Charisa Darling

Archive for February 2016

Friday, February 26, 2016

Friday 5

printable oscar ballot 2016 | almost makes perfect

First things first, it's Oscar time! Hope you have your ballots and bubbly all ready to go for Sunday night! Here's a link for these ballots, made by Molly, at Almost Makes Perfect.

I started painting my bathroom cabinets this week, so this has been my view for the last few days. The Good Wife and Girls got me through the boring parts of this process. (Season 2 of Girls was kind of a downer and I'm stuck there because season 3 isn't available for free on Amazon Prime yet. Darn it!)

I bought knobs and pulls forever-ago and now I can't find them, so.....I guess I need to make another trip to the store. So close to being finished!

It snowed here on Wednesday, making everything look like a winter wonderland. It melted later that day, which if you ask me, is how should snow behave all the time. Hello! Goodbye!

I draw daily, but recently have been trying to create a more finished piece, and not just random things on a scrap piece of paper. I gave this one to Vaughn to color. We make a great team!

Hope everyone has a great weekend! Cheers!

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Love to Cook, Hate to Plan: Weekly Menu 26

I'm excited to try out our first Blue Apron meals this week! I'll report back on how Monday's chicken skewers go!

BLAT's for a busy Tuesday night.

Pinto bean and squash soup on Wednesday, which is the second Blue Apron dinner for the week.

Tacos on Thursday, pizza on Friday.

The kids are in a talent show on Saturday, so we'll have to grab something quick before we head out the door.

I'm hoping for nice weather on Sunday (and need to remember to buy more propane for the grill) so we can grill burgers (portobello mushrooms for me) on Sunday.

Hope this helps with your planning! Have a great week!

Sharing with: the org junkie and this week for dinner

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Friday, February 19, 2016

Friday 5: Recapping the Week

Love was in the air at the beginning of the week, and Justin knows the way to my heart - tulips and a subscription to Blue Apron. That's right folks, that's two less nights of dinners that Mama has to plan now!

This was the Valentine that Vaughn made for her teacher. I don't know where she came up with the idea, but she drew, colored, and watercolored this little love-gram all by herself.

Speaking of watercolors...I've been doing more painting myself and it's been a great head-cleaner-outer, it you know what I mean.

The kids had Monday off of school, so while Vance went skiing with a buddy, Vaughn and I made cookies and stayed in our jammies well into the afternoon. A perfect Monday, if you ask me.

The weather at the start of the week was cold and snowy, but today's high is 72 and therefore brings a strong chance of an outdoor Happy Hour today.

Enjoy the weekend, my friends. Cheers!

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Wednesday, February 17, 2016

My Favorite Time Saving iPhone Tip

I'm by no means a techie, and this may be common knowledge to many, but it was news to me when I stumbled onto it a year or so ago. It's been a big time saver and I wanted to pass it along, just in case you didn't know about it either! Here we go!

(Before we get started, this trick works for Mac computers that are synced with your phone. I'm not sure if it will work with PC's, but you can try.)

Let's say you're rushing out of the house to go somewhere and you didn't have time to write down the ingredients that you need to buy at the store in order to make dinner, or even what site it was that you saw the recipe. This is how this tip helps. Before leaving the house, bring the site up on your computer and leave it open.

When you get to the store, open Safari on your iPhone:

Tap on the square icon:

That will bring you to this, and then scroll up...

which will reveal what pages you've left open on your computer at home. Just click on the page you'd like to open!

There it is! No Googling or thumbing through your Pinterest app to find what you need!

I use this all the time for recipes, or even articles I want to read when I'm out of the house and away from my computer. Hope it helps you out too!

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Friday, February 12, 2016

Friday (almost) 5

My better half has been under the weather this week, so I've had to step up my parenting game. Monday found me surrounded by a bunch of dudes at two different hitting practices. I doodled my way through, naturally.

Birds and I didn't get off to a good start. While on vacation to France as a child, a bird landed on my head while watching two men play bocce ball and scared me half to death. Many years later in San Francisco, a dirty pigeon's wing hit my face as it flew from a lady who was pouring bird seed on herself and claiming she was the "Bird Lady of San Francisco". I've seen Hitchcock's The Birds and I'm leery that I just may be the next Tippi Hedren. However, I still like to watch from a distance, and this week has been great for bird watching at our house. These robins have been eating all of the berries from our bushes and we've had a ton of others too. Starlings, blue jays, blue birds, some little gray ones that I don't know of, and my buddy, a giant hawk that visits often.

I'm trying to break the kids nasty gum habit with more natural alternatives. Picked these up this week, hopefully they'll like it!

I'm heading off to the kid's school today to help with ~~Valentine's Day~~ Friendship Parties. Ready to get it over with and close the book for classroom parties this year!

Have a great weekend everyone! Cheers!

Tuesday, February 09, 2016

Spectacular Valentine's

Oh, dear Lord...more Valentine's Day stuff. I hear ya. Last post on the subject, I swear!

Every year I ask the kiddos what kind of Valentine's they'd like to pass out, secretly hoping that they'll say "the store bought kind", and they always say "something creative". (They're my kids for sure!) This year's came together easily, especially since both kids were ok with handing out the same thing. I picked up 4 bags of heart shaped glasses from Target, designed and printed tags, and tied them together. Done and done.

Click HERE for the tags.

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Valentine's Day for Them. And You.

We typically celebrate Valentine's Day without gifts, but if we did, these would be my go to's. I think they'd work for you and yours, too.

...............

Because I've been really good this year, I'd pick myself up these flowers and oversized initial necklace.

Justin loves these shorts and needs a new pair. Also this book, because he's always asking.

Vaughnie would be adorable in this floral pullover and I'd insist we share those pens.

Vance has made himself a wish list from Vineyard Vines, so this shirt was an easy pick. He'd also love a Bronco's Super Bowl shirt because that's his team!

Sunday, February 07, 2016

Fox Valentine Box

The Room Mom for Vaughn's class is a sweet southern lady and when she asked me if I minded doing some "heads/tails" for the class party, I thought that was southern slang for odds and ends.

I was wrong.

She actually meant heads and tails. And she's just too sweet to say no to. So I obliged, even though I knew it would be a ton of work. She sent a pin to me of an idea, I recreated it, and figured I'd share it.

I started with a heart shape for the head, then added ears, a medium size for the face, and a small heart for the nose. I made one for each student, plus a few extra, and pre-glued them together. (There's not enough time in the party for the kids to do this.)

I also cut the tails and glued on white fur on the end.

25 was a lot. A lot, a lot.

The kids will add eyes, other decorations, and a heart with their name on it. (Depending on what type of box they sent in will determine where their name-heart will go.)

Here's a quick pattern for the pieces. Also, I picked up the red paper at an office supply store for 4 cents a sheet, which I thought was a pretty good deal.

I think these Fox Boxes are adorable and can't wait to see how the kiddos will decorate and fill them!

Love to Cook, Hate to Plan: Weekly Menu 25

Happy Superbowl Sunday! Hope the team you're rooting for wins!

Indoor soccer starts this week, which now means we have 4 sports active right now, and why menu's have been a little uninspiring lately. But, still, we have to eat, so this is what I've come up for this week. Hope my menu helps with yours!

On Monday, we'll be doing a little detoxing from all the Superbowl snacks with this Spicy Southwestern salad with Avocado Dressing.

Soup on Tuesday is my secret weapon against two back-to-back busy nights. There's always leftovers! Homemade Chicken Noodle for this week.

Leftovers or something equally quick on Wednesday.

Tacos on Thursday. Ole!

Pizza night on Friday. (It's always a game day decision weather we order out or make at home. Lately, making them is our favorite way, since we can't seem to find a good pizza place around here. It's my mission to find good wood-fired crust!)

Out on Saturday! Kitchen is closed!

Salmon on Sunday with my Sweethearts! The kids have never had chocolate fondue, so that's what's for dessert. Happy Valentine's Day!

Sharing with: the org junkie and this week for dinner

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Friday, February 05, 2016

Friday 5 (minus 2)

The most exciting thing that's happened around here this week has been Vaughn spilling a trail of honey across the kitchen floor. I didn't see it happen, but saw her wiping the floor, and actually believed her when she said she had it handled. I, myself, have spent some time on my hands and knees scrubbing sticky spots, but everyday new ones mysteriously pop up. Spilled honey is no joke.

Here's a few things making me happy this week:

My little bird and these holly branches.