A Mom's Year

Creating a comfortable life one moment at a time

Hello, Fifteen

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{ Photography by the beautiful and talented Claudia Danielson }

When my kids were little, people would caution in warning tones, “Just wait until they’re teenagers.” So when Andrew turned 13, I was prepared for him to get really horrible. But he never did. I mean, we all have our moments. But he’s a nice person and a great student and he doesn’t seem to hate me or Tim. He’s not a big hugger, but I do get a fist-bump every night. And he makes me laugh so hard I cry, which would make me forgive anything.

Andrew turns 15 today. One nice thing about your kids becoming teenagers is that they ease you into it. Although it can feel like it happens overnight. One minute you’re looking down at a little blond head playing trains at your feet and the next you realize that you have to look up to meet his eyes. And that deep voice you hear in the other room is not, in fact, your husband’s, but your son’s.

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Friday Inspiration

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Soaking up the last days of summer….

You know how Newton said that a body at rest tends to stay at rest and a body in motion tends to stay in motion? Well, I’ve been experiencing that with my blog. I got very firm with myself and wasn’t allowed to publish anything here until I got my freelance writing and editing business going again FOR REAL.

But even though I did get serious and I did get a website up and running and I started contacting potential clients, I completely lost my momentum with the blog. It came to a dead stop. And I missed it! And some of you were kind enough to say you missed it, too.

So to ease back into a regular writing schedule, I’ve visited some of my favorite blogs for inspiration. Just to get the ball rolling. Plus, I have a few others things to share that have made me think and smile lately.

  • Autism spectrum diagnoses are up 78 percent in 10 years. This article asks if some of these kids might just be brainy, introverted boys.
  • Have you seen this live “lip dub” proposal? It’s such a sweet celebration of love, family, and friends.
  • I’m excited about Design Mom‘s new series on packing school lunches.
  • I want to use the crock pot more, but I’m surrounded by picky eaters who don’t like everything thrown together. But I think they’d eat this honey garlic crock pot chicken. Thanks, Rosa!
  • These C is for Cookie cards are so adorable you’ll want to start baking right away just so you can print them out and give them away.
  • Are we thinking about Halloween yet? These popcorn balls would make great party favors.
  • Or how about these DIY floating ghosts along a haunted trail?
  • Cake Batter Dip. Could be dangerous.

And while you’re out there, please visit my new website and tell me what you think!

Have a great weekend, and I hope to see you back here again as I keep the ball rolling….

Salted Nut-Roll Bars

Nutter Butter

These bars are like a childhood dream come true: an entire package of Nutter Butters melted with a stick of butter, and that’s just the crust. Oh, mama. They’re mildly futzy to make, I suppose, what with having to smash up the cookies and make a couple of layers, but I think they’re worth it!

Salted Nut-Roll Bars

(very slightly modified from Cuisine at Home)

For the crust:
1 lb. Nutter Butters or other peanut butter sandwich cookies
1 stick unsalted butter, melted

For the topping:
2 cups peanut butter chips
2/3 cup light corn syrup
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups mini marshmallows
2 cups dry-roasted peanuts
2 cups Rice Krispies or other crisp rice cereal

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 13X9-inch baking pan with nonstick spray.

If you have a food processor, pulverize the cookies until fine crumbs form. If you don’t have one, smash the cookies in a bag with a rolling pin or whatever your usual method is. Add the melted butter and process (or stir) until crumbs clump together. Press crumbs into prepared pan. Bake 15 minutes or until golden.

Melt peanut butter chips, corn syrup, butter, and vanilla in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring until smooth, about 5 minutes. Spread 1/2 cup of the peanut mixture over the crumb base. NOTE: Let the crumb base cool down a little bit before doing this or it’ll break apart as you try to spread the peanut mixture over it. Even if you cool the base slightly, spread the mixture gently.

Top with marshmallows and return bars to the oven. Bake until the marshmallows puff, about 2 minutes, then remove from the oven. Don’t let the marshmallows brown or they’ll turn crunchy.

Meanwhile, toss the peanuts and cereal with the remaining peanut mixture to coat. Drop large spoonfuls of the topping over the marshmallows, then spread with a spatula. Cool the bars before cutting, and enjoy!

Back to Basics: Books

{ Dame Agatha Christie and her books: image }

Whenever I feel overwhelmed—and I don’t mean in a sort of casual I have to be in four places at once, what’s for dinner, where the heck are my car keys? way but in more of a I can’t handle this get me out of here sense, I take a deep breath and go Back to Basics.

I started using the phrase Back to Basics after I bought this CD a million years ago:

Olivia! When we were little, my friends and I acted out Grease nonstop in my backyard and my BFF Patti even dressed up as Bad Sandy for Halloween. When we grew up, Patti and I saw Olivia in concert—I think I was pregnant with Lexie at the time—and she was as awesome as we’d always imagined she’d be.

So. I’m not sure what Olivia’s philosophy was for her album, but for me Back to Basics means calming down, stripping away as much of what’s unnecessary as possible, and focusing on the small steps that will get me back on track and where I need to go.

Really, I should start with Back to Basics: Fitness, but who am I kidding? For me, it all begins and ends with books. And more specifically, mysteries. When life is crazy and chaotic, I crave mysteries like a Kardashian craves the limelight. I grab a battered Agatha Christie mystery off the bookshelf and let the familiar characters, structure, and wonderful solvability of the story calm my frenzied mind. And once I’ve calmed down, I can start thinking about the next step on the path toward a Sane and Meaningful Life.

How about you? Is there a book that helps you get centered, whether it’s a self-help book or a novel or even a book from your childhood?

 

 

Summer Fun / Le Petit Tennis Net

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Lily took tennis lessons this summer through our local community education program and got thoroughly hooked on the game. The best part is that her fabulous teacher, Lindsay, introduced us to the “mini net.” Have you seen one of these? They’re lightweight, portable nets that you can set up anywhere.

Since we live in the boondocks where there’s a sad lack of tennis courts, I was very happy to learn about the mini net.

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