Five Favorites (With a Really Crappy Giveaway!)

Joining Hallie again. If I was allowed to have a sixth favorite, it would be the song she has in her number one spot. So beautiful. I've been listening to it on repeat all week. But I'm not allowed to have six favorites, so I'll just get started with my five below.

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This post by Jenny. Every post by Jenny actually, but especially that one. She has such a knack for writing about living out your pro-life values in an anti-life world. And a knack for writing in general.

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The person who can solve this current parenting dilemma for me. YOU will be my favorite! How do I get Hannah to stop biting her nails and chewing on her fingers? How? I need to know!

"Smile Hannah." "No. I want to be siwwy. Yite dis."

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Sweet Potato Fries from a bag. I love all sweet potato fries, but the kind that I don't have to cut up and stand at the stove frying are the best. It goes against my attitude of "don't spend money on something you can make yourself" and I don't care one bit because they are fast and delicious and oh my goodness I just need food in my body right this second! And when you are making dinner and realize you forgot to make a side....sweet potato fries. When you've run out of options for a quick lunch......sweet potato fries. When the baby wants your food and wont stop grabbing it out of your hands.....broken up sweet potato fries to the rescue.

I buy the giant bag at Costco but I've seen them at Walmart too.

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This homemade recipe for remoulade. Having been dairy free for the better part of three years now, I can tell you that the desire to dip stuff into something creamy does not go away. I just want ranch!!! Or cream cheese!!! Or queso!! So when I remembered that remoulade is mayonnaise based, I whipped up a batch and starting dipping. Mostly sweet potato fries.

I had never heard of remoulade until we moved to Mississippi. On my first day of training at my new job I went out to lunch with a bunch of beautiful, young, Southern gals with thick accents. They looked at me like I was a freak show when I started eating my food before every.single.person had their food in front of them too. Because apparently that's a thing in the South and it's most certainly not a thing in the North. Not when there are more than a dozen people at the table. And food is being brought out one dish at a time. And we only have a thirty minute lunch break.  But I noted their stares and agape mouths and put my fork down and sat and watched my food get cold like everyone else. So later when I asked, "What's remoulade??"they had no trouble just writing me off as a rude Northern weirdo who didn't know her Cajun food.  I think I put my elbows on the table too. They, on the other hand, did not.

Unrelated picture of Paul. Also being "siwwy"

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This book on potty training. Oh Crap Potty Training by Jamie Glowacki. I read it months ago and totally forgot that the author offered to do a giveaway for readers of this here blog. I pulled it back out this week because we are going to start night training Hannah now and I wanted to refresh myself with her tips. For us, her method worked like a charm. I appreciated the wealth of informaiton and the tips on common mistakes. I totally would have said, "it's ok!" every time Hannah had an accident when, really, it's not ok. That's why we're teaching you to use the potty! So instead I followed her advice of just stating the obvious ("You peed on the floor.") and reminding her what to do ("We pee in the potty now.")

I liked that she doesn't use food as a reinforcer and found that to be super successful for Hannah. It was a much more logical approach than the sticker charts and candy and it worked for us.

The most helpful was her guidelines for determining if your child is ready. I wish I had read it sooner because Hannah was definitely ready a few months before we finally started. And if we had read it earlier I would have had a potty trained toddler before the new baby arrived and wouldn't have been messing with potty training while caring for a five week old.

If you want to win it, enter below! And if you don't win, you should just buy it. It was actually a fun read and I read it cover to cover in one sitting and then went back to digest the important parts. Her language is pretty rough, but I kind of enjoyed it. She did use some curse words as a warning for those who may not like that. And God's name in vain a few times, which made me sad. Because there are so many better ways to say things without stooping to that level, ya know?

But overall, good book. Super helpful. Go win it! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Quick Takes (with winners of the giveaway announced!)

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We have our winners! Colleen met her goal (exceeded it actually!) and gets to share her CD with hundreds of backers. I get to share her music with three lovely ladies who won the giveaway!

Elizabeth @ That Married Couple

Mary @ The Screllos

Kathy @ Aspiring Ameliorant

Email me (morelikemary at gmail...) to let me know which of the three CDs you want!

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Iced coffee....hint of vanilla extract......thick cream from the top of a can of coconut milk.....Tupelo honey....mmmm

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We have a wonderful Farmer's Market a few miles from us that sets up every Saturday morning. Everything is so fresh and so much cheaper than the grocery store. The problem is that I rarely need vegetables on Saturdays. It seems I always need them midweek and can't seem to adjust my planning to make it work. I end up buying expensive stuff from the store because I need right.this.minute. I just so happened to be driving by the market's location yesterday afternoon and what would know? It's open on Tuesdays and Thursdays too! So I bought the red pepper I needed to make the most delicious salsa you've ever had AND gave into the impulse buy of two pounds of blueberries. Win.

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Butter. I ate it. For over a week now.

And Hannah has no apparent tummy troubles or rash!

Oh my how I hope this means she is getting over her intolerance! I'm trying to take it slow-but really I just want to eat it with a spoon. In all it's grass-fed, naturally creamy goodness. I melted some and poured it over my popcorn. Goodness-I had forgotten how good popcorn really was. I can never go back to dry. Never I tell you!

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All of my quick takes are about food. Food consumes a very large portion of my mental and physical energy. Completely exhausting and unbelievably satisfying.

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Hannah has turned into a climber. She can scale her learning tower, the computer chair, the kitchen chairs, and the couch in two seconds flat. Which wouldn't be much of a problem if the learning town didn't lead to the counter and the kitchen chair didn't lead to the table....

So long being able to leave the room to pee. It was nice knowing ya.

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I saw this on Pinterest last night. Toy rotation boxes. The basic idea is you separate your toys into plastic tubs that are stored out of sight and out of reach. Each day you take down a tub and play with just those toys for the day. At night-you just throw the toys back into the tub and store it with the others.

I think this might solve a lot of toy issues. Too many toys to focus on the ones she really likes. The house never really looking clean because there are toys in every single corner. Boredom from seeing the same toys day after day. It would also be an easier way for her to learn how to clean up-throwing things in a tub is a lot easier than putting them on a shelf. 

I think I'm going to give it a try. But will probably use plastic bags at first so I don't have to spend the money on the tubs. Does anyone else have some sort of similar system?

Hannah's Famous! (and a Giveaway)

Hannah's famous!

Well, actually it's Colleen who is famous. Hannah is just helping her become more famous.

Let me back up.

This is Colleen Nixon. She is my incredibly talented and beautiful new friend. She writes songs and sings them for people. And they're good.

Her style is self-described as "pop/jazz/indie/quirky" and I happen to LOVE it. Colleen released her first CD, Love is in the Details, in 2009 and is planning to go back in the studio this summer for a second CD-her first full length album.

Colleen was one of the first friends I met when we moved to Florida and I knew from the minute I heard the voicemail she left me that we would be fast friends. And we were. And I'm so blessed by her friendship.

Colleen and her husband Titus are full-time missionaries. They travel the country with their son, Benedict, speaking to teens and young adults about the beauty of the Church's teaching on sexuality. She incorporates her music into their talks-think of it as a Theology of the Body musical but without the dancing. She's also the vocalist of a Catholic musical group called Marian Grace.

The thing I love most about Colleen's music is that she finds the perfect balance of sacred, holy, pure and actually sounding good.

Hannah rocking out during one of Colleen's live shows.

Don't get me wrong-there are some wonderful Christian artists out there. And not all pop songs are about sex. But honestly, most "church" music is pretty awful. And most everything on secular radio is just disgusting. Colleen manages to fix both of these issues with  her two styles of music. Her secular pop album is actually good. And she's not singing about sex! Or her milkshake. Or Mick Jagger. Or any of those other songs that I can't even reference because I never listen to the radio. She sings about life. And love. As she says, "it's not Christian music, but it's from a Christian heart."

And her religious music is just breathtaking. Listen to the link above for some samples. Seriously. good. stuff.

Soooooo why am I telling you all of this? And what does it have to do with Hannah?

Colleen needs to raise money to pay for the cost of recording her second CD. A lot of money. Like 25,000 dollars. So she asked Hannah to help. I mean, who wouldn't? My little girl is a movie star! Or at least a music video star.

See for yourself:



Now wasn't that the most adorable thing you've ever seen? It was tons of fun to film. And Colleen and I are not-so-secretly hoping that we get to play this video at Hannah and Benedict's wedding someday. (oh my-wouldn't that just be cuuuute!)

And now for the giveaway. I have three prizes to offer-all three of Colleen's CDs. I'll draw three winners and you will be able to choose which CD you want.

Love is in the Details-her pop/jazz/quirky/indie album. It features the song you heard in the music video. If you're not Catholic/Christian you could still enter and just choose this CD!
Marian Grace-their self titled first CD. The first song Let All Mortal Flesh is bone chilling. Soooo good. I had to force myself not to listen to it during Lent (she says the A word) (Alleluia, not ass) and it was HARD! Scroll to the bottom of the page and press play to hear a sample.
What Wondrous Love-my personal favorite. Veni Sancte Spiritus is probably the most beautiful prayer I've ever heard sung. I find myself singing it all the time. Only to Hannah of course-I definitely don't sound like Colleen.

All you have to do to enter the giveaway is go to Colleen's link on Kickstarter, watch the video (or watch it above), and read about her project. Just leave a comment letting me know you did that and you'll be entered!

If you want to earn FIVE extra entries, share this post or Colleen's Kickstarter link on your blog/facebook/twitter/whatever. Then just leave a comment telling me what you did.

If you want to earn TEN extra entries, donate any amount to Colleen's project. Donations start at just one dollar. Leave a comment letting me know you donated-but don't feel obligated to include the amount.

And remember what she said in the video-if she doesn't raise ALL of the money, she doesn't get ANY of it. So help her out! She and her husband are full-time missionaries for goodness sake! The could definitely use the boost!

So go check it out! And no, I won't sway the results in your favor if you tell me how adorable Hannah is in the video. But feel free to do so. :)