Quit the Criticizing

If there's one thing that bothers me in the whole "parenting department," its how judgmental parents get of each other.  I can't even count the amount of times I've read "oh, I feel sorry for that kid!" on my 'mommy forum' that I'm on. Parenting goes in phases--and before you think I'm crazy for saying that, just take a second to think about it. Back when we were kids, the way you'd put a a baby to sleep is on its stomach. Obviously research has shown that that can lead to SIDS, which is why the "Back to Sleep" campaign came about. However, back then they didn't have the research that we have now, and they thought that stomach sleeping was the thing to do. Now I can't say for sure, but I'm fairly positive that if moms were the way they are now, they looked down on anyone who didn't put their baby to sleep on their stomach.

These days, all I ever read on mom forums is mostly negative; yes, there are a few women who build one another up and give out great advice, but then there are the judgmental ones: "Oh, you don't read your kid 8 books before bed? Your child is going to fall behind in school." "Oh, you let your kid watch more than 30 minutes of TV a day? I feel sorry for your kid because you obviously don't love him." These are obviously made up, but the pettiness of them is about equal to what I'm reading on forums. Its ridiculous. Everyone has their own way of parenting--and its no one's place to judge them. I know that some of you may be thinking I'm a hypocrite right now because I've posted blogs about how you shouldn't let your kid rule your household--but I'm not a hypocrite because I'm not telling you exactly how to do it. If you spank, use timeouts, have structured nap times, use the "cry it out" method--I don't care. You'll never hear me telling you how to parent your child. Sure, I have the methods that have worked for me, so of course I'm an advocate for those methods--but ever child is different, and I think that's what some of these moms don't realize.

God forbid I post a picture of Maverick having a candy bar at breakfast time--I'd have to be sure to post a disclaimer of "I swear I'm not a bad mom! This doesn't happen all the time! We were in a hurry and..." Enough is enough. If I want to give my kids candy for breakfast, then I can do that--because I'M the parent. You may think I'm a terrible parent, but a little candy is not going to hurt anyone. (Now for the disclaimer: I haven't actually given my kids candy for breakfast--I was just using it as an example. "I swear I'm not a bad mom").

It seems like moms specifically look for flaws in other moms so that they can feel superior. "I saw a baby in a baby Bjorn earlier today and I felt SO bad for that baby. I wish I would've told that mom that she's ruining her child's life." Listen: I get it that baby Bjorn's position the kid weird and can cause hip issues, but if it were that big of an issue, the product would have been recalled. I used Bjorn's for both of my kids, and they have absolutely no problems with their hips. I also used formula, plastic bottles, and I didn't co-sleep. I must be a terrible mom--so please, feel bad for my kids. Such a shame, right?

I can guarantee that I'm going to lose some "popularity points" with some of the moms I'm friends with--but that's fine. I don't think you're a bad mom if you co-sleep, breastfeed, use formula, spank your kids, don't spank your kids: what matters is that your child grows up to be a respectable member of society--how you get them to that point is up to you. Us moms need to build each other up more--quit criticizing anything that's different than how we parent. Everything is good in moderation: I let my kids watch TV, I spank them when its necessary, they have a set bedtime that they comply to EVERY night, and I don't mind if they have a little candy every now and then--but you know what? They throw fits just like your kid does, have a blast playing with their toys just like your kid does, and are loved more than they could ever know--just like your kid is. I'm not saying that my kids are going to be model citizens; there's no way of knowing that. This parenting thing is all 'trial and error;' we'll never have a sure-fire way of doing this or doing that. Every child is different, so lets get off our high horses and quit making moms feel bad for the way they do things. We're all trying our best here, and there's already enough guilt that comes with being a mom--we certainly don't need to add more.

And now I'll step down off of my soap box. Happy Wednesday everyone :)

Homemade Apple Pie

Does anyone else feel like this year is just flying by? I swear Summer just started, but its already seeming like its turning into Fall. My nectarine tree has barely any fruit left on it, the weather has been sporadic (one day its 100* degrees out, the next day its 70* with flash flood warnings popping up on my phone all day), and all of the "Fall events" that have been planned forever are starting to pop up on my calendar--bridal showers, bachelorette parties--its all practically here. Next week will be August.. August? Already? I think we all know what that means: ALL of the Christmas decorations at Hobby Lobby will be out--and because of that, it means that I'll be kicking my crafting into full gear--so brace yourselves!

Today I'll be working on those wine bottles I wrapped in jute a while ago; I'm so excited for how they'll turn out! I have a bunch of Christmas crafts planned--I'll be making TONS of decorations for my house! I'm feeling in the "Fall spirit" today, so I'll share the recipe I used last Thanksgiving when I made my first apple pie ever. I dove right in and made everything from scratch--including the crust (which was a HUGE pain in the butt!) but it tasted amazing! If you want to save yourself a TON of time, I'd recommend buying a store-bought crust... Otherwise, here you go!

Ingredients:

Pastry:
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of salt
2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons of shortening
4 to 6 tablespoons of cold water

Filling:
1/3 to 1/2 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon of salt
8 cups of thinly sliced peeled tart apples (8 medium)
2 tablespoons of butter or margarine

Directions:

Step 1: In medium bowl, mix two cups of flour with 1 teaspoon of salt. Cut in shortening, using a pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through ingredients in opposite directions), until particles are the size of small peas. Sprinkle with cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork until all flour is moistened and pastry almost cleans the side of the bowl (1 to 2 teaspoons more water can be added if necessary).

Step 2: Gather pastry into a ball. Divide in half; shape into 2 flattened rounds on lightly floured surface. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate about 45 minutes or until dough is firm and cold, yet pliable. This allows the shortening to become slightly firm, which helps make the baked pastry more flaky. If refrigerated longer, let pastry soften slightly before rolling.

Step 3: Heat oven to 425*F. With floured rolling pin, roll one pastry round to 2 inches larger than the upside-down 9-inch pie plate. Fold pastry into fourths and place in pie plate. Unfold and ease into plate, pressing firmly against bottom and side.

Step 4: In large bowl, mix sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Stir in apples until well mixed. Spoon into pastry-lined pie plate. Cut butter into small pieces and sprinkle over the filling. Trim overhanging edge of pastry 1/2 an inch from the rim of the plate.

Step 5: Roll other round of pastry into 10-inch round. Fold into fourths and cut slits so steam can escape. Unfold top pastry over filling; trim overhanging edge 1 inch from the rim of the plate. Fold and roll the top edge under lower edge, pressing on rim to seal; flute as desired. Cover edge with 2-inch or 3-inch strip of foil to prevent excessive browning. This was the step where I got creative with my crust. Instead of following these directions, I grabbed a leaf cookie-cutter and cut out TONS of leaves; then starting with the rim, lined the pie with them. This took a long time to do, but the presentation turned out amazing. 

Step 6: Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in the crust, removing foil for last 15 minutes of baking. Serve warm if desired. Enjoy!

Expert Tips:

• For a pretty glazed top crust, brush this--and any other double crust pie--with milk or cream and sprinkle with sugar before baking.
  
• Jump-start your pie baking by using Betty Crocker pie crust mix. Just add water and stir; the dough is ready in 5 minutes.
  
• Start with three 20-ounce cans of sliced apples, drained, instead of using fresh apples, and you'll shave about half the prep time off of this recipe. 

Take that Advice!

Have you ever had a problem and asked for advice--only to completely ignore the advice that was given? I feel like I'm constantly guilty of this--but I never really know that I'm doing it. I have two prime examples--I wanted the results, but didn't want to put any effort into it.

The first one has to do with Maverick and bloody noses. This kid gets bloody noses ALL THE TIME. His pediatrician said that it was from the dry heat where I live, and if I wanted to prevent them, all I had to do was spray his nose with a saline spray or put a thin layer of vasoline in his nostrils. For whatever reason, I didn't take his advice (don't ask why, because I have no idea). The bloody noses kept coming, and we just kept dealing with them. Finally I was tired of waking up in the middle of the night to tend to his bloody noses, and I remembered what his doctor had told me. Now, every night before Maverick goes to bed, I grab a q-tip and give his nostrils a thin layer of vasoline in there--and sure enough, it works: no more bloody noses. It makes me wonder how many nose bleeds I could have avoided had I just taken the doctor's advice. 

Another example of me ignoring advice is losing weight. Before I started working out and eating healthy, I kept looking for a shortcut that could get me to my goal weight without me actually having to do anything. Everyone does this; whenever someone loses weight, everyone seems to ask them what their secret was. I received many of these "what's your secret?!" emails--only to disappoint them and tell them that I counted calories, ate healthy, and worked out. No one wants to do that--its not fun--but once you get into the routine of it, it just comes naturally and is no longer a chore. Because I was counting my calories, I am very aware of the portions I eat and how much of it to eat. I can eyeball how much 1 tablespoon of peanut butter looks like now, without having to actually measure it out. I know that those iced coffee drinks (and probably every drink at Starbucks) has an insane amount of calories in just one drink--therefore I never drink my calories anymore. There's no magic pill in the game of losing weight--you just have to want it for yourself. Once you reach your breaking point, eating healthy and exercising wont be hard because you'll crave seeing those results.. and if you're killing yourself in the gym, you can almost guarantee you wont want to eat that brownie because you worked so hard to burn those calories when you did your workout. It took me a while to understand this concept--and my weight ended up getting higher than it had ever been. Thankfully I reached my breaking point pretty quickly and was able to get dialed into the gym. My birthday is in a few weeks, and that means that my drivers license needs to be renewed. I cant explain how excited I am that I don't have to lie about my weight when I renew my license--I'm finally happy with where I'm at. :)

I don't know why I'm hard-headed (sometimes) and don't listen to advice, but now that I'm aware of it, hopefully I can realize when I'm doing it and stop. Are you hard-headed too? Thank goodness I'm only hard-headed sometimes otherwise I'd probably drive Joe crazy! :)

Today I don't feel like doin' anything...

If you are an avid reader of my blog, you probably noticed that I didn't post one yesterday. These past couple of week have just been crazy--I've been so busy and I have absolutely no idea what I've been busy with! Obviously this past week Joe was on a work trip in Dallas, which left me alone with the kids all week. Although I was on my own, I was still able to paint my bedroom, paint Joe's closet, keep the house clean, and most importantly: keep the kids alive. Yesterday morning I was so happy to have Joe home: he woke up early when the kids woke up, took them downstairs, and let me sleep in till 10. I can't remember the last time I did that! At that time, Joe and the kids came upstairs and we all hung out in bed until 11. It was a perfect Saturday morning--just what we needed after missing him all week.

After we all slowly got the day going, we ate some lunch then hung out by the pool for a few hours. We ate fruit picked off of our trees, splashed around, and laid out in the sun (well, more like clouds--it was a weird cloudy day here yesterday). Most of all, we got some great quality time as a family in. Its insane how much we missed Joe--after nearly 5 years of marriage, I still was like a kid on Christmas when I got to pick him up from the airport!

So, I'm sorry for not posting yesterday, but I'm not sorry. I was spending the day with Joe and the kids and having a relaxing day--something that seems to be rare these days. I feel like I'm constantly on the go, so it was nice taking a break from it all :).

Today, we are driving down to San Diego to have lunch in Balboa Park with some of Joe's cousins who are visiting from out of town. Ironically, they live in Dallas (where Joe was) but were out here for work the same time Joe was out of town. Joe was able to visit his aunt and uncle and some of his other cousins while he was there--and I was so jealous! I wish I could have gone! I'm excited to have lunch with them today though :).

If you're like me and you're constantly on the go doing stuff, be sure to take some time to yourself to relax. You can't just go go go and not expect to get run down. Take a day and just lay around doing nothing--I'm constantly telling myself that I'm not a robot, and I need to take a break. Yesterday was that day for me, and I feel so refreshed! Now go take a nap ;)

Sprucing Up Your Closet

Who says closets have to be ugly and dingy? When we bought this house, the closets were a WRECK. They were all painted with a flat white paint--so of course they had scuff marks all over them. Our downstairs closet was so gross and I never wanted to go in there. I finally got fed up and just painted it one day--and now it looks clean! Our master closet was another story though. We have a pretty big walk-in closet, and of course it was painted with that same flat white paint. There were scuff marks everywhere, shoe scuffs on the wall, dirt smears--gross. I think we all know by now that I like things to be unusually clean--so its amazing that I lasted 2 years in this house without painting this closet. With Joe out of town this week, I thought I would surprise him with a little closet remodel. Joe, if you're at the airport right now and reading my blog, 'x' out of the screen right now :). Since I'm a weird one who prefers a dresser over a closet, this huge closet is all Joe's--so I wanted to make it somewhat manly. 

Here is the 'before' picture. Plain white (dirty) walls. 

The camera flash washed out all of the scuff marks on the walls, but they're definitely there. Also had luggage stacked on the shelf and piles of hats sitting on top of the shelf. 

First and foremost, I went with a grey-and-white color palette. Sue me. Its my current paint-duo obsession, and I'm just gonna go with it. 

Ah, fresh paint <3

Once the paint dried, I put all of the clothes back in the closet. The clothes are organized into categories: long sleeved shirts, v-necks, crew-necks, collared shirts, suits/dress shirts, and pants/shorts. It really isn't hard to keep up with the organization once its done :)

I went to Home Depot and bought thumb tacks so that I could hang all of Joe's hats around the ceiling in the closet. Now they aren't stacked up on the shelf; they're displayed nicely so that he can choose one easily. 

So much better, right?

It just looks clean now! And manly ;)

And lastly: Now that he has a suit-and-tie job, he's accrued quite the collection of ties. He had nowhere to hang them, so he had all of them draped over a hanger. I wanted to give him something where he could hang them up nicely so that he could see them all and (again) make an easy decision on which tie he wanted to wear, so I went to Home Depot and bought this $14 towel rack. If you're friends with me on Facebook and saw my status the other day about 'hanging something up by myself' --this is what I was talking about. That's right: miss independent here--hangin' stuff up all by myself ;)

Overall, the closet looks fantastic and I know Joe is going to love it. Not only is it much more presentable for when we're showing people around our house (yes--who doesn't want to see our closet?!), but its also got way more functionality (and looks pretty too--which is a must for me)  ;) This is Joe's new "man closet." 

Homemade Apple Butter

I saw this recipe for homemade apple butter on Pinterest--I had never tried apple butter, but the pictures make is look delicious--and I've been craving it ever since. I've got an apple tree right in my backyard, so there really was no excuse for me to not make it. The whole process is very time consuming--but well worth it. 

First, grab your apples. As you can see here, I used half store bought Fugi apples and half of some apples off of the tree in my backyard.

Peel, core, and chop up your apples. 

Toss all of the ingredients into the crock pot and stir them up so that all of the apples are coated nicely.

And viola! Homemade apple butter! 

Adorable, right? I'm thinking this might make a great gift around Christmastime ;)

Ingredients:
5 lbs of peeled apples (about 18-20 small apples), cored and chopped very small
4 cups of sugar
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/4 tsp. of ground cloves
1/4 tsp. of pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp. of salt

Directions: First peel and core your apples. I used a peeler and peeled each apple, then used my apple cutter to take the core out. This process took me around an hour--this process could have gone a lot faster if I had one of those counter top apple peelers that takes the core out--if you have one of those, then you're one step ahead of me ;). 

Once you're done with that, toss the apples into a food processor using the chopping blade and pulsate until the apples are in small pieces. Next, you'll put all of your chopped up apples into your crock pot, toss all of your ingredients in, then stir until the apples are all coated.

Then turn your crock pot onto high and leave for 3 hours, stirring occasionally. After the three hours are up, turn the crock pot onto 'low' for 5 1/2 - 6 hours, stirring occasionally.

Finally, spoon the apples into the food processor and puree them. Once its pureed, you can put them in jars and refrigerate them. A lot of sites say that apple butter stays good canned for 18 - 24 months--if you don't eat it before then!

This may be my new favorite Fall-time recipe; my house smells amazing and the apple butter itself is delicious! Enjoy!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

As you all may know by now, Joe has been out of town all week and comes home on Friday. I had to be sure to get my baking in--as he hates it when I bake when hes home (because he always wants to eat it!). I've been so busy with house projects this week--today was literally the only day I could get some baking in--so I made this pumpkin chocolate chip bread and an apple butter (NOT to be eaten together!). I'll post the recipe for the apple butter tomorrow, but this pumpkin loaf was SO quick and easy to make--and it DOESN'T have 3 cups of sugar in it!

Ingredients:

1 cup of pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)

1 tsp. of vanilla

3 eggs

1/4 cup of sour cream

3/4 cup of vegetable oil

1 2/3 cups of flour

1 cup of sugar

1/2 tsp. of salt

1/2 tsp. of baking powder

1/2 tsp. of baking soda

1 cup + 1/4 cup of chocolate chips, divided

Separately mix the wet and dry ingredients together, then combine.

Toss in the chocolate chips

Pour into loaf pan then sprinkle remaining chocolate chips on top

Bake then enjoy!

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350* degrees. Grease and flour loaf pan and set aside.

2. In large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt TWICE.

3. In a medium bowl, combine the pumpkin, eggs, oil, vanilla, and sour cream until smooth. 

4. Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in the wet ingredients. Whisk together until smooth. 

5. Fold in 1 cup of chocolate chips.

6. Pour into prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of chocolate chips on top. 

7. Bake 60-75 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

8. Cool in pan on a wore rack for 20 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!