MamaManagement

PUDDING REINDEER! Hello super adorable chocolate pudding reindeer! I mean seriously, these are too cute! I made them for my daughter's party at preschool and served them with powdered sugar donut hole "snowballs". So fun! They are really easy to make, though they do take a little time, but it's mindless enough work that it can be done while watching HGTV or Food Network…though I don't recommend wielding a hot glue gun with any shows you get too involved in--I don't want anyone getting hurt! Here's what you need to make your own Pudding Reindeer: - pudding cups - pipe cleaners - google eyes (peel and stick, if you have them) - something for red noses; I cut circles from red foam sheets, but you could use felt, constructions paper, fake berries, fuzzy balls, whatever. - scissors - hot glue gun Stick two google eyes to each pudding cup. Cut out your red noses from whatever material you're using. Hot glue noses to the cups with just a ...

Warm and hearty, this soup will fill you up without sitting too heavy or killing any attempts at healthy eating…and it's pretty darn easy. One pot cooking, which I love. A little chopping, cooking the meat and veggies, then it's just assembly and simmer time. Once I got things going, I was able to cut out shapes from construction paper so my kids could do a Christmas craft at the kitchen island while I cooked. Not bad. And if you like the taste of lasagna, then you'll like this soup. It's super hearty and the leftovers reheat well (though if you don't add extra liquid when you reheat, your leftovers will eat more like deconstructed lasagna than soup…which is fine by me.). It would also be a nice alternative to a pan of lasagna when taking dinner to a friend in need. Tonight I'm trying a new corn chowder recipe, so we'll see how that goes. I guess you'll know if and when I share the recipe! In the meantime, you can try out this yummy lasagna soup. S...

Looking for a good book to give someone…or yourself…this holiday season? Well here's a great one: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell .  I stayed up till after midnight to finish it the other night because I just couldn't put it down. (And yes, I was crying and had puffy eyes the next morning.) I absolutely adored this book. None of that "it took me 70 pages to get into the book" business here. I fell in love with these characters quickly and completely. I loved their multi-dimensional, real world quirkiness. I loved their honest teenage insecurities. I loved Eleanor and Park for who they were and for the parts of myself I saw in them. So, what's it all about? Eleanor moves into a tiny house, joining her mom, (awful) step-dad and younger siblings and begins a new high school only to be bullied and teased incessantly. But soon she finds a bright spot in her groundhog-esque bad days…and his name is Park. Their friendship develops slowly but becomes deep...

I am a gigantic ball of stress. My shoulders are up by my ears. I have a tension headache radiating up from the knots in my neck. I will likely develop TMJ from my tightly clenched jaw. I am in an almost constant state of shockingly frenzied to-do-list panic. I yell way more than I find acceptable. "Help." I call quietly from the center of my being. "Help me, please." Somebody pull me out of this crazed state of overwhelmingness. Somebody take away my computer and my phone. Somebody take away the iPad and the TV from the kids. Somebody hide my planner and my to-do lists. Somebody grab me by the shoulders and look me in the eye and tell me sternly to just stop. Stop shopping online at all hours. Stop with the Christmas cards and the Christmas calendar. Stop yelling at the kids for being crazy kids and driving me nuts. Stop being driven nuts by my children only because I'm already overwhelmed. Stop with the decorating. Stop with the errand running and the ...

I'm baa-aack...with more tween reading reviews. Here are three more fun books for you and your tween/teen reader. Truly…don't think that just because these books are in the children's section at your local library means that they aren't for you. They are. They are lovely books. They are well written. They are enjoyable reads. And they will take you back to days gone by, when life seemed so complicated, but was, in fact, so simple. Take a trip with me. First to... The City of Ember by Jeanne Duprau This is the first in the currently oh-so-popular literary form: the trilogy…in this case it's the first book in the Book of Ember trilogy. I have not yet read books two and three, but book one was a fun read, and I will likely pick up book two eventually. The people of Ember have never known anything but the dark, structured world they live in. They don't know that the city of Ember was built as a last refuge for the human race two hundred years ago. What they ...

So, folks, I have a confession. I have been nitpicking my reflection in the bathroom mirror to a much greater degree lately than ever before. To my eyes...I look older. I look tired. I look fatter. I look paler. I have more wrinkles. My skin isn't as bright or as even as it used to be. My hair is duller and frizzier…the list goes on and on. Nothing seems up to snuff lately. Maybe it's the approaching 4…gulp…0. Maybe it's the recent move craziness. Maybe it's the last 5 years since kids entered the picture and I stopped focusing on myself. Whatever it is, I feel decidedly un -attractive. Decidedly un -sexy. And I've been wallowing, on the inside, in these feelings for quite a while. I look at pictures from my wedding and honeymoon just 6 short years ago and think, "What happened?" "I used to be so pretty." "Look how rested I look, how radiant." "Look at my skin! My hair!" Me, pre-wedding, no make-up, no hair did: lovel...

Okay, okay, I know…ANOTHER soup recipe. But you've got to ride this soup train with me because it is just so damn delicious! Seriously people, I am on a roll here. So try another soup with me and, I promise, I'll recommend some books or wax poetic about something not in my le creuset next week. Deal? Okay. So… Sweet Potato, Mushroom and Gouda Chowder. If you like mushrooms, this is heaven in a bowl! I kid you not. My husband, who is not a mushroom fan, liked this soup. I, who am a mushroom lover, drooled over it. (I am pretty sure I moaned while eating it.) Absolutely delicious. As good or better than anything of the like that I've had in great restaurant. Take a nice piece of crusty, fresh, bakery bread and dredge it through your bowl…oh. so. good. Bon appe-freakin'-tit, baby. (photo from ahintofhoney.com) Sweet Potato, Mushroom and Gouda Chowder   (adapted from ahintofhoney.com) 6 slices bacon, diced 1 medium sweet onion, diced 1 lb mushrooms, sliced (...