Favorite Things: Broccoli Slaw & 'Forget-me-nots'

Hello all!

Look at me- following through on a goal!  Hooray!  Ok, week two of favorite things includes food for tummy- and the soul! lol!

The first is this little beauty of a product right here-

Broccoli slaw.  It's awesome!  I'm not much of a coleslaw person, in fact I usually avoid the pungent little tub at fried-chicken-and-side picnics, but this particular mix is just stellar.  Maybe because

1- I know it's SO much better for you, and
2- I have used it in a myriad of ways--  none of them being a traditional slaw.  :)

We mix it into cooked ground turkey with a can of tomatoes and a little BBQ sauce for a way better version of Sloppy Joes, add it to stir fry for more veggie power, chop it fine and stir it into homemade meatballs or meatloaf for more flavor and vitamins, and it makes an excellent veggie omelette.  Awesome.  If you haven't tried it yet, then grab a pen and put it on your grocery list.  I usually find it by the bagged salad in the produce section.

Now for the 'soul food'.  :)

My other  favorite thing is the General Relief Society Broadcast.  I LOVE hearing from these amazing, inspired women twice a year.  Each of them gave wonderful talks about charity, appreciating our blessings and potential, and encouraged us to recognize and use our power for good.  One of my favorite talks was by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the first Presidency.  It is a wonderful talk for and about women, and how to find joy in the little things that are happening now.  It's a perfect reminder for me on a Monday to focus on what's important and remember why I do all that I do.  Prepare to laugh and be uplifted!  Listen to it here, or watch it here- Enjoy!

Somewhere between the cantaloupe and a box of Berry Blue Jell-O. . .

It's true I failed my first Drivers' Ed test, but at least I never crashed a car, which is more than I can say of my baby girl and a certain handicapped motorized shopping cart last Friday.

I've always been a real fan of those self-check out lines in grocery stores.   Finally I have control over the scanning/bagging speed when time is of the essence.  Lately Reese has been on a huge independent kick and so grocery stores are much more fun- usually with me walking alongside the cart, steadying her drunk driving as she plays 'mommy'.

This particular day, however, she was pretty chill.  I was buying only a handful of things- a melon, some jell-o, animal crackers- you know, the toddler staples.  Out of the corner of my eye  I could see her singing something 'princess' to the plastic M&M man at the end of the row and I figured she'd keep herself busy for the two or three minutes it would take me to finish.  And keep herself busy, she did.  Oh the curse of getting what we want!

Seconds later I heard the vroooom of a moving vehicle behind me and  turned to look in time to see her plow into the root beer extract display at the back of the store.

To say that I was shocked would be  horribly insufficient.  Floored?  Yes, but I'm still searching for a stronger word.    I dropped the bag of raisins I was holding and rushed over, whipped her out of her joy ride, and uttered no less than five hundred apologies while I cleaned up and finished checking out- faster than ever before!  I know I should have been furious or even humiliated and sick with remorse, but the look on my wild-child's  face was priceless.  Eyes wide, cheeks flushed, with her mouth opened to a small 'oh' as she stared at the Handicap Hot rod.  It was pure and unadulterated bewilderment.

'That was really fast, Mommy.' she whispered.

I'm sure it was. I remember the rush that came with almost crashing my neighbor's riding lawn mower into the side of the house- I would have sworn I was going 80mph!

At this point the daggers being sent with love from the head checker woman caught my eye so we wrapped things up and headed for the exit.  I made sure we held hands this time.

'That was really fast, Mommy,' she repeated.   As we walked out the door and into the sunshine Reese said,

'Whew!  Mommy, my face is re ally hot.'

'Yes, my child,' I told her.  'that's a special emotion--  it's called call shame.'

One Sweet Kid

Today my baby boy turns one.  

I seriously can't believe how fast the time has flown by, nor can I  imagine life without that red hair or shy smile.

 It kinda blows my mind.  This morning when we went into the kids' room to get him up to sing before Ryan zipped off to French class, the two of them were giggling their little guts out playing Peek-a-boo through the bars of his crib.  

It was one of those times that thrilled my mommy heart.  It seems that the majority of my 'mommy posts' here recount the frequently frustrating and catastrophic bits of life that every mother knows intimately. 

But today
I am absolutely in love with being  Mommy.

Thank you, Sam, for joining us; we are blissfully  blessed to have you!  So much like your sister and daddy, but with your own sweet  flair.  

Happy, happy birthday baby boy!  We love you!

PS- Check out more of this gorgeous sunflower shoot at Melese's blog.  I love having such a talented photographer for a sister!

Favorite things. . .

I've been meaning for weeks to share a few  fabulous sites with everyone, and am finally here to do it.   The first is a fantastic site dedicated to planning, organizing and accumulating home food storage and was created by none other than my insanely-organized and brilliant sister, Meg.

My Food Storage Cookbook is seriously awesome!  She's included tons of delicious  recipes (please, please, please try the Chicken Cacciatore w/ Herbed Polenta- it rocked my world!), step-by-step instructions and how-to's on everything you need to know to plan easy-peasy pantry meals, a 3-month, or 1-year of food storage.  Not to mention some great links to all things foodstorage.  It's amazing, and if you're feeling overwhelmed by this particular brand of project (let's face it, who isn't?), you should definitely check it out.  Sign up for Daily Digests while your there to find out what's cooking each day!

The second is My Oatmeal Kisses, the creation of my very good friend who worked for five years as a Kindergarten teacher and now shares an endless list of fun activities to do with toddlers and young children.  I LOVE this site!  It's perfect for preschool ideas (she even includes the schedule and links she and a few friends use for their own preschool), or if you're just looking for fun, , educational, and cheap  things to do with your kids.  Check.  It. Out.  You'll notice the cute little button down the sidebar of our blog;  click it, and prepare to feel like you're five again- it's that much fun!

The last is Pinterest.  Oh my gosh!  I'm a total junkie who, to be perfectly honest, is just a tad freaked out that someone I've never met read my mind like that, and actually created a website to organize the chaos of my brain.  LOVE!


Well, those are my favorite things this week.  We'll see how I do at keeping this little 'weekly sharing time' going, but in the meantime, I hope you enjoy these AWESOME sites!

The Book of September

Hello All!

Alright folks, lets get right to it.  The book we've decided to read this month is. . .

I'm sure you've heard of the movie based on this book that just came out a few weeks ago.  We haven't seen it yet, but are excited to read the book we've heard so much about.  Hope you'll join us!  Let's finish by the last week of September and then discuss.

Happy Reading!

Time's Up!

Alright, it's the end of the month, or rather the beginning of a new one, and that means it's end of one Book Club era and the beginning of another.  So let's wrap it all up and talk about Young Adult Literature.  For August, the challenge was to read as many young adult books as possible- hopefully new ones- and report back.  Well, being the visual people we are, we plastered our accomplishments up on the wall for bragging- er. . . tracking.  Yes, tracking purposes only.
After the first week or so, this is what it looked like. . . 

The month wore on, and Ryan, being the sneaky man he is, decided to keep all his cards in his hand, ready to lay them all down at the end and wipe me out.  Sort of reminds me of playing canasty with a friend of mine and her dad when I was young.  He always creamed us.  

Anyway, last night, our board turned into this. . . 

.  

I had such aspirations of reading the entire Series of Unfortunate Events (that's the SOUE abbreviation there), but unfortunately- no pun intended- got the idea too late in the month and only made it through a couple before the buzzer sounded.  Ry and I also started reading Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy together (how have we never read this book?!), but didn't get through it all in time.
I guess we'll just have to finish that one this weekend!

Ok, so the absolute BEST part of this month's Book Club was finding making time for reading again.  With the craziness of life, I had sort of resigned myself to not reading as much as I would like until, oh I don't know, the kids were' grown up and left the house.  But in just one month I read a heap of books that have been on the must-check-out list for ages.  And some of them were AMAZING!  

My two favorites were. . . 

Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff

and

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

If you haven't picked these up, then you DEFINITELY should!  Both beautiful and incredibly moving stories that just become a part of you.

Ok, now it's your turn- what did you read this month?

And, ahem, I just want to point out something in case you didn't notice.

I totally beat Ryan!

HOORAY!!!

That's all. :)

Get Ready for September's Book-- we'll announce it tomorrow!