Taking Time For Yourself

Nice title to a blog eh? In the world of being a stay at home mom you'll find you're the last on everyone's list, not usually because anyone is making you last just because YOU make yourself last. Your child needs things, your husband/fiancee/boyfriend needs things. Everyone needs something and they all have deadlines except for you so it's easy for us to put ourselves down at the bottom. Here's a day in the life of this diva (typically) get up when my fiancee does, help him get his work stuff together, jump on laptop and complete homework, daughter wakes up diaper change, make breakfast, start cleaning, entertain child, iron work clothes/wash work clothes, make lunch, get daughter ready for nap, clean more while she's sleeping, daughter wakes up, diaper change, more entertaining, special projects, etc. Prep dinner, cook dinner, eat together when my fiancee comes home, clean up dinner, load dishwasher, give daughter a bath, pick up toys, get daughter ready for bed, go into room watch a tv show or movie and fall asleep. Repeat the next day. Sometimes it changes but that's mostly my day. Somewhere in between all that I am lucky to find time to shower. YUCK. Lately i've been hanging out with my best friend a lot and I admire her in so many ways but one of the most important things I love about her is how disciplined she is. She always takes time to make herself look presentable but she also doesn't have a kid so I have to remind myself that she has a bit more time for these things. It got me to thinking, I could make time for myself more so I have been. If I want to do my nails I do my daughters nails too. I have been making sure instead of snoozing in the morning I get up right away and shower before I do homework. When I put my daughter in the bath at night and I have to watch her anyways I let her play while I wash my face, moisturize, etc. Before I go to bed every night while I am watching a show/movie or whatever I pull out some heavy duty lotion and massage it into my feet to get my feet looking all pretty for flip flop season. I guess it's all about YOU making time for YOU. Don't make excuses, we still can do it and you know what? It makes you feel 10 times better about yourself. Somewhere along the way we all got pretty whiny and started hating anyone that looked better than us but instead of doing something about it we decided complaining was the better way to go. So from now on I am going to try to find ways to make myself a priority again, when you're a stay at home mom though you just have to be sneakier about it than most. I also need to get back on the treadmill again though it does make a great storage area I guess that's really not it's purpose and if I want to get my legs looking swimsuit ready I better get to it. Sigh. Okay maybe i'll complain a little then get on the treadmill :) Hey we're only human, just sayin'. I know there is a saying that goes "Good things come to those who wait" I think it should be reworded to "Good things come to those who are proactive" Go out there and work for what you want ladies!

Dreams

It's hard to put into words the way a dream makes us feel. I admit for a long time I stopped dreaming and started living. For some of us just living day to day and being responsible is enough, for others looking toward the future is the only way to go. My best friend just so happens to be a dreamer. She moved here from Wisconsin with a guitar in her back, a jar full of change, and a dream to write music. I've had the pleasure of knowing her for almost 4 years now and it has been the most amazing friendship I could have ever asked for. This is one of the strongest, most independent women I know. For years she has been writing song after song, only for it to never go much further than my living room or hers.  I've watched her ups and her downs, i've watched her spirits soar and get squashed but she always moved on. Tonight I saw this girls dream come true, something I almost missed and would have kicked myself forever about had I of been stupid enough to have done so. She's not the kind of girl who would ever want to take the stage herself but wants her words to touch the souls of others, to find the words they couldn't say. Tonight a band finally put life behind one of her songs and played it out in public. I could go on for hours as I watched my best friend shake in anticipation, how when the beat to her song started to play her eyes welled up with tears, how I stood behind her hand on her back and cried as Rebecca Mae and the Double Shot sang about a girl who did things on her own and her own way, how the road wasn't easy but it was worth it. That will be a moment I never forget in my life. To see my friends face light up with hope, and joy, and be overwhelmed by the emotion of the moment. It couldn't have been a more fitting song, for a more perfect selfless friend. Don't stop dreaming people, we only have one life to live and it's too short to waste it. I have to admit I was jealous in that moment watching my friend, only because I wish I had what she had. I am happy I got to be there though to remember the true power of a dream.

Cauliflower Pizza and the zoo.

I bet you are wondering what cauliflower pizza and the zoo have to do with each other? Not much but they were both apart of my day.

Last week on my quest to eat healthier I stumbled upon this recipe for pizza (a favorite of mine but not very waistline friendly). In this recipe you made a crust out of a cauliflower mixture. I was skeptical but always up for a challenge. Besides the pictures looked AMAZING, and lets be honest as long as the pictures look good enough we'll probably make anything. Before I forget here is the link for the recipe. I decided I would make both pizza and bread sticks. It turned out awesome. Three things I should note if you're going to try this recipe. problem 1: The bottom of my pizza crusts got a little too dark I did make personal size pizza's instead of one big one though so maybe that has something to do with it. The recipe does tell you to grease the pan though and anytime I do that my stuff gets to dark so just watch it closely. It still tasted awesome though despite the dark bottoms. Problem 2: get your toppings prepped in advance, after you bake the crust you need to quickly top them and get them back in the oven. Problem 3: If your cauliflower has too much moisture in it your crust will turn out soggy. When you look at the directions to "rice" the cauliflower it says do not add water. I proceeded to steam mine anyways so I used about 20 paper towels trying to dry out my cauliflower after I realized my mistake. Apparently cauliflower has a high water content already so you don't need to add water to it. Make sure your cauliflower is as dry as possible before making your crust. My fiancee loved it so much he ate his pizza, half of my daughters pizza, and almost all the bread sticks by himself.

Now for the zoo. I just recently moved closer to my family again and I couldn't love it more. As a stay at home mom I need to go out of the house or I go crazy. So my mom was off today and me, her, my sister, and our kids all headed down to the Nashville Zoo. I haven't been there in about 10-12 years so a lot had changed. My daughter had an amazing time running around with her cousins. We enjoyed a picnic lunch there and I actually got a bit sunburned. If this post doesn't sound as witty as normal I am tired and my brain feels like a fried egg right now. At least it was nice weather though, had to enjoy it while I could, these warm dry days are few and far between in the spring time in Tennessee.

Hope you guys try out the pizza recipe, I know we'll be making it for sure again. Leave me a comment if you have any questions!

Terrible twos

My daughter is 2 years old. I have always heard tales of this dreaded time and worried about it from the day I found out I was pregnant. I always wondered what it was about this magical age that made kids go crazy. I think I finally figured it out though, they're going through a major transition from baby to toddler and they're just old enough to be dangerous.

Going about my nightly domesticated duties I was on a roll with the house cleaning, got the place looking quite spiffy and was very proud of myself. I looked over at my squealing daughter who had got quite wound up by my fiancee during my cleaning frenzy. I knew what was coming next, it's like a hog tying contest trying to get this kid in pajama's and into her bed anymore. I swear her evasive maneuvers astound me more and more. After several minutes of wiggling and kicking and zipping I finally have success. Diaper on, jammies on, baby in bed with her army of stuffed sidekicks. My daughter also has a nightly ritual of trying everything in the book to get me to come get her from the bed. So for about ten minutes I listen to her pleas, "I'm hungry", "I want my ba ba" etc radiate from her crib. I am exhausted though so I climb into bed and pretty much instantly go to sleep.  Who knew going medieval on your house could take so much out of you?

Fast forward to 3:30 am and I hear crying on the monitor, not just a wimper because I always give my daughter a couple of minutes to decide if she really wants to wake her tired momma up during the middle of the night. I get up to check on her, flick on the light, and there is my darling daughter butt naked with her diaper in her hand. Awesome. I bet you can guess where this is going.

I have to assume that when I put her down she thought if she stripped naked some how my magic mommy powers would alert me to her nakedness. She probably then thought I would come rescue her from the crib and we'd stay up all night long or something to that effect. She probably fell asleep shortly after she realized it wasn't happening. I'm guessing around 3:30am miss things bladder gave out and she had an accident. YAY for being woke up at 3:30 in the morning to flip out bedding and clean more.

I finally get back into bed and ponder why no one has invented something to keep kids clothing on them. I think they all go through this stage of pulling of the clothes. This is now the second time that my daughter has went through this stage. Million dollar idea here to the one that can come up with something that won't be a choking hazard!

This is the issue though. My daughter isn't that beautiful little wrinkled baby anymore that I brought home from the hospital. She also isn't a functional kid/adult who can do things for herself. She's just what I like to call an "overgrown baby" trying to figure out EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD and giving her mother gray hair along the way.

A quick update about my food quest. I never got around to making my cauliflower pizza last night, upon further review of my fridge I realized we needed a leftover night more than pizza. Should get around to making it in the next day or two though so stand by!

Cooking Experiments- Paleo- Chicken "Spaghetti" Squash

So I have been hearing on and off about the Paleo diet for awhile now. I knew a few people on the diet and then my favorite coupon blogger took up the diet and she keeps posting wonderful recipes that have made me want to give it a go. So look forward to my review on many Paleo recipes and maybe i'll even make some of my own. Last night I made chicken spaghetti but with spaghetti squash instead of noodles. Some stuff I used might not be fully Paleo so substitute as needed. It was sooooooo good. This is my own recipe I have tweaked over several times of trying to make this wonderful dish. Here is what I came up with that was AMAZING last night for dinner:

Ingredients:

1 spaghetti squash
1 bell pepper
1/2 a small white onion
1 can Hunts diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano
4 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of butter (I love land o lakes with olive oil)
2 chicken breasts (smallers ones, mine were around 5 ounces)
1 jar spaghetti sauce (I used Ragu with tomato, onion, and garlic)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350.

Cut spaghetti squash in half and scoop out the "guts". Lay cut side down and fill the pan half full with hot water. Bake for 40 minutes or until tender.

While the squash is baking put your chicken breast in a medium sized saucepan and boil in water till done (time will vary on this step due to size of chicken breast and if you are cooking from fresh or frozen, breasts will be done when the middle is no longer pink.)

In a medium sized sauce pan put chopped onion, green peppers, and garlic in with the butter and let them cook. I usually cook them till they're translucent but if you prefer you can cook them till browned.

After the pepper mixture is cooked to your preference add in the Hunts diced tomatoes, strain them first though or your sauce will be to runny.

Let the tomatoes simmer with the pepper mixture until some of the moisture is gone and the flavor has muddled together well, about 5 minutes or so.

Add in spaghetti sauce to mixture and heat together for another 5 minutes.

By now your chicken breast should be done broiling, cut or shred the chicken breast and add that to the spaghetti sauce and let that simmer together until your squash is done. You'll notice after you broil your chicken it can have a gamey scent to it but letting it simmer in the sauce will get rid of that, don't panic!

Remove spaghetti squash from oven and allow to cool, if you need to hurry hold the bottom with an oven mitt while you rake oven the cut part of the squash with a fork. It will break up into beautiful angel hair like noodles.

Serve the "noodles" warm and scoop desired amount of sauce over the top. My fiancee LOVED this dish and we served some Onion poppy seed ciabatta bread on the side. I realize that is not Paleo but hey I am human and like bread and i'm working on it, so there.

I hope you liked this recipe as much as my family did. Tonight I am making cauliflower pizza crust, I am so excited because my daughter is a pizza fanatic so I am looking for a healthier alternative for her. FINGERS CROSSED!

What you can expect!

Back in 2009 I was just a kid working full time who had my own place, floating through life. I found out I was pregnant with my daughter Emma and signed up for college at the same time. After a good deal of time being a full time student, working a 40 hour work week, and managing having a newborn I am now able to stay home with my daughter and attend school. Me, my daughter, and fiancee live just outside of Nashville. This blog is dedicated to my experiments around the house and the struggles I face going from a mover and shaker to a stay at home mom and all around domesticated diva. Hope you enjoy following my triumphs and mishaps.