Too Many Toys

My kid has a lot of toys.  It’s bad.  We’ve essentially given her a whole room (in addition to her bedroom) for toy storage.  I’ve banished her toys from the living room.  I felt like I needed to NOT HAVE TO SEE TOYS once she’s in bed.

Still, this room was out of control, and I wanted to corral it.  I was looking at those toy organizers made from bins, but didn’t really want to spend the money on something that would eventually be worthless.

I snuck me to the Container Store today… and I was in and out of there within 30 minutes.  I am pretty sure that has never happened ever.  I walk in there and start to twitch because I want everything.  I lose my mind.

But I was focused.  I went for the stacking baskets, which were okay, but saw other ones next to them that I likes better…. for only $1 more.  So 6 bins, several hours, and lots of supreme annoyance later, I have results.

Here are the BEFORE PICTURES:

Cabinet Crisis!

My “pantry” cabinet has been overwhelming me for a while.  It was really, really bad.  Observe:

Pretties!

I’ve always enjoyed mis-matched silverware and plates.  I think they look charming together.  I was at the thrift store, and there was quite a few pretties to be found!  Allow me to show off a bit.

(BTW- “pretties” is a plural noun coined by my 2 y/o)

Lemon Cranberry Scones

This recipe is RETARDED delicious.

Zzzzz

Energy slump. Hopefully it comes back so that I don’t waste my going-on-6-days egg whites.

Also, I made some lemon curd, but didn’t like it. It was unbearably sweet. Maybe it’s supposed to be? I don’t know- I’ve never tasted it. Also also, something about the consistency made me queasy. I think it’s all the lemon zest- I wonder if it is lemon zest or little bits of cooked egg. And for some reason that makes me squick.

BFFless

I am reading “MWF seeks BFF.”  It’s cute.  A little boring and a little annoying, yet it raises a lot of questions for me.

Mainly, I have a hard time remembering EVER having a “BFF” like she describes.  Someone to call to meet for lunch, talk on the phone, go get pedicures, see a last-minute movie, analyze relationships and people ad nauseum.  And even if I ever had, it probably wasn’t a female.

My television was video games, and my movies are horror movies.  I hate talking on the phone.  I love pedicures, though.

Freaking amazing baked pasta casserole. Freaking CHEAP, too.

Did you ever think you would read “amazing” and “pasta” and “casserole” in the same sentence?  Well.  Welcome to my playground.

I can’t take credit for the original recipe, but as I modified the crap out of it, I will anyway.  Here are the ingredients:

Bread with your soups!

So now that I know we will be eating soup for weeks, I figured I’d throw my husband a bone and make some bread to dip or eat along with all of this soup.  Because we’re eating it.  No mercy.

I have a little experience making my own bread.  I have been using a recipe for honey-wheat bread, but this “light wheat” recipe is much awesomer in my opinion.  I had to halve it, though, because that lady was crazycakes.

I took A LOT of pictures, and plan to explain each step.  Forgive my wordiness, but it’s for people confounded by homemade bread.  It’s really not so bad.  There is very little hands-on time…. mostly just waiting.  PERFECT for those of us with short attention spans or those of us with little kids that need to be redirected every 15 minutes.

I MADE SOUPS.

I made this up, and it was pretty tasty, so let me write it down before I forget it.  =)  This was super easy, and super customizable.  Just chop it up and toss it in.  The amounts don’t even matter.  My kind of recipe, since directions harrow my soul.

Spoiler: everybody lives

Fair warning: heavy family crap.  No promises as to this being the least bit interesting.

I act like a rock, but I am not one.  Well, maybe one of those “fool’s gold” rocks that flakes apart.