If You Only Knew

The other day, while I was busy bustling around the house, my daughter said to me, "Mama, will you come and watch this movie with me?" I playfully responded "Ohhhh, that movie looks waayyyyyyy to scary for me!!!". In reality, I was trying to buy a few extra minutes of tidying up rather than sitting down to watch a movie I, quite frankly, had no interest in watching. However, my daughters responses stopped me in my tracks: "Oh Mama. You're not scared of ANYTHING!" she responded innocently. Oh my darling. If you only knew. 

If you only knew that the day I found out I was growing you in my tummy, I cried at the top of the stairs for hours, terrified at the thought of having a tiny, helpless person to take care of.

If you only knew that every single Doctors appointment and ultra sound that I had, I worried endlessly about finding out something wasn't perfect with the new love of my life.

If you only knew the fear I felt the second I heard your very first cry and wondered how I would care for such a delicate human being.

If you only knew the nights I spent tip toeing in your room to make sure you were still breathing. I still do this, you know, nearly five years after the day they handed you to me.

If you only knew the fear I had the day I left your Daddy, knowing you would grow up without both of us in the same home.

If you only knew the fear I had the day that I first sent you to day care, and then to school, knowing that I had to put my trust in people I knew only from meeting for a matter of minutes.

If you only knew the worry I had for you growing up in a world that can be so very cruel.

If you only knew the nights I spent awake fearful that your sickness would steal you from me.

If you only knew the terrifying moments watching you learn to ride a bike, learn to skate, and play recklessly with your three older boy cousins.

If you only knew the way my heart broke when you told me your very first boyfriend ever, Ian, had broken up with you. You were 4.

If you only knew that I am fearful every single day that I set you free in this big world, that I will not get you back as wholesome, as innocent, as absolutely perfect as you were the moment that you woke that morning.

If you only knew, my sweet darling, that my fear remains strong every day, but that it is overshadowed by my love, by my trust, and by my faith that you will be a phenomenal human being. It is quieted by the amount of love that I have for every piece of your soul.  It is silenced every single time you call me Mama. If you only knew, my sweet love, that my only fear in this world is that one day my heart will burst, from loving you just way too much.

 

Freezer Meals

As with every other family, we are incredibly busy. Gymnastics, yoga, teacher training, working, house renovations, baseball, swimming, and every other weekend where our kiddo is gone. A few times this winter I spent a few hours on a kid-less weekend making crock pot meals that I was able to freeze ahead of time, take out the night before to thaw and throw in the slow cooker the morning of. It was an incredible time saver and, ultimately, allowed us more time as a family together. With just a little bit of prep, price matching to keep it relatively inexpensive and a meal plan for the week, we were able to really benefit from doing this! Which is why I recruited my best friend, Katie, to help out one day. I know that there are a ton of blogs about this and I visited quite a few either for tips or for recipes, which I've added below.

Katie and I started the day by gathering recipes. Neither of our families eat much beef or pork and her hubby has recently given up most pastas, so we stuck with mainly chicken recipes (although ended up adding one pasta dish to satisfy Katies carb cravings. She is, after all, expecting a little in just a few months!!!). We then created a shopping list and got out our flyers to price match. I prefer to use the "old fashioned" way by using the hard copy flyers. (I plan to blog about this soon, so stay tuned!!). Katie, on the other hand, prefers to use an app called Flipp. She swear by it.

Just as a little teaser to prove how much of a difference price matching can make, check this out:

RIGHT?! Just make sure to check back for some serious money saving tips :)

So after grocer shopping, we got to work. We did one recipe at a time, prep and all. I know some people will prep all of the recipes at the same time, however we didn't have a lot of overlap in the things that actually needed prepping, so it seemed easier to do one at a time. This is what all of the ingredients looked like together:

Katie and her hubby ended up having a ton of the ingredients in their cupboards already, which made this process just THAT much easier! Overall though, we spent roughly $60 each.

The first recipe that we did was Sweet & Sour chicken. We found the recipe at joelandkitty.com. There's literally 4 ingredients: chicken, cranberry, Catalina dressing and onion soup mix). How much easier can it get!?!?

The second recipe we tried was for a pasta dish that I found on Pinterest. There is no site attached to the link, but if you know where the original is form, please let me know and I will be happy to link to it! It had 1 small bag of spinach, 2 cans of diced tomatoes, 1 bag of tortellini, 4 cups of vegetable broth and a package of cream cheese. Umm easssssy!! You literally throw it in the crockpot on low for 5 hours, serve and enjoy!

The third recipe was from the Fun With Sharpes blog. Super adorable couple with a fantastical blog! We made their  Italian Chicken. Again, there is a theme here: SUPER EASY! Chicken, water Italian dressing, garlic, chili powder and a packet of ranch seasoning. She has also added a ton of other recipes from her experience in bulk cooking!!

The last one that we made was a mushroom and peanut butter rice topping. I know what your thinking. I am too, to be honest. And I don't even really understand whether it's a soup or a rice topping or what. I'll update as soon as I've tried it. Its really just chicken cubed, two cans of cream of mushroom soup and a cup of peanut butter. We'll see!

Overall, I am so happy that we made the dinners. Not only was it a nice time spent together, but we have four meals that are already made for weeks that get really, really busy. We're planning on doing it again shortly before the baby it due, so keep your eyes peeled :)

DIY Beer Caddy

As promised, another DIY project that the other half worked on. He actually made two -- one for my Dad for Christmas and one for a friend of his who had seen the first one and loved it. He had been looking for an opener to attach to the side of the first one (top picture), but we couldn't track one down on short notice. (As it turns out, they can be found on the American Target website). Apparently didn't matter too much to my Dad -- he loved it!!! (Obviously!). Check them out :)

This is the second one. He ended up making his own bottle opener rather than ordering one online! What a handy guy!!!

 

 

Wondering how these were made? Here you go: (disclaimer... both of these he was just winging it, no plans just as it came to him. What I can tell you from what he remembers is below.)

 

1: 96"x 1"x 8" pine board

2: Cut 2 end pieces 10" long bottom piece long enough to make 6 spaces 3" square which is large enough to fit beer bottles and cans.

3: 1st caddie, used part of the 1" x 8" board as spacers

4: 2nd caddie used off cuts from other projects to make spacers, it was very intricate and lots of pieces. The sides were 3/4" x 2" poplar.

5: 1st caddie counter sunk the screws and used round plugs, 2nd used black hole filler.

6: 1st caddie stained with chocolate coloured stain then clear coat, 2nd used a torch to burn the wood then 2 coats of clear coat.

7: Drilled 3/8" hole in either end piece for the rope handle

 

 

If you are making your own opener, here's the instructions:

 

He bought a bottle opener from the dollar store and removed the plastic handle. Next, replace it with 2 pieces of wood on either side, used same black filler, burn it and use 2 coats of clear coat to match the caddy.

 

If you have further questions, please comment below and I will pick his brain to see if he can remember.

Have fun!!!



DIY Pallet Headboard

One of my other posts featured pictures of the pallet headboard that my other half made for our daughters room. I had a lot of traffic to the blog after pinning photo's of the headboard, so I wanted to make sure that I posted instructions on how to make it because it really is super beautiful!

My other half works at a factory where they often have spare pallets that we score. I have a "to make" board  on Pinterest (love love LOVE) which is basically his "Honey Do List".  (Just for the record, he also pins things on it!).

I digress, the headboard:

 

Beautiful, right?!

 

As promised, here ya go:

 

1: collect pallets

2: build 2x4 frame (2 vertical legs with 2 cross pieces)

3: attach wood to frame, used masonry nails with preexisting nail holes in wood to attach to frame

4: drill two holes on legs of frame to attach to metal bed frame

5: sand-heavy or light sanding (depending on look you want)

6: 2 coats of clear varnish

7: attach head board to metal bed frame using bolts

 

He also made a matching bedside table:

I love this for a few reasons :
#1. It's the perfect size. A likes to bring all of her little "collections" (I.e. bracelets, lip smackers, whatever she loves that day), and put them right beside her bed. There's enough room for the lamp and her stuff.
#2. The base keeps all of her books together rather than them falling all over the floor.
#3. It's beautiful!

The other half is in the midst of making a few more treasures from the pallet wood. Stay tuned for more goodies!!