The Sweetly Decorated Life: THE BEST SUPERBOWL NACHOS EVER

The Sweetly Decorated Life: THE BEST SUPERBOWL NACHOS EVER: KICKIN' GRILLED NACHOS WITH BREAKSTONE'S SOUR CREAM 8 oz tortilla chips 1 package (8 oz) KRAFT Mexican Style Shredded Four C...

THE BEST SUPERBOWL NACHOS EVER

KICKIN' GRILLED NACHOS WITH BREAKSTONE'S SOUR CREAM

8 oz tortilla chips
1 package (8 oz) KRAFT Mexican Style Shredded Four Cheese with a TOUCH OF PHILADELPHIA
1/2 cup finely chopped red onions (this seals the deal!)
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded, finely chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 cup BREAKSTONE'S Sour Cream

1 Heat grill to medium-high heat.
2 Double-fold edges of large sheet of heavy-duty aluminium foil to make rimmed 12"x 10"-inch tray.  Spread chips onto bottom of tray; cover with cheese, onions and peppers.
3 Place on center of grill.  Turn off burners directly below tray; cover grill with lid. Grill 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.
4 Top with tomatoes. Serve with sour cream.

My husband made these for a 4th of July party we had last year and folks were cleaning their plates.  We make them often so when we do have parties we have the ingredients on hand to put together a plate around half-time!  HINT: We use the oven in the winter, but if you live in the northeast and don't want to step outside and use your grill in a frozen tundra, use the oven responsibly!!!!

Enjoy this weekend's SUPERBOWL!!!!

A Dinner Family Favorite! Penne with Ham, Peas and Lemon Cream

Delicious!

I don't usually post photos of food and I'm not sure I've ever blogged about food.  The picture may not look appetizing because I believe nothing says it better than tasting it yourself......I'm also not a foodie by any stretch but I do like to eat good food (it must be served HOT though!) and dine out wherever I am in my travels.  I do cook and occasionally I'll be posting my favorite recipes that I like to make up at home and the meals I love to have out.

You know Easter is just around the corner so if your tired of either serving or eating the same old meals and you want to switch it up, this is a switch hitter for my family.  They love anything made with the penne noodle and this meal is no exception. It combines a green veggie and a multi-grain noodle so you can't loose, just keep in mind portion control because even I go crazy over this dish! (I had 3 helpings this week!)

The only item this recipe absolutely can't go without is the heavy cream. It makes the dish work and the outcome is melt in your mouth amazing. The recipe follows.  It may look complicated but it's all done in a simple 12 inch saute pan (my favorite by Food Network).  Have fun!

PENNE WITH HAM, PEAS AND LEMON CREAM
Serves 4

2 Tbsp butter                                       1 cup frozen peas, thawed
3 shallots, minced                               4 oz diced ham
3/4 cup chicken broth                      2 Tbsp chopped parsley
3/4 heavy or whipping cream       1 pkg Multi-grain Penne, cooked according to package
1 tsp grated lemon peel                    1Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat.  Add shallots and cook, stirring, until softened-2 minutes.  Add broth, simmer over medium-high heat, 2 minutes.  Add cream and lemon peel.  Simmer until sauce thickens slightly, 3 minutes. Add peas and ham, simmer 2 minutes more.  Add parsley, lemon juice and multi-grain penne to skillet to heat through.  Serve warm in a pretty bowl.

I'll be back to talk about my favorite Rieslings as of late.  A good Riesling is a must have for Easter and then I'll skip back to my amazing Valentine's I'll be crafting with my kids.  I'll provide the how-to's-just do me a favor, share my blog with other readers.  I'm grateful.

The Sweetly Decorated Life: Our Annapolis Home-a Year Later......

The Sweetly Decorated Life: Our Annapolis Home-a Year Later......: Home-Summer 2014 I'm back to blogging.  I divide my time between my family, my kids (of course), appointments, and now studying onli...

Our Annapolis Home-a Year Later......

Home-Summer 2014

I'm back to blogging.  I divide my time between my family, my kids (of course), appointments, and now studying online to become an interior designer.  I'm happy but finding time to lifestyle blog has been challenging.

I wanted to happily report that after a year back in Annapolis I'm at peace (except for the garden-that's my next project).  I love my doctors, I love the West Annapolis area where we live, our neighbors are cool, and everything and I mean everything is close.  If I want sushi, it's 5 minutes away.  If I want gymnastic classes for my kids, it's 10 minutes.  If I want an arts festival, its around the corner in the village.  I love the word village. Village literally means a small town in that country, a community of fellows and it's inhabitants.

I live outside of that village but I'm accessible to it-quite-so when I don't shop local, here are my favorite stores for deals.  It makes life so much easier, when I only have to drive 10 minutes to the mall.  When you have small children, it's absolutely essential.  Here are my favorites for must haves around the house.

Marshall's/TJ Maxx

Home Goods

Pottery Barn

I know it may seem obvious but these lovely stores hold low cost solutions to setting up your new home and how it will, look, feel and function. Pottery Barn is on the higher end but get on their local email list and you'll get email notifications on floor model sales and design classes.

Pottery Barn is great especially when you carry their card.  They send $25 off coupons off your purchase of $50 or more which can't be beat if you want to update your living room sofa with seasonal pillows.  Because I live close to PB, I'm in there at least once per month for INSPIRATION.

I look for layout ideas for bedrooms, living rooms and my dining room.  When I come back from my shopping extravaganza I feel inspired and sometimes overwhelmed with ideas.  It's important to take an honest evaluation of what you currently have stored, used in other rooms, and hidden in your basement.  You don't have to solely use your new items.  Rearranging and rotating is another great way to stay current with your decor and style.

Okay, now that my home feel satisfying after one year hauling, moving, rearranging, and lots of paint, I'm ready to cook again, I think.  Tonight my kids want pasta (is that different from any other night?) so my go to dish-the one that they absolutely love is..............Penne Pasta with lemon cream, green peas and succulent ham.  Yummy.  Full recipe, next blog.

A Sweetly Decorated Life begins with being inspired.  What inspires you?  Do what you love and the rest will fall into place.

You and Your Teen Stepdaughter-Friends or Foe? My Story.

Emily and I in St. Michael's-2007

When I came to know my stepdaughter, I was only 32 and she was eight.  We made things fun.  We colored together, made cookies together, watched Garfield together and had a camp out in the back yard. Life was good.  I never knew she would grow up to be a wise, beautiful almost lady-woman.  She is now 17, just nine months shy of 18.  Her and I have had our share of problems let me tell you.  My twin daughters with my husband are now five and active little girls. One day they too will be turning 18 and I myself will miss the innocent days of old, playing with them in their playroom, coloring with markers, bedtime stories and ballet recitals.

Just now I am in my sweats as I write this, hoping to squeeze in a workout in my home gym located just off my husband's home office in the basement.  I've fed my kids breakfast, okay that's not true, my husband did that, made their lunch, and got them ready for dance class, gave them a snack and packed them in our life size mini van to shuffle them to dance and then to preschool (ate lunch in the car).  I'm exhausted-when I first met Emily and Jacob, they were eight and five, fun ages for me to explore with them.  I wasn't exhausted.  I didn't do any of the work-I often thought, I don't see what all the fuss is about-parenting is easy-just make them laugh and pack a lunch or two and your doing good............little did I know that my 13 year old stepdaughter would be moving in with us just a few years later...........and that's just the beginning of our journey together.

That move changed everything for me.  Everything.

The question I would ask yourself before your stepdaughter moves in with you or visits you regularly or just simply is in your life is this: Do you like and respect yourself?

1. If the answer is YES, then proceed to light reading material below-you'll find my story enlightening.  If the answer is NO, you need to read this.  If I only knew...............

Before my stepdaughter moved in with my husband and two year old twin daughters, I was a novice at parenting.  I was going through the motions-preparing wholesome baby food in the food processor, doing clean up and taking young tots to infant to toddler play time, library time.  We lived 6 hours away from our home in waterfront USA Annapolis, Maryland.  Life was about to become complicated.  Our rental home while my husband worked in Queens, NY was two hours away, across a couple of bridges, and off 1-84 in Pawling, NY.  We lived on 5 acres with the mountain lions and other beasts of the world.

Did I mention I had (2) two year old's at the time?  Let me tell you-the day my stepdaughter moved in with us at this juncture in my life absolutely placed me in a severe state of PANIC.  Have you felt panic before? I've felt it.  I know the sensation.  Not fun.  Heart pounding.  Rapid heart beat. Before an audition for example.  Dread.  This was much worse-think PANIC times a MILLION.

Back to the MOVE-in.  There was a spaghetti dinner.  My in laws brought her from Maryland to New York.  When she arrived, I exploded.  I'm sorry. There were tears and I brought the whole house down-I didn't mean to.  I was faced with the insurmountable pressure of raising a young girl who had left her mother and brother to come live with me.  I say me because my husband would be working in the city and I would be doing the raising.  This young woman would come with needs, not instructions per se but a need for love, emotional connectivity, and a sense of structure to her new-found life in New York.  She would be making friends at her new school, possibly bringing them back to our home (what would I do with all those teenagers!) and most of all this young woman would be going through her pubescence while I'm raising active twin toddlers!  I kept saying to myself, there is no way this is happening to me.  I think I said that for four straight years, possibly multiple times a month................believe me we all felt it.

I want to skip to NOW.  I'll get back to the middle and almost everything we went through later.  In church this past Sunday, while in service my 17 year old stepdaughter wrapped her arms around me and asked me "how did you like being a greeter?"  I was touched beyond words that this happened and my heart warmed without consent.  It was a moment of purity and self-revelation:  Emily actually does love me.

Was that what I really wanted all along?  Her love, her respect, her admiration.  I don't think it was.  But it did confirm for me that for the last four years, my step-parenting was working, even if it was part time.

Part time Parenting wasn't what I wanted-I didn't want full time either with her.  When she came to live with me in 2011, I simply felt that my plate was full.  I knew it was full to the brim. Overflowing if you will. If your wondering if I ever consented to her living with us, the answer is simply I felt I had no choice.  I played victim. Would I change anything?  I don't know. Probably not.

Being honest with yourself is life changing in every facet of life. If more of us had the courage and the stamina to take on more than we think our plate can handle, how much better would the world be, how much better would we become because of it.............by the way I'm still learning to like myself.  It's a process.

Emily and I in New York, 2012

The Sweetly Decorated Life: Making over a Kids Room/Bathroom-on a shoe-string ...

The Sweetly Decorated Life: Making over a Kids Room/Bathroom-on a shoe-string ...: When it comes to living with two 5 years old's, life has to function and function happily.  Considering our daughters bathroom is small ...

Making over a Kids Room/Bathroom-on a shoe-string Budget!

When it comes to living with two 5 years old's, life has to function and function happily.  Considering our daughters bathroom is small for all four of us to brush hair, teeth and get the day started off right and closed off nicely, it was important to us that their bathroom be serene and I think we accomplished just that!  If your pondering a room make over for your child, it can be done and without too much pain or strain on you or your budget.  Really.

Before-yuck.

Builder-grade mirror-generic and a space hog-bye bye.

Let's START!

My starting ground: It got to the point where if I glimpsed at my kids bathroom, I would cringe.  Now that being said, I know how fortunate I am in just having a bathroom for them.  When I was my girls age, we shared a smallish bathroom with our parents and believe me we never thought we were poor or unfortunate or struggling financially.  We never knew any different.  Now kids today have four star bathrooms, completed to look like Pottery Barn catalog ads.  Seriously.

Can you imagine paying $40 for a bath towel?!?  (if you did, it's quite alright-I just wish I had your money) My parents and grandparents would blow through the roof if they thought I paid that much for a towel! Imagine (this is my friend/neighbor from NY-Nicolette and she always said this term and she's awesome, she's from the Bronx!)!!!!! I paid $5.99 each for the girls towels at IKEA.

FAMILY GOAL: 

1) Buy can of paint and let the inspiration roll from there!

I grabbed some samples from HD and almost knew without hesitation. Baby pink.  Ballet pink.  Soft pink. Pink it is.  They are girls.  The color before.  Gross aqua blue.  I don't know why I ever picked that color for my stepson but it had to go and go fast!  He visits every other weekend and now that he's older (14), we decided it was best that the girls use that bathroom and he can have the bathroom in the finished basement. Deal.

2) Coerce husband to paint the girls bathroom, pending I tape off the trim and walls.  Deal-deal.

I left for a friends daughters birthday party and when I came home (I think I headed to a park after that!) the bathroom was beautiful and delightfully PINK.  My hubby told me it took him 3 coats of paint and even more around the trim and harder to reach areas like the ceiling.  I'm sorry. It looks beautiful though honey.  You did an AMAZING JOB I tell him.

****Even though your paint comes with primer, just know that if your covering a darker paint, your labor will be longer.  It will require a few coats but the wait was worth it.......................

Ahhh.  I love grey and pink together.  My hubby's idea.  He's brilliant. 

Love the mirror.  We borrowed it from the foyer.  Oh well.

3) Buy bath towel hooks and towels at IKEA.  Reasonable.  Hang up with ballet pictures from Goodwill.  Lucky.

I'm a happy Mom now.  For now anyway.  I did want a new sink but that would cut into the budget and our time and because we don't know how long we'll be here, we thought "another time."  For now, it's a sweet, beautiful and cost effective bathroom that suits our lifestyle, budget and our pleasant little pea pods.  When I look around and see how independent they are, I'm reminded at how fortunate we all are.  We live here in America where if you want to redecorate during any time of the day, you can.  It's up to you.  How do you spend your time, what makes you feel good, how do you help others?  What completes you?

Think about it.  Write it down.  By the way, on New Years Eve 2014 I decided to go back to college to get my long awaited Interior Design degree-in Manhattan with one exception-I get to study on line from the privacy of my own lovely home.  Happy now.  Off to help my husband make dinner.  Love to all.