adventures in once a month meals, part deux

Well, I'm four months in. Let's make this quick:

- yes, i still love it. super duper a lot.

-yes, i've had some mess ups with amounts, and a couple recipes that didn't go over well with everyone. including this "Black Bean Ranch Tortilla Casserole", which SOUNDS like it's awesome but really is quite nasty. nasty enough that personally i'm of the opinion that the original recipe blogger was playing some sort of joke on everyone dumb enough to layer smashed tortilla chips, ranch dressing, yellow squash and a bunch of other stuff...but moving on.... but honestly these issues are far and few between.

- i discussed my food budget in the last post, and I'm happy to report that in the last 4 months of doing this I've saved a total of $700. SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS. not that I have that money stashed under my bed (or even on my bed so i can roll around in it). it went to important things like underwear and socks and...i don't even know what. but seriously, SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS. hard to beat that.

- i have talked at least 5 friends into giving it a whirl. i should sell this trash.

- i just used up the last of my sam's club giant box of gallon freezer bags and foil pans last month. they lasted me through 4 EPIC COOKING DAYS. not bad.

- jeremy helped me cook a few times, and we actually had a nice system going. having a partner wasn't as confusing as i feared. but schedule-wise it works better if i cook on mondays, so i'm flying solo once again. :(

- aaaand, that's about all i can think of right now.

my July menu has a large percentage of grill meals, because it's summer after all. and i bulked up the lunches a bit since all the kiddos are home. it's nice to know they're not eating boxed mac and cheese every. single. day.
and that's what i love about this whole process, in a nutshell.

xoxo
googiemomma out.

perfectly imperfect: simple sewing book review (+ giveaway!)

in typical social media tangled web fashion, i can’t even remember how i first came across katie of the red kitchen. i know it was on instagram, where i followed the writing and development of her book like i was watching updates on the development of a baby. and i think, for her, it was.

so when she sent out the call for some bloggers who would be willing to review her book after it’s birth (!) i volunteered right away. i had watched this thing from it’s infancy, i kind of feel like a grandmom. or at least a really cool but distant aunt.



meet katie’s adorable bouncing baby book: SIMPLE SEWING: 30 Fast and Easy Projects for Beginners.

here’s the thing: i can’t even begin to count the amount of times people have said to me “i wish i could sew” or “you need to teach me to sew”. the truth is sewing isn’t rocket science. and if you have the ability to read and the desire to learn then this book is exactly what you need—a primer for learning the basics. learning your way around fabric and notions and a machine and pumping out a couple decent projects to build your confidence and get you excited.

let’s dive in, shall we?



the beginning of the book gives you an illustrated overview of the tools—both big and small—you’ll need, why you’ll need them, what kind to look for, and how to use them. everything from needles to irons.



next up is a detailed explanation of the techniques you’re going to need for all the book’s projects: how to pin, how to stitch…all the basics.



then the book is broken up into (very logical) groupings of projects, which makes it easy to find the one you’re looking for.



and here’s where the book really shines—not only are there gorgeous full-color and full-page illustrations throughout…



each step of each project has a corresponding photo showing you exactly what to do. if you’re a visual learner this is priceless. even as an experienced sewer there are times i simply do not understand a written instruction in a pattern. it is quite true: a picture is worth a thousand words.

and at the back of the book you’ll find all the patterns for your projects, which can be traced or copied. or cut right out if you’re a rebel.



so what did i do with my book?

my girls are some of the people who have asked me countless times “will you teach me to sew?” they want to Make Things. i even bought them their own machine. but i know my limits and a big one is that i am just NOT a teacher. i don’t have the patience, the organizational skills…i want to jump in and fix the mistakes myself, make it perfect, make it right the way i would do it.
this is tough to admit--but i even seriously entertained the thought of putting the girls in a sewing class at joann’s. how dumb is that? i feel strongly that they should learn to sew, but i convinced myself i lacked the ability to be their teacher.

this book serves as the perfect buffer. i realize now it was just what i needed. even the best of teachers uses a textbook as the basis for what they’re teaching.
this is our sewing class book.

i set ava loose on it first, and she picked the toy camera project.



i let her pick fabrics, and helped her cut her pieces. i gave her some little tips, showed her how to organize everything and how to follow the step-by-step directions. i was there to guide and lend a helping hand, but she did it.



at first she waited for my guidance between steps, but by the end she was off and running on her own. i’ve given her basic sewing machine instruction, so with the illustrated instructions in the book she could easily proceed without my help.



and in the end she had a toy camera.



an actual for real project that she made herself. are the stitches wonky? the circles less circle-y and more octagon-y? yup.



and that’s what makes it perfect.
but we didn’t stop there. that’s the fun of a house full of kiddos. when word spreads that there’s “projects” happening…



gigi wanted in. and the book was awesome yet again: she picked a project and fabric and we got to work. i was a little more involved this time, but we learned how to follow directions, how to measure and cut and pin…



she sat on my lap for the sewing—official Pin Puller and Presser Foot Lifter.



then we pushed out corners and filled our warmers with rice…



and voila. two hand warmers. also perfectly imperfect.



she was nervous about how hot they were (not very)



so she donned some protective…socks.
and there you have it.



these two little projects represent together about an hour and a half of my time and a monetary investment of $0.
but more importantly—they represent the first time we have successfully done sewing projects from start to finish together. they show me that i can teach my girls to sew, and watch it happen without frustration on any of our parts. i didn’t realize what i was missing all along was direction for me, not them. (yes yes, there’s a “priceless” joke in here somewhere. i’ll spare you.)

so, now that i’ve touched your hearts so deeply you can’t wait to have such memory-making moments with your own offspring (or you want to learn yourself)…



you can purchase a copy of katie’s SIMPLE SEWING book from any of these retailers:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Books & Things

you can also check out some other projects from/reviews of katie's book by visiting her website.
and be sure and swing by today's other reviewer--the incredible delia creates--and see what she did!

AND you also have a chance to win a copy of SIMPLE SEWING here by entering below!

before i go i just want to say again that this book is seriously awesome—i honestly mean it. if you want to teach someone—whether an adult or a child to sew, or you want to teach yourself you sew, this book is a must-have place to start. thanks, katie, for letting me be a part of your virtual baby shower book tour!

*please note this contest is open to US shipping addresses only. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

pattern review: {free} toddler blazer

if there’s one thing i love it’s a free pattern. okay, so i don’t love patterns in general, but an independent pattern? from a talented blogger? who’s going to be giving it away for FREE on her blog?

yeah. that i love.

magda of house of estrela asked if i would sew up this soon-to-be-released adorable little girls’ size 2T blazer. because she’s offering it for free, and because she hates math nearly as much as i do, she’s only offering the size 2T.
BUT—if you have any size 2 little girl near you, i highly recommend you hop on over there and snag this ASAP (after it’s release, obviously)!

i did a quick muslin before cutting into my real fabric, and the instant i slipped it on elliot i emailed magda and told her what an awesome pattern this is!

the fit is spectacular, and the design is adorable. it flares out just enough in the back, and it’s roomy enough that even my rather chunkalicious 2 year old can move quite comfortably. seriously, i can’t praise this thing enough.

so the fabric…well this is a remnant jeremy brought me home from work one day. it looks like seersucker, but it’s not. it’s a heavier upholstery weight fabric that i thought would be perfect for this project—to make it more of a fall jacket. i had just enough to make the jacket and piece together a coordinating skirt.

because once i saw the jacket i knew it needed a matching skirt. i mean, srsly? like the most adorable toddler schoolgirl. you know, in a non-creepy COMPLETELY NOT BRITNEY way.

i bit the bullet and used some of my precious little apples fabric to line the jacket. it looked so adorable, and i know i can’t just hoard it forever. but i only had a 1/2 yard, so i left out the sleeve lining and just bound the sleeve edges in bias tape (which is made from the lining fabric, but it mainly looks white so it’s a little hard to tell!)

i did make a couple other adjustments to the pattern:
+ i did the lapels in the lining fabric also, so a bit more of it would show
+ i added a second button to the closure
+ and the pockets—the pattern calls for 2 eyelets in each pocket, with a ribbon cinching it tight and tied in a bow. i love the look of that, but i simply could not find my little eyelet punch. so i improvised with a little reverse box pleat and piped the edge in the same navy piping i used on the skirt. i definitely want to try a pocket magda’s way though (yes, i found my eyelet punch).

the skirt was self drafted. just a flat front and elasticized back with a pleated skirt. i put 2 buttons on the front—kind of like a little sailor look, and i would love to do 2 more underneath the first 2. but i only had 4 of these in my stash, so the other 2 will have to wait until the next time i manage to drag myself to the fabric store (ha.)

so, to sum up:

blazer pattern: 2T FREE pattern by house of estrela (to be released soon!)
blazer fabric: outside—upholstery remnant. sorry ;)
                      inside-----little apples by aneela hoy for moda
skirt pattern: self drafted
skirt fabric: upholstery remnant again. still sorry. :)

uh oh mommy, ders a car comin’!

i’m such a good wife.

my entire life i’ve been a Reader—anytime, anywhere, any lighting. i’d sneak books in my bed, reading by the light from the hallway. and so, my entire life i’ve had people saying to me “you’re going to ruin your eyes!”

guess what. turns out eventually they were right.

i need glasses now. boo. well, sometimes boo. because sometimes they can be cute, too. so when firmoo contacted me about trying out some of their glasses i was like YEE-HAW!
digging on that hipster nerd look? they got you covered. want something more classic? yup, they got it. even sunglasses.

but.

i’m not the only glasses wearer in the house—my mister’s eyes are about 1000x worse than mine. and when firmoo contacted me about reviewing glasses, he was more in need of some new pairs than i was. so, i let him have it, err…them.



yup. i’m totally the best wife.

i <3 nerds with glasses and bowties

okay—pros: these glasses are nice. just as nice as any pair we’ve gotten for him locally. they came in hard cases, with a little kit for repairs. shipping was fast, and the biggest thrill—the price was AWESOME. compared to what we normally pay for his glasses this was a HUGE savings (although these 2 pairs were given to us for review purposes, we did figure out what the cost would have been).

he’s been wearing these two pairs every day for a few months now, and they’re just as nice as when he got them. seriously—dude is blind without glasses, they go on first thing in the morning and don’t come off until he’s going to sleep at night. jeremy has an astigmatism in one eye, so each lens is very different. the prescription was perfect.

cons:  honestly i can’t really think of any real cons. the only thing that was a little hairy was the whole process of entering all his prescription info and measuring his eyes. we couldn’t get the “virtual try-on” to work for us, so we based our choices on just the measurements and descriptions of the glasses on the site. we usually have a terrible time finding glasses for jeremy—he’s almost 6’4, and a big guy. most men’s glasses seem a little…smallish on him. but it completely worked—these glasses fit him perfectly. and in my honest opinion i think the ordering process is something that will be more difficult the first time and NBD every successive time you order from firmoo.

also a con—having to force him to take these photos. he did not want to. at all. stinker. and then he gave me a straight face in every shot. so i made him laugh. i don’t even remember what we were laughing about, but i love these shots (even though his eyes are closed). ;)
bottom line? i absolutely recommend firmoo for glasses. if you know or have your prescription definitely give them a try. for the price it’s worth taking the chance, even if you’re nervous about ordering glasses online and not being able to try them on first. srsly.
got more questions? check out firmoo’s f.a.q. HERE.
disclosure: we were provided two pairs of glasses at no cost for review. but all opinions are my own, and i would never recommend or endorse a product i didn’t trust and believe in! true story.

time flies.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! THANKS TO ALL WHO ENTERED!

scene: foggy bathroom, post-shower. shannon, hair wrapped in a towel, wipes down the misted over mirror and goes to begin her daily toilette.
suddenly our heroine gets a glimpse of her reflection—shock, dismay. the years are showing. the too-many-bad-sunburns are taking their toll on her fair skin.
but wait! all is not lost! her 20’s a mere memory, she is still in her beginning 30’s—there is still time to prevent more damage! still time to…uh, slow time.
quickly she slides open her drawer of beauty products and…

ugh. it’s a sad sad state of affairs. a mishmash of store brand firming masks and eye creams mixed with deoderants and baby shampoo, rarely used makeup and unfortunately still used acne medication. (and we’ll just ignore those self-tanners, mmmkay?)
like so many other things my beauty routine has also fallen prey to The Mommy Syndrome. you know the one—where you’re too tired/stressed/frazzled/poor to give full attention to something? especially something for YOU? so you do it halfway or not at all?
yup. i see you nodding in agreement. you’re with me.
so this is why, when i was contacted by a rep for rodan + fields, i was all over it. the bulk of that mess of a drawer emptied in favor of this:

one little package containing four products:

a simple anti-age skin care regimen developed by the same two women dermatologists who developed proactiv. they offer four different regimens: REVERSE, ANTI-AGE, BLEMISH, and SOOTHE. i chose to try the ANTI-AGE one…because, well…i’m not getting any younger.
okay, here it is. i’ll admit it: i was skeptical. i tend to be fairly cynical about, well, everything. so the first thing i did when i got the products was take my camera out in the sunlight and take 4 bazillion photos of my face, sans any products at all. and now i’m going to share them with you.
presenting ME, in all my natural glory:

these photos are all straight out of the camera. i didn’t do a thing—not even a basic levels adjustment (muusst…noottt..photoshop…arrrgghhhh!!)
this is how much i love you guys. i took these photos, and now i’m sharing them.
okay i’ll be the first to admit that i don’t have the world’s worst skin. but it’s not great. one of my biggest concerns is that area between my eyebrows and my forehead.
hey—i’ve got five kids. i spend a lot of time doing things like this:

but i figured i’d try it—nothing wagered, nothing lost.
this is the 100% total, unvarnished, un-paid-for truth—i COULDN’T BELIEVE the difference. 2 weeks in i had to go back and look at the date on these photos, because i couldn’t believe it had only been 2 weeks of using the products.
you apply the daily cleansing mask both morning and night and allow it to dry for 2 minutes before rinsing. the first few times i used it it felt tingly. not a totally awful sensation, but not my favorite. now it doesn’t bother me.

you follow that up with the pore minimizing toner, and then one of the lotions—one for day and one for night.
my skin felt softer and smoother and healthier. i actually—for real—had multiple people, out of the blue (both strangers and friends), tell me how young i looked. even my husband noticed—and you ladies know how amazing that is.
here’s some more honesty for you—i almost, almost didn’t really want this stuff to work. because the one flaw i can find in rodan + fields products is their price. the system is not cheap. but the results speak for themselves.
not until this morning when i was taking my “after” photos did i realize just exactly how well. i guess i’ve gotten used to my “new” skin, because i actually was nervous that the photos wouldn’t show much difference. i figured i could explain how different my skin FEELS, and how hard that is to capture in photos. but i don’t think i need to.
again, these are straight out of the camera shots. i did my morning cleanse routine and went outside for photos. i’m wearing lip gloss and last night’s mascara.

okay, fine. i did put a little bit of eyebrow pencil on. dude—i have BLONDE eyebrows. as in—virtually invisible. that’s just weird. but other than that it’s just me and R + F. 
let’s do a side by side, shall we?


less red and splotchy, more smooth and glowy. amirite? i swear to you—these photos were both taken right outside my back door, using only sunlight. same camera, held arm’s length away. (my freckles are darker because they always get darker in the summer and we’ve been to the beach a couple times since i started using the products. tra-la-la, the joys of red hair.)
thank you rodan + fields and sage for letting me try your products! you’ve made a believer of me!
now what about you? well my r + f rep—sage bowman—has generously offered a giveaway to one of my readers. you can win one EYE CREAM and one MICRO-DERMABRASION.


i’m kind of seriously jelly of you guys right now, cause i really want to try the eye cream.
TO ENTER: + just leave me a comment. tell me something, anything. tell me about your beauty regimen (or lack thereof). tell me about the time you smeared egg yolks all over your face to minimize your pores and you stunk the house up. tell me the beauty routine old wives tales your great grandma told you. + one entry per person.
+ i’d love it if you were follower of googiemomma, but it’s not required.
+ i’d also love it if you would go check out rodan + fields website.
+ please leave your email address in the comments if it’s not easily located.
+ giveaway open until 9/30/2010, 12:00 am EST. winner will be chosen at random and notified by email. winner has 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.

note: i was provided with products for review. i was not paid, and all opinions are my own. trust me—i have plenty of my own opinions. i don’t need anyone else’s.