Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day

I couldn't help channeling a title from one of my favorite children's books.  That pretty much describes my weekend. 
1 sick 5-year-old + 1 sick 2-year-old + 1 sick mommy + 1 exhausted daddy + 1 sick 14-year-old = no fun at all!
Hope your week is starting out better than mine!

A girl and her "mecklace"

A couple weeks ago I was the lucky winner of a Facebook giveaway from Bip and Bop. 

I got to choose which one of these cute seersucker necklaces for my prize.  I couldn't make up my mind, so I asked Princess for help.  She immediately announced that I should get a pink(red) one for her and a green one for me.  I told her that I could only get one, so she thought for a bit and decided that I should get the pink one because it would be a great "mecklace" for her to wear to church.  How could I argue with that reasoning?

I sent a quick email to Nicole and explained that my 5-year-old daughter had decided on the red one for her "mecklace."  When the package arrived, I opened it up and found this note handwritten on the back of her business card:

How sweet is she to add that little personal touch?  I figured the final judgement should be up to Princess.

I think she approves!  And yes, she did wear her "mecklace" to church on Sunday. :)

Bird nest necklace

This post might look familiar if you've been following my blog for a while.  I'm reposting from the early days (like it was really THAT long ago!) as an entry into the Agape Love Tutorial Challenge.

Have you seen the amazing bird nest jewelry out there?  I saw a fabulous tutorial for a necklace from Maria over at Agape Love Designs several months ago, and immediately knew I wanted one.  At first I thought I would just buy one from her shop, but then as I looked at the tutorial, I thought, "Hey, I can probably do a decent job making that!"  I thought it would make a great gift, so Mom, if you're reading this, stop right now if you don't want to spoil the surprise!  You've been warned.

It's taken me some time to round up everything.  I've never made jewelry before, so this was a bit daunting.  I looked high and low for glass pearls but either didn't find any that I liked or didn't want to buy several strands to get the colors I wanted.  I asked Maria where she gets hers and she steered me to Etsy.  (What did I ever do before discovering this wonder of the world?)  A quick search still wasn't finding glass pearls that I liked, but then I happened across a shop that offered strings of multi-colored potato pearls that seemed really reasonable.  I thought, "Hey, this will be great, I just cut the string apart and I have plenty of pearls.  They're even kind of egg shaped.  Perfect!"

I got my pearl string in the mail and loved the great jewel tones.  Hubby and I both decided it was just too pretty to cut apart and should be made into a necklace, so I went to order another string.  What's this, a listing for five strings?  I'll take it!  I'm so happy I did, my second order has some great egg-shaped pearls.  I think they look amazing in the nests.

I sat down with all my supplies and was surprised at how quickly my first nest came together.  
This one is for me. 
I tried a different color to represent each of my six kids.  They like to argue over who claims what favorite color, so I know who I represent with each one, but I figure I'll let them decide which one belongs to each child.
I put it on a chain and I love it.  I always get lots of compliments on it whenever I wear it.

I tried something a little different on the one for my mom, I noticed as I was sorting through pearls that I had ones that corresponded well to the birthstones for all of my siblings.  So, starting at the top and moving counter-clockwise, there is the dark green for me (May) then August, March, May, November, May, April and February in the middle.

What do you think?

Cooking lesson: Easy Fruit Tarts

Today I'm sharing a recipe that is so simple it's almost criminal to even call it a recipe.  This would be a great treat for your family for Valentine's Day.

Easy Cherry Tarts

You really only need two ingredients:

Mini graham cracker pie crusts

1 can pie filling (any flavor will work)

 That's it, that's all you need.

Step 1: Open pie crusts and set them on a baking sheet.

 Step 2:  Open pie filling and spoon evenly into crusts. (I generally use 6-8 crusts and have no problems with them being full.  You could even go up to 10 or 12 per can if you really had to stretch your pie filling.)

Step 3:  Refrigerate for at least one hour.  

That's it, you're done.  See?  Easy, peasy.  

Now pat yourself on the back, relax and accept all the compliments for your yummy dessert that you must have slaved over for hours.

Linking up:

Share & Wow Wednesday
Link it Up Thursday
Super Sweet Thursday Par-tay
Shine on Friday
Fancy This Fridays

Confession time

I have a confession.  This confession will probably put me into the running for Bad Mom of the Decade.  Are you ready?  I don't like making cookies.

It took me years to realize that this was why I couldn't ever make a batch of cookies and bake them all.  I would lose interest after the first pan or two came out of the oven and leave the remaining dough for my mom to finish.  I used to make cookies for my kids, but then I gladly turned that responsibility over to my hubby when I realized that he enjoyed baking cookies.  I stuck to cakes, pies, etc. that would hold my interest long enough to get them baked.

So, with my confession out of the way, you can understand why I wasn't happy to find out that I had been volunteered to make 3 dozen sugar cookies.  Sugar cookies are even worse than drop cookies in my book.  There's the mixing, then the rolling, then cutting, then more rolling, more cutting, repeat.

All this work that takes twice as long or more than drop cookies.  For the most part, I happily delegate the task of making sugar cookies to my mom.  We always enjoy our holiday care packages of homemade, ready-to-decorate sugar cookies with sprinkles and candy for decorating.

Then again, you really feel like (Worst) Mother of the Year when the kids ask if Grandma will bake cookies with them when she comes to visit.

I have to admit, the sight of cooling cookies and the enjoyment on Princess's face was worth the effort.  Maybe not enough to make cookies on a regular basis, but I'll enjoy the rewards of my efforts . . . at least until Grandma's next care package comes.  How long until Valentine's Day?