A while back, I set out to find a way to fix this. Turns out, the freezer is preventative (I haven’t used ’em since I froze ’em, so the jury’s still out on the results), but you can “fix’ them, too.
Pull the marshmallows apart, and grab some confectioner’s sugar. Sprinkle the sticky marshmallows with the powdered sugar and then throw them in a bowl (I used the lid of the bowl as a surface to sprinkle on since it was going to get dirty anyway).
Repeat until they’re all coated, close the bowl, and shake!
The result? Re-fluffled marshmallows!
My taste-tester approved.
I tried it with some stuck mini-marshmallows, but it’s not worth it. They’re ninety-seven cents a bag, for Pete’s sake. I think I’ll just use these to make a s’mores bake (hopefully without the charring).
Once I have a need for the frozen ones, I’ll give an update on that method of non-stick-mallows.
I’m a total judge-a-book-by-its-cover girl. I love a catchy title and a cute cover. Sometimes I just browse the aisles looking at covers. Most of the time, that’s how I pick my next read. It’s rare that I read the back or flip the pages. Yesterday, I was looking for a little inspiration, and I took a stroll down the book aisle at Target. These caught my eye.
I didn’t purchase any yet. I have a few in iBooks and Kindle queue right now. I just can’t get out of my reading rut–lately I’m all blogs and magazines. I need a good book to get me back on track.
The last day of swim lessons is a fun day. The kids wear their life jackets and play with balls, noodles, or their choice of water toys. They get their certificates for completing the class and get a popsicle (last year it was a water toy, but a surprise of some sort) before saying farewell to swim lessons for the year.
Sounds easy enough, right?
Should’ve been. First, I realized as we walked into the pool that I forgot Baby Gray’s dry clothes to wear home. Oh well, I thought, I have the diaper he has on; he’ll just wear that. Good thinking, Mom.
I got the boy all sunscreen-ed up and strapped on his floatation device before letting him jump in the pool. It took about ten seconds to realize that the dry diaper I was planning on him wearing home was on him–I forgot to change him into his swim diaper!
Luckily, I got it off him before it ballooned up, but it was wet. I got him changed so he could play and tried to figure out how I was going to get him home without a nasty carseat as a result. When the lesson was almost over, I remembered I had his backpack in the car.
We got off unscathed, but not without a little mama-sweat.
The self-crowned king of toddler fashion focused mainly on footwear–house shoes, socks, sandals-that-we-only-own-one-of, rain boots, and the like–this week.
Lately I’ve been feeling convicted about my quiet time. I’m loving my Gratitude! app and the She Reads Truth devotionals.
My styling and spacial reasoning is nothing short of terrible sometimes.
I’m really feeling a tug on my heart about the fact that I have my quiet time at night. See, I’m a total night owl. I do just about everything that really requires focus at night. Mr. Gray is asleep. Baby Gray is asleep. The phone doesn’t ring. Email slows way down. I can zero-in and attend to the task at hand.
When I was in high school, I went to FCA camp, and when I came home, I started my first real quiet times and prayer journals. I did them at night. When I picked journaling back up once Mr. Gray and I got married, it was at night. From the start, I’ve done my quiet time at night.
I pray throughout the day. I read scripture-based posts and thoughts. It’s just bits and pieces, though. I hone in at night.
Is that okay, though? Should I be starting my day with quiet time?
Mark 1:35 says, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” Now, this doesn’t say you must get into the Word before daylight every day. It tells me that’s what Christ did, though. I want to follow after Christ’s heart.
That’s what I’m praying through lately. Does it matter when I meet with God? Does it say I’m putting other things before Him since my quiet time is at night? Should I be rising early and meeting with Him before my day begins?
What started as a cute idea or two has quickly turned into my own personal creative challenge. I have always tried to give theme-y, thoughtful gifts, but lately, I’ve wanted the packaging to be part of the thought.
For KAS’s gift this weekend, Baby Gray picked out a pajama book for her–we usually start in the book section and work our way backward. I headed to get some jammers to add to it, and started thinking about packaging. I thought about making a travel bag of some sort, but I couldn’t quite wrap my head around it. Finally it came to me–a pillowcase!
I appliqued a K on the case and got ready to fill it.
In went the book and the jammers! Wrap it up with a bow, and it’s ready to give.
I love giving gifts and making it special for the recipient. Nothin’ like something just for you!
Sometimes it seems like I’m just cataloging life’s little memories here. It’s more than that, though. When we have weekends like this one, and I come home feeling like our cup is completely full, I just want to capture that. I want to be able to tell Baby Gray how well loved he was from his earliest days. I want the memories he doesn’t have yet to be somewhere safe when we’re ready to share them with him.
What started out as just a trip to an Express game with some friends the day before a birthday party turned into an overnight trip with some of Baby Gray’s biggest fans.
We found our seats (we decided on the lawn so the toddler could roam), settled in, and got our first round of snacks. Baby Gray figured out he could watch bae-ball teevee, and pretty much ignored the live game behind him as well as the bullpen below him.
Some rounds of snacks later, Mr. Gray and Uncle Clay found a picnic table they decided we should move to instead. We made our move.
With the bae-ball teevee no longer in view, Baby Gray headed with Uncle Clay closer to the field.
Sometime shortly after, Baby Gray convinced Uncle Clay to hold him while they watched. Next thing we know, a guy hits a bomb to right-center, right where Baby Gray and Uncle Clay are standing. I can never do this story justice with my written words, but let me tell you, it was funny. Uncle Clay covered Baby Gray’s head, turned his back, and ran–just ran. No direction, no spotting the ball, just turned his back and ran–right into the path of the ball. As Uncle Clay’s feet left the farthest spot on the concrete, the ball hit. It was literally seconds behind him. Luckily, no one was hurt, except for our sides and cheeks from laughing so hard. I never thought for a second that ball would do any harm to Baby Gray. He was in good hands.
Mr. Gray and Uncle Clay headed out to get some more treats, and Uncle Clay came back with a bat and ball for the boy. Turns out he’s more interested in throwing the bat than swinging it.
We stayed for the fireworks show, and then made our way back around the field to head home.
The next morning, Baby Gray woke up bright and early to play with Such & DD’s cats. He was having a blast. It almost made me want to get him a cat–almost. Soon, it was time for my favorite part of the morning–Kerbey!
We headed back for a little more time with the kitties before going to KAS’s party. We got to see several AGR friends and their sweet kiddos. Baby Gray had a blast being the big kid, that doesn’t usually happen. He showed ’em how it’s done.
Luckily, he fell asleep on the way home–he hadn’t napped since Thursday, and he didn’t sleep well Friday night. He was all worn out.
We had such a great weekend. I am so glad that we have so many friends and family members who love Baby Gray like we do. It is refreshing to find these kinds of friendships and role models for Baby Gray.
Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
After I posted about my quick jar makeovers a couple of weeks ago, several people asked how I organize my pantry. Specifically, people asked about how to organize a pantry when the husbands aren’t necessarily on board.
While Mr. Gray isn’t going to organize the pantry on his own, he does a pretty good job of maintaining what’s in place. I try to make sure it’s organized simply enough that it doesn’t require much extra effort on his part. Keep it simple.
Mostly, the way this works well for us is by keeping things grouped. They’re grouped by category to a shelf and then subcategories within. They don’t have a specific order within that, which makes it easier for others to stick to. When I get home from the grocery store, I am able to quickly and easily identify where things go and get them put away.
Our pantry is a tall set of cabinets at the back of our kitchen (windows are on either side, sorry for the backlighting–and the fact that I had to dig out a super old photo just to find one of the actual cabinets).
The top set of cabinets is right at eye level, so that is where I store our most frequently used items.
The very top shelf contains entertaining pieces that we use for dinners, parties, showers, and the like.
The two perfect-height shelves have our snacks and Baby Gray’s grab and go foods.
Our snacks are on the highest shelf with two tubs and a little extra space. Anything that comes in a box and is individually wrapped gets put in the small box on the left. The larger box on the right has chips, crackers, and other items that come in a bag. Chip clips are stored right on the tub so there’s not need to search for them. The sides are flanked with nuts, popcorn, oatmeal, and other ill-fitting containers.
Below that is a shelf with Baby Gray’s stuff (well, and cereal–not all the cereals are his). As soon as I get home from the grocery store, all cereal is put in the plastic cereal boxes and all of the to-go snacks are put in the jar on the right. I try not to store boxes. The containers help me know how much space is always needed in the pantry.
The bottom two shelves have cooking and baking items.
I keep cooking items on the top shelf pastas and rices in jars. Anything boxed or bagged fits in the middle, and jars and bottles go to the right.
The bottom houses baking items; again, I try to keep boxes and bags to a minimum. Containers help hold the place of staples (I shop weekly, but I do keep a few staples on hand) when I run out and remind me to add them to the grocery list.
There are definitely some places I need to improve, but, for now, this works for us.
