Cheeseburger Salad (sans bun and burger) code name: Pickies and Chez!

This is a new fav in my house. It's been in my mind for a while, but I decided to execute it the other day instead of the usual caesar salad because it went better with my meal plan. My DH is a Picky Eater to the nth degree. I figured since we had company over that day he could stuff it, but much to my surprise he loved it. Even more to my surprise, my 20 month old DD loves it to pieces as well!

I decided to share this salad. Demonstrating the ease of the making of this salad (not really, she just loves to help me so I give her her little duties) is DD.



Ingredients :

lettuce, or a bag of premade salad (anything Plain Jane works. romaine and iceburg are both fine, even American Blend with carrots, radish, etc works)

pickles (crisp dill pickles)

shredded cheese, chedder or chedder-mozza blend

optional: tomato



Put the salad in the bowl. Dice up some pickles and throw them in. If you want to give a fancy presentation, you can add the ranch dressing at this point, and the tomato diced up with as little juicies and as much flesh as possible, and toss, saving the cheese as a topper.

If you really like pickles, you may want to eat some of them. I don't use exact measurements, but a handful or two of diced pickles is good, to taste. Half a cup or so, if you really need measurements.

Now add the cheese. If you're doing it fancy and have already tossed the salad, sprinkle the cheese over top so it's a nice even layer. You want about as much cheese as pickles. I use preshredded cheese in a Tex Mex combo, but any chedder or chedder-mozza mix works.

If you didn't do it fancy, then toss the salad after adding the cheese. I find I like the taste a bit better when it's tossed at the end, but the presentation is better with the cheese on top. It depends on what you're going for. For the amount of dressing, just add it as you toss it until you get the desired consistancy. Either Ranch or Bacon Ranch work great.

While waiting for daddy to come home, we like to snoop the cheese back off the top of the salad. ;)

Red Envelope Day (caution : controversial topic alert - Pro-Life)

Dear Friends, Please send a red envelope to: Prime Minister Stephen Harper House of Commons Ottawa On K1A0A6 and your MP at the same address. This is postage free! Mail it on March 31. On the back, write the following message.

"This envelope represents one child who died because of an abortion." It is empty because the life that was taken is now unable to be a part of our world. Responsibility begins with conception."

....{If you don't have red envelopes, they can be made by folding and pasting a piece of red construction paper, or any piece of red paper that has been used as a poster, etc. (blank side out). }....We will mail the envelopes out March 31st, 2009. Put it in the mail, and send it. In the meantime, forward this event to every one of your friends who you think would send one too.

I wish we could send 3 million red envelopes, one for every child who died [in Canada] before having a chance to live. It may seem that those who believe abortion is wrong are in a minority. It may seem like we have no voice and it's shameful to even bring it up.

Let us show our Prime Minister and the world that the voices of those of us who do not believe abortion is acceptable are not silent and must be heard. Together we can change the heart of The Prime Minister and save the lives of millions of children. ....whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely...think on these things. Phil. 4:8

I am taking part in this event. I know by posting this it's highly possible I might get some flack for posting this here, but I don't care... : )

Here's something I wrote on the wall of this facebook event in response to somebody who said that abortion is generally done in desparation when you don't feel like you can do anything else, and taking away the "only option" for these people could be a bad thing (at least that's what I gathered, although she didn't say exactly that)

All one has to do is google 'abortion alternatives' and 452,000 results pop up. I will never understand how people can feel an abortion is a better option than giving a child up for adoption. You'll never forget it for the rest of your life regardless.Having abortion as legal and readily available as it is makes it way too easy for people to do something without thinking it through, and regretting it later. I've seen that message on messageboards on the internet time and time again ... "I was terrified, and I decided to do it, so I went in before I lost my nerve and just did it. I felt so relieved right afterwards. But then as soon as it sunk in what I had done...."

things like this wouldn't happen nearly as often without legalized abortion.Unless the life of the mother is at risk (atopic pregnancy comes to mind) there is no good reason to have an abortion. (i would consider atopic pregnancy to not actually be pregnancy, its not in the womb and could never be fullterm)

I do not believe at all that an unborn child falls under the 'my body, my choice' category. Having been pregnant, I can say that my body most assuredly does not kick me in the ribs, or grow extra arms. Any baby could possibly be a boy, and thusly have a penis, correct? Do you have a penis? If you're pregnant, I'm assuming you probably don't. But if that baby has a penis, and it is not YOUR penis, it must be somebody else's! And to end that life is to kill somebody.

And the rape issue/area is a difficult one. But at the same time, saying it's okay to kill a baby that didn't ask to be there, either, because some jackass decided to rape somebody... two wrongs don't make a right. Making abortion legal ... 'just in case you get raped' makes about as much sense as saying that all women should go on the pill... 'just in case you get raped'

I won't make a habit of such controversial posts. But when March 31st rolls around and we do the Red Envelope protest, I sure will. :)

(also from a strong biblical standpoint, of course, I feel that abortion is wrong. But if you're not a Christian, "God says killing babies is wrong" doesn't really make sense to you.)

in local news...

This is my youngest brother paddling around in my parents front yard three days ago! Fortunatly the house is raised up so my parents have not had any flooding in the house, and I think the barn is fine for now too. Today, though, three days later, this is all covered by three feet of snow! The weather has been SO crazy lately. I gather my dad and husband are still sandbagging my parents place whenever sandbags are dropped off in the local dropoff spot... and they have a dike, too, so my dad just pumps whatever he can over the dike. But until the culverts unfreeze there is no point to that.

It's crazy to think that three days ago people all over the city I live in and the surrounding area were paddling around in canoes and now it looks like the dead of winter again... maybe later today I will post a picture of my backyard covered in snow. Although because it was so windy it is in drifts, so in the middle of the yard you can still tell there's a huge amount of water frozen under there.

Don't worry about us, though! We haven't had any water leaking into the house thus far, and we'd notice if we did because our basement is stripped down to concrete floors and insulated walls (except in the one corner where drywall has started going up again) as we're in the process of renovating the basement.

The Mom Song

I saw this today for the first time and I think it's HILARIOUS

DIY Hemp Pendant Lights

Not to toot my own horn, but I've actually thought of doing this exact thing, I didn't ever DO it... but it has crossed my mind in the past. Okay, that was totally to toot my own horn. Maybe I'm a little jealous that somebody else did and posted this before I ever got motivated enough to even buy all the supplies. Although my idea involved a balloon, I think I like the ball one a bit better as it gives you a rounder shape.
Anyways, click the picture above and hop over to Crafynest blog for this tutorial!

My little goof

I am more and more in love with my little goofie every day. Her personality is starting to become more and more vivid. She can be a real brat, no doubt about it. But even when she is being a brat and a half, she makes me grin.

Her daddy and I can both be kind of goofy sometimes, and we both tend to have (two different) odd senses of humour. Right now DD loves to play this silly little game where she tries to lick me. It's kind of gross but it makes us both laugh our bums off. (this next picture is probably one of the most unflattering pictures of me ever, as I am trying to get my head as far away from her as possibly and thusly have like six chins instead of a neck, but it makes me laugh, and thusly is awesome.)
It makes me grin to see that she is unabashedly silly and she loves to make other people smile and laugh. She always has to make sure everyone is in on the action, even if it's a matter of trying to get Kitty to talk on the phone.

Speaking of Kitty....

For some reason this picture makes my brain think "disrespectful cat is disrespectful"

ahahaha. But seriously. No respect. If he didn't make Nicole so happy... I have to be honest, i give him a little kick every now and then. Just a love tap. Not like I hoof him in the side out of the blue. More like if he's running infront of me "MROW"ing away, I nudge him in the bum with my foot. Don't go crying about it, he stalks my feet at night when I'm asleep, and leaps out at me from under my bedskirt when I'm doing laundry. It's equal. lol.

So that's my little confession of the day. I kick my cat a little bit. O:

Back In Action! With pics and projects!

Okay, so one of my memory cards was found and rescued. Those of you who do not have a toddler will laugh, and those of you who have more experience with toddlers will probably wonder why this wasn't the first place I looked.... BUT... my printer has not been working for a while, DD 'did something to it and wrecked it, I don't know', I explained to my Darling Husband. Yesterday he setabout to fix it. "I already tried, it's a lost cause" I explained. But he would not be so easily put off. All of the sudden, he says, "does this look like your missing memory card?" and points into the very depths of the machine. Well, we pull out my jewelry-making pliers and soon I once again have both a printer and a memory card. laaaaaaa~!

So, here's a project. I was super ambitious yesterday and sewed up two shirts for me, and one for DD. Well, lets be honest, the grey one was mostly done already. But it turns out that in between cutting and sewing, she suddenly lost her little Buddha belly. (she was sick, and she had another growth spurt at the same time.) So while the way I finished the one shirt worked out fine because I used FOE and make it scrunchy-bunchy, but the other shirt wound up being a bit of a hack job once I tried it on her. That's why there's seams in front and back instead of just the sides, it's the only way I could fix things without undoing the side/sleeves (and I did not feel like ripping seams on a refashion+waffleknit, just does not work out nicely)

So, without further ado, two shirts I bought for $1ea to turn into shirts for DD... done!

I even put a tag in so DH can figure out what way it goes. lol.
cute little tag I made. it's deliberatly offcentery. I'm not THAT special. plus it was clear stamps, which even I can handle. then the ink was heat-set. hopefully it washes well! I've seen this technique used a bunch online lately and I hope it works for me!

The red one... it doesn't look so awkward on her as it does on the couch.


Tag on the bottom on the front of the shirt, with a zigzag for interest and in case the iron-on hem tape I used tries to start peeling on the edges.

Modelling the grey shirt... (will have to take a picture of the red one modelled later) (those jeans are new (Joe Fresh,) aren't they precious? $15 !! She grew some legs so only two pairs of jeans fit her and one was dirty and one was wet. So we wore the dirty pair to go buy more! LOL!) (I will add that my house is not as messy as it looks here, but that slipcover really does need a wash. Actually, I'm thinking of dying it brown... but not sure if it's worth it considering I'm sewing up new cushion covers for a different couch set soon and these couches will hit the trash)

And lastly, a glamour shot. (rolleyes) yes, we're hitting that stage. Early start on the Terrible Twos (she's 20 months tomorrow) I asked her to smile and I got see-food instead. Charming. And don't think it was an accident. She's been doing it to me all day.

That giant mouth come from daddy, by the way; I've been playfully accused of being the genetic donor of that attribute, but mine is more metaphorical than literal. Daddy could fit a Chevy in his yap if he wanted to.

edit: modelled pink/red shirt:

Still Kicking

I feel wretched that I haven't posted in a while. It's because of my memory cards. While I love posting finds and stuff, I feel really awful if/when everything i post is other people's stuff. So I haven't been posting at all, which is even worse, really. I will buy a memory card on monday if I haven't found any of them back by then! I swear it!

For now, here's a funny picture I will paint with words of DD, from Wednesday evening.

DD is standing in the middle of the kitchen in a big fluffy purple tutu, wearing brown and pink cowgirl boots that she put on herself. Her hair is up in two curlish little pigtails. Her feet are firmly planted, her little fists are balled and her arms sticking straight out at her sides as she leans slightly forward; her cherubic little face is bright red, and she's screaming blue murder in a temper tantrum of epic proportions over some imagined slight.

I, Mommy, of course, laughed my bum off. She reminded me so much of a little cartoon or something. I wish I could have snapped a picture!

Adorable Knit Belt - DIYStyle Vodcast

http://diystyle.net/vodcasts/2009/03/02/diy-style-episode-41-vodcast/
Check out this Vodcast from DIY Style! This is an adorable belt that's very unique, I've never seen anything that looks like this one. That's always refreshing! It seems to me that it'd be pretty easy even for a beginner to make. And good practise for long straight lines! I'd describe the belt as looking ruched, definitely for over dresses/tunics as opposed to holding your pants up, a decorative belt for sure. And the tie in the front looks super cute!