Mothership Confessional

I'm so excited to be blogging...from my bed! Why is this so exciting, you may ask. My poor laptop had a battery life of basically zilch unplugged, so I've been tethered to the wall for a good 2 years with this thing. A replacement battery was going to cost almost $100, and for that price, you are on your way to a brand new laptop! So I was avoiding it and making it work, until my husband found one on Amazon for less than half that price! So now I'm back in business, and I can compute where ever I want again!  Well, it's that time if year again...to get your tan on! The weather has been absolutely BEAUTIFUL these past few days! Those of you who know me know that I will never lay in a tanning bed. Ever. I'm not going to pay for skin cancer. And that about sums up how I feel about it. So I, as a pale person, have to resort to tanning from a bottle. I must say, with my recent change in job field, I now must look good and represent good fashion choices. N...

I am going to start off by saying the title to this post has a few lies in it. First, it's not entirely homemade. I used store-bought noodles. Second, to make the broth, I used a turkey carcass instead of a chicken one. I had stuck one in the freezer after our Welcome Home/Belated Thanksgiving when my brother-in-law returned home from Afghanistan in December and the in-laws came to visit. So it should actually read "Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup Made with Turkey Broth and Store-Bought Noodles". Lets begin! So, you're going to need a large pot. And by large, I mean LARGE. I used my Paula Deen stock pot I bought from Walmart. There are a couple of different approaches to this recipe based on what you have in your fridge or freezer, or what your store has on hand. I put my turkey carcass in the pot and filled it with water to completely cover it. Add a bay leaf or two. I chopped up some vegetables (onions, carrots, celery) and added some fresh herbs leftov...

You are not going to believe this. What if I told you that bananas + cocoa powder = CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM?! And not just any chocolate ice cream, but rich, creamy, indulgent chocolate ice cream? I knew for awhile that things like applesauce and bananas were good substitutes for oils and sugars in baked goods. I never knew that it would make having chocolate ice cream around the house so easy! I decided to make mine a 3 ingredient ice cream by adding some Bailey's for a little something extra...but you could leave it out for a non-alcoholic version, and it will still be just as yummy! Here's what you do: Slice up 4 ripe bananas and lay them on a cookie sheet. I lined mine with wax paper. The bananas will need to spend at least an hour in the freezer to harden. Overnight is fine, too. Next, put the frozen bananas in a high-capacity food processor. Mine holds 9 cups, I think. Pulse the food processor for 5 or 6 times to get the bananas bro...

The inspiration for these recipes comes from my recent purchase of fresh thyme and fresh oregano. I didn't want them to go to waste after having a lot leftover from my Chicken Meatball dinner the other night. So I began by opening my fridge to see what I had. I decided on the fresh herbs, smoked Gouda cheese (from my sammiches for lunch), smoked chipotle Tabasco sauce, and Worcestershire sauce. The beauty of these types of recipes is that you can use whatever you have on hand, or whatever sounds good to you at the time! I chopped up maybe a good tablespoon or so of each of the herbs, and I used 4 slices of the cheese and chopped them into fairly small pieces. Fresh herbs just make everything prettier! Based on my turkey burgers from last time , I decided to add a few tablespoons of bread crumbs and an egg to hold everything together. Now get your hands in there and start mixing! I heated a couple of tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat and placed the patties in ...

This Valentine's Day is the 5 year anniversary of my mom's death. With each year that passes, there is another level tier stage of grief. The thing about grief is that it is pretty impossible to define. The latest stage seems to be helping others in their grief, mostly through facebook. It's under unfortunate circumstances that I have been able to work through my grief in this way. There have been several friends of mine who have experienced the death of a parent during this past year, and it has provided me with another pathway for my own healing process to offer my condolences and (attempts at) advice for these hurting hearts. I've been kind of teary so far today, and I don't remember it being as hard last year. I should know better than to compare one year against the other; grief does not follow rules of sense or logic. Grief often does not make sense. I don't think it's supposed to. My mom was one who was always behind the camera lens, and preferr...

I'm having a terrible start to my day. I'm just now getting around to my morning coffee and its lunchtime. My sweet little always-napping-in-the-bed Zorro decided to puke in the bed last night. IN THE BED. I heard his retching in the middle of the night and I shoved him off the bed, thinking I had escaped a mess. When I got up this morning, I saw just a tiny bit on the floor. I thought, "oh that's not bad at all". And then I saw the bed. It was like an entire meal had come back up. I will spare you anymore details. So now I'm washing our down comforter in my top loading machine (not easy, but it can be done). I have to continuously shove it down as the water fills in to get all the air out of the comforter. I was up to my elbows in water when I thought, why do my toes feel wet? Yup, the machine sprung a leak. I wasn't paying attention and while I was shoving the comforter down, water was spraying up and over the drum, and it was coming out ...

I have been on the hunt for this supposed liquid (well, foam) magic for awhile now - Aquage Uplifting Foam. I must give credit where credit is due - I first heard of this exclusive hair product from The Small Things Blog . Kate has a phenomenal blog full of informative videos showing how to style hair, not to mention her cute outfits she blogs about, too! Please, please be sure to spend some time on her blog - it has been so helpful for me; I'm sure you will all love it, too! Anyway, I had to look up online where to find it locally because it is not sold in all salons. I went to Aquage's website to look up where I could find it here. I was so excited to try it! I started by towel drying my just washed hair, and making little parts all over my head and spraying the Aquage in it. Then I rubbed it in a little, and then blow dried my hair. For a detailed video, check out Kate's video here . This video is how I learned to do it! :) After my hair was dry, I could already...