Ruler of the Elves

This week, Pinky was fortunate enough to go and spend some alone time in New York with her ATM (Auntie Em) and Uncle Adam. I’ve made sure that ATM is taking lots of photos and will have plenty of stories to share when Pinky returns home tomorrow night. In the mean time, I leave you with this adorable photo of Cinderella and all of hers friends chillin’ on the royal bed watching some sort of mind numbing cartoon.

Last weekend, I decided that it was finally time to redo our poor excuse of a half bath. We’ve lived here for a little over 3 years and although I didn’t mind the blood red wall color in the bathroom, I wasn’t particularly fond of the crappy vanity, sink, light, toilet, flooring, hardware, etc. So, on Saturday morning, we popped out of bed and got to work ripping everything out of there. Everything.

It took two days and it’s still not completely finished, (we need accessories people!) but it’s so much brighter and less dungeony feeling in there. Everything is new from the floor up to the ceiling, except for the toilet. However, we did get a pretty, new, silent toilet seat. We used Glidden’s semi-gloss paint in Icebreaker to brighten up the walls and reflect more light in the dark, windowless room. Chris was in charge of plumbing and I did the tiling and most of the painting. We still are looking for the perfect mirror to put above the new vanity and some sort of artwork, which will probably be a home made creation. Stay tuned.

For dinner this evening, I whipped up some of these puppies for a crowd satisfying meal. This chicken turns out so moist, with just the perfect crunch and it is super easy to make. Not one crumb was left on anyone’s plate. Let me know if you try it out!

Ingredients

6 -8 Chicken Breast Tenderloins
1 oz Package of Ranch Dip Mix
2 cups of Crispy Rice Cereal, Crushed
2 Egg Whites, Beaten

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix crushed rice cereal and ranch mix together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until bubbly. Dip the chicken tenderloins, one by one, into the egg whites and then into the dry mixture, coating each side evenly. Place each tenderloin onto a baking sheet that has been lightly greased. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden and the juices run clear. Serve with your favorite vegetable. (We chose corn.) Eat and enjoy!

It’s been just a little over a week and our tiny plants are growing like weeds herbs, flowers and vegetables. Planting the seeds was super easy and making sure they get ample lighting and don’t dry up, secures that they will grow big and strong. I planted some basil, chives, parsley, impatiens and petunias, while Pinky selected pumpkins, watermelons, and sunflowers. (This girl does everything big.)

Every day, she makes a point to tell me that everything is growing tall when she gets home from school. It’s part of her after school routine actually. Come home. Throw her coat and shoes on the floor. Check on the plants. Knock one of the plants over. Run away from the mess. Continue to recap the entire experience multiple times during the rest of the evening. It’s pretty cute that she is so enamored by them, but sometimes I could deal without the resulting muddle.