Get Uncomfortable {Jan 2016}

I was inspired by a fellow Orlando Moms Blog contributor, Tracy, to just choose one word (or words in my case) to “guide and lead me through adventures of uncharted territories.” I chose ‘Get Uncomfortable‘. Click, take a look and see why.

I have been using this phrase, ‘Get Uncomfortable’, every day. I know words are powerful but I never knew repeating this ONE phrase when I was unsure of what to do or what step to take next, would push me in every aspect of my life. From pushing myself on a speed workout or tempo run, to pushing myself in keeping the lines of communication open with my family when all I really want to do is shut down…and sleep.

Last week, my oldest and I had a disagreement. She’s 5 (going on 25) and I’m 43. Both of us love to be right. Most days, I’m the parent and the other days, she thinks she is. It was a rough morning getting out of the house.

My patience was gone. I was wound up a bit tight and she needed more compassion and understanding than I had that morning. All I could think about was getting to school on time. The big kids were acting up in the car kicking the seat in front of them.

I ignored it…for a few minutes. I asked them to stop…a few times. Needless to say, they didn’t. We were at a red light and I turned around with anger in my eyes I said, STOP KICKING. I didn’t yell or raise my voice but there was not an ounce of love in my words.

They stopped. She started crying. Uncontrollably. I screwed up yet once again.

Thankfully, we were around the corner from school. I had to fix this. I couldn’t let her be angry or mad or sad all day at school.

We parked and I jumped in the back of the minivan. She wouldn’t look at me. She wouldn’t make eye contact or acknowledge my presence. She shut down…completely.

I said all the ‘right’ mother things but she wouldn’t budge. I grabbed her bag and out the car we went. Her teacher at the door said good morning and she didn’t respond. Into the classroom she went…

I drove to the other side of campus to drop off the three year old. All went well and I looked at the time…I had seven minutes before her class was to start. If my heart was aching, what was her heart feeling?!?

Go ‘Get Uncomfortable’ Kate!

I made it to her classroom with four minutes to spare. Unbuckled the baby and ran to her door. I asked her teacher if I could speak with her for just a minute. I walked into the class, she saw me and with the biggest smile on her face said “Mommy!” My heart started beating again, a lump formed in my throat and my eyes started to fill. I can’t remember the last time she called me mommy. Don’t blink. Don’t blink. Not here. Not now.

I walked over to her, got on my knees and gave her all the love I had and squeezed it into one hug. I whispered in her ear that I loved her with all my heart, to have her best day ever and to remember to have fun.

My baby girl was back. The love was in her eyes and and that smile was radiating the room. I don’t know if she was already over it. I don’t know if it was a distant memory for her. We never spoke of it again. All I do know is that I needed to get uncomfortable and make it right. My baby needed to know that I loved her regardless of what had happened.

As I left the classroom and buckled the baby back into the car seat, I blinked and all the tears came pouring out.

I know I’m not the first mom to say this but seriously…

Parenting is the toughest gig I’ve ever had.

How did you ‘Get Uncomfortable’ today?

DIY No Sew Kids Indian Costume

My kindergartener is having a Thanksgiving Day Feast with the 1st and 2nd graders next week and they can come dressed up as either an Indian or a Pilgrim. My girl wants to be an Indian but I’m not allowed to braid her hair. WHAT?!?! I’m going to have to work on that one…

I searched Pinterest and found what appears to be an ‘easy’ no sew do-it-yourself indian dress. I pinned it and headed out to the stores. Well, truth be told…I headed to my husband’s closet first to see if I could steal an old brown t-shirt or two. No such luck. **Note to self…buy him a variety of colored shirts, not just orange and blue 😉

I headed to Hobby Lobby first and they had a great selection of long sleeve t-shirts at a great price…and they were on sale too! Score! But…they didn’t have brown. And I really, really wanted brown. Ok, no biggie. I’ll just dye the shirts. Easy peasy. But…they didn’t have brown dye. They were all out. Ok, no biggie. I’ll stop at Michael’s on my way home.

While at Hobby Lobby, I picked up two (I only need one costume but I have a feeling my 3 year old will want one) long sleeved, size small adult t-shirts, 2 packs of feathers, and 1 piece of brown foam board (maybe to help in making a headband??). I already had beads at home left over from another project. So off to Michael’s for some brown dye…I was also hoping they had brown shirts so I could save a step but they didn’t.

They had brown dye and I was able to use a 50% off coupon so it came to $2.13! Score! Now…let’s change the color of these shirts because I promised the big kids they could help put beads on when they got home from school.

I took a bucket from the garage (thank goodness it’s black), rinsed it out and filled it with HOT water. I dumped the liquid dye in and mixed for about 2 minutes before I put the wet shirts in the bucket. The directions say to add 1 cup of salt but I didn’t. I’m not looking for a perfectly brown shirt. I just need it not to be white and to be kind of brown.

Now, the directions say to mix CONSTANTLY for 30-60 minutes. Umm…who the heck has time for that?! And I’m pretty sure my arm would fall off in the process. So I left it and mixed it maybe every 5 minutes for about 30 minutes.

After thirty minutes, I very carefully emptied the bucket and started to rinse the shirts with cool water. Talk about a mess! Thank goodness the big kids were at school and the baby was sleeping because this was hard enough to do by myself let alone have my little helpers helping me.

This is what the shirt looked like after I rinsed it with cool water. I tried my best to keep rinsing until the water was clear but I probably could have done a little bit better. Next up, I threw them in the washer and dryer!

This is how it looked after the washer…

And this is how it looked after the dryer…

Definitely a bit blotchy but it will be perfect for an indian costume! Next up, time for the scissors and some beads!

Stayed tuned…

{insert Jeopardy music here}

For Part 2, click here!

Change the look of your kitchen with just a little paint!

It’s no exaggeration to say that I spend ALOT of time in my kitchen. I’m a stay at home mom with 3 kids, 4 if you count the husband, and they require to be fed on a routine basis….like every 10minutes, no lie!

When we were house hunting, finding the perfect house with the perfect kitchen was a bit on the impossible side. I almost nixed the idea of putting an offer on the house we are currently living in because I HATED the kitchen. I hated everything about it…

the old cabinets

the white appliances

the cream color formica counter tops

the light colored tile, the red paint, the gold sponge paint on top of the red paint and the painted on faux brick on top of the red paint.

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the color red. I really do. But it was too much for the kitchen. It wasn’t my style and it made me not want to be in the kitchen.

I firmly believe that the most memorable family memories are made in the kitchen. Any conversation or story that I tell my kids from my childhood, always has us in the kitchen. So I was determined to turn this kitchen around.

I pinned, I googled and I browsed Home Depot. I knew what I wanted but I couldn’t get the husband (or the checkbook) to go for it, no matter how hard I tried. Deep down, I knew it was unrealistic to redo the entire kitchen so I opted to work with what I had. I still pinned and googled but this time I added a few key terms to help with my search…oak cabinets, white formica, white appliances. I wanted the internet to show me what color paint would work best with what I had because I knew I could get the husband on board with that and he would love it too! I could change the look without draining the bank account. I was determined to LOVE my kitchen again and a little paint could bring me that love…right??

Stayed tuned for Part II…

Weekly Meal Plan for August 3 – August 9

My mother, sister, nephew and niece were in town visiting this week and I was beyond excited to cook for them. It was a bit trickier than usual because the big kids really didn’t nap but we got it done. It really does take a village to raise a family, doesn’t it?

Malaspine Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes & Roasted Broccoli

Now, my mother had this meatloaf the last time she was in town and she LOVED it! So of course I had to make it again for her. This was a huge hit with everyone, kids included! My mother in law, sister in law and her kids stopped by the next day and I fed them the leftovers. They loved it too! Seriously, if you are looking for a great meatloaf recipe, this is the one.

The kids did not love the broccoli because of all the garlic but us grown ups gobbled it up with no problems! Ha!

Jenn’s Chicken & Veggie Soup

This one was easy to do with the family in town. I chose to make this one on the day that we stayed home. It takes about 2-3 hours in the oven. I have done it in the crock pot as well and it’s good but I really love it in the dutch oven. Best. Comfort. Food. Ever.

Chicken Mozzerella Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Ahhh….one of my husband’s favorite meals! There were no leftovers this night. Even the kids ate it! I left out the red pepper flakes for the kids but sprinkled them on ours. The red pepper flakes give it a nice kick!

Lasagna Soup

My sister is the one that told me I needed to make this so I knew her and her kids would love it. I was a little worried about my mother though. She loves lasagna but I wasn’t sure she would go for it as a soup. But she was living in my house, under my roof for the week so she had to eat it, right?!?! Hahaha! I’ve always wanted to say that!

I used regular sausage instead of the chicken sausage the recipe calls for. I love all the skinnytaste.com recipes but I tend to fatten them up just a bit. 😉

Mother LOVED the soup! I overheard her tell my daughter that I was a great cook. OMG! I learned from one of the best cooks around!

Desserts:

We put a HUGE dent in the #GoBigOrGoHome birthday cake but we still needed something sweet. I had to make my mother’s favorite banana bread and I also wanted to make something new for them. Cannoli Cake was it! My mother and my sister LOVED it! I should have made that at the beginning of the week because now I have a ton left and they flew back to NJ today.

Cannoli Poke Cake

Banana Bread

What favorite meals do you like to cook when you have family in town?

Enjoy all the recipes!

Happy Cooking!

and Happy Eating!

Katie 🙂

Hey, Plan To Eat users…look me up and let’s swap recipes!

MrsRoemersNest

The “Perfect” Cake

Before motherhood, I was a perfectionist and I had that quality perfected. Now that I’m four and a half years into this motherhood gig, I’ve finally determined it’s not worth all the time, effort, stress and craziness that it brings along.

I’m embarrassed to say that this lightbulb just went off this weekend. I mean really went off. I’ve heard it pretty much all my life but it wasn’t until I took my daughters baptism cake out of the refrigerator that it hit me. Actually, it hit the cake. The top shelf of the fridge hit it…when I pulled it out for the party. Eesh! The old me would have been devastated!! But in all sincerity, it really didn’t phase me. That’s when I realized I’ve changed. Maybe I’m so delirious from the lack of sleep these days or maybe I’m finally coming to terms with motherhood and all its twists and turns. Either way, it’s all good…I created happy memories for my girls that day. And in case they happen to forget, I took LOTS of pictures to show them later.

I’m in the process of storing all of my recipes at Plan To Eat so that I can efficiently meal plan for the entire family (blog post coming soon!). So here’s the link for the buttercream icing:

http://www.plantoeat.com/recipes/3238551

Your Charmed Wedding made Elizabeth’s gorgeous headband for me. Head on over to Etsy and check out this wonderful shop!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/YourCharmedWedding

PS…I’m new to all this “linking” of websites so if for some reason it’s not working, just let me know.

Beautiful the mess I am.

Love & Prayers,

Katie

The Truth Hurts

Today was a hard day. I can’t even pin point a specific event or a list of specific events that made the day end the way it did. All I know is that there was a constant power struggle between me and my oldest daughter from the moment she woke up until bath time.

It was 645pm and I was feeling thankful that this day was coming to an end and then, out of nowhere, I was sucker punched!! As I was getting the girls out of the tub, my 4 year old stood up, squinted her eyes and informed me that she was going to get a new house with a better mom. Wait…what did I just hear?!

OUCH! That stung.

Actually, it ripped my heart in two. I bit my lower lip and with all my might, held back the tears that were ready to flow like Niagara Falls.

Then in the next breath, she started babbling away like nothing ever happened. I looked at her, asked her to be quiet and tried to process what I heard.

I had the husband finish getting them ready. I just couldn’t be in the same room with her. Deep down, I knew she didn’t really know what she said or how hurtful it was but I couldn’t hide the sadness in my face or the pain in my heart.

When we said our prayers before bed, my husband added a few extra. He thanked God for all of Mommy’s hard work for the family and how she always does everything to keep the family together. My baby girl chimed right in and added…”and for all the food she cooks us!”

I squeezed my eyes shut even harder for fear if I opened them the least bit, the water works would be in full effect.

After a glass of wine (or two), I was finally able to talk about it and figure out what’s going on. Could it be possible she’s feeling the stresses we are with all the buying and selling of the houses? Does she need some one-on-one time with her momma? Okay, maybe I need some one-on-one time with my baby.

My plan is to take her out for cupcakes at her favorite lil’ bakery and then do a little shopping on Friday while her sisters and probably her daddy nap.

I firmly believe everything happens for a reason and this is no exception.

Maybe this needed to happen. Maybe it was the only way I could see that she needs me. That she is only 4. Maybe she’s right. She does need a “new” mom. One who will stop multitasking and make the time to be with her…to really be with her.

Whatever the reason, it has opened my eyes and my heart. And on the Eve of Thanksgiving, I sit here feeling blessed and grateful to have learned yet another valuable lesson in parenting firsthand…kids really do speak the truth.

Beautiful the mess I am…
Love & Prayers,
Katie

(Photo from Pinterest http://pinterest.com/pin/A3VMOQAQwDYH3DOgcX8AAAA/)