Don't Tell These 3 That PBS Kids Video Games Aren't Intense

Just Two Wild and Crazy Siblings

My Wee Little Irish Lass

She's all ready for a glorious morning of St. Patty's Day festivities at school.

Huh.  I just noticed after putting up this picture to the blog that the "O" in love is a skull with crossbones.  Maybe that's why this shirt was on clearance at Old Navy for $3.50.  I'm not a fan of skull shirts....especially on little girls.  Nothing says "Love" or  "Happy St. Patrick's Day" like a skull and crossbones.  Well, Kate is still super cute.

Brian's Modeling Shoot (with me...at a coffee shop)

Poor kid has been sick and out of school all week.  He's finally getting some color back in his face.

Why I KNOW I'm going to LOVE the new Pope

Humility.  I know I'm going to love Pope Francis for the same reasons I love Cardinal Sean O'Malley.  No frills, no special treatment, just a lover and servant of God, the Catholic Church, and it's people.  http://www.johnthavis.com/pope-francis-first-24-hours-doing-it-his-way

Painting a bookcase!

While being off of facebook (for the most part) I've been doing more stuff around the house.  Unfortunately (for my husband) "more stuff" does not necessarily mean laundry, but arts and crafts. :-)  My project over the last few days has been painting the unfinished bookshelf that's been in our living room for about 3 years (at least).  Not sure if I'm done or not, but here is the progress thus far:

Grey roof and white walls/shelves are completed.

I decided I didn't like the grey roof so I changed it to gold.  I also painted flowers and grass along the side, and flowers on the front.

Gold detailing on the front with some flowers.

A closeup of the flowers.

Flowers and grass at the bottom (probably my least favorite part).

Spaghetti Carbonara

Thanks to my husband (and his wonderful company - Wayfair.com) I now have a new and awesome recipe to file away.   Jeff found this recipe for Spaghetti Carbonara (here is the link to where he found it:  http://www.wayfair.com/blog/2013/02/13/spaghetti-carbonara/ ) and I made it last night.  It was DELICIOUS!  For this post I'm going to pretend I have my own cooking blog and post the pictures I took while making it.  I used to want my own cooking show as a kid.  I was "Julia Childs" and I showed the world how to make pb and j sandwiches.  Well okay, maybe not the "world" but definitely the imaginary audience sitting in front of me in my parent's kitchen.
Here is the recipe for Spaghetti Carbonara:

Ingredients:

• 1 pound spaghetti
• 1 pound pancetta or bacon, chopped
• Drizzle extra-virgin olive oil
• 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• ½ cup dry white wine, such as Pinot Grigio
• 2 large egg yolks
• ½ cup grated Romano cheese
• Handful of fresh parsley leaves, finely chopped
• Generous grinding of black pepper

Method:
Place a large pot of water on the stove to boil. When water is rolling, add salt and pasta and cook to al dente, about 8 minutes, reserving ¼ cup pasta water.
While pasta cook, heat large skillet over moderate heat. Saute pancetta in a drizzle of oil until it browns, 3 to 5 minutes Add extra-virgin olive oil, garlic, and crushed pepper flake. Saute garlic 2 minutes. Add wine to the pan and reduce liquid by half, 2 minutes.
Beat together egg yolks, cheese, and while whisking vigorously, stir in a ladle of the boiling pasta water. Beat in parsley and pepper and set aside.
Drain pasta. Add pasta to pan with sauce. Toss pasta with pancetta, then add egg mixture and toss 1 minute, then remove from heat. Continue to toss until sauce is absorbed by and thickly coating the pasta. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper and serve with extra cheese, for passing.

BACON!

Add some EVOO, garlic and red pepper flakes (I only put in a dash of red pepper flakes and it STILL had a kick).

Wine!

Toss in the spaghetti.

Okay, so this is slightly out of focus and looks mildly gross (but it's NOT) - this is the cheese, egg yolks, pasta water and parsley.

Toss it all together with some extra cheese on top!  YUMMY!!!