Non-Lame Baby Shower Ideas

My sister is having a baby in April, and her sister in law is hosting a shower in March. I am in charge of decoarations -- very exciting for me. Last night I was searching for timeless, classic yet hip and modern baby shower ideas and inspirations. I checked Martha Stewart's website, but it was pretty limited. Racking my brain for ideas I tried to check the archives of the now defunct Cookie Magazine, and didn't find much there either. Finally I just started googling cool, hip, modern, blah blah blah baby shower decorations. So frustrated I finally googled "non-lame baby shower ideas". There were a ton of hits, but not much in the way of photos. I found this one, and am on a mission to add to it.  Let me know if you have any other ideas.

I am going to go with a subtle "baby bee" theme, and replace the blue and black toile with buttery yellow and grey. here is a cute cookie platter that i found as the ispiration:

Some more of my favorite things: (in no particular order)

• hollandaise sauce
• bearnaise sauce
• sour cream
• cheese and crackers
• prosecco mimosas
• fondue
• peppermint mocha lattes
• steak
• eggs benedict
• blow drying my daughters' hair
• putting a bow in meghan's hair
• when christopher sits next to me and he's reading and he plays with my hair
• reading good books
• decorating blogs
• the "idea" of crafts
• being near the beach
• things that remind me of the beach
• staten island pizza
• reality tv

What a difference a day makes (a rant)

Yesterday we had a 90 minute delay, which was lovely.. I got up at about 7:45, had coffee, the kids watched tv, Christopher got to play his DS. We have a rule, no DS in the morning. Yesterday we modified the rule with a few exceptions: school mornings when there is a delay and family reunions. The last one was suggested by Christopher. I figured, why not. We parked a block from school and walked in the beautiful morning sunshine, everyone was happy. Two of my kids got invited after school for playdates. Bonus. I let Meghan have a friend over too. They had cookies and milk, colored on a huge cardboard box and played Moxie Girls. Bedtime went swimmingly. Totally a sepia moment.

Today there was no delay. I got up at about 7:40. Do you see where I'm going with this? Went downstairs and served the kids Honey and Nut Morning O's from Whole Foods. Everyone hated it. My kids will eat the knock off Honey Nut Cheerios from anywhere, including the dollar store, but the $4 box didn't cut it. So I dumped the cereal made eggs. Christopher asked me for apple juice. Erin pointed out that there was water all over the table. And the floor. Pouring in from the new windows. Sweet. Christopher asked me for apple juice. The eggs are still cooking. I'm on the phone with the contractor, explaining the situation. He wants to know if it's actually pouring or just dripping. Apple juice. "Well, it's coming in at a fast steady drip --- is that pouring??? I don't know heavy dripping then" Grrrrrrrrrrr. Contractor is on his way. Apple juice. Did I mention that the apple juice is on the counter and we keep the kids' cups in a drawer so that they can self serve. Then I went something like this "OH MY FRICKING GOD GET OFF YOUR LAZY BUTT (yup apparently i'm southern now) AND GET IT FOR YOURSELF. BETTER YET. STAY IN YOUR SEAT. I WILL SERVE YOU BECAUSE APPARENTLY I'M THE SERVANT. GODDDDDDDD"

Then I composed myself, apologized for flipping out and told them, ok let's just get ready for school. The bell is ringing in 6 minutes. Up and at 'em we were out the door and in the car. And stuck behind a school bus with it's hazards on waiting for a child who hadn't even come out of her house yet. We finally zoomed up to school, still with about 5 minutes before the late bell was ringing. Only we were stuck. Jammed for 10+ minutes between 7 foot high snow banks and cars coming from the opposite direction that had already dropped off their kids. My favorite was the woman in front of me who parked her car, threw on her hazards and walked up the street with her kid's bag of snow pants that he had forgotten. Leaving me stranded. FUCK!!!! I yelled it in the car. With all three kids in tow. Finally got around the car and realized that I had no where to park the car to drop the kids off. FUCK!!!!!! I pulled a U turn in the middle of the road. Slammed into one of West Hartford's fancy granite curbs, convinced that I popped my tire. MOTHERFUCKER!!!!! I yelled. Kids still in the car. Christopher is crying because he is going to be late. Erin is silently freaking out because she has 3 tests today. Meghan is remarkably calm. Parked the car. Tire was fine. Phew. Walked the kids up to school upon which Meghan got hysterical (she cries almost every day at drop off) and had to peel her off of me and hand her off to the secretary. Good Lord.

Got home. Put in some laundry. Noticed the basement is leaking from a place that we haven't had problems before. Perfect. Got on the treadmill, listening to Taylor Swift and ran for 35 minutes. Best workout I've had in a long time. Next up... Jersey Shore. Maybe some decaf.

Living my life in lazy

I'm mad at myself for not getting any pictures of the kids out in this massive snowstorm that we had. My sister said, "that's no way to live your life in sepia." I actually thought for a second to ask Tom, while he was snowplowing for almost 2 hours, to snap a few pictures of the kids. I'm glad I didn'tbecause I don't think he would have appreciated it. Lucky for me it's a beautiful sunny day today and will be the perfect photo op to get some pics of the kiddies!

Catholic

Today I went to church. Let me start off by saying that I am not the best catholic in the world, and if I were married to a lesser catholic or non-catholic I would probably be non-practicing. Or who knows? Maybe once I had kids that would have changed. But it has taken alot of arm twisting and pouting to get me to the point where I don't detest going. I went to catholic school for 12 years and then taught in catholic schools for 2. But I've always been a skeptic, a grocery store catholic. I have a reeeeeally hard time with the Transmorgrification. That's when the bread and wine are changed into the actual body and blood of Jesus. Oh me of little faith, I suppose, but to me the representation of the body and blood is just fine. And I"m ok with that. But the church says that it's not ok to believe that. It gets tricky when my kids ask me religious questions, based on what they are teaching in ccd. I have a hard time knowing the right thing to say, and have been kind of going on my gut and winging it.

Anywho... we were at church and today was a mass celebrating the catholic school teachers and children. They had their children's choir singing and a boy about 9 played the trumpet so beautifully that I could barely swallow the lump in my throat. They should set that guy up with a steady gig. And I was praying for little Ty Campbell, and others who really need prayers right now. And the thought that came into my head was "I am placing these prayers on the voices of these children because then God will definitely hear them." I guess I believe more than I let on, even to myself. I pray when I'm scared or nervous. Occasionally when I'm feeling grateful. But I am definitely not a pray-er.

So I'm looking around at these kids in their uniforms (they had them wear them for the special mass) and watching them mouth along the words to the songs that the choir are singing while they are chewing their gum, or coloring in their coloring books; whatever it takes to get through that long boring hour. And I recognized all of the songs that the choir was singing from back when I was in school, or teaching at the schools as an adult. It struck me as a little sad that my kids are going to miss out on that bit of culture. That awkward, catholic school kid intimidation that I always felt around public school kids. But it was also something that stuck us together and is something that we all carry with us as adults.

new light fixture

my new light fixture from ikea... sooooo much cheaper than pottery barn.

Chicken Lasagna

i just stumbled across this recipe. holy crap, it's a dream come true. i think i'm the only one who would eat it, but it would be fun to modify it as an appetizer. i would def go 1% milk and much less butter -- and there were onions in the original recipe, but i don't eat onions.

Chicken Lasagna

• 3 ounces hollandaise sauce mix
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 cups whole milk
• 3 cups sliced mushrooms
• 8 cookes lasagna noodles
• 1 lb skinless chicken breast, cooked, cubed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 2 (10 1/2 ounce) cans cut asparagus
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon basil
• 1/4 teaspoon oregano  

Directions:

Prep Time: 15 mins

Total Time: 55 mins

1. 1 Make the Hollandaise sauce mix.
2. 2 Coat a large skillet with cooking spray.
3. 3 Stir onions & mushrooms over medium high heat until onions are translucent. Set aside.
4. 4 Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
5. 5 Coat a 13 X 9 in baking pan with cooking spray.
6. 6 Spread 1/2 cup of sauce in pan.
7. 7 Layer 4 lasagna noodles, chicken, salt, pepper, muchrooms, and onions, remaining sauce, asparagus, 2 cups cheese and remaining noodles.
8. 8 Top with remaining cheese, basil, and oregano.
9. 9 Bake uncovered 35-40 minutes