Dinner Club

I ran across this picture the other day and it made me laugh because I can totally relate. 

(And by "ran across" it, I mean that a friend of a friend of a friend 'liked' it on Facebook)

(Has anyone noticed that the Facebook status feed is really weird now?) 

Anyway, it made me super thankful for my dinner club that I was invited to join at the end of last year. 

I LOVE it! 

Here's how it works: I make dinner on Wednesdays for our family and two other families, and then on Mondays and Tuesdays dinner is delivered to my doorstep by 5:00pm - so that we can scarf it down before DI and other activities. 

Jeff was a little resistant at first, but I think he's onboard now. It's a Brilliant Idea and I'm thankful Lauren and Ashli invited me into their 'club'. 

***

Somewhat related: The other day Blake was whining about how much milk I had given him in his cup. I had only filled it up 3/4 full to lessen the chances of spilling (wishful thinking!).  

I did my best to ignore him - but finally I'd had enough and snapped, "Do you want to DRINK your milk, or do you want to sit here and WHINE about it? 

He didn't even pause to consider the options before he responded.

"I just want to sit here and whine about it." 

Command Center

The next thing on my home decorating to do list was a mud room to store the thousands of shoes, backpacks, school papers, and McDonald's happy meal toys that seem to be overflowing from my car. I have been loving all the pins coming out with Ikea furniture that has been dressed up and adapted to fit a mud room, like this one.

But since a mud room for us would involve knocking down walls, and pulling up tile, I was forced to put it on my long term to-do list - which will probably be when Nathan graduates college, which ironically, will be the exact time I will no longer need a mud room.

So I settled for the next best things I have been drooling over on Pinterest....a command center to keep up with our ever growing calendar.

I really thought of the wall as more of a decoration than a true calendar since my calendar is stored online, until Jeff reminded me to update it the other day. Apparently, this is the only way he knows how many birthday parties, karate belt tests, and baseball playoff games to look forward to during the week.

Photo Collage Wall

I've been knocking out my five year running home to-do list lately.

One of the first things on the list was creating a photo collage wall right when you come into the house. I love the way it turned out but the lighting is terrible, so it's hard to capture the true colors.

I know you can buy these frames at Organic Bloom or you can also buy the unfinished frames at Cut It Out , but since I'm an instant gratification type of girl, I bought all of my wall decor (including the hooks and paisley frame) at Hobby Lobby and then just painted a few of them to go with my color vision (white, blues, and purple).

Easy Peasy Almost Homemade "Crab Cakes"

As you know if you have been reading this blog for almost any length of time, I am fairly new to the kitchen, even though I became a wife 13 years ago and a mom 9 years ago. I love trying new things, but just not that creative when it comes to food.

But now I have turned over a new leaf since I recently started my new career staying at home. And since my newly revised "goals" included being more domestic, I thought I would start trying some new things on a weekly basis....assuming there aren't more pressing things going on in the Lyle house - like dressing up a medium size pumpkin like a fictional character, for example.

But before I begin, you should know that my favorite cooking show on TV (I'm not even sure it's still on TV) is Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade. She is right up my alley because she takes a few store bought ingredients and turns them into her own.

I love that.

Take something and make it look like it took a lot of time... leaving more actual time to help with homework, cart kids around to practices, and decorate pumpkins like fictional characters.

Even Rachel Ray's thirty minute meals are over my skill set. Pretty much every dish I make in the kitchen has a prep time of 15 minutes or less (longer cook times are okay, as long as I can multi-task), whether it's dinner on a weekday practice night, or a side dish for Thanksgiving.

So here is my own concoction of Easy Peasy Almost Homemade "Crab Cakes" using only two ingredients. They look super fancy, taste delish, and take two ingredients.

Crescent Rolls + Crab dip (found in the seafood section)

The crescent rolls are already cut into triangles, but cut in half again to make 4 triangles.Spoon in crab dip.

Fold over the corners of the triangles.

Place into the oven on 375 degrees for 11 minutes.

Enjoy!

Pinterest {Addiction}

I've talked about my addiction to pinterest (or "Pin-Interest" as my mom says) a time or two before.

I don't know why I like it so much. It's the number one website to visit if you want to feel completely inept at whatever you are trying to do.

Recently I even had to take a break from logging in because:

1) Jeff banned it after one too many "$50 dollars and less than thirty minutes" projects that ended up costing "$300 and a long weekend"

2) When I started to realize that I was starting every third sentence with "I have this friend on pinterest that..."

But no temporary hiatus will stop this addiction. Even Hayden has joined in on the pinterest craziness. There are many 'a mornings that I am woken up at 5:30 am with a tap tap tap on the shoulder and whispered request of the boy craft du jour - "can we have a pinterest day and look up how to make ninja outfits."

So in honor of my "addiction" here is my latest craft project that I completed without stealing the idea from pinterest.

Box from target dollar spot + silhouette machine + vinyl + free 'monogram' font = great gift idea for weddings, babies, birthdays, or Christmas.

Twenty Six: Buying Stock in Wal-Mart

Tonight, I planned to write a blog about our weekend anniversary getaway and how amazing it was.

About how it was my first ever stay in a suite (SWEET!).

And how Jeff had splurged on the “Baby-moon” package which came with all sorts of goodies like baby gifts (adorable!), and fresh fruit (yum!), and sparkling water (yuck!), and a one hour massage at the spa (Ahhhh!).

But those plans were derailed when we got home from the big weekend and l I decided to run up to Wal-Mart for a “quick errand” while Jeff put together Blake’s room.

TWO HOURS LATER I returned.

Unfortunately I had to return something, so before I even started shopping I waited in the customer service line for thirty minutes. Then I mistakenly continued on my merry-shopping-way for the few items I needed, reasoning that the lines would die down by the time I needed to check out.

MISTAKE #1.

If I wasn’t addicted to the rollback pricing model at Wal-Mart, that would have been the last straw. I am used to lines. I have been to Wal-Mart on the day before Thanksgiving. On Christmas Eve…and even returned something on the Day After Christmas…but apparently I have never seen the madness that is Wal-Mart on the day before August 16th???

It’s not even like people’s baskets were filled to the brim with school supplies. Trust me. I was looking for a reason for all the craziness. And it was just normal every day purchases.
I of course made matters worse by picking the 20 items or less lane.

MISTAKE #2.

Apparently there are new rules regarding the 20 items or less lane.

First of all, the lane really means 20-50 items (give or take).

Second, the more coupons or price matches that require supervisor approval THE MERRIER.

Oh, and if you happen to see someone standing ahead of you in the 20 items or less line that you sort of know, or might be related to, you can move your basket in front of everyone else as long as you mention you “are together." Meaning you know each other, but are not necessarily grocery shopping concurrently, or even checking out on the same receipt.

That happened in my line THREE TIMES.

Fortunately for the family (or group of people that all “knew each other”), there was a buffer, another couple, between us. This couple was obviously annoyed by all of the cutting, but clearly MUCH nicer than me. Right after I took this picture, my phone died, which meant I had to entertain myself for a full twenty minutes without Facebook or Words With Friends.

Just as the NICER couple was finally close enough to the checkout to start breathing a sigh of relief, I pushed my basket around them and motioned with my head toward the family ahead and said “I’m with them.” Since the family that all "knew each other" BUT CHECKED OUT SEPARATELY were all Asian, I thought it was fairly obvious that I was joking. But apparently not. The girl looked like she was about to lose it. Once I started laughing and said I was kidding, there was just a little less tension in the line, and the nice couple laughed too.

Until five minutes later when MANAGER APPROVAL WAS NEEDED AGAIN.

And ohmygosh, if I don’t avoid Wal-Mart-Tax-Free-Event-Next-Weekend like it is the freaking plague, someone please shoot me.

All that to say, I will tell you about my romantic weekend another time. It has sort of been overshadowed by the fact that I NEEDED to buy Hayden hair gel for his new haircut --- Davis insect repellent for his never-ending chiggers --- and Jeff some beer so he will finish putting together Blake’s room.