Photography

This weekend I did this little dolls pictures.

We saw a snake.

I screamed.

He laughed.

Martha...

I want to be Martha Stewart. 

Even prison Martha Stewart seemed to have it all together arranging knitting circles and craft times while keeping up with her daily Prison chores.  Making herself productive and doing the best with a bad situation.  I'm sure Martha had the best decorated and cleanest cell in the prison.

Let's be clear here...

I don't want to be Prison Martha.  I'd prefer to be Free Martha.  But either way, I want to be Martha.

I want to have it all together. 

I want to have a sparkling clean house that is so organized when someone asks where their shoes are we don't spend 20 minutes looking under furniture in every room.  Because if I was Martha I'd know where the shoes are.  They are in their proper location, you know that space we took the time to organize and designate for shoes?  And my family, so dutiful and always cooperative, of course put their shoes right in that perfect little space, so they wouldn't have even ever asked .  They would have known where to look because Martha's family would always listen.

I want to come home from work at night and glide into my kitchen to open my fridge and know exactly what will be for dinner.  Because if I was Martha I'd have a meal plan of course!  I'd be a whiz in the kitchen who doesn't make a mess, and that several course meal would be whipped up in a breeze.  My family would sit down for dinner together and no one would complain.  The food would be fantastic and the table manners would be perfect.

After dinner, clean up would be a breeze.  Because if I was Martha my family would get up from the table and take their dishes to the sink.  I wouldn't need to tell my boys to go do their homework, no, this would have been completed hours ago and neatly tucked back into their bags ready for the following day.  There would be no fights, there would be no arguing, there would simply be peace because Martha would not have anything less.  

I would quickly make up batches of homemade cookies for that PTO bake sale the next day, no store bought for Martha.  They would be light and fluffy, not burnt and crunchy and all of the mom's would want my recipe.  I'd be the envy of the mom's with my fantastic baking and great ideas.

I would sit and knit or make a quilt with all of my spare time.  Because if I was Martha my beautiful, pristine, organized home would run so efficiently I would have plenty of spare time to do the things I love.  Not only would I do what I enjoy, every project would turn out perfectly or better than planned. 

The weekends would come with dinner parties and lots of friends.  People would flock to our home and be honored to be invited.  They would marvel at the beauty of my well decorated home, ask for tips to be so productive and tell me I am so creative; secretly wishing that they were me.  Because if I were Martha I'd have it all under control.

I am not Martha.

Shopping!

Shopping for boy's bedding is difficult.  Actually, shopping for anything for a boy is a bit on the difficult side.  If you have girls you have unlimited options for clothes, toys and anything you could think of to decorate a bedroom from a baby to a teen.  Boys on the other hand, that is much more difficult.  The options are so limited.

While I hold the final decorating say-so of my oldest son's bedroom, I don't want it to look like a 20 year old's room.  I've know people who do this and it makes me batty.  He's 8.  His room should be a creative space that encourages his imagination and he feels comfortable.  It should not be void of him and his personality.  This really shouldn't be that difficult.  Oh, but it is.

He's at that kind of awkward stage being 8.  He's not yet a big boy but certainly isn't going to want his room covered in things he perceives as baby things (even if he still likes them himself). 

I have looked all over for new bedding for his room and I think we may finally have some options we can both agree upon.

The first has the orange he would like to keep because of the school colors.  I think we could do something a little fun and funky with this.  I think we can come up with a nice combination of vintage and modern that we will both like.

The second option I can see a million ideas for in my head already, khaki walls, vintage pennants, maybe a couple of vintage footballs for fun.  I am also a little partial to the Tommy Hilfiger bedding.  Not because of the brand name but because of the durability of the bedding and boys are destructive.

Decisions, decisions.

Boys Bedroom Decorating

I hate this room.  I actually hate how all 4 bedrooms in my house look.  They are all terrible.  But this room drives me crazy.  I hate the uneven stripes and the misshapen Indian head.  (I figured the room is so ugly making the bed wasn't really going to improve the pictures.)

My oldest son's bedroom was adorable at the old house with the perfect shade of blue, skateboards hanging on the walls and a giant skateboard mural on one of the walls.

Since we have lived here for 6 months now and we finally have our legal deed filed (crazy long story) it is about time that I get to work on the bedrooms.  Our plan is that the bedrooms will be taken down to the studs and fresh new drywall hung but that may be a while off because of the long list of other more pressing issues that need to be addressed.

In the interim...

I don't think we are going to continue on the skateboard theme this time.  I'm looking for more of a Pottery Barn look for his room.  (My son doesn't get too much of a vote here - he is actually fond of the Indian and stripes since this is the school mascot.)

I am in a search for new bedding as a starting point and hope to be able to select paint colors and start working this weekend.

Hot Beef Sandwiches

One of my favorite things to make in the crock pot for dinner is Hot Beef Sandwiches.  They are quick to put together and make for an easy dinner.  I'm all about ease.  Who doesn't love little to no prep work and even better... no clean up!

There are two recipes that I use for this and they couldn't be more simple.  I don't have a preferred type of roast for either recipe.  I actually just grab what is on sale and looks to be the leanest cut.

Recipe #1

1 2 - 3 lb Roast

1 can of beer

1 packet of Lipton Onion Soup Mix

Place roast in the crock pot, cover with packet of soup mix and can of beer.  Cook on low for 8 hours or until meat falls apart for sandwiches.

Recipe #2

1 2 -3 lb Roast

1 16 oz. jar of Pepperchinies

Place roast in the crock pot and cover with pepperchinies.  Cook on low for 8 hours or until meat falls apart for sandwiches.

Both are great on hamburger or hoagie buns (preferably toasted) and topped with your favorite slices of cheese.  We use American cheese with Recipe #1 and Provolone with Recipe #2.

Getting pictures of food is not my strong suit.  Everyone in my house hits the door starving and grabs the plates out of my hands quicker than I can dish things up.

Crock Pot Cooking

I am a crock pot junkie.  A complete crock pot junkie.  As in, had 5 crock pots until my husband bought me a new big fancy one under the agreement that I would dispose of at least 3.  I still have 4.  I can't help it.  I'm addicted and  have been for my whole adult life.  I have a 7 quart, a 6 quart, a 4 quart and a 2 quart.  Life is just so much easier if I do not have to cook when I get home and crock pot cooking is so easy.

Even with all of these crock pots I still have two I must have.

This one from Cuisinart looks FABULOUS!  This may seem like nonsense but from the time I leave my house in the morning until I get home it is usually at least 10 hours.  So the additional settings, timers and features are like gold to me.  Only one of my crock pots currently has these features.

The second one I NEED is this...

To be able to have meat cooking in one, potatoes in another and a vegetable in the third.  All in one!  Divine.

At any rate, before I got off track on my crock pot obsession, there was a point here.  I thought I would begin to share a few of my crock pot recipes.  Since this is the main form of cooking in my house I have lots and have tried just about everything from lasagna to whole meals all cooked in one crock pot.  It's amazing what you can do in one of these little things!