The Pioneer Woman Cooks ~ Dinnertime...changing lives one dinner at a time

  I am supposed to be putting my children to bed but they are planning a PJ party and I dont want to rain on their parade just yet. Unless they just want to actually wear PJs to bed....that could work. (I just asked my son what their party entailed and he said, 'oh dancing, playing games'....SO CUTE)
  This last week I felt like I grocery shopped about fifty times. I think it was only twice but I need to go again. Turns out if you make dinner every night you use up a lot of groceries! Who knew! So on one of my shopping trips I was at Costco. Now Costco and I get along a lot better than Superstore and I. I am not sure why. Somehow even though it is bigger and crazier I think I feel like almost everything I buy there seems a lot healthier and I dont buy fresh produce there. I think the fact that there are always fun things to taste really helps. Eating does calm you right? When I was there this time I saw this cheery cook book and I had to buy it. The cover has a cute lady with red hair holding a beautiful red pot ~ her children are in the back ground and they look happy. There are flowers on the cover and fresh produce on the counter and the book just called to me...'buy me, I will produce the dinners you have dreamed of...your children will sit at the table and smile while they eat'...yada yada yada...I mean this cook book had a running conversation with me. So I picked it up. It was called,  'The Pioneer Woman Cooks ~ DINNERTIME.' As I've said before...A while back I stopped with the dinners in this house. It was just so discouraging and exhausting cooking for these children who hated everything I made. Well this cook book made me feel like maybe I could try again. It seemed like fate. Ree Drummond's blog http://thepioneerwoman.com/  is a place I go (as I know many do) to smile and enjoy her humor and stories and comfort food. Her pictures are beautiful, her smile contagious, and her writing engaging and witty. You feel like you are experiencing whatever she is writing about right along side her AND you feel like you could be her best friend. This is her newest cook book.
  When I got home I really wanted to find the perfect place to put it. Somewhere where I could see it and encourage myself to use it! I found a place for it alright but I felt like I needed some accessories around it. So I went to a new little store full of treasures and found some!!! I really did this. I went to Coscto, bought a cook book, and bought accessories to display with the cook book. It made me ridiculously happy. You dont even know!!! I set up my little display and have been making dinners all week. A triumph for me :) Thanks Ree! Every single page in this book is brimming with color, encouragement, beauty and inspiration. I feel like it is cheering me on from its little place on the shelf in my kitchen. It's funny how these moments in life make you feel more like a woman...more grown up...and at the same time such a little kid :)

 So this is what the area looks like every single day. Thanks Laura K for the squash and Laura O for the painting and Bethany for the gold rimmed cups, Emily for the photo and the gold frame, my grandma and Bethany for the baking bowls that I treasure and my I could go on...my husband!!!! for making the shelves. I so so SO love those shelves.

 There it is! Isn't Ree cute? My accessories do match so well! I was ridiculously over the moon when I found them.