This past weekend, on Mother's Day, the girls and I set out on a cooking slash baking adventure. Amanda had been begging me for pot pie and I had recently read Smitten Kitchen's post on scones made with heavy cream. So rather than clean the kitchen, which is what I normally do on Sundays, we destroyed it.
In fact, half way through Sunday when I was thinking about blogging about this, I wasn't sure if I wanted to recommend it since the mess is so astronomical.
As. tro. nom. ical.
The food was stunning but I have to be honest, I am not meant to be a kitchen chic. I do not like can't effing stand cleaning up the kitchen. If the dishwasher has to be ran more than once, I'm out.
BUT since I had promised Amanda a freaking pot pie and it was Mother's Day and I wanted to spend time with the girls, I sucked it up and endured the destruction of my kitchen and the impending cleanup job that lurked in the not so distant future.
Where I failed you as a blogger, I did not take pictures.
I thought about it several times through out the day but my camera was in the car and I didn't want to leave and go get it. I was really enjoying the time with the girls.
Anyway, we made the following three things, all of which I can recommend as being really good!

Chicken Pot Pie
We didn't change much about this recipe or process except that we didn't have any baking bowls so we made one large pot pie in a 9x15 glass pyrex dish. Oh and we added corn. My kids really loved it. If I make it again, I will prepare everything in advance instead of all on the same day.
We also made one for Ruthie with no meat. We used cream of celery soup as a base and used pretty much all the veggies in my house including soy beans and zucchini. It was made in the smaller square pyrex pan and she liked it.

Dreamy Creamy Scones
We used strawberries. I'm sure we broke all kinds of baking rules but we thawed about a half cup of strawberries and cut them up and threw them in. They definitely added to the moisture and we probably should have cut some of the cream out but we didn't. They fall apart pretty easily but are really good.

Chocolate Scones
We didn't change ANYTHING about these... they were sooo good. We made all of our scones in muffin tins instead of cutting them though. Make these as soon as you possibly can. I had dreams about them. Sooo goood.

Labels: Amanda, Being Mommy, Emilee, Mother's Day, recipes, Triniti

Being a mom is without a doubt the biggest thing I believe I will ever do in my life.
And it's kinda my favorite thing too.
Even when hard and crazy, it's still my favorite thing.
There is pretty much nothing that compares to just watching your child. You can watch them sleep or talk or concentrate or hit the ball or eat or smile.. it doesn't matter. That's your kid. You not only created their life, which in and of itself is this unbelievably miraculous thing, but you have been there to mold them from infant to person.
You made that person.
What could possibly be cooler than that?
And for right now, you are their favorite person, you are the person they trust most in the entire world.
You're their mom.
And today is your day.
One of the few times in my world I get offers to have someone else take my kids is on Mother's Day... but here's the thing, that is really the day I enjoy spending with them the most. A lot of the time Mother's Day is kind of taken as a "day off for Mom"... but for me it's the day that I take time to remember how much I love all of this mess. How much being a Mom is important to me. And how much the three little girls who made me a Mother are freaking awesome.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you fabulous Moms out there.
Enjoy your day!

Labels: Amanda, Being Mommy, Emilee, Mother's Day, Triniti

For several years I have been sending flowers to Veronique's mother on Mother's Day. It wasn't until last year that I asked myself why in the HELL am I sending dead flowers??? and started sending plants instead. At least with a plant I wasn't killing something.
So my first bit of "advice" for shopping for Mother's Day this year is please try not to kill anything!!
One of my favorite sites for shopping is Viva Terra. If you click on that link, it should take you to their plant section. They have very cool bonzai plants... Everything from Japanese Maple to Apple! Very cool.
And if you are looking for something even cooler, try their Living Wreath. It has five groups of green-gray, burgundy and silver succulents and only has to be watered every three to ten weeks! How cool is that??

Succulents aren't your thang? That's cool. They also have an herb wreath! One that you can use! Hang in your kitchen and it will smell fabulous and you can use it!
Errhhh... I mean, whomever you give it to can use it.
Because we're shopping for other people here.
Not ourselves.
Other people.
Focus Kate.
The thing that originally had me on Viva Terra was the recycled glass dinnerware. A while back I was shopping for dinnerware and I was having one helluva time trying to decide what I wanted.
It turned out that the reason I couldn't pick was because I was really wanting something recycled. But MAN recycled dishes are effing expensive. And with the reality being that I will so totally break them.



If I EVER get married, this will be the ONLY thing I register for. Everyone can bring me one plate! :)

But since you probably won't be buying mom a whole new set of dishes, how about these bad ass bowls made from old records?

Golden oldies never die, as proven by our gifted and imaginative artist who creates a mandala on her recycled platters from the past then molds them into flower-shaped containers. The spindle hole's have been sealed to make these former LPs water-tight, but they're the real deal: Flip one over and you can read the original label. How groovy is that?
Groovy indeed.

Ok, so how about some ETSY?
If you haven't made it to Etsy yet, well you are about to be VERY mad at me and I'm sorry.

How about this super cool ring made from recycled tin?
And this fabulous locket made from recycled car parts with a magnetic lid!

You know what guys?
I dig birds.
I don't know what it is... maybe it's the whole colorful modernized version or something, but I freaking like birds.
Check out this bag...
Now see, I intended to find about a half a dozen more things for ya'll but sadly, I found recycled scrabble tile pendants and my afternoon has now been shot.
There seems to be a slew of people out there in Internet Land who are turning Scrabble Tiles into jewelry. And if you had told me that and I hadn't seen them, I would probably chuckle at the idea of wearing random letters around my neck.

But I have seen them.
And now I want about two hundred different tiles.


Ok I've got to go lie down.
And cut up my credit cards.
Not necessarily in that order.

Labels: Being a Chic, Earth, Mother's Day, stuff I like

I was doing a little Mother's Day browsing and decided to show ya'll a few things I saw on Red Envelope this morning that I thought were super cute... It may help ya out with your shopping... and you know, I'm all about helping ya'll out ;)
This is an adorable jewely tree. They have a few different styles, but this was the one I thought was the cutest:


There must be something about approaching thirty that has me loving glass. I am still prone to breaking things so I usually avoid glass, but I find that I am starting to want it more. I want glass drinking glasses and vases and candle holders. *sigh* Anyway, I love these. They are so pretty and they remind me of Under The Tuscan Sun...
You know, I feel like I should confess something.
I am the worst framer of pictures in the world.
I want to frame pictures. I want to hang framed photos all of my house. And I certainly take enough pics for that to be possible... but for some reason, I never do. Maybe I can't commit to buying frames, maybe I can't commit to printing up pics.. I don't know.. But I do love this frame set. You could put several of these in a hallway and it would looks super nice...


I love, love, LOVE this necklace. Must be another getting older thing because I could totally take or leave jewelry for pretty much my whole life and now I am finding stuff I just adore. This would be super duper special if one of the girls gave it me one day...


Ok, now this last one would be something amazing to give a friend for Mother's Day. It's so sweet and very pretty...

Labels: Being Mommy, Mother's Day, stuff I like

I woke up this morning and thanked the Dream Gods for the very hot blonde man that they sent me last night. Laying in bed wishing that not only the hot man had been real but also the trip to Hawaii, I looked over this morning to see my daughters had put their gifts on the table by my bed.
The t-shirt that they made at daycare had their painted foot prints on it and says "Our mom let's us walk all over her." Then there was the handprint flower pot from Trin and the keychain from Emilee.
And one dozen white roses from my sister.

Which was really sweet of her :)

I came in to check my email and after chuckling at Snow and briefly thinking about the conversation she and I had last night, I read my horoscope:
Erotic dreams and visions might come to you throughout the day, Kate. This definitely implies that you should get together in the evening with your romantic partner, but there's probably more to it than that. Somehow these images are telling you something important, perhaps about yourself, perhaps about events going on around you. Forget physical sex for a moment, and consider what the symbols mean to you. You might be amazed at the insights that come up!

So now I am sitting here trying to remember the other parts of my dream...
I was in Hawaii, back on the road where I used to live. I was there to see how things had changed since our house had burned down and we had moved. And it was all exactly the same. But the house next door was now occupied by the most gorgeous and tall guy. Blonde hair, yummy bod (yeah, I just said 'bod' - shut it), a full foot taller than me.
Yummy man and I end up playing and then I am some how at a boat dock. Staying in a room there with him or something. And he has went some where and I go outside to get the broom and he left it leaning up against the boat and it slips into the water and no matter what I do, I can't seem to get it. I only tried for a few minutes and then figured I would have him get it when he got home.
That's it.
Not sure how much you can deduce from a dream like that.
And who really cares?
Did I mention the hot guy?
Yeah, I'm good with that.

As far as getting together with a romantic partner this evening, I am without. Not a huge deal. Would I turn down a dinner invitation with someone who's company I enjoy? Nope. But seeing as how there are only a few of those guys and I haven't really heard from any of them in the recent past, I am pretty sure I won't be heading out for a romantic evening tonight.

Instead, I am bribing my sister to take the girls away for a few hours so I can CLEAN my house. Oh man, it is a mess. We have been so busy with softball and gymnastics and work... I have fallen behind.

But, even on mornings such as this one where my oldest heathen has a nasty, nasty attitude, I am so grateful for these kidlets. I look over right now at Trin and see her sitting on the floor playing with her dollhouse and Emilee completely kicked back letting the TV suck out her brain and Amanda who is the Queen of The Smartasses and I just love that they are mine.
Being a mom is not all roses and cake, it is hard. It is physically, emotionally and mentally trying almost every minute of every day. And I love it. I love them and I love all of the trials and happiness that they have brought to me.
I hope all of you moms out there are able to look at your kids and be thankful for what they have brought to your life today.
And I hope you are also able to sit back and relax, even if just for a few minutes. Because each of you are awesome. Those little people who woke up this morning with disheveled hair and sleepy smiles, those are your little people. And they love you so much.
Happy Mother's Day.

Labels: Amanda, Being a Chic, Being Mommy, Emilee, Mother's Day, Ruthie, Triniti