This Might Take Me Out

My babes have always loved me swimming with them.  I even wear a cute, modern-retro halter one piece, conservative yet stylish.  Each year I've noticed a little gap widening between them and me...a bit more water for me, a wider swath of freedom for them, I guess.


Monday changed all that.  I found myself doing arm and leg circles against the wall at the 4-foot ladder, surrounded by water and other people's children.  Mine had hugged and splashed and front-flipped with goggles for a few brief moments, then vanished to the outer edges of my periphery.  This changes everything, I thought.  I'm never going back from this. 


It is a weird moment for my mom brain to compute.  I am tearing up a bit, but I also feel that stretch for independence for myself every now and then.  Even if I'm not ready for it, obviously it's here.  Well, obvious in that painful, I just figured it out because all the other moms are giving me "that look" from above their magazines in their lounge chairs.  I do have Cosmo in my bag...

FoodFromPinterest:Vanilla Coconut Rice Pudding

Hello, beauties!  Welcome to my first post as Beautiful Life by Lindsay!!  You may have already been reading when this was called "Whatdoyousay?" or "What'smomsay?" so you'll know that this is my blog about living life as a mama...

As a professional hair stylist and makeup artist, I like things to look pretty.  As a real-life mama and wife, I know there are some not-so-pretty things that come along with life.  I like to explore and talk about pretty much all of it!  I guess this will be not just a mom blog, but a blog about all the cool, fun, horrifying, pretty and ugly things that make my everyday, normal life beautiful!!!

Thanks for reading!
Lindsay
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I adore Pinterest!  You can follow me over there by clicking here!  So many you see those snarky cards that joke about pinning all those projects you'll never create, or recipes you can't cook, closets you'll never streamline...so funny!!  But I've realized that several cool things I pin are making an actual debut in my real life!!  I try many of the recipe ideas, and I've actually been crocheting a scarf that I pinned on my DoItYourself board!!  It is so thrilling to follow through on something, even if it's just a bowl of rice pudding...TADA!!!!

So sweet and creamy!

This was such an easy recipe to make!  And it tastes delicious!!  Here is the original link for it:

http://ffffood.com/post/31094562/vanilla-coconut-rice-pudding


I changed just a couple things.  First, I didn't have a vanilla bean, so I used vanilla flavored coconut milk. Second, I let it simmer for almost an hour to let the liquid absorb enough for my taste.  It thickens us as it cools, so don't cook it too long!  The final thing I did which wasn't mentioned in the original recipe was to skim the gunky skin from the top whenever it formed, then stirred.  I just don't like weird clumpy spots in the final dish and do this when I make regular pudding, too.


I definitely enjoyed sharing my success on this one!  Can't wait to try another recipe from my CookEatLove board on Pinterest!!

Fried Rice and Trails of Adventure

This is really the best fried rice I've ever made.  This will be the most stellar stir fry of all time.  Guaranteed.  I should wash my hands, now that I've finally peed.  I like this Mrs. Meyer's Lavender dish soap more than I anticipated.  I spend an awful lot of time at this stove.

And I have already eaten most of a dinner portion o'rice before dinner.  But really, it is the best I've ever had.  Oh, and as of today, I can eat shellfish.  Gracias, Department of Allergy and Immunology.  I can't wait. 

So, we just ate our amazing Asian-inspired meal and I went for a ride on our trails in the Rhino.  We were working on some new clearings this weekend with the excavator that we rented, but I was not well-versed in the actual terrain involved....bottom line, I got stuck on some stubborn logs.  I will no longer go for a ride in my bedroom slippers and North Face fleece.  I will always take a flashlight.  From now on, anyway.  I love being a country girl!

So, it's off to bed.  I didn't break anything on the Rhino, so I will ride tomorrow *beforeitgetstoodarktodiscernactualtrails*!!!  Stay tuned for more adventures!

XOXO,
Lindsay

Meal-Plan Shopping

Hello!  My hubs and I decided to start eating a bit differently...not for a New Year's resolution, because heaven knows that would never last!...before Christmas we made a few changes.  Now we try to eat mostly fruits, veggies, meats, some dairy...basically grain and white potato-free during the week, with those allowed on the weekends.  

Don't get all uppity about right, wrong, type of diet, being a cheater, etc., haha!  We're not trying to follow a "specific" diet plan, just trying to pay closer attention to what we put into our faces!  And I know definitively that if we say something is not allowed, we will be miserable and gluttonous in turn!

So that's the back story for this post.  We are also trying to pay closer attention to the amount of food and money we waste, not to mention save myself from utter frustration at the daily question "what's for dinner?"  I have always wanted to plan weekly meals and then shop for them once, but we've just always been too lazy and noncommittal.  But those days are over!  Woot!

Some of this week's meals include pan-seared tilapia with lemon and capers and prosciutto-wrapped asparagus, slow cooker chili, and taco salad.  If something sounds like a no-go as we get into the week, I can swap something out for some marinated, thin-cut pork chops I have frozen.  I am totally psyched!

Oh. And my shopping list? Organized by section at the supermarket! Finally, all those organizational blogs I read obsessively are sinking in!

Cheers to eating well this week!

Lindsay

Ps. How do you plan your family's shopping and meals?  Share your brilliance in the comments!  Xoxo

Home Cooking

Hi! Now that we are (a bit more) settled into our new home, and my littles are transitioned into the school year, I have been trying to rescue my homemaking skills!  I have more kid-free home time, which is surprisingly full of busyness, so I am trying to cook and bake more food from (semi-)scratch.  I still use some convenience foods, but I'm really trying to keep things a bit more whole...

Like applesauce. Like, the best applesauce I've ever eaten!

Mmmmmmmmmm, just a hint of cinnamon!

Or chicken pot pies! Before.....

And after.....holy moly, sooooo good!

I love being a wife and mama, and I'm so grateful for the chance to take the best care of them I can!  Can't wait to see what other kind of trouble, um, fun, I can get into in my kitchen!

The Devil's Lunch!

Remember when you were little, you went to your Grammie's house and she fed you either Spaghetti O's or that little can of "potted meat" goodness, aka Deviled Ham, on saltines for lunch? Yeah, that little paper-wrapped can caught my eye today while at the grocery store, but I resisted. Because, well, it really was on the gross side once I thought back to those lunches.

But it did make me crave a little ham salad instead of chicken or tuna or egg for today! So I knifed some leftover deli ham to smithereens and added a good dose of Hellmann's and mustard and topped a cracker. Meh. So I put the rest onto a piece of toast. I ate it, but I probably won't ever again.

Nostalgia can make creative lunches the Devil's playground. I'm sticking to PB&J the next time I romanticize lunches from my early-80's childhood!

Hope you're having a fabulous day! Any nostalgic food memories you'd like to share? Comment!

Lindsay

Balancing Act

It's summer vacation time, which basically means I'm doing more but getting less done! Haha! With both kids home, fighting betwixt themselves constantly, every chore seems to take ten times the energy to accomplish! Which translates to an extremely messy house and a grumpy mama!

Yes, this is one of those mornings when I already feel the epic fail of my day and it's just past seven! Hubby realized at six he had no clean work shirts, I have been to the supermarket twice this week and still had to feed the cat treats for breakfast and I really wish I would've just washed the spaghetti sauce out of the pot last night. Ugh.

Where is my silver lining, I ask myself? Well, it is only a bit past seven, and I get to see my (mostly) smiling babies all day long, we get to meet my girlfriend for a breakfast date and then take her to see the progress on our new home! Then I can come back to this current reality and do some packing in between loads of laundry! And dishes. And all those other things that always have to get done. While the kids are whining that "he keeps putting his feet on my blankie/face/ear..."

So, I'm going to take a deep breath and write down cat food and peanut butter on my shopping list! And I'm going to kiss my littles before they start grumping at me! It is a balancing act, this whole mom thing! But I love it!

Have a great summer day! Only 60-some left to go!
Lindsay