Yes, It HAS Been A Whole Year Since The Last One

People.

It is Dance Recital Weekend.  The weekend that is all about Faith.

And her stage mom.

It actually kicked off last weekend with a marathon 12 hour dress rehearsal.  Our studio does dress rehearsal and photographs the same day so Faith’s hair and make up had to be perfect last week too.

I tweeted some photos last weekend via Instagram.  This is Faith in the ballet costume that delights my heart.

It is very sparkly.  I have glitter all of the back seat of my car.  Hayden got some of it on the butt of his pants on the way to the movies on Mother’s Day.

We mocked him.

Reader Katie B asked about stage make up the other day because her adorable daughter is in her first recital this year.  Poor Katie B is trying to figure out how to put on the stage make up and not have her precious little girl look like a tart.

Short answer:  not possible.

Katie B you must embrace your inner stage mom.  Feel free to let loose with the liquid eye liner and hoochie-mama lipstick.  Get your full on Toddlers and Tiaras on.

When Faith was little I put blush, mascara and pink lipstick on her.  In those years she was always in some kind of “natural” costume like a fairy or a bumble bee.  I believe Katie B’s daughter is in a mini Wonder Woman costume so I’d go ahead and go darker for that.  I like the liquid eye liner.  It’s a little harder to apply on a squirmy little girl, but you can do a thinner line and it’s more dramatic.

Here are Faith’s eyes when she was six (I hadn’t added her lipstick yet.  That went on just before she hit the stage to avoid having it smeared all over her costume)

You have to admit that the eye liner and mascara make her eyes look huge. 

This year, for the first time, Faith is wearing foundation.  It’s Reagan’s, borrowed without her permission. Hopefully she won’t read this post until Sunday.  My skin is much darker than my girls’ who have their dad’s fair complexion and I didn’t want to buy a whole bottle of foundation for one weekend so I’m pilfering Reagan’s for the occasion.

My biggest excitement for this year’s look though is the hair.  Every other year, we’ve had to change hair along with costumes for different dances which can be a wee bit stressful when you have six minutes between dances.  This year the director did away with all that nonsense and all the big girls have the same hair through the whole recital.  It’s like a gift of time.

I do have to say though that it looks a little better with the ballet costume than the MC Hammer get up.

That costume is just crying out for some big ‘ol bangs and crimped hair don’t you think?

The Edition of Pinterest Post Party In Which I Force My Kids To Help

Okay, I didn’t actually force Reagan to help.  Truth be told, she was supposed to be writing a 10 page paper and was looking for ways to procrastinate.  I am sympathetic to productive procrastination, being somewhat of an expert myself.  As a matter of fact, as I write this on Wednesday night, I should be scrubbing bathrooms in preparation for my mother gets here from Denver. (I try to let her believe that she didn’t raise a slovenly pig by doing crazed cleaning before her arrivals.) I don’t really like to scrub bathrooms though so I am blogging instead.  If I know me at all I probably won’t grab the cleanser until late in the game tomorrow and then curse at myself and promise to never wait until the last minute again.

So Reagan comes by her procrastinating ways naturally and I should have made her go write the paper but I wasn’t really in a baking mood so I told her to pick a Pinterest recipe and have at it.

She chose Glazed Doughnut Muffins from My Baking Addiction.

I was trying to stay out of Reagan’s way while she was making them except to snap the occasional picture.  The mixing process was making me very, very nervous though.

I don’t make muffins with a mixer.  I’ve been taught to mix muffin batter as little as possible or they’ll be tough and flat.  When I checked the recipe instructions later I found that the blogger really doesn’t recommend mixing the way Reagan did which was a lot.

On a higher speed than I was comfortable with. 

With batter occasionally flinging in all directions.

But I did not say anything so yay for me keeping my yap shut for once!

The recipe said it makes a dozen so we filled the first muffin tin very full.

There was still enough batter left to fill four cups of my other tin.

Baking weirdness:  The muffins baked in the tin above took longer to cook and did not get as brown as the ones I cooked in a dark coated tin.  See?

Dark pan on the left, light pan on the right.  I’ll let you decide which one looks better to you, but the pan does affect the outcome of muffins/cupcakes.

After they had cooled just a teeny bit, they got dunked in a glaze.  The recipe says to dunk the tops, and I thought that was fine but the kids said they wished the whole muffin had been dunked.

Again, dark on the left and light on the right - glazed.  I think the funny turned up edges may be a product of over mixing, but I kind of like the way they look and really like how high these muffins rose.  They look fabulous.

They tasted fabulous too.  I wouldn’t say they were exactly like doughnuts, but definitely reminiscent of a glazed cake doughnut for sure.  Enough that I ate one and a half.  Then another for breakfast (a truly wonderful pairing with coffee, I must say.)

So we all wholeheartedly endorse the Glazed Doughnut Muffin and I would be willing to bet you have the ingredients on hand so go! Make the muffins!  And do not fear over mixing!

If you have a Pinterest pin you’ve tried and would like to share the results, just grab the code for this badge: <p><a href=”http://www.ourfrontdoor.us”><img src=”http://www.ourfrontdoor.us/storage/pinterestpostparty.jpg” alt=”” /></a></p> 

And then add your link below.  It’s a party!  The more, the merrier!

Pinterest Post Party #5 Monterey Chicken

Thanks to those who left kind words and/or prayed yesterday.  Thanks too to those who left requests.  I truly did pray for each and every one of them and it felt good to focus on your lives and needs.  It helps me to remember that all of us have trials - I’m not unique in that way.

Shoot.  That sounds like a “spiritual” way to say that misery loves company.  I hate being cliche.

And now it’s time for the fifth installment of

Where every Tuesday and Thursday in May, I’m trying and reviewing a different idea I’ve pinned to my Pinterest boards which you can see here.

Of course I picked a recipe again.

No matter what else is going on in life, people must eat.  Also, sadly, they continue to wear clothes.  This means that no matter what I must carry on and go to the grocery store, cook the meals and wash the danged clothes.

Motherhood does not allow for moping.

Last night dinner came a la Pinterest.  I have been looking forward to making this Monterey Chicken from All Things Simple- in fact it was probably the recipe I’ve been most excited to try.

The recipe calls for pounding chicken, which I did, but later everyone agreed that I should have pounded more.  The piece still seemed too thick in relation to the toppings.  

Then, the directions get a little confusing.  Marinade ingredients are not listed anywhere and she doesn’t mention that the chicken needs marinating until after all the other directions.

And yes, sure I should have read through the recipe ahead of time, but I didn’t so no marinating was done at my house.  Also, since she hadn’t listed the seasoning with the rest of the ingredients, I didn’t get any of the Montreal Steak seasoning she recommends.  Instead, I looked in my spice cupboard to see what I had.

Cajun or nothing.  I went with Cajun.

I sprinkled it over both sides of the chicken and then brushed olive oil over the top.

That’s my nifty silicone basting brush.  I like it better than brushes with natural bristles because it doesn’t get gloopy and cleans easily.

The original recipe wants you to grill the chicken and then stick it in the oven.  Our propane tank is a little low and it also seemed a little silly to me to do both so I just went ahead and put the chicken on a baking sheet and baked it at 350 for 45 minutes until it was done.

Next came toppings.  I liked that I could customize according to everyone’s taste.  For the girls, all I put on was bacon and cheese.  Hayden also got some BBQ sauce and I loaded up Rich’s and mine with the Ro-tel and green onions too.

Fun fact:  I’ve never used bacon bits before.  They scare me.  However, I was trying to stay true to the recipe here so I bought them.

Guess what?

The tasted just like bacon and are not scary at all.  Go figure.

Here’s what they looked like all assembled before I stuck them back in the oven for the cheese to melt.

And here is Rich’s plate.

Family consensus:  Mediocre.

Again, the chicken was too thick.  Maybe butterflying it would help?  Or maybe I just needed to pound it more.  I don’t know. 

Then, the flavors just didn’t “pop” the way I thought they would.  It seemed like the BBQ sauce just overpowered the whole thing.  I could barely taste bacon or even the onions.

We all ate it, and I wouldn’t call it a fail but I wouldn’t make it again either.

Now for the fun part!

Other bloggers have (hopefully) tried pins this week too and have written posts reviewing them.  You can click on the links below to read them.  And if you’d like to join the fun, just grab the badge you see up top.  Here’s the code:  <p><a href=”http://www.ourfrontdoor.us”><img src=”http://www.ourfrontdoor.us/storage/pinterestpostparty.jpg” alt=”” /></a></p>

Then add your link below.

All Tuckered Out

The one thing I truly dislike in a blog is oversharing.  I think one of the big reasons The Pioneer Woman is so popular is that she shows us just enough of her life to be entertaining and relatable, but not so much that is makes us squirm.  As far as we know, the biggest problems in Pawhuska, Oklahoma are smelly basset hounds, cows that poop on porches and 4:30 a.m. wake up calls.

If her daughter’s are hitting the age of rebellion, they are doing so without our knowledge.  Her boys may very well be home schooled because no teacher would have them, but that’s their business not ours.  Marlboro Man could have unmentionably gross personal habits and a nasty temper but Ree respects the man and the marriage enough to keep it between them. 

I like that and I respect it.

I love blogs that tell the funny antics, cute sayings and general naughtiness of little kids because we’ve all been there and it’s relatable.  Before the age of ten, the mistakes kids make are usually innocent and fixable.  In the same vein, if a wife blogs about how her husband can never quite hit the the laundry basket with his socks I’ll roll my eyes and chuckle because again - funny and relatable but not crossing the line into disrespectful criticism.

I’ve tried to keep my blog running without giving TMI.  My children are all over ten and thus their “youthful indiscretions” may run along the lines of not so funny.  But we all made mistakes at that age and no one should have a permanent record of those errors floating around the internet.

I know that I, for one, am thankful that I hit 21 before the digital age.

Likewise, what goes on between Rich and me should remain between us.  I love that man - deeply.  He deserves my respect and consideration and should be able to live his life and operate within our marriage without worrying that every move may be transmitted to my audience telling only my side of the story.  That wouldn’t be kind or fair.  The few times I’ve toed to close to that line here at Our Front Door, I’ve regretted it.

My job is also mostly off limits for blogging.  And I have community watch dogs to make sure it stays that way.

Other things I don’t talk about here:  Relationship “issues” with friends or extended family, finances, any medical info that I don’t have permission to share, the kids’ grades, sex…basically anything that I wouldn’t want someone else to tell about me.

I keep this blog for creative reasons, as a record for my kids of our life and because I’ve come to appreciate the feedback and friendships I’ve formed with readers.  I don’t blog as a form of therapy for myself or anyone else in my life.  I’d need a degree in psychiatry for that which I don’t have and it seems like it would take a lot of time and effort to get one which doesn’t sound like fun.

Okay Mindee, we get it:  you’re keeping stuff from us.  What’s your point?

My point?

Well, I guess it’s this:  I have much going on in my life, my heart and my mind right now.  It’s causing … stress and I don’t cope with stress so well.  I truly wish that I were one of those women who uses stress as fuel but mostly what I want to do is go take a long nap and hope that the time I wake up everything is resolved.  This causes even more stress as that deep desire to nap makes me believe I am constantly fatigued so the house and yard work is slipping and that makes me crazy and then I start nagging the people who live here which makes them crazy and causes conflict which causes stress which makes me want to nap which … well you see where I’m going here.

Also?

I am eating all of the food in the world.

Prayer is helping.  I am deeply thankful for my recent Lenten Adventure.  It came at just the right time to put me in a great place to reach out for God’s help.  It has also given me the knowledge that it’s just fine to ask for help from others.

You, for example.

If you pray (and I’m not judging if you don’t - I’ve gone for extended periods without it) I’d sure appreciate some of those prayers right now.  Prayers for peace and calm and faith would be so helpful.  If you also want to throw in a prayer for the strength to keep up with my house and put down the chocolate, that wouldn’t hurt either.

And please let me know in the comments section how I can pray for you.  Frankly I could use the distraction and a reason to focus on someone other than myself right now.

So tell me, what’s on your heart?

Pinterest Post Party #4 - CakeCorn

It’s May and it’s Thursday so it’s time for another

Every Tuesday and Thursday this month I, and any blogger who wants to join, is trying an idea we’ve pinned on Pinterest and letting you know how it worked out.

Yesterday?

Was Wednesday.  It’s hard to get inspired to tackle a big project on a Wednesday.  I scrolled through my boards looking for something easy.  Quickly, I skipped past the craft and home improvement projects.  We had already had dinner so a main dish wouldn’t work.  I’m always up for dessert, but didn’t have the time or inclination for baking.

Then I found the pin that led me to a recipe for Birthday Cake Batter Popcorn on Tasty Kitchen.  The ingredient list was short, the prep looked easy and the final product seemed promising.  Here is what I started with:

You’ll note that I deviated from the original recipe.  I bought already popped corn because it seems less greasy and I had a lot more of it than the recipe called for.  Also, I used Almond Bark instead of white chocolate chips because I had some on hand and I didn’t grab the Crisco because that seemed gross.

I filled my largest mixing bowl with about 8 ounces of popped corn which was about 30 cups.  I had no idea what to do next.  I started with 1/2 the Almond Bark - 6 squares - and melted it.  Then I got nervous about leaving out the shortening so I added 2 Tablespoons of butter flavored Crisco and I have to admit that it made the bark more pourable.  I drizzled it over the popcorn and realized quickly it wasn’t enough.

So added three more squares.

And then three more mixed with another tablespoon of shortening.

I ended up pouring over the entire box of the dry cake mix and a liberal amount of sprinkles and then stirred and stirred.

My finished product had less candy coating than the original recipe but I think it was perfect.

Perfectly perfect.  As in very addictively deliciously perfect.

The whole family ate it while we watched the DVR’d episode of Once Upon A Time.  Everyone liked it though Rich and Reagan thought it was a bit too sweet so I might use less Almond Bark next time.  There will be a next time.  This is perfect slumber party food.  Or bring a treat to work to share food.  It would even make a great tailgate dessert since it wouldn’t require plates or utensils.  You could choose sprinkles in team colors even!

Because I changed my ingredients so drastically, I’ll summarize for you.  Keep in mind though that my version would feed a crowd.  You should go with the original for a smaller group.

I used:

• 8 ounces popped, salted popcorn
• 1 lb almond bark melted with …
• 3 Tablespoons butter flavored Crisco
• 1 box yellow cake mix
• sprinkles

Pour the popcorn into a large mixing bowl (8 quarts) and pour Almond Bark mixture over it.  Shake dry cake mix and sprinkles on top and stir well. 

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