Powdered Mommy

Dear Manufacturer of Children's Hand Print Kits;

Thank you for producing lovely kits that allow organized parents to create cherished memories of their little one's childhood. To commemorate a moment in time with your child is truly priceless.  Although your products allow these mementos to be created, I would like to request a re-evaluation of your packaging.

This past weekend, I was upstairs sorting laundry and preparing it for washing. My husband was downstairs with my daughter (I thought).  Nonetheless, the little one was scavenging about the house for mischief...

The little one asks sweetly if she can sit on the couch and play for a bit. Dad, of course, says yes and he continues to tidy up the kitchen.  As I was finishing upstairs, I suddenly hear a call.  "Little one, what happened?  Is that flour?  How did you get flour?  I, um...what happened?  Mom?  We need help."

Oh boy.

My little angel is sitting on the couch covered from belly to toe not in flour, but in Plaster of Paris. I have no idea how, but she found one of your fantastic hand print kits (which I'm fairly certain was upstairs, in my office, in a very heavy and hard to open drawer, but I digress).  She had opened the container (that was sealed) and opened the plastic bag.

Now, the container was sealed with a sticker. How she opened this I can only guess, but I am certain upon setting her mind to it, picking at a sticker with undisputed determination was no trouble at all.  Then the next piece.  This is the section I would like to discuss with you manufacturer of this wonderful kit.  It was an easy to open, resealable sandwich bag.  A SANDWICH BAG. You likely understand my concern...it was an easy to open baggie.  Not a sealed item, not at all something that would require say, ADULT SUPERVISION to get into easily.  Nope, a sandwich bag.

Upon picking up the darling to dump the pile of plaster off of her and onto our couch, I realized the plaster itself was literally increasing in volume and required cleanup.  There was vacuuming, wiping, washing, cleaning, bathing and more fun to be had in order to clean up the mess. The mess that came out of a SANDWICH BAG. Thank you for ensuring the bag was easy to open, really. I would have hated for her to have struggled at this.

Best wishes for continued success in creating priceless memories...like this one. Really.
Sincerely,
Powdered Mommy

Rings of Shame

Who doesn't love changing out the shower curtain and/or liner?

This girl.
It has always been one of my least favorite things, but a girls gotta do right?

One evening our liner was particularly eewie. As we preparing for the nightly bath process with the little one, I thought, "Why not? It'll be quick." (Insert ominous music here.)

The offending rings.

I attempted to open ring one. Nope. Ring two, nope. Now, I am fully aware that my upper body strength may be....lacking, but there was no pulling these suckers open.

Hubbs was nearby and saw my struggles. With puffed out chest and all his cowboy swagger, he entered the bathroom with a drawl stating, "Step aside little lady." I believe if he'd had a hat, it would have been tipped.

Ring one....nope.

As the perspiration began beading on his brow, the rings refused to budge. Hubbs stalked out of the bathroom mumbling about tools.

At this point I put the little one in the tub and began the bath time process, complete with soapy hair horns and sudsy tickles. Once we entered the 'swim like a fishy' phase Hubbs arrived with an assortment of pliers, screwdrivers and whatnot.

As he moved through his arsenal the rings chuckled and tittered, but did not open. Then suddenly with a snap and crack white plastic went flying and I believe some colorful words were uttered. The little one picked up a crescent shaped piece, handed it to me and said, "Oh no." At that point Hubbs exited the bathroom, we wrapped up bath and bedtime leaving the fresh and un-hung liner in the bathroom folded in a corner.

The next morning I jumped in the shower. As I was showering I glanced up at the stubborn rings. Pulled at ring two and....nope. (Remember that ring one was gone.) But then, I looked...a small opening on one side of the ring. I gingerly grasped the ring and pulled in separate directions, sliding the ring apart.

Click, open.

When Hubbs came to see what excitement was causing howls of laughter at 6:00 a.m. I explained what happened. I believe there may have been more curse words.

Pinterest Success: August 2013

Success: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Smore's Bars

In my effort this year to try at least one Pinterest find a month, I've had some successes and some definitely NOT successes.  I'm working on catching up on some of those with posts on how the recipes went and my information on what worked and what didn't work.

Yesterday, I was preparing for a girls barbecue (with the boys and kiddos) and found this delicious looking recipe. When I saw online that folks were referring to Saturday as national Smore's day, I knew this was a great fit for the get-together.

When following the pin for the recipe, I discovered Shelly and her full blog, Cookies & Cups.  ALL of her recipes look amazing, but this one still sang to me.  For the full recipe visit her blog here: COOKIES & CUPS. She pulled the recipe from a book, Peanut Butter Comfort...by Averie Sunshine.

When we all cut into the bars after the delicious barbecue - wow.  They were so good. The recipe is right though - be sure they're chilled or they are REALLY hard to deal with.  All the gooey-deliciousness makes a huge mess.

Step one is the cookie dough.  I used a tube of cookie dough.  One whole tube lined the bottom nicely.  I didn't roll it out with a rolling pin, just squished with my hands.  Step two is the Hershey bars. Figuring cutting the bars later would be tougher, I broke them all up individually rather than using them as whole bars. It looked pretty neat too. (And no, Hershey didn't pay me anything to show off their logos like this. I just thought it was neat.)

Next was the peanut butter (yum), followed by the crumbled graham crackers.  I used a little more than a 1/2 cup and made the crumbs myself.  In fact, my little one made them by squishing, smashing and pounding on a big baggie of graham crackers.  It was pretty fun to watch.

When the recipe said it was hard to spread the fluff, they were NOT kidding. I ended up just emptying the entire jar and then trying to spread it together a bit. Still tough, but it worked in the end.

Last layer is more cookie dough..I used a break and bake package for this layer and just laid it out on floured parchment paper and squished with my hands. I should have used a bit more flour though, so I ended up having to scrape it off in chunks and spread a bit more on the top, but it all worked out.

It baked up a bit and I should have used a bigger pan, but oh my it looked amazing. Couldn't wait to break into!

Please share some of your Pinterest successes and fails too.  I'm a huge fan of the site, but it certainly does force one to balance all the pieces - work, mom, wife, amazing cook, pastry chef and all the rest.

Pinterest Fail: April 2013

FAIL: Sugar Cookie Cups

Yeah, not so much.

To celebrate my Dad's birthday, among other things, I was trying to make the sugar cookie cups with plans to fill them with some pudding and then some chocolate chips and/or butterscotch chips.

I found an option on Pinterest that seemed to be a great way to make said cups.  No, just no.

The image on Pinterest was this.

A lovely block of steps to achieve the perfect sugar cookie cups.

It did not work.

I used the heating temp for the cookies based on the package, so perhaps that was my error.
I cooked them for about 8 minutes and when I opened the oven I found the following.  Not good.

I scraped, and scraped, and scraped and put all the pieces into a travel container and poured in some chocolate chips, peanut butter chips and then when I presented it to dear old Dad, added some whipped cream.

Ah well...if you know of a better way to make cookie cups, please pass it along!




This post is part of an effort in 2013 to do at least one Pinterest project a month. I'm very behind in posting - but here's my experiences so far!

Missing

Whew, what a morning!

My little gal woke up in tears this morning.  Not completely out of the ordinary for a two year old, but not a regular occurrence either.  What happened next, I was not prepared for.

I scooped up my little one who had tears streaming down her cheeks.  She held our her right hand and said, "Bwoken hand, bwoken hand."  Gingerly, I reached out and examined her hand, saw nothing to indicate a problem and asked her what had happened.

Had she hit her hand?  No.

Where did it go?

Had she bumped her hand? No.
Was it this hand? (indicating her left)
Was it this hand? (indicating her right)....

"No, the other one.  My other hand. My broken hand. Where'd it go? Where'd it go?"

Right...her third hand.  Her broken, third hand.

I looped in the husband and he was as puzzled as me.  Did a doll lose an arm? Did something fall off one of her toys?  Where in the world was this missing, broken, third hand?  I silently cursed the Island of Misfit Toys and the diabolical "Mittencoffer" that had absconded with the much needed hand.

After lots of snuggles, lots and lots of tears and a whole bunch of discussion about this third, broken hand...I still have no idea what was going on.  We got ready for they day, brushed teeth, combed hair, picked out a head band and still the tears and crying about the broken hand.  Once she settled a bit, we tried to find out more about the elusive hand, but the mere mention brought on the water works again.

I've wracked my brain for what we may have encountered yesterday that included an injury to a hand.  Did we see someone that had hurt their hand, had someone fallen, had she?  Nothing.

A little snack and some Daddy time seemed to soothe for a bit, but oh my. I'll spend the remainder of today trying to figure out where that third hand came from and how it was broken.

More Than Enough

I realize this is a week or two...or three behind the timeliness of the issue, but this matter is just not sitting with me. 

A few weeks ago, a notable national media outlet released a magazine with a cover photo that stirred much controversy among parenting "experts."  The statement was, "Are You Mom Enough?" 

Is there really such a thing?  Can you really not be Mom enough?  And why do we, as mothers, continue to torture one another and judge one another with sentiments like this?

I have many friends that are Moms and we certainly do what many friends do and chat with each other and mention, "How's so and so?" We share information, we even include our opinions.  These opinions might entail concern about another Mom or even a comment that we aren't sure we agree with what she's doing, but if it works for her.  It's a horrible piece of being a woman or even a person really, in my opinion, that we do talk about one another.  We do say we don't like her shirt today or his hair, or even, the shoes! 

BUT...we have to STOP judging each other.  Enough is enough.  ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!  We can share our opinions, but it should be that - your opinion.  Not dictation of what is right in the world.  Not law of how something should be done and certainly not the only possible solution for someone else.

Another unspoken truth, we really don't know.  Two sides to this...

1. We don't know what's going on in your life.  We don't know what is happening in your office, with your parents, siblings, extended family friends, spouse or let alone your children.  We may know some because you've shared with us.  We may know about one argument, about one week of sleepless nights with the baby, about one fight with your sister.  We don't know all of it combined and we certainly do not know how you feel. 
2. Perhaps I'm still new at being a parent, but we don't know what we're doing frequently.  I know that I'm trying, I know that I'm following my instincts, what I've read, a conglomeration of what my friends and family and professionals have shared, but I don't really know what is the absolute right thing to do in every situation.  I don't know for sure that my choices won't cause challenges down the road for our family or even my sweet pea. 

But I know that there can't be a war if no one chooses a side.  I know that as a mother I can choose to be supportive of other parents, to honor their choices and be there when they need support, consolation or even admiration when things come out great!  I know that I refuse to judge and say that one way is right and another is wrong.* Mommy Wars, please.  God help us if the Moms ever did really get in a war.  Be interesting to see how that played out wouldn't it...

*Obviously, I don't condone abuse or abandoning your child or my favorite from this week's news - leaving your 5 week old baby, in their car seat...on TOP of a car.  But if you love your child, if you're doing the utmost to support them with clothing, shelter, food and raise them to be kind, intelligent, generous and loving adults, I cannot NOT support you. 


We're all in the same boat. We're all doing the best we can with the oars we have. 


I am a Mom.  I am the best Mom that I can be.  I may have to remind myself of that on a daily basis, but I am doing my best and I love my sweet pea with every ounce of my soul. 

Is that Mom enough for you?

Happy Birthday Oreo!

A sweet treat that often finds its way into my hands throughout childhood and now as an adult.

Now I'm a big fan of the Golden Oreos, ah-mazing! But I used to be a big double-stuff gal.  My sister is a purist, believes in the originals...don't mess with perfection and all.  Is your Oreo choice a big indicator of you as a person?  What does it mean that I've "evolved" to a Golden Oreo snob?

Either way - happy 100th birthday to the delicious treat!