Weekend Roundup

Mondays are pretty hectic for me (cough cough SCHOOL) so I thought to myself: just a little post every Monday to keep up with my 5 post per week goal. This Monday, and possibly all of the Mondays, is reserved for our weekend roundup.

What we did:

Saturdays are crazy-town work days and Saturday nights are relaxing. And by relaxing I do me wrestling and playing Transformers. Its really important for me to spend as much time with Lo as possible, so 99% of my unscheduled time is spent making a ruckus with the littlest dude. Sundays have been and will always be our Stay Forever day. I live for Sunday. We took advantage of 75 degree winter weather and went hiking at Crowders Mountain in North Carolina with my best girl Sarah and her brother. It was a blast! A very, very tiring blast. Lo was a trooper and clocked in 2 miles of climbing! My little champ.

What we ate:

Uh, maybe I wont post what we ate in every post because looking back at it....dang. Lo ate cheerios out of a box per his request (pick your battles people!) and I ate a McFlurry at 12 in the morning because I totally forgot what the word dinner meant. And Sunday? Oh Sunday. A post hike beer was in order (calories are not in my dictionary) so we went out to a local restaurant. Ordering fried everything was not my best option, but we have lots of cheesy fried goodness for leftovers!

What I learned:

You, and others, are capable of doing way more than you think.
Always make room for the little things
Sleeping in is okay, even when you have a to-do list the size of a mountain.
A little dash of happy goes a long way!

How was your weekend? I hope it was as sweet as ours!

Love,

Jess

No Flour? No Problem.

The witching hour had passed (non-parents: google it and be thankful), Lo was passed out on the couch, and I was having a major sweet tooth. We just moved into a new house--more on that later--and I forgot nearly everything on my list in a sad attempt at grocery shopping, including flour, so I knew there was no hope for a sweet treat in my future. Then it hit me. My mom taught me a long time ago that you don't always need flour to bake. I know, I know, crazytown USA over here. Stay with me though, okay? My inner Faux Martha kicked in and I made up a recipe for what I hoped would be peanut butter cookies. I had three ingredients in my (sad) arsenal: peanut butter, sugar, and eggs.

 Here is how it went down.

I set my oven to 350 degree while mixed 1 cup of (organic) peanut butter, 1 cup of sugar, and 1 large egg in my favorite medium mixing bowl until the dough had a smooth texture.

The dough should be very pliable and easy to work with. And a little bit gritty due to the sugar.

Next, I rolled out 1 TBSP sized dough balls and placed 4 rows of 3 on a regular size cookie sheet (no need for grease thanks to the peanut butters natural greasiness). For a little bit of extra flavored I dipped the tops of the dough balls into sugar.

Okay. This next step I really sucked at. Hopefully you will fair much better than I did. Press out the dough balls with a fork. The best way to do this is to make an X in the dough so that the cookie bakes evenly. Make sure you really get the middles when you press otherwise the cookie will no bake all the way; nobody likes an uncooked cookie. 

After the cookies were pressed it was time to bake! The cookies stayed in the oven for 10 minutes (at 350 degrees as mentioned above) and I was sure to not let the tops golden. 

As soon as these bad boys dinged out of the oven I put some M&Ms on top and let them cool. 

Needless to say I was pretty hesitant to try them because, after all, I totally made this up. The verdict? Holy bananas these are some good cookies. After all was said and done I spent 20 minutes from start to finish, including clean up, and ended up with a really great treat and a boosted ego. 

Enjoy!

Jess

Not Your Average Nest

Lets start off by saying that this family unit leads a pretty different lifestyle than most. From the outside looking in, it is super easy to assume that we have a ton of time on our hands; time to cook, clean, organize, and create--but we don't. When I (Jess) am not working my full time job I am a full time student and when my husband (Billy) is not being a stay at home dad he is running his tattoo shop. Pair the previous with a wild-child three year old (Lo) and two equally as wild dogs (Napoleon and Ahsoka)...you might as well color us crazy! But, honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Creativity runs in my blood. I love the feeling of making something with my bare hands, the sense of pride that comes with a completed project is the icing on my cake. Friends and family have encouraged me to share my experiences, my ups and downs, in homemaking and living a beautiful life. So here I am--sharing with you. The goal in starting this road map to a happy house is to encourage other people to step out of their comfort zone, to try new things, and to remind everyone that all life takes is a little balance with a dash of optimism for flavor. I hope that you will dip your toes in the water with me as I tackle new recipes, new projects, and a new outlook on what happy really is.

Cheers to new beginnings,

Jess

DISCLAIMER: By no means am I a gifted chef, baker, artist, or crafter (yeah, I think I made that up)-- I just happen to like a challange.