Over The Top Mommy

Monkey Bread: a 4th of July Tradition

It’s a tradition in our house, to have “Monkey Bread” on 4th of July morning. Personally, I find it to be  one of the yummiest things in the whole world! This year, I decided to add some BACON to half of it.
Monkey Bread basics:
*sugar
*cinnamon
*2 sticks of melted butter
*6 rolls of biscuits (I used store brand this time)
*chopped up, crispy bacon (about 1/2 lb)
 It’s VERY easy to make. First you need to preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Next, start to cut up each roll of biscuits, roll each piece in the cinnamon-sugar mixture, then toss into a bundt pan. After each roll of biscuits, I pour some butter over the top of what’s in the pan. The more moist the layers are with butter, the better it will taste. This year I also added crumbled bacon to half of the pan, so I layered the bacon in between the rolls of biscuits.  Continue layering everything and at the end, pour the rest of the melted butter over the top of what’s in the pan. (At this point, just try not to think about calories and fat)
It should look something like this. Bake it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until it’s a little brown and crispy on the top.  After it’s done, cut into it and serve a big hunk to everyone. We end up picking at it over the entirety of the day! It even tastes good cold!So what’s something YOU like to eat on the 4th of July?

 It was kid tested and kid approved by this girl! 🙂
Happy 4th of July!

If spray painting is wrong, then baby I don’t ever wanna be right!


This morning I was staring at this sad little silver(ish) cake stand I’ve had sitting in the middle of our kitchen table, which holds random stuff.  I actually bought 2 of these on clearance at Target last year after Christmas, so I decided to give this one a mini makeover! 
I bought this can of spray paint at Michael’s. You don’t NEED a primer coat for something like this.  Always make sure to put out some newspaper or something underneath it, before spraying. The best way to cover it is by using short sprays and not just holding down the button. Sometimes there’ll be areas that aren’t completely covered but you can go over them a second time and they will be. 
 After spraying it, I left it outside to dry for a few hours. When it was dry I put back on the table. It’s going to dress up our craft table for tomorrow’s little girls craft night! 

What exactly is “over-the-top”?

When someone refers to another person as “over-the-top” or describes things that a person does with those words, I don’t think it’s intended to be a compliment, but rather, an insult. Long ago, I chose to take on that label and use it in a positive way!
So what exactly does “over-the-top” mean  to me then? It’s hard to describe with exact words….basically if there’s something to do, I do it…but I do it a little fancier or a little more than necessary. I’m not content with the ordinary. I’m not content with just doing the minimum or choosing to skip something altogether or blowing it off as unnecessary. Some opportunities and occasions are only going to come your way once, so why WOULDN’T you do all you could to make them even more memorable?
Your children are only young once and since I only have one, I’ve always gone out of my way for everything relating to Emi. Her school experiences, her hobbies and activities she’s participated in, holidays, parties, outings, DISNEYLAND, etc. You name it, I try to make it happen because I know that she’ll look back and remember it all and I also know that she’s not going to be young forever. I only hope she possesses the same enthusiasm as a parent one day, assuming she chooses to become a parent. Some people might conclude that I’m trying to make up for whatever may have been lacking in my own childhood. I don’t think that’s what I’m consciously doing, but when I was a kid, parents didn’t do any of these things anyway.
I suppose as my blog grows, my posts will paint a better picture of what exactly I mean by over the top!  I have posted some pics of one example though…when it’s Barbie’s birthday, OF COURSE we’re not only going to celebrate with Barbie Sundaes at Farrell’s, but we’re also going to bring our own Barbies with us to have their own celebration! 🙂

Where to start?

I keep trying to come up with some clever way to start my blog, something extraordinary for my first  post as “The over-the-top Mommy” but I haven’t been able to!  So…I guess I’ll just start with this pic! I am ALL ABOUT the photo booth…and for just $1 at Slater’s 50/50, you can take a sheet of 6 different poses! Yes please! 🙂 So fun!