Some people call it Sleep Deprived. I call it Motherhood.

My Mom forwarded this email to me. It made me laugh and of course, reflect on my extremely dumb moments.

A friend told us of an all too typical morning, trying to get her kids to stop fighting in the back of the minivan and having little success.

About the time she thought her eardrums would burst from the screaming, she noticed a drive-in window and thought maybe a little snack would distract them. Maybe their blood sugar was just low, she hoped.

She pulled into the drive-through lane and the voice on the speaker said, "May I help you?"

"Oh yes," she said, "four happy meals with root beers."

There was a pause, and then the voice said, "Ah, Ma'am, did you know that you are at the drive-up window of the bank?

Free Nursing Covers and a Bonus Surprise! *You pay for Shipping

I just purchased my free nursing cover from Udder Covers. No I'm not pregnant or nursing anymore, I just thought it would be a great last minute gift to have on hand.

To get your own enter the code "THANKSGIVING" at checkout. You'll just have to pay $9.95 in shipping!

HERE's the real kicker though. On my order confirmation page I got a promotion code for a free Baby Sling from Seven Everyday Slings. 

I just had to pay $11.95 shipping. You have the option of getting Size Exchange Insurance too for $3.50. Make sure to watch for that. I don't know if it comes up for everyone.

*Warning: Photos on sites can not possibly be of real mothers. They look way to kid to have just had those babies!

Femininity

Femininity is not just lipstick, stylish hairdos, and trendy clothes. It is the divine adornment of humanity. It finds expression in your qualities of your capacity to love, your spirituality, delicacy, radiance, sensitivity, creativity, charm, graciousness,gentleness, dignity, and quiet strength. It is manifest differently in each girl or woman, but each of you possesses it. Femininity is part of your inner beauty. -James E.Faust

Free Quiet Book Templates

Have you ever wanted to make a quiet book for your child? Alison has free templates online for 9 Quiet Book pages! She has other fantastic ideas on her blog Oopsey Daisy so head on over to check it all out!

Mini Caramel Apples

These Caramel Apples are so kid friendly. There's no way my son could eat an entire one. I mean, even as an adult I love them, but they are work to eat. So this solution has me thrilled! Can you imagine them rolled in nuts, drizzled with chocolates, or dressed up any other way? Too cute! Christy of From Glitter to Gumdrops gives us the instructions on her blog!

Gearing up for Halloween

So many blogs have great Halloween ideas lately. I'm trying to decide what our costumes will be this year. I don't want to be making them last minute like last year.

I have a feeling I will be making these bags from How Does She. She shows you how to make them in a guest post over on eighteen25. They'd be cute for gift bags, but also for Trick-or-Treating:

If you're having a small party, or want to make simple gifts, what about this play-dough? Another guest poster, Ashley from Under the Sycamore, shares how to do this on eighteen25.

Or do you just want to decorate for Halloween? You can learn how to make these wall plaques over at eighteen25. It's from another guest blogger Craft-O-Maniac. Head over to either blog to get more fabulous Halloween ideas.

Easy Little Cakes

These little cakes are adorable and they're easy to make too! You can get instructions here on Zakka Life.

These are adorable...

I just love these pinwheel hair clips on eighteen25. Head on over there to get instructions on how to make them!

Homemade Laundry Soap

Before Ava was born I read that you must use hypoalergenic laundry detergent on baby clothes but when I saw the price for Dreft I decided to do something a little more cost effective. I found this wonderful homemade laundtry soap recipe and in 6 months I have spent about 7 dollars on laundtry soap and I use some of the ingredients for dish detergent too. This recipe is for liquid soap the consistency is not as nice as store bought but it works great! I don't add the essential oils because the soap already has a lemony scent.

1-bar Fels-Naptha soap

1 cup Borax

1 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (NOT BAKING SODA!)

Hot tap water

5 gallon bucket with lid

2 gallon plastic beverage dispenser

Light colored essential oils (optional)



Grate bar of soap with a cheese grater. Fill the 5 gallon bucket 1/2 full with hot tap water. Melt the grated soap slowly over med-low heat in a large saucepan with 2.5 cups of water. Once the soap is completely melted, add this to the water in the five gallon bucket. Now add the Borax and the Super Washing Soda and stir. Now top the bucket off with more hot tap water. Loosely put the lid on the bucket and leave over night to thicken.


You can add 15 – 20 drops of essential oils to this if you like. (Lavender, Lemon, Peppermint, etc.)

I use about 3/4 cup per load if you have an energy efficient loader you can use less.

I have a friend that makes dry laundry soap from equal parts fels naptha, borax, and washing soda. That seems to work pretty good too! If you make it dry you must grate the fels naptha very fine though since it dissolves slowly and you don't want it left in your clothes. Happy Soap making!!

Bacon and Wild Mushroom Risotto with Baby Spinach

I came across this recipe in my Cooking Light magazine. It is so delicious, I just had to share!!

Ingredients

4 cups chicken stock (not broth)

6 bacon slices

1 cup chopped shallots

1 tbs olive oil

1 tps chopped fresh thyme

4 garlic cloves, minced

4 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced

4 oz shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced

4 oz oyster mushrooms, sliced

1 cup uncooked medium-grain rice

1/3 cup Madeira wine (I just used 1/3 cup of extra chicken stock)

4 cups baby spinach

1/2 cup grated Asiago or Parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 tsp pepper

.

Instructions

1. Bring chicken stock to a simmer in a small saucepan (do not boil); keep ward over low heat.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add bacon to pan. Cook until crisp. Remove bacon fro pan, leaving drippings. Add shallots, oil, thyme, and garlic to drippings and cook about 6 minutes, or until tender. Stir in mushrooms and cook 8 minutes. Add rice and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in wine (or extra stock); cook 1 minute or until the liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly. Stir in 1 cup stock; cook 4 minutes or until the liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly. Add remaining stock ,1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly until each portion of stock is absorbed before adding the next (about 25 minutes total). Stir in the spinach and cook 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in cheese, salt and pepper. Sprinkle with bacon.

.

Yield: 6 1/4 cups

Cute Vest Pattern

This little vest pattern for boys and girls is really cute! It's size 6M to 5T and it's free to download right now! It's from Leila and Ben. I love their other patterns too. Head on over and download the pattern if you have kids and sew.

Lunchbox Love Notes

Okay, so I know for most of us-- the school days for our kids are not here yet (thankfully!). But I think this idea is too cute not to take mention of, and perhaps use for our husband's lunches, or bookmark to save for future use. This creative lady has a free download on this post for adorable lunch notes, plus some cute jokes and ideas of how to make lunch magical for a child, or someone else. Just thought it was a cute idea to pass along!

April Fool's Day

I found this idea online and I can't wait to try it out on my husband for April Fool's day (so don't anyone give him a heads up! Or you'll be in trouble!)

Don't these look like yummy cupcakes? Would you really guess that they are meatloaf with mashed potatoes on top???

The first surprise here: there's not a grain of sugar in these cupcakes. The second surprise: your kids will love them anyway.

Ingredients

• MEAT LOAF
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
• 1 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
• 3 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 egg

• 1/2 teaspoon celery salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• POTATO FROSTING
• 3 cups mashed potatoes
• Food coloring

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line 12 muffin tin cups with foil bake cups.
2. In a large bowl, mix together all of the meat loaf ingredients until well combined. Divide the mixture evenly among the lined cups (the liners should be about three quarters full).
3. Place the filled muffin tins on cookie sheets and bake the cupcakes for about 15 minutes or until cooked through.
4. Divide the mashed potatoes among three small bowls and stir a few drops of food coloring into each batch to create blue, yellow, and pink pastel frostings. Spread a generous dollop on each cupcake. Makes 12 cupcakes.

Isn't that great? I think that instead of using food coloring I am going to add a bit of beet juice to the potatoes to act as the dye. Ohhh.... I can't wait for April Fool's day!

Check out the site for more wonderful April Fool ideas!

Melting Pot Recipes

Wisconsin Trio Cheese Fondue

Ingredients:
1 ½ C shredded Butterkäse cheese (6oz) [can be found at Whole foods, but you can also substitute Gouda if you can't find Butterkäse]
1 ½ C shredded Fontina Cheese (6oz)
3 Tbsp flour
¾ C white wine
¼ C dry sherry
2 tsp chopped shallots
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
¼ C crumbled blue cheese
2 Tbsp chopped scallions

Preparation:
Toss the Butterkäse and Fontina cheese with the flour in a bowl. Place a metal bowl over a saucepan filled with 2 inches of water. You may also use a conventional double boiler. Bring the water to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and pour the wine and sherry into the bowl. Sit in the shallots using a fork. Cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Note: You can replace the alcohol with vegetable broth, Even though most of the alcohol cooks off it leaves its flavor behind.

Add half the cheese blend and cook until the cheese is melted, stirring constantly. Add the remaining cheese blend a small amount at a time, stirring constantly in a circular motion after each addition until the cheese is melted. Fold in the pepper and Blue cheese. Pour into a warm fondue pot and keep warm over low heat. Garnish with the scallions.

NOTE: The cheese is shredded and tossed with flour to aid din thickening and to improve the viscosity of the fondue. The fondue should be the consistency of warm honey when completed. Monitor the cheese carefully as it is being added. Not all of the cheese may be needed, and, in some cases, more cheese may be needed to reach the perfect consistency.

Recommended dipping accompaniments: Variety of breads, green apples, mixed vegetables.

On the website that I found this little treasure I also found a recipe for their Court Bouillon, which is what the meat course is cooked in but is an excellent way to prepare yummy vegetables like broccoli, mushrooms, and potatoes, and for a dark chocolate raspberry fondue. YUM!

Sweet Potato and Peanut Stew

I had a lot of comments on my dgit blog for this recipe so I thought I would share on this blog. It is really quite delicious even though it is a vegetarian recipe. I honestly wish it made just a little more!

Sweet Potato and Peanut Stew
3 medium sweet potatoes
1 Tbsp oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 cans garbanzo beans (drain and rinse)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can vegetable broth
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup loosely packed chopped cilantro

Cut sweet potatoes into 1/2" cubes and microwave for 8 1/2 minutes. Meanwhile, put oil in stock pot and warm on medium heat. Add oil, garlic, cumin, cinnamon and salt.

Add garbanzo beans and tomatoes and veg broth. Mix and then add peanut butter. Once all mixed and sweet potatoes are done, add and stir in with cilantro.

*My sweet potatoes were not done from microwaving so I just cooked them longer in the stew- which I think next time (because there will be a next time because it is so delicious) I would try to cook the sweet potatoes completely in the stew.

Adorable Hair Clips Tutorial

Anyone have a little girl that watches Charlie and Lola? Mother Rising has a tutorial on how to make Lola's hair clips! These are seriously adorable.

I also think this Gooey Hearts Day Shirt is adorable. You can learn how to make it using a simple T-Shirt and some fabric at Happy Together.

Happy Crafting Everyone!

Embellished Headbands How To

Head bands can be so cute. I still haven't figured out how to make them look good on me. I think I'm going to try out making a few cute ones with this tutorial though. It looks super easy and I'd be able to make some that are my style. Head on over to U Create to see a tutorial from Ruffles and Stuff on how to make these.

Paper Dolls

Ahh. Stirring up old memories of my childhood with this post. I used to play with Paper dolls. Once upon a time. I loved them. So for all you Moms looking for more entertainment from paper and ink here are some cute dolls to try. Clementina can be downloaded here.

10 years of Betsy and all her clothes can be downloaded here.

Thanks to How About Orange for posting these links.

FHE for a Year

Go HERE to download one year of family home evenings to go with the 2010 Primary theme: "I know my Savior lives".

Simplify

"We women have a lot to learn about simplifying our lives. We have to decide what is important and then move along at a pace that is comfortable for us. We have to develop the maturity to stop trying to prove something. We have to learn to be content with what we are."

— Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Diaper Bag Giveaway!

The only thing I hate more than a diaper bag that doesn't fit everything is ones that aren't cute. This one from Serena and Lily is really nice looking and you have a chance to win it here at Today's Giveaway!