With Old Age comes Blogging

I guess now that I'm 30 (tomorrow), and old, I may as well start blogging regularly. Plus I just had a baby so I'm sure she's going to be getting me into shenanigans worth blogging about. I mean, I already had the day I forgot to pack extra clothes and she had a massive blowout while I sat getting my hair cut, and I kept wondering what that awful smell was, so she had to run the rest of my errands with me while naked...her naked, not me. Obvi. Photos for reference.


There was also the early Halloween party where we (so cleverly, I thought) dressed her as a "deflated" football to match zombie Tom Brady and Giselle Bundchen in our epic deflategate costume...and everyone commented on what a cute boy we had. Photo for reference.












Or that time we took her to the children's hospital at a week old and I leaned over to fill out paperwork and farted, courtesy of my recently expelled baby. I don't think the receptionist heard, though - I'm pretty sure the shuffling of pen, paper, purse, etc masked it....who am I kidding, she totally heard. And if she wasn't quite sure she heard what she thought she did, my wide eyes probably gave me away. No photo for reference, you're welcome.

At any rate, I have gone on a crafting spree for the little babe, and she is now outfitted with a warm winter "wrong Indian" poncho, as both grandmothers have hilariously pointed out, for as you may or may not know, my husband is West Indian. Here is the poncho pattern. This is seriously, hands down, the easiest sewing project I've ever done, and I loved how she constantly says, basically, just wing it. I am not the best seamstress (that word is way to professional to apply to my skill level) sewer on the planet so this was nice...if you zoom in you'll actually see the crooked zigzag where I accidentally switched my stitch to the wrong size zigzag and it was drastically obvious. I have since covered it with a diamond piece of felt like the blogger suggests so it really didn't matter, but these pics were my test run so, errors in full view.


And naturally, like the perfect baby she is, she loves it. We took her out in it Wednesday night and at one point she started crying. I thought she might've been hot, so I took it off -- she immediately went silent. It couldn't have been from the poncho though, she was probably just making noise, so I put it back on. She started crying immediately so I took it back off and she went silent. That was really just a coincidence, though, so I put it back on. She started crying so I took it off. Who am I kidding, she completely and utterly hates it. I'm pretty sure its because she can't use her arms while she has it on, but its so adorable that I will make her love it.

It really is pretty cool though. Babies can't wear coats when they're in their carseat, and I've read mommy-blog complaints about how you have to take them OUT of their coat to put them in their carseat and then they lose all the warmth they had in their coat, and vice versa when you take them from their blanket/carseat warmth to put them into their coat. This fixes all of that. And the ducking fabric (in place of the suggested linen) I used has some weight to it so it really is pretty warm. I might have to make one for myself!
 

First World Probs

Are you familiar with first world problems? It's those little things in life that are so irritating, but it's things that are actually just luxuries in first world countries. For example, the dryer door at my boyfriend's house will NOT stay open, so every time I scoop a handful of laundry out of the washer, I have to kick open the dryer door with my knee. EVERY TIME. First world prob. Or the fact that my hand is too small to push both the Alt and L key on the keyboard to lock my computer at work before stepping out...I have to use two hands. UGH! TWO HANDS?! So annoying. Or how about the fact that its impossible to rinse a spoon in the kitchen sink without water spraying everywhere because of the shape of the spoon? Anybody?? 

Let's talk the latest first world problem seriously affecting my life these days. The silverware drawer. Why is it that no matter what I do, the silverware holder shifts toward the back of the drawer?!

Exhibit A:















I'm sure this happens to everyone.....RIGHT?!?!? What are we supposed to do? I mean, it probably happens so much to you that you don't even realize it. We are forever pulling the holder back to the front of the drawer. Every time I think "Maybe if I start closing the drawer slower" proceeded by a gentle shove to shut the drawer. Then before I know it, I'm opening it one day and it needs to be pulled to the front again. I could just leave it where it is -- not let it win -- but then i have to open the drawer completely just to get something out. And if I ignore it, I'll probably open the drawer one day and the silverware will be so far back in the drawer that I won't even be able to see it.
 It's ridiculously irritating. Is my holder not heavy enough? Should I forgo said holder altogether? Should I screw it to the bottom of the drawer?! Omg. FWP.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

I got this neat little mold at Target last month titled "raspberry pocket pies" and thought I would try it out for a Valentine's dessert. It's pretty basic, so I'm certain it could be done with any cookie cutter, if you're crafty enough.

1 (15oz) pkg refrigerated pie crust dough OR 1 recipe of pastry for double crust pie
1/3 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling
2 tsp cornstarch
1 cup fresh raspberries
1 egg, beaten
Heated oven to 400 degrees

 Ingredients, prepped and ready to begin.

Step 1, roll out dough, cut shapes.

Step 2, press shapes on each side of mold.

Step 3, fill one side with 2 Tbsp raspberries, top with 1 Tbsp sugar/cornstarch mixture.

 I don't know what 2 Tbsp raspberries is in Target land, but i could squeeze 5 berries inside perfectly. I also did a less than 1 whole Tbsp of the sugar mix....it seemed like way too much. I've probably completely ruined Vday by now.

Step 4, Use pastry brush to brush edges with beaten egg.

Step 5, Fold pie press, squeeze to crimp. (Cookie cutter users, you'll have to improvise. Good luck)

Step 6, Brush tops with egg and sprinkle with sugar. Bake 15-20 min, until golden brown.

 As I don't own a pastry brush because I find them virtually useless, I used my fingers. Also, this photo is evidence that I completely forgot the sprinkled sugar toppings...great, if I didn't ruin Vday earlier, it's def over now.

The photo on the front of the package showed little heart holes on the pies...those weren't included on the mold, so I cut mine with a knife. I had a bright idea to cook the little mini hearts along with the pies...pretty sure those are currently burning in the oven. I also opted to NOT reuse my remaining pie dough. You know, I'm generally one to use everything to the last drop, but seeing as how I paid who-knows-what for perfectly rolled 9-inch pie rounds, I feel I deserve to throw them away. I paid for that luxury, didn't I?

So...I learn by trial and error. 1 pie crust round only makes 2 mini pies, and my box of dough came with two rounds. On my SECOND round of pies, I pureed the raspberries...for as you will notice, the whole berries are peeking out of my heart hole. I also opted not to do the mini hearts...over it. Oh, and I DIDN'T forget the sprinkled sugar this time, haha. However, the pies didn't puff up...i suppose because the insides were flat on round 2...and some raspberry filling oozed out...oh well. I did get to taste the oozed filling, though, and YUM!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Called it...burned the mini hearts!

Nearly Freebies

I love smart online shopping. Last week I received a coupon for The Limited -- $20 off your purchase. No minimum buy required, online or in-store, valid for 1 month.

You just have to be SMART! First, I check the sales racks. The Limited is always so expensive -- iInever shop there and really don't know how I got on the mailing list. But there are wristlets, rings, and tanktops in their sale listing for under $20...nothing good there today. So here's what I picked:







This watch is originally $42.90. The Limited is currently having a 40% off jewelry sale taking it down to $25.74, plus my $20 off coupon making this a whopping $5.74. SOLD. Lets just hope it fits.

Another website I ALWAYS use when shopping online, without fail, is www.retailmenot.com
You're pretty much a failure if you know about this site and don't use it. You go to that site, search for any online shopping site (for example, I searched thelimited.com today), and it brings up a list of all the current coupons available. Free shipping, $10 off, buy one get one, etc. There was nothing there for the Limited today that applied to me, but I've saved SO much money using that site. ALWAYS check it, no matter WHERE you're shopping online.

Another trick I use is signing up for all the email subscriptions from my favorite shopping sites. Yes, it's a little annoying having to delete all those emails, but I get tons of coupons in them. If I've been eyeing something to buy, it's only a matter of time before an awesome discount comes in through my email.

Lastly, another site I shop on is RueLaLa.com. This site offers discounted items for 3 days at a time only -- vacation packages, clothes, shoes, toys, food. A lot of it is designer, expensive stuff, but definitely not all. If there's something you're wanting, it will probably eventually show up on Rue! And the discounts are HUGE. Sometimes they have items marked down as much as $800, like Rolexes, and things like that. I've bought a watch from there, a pair of Puma shoes, ski goggles, tons of stuff. I'm currently waiting on this Fossil bag to show up...its $218 at Macy's, but it will be under $100 on Rue.

It's all about shopping smart!