into pretty big chunks. I don't leave it whole before throwing it in the food processor because I don't like my salsa chunky. If you like your salsa chunky, by all means, leave them whole. Either way, set the tomatoes aside. (I am now singing the "I like 'em chunkay" song that the dude rhino sings to Gloria in Madagascar 2. Join in!)

Open your can of diced tomatoes and drain them. More or less, however much you want. I drained them as much as possible because the salsa turns into soup very easily. So the less liquid to add, the better. (I think this also goes along with the chunky-ness of the tomatoes. "I like 'em big. I like 'em chunkay. I like 'em big. I like 'em plumpay." Ahhh. Don't google the song. Don't do it, k?)

Take a good handful of your cilantro bunch. Cut the stems off right at where the leaves begin. Then chop these up a bit. (I always like moving my knife around like they do on all the cooking shows. I feel so special when I do.) You want the cilantro to be pretty finely chopped. You don't want to use the processor to chop these up because then all of your other ingredients become super thin.

Cut your lime in half. Take in the sweet, sweet smell of the lime. Do not taste the lime. Just. Don't.

Make sure to have all your other seasonings on the work space with the correct measuring tool available. (AKA use the same spoon for everything.)

Directions:

Combine your jalapenos and garlic. Process these two ingredients together until they are finely chopped. Scrape down the sides of the processor bowl and then process them some more.

Now. For the tricky part:

Add all other ingredients to the food processor. Pulse in very brief pulses until everything looks good. Move the salsa to a bowl. Squeeze your lime juice over the salsa, then mix with the scraping utensil. Taste salsa. Probably add a smidge more lime juice. Revel in the wonderful smell of salsa. Eat all the salsa before anyone else has a chance to. Don't forget to sometimes eat salsa with chips.

Ingredients:

2 fresh jalapenoes, seeded

4 garlic cloves, halved

2 large vine-ripened tomatoes

1 (28oz) can of diced tomatoes, drained

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tbsp cumin

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper

Juice of one lime

Enjoy!

-Erin

Update.

I cannot believe it has seriously been FIVE months since I've posted anything on this blog.

Like, what was I thinking?!!

We've been extremely busy in our world. Summer came, we did nothing. I worked all the time, every weekend and still have not much to show for it. My husband is taking five classes this fall at the local community college, our oldest daughter is in second grade and our youngest daughter will be turning four  in almost two weeks. I'm currently searching for a new job, although still employed at my old one.

My husband and I have decided to move to Alabama. I always tend to say "back to Alabama" but my husband informed me that we haven't lived in Alabama as a family, so we are not moving back there. We're just moving. So we're just moving in June 2014.

In other news: we're really excited for Miss C's birthday party on the 28th. We're doing a Jake and the Neverland Pirates themed party. The things I have for this party are so freaking adorable. It's killing me not to upload pictures and share them. But I'm trying to wait. Not my strong suit.

So here's my update. I'm really hoping the next one won't be five months away. :[

Crepes!

So my husband went out on a whim for Easter and decided to make a carrot cake. But not just any carrot cake. He made a mango-infused carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. I took a leftover portion to work as a sample and boy, did we get big praises! The cake was a hit at his sister's house on Easter, which is what we were going for. He came home with an empty cake stand. Just what I like to see. :]

So we have a good portion of leftover cream cheese frosting that I keep dipping a kids' size spoon into. So I figured instead of being a double dipper, I'd just make something to eat the frosting with. So I've set my sights on making crepes for me and a special little three-year-old girl for lunch today. I can't wait to let you know how it turns out!!

-UPDATE-

The crepes with leftover cream cheese frosting were a BIG hit. I've made them a few times since first posting and oh-my-stars were they good!

Sadly, I do not have any pictures. So, this will be a picture-less post. And that saddens me a bit.

In my family, we LOVE pancakes. And french toast. And eggs with toast. And cheese. And cereal. Cereal gets us through some bad times. So making crepes fit in was not that hard. They're the perfect mix between the french toast taste (egg-y) and the disc shape of pancakes. Crepes, though, are a bit more versatile. We've had them with mostly cream cheese frosting, but I've decided that Greek God's yogurt would be pretty delish, too. And I'm not a yogurt fan. So that says something.

Once I'm prepared and I make another batch of crepes, I will post the recipe. Along with pictures. :]


-Erin

Party Planning!

I feel at home when I'm planning. Especially if I get to craft or decorate. Baking and food prep is pretty exciting, too. I planned all the time when I lived in Alabama. Whether it was for my daughter, a friend, one of the groups at college, anything really. Right before I moved to Minnesota, I was the assistant director for our college's theater group. I was in heaven; I was being recognized and appreciated for my bossiness. Haha! ;]

Moving to Minnesota, not working, having a second child, and moving around two or three times has really put a kink in major party planning. I always did what I could for birthday parties. Working at my local Wal Mart (there, I admitted it) doesn't really give me the income needed to REALLY get down and dirty with the planning.

Recently a co-worker (and I like to think friend) found out she would be having a baby; a little girl. Instantly, my brain went into overdrive. Then she announced the baby's shower and room theme would be owls. It was over before it started. I declared myself shower planner and got the ideas rolling.

Here are some pictures of what is taking up the better part of my days:

These are the super cute owls that I used my new Cricut to make. They're on 

clothespins to use during the baby shower as part of the "Don't Say Baby!" game.

 Pretty common game. Pretty sure that I will win, seeing as I only 

call the baby by her name anyways. :]

What's left of the owls to make...

These next two pictures showcase the one thing I'm most proud of: my owl 

diaper "cake". No, it is not solely my idea, I did find this lady on etsy who 

makes and sells all sorts of diaper cake animals.

I did, however, figure out how to assemble it all on my own. And my diaper owl 

contains more diapers than hers. My husband teases that she (yes, she) looks like

 a certain cartoon movie robot. 

At least she's cute. :]

The pink things are homemade tile coasters that I put together. 

Those are picture here:

And why, yes, that is an Instagram photo! :]

The following two pictures are of some super cute cupcakes I made!

Made out of a onesie and a sock as the cherry.

I painted a chunk of coffee filters and tied them up with some raffia.

Probably also a favorite. I wish I could make more. :[

The last picture is of some cans wrapped in scrapbook paper that we plan

on using to put utensils in on each table, along with other cans that will have

cupcake liner flowers in them.

That's all I've got, for now. However, I'm excited to finish things up; the baby shower is five days from now!! I also took some pink index cards and stamped the words "wise advice" across the top, stamped owls in the corners, and bordered the card up. Those will be in our baby shower game packet for the guests to write down their wisdom to share with the mother-to-be. I bought a cute iron birdcage and we'll toss the cards in that during the shower. I have a ton of other ideas and a couple more projects up my sleeve, too. But I don't want to share all of my secrets just yet!!

-Erin

A New Office!!

Wow! I am actually posting on this blog! Two months in a row! Oh my!

But we have been very busy over here, moving around our rooms and setting up shop. In our teeny tiny house, we've bundled things away and moved our room into our old den and now have a legit office! Although I'm still working on it, like...all of the time...I'm very happy with where things are headed. :]

This picture is from the night that we put up those shelves. It was dark, I only had a lamp and dun-dun-dunnn: this is an Instagram photo. I'm good at those, ya know?!

My husband and I almost got divorced over those shelves. We had quite a time trying to get them set up. Nevertheless, we're still married and my shelves are more fabulous than ever now.

And I must be behind the times. Because I felt like I struck pure gold and oil when I discovered worldmarket.com. I mean, really. That place is heaven to me.

Then I found that there were actually stores.

-dreamy sigh-

So I sucked my husband into taking me out to Bloomington, MN to go "window shopping"

This is what I came back with:

Omg. Really. Oh My God. 

My husband made fun of me because he thinks I should have just made half of that. I told him that sometimes buying it from a store really is just best. I'm too much of a perfectionist. Really.

Then we went again. This time:

-dreamy sigh-

I really. Really. REALLY. love that place.

The second trip was also good for buying my favorite wine. For like $12 a bottle. I mean, really.

Also, gifts were bought for other people from that second trip. Pretty proud of myself. :]

So all of these things are sitting in my new office, just making me so happy. I mean my husband and kids are pretty great, too. But to be creative and inspired, my space has to be totally me. You know? I know you know. Nothing can really bother you when you're in your space. So, slowly but surely...I'm getting there.

I think often times, having wine will also help. :]

-Erin

An Etsy Shop!

I have never been able to fully committ myself to ANYTHING in my whole life. I'm surprised I got married. No, really. I am totally surprised. I become uninterested in a lot of things. I cannot focus or remember an important detail needed to succeed. I could never keep a journal because I'd get tired of having to write in it. My grades in school were nothing to brag about because I was uninterested in the material, so I began to not care. This blog should be enough proof, as well. I am ashamed at how often I don't post. I mean, it's pathetic.

But, I digress.

Last night, right before going to bed, I opened my very own Etsy shop.

-GASP!!-

Yes, I did. It's called...wait for it...wait. 

I have very few listings and I am awful at making graphics so my banner really sucks. I have no idea how to run an Etsy shop, so I'm relying on help from some friends. But. I am so excited. But I'm not going to jinx it by saying I'll keep up with it. 'Cause the good Lord knows I won't. :]

It's called AHankeringFor. Check it out!!

-Erin