Natalie

Never, Ever Leave Your Child In the Car — I Will Turn Your Butt In

18 Jul 2013 1 Comment

by Natalie in Uncategorized, What's a mom to do? Tags: kids getting hot in cars, kids in cars, leaving a child in the car, negligent parent, never leave a kid in a car

Well I did it. I called 911 on a negligent parent.

I didn’t want to rat someone out, and turn someone in (I realize we are all doing the best we can), but I also didn’t want to leave a cute little toddler sitting alone in the back of her car.

On Monday afternoon after a fun-filled trip to Wal-Mart I headed to my van and started loading my boys inside. I noticed that the engine of the car next to me was running.

I peeked inside and thought I saw a baby alone strapped in her car seat in the back of the car. The back windows were tinted and I couldn’t see too clearly so I stopped another lady who was walking into the store and asked her what she thought.

Sure enough, she agreed with me. There was a baby girl about 18-months-old alone inside her car. The car was running and the driver’s side window was a quarter of the way cracked.

I didn’t know what to do so I called 911. They asked me to describe the vehicle, what was going on, where we were and then wait until a policeman arrived.

I was scared to death that a parent was going to show up and I was going to have to confront them alone.

Luckily a policeman arrived before a guardian. He asked me to stay until they found out who was responsible.

My boys, as you can guess, were thrilled. They were watching a police investigation evolved before their eyes. My coolness level skyrocketed as I became a witness to a crime.

A few minutes after the officer arrived, a young father came running through the parking lot to the car. To his defense, he looked like he was in a hurry. But by that time I had sat next to the car for about 10 minutes – way too long for a little girl to be stuck in there alone. And who knows how long she was in there before I showed up. My cell phone registered at 94 degrees. Who knows how hot it was in the car even though the air was on.

Now I will admit that I have THOUGHT about leaving my boys in the car alone dozens of times. It would be a LOT easier to run in for a roll of stamps or pick up a gallon of milk while childless. The very morning of this incident I hopped out of my own van, ran 20 feet and dumped our library books into the drop box while my boys sat watching me from inside the car. I didn’t bother letting them all out while I returned our lot.

They could see me and I could see them the entire time. But now I am wondering if I should have unhooked them and taken them with me.

Because, the thing is, you never know what will happen while you are “hurrying.”

The day I saw this little girl in the back of the car, all of the cash register computers kept going down inside Wal-Mart. Maybe this dad got stuck checking out longer than intended because his card wouldn’t read.

Meanwhile anyone could have reached their hand inside the driver’s window, unlocked the car and taken his baby. Heck, they could have taken the entire car. Who wouldn’t want a nice, new jet-black BMW?

Lucky for this father, no one took his daughter and she didn’t get too hot. Unlucky for him, he was cited for child negligence and given an appointment for a meeting with DCFS. I had to fill out a witness statement and, if it goes that far, could be subpoenaed to appear in court against him. Crazy.

I don’t know why he left his toddler daughter in the back seat of his car, or why he left the engine running and the driver’s side window a quarter of the way down, but I do know that I wasn’t going to let that little girl roast inside.

I may not know what his story is, but I do know that no matter how fast he thought he could make it through the Clinton Super Wal-mart it wouldn’t have been fast enough.

Here’s an article from WebMD on the dangers of leaving kids in cars if you are interested:

http://www.webmd.com/parenting/features/hot-cars-and-child-death-prevention

Herding Cats at the OBGYN

11 Jul 2013 Leave a comment

by Natalie in Don't ever take your kids..., Parenting Battles, What's a mom to do?

Word to the wise: don’t ever take your three boys to an OBGYN appointment. Ever.

If you think you are going to have to drag them along, call me. I’d be happy to come and babysit for you.

I took my boys to the doctor with me on Monday.

Never again.

It wasn’t like it was an invasive appointment. It was supposed to be a simple in-and-out-I-may-have-a UTI check-up.

But some things can never be simple when you bring three little boys along.

After banning my two oldest to different couches on opposite walls of the waiting room because they wouldn’t stop fighting, we were finally taken back by one of the nurses.

It took at least six tries to get an accurate reading on my weight. Every time I stepped onto the scale, I had a little hand, foot, knee — you name it — weighing along with me.

Then we went to the exam room. It was pure chaos the moment we stepped inside. My 6-year-old headed straight for the plastic colorful female anatomy sculpture and stuck his hand inside.

When he asked me what it was, I lied and said I didn’t know. Luckily he decided it looked like an ear.

I had to fight my one-year-old off of the mini red biohazard trashcans that he kept trying to open and reach inside of.

My four-year-old thought the swirly doctor’s stool was his personal merry-go-round.

They scrambled through the room wreaking havoc within seconds. Then they noticed the blood pressure cuff and boxes of blue plastic exam gloves hanging on the walls.

It was all I could do to keep them away from pretty much everything.

I was worn out long before I ever made it to the restroom to give a urine sample.

That was another challenge.

I tried to sit my baby on the bathroom floor sandwiched between his two brothers to keep him from crawling all over the place. I positioned the three of them just outside my stall.

Bad idea.

My boys both tried to “help” hold their brother in place by squeezing and smashing him. I bet everyone in the entire clinic heard him screaming.

On the way back to the exam room I told my boys that they could quietly look around the halls of the office where the doctor has posted pictures of babies he has delivered.

That’s when they sprung into a mad-dash-“Where’s Waldo?” search, looking for the picture we sent the doctor of my youngest after he was born.

Again, mass chaos. I found the picture, pointed it out to them and dashed them back inside the exam room.

That’s where the PA asked me to hop onto the exam table. I sat up there and watched my four-year-old nearly strangle my one-year-old in a tight-thigh-death grip while she pushed on my stomach. Meanwhile my oldest kept begging to take home one of the blue plastic exam gloves.

It was exhausting.

The best part? I went through all of this only to find out that I am fine. My test results came back normal.

I’m not one bit sick.

Talk about a let down — all of that hard work for nothing. Especially after I had to pay a co-pay. We all know how much I love paying those.

30 in 30 for 30

04 Jul 2013 5 Comments

by Natalie in Best French Fries in Utah

In 30 days I will celebrate my freedom from my twenties. I will crest over the hill into my third decade on this beautiful planet.

Am I scared?

No.

Do I feel old?

No.

Honestly when I think of my age I feel perpetually 18.

And yet I have four little boys and a mortgage – crazy!

I’ve decided I’m going to live it up this birthday. I love birthdays and this one is going to rock. Sure it’s a milestone and I am going to have to get used to it but most of my friends have survived the transition between 29 to 30 and lived to see another year.

I can do this.

To help me ease into my 30s, I’m going to start celebrating 30 days early. How you ask? I’m going to indulge in one of my favorite things – French fries.

I’ve come up with what I call the “30 in 30 for 30 challenge” to commemorate my milestone birthday. During the next 30 days I will try out the “best” 30 French fry joints this state of Utah has to offer.

I love French fries and so why not? And no, I am not having a mid-life crisis.

So, send me your ideas of the best fries to try. Even better, come with me to your favorite fry spot.

I’ve started a short list below, but I’ll need to add to it.

Near my birthday I’ll post my results. I’ll let you know which fries were saltiest, crunchiest, thickest, etc. I’ll be Utah’s own French fry connoisseur.

This may be a challenge I regret. It may cure me of my late-night French fry cravings. And because I don’t like to eat out on Sundays, and I am going to be on vacation for much of July, some days I am going to have to eat more than one sack of fries.

My mouth is watering as I type this.

Hopefully this “30 in 30 for 30 challenge” will keep me from wanting to get a tattoo or purchase a convertible.

Crown Burger
Red Robin
Burger Bar
Five Guys
McDonalds
Wendy’s
Tony Burger
Goodwood BBQ
Chick-Fil-A
Arby’s
Arctic Circle
Burger King
Warrens
Best Burger
Taco Time (tater tots)
Steph’s
Taggerts
In n’ Out
McKay Dee Hospital cafeteria
A&W
Copper Onion
Training Table
Jake’s Over the Top
Big Jim’s
Maddox
Johnny Rockets
The Habit
Iggy’s
Hires Big H
Little Taste of Britain

Going Dutch

27 Jun 2013 5 Comments

by Natalie in Cooking/Attempting to Cook

Each summer my husband bans me from baking in our hotter-than-Hades-non-insulated-or-air-conditioned kitchen. Normally I just look at him, roll my eyes and ask him if that means he wants to starve.

Not this year.

This year he proposed a solution to the stress of oven-free living: the Dutch oven.

Every Friday for the past several weeks we have cracked open the cast-iron cooker and tried our hand at cooking mountain-man style.

Not only does this help keep our house temperature to a tolerable 78 degrees, it helps us practice new recipes to take camping. Next time we spend some time in the great outdoors, we’re going to eat in style.

We’ve had the Dutch oven for years and we’ve never really learned how to use it. Now we’re forcing ourselves to become experts.

I guess you could say we are going Dutch. When it comes to Friday-night eating anyway. I prepare the food while my husband prepares the oven – outside under our shaded patio.

So far we’ve had breaded chicken breasts with potatoes, ham and cheesy potatoes, pork ribs and potatoes, and – believe it or not – pizza.

I stumbled across an excellent website that has really easy recipes and a full-proof guide/chart for using briquettes (it tells you how many to use for what temperature you want to cook at.) If you get the urge to try cooking outside check out www.dutchovendude.com.

In years past, after my annual kitchen seasonal banishment, I have tried my hand at cooking on the grill – something I have not yet perfected, but it gets us through. I grill a mean honey ranch chicken breast and I have finally acquired a taste for bratwurst.

I have also made good use of the ever-famous slow-cooking crock pot. I’ve mastered several throw-it-in, turn-it-on recipes including an awesome chicken and rice burrito filling.

But the Dutch oven has rounded out our summer cooking nicely. I was going to wait to post about our new cooking style at the end of the summer, but it has been so fun, and the food has been so good, I thought I’d share so you could try it out too!

I strongly recommend it. There’s nothing like the smell of fire-hot briquettes on a warm summer night.

Now I don’t think we will starve, not this summer anyway.

Wrestling Emotions

20 Jun 2013 Leave a comment

by Natalie in Dealing with Death

I’ve been wrestling my emotions lately, battling my grief.

For the past three years, since the stillborn death of my third son, I’ve slip-slided through the stages of grief. At first I’d bounce back and forth between them quickly. I’d be numb one day, overwhelmingly sad the next and then some days I was absolutely fine. I was an unpredictable passenger on an unavoidable grief-induced roller coaster of emotions.

For most of the past year I have comfortably settled into an acceptance/hope stage of grief. Although I remember my baby Luca every minute of every day, I have come to accept his death and the new “me” that has emerged afterward. I have realized that my life will never be the same, but I can still find joy in the things I did before he died.

But every once and a while I bounce back to other grief stages that I battled though on a regular basis immediately after his death.

Recently I have been lingering in some of those stages. Sometimes I a little longer than I would like. I have felt anger and pain. I have felt shock and denial.

I am sure some of my recent grief has been triggered by my father-in-law’s current health struggles. Less than a month ago his aortic valve ruptured and he suffered a couple of major strokes. Despite all odds, he made it through open-heart surgery and is fighting through the effects of the strokes. He is a miracle.

But, sadly, my grief is also triggered by everyday family moments I wish I could share with all of my family, including my little Luca.

Last week my youngest son joined his brothers in a giant wrestling match/pillow fight. His tiny-11-month-old body dwarfed by his 4 and 6-year-old brothers, he fought on. And he laughed the whole time.

It was so cute to see him finally brave enough to take on his siblings.

But I couldn’t help wonder how it would be if his 3-year-old brother Luca was fighting with them. Would they tag team? Would my angel baby crawl across my oldest son and high center then giggle as a giant, soft pillow whacked him in the face?

Probably.

I took my three living boys to the beach a couple of weeks ago. Instead of watching four little monsters tossing sand and chasing waves, I forced a smile as my oldest wrote the name of his angel baby brother in the sand and then eagerly shouted for me to take a picture of it.

Family pictures. Family vacations. Family trips to Lagoon. I never know what will trigger my sense of loss – what will make me ache to see my third son again.

Grief is exhausting.

Those of you who have never lost a child probably think I am crazy. You may even wonder why I can’t get over this. Sometimes I wonder that too.

But those of you who have buried a baby will completely understand.

Part of me will wrestle these emotions my whole life. When my son died in April 2010 (you can read about him here), I automatically enlisted in a never-ending battle with loss.

Hopefully most days I’ll be able to win the battle. Yet I know there will still be days it will kick my butt.

I guess the important part is that I keep battling. Keep wrestling even when I feel like I’m pinned.

Diggin’ Up Them Holes

13 Jun 2013 Leave a comment

by Natalie in What's a mom to do?

I took this picture while my boys were in time out because they kept soaking water into their mud hole after I asked them not to.

I am absolutely convinced that my boys are going to do one of two things this summer: flood my entire home or dig a hole to China.

And I don’t know which one would be worse.

The thing is, my boys love dirt and water. Two things that are seriously going to get them into trouble nearly every day of this summer vacation – unless they learn to stay the heck away from both, or I can learn how to calm the heck down about both.

Because right now, every time I turn around they are digging a giant ditch or pouring water into one of their new concoctions.

My house has been transformed into a paleontology dig/science lab.

One of their latest things is conducting water experiments. Each and every one of our bottles, cans, Tupperwares and cups have been used as beakers. They’ll sneak into the bathroom, pour water, soap, candy, sugar, fruit – you name it – into a bottle to see “what will happen.”

Now I don’t want to crush their scientific imaginations, but when I open the fridge to see a shelf full of half a dozen bottles filled with nasty candy creations, it’s hard not to shut the experiment down.

Several concoctions chilling in our fridge.

A couple of times I have actually knocked one of the mixtures over and the nasty science juice has slimed my fridge’s insides. That’s when I lose it.

They’ve also started making rat “poison” in the back yard. They’ll take metal cans and fill them with dirt, water, grass, clovers – and my favorite – slug heads. Then they’ll stir it up for hours. YUCK! They claim they are perfecting a poison to use on the rat that has been scampering around my parents’ back yard.

On Monday they started dumping the rat “poison” into a new giant hole they were digging in my side flowerbed. They were certain the watery poison was helping soften the ground so they could dig all the way to China before bedtime.

Part of me actually hopes they do dig through Earth’s inner core and pop out on the other side of the planet. They are driving me that crazy. Maybe they’ll be taken in by a kind and loving Asian. Maybe he or she will love letting them dig.

The truth is I don’t mind when they dig, in fact I often let them make craters in my flowerbeds while I am doing yard work. It keeps them busy so I can weed. But I can’t stand when they make a giant mud pie caking themselves – and their clothes – in thick layers of gooey, slimy sludge.

I also can’t stand when they don’t listen to me. Imagine that.

I love that they want to experiment and explore, but why can’t it be in a controlled environment? When I can help them? Why can’t they ask me when they want to fill up bucket after bucket of water? Why can’t they warn me before digging holes up to their elbows and slopping mud all over their nice clothes? They think I won’t notice a two-foot-deep hole in my garden. They think I can’t hear when they turn the outside hose on. I can.

I guess boys will be boys, but I feel like I have completely lost control.

I’ve got to figure out some healthy, happy parent-and-kid friendly ways to let them experiment to their heart’s content. I’m going to scour Pinterest for science experiments and paleontology activities. Let me know if you have any ideas.

I’ve got to make a giant list before we all go crazy.

Meanwhile, if you see a giant mudslide creeping down the hill in my back yard or water pouring from the windows of my home, come rescue me. I may be stuck in the muck or drowning somewhere.

Orange Rhino Challenge: 2 days yell free! You can read about my quest to quit yelling here.

Little Things Are Everything

06 Jun 2013 3 Comments

by Natalie in From My Heart

My father in law with my baby Luca.

Life is what happens when you are waiting for something else to happen.

I have thought a lot about life this past week. My Life. The life of others. The life I want to live. The life I actually am living.

More specifically, I have thought about the life of my father-in-law. Right now he lies in a hospital in southern California where he is fighting to piece back his abilities after suffering a ruptured aortic valve and a couple of major strokes.

He is strong and he is pulling through, but his entire world changed in the blink of an eye. I am so proud of his progress and can’t wait until we can bring him back to Utah.

But ever since I got the 3 a.m. phone call last Wednesday night saying that he was in the emergency room and his odds of survival were slim, I’ve been thinking about things.

Life can change in an instant.

I learned that three years ago when we buried our baby Luca. But I have been reminded about that yet again.

It makes me wonder: Why do I do what I do? What is it all for? Will it all be worth it in the end?

It makes me want to cherish every moment and live in the now.

I’m not saying I don’t believe in dreaming big and setting goals, but I do believe that wishing for the next best thing and wondering when life will be “better” makes this life miserable. It could leave each and every one of us someday with empty, “we were going tos” and “we haven’t had a chance tos.”

Life is about the little things. Don’t wait for the big things to happen while life passes you by.

Hug your babies and kiss your parents. Eat big bowls of ice cream and salty French fries. Leave dirty dishes in the sink and watch Disney movies with your kids.

Say, “I Love You.” Say your prayers. Pay off your credit cards. Take family photos twice a year and send out Christmas cards. Sing in the shower and dance in the car. And set traps for leprechauns each spring.

Because little things like that will someday add up to be everything.

Broken Fence, Broken Forgiveness

30 May 2013 2 Comments

by Natalie in Parenting Battles, What's a mom to do?

I tried to teach my son a life lesson but ended up freaked out instead. Here’s what I’d like to say to the scary man who treated us like dirt.

Dear Angry Man who rejected my broken-fence apology,

Thank you for keeping me from teaching my 6-year-old a valuable lesson.

I brought him to your house, despite his serious anxiety, to fess up and apologize for accidently knocking over a section of your decrepit cement-slab fence. He was scared to death as we waited on your porch for you to answer your door.

We told you he bumped into the fence a couple of weeks ago and part of it fell to the ground.

But you didn’t believe us. Instead of allowing us to apologize and help you fix the fence, you got angry and shouted at us to break the whole thing down. You snapped at me telling me you didn’t think he was the one who did it.

Do you seriously think I was the one who broke it? Then I blamed my child?

Anyone who has ever walked by your fence will agree that it looks so unstable that if someone whistled while walking by it would topple over.

Other sections of the same fence are missing. Surely he is not the only one to bump one loose.

I hesitated to make him knock on your door and admit to breaking the fence. But I wanted to teach him that he needs to admit to his mistakes and make them right whenever possible. We stopped by your house two times before to talk to you and you were not home.

Now I kind of wish we never talked to you.

Then again now that I think about it, maybe you did help me teach my son a lesson or two, or even three.

1. How not to be a complete jerk if someone accidently damages some of your property.

2. How to graciously accept an apology and an offer to help.

3. How to forgive.

None of those were the lessons I intended, but now they seem even more important than the one I set out to teach.

I can’t help what happened, but I was willing to pay to fix the fence. Now maybe you’ll have to do what you suggested to us and, “break the whole thing down.”

Sincerely,

A tired, busy mother who is trying her best to teach her children manners

Gameday Hustle

23 May 2013 Leave a comment

by Natalie in What's a mom to do? Tags: cheering mom, kids sports, soccer mom, watching kids play sports

For someone who hates running, I sure run around a lot – especially on Saturdays.

I’ve been on a wild goose chase all month running from batting practice at 9 a.m. to soccer at 10 a.m. then soccer again at 11 a.m. – all at different parks across town from one another.

And with my husband coaching two of the teams, I’m left scrambling – a lot. I leave most games 10 minutes early to try to get to the next game on time.

I normally pack my 20-pound baby and my 20-pound diaper bag onto my stroller, strap two or three camping chairs across my back then juggle a soccer ball, camera and my kids’ end-of-game-treats. Half the time I lose my car keys in the shuffle.

Then I push all of us across uneven, grassy fields, bumping along to the next cheering section.

I feel as if I am going crazy. I love watching my kids play, but hate all of the run around.

We’ve spent three and four days a week lately playing organized sports. And my little athletes are only 4 and 6 years old.

I know what you’re thinking. As the mother of several young boys, this is only the beginning.

I was feeling a little overwhelmed lately by all of our extracurricular activities when I stumbled across this article in our local newspaper.

The article talks about Gwen Judkins, mother of eight, who carted her kids around sporting events for years. She signed them up for everything because she saw the joy it brought into their lives. She sat on the bleachers keeping stats and cheering them – and all their teammates – on.

My favorite part of the article comes from Gwen’s youngest son:

Jon said what he appreciated most about his mom was her constant support and encouragement.

“She would come to everything,” he said with a laugh. “And she had eight kids. She’d go to every game, sometimes they were overlapping, but she’d be running from this place to that place … I have four kids, and I don’t know how she did it. She’d go everywhere to support us and that always meant a lot to me.”

Reading about how a mother of eight could support each one of her children gave me the perspective I needed to pick my pom poms back up and keep cheering – no matter how tired I am from packing my junk around town.

Gwen’s story inspired me to be a better “soccer mom,” to stop complaining about the rat race and to encourage my children to do what makes them happy.

I’ve missed two of my sons’ games to go to other family functions and I was heartbroken. I want to be there for everything.

Who wouldn’t want to see their tiny first grader strap on catcher’s gear and waddle behind home plate for the first time? Or see them finally score a goal in their last soccer game of the season, then run around the field bearing a permanent smile? Those moments are priceless.

I want a front row seat to all of the action – even if I have to run to get there.

Bachelorette Bash Boogers Style

16 May 2013 4 Comments

by Natalie in Parties/Showers Tags: bachelorette party, bride veil, bridesmaid sashes, cafe rio chicken, cafe rio dressing, cafe rio salad, homemade sashes, homemade veil, newlywed game, paper cup decoration, paper cup garland, planning a bachelorette party, tulle veil

I have never been to a bachelorette party, so I don’t know why I thought I could plan one. But my baby sister’s getting married this Saturday, and as her maid of honor, I was determined to throw her one heck of a party.

Panicked that I wouldn’t know what to do or how to decorate, I cracked open my laptop and started web surfing. Thank heavens for Pinterest.

We held the dinner/mini spa bachelorette party last weekend and I don’t know about the other girls, but I had a great time.

Here’s how I threw it all together:

Invitations

First off, the invites. After looking at a couple of really cute invitation ideas online, I decided to throw together my own invitations using Photoshop and InDesign. I started with a tiffany blue background that I pulled off of one of my favorite royalty-free clip art sites: clker.com

Then I placed a red rectangular box on the bottom and played around with different fonts to come up with the text. When I thought it looked decent I took a .pdf version to the local copy store and had it printed on light-cream cardstock.

Piece of cake.

Games

If you notice, on the bottom of the invite it asks each guest to bring six $1 bills and a pair of underwear that best matches their personality or relationship with my sister. Those pieces were essential to our games.

We played the underwear game found here. We couldn’t stop laughing at the different pairs of panties – especially a colorful lacy, top that we couldn’t figure out at first.

We used the six $1 bills to play a newlywed game that I like to call “What do they know?” I videotaped the groom answering several questions about himself as well as about my sister. Then we watched his responses while my sister told us her correct answers. If her answers matched up with his, she got $1. We put her winning money in her Honeymoon Fund Jar that I made her for one of her bridal showers. I got the newlywed game questions here.

Party Favors

I decided it would be fun/relaxing to do pedicures at the party. My mom found a great deal on pedicure sets so each guest got an emery board, scrubbing stone, file, toe spacers and two pairs of clippers. My mom also got a great deal on nail polish so I threw in one each for the girls along with a Hershey’s Cookies n’ Cream bar and a Kit Kat (two of my sister’s favorites.)

I made each guest a bright red sash. I bought stiff 2” ribbon from the craft store.

Then I cut out white vinyl BRIDESMAID letters on my Silhouette SD cutting machine.

I used double-sided tape to put the vinyl on the ribbon and smoothed it down with my handy pot scrubber.

Then I peeled off the tape and put a dab of hot glue at the base of the sash. They were tacky, but fun.

I put everything in big red tubs that I found at the local Dollar Store. The tubs doubled as basins that we used to soak our tired feet.

Decorations

I saw a really cute banner here that said From Miss to Mrs. So I whipped out my cutting machine again and cut out block letters and chunky hearts.

I draped brown hemp-style ribbon through the letters and spaced it evenly over my sister’s kitchen table.

I also saw a hanging garland made of paper cups here. I bought a pack of kids cups and a pack of thick, red cardstock. I cut open one of the cups and laid it flat.

I made a pattern with the cup so that I could trace it and wrap paper over it.

I traced what felt like a million of those patterns. Then I started cutting them out and gluing them onto the paper cups.

What was my 10-month-old doing at this point?

Making a mess.

After I had all of the cups covered in red paper – I did a few in blue that I had left over from the Miss to Mrs. banner – I grabbed a kitchen knife and started cutting small x shapes in the top of the cups.

They all ended up looking like this.

Then I stuck them on a strand of 100 mini Christmas lights.

I thought they turned out really cute and the lights were really fun.

What’s a bachelorette party without a tacky veil? I had left over 2” ribbon so I tied a giant red bow.

Then I bought 1 yard of tulle and set it out flat on my floor. I bunched the top of the tulle in one hand.

Then I threaded a needle and wove it through the top by hand, gathering the tulle about ½ inch from the top. I pulled it tight and grabbed the red bow.

Veil 4

I sewed the red bow in the center of the gathered bunch. Then I stitched on a bobby pin so we could attach it to my sister’s head.

Food

For the food I cooked what I like to call Café Rio chicken salads. (I got a killer recipe from my friend Jaclyn). I cooked spicy chicken, sweet rice, easy black beans and creamy lime-cilantro dressing and salsa (from my friend Racheal’s recipe). We used lettuce, cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips to top it all off.

Here are the recipes I used:

Spicy Chicken

1 small bottle Zesty Italian salad dressing
1 TBSP chili powder
1 TBSP cumin
3 cloves minced garlic
5 pounds chicken breast

Cook in a crock pot 4-6 hours, then shred chicken.

Sweet Rice

6 cups water
4 tsp chicken bouillon
4 tsp minced garlic
1/2 bunch cilantro
1 small can green chilies
3/4 tsp salt
1 TBSP butter
1/2 white onion chopped
3 cups rice

Blend cilantro, chilies, onion and 1 cup of the water in a blender. Add all other ingredients (except rice) and blend. Put rice in pan or rice cooker and then add blended ingredients. Cook 20-30 minutes in pan or normal time for rice cooker.

Salsa

1 large can tomatoes…any kind. I got the petite cut
4 yellow peppers (winco is the only store I could find them in the winter)
1 jalepeno pepper
1 anaheim pepper
cilantro
salt to taste
lemon juice 1-2
lime juice 2-4
4 cloves garlic

Put all of the ingredients in a food processor and blend.

Here’s a link to the Easy Black Beans recipe.

Here’s a link to the Creamy Lime-Cilantro Dressing recipe.

For dessert I mixed up two boxes of my favorite fudge brownie mixes. I tried to whip up some cream but that didn’t work so my sister’s friend Mindy came to my rescue with some Cool Whip. We layered our treats with brownies, Cool Whip, then strawberries, then brownies, Cool Whip and strawberries.

Delicious! It was a great way to end the party. We ate our treats while soaking our feet and watching one of my sister’s favorite movies: Casper.

My first bachelorette party was a lot of work but also a lot of fun. It’s nice to have a reason to make some crafts and try out some of my Pinterest pins.

Hopefully my sister had as much fun as I did.

As far as screaming goes, I haven’t done very well lately. I am starting anew. I went 28 days without yelling at my kids, then I lost it last week. No I am back at the beginning at 1 day. You can read about my yell-free challenge here.

Boogers on the Wall