The Caitlin Moss Blog

Excuse me while I obsess over this sweet, sweet letter I made for baby girl's nursery. (And yes, we have a name!)  Emmie Jo I'm not sure who's more excited about it, me or the kids. Isaiah and Maci love talking about her and calling her by name. I think it makes it feel more real to them too. They are actually going to have a baby sister and her name is Emmie. Love . So anyhoo, I wanted to do a single letter for Emmie's room. At Joann Fabrics they have these large cardboard letters (24" or so) for only $10. The only E left was ripped so I got a discount and it was only $8. Woop. (Nothing a little duct tape can't fix. My daddy raised me right.) Originally I wanted it to be a sleek gold letter with a floral corner. So I used left over spray paint from a previous project and bought one bunch of fake daisies to hot glue to the corner. When I finished it. I didn't like it. It looked unfinished.  After consulting my SIL, I decided to...

I always love the feeling I get after doing a big round of meals. It's such a relief knowing I have these tastey, healthy meals ready to cook in my freezer. This round I made 24 meals for less than $170 (averaging about $7 each meal). Menu| {make 2 of each} Baked Spinach Artichoke Chicken w/ Pesto Caribbean Jerk Chicken on Pub Buns Pulled Pork on Hawaiian Rolls Mesquite Lime Chicken Flatbread Wraps French Dip Greek Meatballs on Pita Bread Chicken & Rice Burritos with Red Sauce Sausage Bake Fish Tacos Sweet 'N Sour Meatballs Beef Lettuce Wraps BLTs Grocery List| Meat: 4 bags of frozen chicken breasts 2 3-pound pork loins 2 2-pound packages of stew beef or beef cubes 3 lbs. of ground beef 1 cooked rotisserie chicken 1 bag frozen tilapia filets 4 small bags of meatballs (about 24 each bag) 2 packages of bacon 2 smoked sausage links Produce: 2 tomatoes 1 small bag of fresh spinach Fresh mint 2 lemons 2 bags frozen broccoli florets Canned:...

Is it just me or is everybody having babies lately? One of the easiest ways to help a new mama out is to feed her - and feed her something good, hearty, and easy. People tend to bring a lot of the same types of meals to people who are signed up for a meal train, and you might end up eating a month of pasta and rotisserie chicken. (To be clear, I am guilty of providing both.) Sometimes those things are fabulous meals but can easily get old. The following meals are inexpensive, freezable, provide large quantities of food, and can be dropped off earlier in the day (because sometimes dinner time is witching hour for all the people). Here are my 8 favorite "Take Them A Meal" meals that are not pasta...or rotisserie chicken. ;) Pulled Pork 1 Packet Memphis BBQ Pit seasoning packet 1 3 lb. pork loin 1/4 cup brown sugar 1 cup water 8 hours in the crock pot (I usually drop it off in their crock pot in the morning with crock pot liner so they don't have dishes), ...

There are a lot of mamas out there in the interwebs that say they just want to "keep it real." They tell funny stories of poop, puke, and permanent markers. They constantly talk about going to the bathroom with an audience and "starving" kids that are suddenly full at dinner time. Most of these stories crack me up because they are real and things like this do happen...often. I don't have a problem with these folks at all. I enjoy them. The issue is the constant talking about it. The constant complaining about the hard stuff, the gross stuff, the I-just-want-a-shower-for-mother's-day stuff. Lately I've felt the need to just say it: being a mom isn't that annoying . In fact, most of the time it's downright awesome. I am constantly and unconditionally loved by my two earthlings. They say things that are HIL-ARIOUS. They have great insight on life. Sometimes they are annoying, it's true. But so am I and so is my husband sometimes (sorry, honey)...