Easing Into The Week... with Pizza

I don't know about you but, we have had a weekend at the Rush house!

And I'm not talking about the nice, relaxing kind, either.

Without going into all the gory details, I'll just tell you that I don't have enough brain cells to compose anything too life-changing at the moment.

Instead, how about I give you a pizza recipe that just might change your life?

It's not my original recipe so I'll be sure to give credit where credit is due.

Last week, I finished an amazing, wonderful, thought-provoking book called 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker.  Click here to read the description if you're interested.  I'm sure I'll be referencing it in other posts to come.

Let me say that I took much, much more from the book than the following recipe - the only recipe in the book and such a small aside, the really deep thinking readers probably glossed right over it.

But the concepts in the book plus this pizza sauce recipe will certainly rock your world.

Pizza Sauce
Courtesy of Jen Hatmaker

Saute 3 garlic cloves and 1 tsp. red pepper flakes in 1/4 c. of good olive oil for 3-4 minutes.  Add one 28 ounce can of Muir Glen organic crushed tomatoes (must be this brand according to Jen and I certainly didn't argue with her). Stir then simmer for five minutes, add salt and pepper to taste, along with a bunch of chopped fresh basil.  Heat through.  Spread on pizza crust.  Use any leftover sauce for dunking pizza crusts - or eating with a spoon, in my case!

Trust me, it is worth taking those few extra minutes to make this sauce.  Nothing in a jar tastes this good.

Now, I love this recipe for Pizza Crust from Barefoot Contessa.  It's my all-time favorite.

But I cannot tell a lie.

I did not make homemade pizza crust this weekend.

Instead, I purchased homemade pizza crusts from Cafe on the Run at my local HEB grocery store.  So to my way of thinking, it was still homemade, just not made in my home by my hands.

Here's how I put the pizza together:

I spread that yummy sauce on that homemade pizza crust.
I placed some lightly sauteed red and green peppers and onions on top of that sauce.
Next, slices of fresh mozzarella cheese.
Then, a few pieces of pepperoni.
Last, I placed it directly on my oven rack at 400 degrees and baked until it looked done to me.

I sliced it up.

I took a bite.

And I died.

The end.

Well.

I didn't actually die.

But my tastebuds felt like they were in heaven.  And yours will, too!

Come on people!

Make those tummies happy.

Make some pizza.

News You Can Use - Volume 1

I have come across so many nifty things lately on Twitter and Pinterest that I decided you simply had to know about this great stuff!

So without further ado, I give you "News You Can Use" - a variety of things I find interesting that I think you might, too.

Instagram News:

Most of you know that I'm a big fan of Instagram, the fun and easy way to share photos with your iPhone. So how about some ideas on how you can get those photos off your iPhone and into your hot little hands?

• Stickygram turns your Instagram photos into magnets.  Jim over at Just a Lil' Blog tried this out so maybe he'll leave a comment and let us know what he thought.
• Postagram is an app that turns pictures from your phone, Facebook, or Instagram into photo postcards. And here's the really cool thing - you can customize a message, choose people from your contact list to mail the postcard to and when they receive the card, they can pop the photo out to display.
• Printstagram is an app that turns your Instagram pictures into cool posters, miniprints, stickers, photo books, minibooks, and tinybooks.
• InstaShirt prints your Instagram photos on a shirt.  The baby onesie is especially cute.
• CanvasPop will print Instagram photos on canvas.

And for the computer savvy out there, here's a tutorial on creating DIY Instagram photo strips through Photoshop.  Very cute!

Special Needs News:


Notice anything about this Target ad?

Now take a minute to read this great article, "Target is 'Down' With Down Syndrome: 5 Things Target Said By Saying Nothing At All".  It'll make you smile - and give you another reason to feel good about shopping at Target, as if you needed one!

Here are Friendship Circle's Top 20 Special Needs Resource Posts of 2011.  

Now, I'm not foolish enough to think that you've got time to sit down and read every single one of these but glance through the list and see if something catches your eye.  The list runs the gamut from school lunch ideas and suggestions for play therapy all the way to handwriting tips and 17 great colleges for special needs students.

Technology News:

For those of you interested in sharing some engaging Bible stories with your kiddos, check out the free Read and Share app from Thomas Nelson.  

Once you've downloaded the free app, you can purchase a book a week for $2.99.  If you click the link, you can see a video that lets you know what the stories are like.  I personally love the illustrations!

And speaking of apps, how about a list of 25 of them that the whole family will love?  Click here to check them out.

Most of us with special needs kiddos have our iPads in cases designed for maximum protection.  Well, I can't vouch for any increased protection with this case, but the iGuy is one of the cutest covers I've seen - and ideal for hands free vertical viewing.

Organization News:

Now that a new year is here, maybe you've decided to eat out less.  This handy fill-in-the-blank menu planning & grocery shopping form should help you meet your goal.

Want to simplify but getting started just seems so complicated?  

Look no further than the e-book One Bite at a Time - 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler.  

I just purchased my own copy so I don't have a personal glowing review yet but here's what sold me - I don't have to do the projects in any particular order, I don't have to do a project a week and be done in a year (even though there are 52 weeks in a year), and some of the projects, I might not even need to do. 

But what it does do is give me a place to start -  to take some of the tasks I really need to do around here and break them up into very manageable steps.

For those of you who want to start even smaller and just get a good daily to-do list going, click here for a free printable daily planner page from Ann Voskamp.  This is a daily draft with a higher purpose so be sure to read how to fill it out... and be inspired and encouraged at the same time.

So - that's it.  A collection of things that caught my attention in the last couple of months - that hopefully won't totally overwhelm you and send you running for the hills since I crammed it all into one post!

Now get out there and have a great weekend, folks!

What I Got For Christmas

Before you officially start reading, I just wanted to let those of you who are wondering if I'm ever going to talk about anything else know that this will be the last post referencing Christmas.  Even I know it's time to move on....

Hey - did you know that Santa brought me some good stuff, too?

Since I started the Couch to 5K program, I've been in need of a new pair of running shoes.  My previous pair had gotten a hole in the left little toe side of the shoe.  The hole was getting larger after every run - to the point where running on the Hike & Bike Trail meant gravel and dirt easily working its way in.

I'm enough of a reluctant runner that I look for any excuse to stop and a sandbox in my shoe was a good one.  But I am trying really hard to keep this up so new shoes were in order - if for no other reason than to remove the excuse to stop running.

Of course, I wanted good shoes that would hold up well but my priority was "cute".  I wanted some of those really colorful shoes I see all up and down the trail.  Yes, I'm huffing and puffing but can't a girl try to look snazzy while doing so??  I was convinced that cute, colorful shoes were just the motivation I needed to keep running.

So I was really happy to find these under the tree:



Fun, huh?  I'm sure that I'm running faster, jumping higher, and looking good while doing so...

I also got a Kindle, something I swore I'd never do.  In fact, my oldest thinks I've crossed over to the dark side and is totally and thoroughly disgusted with me.  I think she truly believes I can no longer call myself a reader.

We do love real books around the Rush house.  And my Ryley can be a tad bit obsessive about books - click here to read the proof.

I didn't get the fancy new Kindle because I didn't want a backlit screen.



I like the idea that it looks like a real book page and it doesn't hurt my eyes like a computer screen will.

But what really sold me?

The library I frequent allows you to check out e-books.  I don't even have to go to the library anymore!  Now, I love me some free books.  But free books I don't even have to go pick up or return?  Can I get an Amen??

Ryley gave me a Sonic gift card.  But... wait for it.  It's in the exact amount of not one, not two, but seven Route 44 Diet Dr. Peppers with Vanilla, my drink of choice.  She knows me well.

And Reagan knitted me a beautiful shawl/wrap/scarf:

It can be worn all kinds of different ways so if you would like to see what it looks like on an actual human, you can click here.

As I'm putting this post together, I have no make-up on and I'm too vain to take photos of me in my shawl.  But every time I've worn it, someone tells me they like and asks where I got it.  They're always surprised when I tell them Reagan made it for me.

So - what about you?  Did Santa bring you something good this year?  Spill it!

The Best Gifts of Christmas

Imagine the scene:

A Christmas tree beautifully decorated with colorful ornaments and lovely tiny white lights.  Delightfully wrapped gifts spread around its base in a dazzling array, just beckoning children (and teenagers!) to come close.  The tantalizing sense of anticipation.  The pleasure on the faces of the adults, observing the children (and teenagers!) take joy in the gifts they lovingly selected for each recipient.  The sweet chorus of "thank you" mingling in the air with Christmas carols playing softly in the background.

Does this sound like Christmas at your house?

Mine either.

While my big girls do a great job of getting in the Christmas spirit, opening up gifts with the appropriate and truly sincere "oohs" and "aahs", and giving genuine hugs of thanks to the gift-givers, Lily doesn't quite catch the spirit of the season in the same way.

The post from yesterday gave you the low-down on how our actual Christmas Day went so I won't go over that again.

One of Lily's biggest issues with Christmas is that she really could care less about the gifts.  She just doesn't get all the hype and the drama.  For a child who will rip any remotely paper product to shreds and bits (especially those items not intended for tearing), she will not touch a wrapped gift.

So we wrap only a couple things, just to let her try and see if this is the year she "gets it".

And we try handing her a new toy, excitedly pushing buttons to show her how it lights up, plays music and generally does every thing she likes in life, except maybe throw dark chocolates directly into her open mouth.

Her response?

She won't even look at it.  Or she'll glance at it, press one single solitary button, and then look at us like, "There.  Are you happy?  This toy is dead to me."

Wow.  That little girl is a tough crowd, let me tell you.

I've finally sold her grandparents on the best method of giving a present to Lily.

Set the unwrapped toy in her general area with a vague announcement.  "Here you go, Lily!"

Here's the clincher, though:  Walk away.

That's the hard part.

But if you try to "push" a present on the Bird, she will not respond in the way you want her to.

Whether or not this is autism or sheer stubbornness on her part, I'm not 100% sure yet.  I just know that letting her discover the toy in her own good time is the secret to getting the thing played with.

It can take as long as two weeks for her to actually "adopt" a new toy into the fold.  Then I let the grandparents know that it finally "took".

This year though, both sets of grandparents hit the jackpot.  They each gave Lily a gift that she took to almost immediately.  Even I was surprised at how quickly she responded.

Wondering which gifts the Bird thinks are the bee's knees?

The first one is the Cuddle Me Sensory Tunnel.  Lily's OT highly recommended one of these for us to have at home since she loves the one at the clinic.


I'll have you know we whipped that thing out of the gift bag and the Bird knew exactly what to do.  I held one end open and she ducked her sweet head and crawled right in there, all snuggled up with the iPad.  She emerged a few minutes later, grinning from ear to ear.

And the next gift....


a portable DVD player.  I know what you're thinking... in this iPad/Netflix day and age, she goes and gets a DVD player??!?  But the Bird loves it.  She's even traded me the iPad for it a time or two, and that's saying something.

Now, I've got a plan for this DVD player that I'll share with you later.  Something like, an "electronics intervention plan", so to speak.

The gifts Ryan and I gave her?  Well, we're still waiting for ours to "take".  Sigh...

But, at least this year, we had two sets of happy grandparents and one happy little Bird.

Holiday Highlights

While I am really glad to be back in the "regular routine", we did have some good family time during the holidays.

Because we were able to spend so much concentrated time with the Bird, we were really able to see how much progress she's making lately.

Here's a couple of examples:

• Lily surprised us by unwrapping one gift without any help at all.  Of course, she had more than one wrapped gift but hey, it's a start!
• She rediscovered the trampoline and really enjoyed some good time bouncing in the backyard.
• She had lots of moments of calm, "chill out time"when she was perfectly content to just lay beside us in the bed or watch TV with us. (this is not normal for her!)
• She even fell asleep on my dad's lap one night (a highly unusual event) and I think this might have been his best Christmas gift.

• We have taken lots of walks on the Town Lake Hike & Bike Trail but this week, Lily finally noticed the ducks.  She took great delight in feeding them several times when we were out walking and it was fun to watch her taking it all in.

Of course, we still had moments when autism, and all that entails, reared its ugly head.  

On Christmas Day, we went over to my in-laws for dinner.  My parents were there.  So was Ryan's sister, her husband, and their son.  Of course, my in-laws were there and so were we.  

Twelve people in all.  Not too many.  And only two little kids, Lily being one of them.

Lily was doing fine until we sat down to open gifts before eating.  

After about five minutes, she was done and ready to move on to something else.  We let her have the iPad so we could finish watching each other open gifts.  

That worked for another ten minutes or so then she was ready to head back home. 

She started pulling us to the front door.  

We started trying to distract. 

Cue meltdown.

Now my mother-in-law has her table beautifully set so that all of us can sit and eat together.

Nice idea but it just wasn't going to work this year.

Reagan and I ended up taking our dinner plates and Lily upstairs to the gameroom, where it was nice and quiet and looked the same as it always does.  Lily crawled in her favorite comfy chair with the iPad while Reagan and I ate and softly chatted.  In a little while, Lily had regrouped and was ready to eat, which she also did upstairs.  

After about thirty minutes, Lily went to the baby gate and motioned for me to open it.  Then she went downstairs and rejoined the group like nothing at all had happened.

Go figure.

As for the big girls, we never let them come downstairs on Christmas morning until we are awake and up and have cameras at the ready.  You can tell how thrilled Reagan is about this, even though she's been doing it for fifteen years...

But she did recover enough to take on her Dad in a little Just Dance 3.

So.  Did we have some lows over the break?  

Yes.

But did we have some really wonderful highs, too?

Most definitely.

And it's those really wonderful highs that get us through those lows.

Top Three Posts... and Posts I'm Glad I Didn't Have to Write - 2011 Edition

Since 2011 is now nothing but a memory, I thought it might be fun to look at the blog's stats and see which three posts got the most views.

The first one?

A total brag video of the Bird.  Who You Calling Bird Brain???

The third one?

A total rant written by a very discouraged mama.  Sick and Tired

And the second one?

Hacked! An Unauthorized Blog by Lana's Husband

Something I didn't even write!!

But since I'm the subject of the post and since he was so sweet (despite the blatant plea for frosted sugar cookies), I've decided not to get my feelings hurt.  I've got me a good husband and I think I'll keep him around for 20 more years!

As I was thinking about 2011, a few blog posts that I'm glad I didn't have to write came to mind.

Titles like:

Five Year Old Chews Her Way Out Of Clothing and Claims To Be A Nudist

Five Year Old's Teeth Finally Fall Out Due To Continual Chewing Of Clothing

Woman Denies Herself Sleep and Food To Support Her Pinterest Addiction

Rush Family Wins Award for Most Visits to The Apple Store in 2011

Woman Carried Out of Store For Laughing Maniacally at So-Called Indestructible Toys

Woman Begins Couch to 5K Running Program - Couch Wins

Apple Recalls All iPads, iPods, and iPhones - Declares Then Unsafe for Children

And last but not least, I'm so glad I didn't have to write:

The Blog That No One Reads - Along Came the Bird Shutting Down

Thanks to each and every one of you for coming along on this journey with me.  I'm looking forward to more adventures with you in 2012.

In fact, let's get things started right now -

What blog posts are you happy you didn't need to write in 2011?