Apple Monkey Bread Muffins

This is a combination of a few recipes... but oh my!

They are delicious!!

What I love most.. other than the delicious taste... is the ease of this recipe.

Here is what you need:
1 can Pillsbury flaky cinnamon rolls
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1 tart apple, peeled and diced
1/4 melted butter

Preheat oven to 350 F

 Cut your cinnamon roll doing into 6ths

In a medium bowl, mix sugar and cinnamon

Add dough and seperate, coating it in the sugar mixture. Add diced apples and coat everything in the sugar mixture.

 Pour melted butter in bowl and mix until everything is coated.

 Once everything is coated in butter, put cupcake liners in a cupcake pan. Add a handful of mixture to each cup.

Bake for 20 minutes until the tops are golden brown. (And your house is smelling yummy!!)

Voila! Enjoy!

Dress up Storage Armoire

I am beyond excited about this project.  I really wanted to have a nice storage solution for all of Abby's dress up stuff.  So I went on a search,  through goodwill after goodwill, Craigslist,  even a garage sale or two. After weeks of searching and finding nothing, I had a gut feeling to go to a place I found online. Turned out it was closed but there was a place right beside that was a resale shop, so I went in. Low and behold, there it was. Better than I thought I could find!

Needless to say Abby and I were thrilled to bits that we found this awesome hutch!

Then we, as in my hubby, father in law and I, went to Home Depot to get supplies!

And on to measuring and cutting!

Then the hubby, since he doesn't trust me with his power tools ;), put the pieces together.

And voila! 

After two coats of paint to match the rest of Abby's room, it was ready to have the tension rod put in.

This was such a fun project. And the best part is that Abby loves it. Merry Christmas to all!! :)

Snowball Fight!

In preparation for "The Great White North", aka Canada,  I wanted my kiddo and my nephews to practice their snowball fighting. Of course I didn't want a ton of mess, as they will be practicing in a hotel after we do our Texas family Christmas Thanksgiving weekend.

Enter Pinterest! Duh... fabric snowballs!

Here's what you need:

Scissors

Rounded diamond (almost lemon shaped) pattern

Sharpie

Stuffing

Glittery felt (found at hobby lobby for 1.43 after coupon for 1/4 yard!)

Sewing machine

White thread

(Since I already had the stuffing from a previous project, the whole project cost $1.43 total!!)

I started with a rounded diamond shape as a pattern for my balls. Each ball needs 4 of these shapes.

I traced the shape as many times as I could, which gave me 10 balls in the end.

After all the tracing came the cutting.

Once all the pieces were cut, I was able to start seeing. (Make sure you sew with the glittery side in) sew 4 pieces, each attached to another by one side. For the last two seams, make sure to leave a slot for stuffing.

Now onto stuffing. My first couple I didn't stuff very much, which made it easier to sew but left them softer. My suggestion is to stuff them enough that they are firm, but leave room to sew the ball shut.

And there you go!! Now you have your balls! 

(I had a Santa basket that I bought as a photography prop that worked great to hold these!)

Cookie In A Jar Teacher Gifts

As I was walking around a mall, looking at all of the brightly lit and wonderfully colored displays, I started thinking about all the people on our Christmas shopping list. There are, of course, family and close friends, but there are also people like teachers. I started looking at potential gifts, until I took a moment to realize that Abby has 12 teachers! Of course that includes her actual school teachers, Sunday school, bible study and MOPS teachers. The fact is that they have all taken care of our kiddo this year.

That was when I realized I needed to find something to give each of them,  without breaking the bank. Enter Pinterest! In a short while of looking through Pinterest,  only getting distracted by everything else on there a few times, I found it! Something personal, practical, and wouldn't break the bank. Cookies in a Jar!

I had already bought lidded jars last year after Christmas,  because you have to take advantage of 75-90% off holiday stuff, right!!? So I had 12 jars just waiting for me to figure out what to do with them,  making my husband think I was nuts. Finally they would be put to use.

After a quick trip to Kroger, costing less than $20, I started to assemble my jars using a classic chocolate chip recipe.

Here is what I put in my jars:
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups Chocolate Chips

I also made little tags to go with the cookie mix. Each tag has the rest of the instructions and recipe.

PSA: If you don't know what to say...

A lot of people hear about infertility and think, "well this just got awkward!" Then most people choose to make it more awkward with what I like to call "verbal vomit." Verbal vomit is when you probably shouldn't be talking, but you just can't seem to help yourself.

I have read so many blog posts about what to say, what not to say, what to do, what not to do, etc.... when you find out a friend is struggling with infertility. Some, I have to admit, are just funny, and some are appalling, though most are absolutely true. I use to think people just didn't know how to react to me, until I started "comparing notes" with others in similar situations. Honestly, we laughed about a lot of it. We just couldn't believe that people would say that kind of stuff, let alone how many people had said those things.

What I want to address here, is something that isn't usually talked about on the "what not to say, do..." blogs. This is something that is going to make people mad. Here goes.

According to the Mayo Clinic, and just about every doctor out there, Infertility is when a couple has been having unprotected sex for a year without pregnancy. Doctors say that if you are above 35, and have been trying for over 6 months, you fit in this category also. That is infertility.

People who have been struggling for years.... People who know the pain of being diagnosed.... People who know the stress of doctor's appointments, hormone injections, two week waits... People who know exactly what RE, IUI, Clomid, Ovidrel, Endometrin, IVF, HGC, TWW, metformin, BBT, PCOS, LH, FSH... are. These are the people that have been there, or are there now.

People who "it took 4 months" to get pregnant, just don't. Don't tell me you "get it." Don't tell me how hard it was to deal with your "struggle to get pregnant and the grief that it brought." Just don't.

Trust me, I've been there too. Before I got pregnant with my daughter, I was told I wouldn't get pregnant. Once I got pregnant, I said some very stupid things, which I only realized now that we are going through infertility. I remember telling people that doctors gave me a "slim to none" chance to conceive and I did. I remember saying, "you never know!" I wish I could go back and stop myself from saying those things. I realize now, that those "innocent comments" were actually very hurtful.

So please, for the sake of your friend who is struggling, please be mindful of your comments. Please choose your words wisely.

If you have any doubts, google it. I'm serious! Google will give you tons of blogs and websites about what not to say. One that I found particularly helpful, even if just to give those people, who don't choose their words, grace, is citymomsblog.com/houston/infertility-an-etiquette-guide-of-what-not-to-say/

Crock Pot Adventures: Part 1

After spending hours on Pinterest (you know you do it too..) I found several pins that I decided to try... namely crock pot pins.

The main challenge I had in finding recipes to try, is that my husband doesn't like warm liquid... aka soups, stews, coffee, tea, etc.... He might do hot chocolate, but he'd much rather have some regular chocolate milk.

As you may know, most recipes for crock pots have something to do with stews or soups. This is why it took me so long to find a handful of recipes. I had to find things that had meat, but that can be combined with a salad or some veggies, or anything with pasta.

My other challenge, is that whatever I am cooking in the crock pot needs to be put in by 6:30am and we wont be able to eat it until about 6 or 6:30 pm. As you can imagine... there aren't many recipes that need slow cooking for 12 hours.

In come my brand new crock pot! It has a special setting that adjusts the cooking temperature to cook your food perfectly for the number of hours you need. The only catch is that it counts on you choosing a recipe that has a cooking time of 6-8 hours on low, or 4-6 hours on high.

So the first recipe I found was Lemon Rosemary Chicken. (Let me just say that it smelled absolutely fabulous as I was prepping it!) When I got home, the whole apartment smelled wonderful! After trying it, my only adjustment would be to cook it a little less, or inject it (like a turkey at Thanksgiving) with something to keep the moisture in. It literally fell off the bone, but was a little dry.

(I wish I would have taken a picture of it done, but the hubby decided to dig right in ;))

The recipe is very simple. Here's what you need:

A whole chicken

One Lemon

A few bunches of rosemary

Salt and Pepper to taste

A whole head of Garlic

Rinse the chicken, inside and out. Rub it down with a mixture of salt and pepper. Place the chicken in crock pot. Separate garlic cloves and place in and around the chicken. Slice up lemon and place in and around chicken. Place rosemary leaves in and around chicken.

I put my chicken fully prepared in the fridge over night, since I don't have time to do all the prep work in the morning. 

In the morning, start the crock pot. (If you are using manual, cook on low for 6-8 hours.))

  ***Make sure that chicken is thoroughly cooked before serving***

Voila!

Working Improved My Marriage?!

I loved staying home with my daughter. It was so great being able to hang out with her every day, go to bible studies all the time, and have play dates. I was able to bond with other women and have friends to talk to about life.

But this wonderfulness came with a price too. Sure I was able to bombard my husband less about everything I had going on, mainly because I had friends to talk with, but I was bombarded with "how a husband should be." I would come home and find him resting after a long day at work, and I would complain to him that he wasn't doing this, that and the other. I was hearing in all of my bible studies how these amazing women were supporting their amazing men.

I was also told things like, "a typical man...." That in itself is was unfair, mainly because my hubby isn't typical. He is that guy that has a great relationship with his parents, and we see them at least once a week. He's that guy that comes home and just wants to play with our daughter until bed-time, and then would rather play video games than "talk about life." He's that guy that is just pretty laid back, and there isn't much that really gets to him.

This is where working actually improved our marriage. Since I'm working, I have less time to attend every bible study offered. While I loved being poured into by wise women, I think there must be a balance. Now I only have time for Sunday bible studies and our Wednesday night bible studies. This in itself has allowed me to "compare" him less and appreciate him more.

When I say appreciate, I mean really, really appreciate him. I am able to come home and see that he is helping out around the house. I am able to come home and appreciate every conversation I have with him, since I am no longer able to see him as much. We are both able to appreciate each other and all that we do for one another. Now instead of comparing him to pastors, ministers and missionaries, I am surrounded by women whose husbands are coaches, teachers, and business men.

I've heard it said that it's hard being a working mom, and believe you me it is! But it's also harder to be a husband to a mom who works, as opposed to a mom who stays at home. Sure the credit card gets used less, since I don't have time to shop like I use to, but when I stayed home I was able to cook dinner and clean. Now, he still works all day, but now he also drops our daughter off at school, half, if not more, of the time he picks her up, and he helps out a lot more with house chores, simply because I don't have the time to do them.

Working has allowed me to appreciate him more, and appreciate his hard work. It has also made me rely on him being awesome at who he is for our family. I am able to compare him less and appreciate all that he does more.

And I really think it's made him appreciate me more also. Even though I don't make nearly as much as he does, I make it possible for us to send our daughter to school and for use to get closer to buying our next house sooner. He also sees how hard working is for me, since I work far from where we live, and since I don't get to see our daughter, or help her with everything she is going through. He also knows that I wish I could get home before him and have the apartment tidy and dinner ready.

So while I loved being able to stay home, and hopefully I will be able to stay home again if ever we have other kids, I am learning to appreciate the challenges that come with working so that we can better our marriage.