I shouldn't have, but I am glad I did!

I blame it on the rain. It makes me think that yes! life would be easier/better for me if I did that. So I have. And so far, I have no regrets.

The first descent into self-indulgence was to buy three little books from Paper Coterie. They are a newish photo book site. It seems like a new one comes out every week or so. The reason I tried Paper Coterie however is because they had an offer for $40 off a purchase of $40 or more. I had to pay for shipping and the additional $11 that I spent because I just HAD to have three. Actually two are gifts, so there. Anyway, they have recipe books! 5.5 x 5.5, a rubber band across the hardish clear front cover to hold it all together, and 40 pages of rip resistant paper. I am in love! I could have put pictures in it and made it much cuter, but I wanted to fill it up with recipes. I wanted something that I could tuck in my back pocket for my world travels, so if I happened to be in Timbuctoo and got the craving for Mom's mustard sauce for ham, Voila! There it be. Or, more realistically, I can take it to Clover and Evan's for the weekend, so Clover and I could pretend all weekend that it actually wasn't completely redundant when placed next to Clover's two large recipe boxes. But still! I am glad I have it! :-)

VERY pleased with the quality! And the discount. The next ones are of the gifty ones. Shh. But they are so cute, I can't help but show you pictures!

My second I-must-have-this are these bins. Totally, completely cute and on clearance at Wal-mart. Our toy storage situation has been dire--a mismatched assortment of various bags, purses, containers they came in (that are falling apart) and baskets that I would like to use elsewhere in the house. Now they are all put in matchy-matchy bins and I get to label them and they fit perfectly in the toy armoire.

This armoire is originally from my Aunt Anna's house and we got it when John and Hopie were moving and were so very generous with funiture. It is fabulously huge and oversize. Dad remembers hiding in this when he was a kid, a teenager, and probably, even as an adult because he would probably still like hide and seek if he wouldn't get a wicked cramp by crawling in here. Before I got the cute bins, it had a lot of wasted space because the shelves are about 2-3 feet apart. When you are dealing with misshappen bags, little people houses, polly houses, and my little pony houses, they don't stack well. So now I have just moved the nasty stacking suff to one part of the armoire and I plan on ignorning it. I have now fulfilled a childhood dream of mine, which is having a kids room like Brother and Sister Bear.

Sigh. How nice. Mind you, I never would have wanted to pick everything up and put them in boxes as a kid. I simply like the idea of them.

Yes, I just admitted that I get more decorating inspiration from kids books than from Pottery Barn. It is much more in my budget. Plus, kids books have awwwwesome rooms. When I get old and much wiser at sewing, I plan on recreating the quilts from all the Eloise Wilkin books.

These are the third impulse buy. I spent quite awhile choosing a swimsuit for Orianna from Lands' End, one that is modest, cute, and not flashy. And then I saw these in Targe for $15 less than I paid for the Lands' End one. They have polka dots and tutus. Who wouldn't love them? The girls have worn them non-stop since we got home from Plattsburgh yesterday. Matter of fact, Lily has already marked hers up with permanent marker.

This is Gilbert just being cute and talking to himself in the stove window.

So there, confession time is done. I feel no remorse. I am a hardened criminal.

Now for the, I shouldn't have and I wish I hadn't.

I have been wanting to make this recipe for ages. (It was in the Cusine at Home I got 3-4 months ago, but I am too lazy to type it out. Noblepig is a cool food blog, but lately, there has been an excess of recipes that use wine since she and her family own a vineyard.) I have bought about 5 bunches of radishes and ended up feeding them to the pigs because I never had everything together at once to make this. Last night, the stars were aligned, and I finally had it all together. The dough is really easy, just whiz it up in the food processor.

Then chill it for 30 minutes--I feel domestic at this point.

Then press into the pan--fun, I don't have to roll it!

Then freeze 15 minutes--alright, I feel slightly gourmet now.

Then remove, cover in foil, fill with pie weights--I have never used pie weights--how fun!

Then bake for 25 minutes--finally will be done

Nope!

Remove foil and pie weights, poke with fork and bake 15 min--starting to wish I had fed the radishes to the pigs again.

Remove from oven, brush with egg whites and bake 2 minutes more

Then, after those easy 73 steps, the crust is done. AND CRACKED. After having danced in and out of the fridge and oven in an intricate kid-on-leg tango with this crust for the better part of my life, I decide that I am going to use it anyway. Definitely not starting over. Ever. So I pour the filling, custardy stuff in, sprinkle with radishes and green onions and bake.

The end result is a tart thing with weird brown peaks sticking up from near the edge.

It actually tasted pretty good. A lovely brunch dish. But I highly, highly recommend being lazy and using a regular pie crust or one from the store. Or skipping the crust altogether. Just to save your sanity. And mine. I might get hives if I hear you have been making this crust.