Weekend Wrap-Up

Y’all. I just don’t know how people in the north deal with winter. When it gets cold here, I have the overwhelming desire to wrap myself up in a blanket and turn into a vegetable. Books, movies, hot chocolate, tea, high-calorie comfort food, and all that.

Being a responsible adult is hard, But having kids kind of forces you to be one, so there you have it. I got out of my easy chair at least twice a day every day this week and fed the kids and stuff. 😉

So, while I’ve been huddled under as many covers as I can scavenge together, I thought I’d write down a few of the things we’ve been doing this week.

Favorite Tip

I’ve been using Yummly to save recipes that look delicious and that I might want to try/adapt later on. It’s as easy as clicking the ‘yum’ button, which you will notice pops up if you hover over any of the pictures on this site, and it saves it to your personal recipe box. Cool stuff! I don’t know if you can see the recipes I’m Yumming, but you can see recipes from this site on my publisher page here.

Good reads

I’ve been trying really hard to improve my photography. (You can see some of my efforts on my Instagram account, where I’m trying to post more pretty pictures.) So not surprisingly, I’ve been reading photography-related articles and listening to photography-related podcasts and Periscopes.

• 3 Tips For low Light Photography. Lighting is a bear, and here Trisha gives some great advice on how to shoot in low light.
• How To Choose A Camera For Food Photography. This was an interesting article. Trisha uses a swanky Nikon, while I use an entry-level Canon, but this article and video definitely persuaded me to upgrade my camera lens.

Exciting News

We got ducklings! You probably know if you’ve been reading some of my recipes that my husband has become allergic to chicken eggs, so after going more than a year without any eggs at all, he ordered twelve ducks, who should start laying eggs in about five months. Their messy little boogers but so cute!

Sadly, one of the twelve arrived dead – not unusual for shipped day-old ducklings or chicks at all – and another one looked like a lost cause, but after forcing her to drink a little water, she hung on to life, and after a few hours, you couldn’t tell her apart from her hatch mates. hooray!

Also..

Young Living is giving 10% off of Premium Starter Kits through the month of February. That makes them even cheaper than when I first got mine!

And, when you sign up through me, I send you a pretty swanky freebie package, including a cute necklace. 🙂

When I first got into Young Living, it was strictly for the essential oils, but now the Thieves Household Cleaner and Thieves laundry soap are my favorite products, so I’m thinking about ordering the Thieves Starter Kit myself to try out.

Popular Facebook post

I love this picture! It’s a great reminder that things aren’t as important as the people in our lives. I’m glad it was so popular!

Favorite Meals and Recipes

• Mexican Pizza. It’s super easy and a nice change up from the quesadillas and burritos. Can you believe the kids picked the peppers and tomatoes off of theirs?
  
• Elephant Ears. So, our produce box came filled with a bunch of corn tortillas last week (thus the Mexican pizza, quesadillas, and burritos!). Yeah, I know, tortillas shouldn’t be in a produce box. Apparently, they were throwing them away and only threw them as far as our box. Deep fried, buttered and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, they make a pretty tasty elephant ear!
• Loaded Baked Potato Wedges. I just can’t get enough of these crispy potatoes with toasty cheese and bacon on top! We made them for supper with hamburger patties (no buns) for our protein and plenty of pickles. The kids are on a real pickle kick lately.
• Apple Pie Quesadillas. As I said, we have a bunch of tortillas, might as well experiment. 😉
  I’m hoping to share this recipe on the blog soon because they were GOOD!

Favorite quotes from the kids

“Mom, I need and unclebrella!” -Haddassah

“Not everything is a compertition? That doesn’t work!” – Garrett (who is highly competitive)

These kids sure keep me laughing (and on my toes!)!

Hmm, this was kind of fun! Should I try to make a weekly thing of it?