Nature Lover

When, Maddie and I take walks, we go about 1/8 of a mile per hour. She likes to stop. A lot. Here are a few nature moments from this week:

















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Conversations with Maddie

Ah yes, we've reached the part of my blog history where you will now get to read cute things that Maddie says.

Conversation #1:

Me: "Mommy's going to start dinner."
Mads: "Hmmm... What kind dinner?"
Me: "I'm making Tiropitas. It's a type of pie made with cheese."
Mads "Oh, and eggs."

Conversation #2:
Me: "I am so sneezy today!"
Mads: "Mommy need tissue?"

I am ridiculously amused by not only Maddie's words, but the way she delivers every line with careful deliberation. Most csentences have a "Mmm" or "Hmmm" before them. Kind of like a french person speaking english for the first time.

The Pinterest Challenge

As many of you may know, I am completely obsessed with Pinterest. I only found it a few weeks ago and let's face facts, it didn't take me that long to fall in love. I have always been a true believer of love at first sight. For those of you not familiar, Pinterest is a site that enables you to pin images/articles that you find online to your style board. Essentially it serves as an online notebook to jot down your wishlists, craft to-do lists, decorating/fashion ideas, etc... But the best part is that you also get to see what other people are pinning and thereby find things online that you otherwise never would have found.

I fell in love with Pinterest maybe a month ago and as of today I have pinned 128 things. And this is the challenge of Pinterest. I now have 128 projects on my to-do list, and that list is growing daily. So I'm attempting to hold myself accountable to my initial Pinterest inspiration.

I've seen several blogs posting about their Pinterest Challenge, most notably Sherry of Young House Love. Sherry has challenged her readers to actually complete a project that they have pinned. Um... well, I don't time to complete anything right now, but I'm going halfway there. Today, I'm taking a moment to review my pins and start my realistic to do list of projects to do. So here we go...

Turning Inspiration into Perspiration:

Oh wait, I got distracted on Pinterested and pinned 5 more things... So here we go...


Fabric Covered Clips: an easy first and perfect timing since I'm currently redoing my office.


Homemade Clorox Wipes: I hate spending money on these, so why not.


Lanterns: This may be what Rob is talking about when he says I go overboard, but I'm thinking Labor Day...

And in reviewing my boards, I've discovered that I get bonus points because I've actually completed two projects. That's two more projects than I thought I had completed! This post will be continued, because oh, believe me there are more projects. And if anybody needs a Pinterest invite, just let me know.

Princess

This is Her Royal Highness, Princess Maddie. She has been wrapping herself in quilts and labeling herself "Princess" for months now.

So I'm putting together a dress up box. Anybody have any old costume jewelry, purses, smallish dresses or hats?


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Sloppy Maddies

One of my go-to dinners has always been Sloppy Joes, which we now call Sloppy Maddies. See?




(ok, so this picture is more about potential and how my model will do things at her own pace and how dare you take my picture during dinner Mommy).

It's super easy and just plain old delicious. And here, I give you the recipe.

Sloppy Maddies:

1 lb ground turkey
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
salt and pepper
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large red pepper, chopped
1 can tomato paste
1 can (28 oz) whole tomatoes
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp Worchestershire sauce

1. Brown ground turkey in a tbsp of olive oil. Add cumin and paprika.
2. Add onion and red pepper, cook about 5 minutes on Med High. Add garlic cook 1-2 minutes.
3. Add tomato paste and stir.
4. Add tomatoes, breaking them up by hand before adding, and all juice. Add brown sugar, worchestershire, salt and pepper.
5. Stir and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Serve over rolls or bread. This really made a ton of food, we ate it for two different dinners!

Enjoy, but remember whoever makes this has to clean up Maddie.