I am horrible at planning dinner. It is never a priority for me. I realize that as I build my little family, I am going to have to get better at this. I would have been devastated if I came home from school and asked my mom what was for dinner and she said, "I don't know? What do you want?" That is what I say nearly every day to my husband, Nate. I get frustrated, because he never has an answer. And when I do cook, he never seems really impressed. I call him picky, but maybe that is because I will eat ANYTHING. I hope my daughter gets my appetite.
No matter what, my mom had dinner on the table. I don't really recall eating out a lot. There was always something hot on the table, even if it was later in the evening than I would have liked as a growing teenager.
So, today when I was getting in my car at work (a little later than I like to on a Friday afternoon), my husband called.
"What's for dinner?"
"I don't know," I said.
It's not for lack of food in my house...because I spend a lot on groceries and pride myself on having a stocked pantry.
I start going through the file in my head. What can I make quick? He said he is starving.
In my defense, Nate doesn't eat lunch at a set time every day like I do. When he is on day work, he can be hungry for dinner at 3:30 p.m. when he gets home or at 6:30 p.m., which is way too late for me. So, even if I planned, it might not work out perfectly.
Tonight, I happened to have chicken breasts set out. I called my sister for a chicken and rice recipe she had made when I was visiting for New Year's Eve, but it took an hour to bake and sit, and that was too long for my starving man.
So, I saved it for another day and tried to improvise something quicker that would taste similar.
Here is what I came up with.
Chicken and Rice Skillet
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 pound)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 can cream of chicken soup (plus one can water)
2 cups instant rice. uncooked
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 small can mushrooms
1/3 cup shredded cheese (I used mozzarella)
Cut chicken breasts into 1-inch strips. Cook the chicken in 2 tablespoons of olive oil, until no longer pink inside. Add the chicken soup and can of water. Bring to a boil. Add the rice, onion powder and pepper. Bring to a boil and allow to boil for a few minutes so the rice cooks. Add mushrooms. Stir. Remove from heat and let it sit until the liquid is absorbed, about five minutes. Sprinkle with cheese. Serve with crumbled buttered crackers if desired.
Enjoy!
Well, thanks to my mom, the nursery is pretty much done. We have one more project to hang, but that is Nate's job because it's a big, heavy window and I am not attempting that. The first picture is of the crib with the lovely tree decal from Stampin' Up. It took two, but with my mom's expertise, we easily got the tree up on the wall. 
I knew that I wanted to attempt a quilt, which I successfully finished. However, my favorite blankets in our house are the double fleece style with the knots. And, I have been told that babies like tags or little items to play with, so I wanted to make my daughter one of these, too. You can never have too many blankets, or so I have been told. Fleece was $2.99 a yard back before Christmas, plus there was a 20% off coupon for an entire order. What a deal! I couldn't pass that up. So, I picked out two prints and both matched the cream fleece. Then, I found this gorgeous fleece on the remnants rack. It wasn't the fleece that was on sale, but it ended up being about $4 for about a yard and a quarter. It fit my organic, earthy theme of the nursery and even had a little pink for my gal. The blanket took less than an hour and when I was finished cutting, I tied the knots while sitting in the nursery chair. When it was all finished, I curled up and fell asleep with it. Super cozy. Click here for more detailed instructions on how to make these blankets. They are so easy, inexpensive and make great gifts. 
I am on a mad dash to organize and clean my entire house. It all started a few months ago when I had to clean out the spare bedroom (aka my personal dressing room) to make room for our first born. I have been very proud of my dedication to getting rid of junk. I sold a lot at yard sales/flea markets this summer, which proved to be a great way to spend time with my dad and stepsister as well as a good way to rid myself of unwanted goods and make a few bucks. I also unloaded some large furniture items on Craigslist, which has proven to be both profitable and easy. Now it's down to the items I am just not sure where to move and what to do with. I have one day left of Christmas break, and I feel like I am running out of time (which is totally not the case since I still have 8 weeks until the baby is predicted
to arrive.) I have been moving organizing units all over the house, filling drawers with baskets and containers to organize items.
I call it imperfect perfection. This quilt was a labor of love. It definitely has flaws, but the fact that I stuck to it and it's finally complete is a miraculous feeling. I got my information on how to do each step from a variety of sources. In crafting, you have to be resourceful. There are a lot of steps in quilting, but I have always been one to change gears, so quilting was a great project to embark on. First is the piecing together, which is fun because you get to cut out a variety of squares in cool colors and use your creativity. Then comes the putting it together with the backing and the batting. Then, you have to quilt it together, which I found to be the most challenging step. I had a hard time not getting it to wrinkle and scrunch up. And while I hand quilted the middle yellow square, I resorted to machine quilting for the rest to save time. Then, I had to trim the quilt. All the shifting and wrinkling that occurred made it a little tough, but I improvised and made it work. Then, I had to bind the edge to make it look finished. And, this is where the fun came in. I learned the invisible ladder stitch from a blog and was so giddy with excitement, I couldn't stop smiling the entire 4 hours I finished the quilt. I ended up finishing the quilt at 7 a.m. this morning (couldn't sleep). It's done a whole 8 weeks before my little girl is predicted to arrive. That just means, I can do a few more craft projects in the meantime.
I was so inspired by the camo onsie that I posted on, that I used the same technique to gussy up a blue onsie that was handed down to me. Not too shabby. It was pretty tedious with the small parts, but I am proud of the outcome. I didn't attempt to sew this one in place, so let's hope the Heat N. Bond works well. I love birds for my baby (it's the nursery theme), so it was easy to get inspired.
