Next Stop Hollywood!

Preston had his television debut today! And Preston could have cared less. *sigh* Apparently when you are three and you've been on the cover of the local insert of the paper, finding yourself in a sea of faces on the TV screen is not that exciting.

A little backstory: I belong to a local mom's group online. It is a great community of moms from various backgrounds, ethnicities, and stages of life. Although the online group is confined to the DFW area, I have actually only met a few of these women in real life. At over 1,000 members it has become a challenge and Dallas is bigger than you might think, ya'all. The great thing about this group is that we are all moms and we care about each other. It has quickly become my biggest resource when I need to find the best park, kid-friendly eats, recipes, rash identifiers (really!), and just plain and simple good old fashioned mom advice. Granted some advice I'd just as soon do without, but that's not so much unlike real life don't you think? But unlike other mom boards there is that potential you might actually meet one of these ladies someday so a lot of the rudeness/self-righteousness is missing when there is no real anonymity. Not to say we don't have our drama, but most of the time it's all hugs and support. If you are going through it, 99% of the time another momma has gone through it too.




So recently our local news station WFAA has taken an interest in our moms board and decided to make it a feature in their Good Morning Texas show which airs after Good Morning America. During this segment they interviewed Nicole, the mom who started it all and showed clips from a playdate held on Monday that we attended.



You'll have to look fast, but when they show the group shot of everyone yelling, "Good Morning Texas" you'll see me (in pink) holding Preston. Look just right of the center behind the kids. He had no interest in standing with the other kids, or yelling "Good Morning Texas" or being on television whatsoever. So being the good mom I am held him up for all the world... er, Texas to see. He'll thank me someday.



For the life of me I cannot figure out how to post the video here. So please (pretty please) click on this link. Mom, see where it is underlined? Click that word. ;)

Workin' On My Skillz

Ok, I've not been posting much, I know. I have a confession to make. I've been with another blog. (GASP!) Yes, it is true Pioneer Woman has been stealing my time away from this blog. (Did that sound weird? Oh well.) It really shouldn't be that big of a surprise. I did mention, however briefly, my diversion to Pioneer Woman in my post about Bar-b-que Weiners. Not only does PW (that's Pioneer Woman - I'm lazy) cook, but she does take beautiful photographs. She also shares some great tips for those amateur photographers (like myself) who like to play in Photoshop. While I don't have any cows or Wranglers to take photos of I do have a very cute three year old (if I do say so myself). So just to show that all my PW reading has not gone to waste, I will share a little bit of what I have learned from good ole' PW. (I don't know if she's old, I just like using a little southern twang now and then - it keeps those west coast readers on their toes.) Sheez, that is the last time I'll use parentheses, I promise. (I think.)




Here is just a sampling of what I have learned:

A photo SOOC (Straight out of the camera - see, I really am lazy.)

Now, the same photo edited.

Besides the obvious black and white conversion and crop, I sharpened his eyes so that they sparkled a little more and added the "burned edge effect". Try to ignore the fact that the entire photo is a tad out of focus. Good thing I'm not taking any of this too seriously otherwise I would have felt bad for have not taken a better photo of a constantly moving three year old who has taken to actually putting his hand in front of the camera like I'm the papparazzi. Next time I will try hiding behind the bushes when he comes out of the 7-11. I hear that works.

Aloha

This is Hawaii:

This is Hawaii when your friend Karen goes there:

A whole lotta nothin'!

Just kidding! I have to give my friend Karen over at Shama-lama Mama a hard time about not posting her photos from her trip to Hawaii yet. Oh sure, she's got plenty of excuses. Something about packing, moving, taking care of 3 boys, and some other nonsense. Whatever! Get with it girlfriend! ;)

Although my friendly banter (aka pestering) did result in her mentioning me in her blog not once but seven times! She only mentioned her mom once. How cool am I?

However, pay no attention to the fact that my blog had not been updated in a couple of weeks. I could just say that I'm so deprived of photos of palm trees and endless beaches that I can't bring myself to blog. Yeah, that's it!

Frugal Friday: Tortilla Chips

Welcome to Frugal Friday!

Have you ever accidentally forgot to put the clip back on your bag of tortilla chips? Wait, don't throw out those stale chips! All hope is not lost! Spread them evenly on a baking sheet and put them in the oven at 350 and in about 5 minutes you'll have warm crisp chips. Bring on the hot sauce!

To find out how Frugal Friday got started go here. If you have a frugal tip you'd like to share, just let me know. I promise to give you full credit and I'll even link your blog.

Wordless Wednesday: Frosty Comes To Texas

" Where's the corn cob pipe and button nose?"

Hey, you work with whatcha got.

For more wordless fun go here and here.

You Know You Wanna Cook This... You Really Do

Dinner challenge: Your friend calls you to have dinner at her house since both of your husbands are working late. You must find something that you can make by only using the ingredients you have on hand, it must be kid friendly, and it has to be gluten/wheat free.

Dinner Solution: Bar-b-que Weiners (or as my friend's daughter would say, Hot Dogs in Ketchup Sauce!)

So in Pioneer Woman fashion (if you haven't been reading her cooking blog I highly recommdend it) I bring you my favorite in a pinch recipe:

Bar-b-que Weiners

The cast of characters: Butter, Brown Sugar, Vinegar, Mustard, Ketchup, about 4-5 cut up hot dogs (use gluten free or turkey if desired), and rice. I tried to convince the rice to get in the picture but it wanted to be in it by itself. Whatever, I don't deal with Diva rice.

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in large frying pan. I'm sure Pioneer Woman would have used twice as much butter, but whatever. Add cut up dogs. Cook a few minutes on some heat. You want more direction than that? They are hot dogs people, not lamb chops!

Add 1 cup of ketchup, 1 tablespoon of mustard, 1/4 cup of brown sugar, 3 tablespoons of vinegar, and 1/3 cup of water to the pan and you get this creamy mixture. I know what you're thinking. Water wanted to be in the first picture but vinegar said no. Those two just don't seem to get along.

Cook some rice while you were doing all that other stuff and then serve like this:

Notice no vegetables or other sides are needed. Don't even try to put some on the plate. I'm serious, the weiners will just get jealous. See that one heading to the edge of the plate? I just casually mentioned that I might heat up some rolls and that one took off. In the end I decided to let it go. That's what they say isn't it? If you love something set it free.

Bar-b-que Weiners (aka Hot Dogs in Ketchup Sauce)

(adapted from my Mom's recipe - ok, ok, I just left out the onions, it's really her recipe)

2 tbl butter

4-5 cut up hot dogs

1 cup ketchup

1/3 cup water

1/4 cup brown sugar

3 tbl white vinegar

1 tbl mustard

Cook hot dogs in butter until slightly brown. Add remaining ingredients and simmer until creamy mixture. Serve over cooked rice.

Enjoy! And please forgive me Pioneer Woman.

Frugal Friday: Make Your Own Foaming Soap

Welcome To Frugal Friday! (a little late)

Reuse those foaming soap dispensers by adding 1 tablespoon of your favorite hand soap, fill up with water and shake. Because life is too short to lather up yourself.

To find out how Frugal Friday got started go here. If you have a frugal tip you'd like to share, just let me know. I promise to give you full credit and I'll even link your blog.