A Southern Fairytale

Happiness

September 2, 2010 By Rachel 2 Comments

I remember when happiness was counting my tips after a long shift and knowing that I’d made enough to pay bills, go have drinks with Nathan, buy a new pair of shoes or jeans and pay for the next social event with my sorority.

I remember when happiness was staying up until 2 AM sitting on the apartment balcony and getting up again at 6 AM to go float the river with friends because we could.

The peak of happiness was the freedom to do whatever we wanted whenever we wanted with nothing tethering us down.

Now, as a mom, happiness has a whole new meaning.

My daughter’s smile is happiness.

My son’s giggles and chubby hand in mine, that’s happiness.

Happiness is lying on my back in the grass making up stories about the clouds in the sky.

It’s staying up until 1AM making the perfect bow for my daughter’s first day of school and then waking up at 6 AM to make her the perfect breakfast.

My happiness is watching my son pull a crumpled dollar bill out of his pocket and watching him run the crane machine and come back eyes sparkling, cheeks flushed, mouth split wide in a grin and tiny chest puffed out because HE spent HIS money and just won Mama “the perfect necklace” from the crane machine and my happiness, was putting that shiny silver paint coated plastic necklace around my neck and watching him practically burst with pride and joy at his accomplishment and gift of love.

That is happiness. That is what fills my bucket.

Scribbled crayon drawings, sticky fingers entertwined with mine, tiny hands that grab my face for kisses and the soft weight of their sleeping bodies as I carry them to bed or read them a book.

Unconditional love has taken the place of unlimited free time and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

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This post was written as part of The Happiness Blog Project. The “Happiness Blog” is a social media project created and executed by Cecily Kellogg, sponsored by Diva

Now for the fine print:

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www.divacup.com. The DivaCup is donating $100 to the www.vitaminangels.comcharity

in the honor of “A Southern Fairytale“.

Read, I did not get compensated in any way for this project. However, a donation is being made to the Vitamin Angels Charity in my name.

Filed Under: Everything Else

The Chair

September 1, 2010 By Rachel 39 Comments

Her room is a delicate girl-y room filled with ribbons and bows and lace and sparkles.

Her walls painted colors with names like Tinkerbell and Ballerina.

Gauzy sheer white curtains embroidered with pink flowers and sequins frame the window over her white wrought iron bed, the bed that I laid my own head on as a child and dreamed of Prince Charming, Writing and Shooting Stars.

Fancy Nancy, Olivia, Franny K Stein and Sesame Street fill her white bookshelf,

You walk in her room and you know that a little girl lives there, tap shoes and cleats, Mary Janes and cowboy boots mingle on her closet floor while up above there are skirts and frilly sun dresses and t-shirts and shorts. A little girl lives here; a little girl who loves nail polish and bows and boots and soccer and kickball and ballet all with the equal passion that only the young to whom all things are still possible possess.

However, there’s one item in her room that will give you pause.

As you walk in her delicate, pink and green, cotton candy room; you’re confronted with a brown recliner. An old chair with wood arms and a brown fawn suede seat. It juts out of one corner, knocking the delicate balance of her room slightly out of whack.

It detracts from the inherent girlness and youth of her room with its strong lines and utter masculinity.

However, this chair has a story, a reason, a purpose and once you know it, it fits into her room and your heart and you know it could be nowhere else.

This chair was her great grandfather’s chair, her father and uncles fought over who got to sit in it and who would eventually own it when PaPa (paw paw) upgraded. Nathan got the chair.

It’s moved around our house since Princess was a baby, I didn’t want the chair, it didn’t fit into my vision of our home. However, once I brought Princess home from the hospital, it was to this chair that I migrated to nurse her, rock her to sleep and feel her moist hot breath against my skin and the fluttering of her tiny heartbeat. It was in this chair that I sat for hours on end and watched in fascination as her eyelashes twitched against her plump rosy cheeks and her rosebud mouth moved with her dreams.

This chair has moved with us from house to house and city to city.

PaPa passed away last year.

Princess was his only great granddaughter and the pink lady apple of his eye in a family full of rambunctious boys her big blue eyes, bow mouth and freckles delighted him and stole his heart in the way that only little girls can.

So now, this chair sits boldly in her room and as she cuddles into it to read her books, draw her pictures and write her dreams in her journal; I see her once again, a small girl nestled in her PaPa’s big strong arms, she looking up at him with wide innocent eyes and he looking down at her with wonder and love and awe.

And my heart knows that although you may come to our house and wonder at the imperfection and wrongness of that chair in her room; my heart knows that chair was meant for that room.

Filed Under: Family

Final Meal Maker Challenge

September 1, 2010 By Rachel 27 Comments

Hard to believe that Six Weeks have come and gone and the Meal Maker Challenge is over!

Over the past 6 weeks I’ve shared some recipes to make back to school lunches, snacks and meals easier, I’ve given some HEB/ConAgra goodie packs away and I’ve challenged myself and y’all to use more coupons.

Let’s re-cap:

Week One: Roasted Honey Garlic Lime Chicken

Week Two: Hot Dog KaBobs

Week Three: CrockPot Ro*Tel Shredded Chicken

Week Four: Diced Tomato and Fresh Basil Pasta Sauce

Week Five: Back To School Snack Ideas

I thought I’d show y’all what a couple of the other participants made with their Combo Loco Deals:

One of the other bloggers, who is also one of my favorite people in the world shared a pretty spectacular recipe as part of her meal maker challenge and I have to tell y’all, these Fancy Barbecue Sandwiches from DamnTexasHolly are pretty tonguegasmic looking.
The adorable Rachel, from Following In My Shoes (who won one of the $500 shopping sprees to HEB {CONGRATS!!}) posted this delicious roasted tomato and artichoke pasta.

The Challenge may be officially over but my kids and I are completely head over flip-flops and cowboy boots for those little yellow coupons sprinkling the aisles of our local HEB. So, I’ll continue my coupon games and fixing healthy, fun, REAL food that my family will enjoy and hopefully y’all will, too!

So, here it is.. the LAST giveaway!

TWO of y’all will win ONE of these HEB/ConAgra goodie bags!

$25 HEB gift card and $25 worth of ConAgra products! $50 VALUE!

Leave a comment on this post: favorite coupon tips, favorite quick go to snack, meal, best back to school tips. Any of the above will garner you an entry.
Open from NOW until 11 PM CST TODAY, Sept 1st, 2010

CONGRATULATIONS to Nichole and Jennifer for winning!

Filed Under: Giveaways

S’mores Pie

August 30, 2010 By Rachel 40 Comments

There’s just something about s’mores. Toasted ooey gooey marshmallows with crisp hot outsides, soft, sticky, gooey insides, paired with crisp graham crackers and soft melt-y chocolate.

However, there are times when making s’mores isn’t convenient, easy or do-able. However, since coming home from the amazing birthday trip of win, and toasting s’mores on the beach with good friends my kids have been hounding me hinting incessantly that they’d love to have more s’mores (see what I did there?)

So… while I teased her on twitter about a s’mores pie.. I was actually seriously trying to figure out the best way to create a more easily edible, house friendly s’more. So, I did what I do, I opened my pantry realized it was a disaster and spent 3 hours scrubbing it top to bottom and re-organizing and grabbed what I thought I could use: pudding mix, graham crackers and marshmallows.

I put one package of graham crackers into my food processor and pulsed them into crumb-dom

To about 1 1/2 C of crumbs, I added 1/4 C sugar and then 4 Tbsp melted butter. Mix it up, press it into a pie pan and bake at 350 for 12 minutes.

While it’s baking, mix 2 boxes Chocolate Fudge Pudding Mix with 2 C cold milk and 1/2 container whipped topping. (I’ll admit, this is not something I keep on hand, however, knowing that pudding mix wouldn’t have the right consistency on its own, I ran out and snagged some) Whisk these together into a thick, chocolate-y heavenly concoction

Scoop the chocolate pudding deliciousness into the fresh baked graham cracker pie crust (yes, you can use a pre-made, just give it a nice toasting first) and smooth.

Top with a bag of marshmallows, make a pretty design, whatever, I started circling the outside with marshmallows and worked my way inward.

Turn your broiler on high, put the marshmallow topped, chocolate, s’more pie of awesomeness onto your oven rack, leave the door open and watch as the marshmallows, swell, puff and toast.

Once the mallows have reached your preferred level of toasted deliciousness, remove the pie from your oven.

Here’s one of the things that rocks so much about this s’mores pudding pie.

You can immediately slice a piece and devour it straight from the oven;

The marshmallows are all hot and crisp on the outside and melty molten sugary lava goodness on the inside, the chocolate pudding pie is thick and creamy and chilled and the graham cracker crust… there are no words.

Now, on to the amazing tonguegasmic awesomeness of this concoction. This can be devoured and enjoyed straight from the oven, or you can slice it and heat it for 12 seconds in the microwave which will make the entire pie more closely resemble a traditional campfire s’more; the marshmallow will be hotter, the chocolate soft and melty and the graham cracker crust a bit warm and still crisp. This can also be chilled and then re-heated the next day.

My 3 yo has snuck out of his room 4 times tonight to try to snag pieces of this pie from the counter.

*I baked this in an aluminum pie pan and then stored it with a second tin pie pan turned over top of it to preserve the marshmallows.

Recipe: S’mores Pudding Pie

Ingredients

1 bag marshmallows
2 boxes chocolate fudge pudding
1 package graham crackers
1 tub whipped topping
4 Tbsp butter
2 C milk
1/4 C sugar

Instructions

pre-heat oven to 350
in a food processor blend one package/sleeve graham crackers into crumbs; remove 1 1/2 C crumbs and place in a medium size bowl with 1/4 C sugar, blend together with 4 Tbsp melted butter
Press down into your pie plate/tin/pan and then bake for 12 minutes
while the pie is baking; whisk together 2 packages chocolate fudge pudding mix, 2 C cold milk and 1/2 tub (4 oz) thawed whip topping (takes about 5 minutes to fully set)
when the pie crust is done, pour, press, smooth the pudding mix into the crust and then top with marshmallows
place the pie in your oven on Hi broil and leaving the door open, broil until the marshmallows reach your desired toasted goodness