1. This is my 976th blog post. I started the blog 4 years ago this month. Yay for blogging.
2. Took the kids to see Hop yesterday. Fell asleep. During the climax of the story. { must. get. more. sleep. }
3. Made sweet potato fries as a side dish for dinner the other night. Way delish but a little soggy-er than I prefer. Too much oil? Not sure. The “after” picture and the recipe are here. Takes all of 7 seconds to read the recipe.
4. Creative Estates is happening right now. Right here in Arizona. Tomorrow I’ll be speaking on a panel with a few wonderfully talented women. We’ll be discussing “Happy Chaos: Balancing a Small Business and Motherhood”. Incidentally, that’s why I’m not actually at the conference today. Because I’m balancing a lot right now. A lot. Sending a little shout-out to all those at Creative Estates this weekend. I look forward to seeing you Saturday!
5. I pass this in the hallway every single day. It’s a collection of photos of women who came before me. My mother (center, left) and grandmothers and great grandmothers and so on. Every day I’m reminded of how much I appreciate my womanhood and motherhood and being a homemaker. I know I have qualities and characteristics that are similar to each one of these women, even in small ways.
6. Speaking of family … some are arriving tomorrow. The guest room is ready. Never a dull moment. This makes me very, very happy. I love my family so much. Looking forward to a super fun week.
7. Claire’s art. Makes me so happy to see her love art the way Porter does. Love her doodles. Love her style. Love her girlish touches.
And pick me off the floor right now because I am a big puddle of mush. This is Claire’s cursive.
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Wishing you a splendid weekend!
Tags: ancestors, children's art, Claire, creative estates, family history, Hop, sweet potato fries
Wow! Am I really the first to comment!? LOVE Claire’s cursive! That is so precious. My girls try to do “cursive” all the time and I get the biggest kick out of it. Have a great weekend Becky! Wish I could hear you speak! I’m sure you’ll do an amazing job.
Hi! Love this post! I have a curious question: What do the ribbons in your family picture mean? I love that and I wish I had photos of the women in my family to copy this idea. It is wonderful to always remember where you came from and whom to thank for being here. Like I said wonderful post!
That is the most beautiful cursive I’ve ever seen!
That is too funny and so adorable.
I was going to say you didn’t have the oven high enough but 450 is it. Could be too much oil so they didn’t get to crisp up.
try broiling for just a couple of minutes before you take them out….now i’m craving fries….
Yum. Sweet potato fries.
Love Claire’s cursive. Could a mother/daughter creative lettering blog post be in the works? I still have (and use!) your book from upteen years ago!
I just made my sweet potatoe fries lastnight and they were delicious. My oven was at 450 also. For 12 oz of fries I only used 1 tsp of oil, but I sprayed my pan lightly with a no stick spray. Mixed with some parmesean cheese, garlic, cayenne and pepper and they were so yum! My kids even loved them.
Love and miss you guys! Good luck speaking tomorrow, you’ll be great as always.
I have a little pile of “notes” written by our youngest when she was maybe 2 or 3yrs. old. She could not write but loved to give us all in the house these little love notes. We would ask her to read them and they ususally said: “I love you” or “You’re the best mom/dad/sister” etc. I’ll never part with her little love notes.
wonderful, wonderful post! why is it that ‘randomness’ always seems to be the best, perfect touch? keep doing what you’re doing. sweet potato fries, and all.
Becky, I *love* your collection of women in your family. I just love it. I am definitely “lifting” that idea and making one of my own. What a treasure, and what a wonderful reminder every single day of those who came before and walk with us now as well. Thank you so much for sharing!
(Ok, I love the rest of your post too, but this part just really spoke to me!
)
I needed a cheerful something today and this was it. Thank you. I am not feeling se well and so anything helps. You are so lucky to have the photos of your family. That is a wish of mine. Hae a great weekend with your family and please please get some sleep.
wHERE IS THE PICTURE FRAME FROM IT IS SO PRETTY?
another FAB post..just wanted to say I brought SP fries from KFC yesterday and they werent crispy either..I just assumed thats the way SP fries come..lol
Love the cursive. My daughter is six and loves to write in “cursive.” she once asked me if the Ten Commandments were written in cursive….
The last time I did homemade fries (with russet potatoes) my mom was here and she told me that I had too many too close together. This would cause them to steam instead of becoming crisp so I wonder if that was the problem. I’ve never tried sweet potato fries. Your’s look good to me!
I love love love sweet potato fries!! I have found that they are a bit mushier then regular potatoes but they are still delish!
love your blog by the way!!
I love love love sweet potato fries!! I have found that they are a bit mushier then regular potatoes but they are still delish!
love your blog by the way!!
Claire’s cursive is adorable! And her art rocks!
Now…the picture frame you have is amazing! Why do I never think of these ideas without first seeing someone else have them? Do you happen to know where the picture frame came from? Also, what do the ribbons represent (if anything)?
Thanks Becky…have fun this weekend….I wish I was attending!
Thanks for sharing this randomness! I almost turned to mush while reading your post cause as a mum I know how proud you feel when your kids produce beautiful pictures and writing like Claire has! Just adorable! Love the photo frame of the women in your family – a beautiful thing to have and to see everyday in your home.
I love visiting and reading your blog – your strength and love for your familyand your craft are so evident in what you write.
I LOVE the little ribbon bows tied in between each of the oval frames on the photo collage frame of the women in your family. It suggests to me a linking chain of generations. So very cool and meaningful! I will have to visit with my Mom and see how far back we have photos. Are those in chronological order something? Also, do you recall where you found that cool frame??
I love love LOVE the pictures of the women in your family. It has inspired me to do something similar but with the men in my Dad’s family to inspire him during his fight with Brain Cancer. Thanks so much for sharing!
Thanks for making me smile:)
I don’t know if anyone mentioned this but you might have had to many sweet potatoes on the pan. Not enough room on the pan to get nice and crispy so they ended up steaming instead of baking. Hope that made sense.
Becky…love your blog!! Just wanted to comment how well seasoned your pans looked…I found the lighter metal pans seem to work better for my fries. I sell Pampered Chef and we have wonderful pans…if you are ever in the market…visit MY website
love ya!!! http://www.pamperedchef.biz/sarjohnson
kumura (sweet potato) fries are usually softer & not as crispy as potato. However try just spraying the pan with oil; sprinkling sea salt over; and a high oven with lots of space around the fries.
They make really yummy wedges too
I LOOoooooOOOve her cursive! I’m sure you’ll be tucking that into your Project Life!
If you soak your sweet potatoes (already cut into fries) in ice water for 15-30 minutes before you bake them, this (ironically) pulls out some of the moisture and they end up crispier. (Still not as crispy as regular home-made fries, but not as soggy)
I just read this recently in my new favorite cookbook to soak your fries before baking. Thought it might work with sweet potato as well. The cookbook that has all kinds of wonderful tips is the Best Recipe Cookbook by editor’s of Cook’s Illustrated. They’ve tested all their recipes and tell you why they choose certain ingredients over others, why they chose different techniques, etc. So far 5 or 6 out or 7 or 8 recipes have been better than my old favorites!
Inreference to your sweet potato fries {YUM}, you should try Butternut Squash Fries. Same concept as the Sweet Potato. They are SUPER yummy I promise. Cut the neck part of the squash into strips just like the potatoes, spray with EVOO, sprinkle with Salt and Pepper {or salt and chili powder} and bake at 450* for about 40 minutes or so or until tender OR crunchy whatever you prefer. I LOVE THEM!
Shanna
Moore, OK
My daughter, Audrey, has started writing with the curly q’s now also. She’s seen my journaling in scrapbooks & mimics it with all the whirls & swirls. I love it, but sadly I told her she probably shouldn’t do it at school because that’s not how they are taught to write. But we can still have fun @ home right?
Love randomness.
Love Claire’s cursive – it reminds me of writing with one of those vibrating pens when I was younger – the pen made circles while you wrote normally. Does anyone else remember those?
When you have some time, Becky, I’d love to know who the so on and so on are in your photos. I’m guessing 1 mom, 2 grandmothers, 4 great-grandmothers, and 2 great-great-grands?