Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Celebrate Cinco de Mayo.....Please visit me at http://moreismoremom.com

As I am the More is More Mom, I am sure it will come as no surprise to you that I have been maintaining TWO BLOG PAGES! I haven't asked you to visit me at my other page, because I was hoping to invite you there once my fabulous new website is complete. Well, I'm getting there,but in the meantime I'm posting the same messages in two places, at the same time (of course I am, because you know my motto....More of Everything is Always Better). Well, today, I must admit defeat. I'm tired (mock horror...). It has taken me forever to post all of my great pictures for Cinco De Mayo. So instead, I am inviting you to please start visiting me at:

http://moreismoremom.com

Thank you so much for being so supportive. Please keep reading and pass the word along to all your friends (enemies are fine too) and family, so we can continue to...Create Meaningful Life Experiences, together.....

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Home Depot Makes Me Happy....Who Knew?

Oh, happiest of days! Yesterday, on the most perfect of days, Wrigley and I were coming home from a quick jaunt (which we never should have done….my knee is killing me!) when I heard Michael Jackson blaring from my fanny pack (I know, totally loser, but I need to carry; money, just in case, my I-Pod, my Blackberry, and plenty of plastic bags to pickup you-know-what, and I am telling you a 92lb Labrador does a lot of you-know-what.), Let’s Dance, Let’s Shout….Shake Your Body Down To The Ground (my ring tone, and answer tone, so everyone gets to hear the King of Pop. I so enjoy it, and am always really tempted to just let it ring and listen the music….). I could see right away that it was my very dear friend and neighbor (her doggie is Mr. Hobbs, Wrigley’s very best friend in the entire world! Wrigley would walk on hot coals to be with Mr. Hobbs. He loves Mrs. Hobbs too. One day Mrs. Hobbs called me to tell me to come outside and bring my camera…..apparently, while Mrs. Hobbs was loading up her SUV, Wrigley decided he would like to accompany Mrs. Hobbs on her journey, you know, so she wasn’t lonely, and was found sitting in the passenger seat ready to go Bye-Bye-In-The-Car. Thank God he hadn’t decided to curl up in the back seat and surprise her along the way. That would have been exciting!). Mrs. Hobbs is a More is More kind of gal as well, and she was calling to tell me that the Home Depot had amazing Boston Ferns for $7.98 each and they were going like hotcakes!

Never one to miss an awesome sale, I decided grocery shopping be damned! It was time to head to the Home Depot. After a quick shower, I was on my way. Thankfully I had asked Chuck to leave me our Yukon XL for the day because Amanda needed me to transport a gaggle of kids after school for a class project. Serendipity? Perhaps.

The flowers were beautiful! It took every once of control I could muster to take a thoughtful inventory, rather than load up my cart and purchase everything in sight. It’s just so inspiring….

Fun accent plants that are also air purifiers. I mean, those are totally promoting health so I did buy two of those, but otherwise, I swear I was really good.


Gorgeous orchids! Barclay Butera (amazing designer, FYI) always features these incredibly beautiful orchids in unbelievably generous pots on his coffee tables. My coffee table however features magazines, a collection of boxes and tortoise hurricanes, so I don’t have room for orchids. Besides, they would completely block the idiot box, and you know how much I adore the idiot box.


These tropical palms were down right luscious; makes me want to save a Rain Forest.


I am totally in love with orange, which is crazy because I am red and HOT pink girl. These Orange Stars are lovely….


This was cracking me up. Scott Turf Builder is the Official Lawn Care of the Chicago Cubs. Go Cubs Go (BTW…LOVE the idea of Big “Z”, Zambrano, in the Bullpen. He is the Man!!!!!)!


Alright, you got me. I did purchase one (only one!) patio planter. But come on, they were only $14.98 each! If I was really in to saving money, I would have bought more….



Marigolds…..


Gerber Daisies….


Impatiens……


But in the end, other than the two accent plants and the one patio planter, I only bought two beautiful Boston Ferns (well actually four, but two are for my mom and I promise I am going to give them to her).


Now I know exactly what I want to do for Mothers Day…..buy flowers!

Monday, May 3, 2010

Old Mother Hubbard and I Have Nothing in Common....

Old Mother Hubbard and I have nothing in common. My cupboards are never bare! As the More is More Mom® I pride myself on being prepared. Little makes me happier than stocking up……on more of everything. One of my most favorite things to do is our grocery shopping. My penchant for food shopping must be a direct correlation to my fondness for cooking and eating. To me, the simple act of making a grocery list is highly satisfying, so I food shop several times a week. I imagine that those efficiency experts would frown upon the notion of making multiple trips to the grocery store each week, though I find it quite enjoyable………



Most Sundays I can be found pouring through my cookbooks and my collection of recipes that I clip from magazines and newspapers (I have a mostly super organized method for my collection. I am a bag lady at heart, forever inspired by everything I see. Stacks of pages and pages, torn out of magazines and newspapers, can be found stuffed inside of other magazines that are too inspirational to discard, and notebooks and folders, can be found tucked in to various nooks and crannies of my house. I clip recipes, gardening tips, pictures of beautiful rooms, vignettes and window treatments, groovy accessories, ideas for entertaining and trends in fashion; pretty much anything that catches my eye. I separate my clippings by theme and then store them by category in identical, portable hanging file boxes that I label for easy identification. Very simple.). My family certainly has their favorite meals, but I frequently tire of chicken, mashed potatoes and broccoli (Yawn). I yearn for a tasty challenge from time to time (as the More is More Mom® I am never afraid of new experiences. The number of ingredients in a recipe doesn’t scare me…...I have kids, and if that doesn’t scare you, nothing will!).



I take a quick gander at my color coded calendar for the weeks schedule of events (for example: Amanda’s gymnastics is in purple, Nick’s hockey is in red, Nick’s golf is in green, Our Lady of Perpetual Donations is in blue, and the Be All and End All Academy is in black. This way I know who has what at a glance.). This tells me who will be home for dinner and when. The next step in my evil plan to take over the world is to make a list of the upcoming days for which I will be making dinner. As a huge food snob, it kills me to eat out. For us it’s just a big fat waste of money. I have become a pretty darn good cook (I’ve come a long way in the past 20 years since my days of making crunchy lasagna), and eating out is hardly a thrill. We eat beautiful meals at home (nearly every day), and the wine is way cheaper (I can get a Santa Margherita Pino Grigio for as little as $15.10 a bottle. At a restaurant, we’re looking at a good $42.00 a bottle….Yikes! With the way we drink it, we’d never be able to afford to dine out anyway.).

Once I have my list of days for which I need meals for the week, I begin the selection process. The busyness of the week is the biggest determining factor. I know how much time I will have each day to prepare dinner and select my recipes accordingly, trying not to serve too many dishes with the same ingredients in one week. I also make an effort to try new recipes, even if they are just merely a new twist on an old classic. I also like to consider just how much I can prep in advance (last night for instance we were at Nick’s hockey game at super time. Chuck grilled the pork chops just before we left, and while my beautiful, creamy risotto cooked on the range I chopped up veggies for a salad to be served upon our safe return. Prep and organization is the key to success! The hot dishes are put in our warming drawer, one of the world’s greatest inventions, and I wrap the chopped veggies in paper towel to absorb the moisture so they don’t get all soggy and gross, which would be yucky.).

Having my meals scheduled for the week, it’s time to make my grocery list. Because I am so familiar with the markets that I frequent I am able to organize my list in accordance with the layout of the store. That’s not to say that I’m still not criss-crossing the aisles from time to time, but it is a far more efficient system. Here’s one of my little helpful tips: in the meat section of my grocery list I note the date on which I intend to serve that meal. Then, as I am making those selections, I can check the sell by dates and adjust my meal plan accordingly. No one wants to get Mad Cow Disease!

I frequent many fine purveyors; heading to Ultra Foods for all of my stock up items. Gotta love their Ultra Saver Prices! Dominick’s is my favorite market because they have a very nice Starbucks. I typically pick up small items that I need throughout the week, any prescriptions we may need refilled and peruse the wine department. As I am the More is More Mom®, you can only imagine how I salivate on an outing to Cost Co. They only sell in bulk!! We are a match made in Heaven. There I pick up your household basics, TP, Bounty paper towels (my favorite), Zip Loc Baggies (by the thousands!), snacks for Wrigley, eggs, butter, huge containers of Parmigianino Reggiano Cheese, Feta Cheese and garlic, and of course meat. Keeping my freezer well stocked makes it easy to make a meal in a flash!

Having an inventory of staples makes it possible for me to whip up a great meal in no time. My pantry is full from top to bottom and side to side with; baking supplies and mixes, pastas and sauces, rice’s, jars and jars of condiments, vinegars, oils, marinades, chicken broth, bread crumbs, cereals, crackers, party mixes, nuts and such.

Keeping my spices, rubs, salts, peppers and other cooking essentials organized is one of the key ingredients in my kitchen running like a well oiled machine.




If Old Mother Hubbard hung out with me, her cupboards would never be bare!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

The Thinker....Intellectual Curiosity is Highly Overrated

At a family party earlier this year I was watching Nick, deep in conversation, and was struck by what a bright and articulate young man he has become. It dawned on me that it would not be long before he was way smarter than me, and we could very easily run out of things to talk about. I haven’t been able to understand his complicated Math for eons, and I’m really not that interested. As for Science, well quite frankly, I would rather step on a rake than ponder the Scientific Method. Nick is just wrapping up Latin III, and that’s all Greek to me, so to speak. But English? I’ve got a fighting chance because…….I can read.

Suddenly, I had a flash of genius (otherwise know as a Lucy Ricardo moment)! I could keep up with him by reading the same fine works of literature that were assigned to him in his English class (these are of course assignments I myself would have missed in High School while I was hanging out at the Mc Donald’s across the street. Oddly enough, Ronald Mc Donald did not distribute a syllabus at the beginning of the semester, and likely the only thing to read, other than the menu, would have been the calorie count for each item lovingly fried in their kitchen. I know that must have been frightening, which would surely have been the reason that I didn’t read that either.). I was very proud of myself for being so noble, and inquired, “What are you reading now?” Unfortunately Nick responded with, “Macbeth.” Macbeth? Really? The Bard? The only thing I know of Shakespeare is Jack Benny asking, “To be? Or not to be? That is the question.” That’s not the question. The question is: what the Hell does that mean?

I guess I thought he’d be reading something cool like To Kill a Mockingbird or Catcher in the Rye. Saddened by my rotten luck, I asked Chuck to stop at Border’s on his way home from work and pick up a copy of Macbeth. I was determined to struggle through. My mom suggested, since I wouldn’t be tested on it, why didn’t I just get the Cliff Notes (I’m showing my age, because the youngsters today go directly to Spark Notes on line…..), you know, in order to get the flavor of the story (she never suggested that when I had to read a book!)? This was just the kind of idea that I could run with.

Well, then I looked at the Cliff Notes, and they looked super boring, so then I thought about renting the movie. But, who had time to watch or read boring Shakespeare? I zipity zipped over for a quick TJ Maxx and More fix instead. You know, intellectual curiosity is highly overrated. I have come to the conclusion that Nick and I have a lot in common. We love the Cubs, our baby Wrigley, silly movies and 30 Rock marathons. We’ll have plenty to talk about because love and laughter (and Vince Vaughn) are a universal language…..

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

If One is Good....Two Must be Better


I am a More is More kind of gal, so you can only imagine how much I love jewelry! I have an awesome collection, if I don’t say so myself. I am partial to all kinds of baubles, particularly in quantity……..

Of course I am enamored with fine jewelry (Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend), but I am also a total sucker for fabulous costume finds! My favorite go to purveyors are J Crew, Banana Republic and the Kate Spade Outlet Store, but I am an equal opportunity horder. In fact, about this time three years ago I was invited to an in home jewelry party (not the Silpada kind that is so popular. Actually my neighbor is a Silpada “Dealer”, gems being her drug of choice. Years ago I hosted an in home party for her and so many gals came, imbibed and shopped that I received almost $900.00 in complimentary product. If is sparkles…they will come.) featuring knock off Tiffany pieces. Being the thoughtful and considerate guest that I am, I made a little purchase. I had been eyeing a Butterfly Necklace in the real Tiffany catalog, and when I saw the knock off I thought, “Why not?” Well, I’ll tell you why not……because Chuck was mad as a hornet (!); certainly not because I bought something, but because he wanted to surprise me and had already purchased the real Tiffany Butterfly Necklace for me for Mother’s Day. I loved it, cherished it, and wore it all the time.

Last year for Mother’s Day I was lucky enough to have a beautiful Roberto Coin necklace bestowed upon me. How ever did they know? (Oh yeah…..it was the picture of the necklace that I ripped from the catalog, with a rewards coupon, that I left on Chuck’s desk that might have been the tip off). Well now I was in quite a quandary. Which necklace should I wear? I loved them both. As the More is More Mom® the answer was crystal clear…….Wear them both! If one is good, clearly “MORE” must be better!!

Monday, April 26, 2010

Not Quite 27 Dresses.....But Almost


(This is a re-enactment of Amanda repeatedly locking herself out of the fitting room. She is a gal on a mission, and has little time to waste waiting for the nearly non-existent sales girl to return with a key. She’s in 8th grade; we don’t have time to wait until prom.)

As I am the More is More Mom® it should come as no surprise that my daughter would “need”…….. more dresses! Amanda is graduating from the 8th grade at Our Lady of Perpetual Donations Grammar School. One might think that it is kind of a given that our children graduate from 8th grade (though they would certainly have surpassed famed scholar Jethro Bodine), and question the reason for such jubilation, but you have to understand the situation to appreciate all of the pomp and circumstance.

Our Lady of Perpetual Donations is a wonderful and magical place. It is a tiny bubble, with in the bubble of Winsome, IL…..where winning is a way of life. Amanda, following in her brother Nicholas’s footsteps, began her academic pursuits as a student in the Three Year Old Pre-School class at Our Lady of Perpetual Donations eleven years ago. She was so cute! The Pre-Schooler’s are not required to wear a uniform to school, but because Amanda had been chasing after Nick and the “big kids” for the previous 2 years, she was determined to be excluded no longer! She wore an authentic, hand-me-down, blue plaid jumper, with her favorite denim button down shirt, argyle tights and gold sparkle shoes. She was smashing!

There are 67 students graduating in Amanda’s class, most of whom have known each other since the age of three. The class is small, the experience intimate. They will go to one of 8 different High Schools, so the end of their 8th grade year really is the end of an era. The festivities that lead up to graduation are a celebration of their year’s together and becoming young adults.

And how does one celebrate such milestones? With excessive, fabulous attire and accessories of course! We were in “need” of dresses for; Confirmation, May Crowning, the Formal Eighth Grade Dance and Graduation Day (Heaven forbid a dress be worn twice!). We kicked off Dress Shopping Extravaganza 2010 with two of Amanda’s closest friends CC (see Fourteen and Fearless, January 2010) and Rosebud, for a Mother/Daughter Day of perusing and lunching (read: no cocktailing, as it was the middle of the afternoon, and we had to drive. Responsible Mother’s of the Year.); so many dresses, so many absolutely and completely inappropriate choices! Good people of the fashion industry please take note: most mothers don’t want their daughters dressing like Hoochie Mama’s (and their father’s like it even less). Watch the cleavage and watch the hemlines!

The prevailing number of outrageously inappropriate offerings necessitated numerous excursions to The Mall (my happy place). We shopped with friends, we shopped alone, and we had a wonderful day with my mom and Auntie Terri. Of course once we found the dresses we were on a mad search for shoes. Amanda is a gem of a girl who is true to herself (I LOVE THAT!). She flat out refused to consider a shoe with even the slightest heel (really, have you ever seen the little girls playing dress up, teetering around in shoes that would make a street walker cringe? Ridiculous.), and we found three fantastic pairs of shoes that suit her, and her charming dresses, to a “T”.

The Confirmation Dress, from Von Maur (Please note the poppy sweater, Old Navy, Spring Collection, 2009):


We loved these linen look ballet flats with the satin rose embellishment (also from Von Maur, by Blowfish, Malibu. They were only $40.00!). They are also perfect with Amanda’s selection for Graduation as well.



The Graduation Dress, from Nordstrom’s:




May Crowning, from J Crew (they have the best t-shirts, sweaters, costume jewelry and flip-flops EVER):



Look at these little hot pink creations by B.P. for Nordstrom’s. I can’t get enough of the pink and white gingham check!


For her 8th Grade Formal Dance (which just so happens to be on the same night as Amanda’s Gymnastics Team Banquet. You know we love more of everything, including complicated matters….), another offering from Von Maur:


Lastly, the piece de rĂ©sistance, a beautiful pair of glistening, buttery yellow, snake skin sandals with amazing ruffle detail (if only they were a half size bigger!), by Kelsi Dagger, also from the fabulous shoe salon at Nordstrom’s:



While the dresses are lovely, and the shoes perfectly appropriate, the very best part was the time I got to spend with my gal. Creating meaningful experiences is what it’s all about…….

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Champs Like Us....Baby We Were Born To Run.......

You would never look at me and say, “Oh yes, she’s definitely a runner.” The words that would come to mind run more along the lines of moth-er, shop-er, merry mak-er, cocktail-er…..all the other “er’s.” But, the fact of the matter is, I love to run. More than loving to run, I love to run with my Wrigley. We are not fair weather runners either, we’re hardcore. Everyone likes to be outside when it’s nice, but we’re not like everyone else. If it’s raining, I wear a slicker. Heaven knows I’m not sweet enough to melt. And Wrigley, well, he’s a water dog, so he dries pretty easily. Winter’s no problem. I bundle up and wear one of those face masks that make me look like an armed robber, but really after about a mile I’m so hot the hat comes off, then I have to unzip my coat, and finally I take off my mittens. As for the Wiggler, he’s a Labrador. He’s a man’s man. He could go on forever in the cold.

I do my best thinking while on our runs. When else would I possibly have the time to conceive all of my hair brained schemes? There is just nothing like being outside, listening to your music and being with one of your favorite people of Earth. I’m not kidding, as we jog along Wrigley glances back at me, over his shoulder, and smiles.

This past year has been kind of a stinker for us. I am a big loser and tore my meniscus. I was out for five months, which meant that poor Wrigley was out for five months too. While I was able to bike and go to the health club, my little pup was bored out of his mind. Wrigley is a serious athlete. Going for a walk around the block was boring, and going to the park for us to throw a tennis ball for him was a rather pathetic substitution. I begged Nick to take him for a run, and he obliged me on a few occasions, though he always returned in a huff telling me that I trained him to run too slow. Hello…that’s how we run. I said we loved it, I didn’t say we were any good it.

As the More is More Mom® I have little time for rules and a reasonable course of action, so I released myself from inactive duty. The day we got back in the saddle was one of Wrigley’s happiest days. He panted, and slobbered and grinned from ear to ear. Fast forward to January 19th of this year; my baby and I were on a quick jaunt and I felt a twinge of pain in my right knee. RATS! Having previously been to the doctor for a knee injury, I felt fairly confident about making a diagnosis (never mind that I’ve not been to medical school. I watched General Hospital for years, especially in it’s hey day with Dr. Noah Drake.).

Another three month break from running seemed completely sufficient. Anyway, Wrigley was bored to tears and I just couldn’t take it anymore. Thursday I was on a mad search for the knee brace we paid $75.00 for when Nick was complaining of knee pain two years ago. For $75.00 it should be practically bionic. I slid it on, tightening the Velcro to the point of nearly cutting off my circulation, tied my shoes, put on my head phones, cranked the tunes and took my baby for a spin. What a day; the sun was shining, the breeze was warm, I wasn’t limping and Wrigley was smiling……….