April Showers and "Check-in"

It's the second week of Spring vacation (yes, school vacation again for my little one). The first week flew by because we were busy and not home much, actually. I feel like the second week is flying by as well. It's been raining a lot the past few days. I just realized I complain a lot about the rain.

I can't believe April is nearly halfway over. Time is really getting away from me. Like most people, have loads on my to-do list. I hope to get a temporary set-up for my jewelry making soon so I can get to work on that. My fingers have been itching to try out some new stuff. :)

More work on the house and organizing as usual. We have some family outings planned this week as well so hopefully, I will be able to share some photos of some of it.

Spring has definitely sprung. Hopefully, the rain will let up soon. :)

Spring forward

Having a rough time this year with "losing" an hour this year. It happened this past Sunday and France and a few days on, my sleeping is still off. Not sure why. Definitely looking forward to the weekend to be able to hopefully sleep in. :)

Easter Monday

A few photos from this Easter weekend :)

On Good Friday (it's not a bank holiday in France like in the States, Easter Monday is), my daughter came home from school with this cute thing she made in class

On Saturday, we colored Easter eggs in the morning

Had cute little "nest" cakes for dessert

Then, made fuzzy chicks in the afternoon

Her Easter outfit arrived earlier in the week along with a coral tulle skirt that was on sale so I couldn't resist :)

And, last, but not least, the Easter basket post-hunt ;)

Bread machine "adventures" 2

So, I've made the dough for homemade cinnamon buns a few times which makes it ridiculously easy as all I have to do is roll out the dough once it's ready. I used 1/3 cup+ sugar in the dough instead of 1/4 cup when I make hamburger buns. Then, I do a second rise after I roll and cut them out and put them in the pan. The last time I did them in the evening and let them rise in the oven.

I also made some banana bread as a test. I don't know what I expected, but it came out pretty well.

The recipes is from Allrecipes. I used more banana than was called for, mashed it, and added vanilla. When it was still warm, I felt like only the vanilla could be tasted. The next morning, the banana flavor was stronger. My husband and daughter loved it so I will definitely be making it again soon.

Organizing and Crafting

It's been a very long time since I've posted anything crafty. I've done a few things here and there with my daughter, but I really miss creating things on my own. My "me time", if you will. I've mentioned we've had some set-backs with the work on the house. Plus, I've been ill and obviously, parents don't really get a day off. So, I've been using what energy I have to take care of that which doesn't leave much time for "extra" stuff. This isn't me lamenting these "first world problems". Once my back pain is better, I will hopefully be able to finish unpacking/organizing things the way I'd like.

 

Splash (Again)

Yesterday afternoon, my little family of 3 went out for a long walk. The weather was nice but the ground was still a bit slushy from all the rain earlier in the week. There were puddles everywhere and our daughter was enjoying splashing around in them à la Peppa Pig, wearing her rain boots, of course. Somehow, my husband and I started chanting "Splash! Splash! Splash!" while she was doing 'cause we're weird like that. ;)

Then, he mentioned, "Speaking of 'Splash', I'd love to see that movie again. I remember really enjoying it. You know the one with Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah? I saw in the cinema when it came out."

Of course, I remembered and loved that movie. I also recalled that Tom Hanks called her Madison in the movie which is also my daughter's name. Thinking of the film brought back nice memories, but that was a long time ago. Would I still feel the same if I rewatched it all these years later?

This is something that I've come up against before: Do I preserve the memory of watching something I once enjoyed? OR, do I take the risk of "ruining" the memory and see that it wasn't as good as I remember? This has happened so many times with movies, television series, etc., I can't even count. There are certain things I won't even watch, games I won't play, especially from my childhood, for fear the memory of them will be ruined. But, then I've also rediscovered some things and shared and loved them even more by seeing them again.

Ultimately, we've decided we'll try and find some time to watch Splash this weekend. I mean, what's really the worse that can happen? ;)

What I Ate 2

Breakfast 

I had a hot water with lemon when I got up. Then a plain yogurt and 2 kiwis

Lunch 

Tabbouleh salad with smoked salmon

 Snack

Green tea and an orange

Dinner

Spinach Ricotta Lasagne roll-ups

Goodnight Moon

I think most reading parents have a book or five they've read so many times they have it memorized. Among my personal favorites is Good Night Moon. We had lost our copy and bought another one and that copy got so beat up that we unwittingly put it away. As we've been organizing my daughter's room and moving things in, I uncovered our other copy. My little one was ecstatic and said she wanted us to read it at bedtime. When I told my other half, he was also excited. He said he really missed reading it to her. Growing up in France, he had not heard of Good Night Moon before we had our daughter, but I assured him it was a must have for her. Needless to say, it has become a family favorite and we are all happy to continue the tradition of reading it. :)

I found this video reading of the book in case you haven't heard of it.

Organized Schmorgarnized

I've somehow missed out on the planner "craze". I mean here's an excuse to buy pretty stickers and decorate pages all in the name of keeping things organized which definitely speaks to me. Only, I have pretty much stopped using my planner and started plugging things into my phone. This is weird to me because I prefer writing things down  and I don't really trust my phone to remind me of stuff or maybe I don't think I'll remember to probably schedule the reminders. At any rate, I go back and forth about the best way to organize things be in a planner or otherwise. This is probably time that would be better spent actually organizing things. ;)

Bread machine adventures

Last week I broke out my bread machine to make pizza dough for my calzones. My husband excitedly requested homemade burger buns like I used to make now that the bread machine was dusted off. This week I decided to make that happen and quickly found the recipe I used at Food.com. They came out really well and my other half and daughter were delighted. I made her a mini burger which she ate it piece by piece. She's not really got the concept of sandwiches yet and tends to take them apart and eat them that way. :) And, no, this is definitely not health food by any stretch of the imagination!

Buns

Hubby's burger

The buns were the perfect texture and not too sweet.

Day 29 Feeling Fine ;)

It's the last day of Blog every day in February or Blogbruary as I awkwardly titled it. I am happy that I actually did post a blog every day this month. I was honestly surprised that I didn't use more posts from this list since I like the questions plus I assumed I'd be more stumped for content. I'm definitely planning on posting more from now on; hopefully, a couple times a week. I enjoy having the blog posts to look back on. :)

DAY 28 Shop your stash

28. Shop your stash and share what you find.

I feel like it was way too quick to look through my make-up and pick out 5 items that I know I haven't used in the past month. I think that means it's maybe time for another clear out and give away and sell a few things. Anyway, on to the make-up. :)

Nars duo in Sugarland - will be perfect for spring
Urban Decay Primer Potion in Sin - honestly forgot I had this as I use the Original
Estée Lauder Pure Color Eye Shadow in Ivy - so pretty!
Chanel Quatuor Bouton in Les Folies Noires (Eyeshadow Quad) - great for smoky eyes
Sephora Smoky Kohl in 06 - love this on my waterline as it's less harsh than black and looks great with brown eyes

I'm going to make a conscious effort to use these items this week. :)

I have nothing to say...

I sat down to type at the beginning of the day to try to get my blog done before the day kicked into gear. And, I realized that I don't really have a blog topic for today. Strangely, I have loads of ideas floating around my head, but nothing comes up to post today. Not saying every other blog post is oh so interesting and certainly nothing of dire importance, but I still want to post things that are of interest to me. So, today, I've decided and though I've actually taken a few sentences to say it: I have nothing to say today except HAPPY SATURDAY!
I'm going to go and try to be productive now. ;)

Day 26 already

Wow! This month has flown by! I can't believe it's almost over. The sun is shining, but it's still a bit chilly. A welcome change from all the rain! :)

This marks the end of my daughter's first week back to school. It'll be a weekend of working on the house. I've been tying up loose ends this week so hopefully we'll get some time to relax in between DIY. Maybe we'll even get in a nature walk or something. ;)

What I Ate

I keep wanting to blog what I eat in a day, but somehow manage to forget to take photos. I partly want to do this because it will be interesting to look back on and partly because I find them interesting to read. Hopefully, I'll manage to keep it up every one in a while just for kicks. ;)

Breakfast:

When I got up I had hot water with lemon

Then I had a pure fruit smoothie, 

 worked out, then had a plain yogurt with muesli.

Lunch:

Homemade ham and mushroom calzone

Green salad (not shown)

Snack:

Vanilla orchid tea and a no bake cookie

Dinner:

My mother-in-law dropped off some homemade veggie soup so we had that as a starter.

I made Broccoli Rice Casserole as a main course.

Not too bad I guess. Not a particularly healthy day, but I picked today not knowing what I was going to have to show a more realistic day. I have been finding it difficult to limit my refine sugars, but I am working on it. :)

"I Know This Mom..."

You know how sometimes you come across something and it seems like it was put there for you right at the moment that you needed to see it?
I just had one of those moments while I was over on Joyful Abode reading an article called "I Know This Mom..."

It wasn't the talk about not judging another mom which spoke to me, but the part about changing and recognizing that we as moms are different and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

I think we all have in common that we want to be the best mom for our kids and that's what I feel my focus needs to be on and not the "woulda, coulda, shouldas". So, this was a good reminder for me. :)

A day at the castle

Well, not the castle, obviously. ;) One thing I appreciate about France is most larger cities (and some smaller ones) have castles. Growing up as a fairy tale loving little girl, visiting them has always held a kind of magic. My daughter is finally old enough to be more aware of her surroundings and especially appreciate our brief visit last week.

There were birds around the moat and everything was very green with the sun then rain repeat weather we've been having.

It was difficult getting proper photos while keeping an eye on my little one.

There was also this giant egg that I didn't have a chance to read about. It'll be something to look forward to on our next visit. :)

Winter Vacation's over!

Today it's back to business as usual...well, sorta. My daughter started back to preschool this morning. She loves it and is happy to see her classmates.

It'll be a busy morning for me trying to get things done while she's at school. I've got to get some organizing, etc., done for getting the upstairs moved in. Plus the "usual" cleaning and stuff.

By the way, we are still without a microwave since it caught fire so heating up leftovers is a bit trickier, but doable. I suggest it's probably better for us, too. ;)
We thought we found one to order online (for much cheaper)that we saw in store, but it's a little big for our microwave cubby. So, it's back to searching again.

"Healthier" No Bake Cookies

These are so yummy and quick to throw together. They are slightly healthier than other recipes that include butter and adapt well to variations. They don't look like much, but they are tasty, filling, and good for snacks.

Recipe here

Happy Saturday

Current mood