beYOUtiful

(this is my gym bag pictured above…makes me smile everyday)

i have had it on my heart to post something this mother's day. i thought about what i wanted it to say and started to type then backspace would evidently prevail. then ethan's teacher spoke at our mommy muffin day at pre-school and it was confirmed, i should stick with my original thoughts. a couple days later i found out via social media that pastor barb would be speaking about something similar…once again confirmed…just go with it.

as moms our role is so important. we are given the responsibility of nurturing, teaching, being an example, guiding, loving unconditionally and disciplining our children. we become chef's, taxi drivers, booboo fixers, counselors, tickle monsters, cinderella (my fancy word for cleaning lady), cheerleaders...anyone have more to add? somehow we pull all of this off and to others it looks effortless. to our kids we are super moms,"rock stars" and almost perfect!

in the age of social media it's easy to compare yourself to others. most of us do not post pictures of our sink full of dishes, our dirty floors, the piles of laundry awaiting the washer or an argument we had with a loved one. what about a video of your child having a meltdown…instagram worthy? of course not…the family vacations, fancy restaurants, laughing babies, exotic trips, biggest catch,  flowers for no reason, new house and the job promotion are what we view as facebook worthy. i can honestly say that i am happy for all of my facebook friends and thats genuine...i truly enjoy seeing others happiness and success. however, a year or so ago i caught myself comparing my chapter 4 with others who were on their chapter 10 in the book of life. that can be something so easy to do and yet so not fair to ourselves. once i realized what i allowed to happen i remembered something pastor mike (pastor of our church) said, "you are doing better than you think you are." pastor mike said this during a teaching to the entire congregation on what jesus would say to each of us if he came and sat down right next to us. and really that is so true…we put so much pressure on ourselves to be in a certain place in our lives by a certain time that sometimes we do not stop and enjoy everything we have to be thankful for!

so even as i type this my floors need swept, i have dishes soaking in the sink, laundry on the floor and a bleeding finger and i am okay with that. i know that all of that will still be there when i am done with this post. and truly at times i have embraced the dirty floors happy kids philosophy because its really hard for me not to stop what i am doing to cuddle or play with our son ethan!


in the day and age where we are so open about our lives on social media its really time to stop and realize there is no comparison…you are you…and we are right where we are suppose to be in this journey of life. we need to stop the comparing and realize we are doing an amazing job. stop being to hard on ourselves and know our kids adore us and all that we do. use the skills god has given us and  stop comparing our skills with others. let's rejoice with others who are getting promotions, buying new houses, getting cool jobs, going on trips or buying new cars and having babies. these are all things to be happy about and just know that we all have the skills to make our dreams come true just like anyone else and it's  just a matter of making those same things happen for ourselves.

"there is no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one", jill churchill.

be your self and beyoutiful because you are the only one that totally rocks at being you!

sophia the first cupcakes and cookies

we are a fan of sophia in this house. the pantry bakeshop recently created these for a lucky 2 year old. two words…adorably perfect

twice baked potatoes

i am a fan of spuds…you can keep bread away from me i could care less but potatoes can not be avoided especially with a grilled steak. i do not make these very often because they are super unhealthy and generally we eat clean but for one of those days you want to splurge these are amazing. and really nothing special…i just added the ingredients we like. some of my favorite recipes have no recipe at all just my creation! so check it out and let me know what you think. these can definitely be prepared the morning of or even the day before since the last step is to warm up or re-heat.

ingredients

6 large restaurant style potatoes

1 cup shredded mild cheddar cheese

1/4 cup sour cream (we love daisy)

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter…but don't tell anyone

1 cup of bacon bits (i prefer fresh so i cook the bacon and make my own crumbles)

1 cup of green onions/scallions chopped

1/2 cup of chives finely chopped

course seas salt

1. heat oven to 400 degrees. wash potatoes and then poke holes in them with a knife or fork. re-wet the potato if necessary and sprinkle with sea salt…you want the salt to stick. place directly on oven rack and back for about an hour until potatoes are soft with a slightly crunchy skin…yum!

2. remove from the oven and allow to cool so potatoes can be handled. once they are cool enough to touch slice them long ways down the center. then scoop out the inside of the potato and place in a medium sized mixing bowl.   (see photos below)





















3. once the insides of the potato are all scooped out place the stick of butter (yikes) in the bowl and allow the butter to melt with a lid on top or pop it in the microwave for a few seconds.  then mash potatoes using an electric mixer. you could hand mash as well but i prefer smooth and no lumps and hand mixing can take some time. mix until they are well blended and creamy. then add sour cream and mix. the remaining ingredients i fold in together. add the cheese, half of the bacon crumbles and scallions mix until evenly distributed.

4. next step is to fill the potato skins with that yummy mixture above. i actually used an easy accent decorator from the pampered chef to fill mine but feel fee to use a spoon or any other type of kitchen gadget.

5.  sprinkle remaining bacon bits over the top of each potato. if the bacon bits start to fall off gently press them into the potato.  place the potatoes in a pan or on a cookie sheet and warm at 350 degrees. you could also add them to the top rack of your grill if you are grilling. remove from oven or grill and sprinkle with scallions.

enjoy!!

chicken parmesan pizza

so i can honestly say rachael ray has grown on me.
she cooks up some yummy things and that's what its about! i was inspired to try this recipe as ethan and i watched a rerun she had on, where she was cooking with a little girl. i really wanted to try it for a few reasons. first,...it looked simple and quick, second it is very kid friendly and three its somewhat healthy for pizza at least. 

so while i was at the store i tried to remember what i needed. it was only a few things but i forgot the fresh herbs which would be the best part in my opinion so i had to use dry herbs and it still turned out good. i also used 99% lean ground turkey instead of chicken.  and really since you have the basic idea of  how to make it i thought of trying it with a vegetable mix of mushrooms, eggplant, black olives and red bell peppers. it would cook up just the same and i would probably have enjoyed it more. i am not real big on meat on my pizza i love me some veggies. 

here is the recipe i hope you enjoy it. and if you do decide to make it come back and tell me what you think. or if you tried a different version.

enjoy!

bathroom facelift…painted tile

so i did the big no no…well depending on what diy website or blog you read it can also be a big yes.

i painted the tile in our bathroom…yikes!

i honestly wish i would have taken a before before pic of the bathroom since this was a 2 segment project.  we started the bathroom facelift when i moved in. when my husband moved in it had carpet!! for me i was totally grossed out by the wall to wall carpet in a bathroom. when i moved in that was one of the first things i did was rip that out. we had a tile floor put in. and i painted and went with a color pallet that would compliment my dilemma...

the walls are tiled halfway down and the top row and bottom row have blue tile.

so i went with the green color pictured here (corn husk green behr). the color pallet was green, blue and brown and actually looked great for the time being until we decided what to do with the tile. i found a ton of decor in that color scheme so it worked. we thought of ripping the tile out of course then that lead to ripping out all of the drywall and taking it down to the studs to just start over. 

but honestly we didn't want to invest that kind of money into a house we will only be in for another 2-5  years. so this past winter i started "researching" the do's and do nots of painting tile. 

i started out thinking i would sand the sheen of the tile off so it was dull and the primer would adhere better. 

wrong... even with a stronger grit than recommended (220) online on multiple websites and an electric sander, the sheen was not easily removed at all. and the sheen is what will cause your paint not to adhere which will in turn cause peeling. 

so i began researching annie sloan's chalk paint.

i actually called a local specialty store that carries it then in the end called the company and spoke with a specialist. she was awesome! so this was it...i was going to use annie sloans country gray on the blue rows of tile to clear the blue hue so when i applied the pure white the blue wouldn't show through. then the final coat would be their extra strong matte laquer. even at the pricey 40.00 a quart i was willing to spend it because i had heard soooo many great things about the results of this paint. and my mom uses it  so it has to be wonderful… : )

but i still had to run it by the pro (mom)…my mom thought that wasn't the best idea because our bathroom is large and would end up costing 200.00 or more just on paint. 

soooo back to researching and at this point i actually tried the sanding again…no luck.

i went into home depot and started looking at the oil based primers…this was my last resort before removing the tile. the nice employee saw me "searching" and offered assistance. without hesitation he pulled out a can of

which can be found at home depot.  he said apply this without sanding and then use any type of paint over top…even latex! 

yay!

i was so excited that i finally had a solution.

but i will not lie this stuff is potent and you have to have open windows. even with the windows open it was terrible. we had headaches and stomach aches and this was the first time i actually dreaded painting. thankfully it does dry fast so the smell starts to dissipate over the next few days.

i did not sand and began applying the primer to the walls. i used a miniature smooth nap roller and a small paint brush for the grout. i would paint the grout in a 6-8 square section with the brush then roll to fill it in. oil based paint is very runny and thin…flat out messy would be the truth. so a little paint at a time is best. it dries fast as well so definitely go with smaller sections.

here is a photo of the tile being primed

even though the grout and tile had been cleaned with bleach regularly, i couldn't believe how grossed out i was after seeing the difference the primer had made to the dingy old tile! getting very excited here!! i did do two coats of primer just to make sure all areas of sheen were covered with the matte looking primer.

the above pictures show the contrast between the primer then the final paint color.

i used behr porch and floor paint in gloss enamel in ultra pure white.  i am a matte paint girl but i thought the tile needed a little sheen and also wanted something easy to keep clean. i also chose the floor and porch paint over the regular interior paint because of the adhesive and durability property.

and here is the finished look!! i did do 2 coats of the final white color on the blue rows as well to make sure there wasn't any blue tones showing through the white.

and now for the walls...

we are going with an ocean theme in our newly mad over bathroom and i am so excited to add the finishing touches. we chose porpoise by behr in their matte premium plus ultra paint.

and we are ecstatic with the results!!

and now to begin adding the finishing touches. towel racks, outlet covers, shower rod and curtain along with the ocean themed accents and gray towels!! we already updated the mirror, lighting and tub surround. eeeeeeeeek! very excited.

the tile project would roughly cost about 100.00 but i had some of the supplies already and just had to purchase extra rollers and paint. you could by a less expensive latex paint if you wanted to cut it back a little more but do not scrimp on the cost of the primer. odds are it will not adhere and peel. 

hoping this little facelift will be just what our bathroom needed to add to the appeal when we sell.

i know we love it!!

i am a fan of painting and restoring things so stay tuned there may be more blog posts.

have a great day thank you for stopping

pink and green cupcake cut out cookies

pink and green…sooooo adorable!

created by the pantry in rak~uae

mini stuffed peppers

sometimes i am in the mood to follow recipes where i may add a few extra of this or none of that to make it my own. sometimes when the mood strikes me i come up with my "own" creations and just roll with it. these turned out pretty good and would make a great snack or something you can make for dinner. 

they were husband approved. 

1-1.5 pounds extra lean ground turkey

1 cup black beans (i omitted these for my husbands)

mini sweet peppers tops chopped off and seeded or use regular sized bell peppers if preferred

2 large cloves of pressed garlic

2 tablespoons of taco seasoning

1 tablespoon adobe seasoning (not needed but i used it) 

pinch of cayenne (optional)

2-4 tablespoons crumbled goat cheese

1 teaspoon parsley 

1/2 cup red onions or scallions 

1. pre-heat oven to 400. brown the ground turkey in a large pan. you can cut the tops off the peppers and seed them during this step.

2. once turkey is cooked all the way through add 2 tablespoons of the goat cheese (more or less to taste) to warm mixture and stir in so it melts into the meat. add the pressed garlic and stir in. add taco seasoning, parsley, cayenne, adobe and stir in. add a little bit of water if needed to blend.

3. finally fold in the beans, onions you could even add corn (i didn't want the extra sugar) and then stuff the peppers. place in a pan with foil over top or i used a deep covered baker with lid for mine. place in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until peppers are tender.

enjoy!