Dang Five Kids

Guess what? I had a baby.
Which brings the grand total of children what I birthed to a whopping FIVE!
With the birth of each of my children I've realized the necessity of giving up some hobby in order to not be insane (I may have been unsuccessful at this).
For instance, when I had Clara (my third) I realized it was no longer worth it to haul all my kids out to the store to indulge in my favorite escape: clearance rack shopping. (This was great for our budget until I discovered online shopping)
With the birth of Mary I gave up a plethora of pastimes, including trying to dress my children in cute clothes. Hence Mary is naked most of everyday, my boys wear old, holey t-shirts and basketball shorts from Savers, and Clara sports the mismatching-est clothes I've ever seen.
With the birth of Susan I've already discovered a few things I'll give up: making fancy birthday cakes, taking my kids' birthday pictures, and blogging.
Don't cry for me, little one. Let's face it folks, I've never been a stellar blogger (or a frequent one) and while I enjoy it, it has become a cumbersome hobby.
While I still read all ya'lls blogs like I have all the time in the world, please know that the following posts of my kids' recent photo shoot with my talented neighbor, who's a photographer professionally, could very well be my last. (unless I change my mind, which I do all the dang time)
So, enjoy the estrasasanda while you can.

So Not Worth It

I try out a lot of new crafts and a lot of new recipes. I like to try new things.

At least once a week I'll try out a new recipe or craft I've seen on a blog just because I need the creative outlet. I base a craft/culinary endeavor on whether the time/effort put into it was worth what I got out of it. I would say 75% of the time I won't repeat a craft/recipe because it wasn't worth the time put into it. I saw this on bakerella clear last summer and thought, 'oh, I'll make those for teacher appreciation week next year.'

What I done. And what it weren't worth it. It took hours of mixing, dying, baking, cutting, sprinkling, and decorating, not to mention the time I put into printing out/cutting out templates, etc.This craft WILL NOT be repeated, but it is fun to look at, huh? Also, since I made these for my boys' teachers, it looks like I'm one of those super-achiever moms who volunteers for the PTA, goes on all the field trips and runs all the class parties. Well, I've been a room mother two years running and done nary a thing for either class, either year.

This 'thank you' is it. And it's all I plan to do for the rest of the year.

And while I had good intentions to show the teachers my appreciation for what they done for my boys this year, it still wasn't worth it.

Half way through making all this I was ready to just throw it in the garbage and instead buy them each a $5 gift card to the in-n-out. Next year. P.S. Recent crafts/recipes not worth repeating:

Foot Snuggly - Tried to make the cutest crocheted mary jane slippers for Megan's birthday, but as she mentioned on her blog, instead of being the thing one could slip their slender foot into for a snuggly sashay, they looked like they could hold an enormous meatloaf, instead.

Homemade Pot Stickers - took over an hour to put together and the raw meat grossed my pregnant little heart out that I couldn't even enjoy them.

Macarons - Made them. They tasted great, but instead of having the right kind of filling, I used the homemade frosting I had in the fridge and it wasn't the best combo. Plus, that recipe took precision. Luckily I had my new Kitchenaid to meringue them egg whites!

Gettin' My Craft On

Here's how I staved off the winter blues today:
I took this clock, which has been on our mantle for many a year and I BLASTED it with spray paint so it'd look like this:
I still haven't decided if I need to antique it to darken it a little. I'm going to see how it looks in the living room at night.
By the way, it totally put me in a chipper, Springtime mood!

And the Award Goes To...

I won a Major Award.

After my neighbor, Dorothy, won the GRAND PRIZE in the Better Homes and Gardens recipe contest, I've been thinking I've got to come up with a way to make some sweet moola of my own. So I entered the CorningWare Lite recipe contest and was notified a week ago that I was one of six finalists!

The grand prize? 5,000 smackeroos!!!! The prize for runner-ups: some bakeware from down to the Corning.

All week I've been thinking about what I'd do with $5,000. I decided after paying tithing I'd put it all in savings, except I'd buy this beautiful little puppy so that I could make huge batches of cookies for all my friends AND so that it could sit out on my counter at all times so's I could look at it and just be happy.

Today I was notified by Richard, the contest administrator, that....I'm a runner up. Yep. Got some corningware Lite coming my way!

My recipe: New Mexican Shepherd's Pie, which calls back to my hip-swingin' days when I LIVED La Vida la Loca in Santa Fe! This is a favorite for Joel and I because it reminds us of when we was eating green chili's on everything and going to art museums and cultural festivals about every week.

Here's the winning recipe, if you're interested:

1 lb. lean ground turkey
½ cup onion, diced
1- 15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
1- 15 oz. can diced Mexican-style tomatoes
½ tsp. cumin
½ tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. granulated beef bouillon
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper

5 russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 tbsp. Butter Buds Sprinkles
1 cup fat free sour cream
Salt and pepper to taste

2 yellow summer squash, cubed
1 zucchini, cubed

1- 10 oz. can green mild enchilada sauce
1- 4 oz. can diced mild green chilies

1 cup reduced fat mozzarella or queso fresco, shredded or crumbled

In a large pot, heat salted water to boiling. Boil potatoes until tender.
In a large skillet over medium-high heat add ground turkey, onion, cumin, chili powder, beef bouillon, salt and pepper. When meat is about three-fourths of the way browned, add beans and tomatoes. When meat is thoroughly cooked and liquid from tomatoes is reduced by half, remove from heat and strain turkey mixture, reserving liquid. Spread turkey mixture into the bottom of a 3 quart casserole dish.
In the same large skillet, cook summer squash and zucchini in reserved liquid until translucent and toasty-looking, cooking in batches if necessary. Spread squash in another layer over turkey mixture in casserole dish.
When potatoes are tender, strain most of the water out of the pot. But leave ½ to 1 cup of water in the pot and mash potatoes with a masher or hand mixer. Add butter buds, sour cream and salt and pepper to taste. Spread potatoes over squash in casserole dish.
Mix together enchilada sauce and green chilies and pour over potatoes.
Sprinkle cheese over enchilada sauce and bake uncovered in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes, or until enchilada sauce is bubbly and cheese looks toasty.
Serve warm.

I WON a major award, people! Don't be cryin' over the green apple Kitchenaid mixer eggs that you were counting before they hatched! Be grateful that I won a Major Award!

I've never had fancy bakeware such as down to the Corning. What does one bake in such dishes?

Would you Like to Look Like This?

Because right now,

Glamour Shots by Sam

are 75% off.

Majorette Magic

Shazaam!

Word of the Day: Deluge

Here's how Word of the Day posts are supposed to work:
I put up a word for which all commenters are to use in a sentence.
For example, today's word is DELUGE. I know what the word means, so I don't need boring comments like, "The deluge of information she received overwhelmed her." I'm looking for clever, even irreverent sentences, such as, "The deluge of athletic supporters in the "FREE" box in the faculty locker room at BYU catapulted Mark into a frenzy. He flipped and threw the jock straps every which way, searching for his size."

The winning comment will be posted for all to see, thus the winner will receive much fame and glory and lucrative joke contracts from David Letterman.

And for today for the winner, I'm throwing in a plate of cookies just to sweeten the deal. Yeah.