4-Banana Banana Bread
Here’s the deal. I think I’ve said this before. Pardon the repeat. My family doesn’t tell me when they suddenly no longer like a certain food. All anyone will eat for breakfast for weeks is Rice Krispies. Then when I go and stockpile a bunch of Rice Krispies to prevent someone from snap, crackle and popping when we run out, of course, they decide they don’t like Rice Krispies any longer and only like Raisin Bran Crunch. This story could be told over and over in our household, just change the name of the characters for different foods. Apparently, I’m the only one who hasn’t caught on to the rules…
Things That Make Me Happy #1
Hello! I thought I would start a periodic series about the random things that are making me happy at one particular moment in time. Here it goes… 1. This powerful letter from a teacher to parents about THAT kid in the class. The one you are worried is going to disrupt your child’s learning process, take away from instructional time your child will get with the teacher or maybe even hurt your child. 2. This song “Beautiful Day“…about making each day beautiful and remembering you are alive! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phAMNprBKY8 3. Another song by Rachel Platten! About those times you need to dig deep and be strong to reach your goals. 4. Watercolor hearts picture on…
My Favorite Corner – Living Room
I have a favorite corner of our living room. I don’t spend nearly enough time there. Ironic, much? Want to sit and enjoy the view with me? A little bit of water and a whole heck of a lot of trees. It makes me very happy! As a girl who grew up in the Pacific Northwest, I’ve seen my fair share of forest. When we moved to Georgia, I was surprised there were so many trees. I’m not sure what I was picturing. Cotton fields? Peach orchards? I still have not seen a peach orchard, by the way. Instead of focusing the furniture IN on the room, I turned the furniture OUT…
Kitchen Refresh Part 6: Hardware
Before I typed this post, I was working on the backsplash. No, really. I was genuinely working on the backsplash, which is the last part of this little project. I’m ready to wrap this thing up in the next few days. Not that I’ll get final pictures taken that quick! In the next two weeks we have birthdays for both of my kids, end of year parties, kindergarten round-up, sports and I’m sure I’m forgetting something else. In the meantime, I have some lovely, not-so-lovely iPhone photos to share. After I painted the cabinets, I reused the cabinet knobs to save some dough. Someone still makes these knobs, by the way.…
Mothering Without a Mother
When I was pregnant with my daughter, my first child, I sat alone on the exam table at my first ob-gyn appointment. My doctor’s office didn’t book initial pregnancy visits until somewhere near the end of the first trimester, so I had waited what felt like forever to get some clarity on this situation. Things like, were the first 15 home pregnancy tests I had taken accurate? Ha! Part of me really hoped I just had the world’s longest case of food poisoning because the enormity of what a pregnancy meant for our lives was just a little too new, a little too big to fully comprehend. Don’t get me wrong. I…
A Quiet, Neutral Vignette
I visited a friend’s house the other day and she had the most amazing multi-colored rug and fun, colorful art prints on her walls. It was bright, fun and happy. I loved it! It was a cheery place to hang out and hang out I did! It got me to thinking about my own home and home-decor choices. While I do have some color in my home, by and large, I tend to go with a lot of neutrals. Case in point, this vignette, which is located in our dining area and is visible from the front door. Wood tones, black and white, natural elements, texture – these are some of…
Kitchen Refresh Part 5: Backsplash Dilemma
Free time is a precious commodity. Am I right? That’s why it pains me to think about the amount of time I’ve spent online searching for backsplash inspiration. It really is ridiculous. I’m really surprised I haven’t dreamed about backsplashes since they are top-of-mind lately. I want a backsplash option that isn’t permanent and isn’t expensive. Shouldn’t be too hard, right? My first choice was to use Smart Tiles since I’d heard about them from somewhere. I can’t hold the “where” part in my feeble mind. My heart was set on trying out their peel and stick backsplash tiles. It sounded like just my kind of project! Looks like real tile, right? It’s not!…
The Big 4-1 and the Hilarity of Baseball
Someone turned the big 4-1 this week. Forty-one. Wow. NO! It was NOT me. I’ve still got years to go on that one. 🙂 Not that I rub that in or anything. I went all out for the husband’s birthday and slaved away…at the bakery deciding which cupcakes to purchase. In case you are wondering, I selected lemon meringue, cookies & cream, salted caramel, birthday cake, carrot and Boston creme. If you are in Georgia, Jilly’s Cupcakery has to-die-for cupcakes. My husband and I voted and the salted caramel was our favorite. The hubby got off work early on his birthday so he could watch this girl get her karate…
Easy DIY Necklace for Mother’s Day – Kid Craft
My son’s preschool does a super sweet event each spring called Muffins for Mom. Or was is Muffins with Mom? Prepositions aside, the important thing is there were muffins and moms in one classroom with their kids. And all was right with the world. It’s a good thing this event is so sweet and heartfelt because I admit to having a hard time taking anything seriously when I am sitting on an itty bitty chair 12 inches off the ground. I’m just saying. Even the Leader of the Free World would feel a little ridiculous. I set my discomfort aside because after the kids sang a special song, it was…
Kitchen Refresh Part 4: Unexpected Kindness
I am still making headway on the kitchen. As of last night, I had FINALLY finished sanding the remaining 5 cabinet doors. That means I only have the cabinet frames on one section to sand down and then we’ll be in the home stretch! Considering that it took 35 minutes to sand this ONE SINGLE door front and back, I will be happy to be done with the down and dirty sanding phase of this project. Oh, and I wasn’t messing around. I used 40 grit sandpaper to get through a billion and one layers of paint on this door and it still took that long. Then I had to go back…
