Thursday, May 27, 2010

Nee Nees



I adore this woman. Really I do.

I seriously lucked out in the in-law department. I could not have conjured up a more perfect family to be stuck with for eternity!

We call her Nee Nees. Or Nee Nee. The name stuck when Diva was teeny tiny.

Nee Nee is such a giving and selfless person. Her sister has been battling cancer for several months and Nee Nee is there by her side as often as is humanly possible. Yet this beautiful woman still makes time to be with her grandbabies, to hold them and kiss them and read to them and take them to movies and teach them and play with them and spoil them rotten. My girls are in love with her. Plain and simple.

Not only is she such an amazing grandmother but she is an equally amazing mother in-law! She doesn't have a judgmental bone in her body and gives advice only when asked! She is easy to talk to, fun to be around and so very likable.

I mean it's no wonder I love her son so much. He has inherited many of her characteristics!

We love you Nee Nees, just wanted you to know!

yes I used a lot of exclamation points in this post but I just wanted to get the point across! !! !!!!!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Yankee Doodle





Currently my two favorites. Subtle yet delicious!


For some reason I'm on a candle kick.

Moving into a smaller place has ignited (no pun intended) a desire for my little home to smell nice at all times. It makes it feel more inviting, more loving, more calming.

Yankee candles are currently my favorite. They have wonderful, yummy smells. But I have to be careful. The wrong smell could trigger a massive headache accompanied with nausea. (Edit: NO not pregnant, just sensitive to certain smells)
Anything florally or perfumy is out of the question. However even the mouth-watering baked good candles can affect me. I made that mistake bringing home a Blueberry Scone flavor. It smelled great in the store! Within 5 minutes of lighting it I thought, "Oh heck no, no no no...this has gotta go."

So I returned it and they were so nice about it. I brought home a new favorite: Coconut Bay. It takes me back to Kauai where hubby and I spent our honeymoon.

So my question is, what is your favorite candle? Any scents I should sniff out? I'm always on the hunt!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Enough

She finally has enough hair for this:

 

Just in time for summer.  

Pig tails take too long.   Or I'm just too lazy.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Holy Mole!

Guacamole that is!

I'm going to post my awesome recipe for guacamole that I have been perfecting for quite some time.  Before I do that however I need to clarify a few things:
My recipe is exactly how I like it.  Every person has different taste buds.  So I'm not going to sit here and say every person on the planet is going to love my version of guacamole because that's just ridiculous.  

But...if you like your guac chunky yet creamy, spicy, citrus-y, garlic-y, cilantro-y, with just the right amount of saltiness then this is the guac for you!

First things first!  Avocados!



GOOD avocados are the absolute key to delicious guacamole.  (Duh)  But sometimes it's hard to tell if one is going to be sweet, nutty and creamy or bland, brown and stringy (barf.) 


Generally I buy all my avocados from Costco and I have never had a bad one.  And I go to Costco a lot! But if you don't have a Costco near you then head to the grocery store and spend some quality time getting to know your "cado's."  Shell out the big bucks for the large ones! They have to be the perfect ripeness but not too ripe.  Mushy=nasty.  But when pressed with your thumb they should give and leave an indentation.  Too hard and they'll have no flavor.  

One thing you have to promise me is that once you get started and you discover an avocado that looks ok but has a stringy-ness to it that you will THROW IT OUT.  Nobody wants stringy guac. 


green Jalapeno, red jalapeno, Serrano

I love heat.  If my nose is running and the back of my throat is burning then it's the perfect amount of spice.  I use these three chili peppers and believe me, they have a lot of kick. Especially that red jalapeno.  Yowza.  Don't be cutting that baby and then scratch an itch on your face.  My chin was burning red for about a half hour afterward. 

So the heat of the guacamole is completely up to you.  For this particular batch I used 7 avocados (feeding a lot of people!) and diced up all of the green jalapeno and Serrano chili pepper into the mix but used only half of the red.  Honestly I could have used all of it.  When your 2 year-old is inhaling your guac then you know it's not spicy enough.  Or maybe I've successfully conditioned my children to love spicy foods.  

Tip: Make sure to get all those little seeds into the concoction.  Those babies are the carriers of heat! 



 limes, garlic, red onion, cilantro, tomatoes 

For the remaining ingredients: fresh is always best.  
I usually use red onions rather than white.  They have a more mild, sweeter flavor which makes them perfect for raw eating.   Again, I don't measure things, I go by taste.  I used about 1/2 cup of onion in this large batch.  Dice them very, very finely unless you like eating large chunks of onion.  Just make sure you carry some kind of minty gum on you.  

Garlic.  Please invest in a garlic press if you don't already have one.  


It will pulverize garlic and bring the most flavorful, pungent juice and meat into the guacamole that no amount of mincing can replicate.  I used about 4 large cloves of garlic ( I LOVE garlic!)

A word about Cilantro: it's an herb that most people either love or hate.  I love it.  Hubby hates it.  Incidentally he loves my guacamole and I use copious amounts of cilantro.   Go figure.  So moral of the story, even if you can't stand cilantro, use it anyway.  Guacamole is just not the same without it.  Chop it into tiny pieces and you'll never know!


Take all the meat from the avocados and dump it into a large bowl.  Throw all the other chopped and diced ingredients right in there with it.  Then salt and pepper according to your taste buds.  Lastly, juice those limes right into the bowl.  I used EIGHT limes for this and I love, love that sour taste.  So keep that in mind.  

Next I grab a large slotted spoon and start mixing.  I alternate chopping with squishing.  If that makes any sense.  Basically you want it to be good and chunky but also have a creaminess to it.  Once it's mixed how you prefer, do some taste tests and salt or pepper or juice it some more. 

Finally I douse a bit of some tasty hot sauce into the mixture, depending on what I have on hand.  Usually it's Trader Joe's Jalapeno Pepper Hot Sauce.  Not too spicy.  Just right.


Now you should have a beautiful bowl of savory, flavorful, creamy, delicious guacamole!   Reach for a spoon chip and dig in!


 Or grab a younger brother and have him run some taste tests.  He needs to be rockin' a killer goatee too.  

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Gummy


Chompin' on gum.

I, am a gumaholic. It's true. I love it. I chew it constantly. My favorite in the whole wide world was Cinnaburst:
still confused about Cinnaburst gum


Unfortunately they discontinued this crunchy, crystally, cinnamony, sugary treat and I mourned a great deal.

But I've moved on and don't particularly have a favorite right now. I don't discriminate.
The other unfortunate part is that my girls have adopted this bad habit and ask for it waaaaay too often. And the funny part is that I'm annoyed every time they ask. Why? It's my own darn fault!

Hubby tells me he needs to "cut me off" or "send me to rehab." I mean seriously, it's that bad. I think, for me, it's a stress reliever.

Can you blame me? I have two girls who ask for binkies and gum all day long! ;) Sue me.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Bed Head



Last night I tried. I tried really hard. I put in a good effort.

I took away the bink. I was so fed up with the whining I found all the binks and cut off the tips. Then I threw them in the trash.

"They're broken!"

She screamed a good long while. But then she went to sleep. Praises!

And then 2 am rolled around. I hear her pounding on her door, high pitched wailing with random, "Nigh Nigh's!" mixed in. I stumbled out of bed, memories of midnight feedings flooding my brain.

No way am I sacrificing my sleep for this nonsense. NO. WAY.

So I found the back up, stuck it in her mouth and all was right with the world. She went right back to sleep without another peep.

Sigh.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Mom Day


It may not be the easiest job but it is definitely the most rewarding.  

Happy Mother's Day!

Friday, May 7, 2010

Morning Reading

This morning I found my girls reading, situated just as they would be when they read with mommy or daddy.  

Priceless.


Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Magic Jack

 * I do not represent Magic Jack nor have I been asked to promote their product.  I am simply a mom who likes to save money and tell my friends how to save money.*


So I don't usually try to sell people on products but I can't not say anything about this one.

Hubby heard about Magic Jack and said we should try it once we move.  We had been paying $30 a month for our landline and felt that it was just too much money.  
So I perused through the Magic Jack website and thought, what the hey, let's try the 30 day trial.

Okay I promise you that nobody NEEDS a 30 day trial of this thing.  It hooks up directly to your computer, installs in about 5 minutes, gives you a new number and you're good to go.

Cons:
  • You can't keep your old landline number.
  • It only hooks up to computers and not to phone jacks in the wall.
Pros:
  • $$$$$$-It is only $40 for the entire YEAR plus $20 each year after that.  
  • Long distance, local, call waiting, caller ID is included in the price.
  • Super easy to install

Now I realize that only super old school people still use landlines but I need one for several reasons:
-peace of mind (What if cell phone reception isn't working? What if I can't call 911 from my cell?)
-baby-sitters.  For the same reasons above.
-saving minutes on my cell phone
-what if I lost my cell? What if I forgot it in the car?

So yes there are still reasons to keep a landline and if you're considering getting one then seriously think about the Magic Jack.  So worth the price.  

LW

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