I LOVE PINTEREST!!! When I first heard about pinterest I really didn't understand the concept...you post pictures that you like??? Big Deal!! Then I decided to give it a try, and here is what I absolutely LOVE about Pinterest: It isn't just about posting pictures...it's the idea and, more importantly, the links behind the pictures. You create a bunch of boards to organize your pictures/links. For example, I have boards for recipes, desserts, classroom ideas, gardening, sewing patterns, etc. Then when you find a picture/link that you want to try...some day...you "Pin It" to your specific board. On days when I'm going shopping, I actually pull up my board called, "My Attempt At Fashion" and it helps to keep my shopping guided by the outfits I know I like. If I want to try a new recipe for dinner, I'll open up by board, "Recipes To Try" and decide what's for dinner then. It's is such a GREAT concept...and has so many great ideas to simplify your life!!!!
So, in my attempt to try and cook more dinners for the family (My husband loves to cook and so I have been blessed with not needing to cook...but he is starting to get a greater work load and so I need to pick it up on my end now).
Cooking is NOT my thing, never has been, and I can't imagine that it ever will...regardless, Mama needs to pick it up. PINTEREST TO THE RESCUE!!! I have a ton of recipes on my "Recipe" board, and I have tried a handful of them...so I thought I would share my reviews of how they turned out.
This was my first recipe that I tried and they were super easy and DELICIOUS!!!! I even had Emily help out and she couldn't be happier. My main criteria for a good recipe is 1. It needs to have approximately 5 ingredients (give or take a few), and 2. It can't take up much of my time. Taste comes after all of that...but if it passes my two main criteria AND it tastes good...will GOD BLESS IT...it will then become a staple in our household. As for these delicious potato rounds, they had just a few indredients (GREAT), but the cooking time was super long...not a big deal because most of the time was baking in the oven, but I just came across the problem of them needing to be in the oven at a much higher temperature than my chicken did...and so it took a phone call to my mom to figure out how to overcome that obstacle. Please don't forget, cooking has NEVER been my thing!!! You wouldn't believe the phone calls that went home to my mother for other recipes.
I ended up making this recipe for Craig on Valentines Day because it is one of his favorite things...BBQ! This recipe was as easy as it gets. It was SO SO GOOD and SO SO EASY!!! All I did was rubbed salt and pepper on the pork shoulder, put it in the crockpot with a couple cups of water and cooked it on low for about 9 1/2 hours. When I got home from work, I pulled the pork out, dumped out the water, put the pork back in the crockpot, used a couple forks and shredded the pork, then added a couple cups of BBQ sauce and cooked it on low for about another half hour to heat up the BBQ sauce and then turned it to the "warm" setting until Craig was home from work and ready for dinner. I am not a huge BBQ fan, but this recipe was turn anyone on the BBQ!!! Two thumbs up!!! I even had a ton of left overs too...too much actually,
I could tell that these had the potential to be extremely good, but I just have never fried anything before so I don't have the whole "oil temperature" thing down or the timing for flipping them. I think I put the pork chops in the oil before the temperature was hot enough so I didn't get the crispy look that is in the picture. The taste was still good, but I think that the next time I make these, they will turn out even better. They were super easy for when you need to get something on the dinner table quickly...I just need a bit more cooking experience...but I will be making these again, that's for sure.
OH MY GOODNESS...This recipe was SO GOOD, and SO EASY!!! I can't tell you how much I love crockpot recipes. I just need to get in the habit of putting it together in the crockpot the night before, storing it in the refrigerator and then, before I leave for work in the morning, set it all up so that I don't wake up my daughter in the morning. All I had to do was cook up the pasta about 15 minutes before we were ready for dinner and...PRESTO...dinner was served!!! Mmmm....Mmmm....Good. This was one that Emily enjoyed as well. You can't beat that.
It seems like every recipe I have tried from pinterest have just been amazing. This one turned out super good too. The only thing I would change would be, instead of making my own bread crumbs by using the food processor for the Ritz Crackers...I would just use our box of bread crumbs. I can't imagine that there would be that much of a difference, plus the clean up would be a lot easier and bit less time consuming as well. My only problem, and I don't know if I would call it an actual "problem" because it is more of my lack of knowledge in the cooking world...but whenever I cook baked chicken with bread crumbs...the underside of my chicken has soggy bread crumbs. WHAT IS THE TRICK PEOPLE??? I know these can be so much more delicious...and even with soggy bottoms, I think they are pretty good, but I know there has to be a trick.
So, there you go. These are the recipes I have tried so far and will keep you posted when I try more. Let me know if you recommend any recipes yourself. I would love any suggestions you have.
My mom has made a quilt for each one of her grandkids...and Andrew's has finally arrived. I found the tutorial on Jaybirds Quilt Blog. It's called the Radio Way Quilt. Since I sewed Andrew's crib set and matching curtains and changing table cover, my mom used the same fabrics to make his quilt. I love how it turned out! She then handed the completed quilt to a "quilter" to stitch a fun design throughout the quilt...she even sewed his name in it. 
This tutorial was very easy to follow for someone who is a "beginner" sewer. I found this on the "SEW4HOME" website, which offers many step-by-step tutorials. I completed my bumpers slightly differently. Instead of sewing each individual bumper, I made one super long tube for the bumpers. As I sewed it, I inserted each bumper, and then sewed the tube more, and then inserted another bumper. Between each bumper, I sewed a seam down the middle of the tube so that it could easily bend around the corners of the crib. I was SUPER happy with the end result. As for the ties...I simple hand stitched satin ribbons between each bumper. It turned out perfectly!!!
As for the crib skirt, I didn't have a tutorial to follow, but I did have a couple of pictures that I wanted to model my skirt after. This was the "look" that I was going for (minus the ruffles...after all it is for a boy's room). So, with my mother's help, we put the crib skirt together and I couldn't have been happier with the end result. We used a super big bowl to make the rounded edges in the front. Then I used a pre-made biased tape for the edges around the front, sides and back. As for the peek-a-boo portion, I used a small rope with the brown polk-a-dot fabric (the same that I used for the top of the bumpers) on the bottom. 
Now, as for the window in the nursery. For Emily's room we had a short valence and baby-proof blinds to block the light out. Unfortunately, due to the position of the window...when the sun would set the light would pierce through the perimeter of the window and landed directly in the crib. Craig's solution to this problem...pin up a black bed sheet. It was so ugly, but as long as it was functional, Craig didn't care.
When we found out the gender of our first baby, we went to
both of our parents homes and brought in a HUGE gift bag that had a balloon
inside that announced the gender, “It’s A Girl”. Then we showed them the
ultrasound pictures…my dad needed some more convincing then a simple balloon.
(He has ALWAYS asked for a grand daughter…and didn’t want to get too excited
about it). 
