Rusty Machine turned Bird Bath
Have you ever heard an artist or songwriter being interviewed about their latest work of art or song? The interview always asks them to tell the audience what their creation stands for or how it should be interpreted. I keep waiting for someone to say, “I ate a messy cheeseburger, wiped my hands on the canvas and then decided to see if anyone would pay for it.” No one ever says that! Instead, many of them will be super ambiguous about their creations and want to leave it up to the viewer or listener to form their own impressions of said art. Well, that sort of happened to me this week. Not…
Apple Cake
There’s logic and then there’s food logic. For instance, I don’t feel guilty about eating this cake because there’s more fruit and nuts in it than say, flour. When applied to the laws of normal logic, that justification doesn’t work. It’s a good thing the laws of normal logic don’t apply here. Right? Right? Before making my grandma’s apple cake recipe this week, I had a conference with my 3 favorite aunts about the recipe ingredients. Aunts are a gift from God. They bring so much perspective to your life. My question to my aunts was about whether or not the right amount of sugar was listed on the recipe. It…
Dining Room Hutch and Incorporating Kid Art into Home Decor
The daytime high temperature dropped to 71 degrees this weekend in greater Atlanta and it was like “okay, it’s chilly! Time to make soup!” I’m not even joking. Don’t worry, it’s back up into the 80s now. All joking aside, I’m ready for Fall! It’s the middle of September and I’m itching to start pumpkin-fying everything. Before I do, I thought I’d take some pictures of how my dining room hutch looks right now. I’ve shown you the dining room built-ins, which are on the wall to the right of the hutch. I’ve also shown you the opposite wall where I’ve kept things very neutral. This hutch backs up to our…
Fixing the Rattling Windows in the Back Door
I love old houses and the beautiful doors that often accompany them. However, there is a sound that just makes me shudder. It’s when the kids slam the door so hard that it rattles the windows in said door. They aren’t trying to slam the door and shake the entire house. It just happens during their haste to get outside. It’s actually quite shocking to me that one of those windows hasn’t broken yet. This is the door in question. See it back there? This door is used for 99.9% of our comings and goings. The other day, in one of those fits of productivity where you cram in more useful…
Good Luck Horseshoe
Update: Huge shout out to Knock Off Decor for featuring my horseshoe! Shocking news. I subscribe to a few magazines. While I love all things digital, I still savor turning the pages of an actual magazine or book. It’s a feeling that can’t be replaced. A couple of weeks ago I was flipping through the September 2015 issue of Better Homes and Gardens when I saw this: Gold horseshoe. COME TO MAMA! I can’t really tell if it’s mounted on that book or if it’s just Photoshopped to be the same color. No matter. I was stuck on the gold horseshoe. I just needed a horseshoe. Small hitch in the giddy-up. If…
Pine Cone Birdhouse Bookends
The other day while on a creative sojourn through Joann’s (I can sojourn now, as long as I’m back by 2:30 to meet the school bus), I decided I needed to jazz up the bookends on the shelves in our dining room. Spray painting them ‘champagne mist’ was no longer enough. Sometimes ideas and inspiration come to me in convoluted ways. I’m just thankful that this time I was in the paint-it-yourself-trinket aisle instead of the all-things-wedding aisle at the craft store. Through a few leaps of illogical logic and some creative mind-bendery, I decided I needed birdhouse bookends. I started with two of these very generic wood birdhouses (similar). I…
Labor Day
We’ve had a long 4-day weekend. We did some of this… But, I promise, the only one who passed out on the floor was this one. I’m going to soak up one more day off with our happy little family and be back to our regularly scheduled awesomeness on Wednesday. I’ve been doing some crafting and can’t wait to share it with you all! P.S. If you are interested in the kids’ Berg pedal cars, we got them on Amazon and LOVE them. P.S.S. The green blanket is the Chamois Stroller Blanket from Pottery Barn and it’s my go-to for baby presents. *affiliate links in this post* Share this:
Dear Teachers and Things That Make Me Happy: Part 3
This is one of those random posts with a little bit of this happy and a little bit of that happy. 1. Dear Teachers: You’re Not Fooling Me blog post Candice of Alamo City Moms Blog wrote a fantastic, worth-your-time post on really “seeing” your child’s teacher. Seeing the effort they put into their classroom, their lesson plans, educating your child. As she puts it, “we’re in this together” and it is so true. Photo source 2. Sarcasm Is Good For You, So Says Harvard Study Photo Source I knew it! In a nutshell, this study says when there is a baseline of trust between two people, decoding sarcastic remarks promotes…
Where’s Your Happy Place?
The Junk Whisperer has a “this is my happy place” sign on the outside of her potting shed. It does beg the question. Where is your happy place? Have you ever thought about it? I’m guessing a lot of people would say the beach or the mountains or the lake is their happy place. I used to think my happy place was standing outside the car for that 5 seconds of quiet after you buckle your screaming toddler in the car and shut their door. Of course, that 5 seconds and a few deep breaths does go by so quickly before you have to open your car door and get on with the…
A Little Bit of Yard Work Does Wonders
I might actually enjoy yard work if it wasn’t for the weeds. The ones that you pull and they keep coming back. Except now they are larger and they grow faster and I’m pretty sure they are mocking me. After a summer of battling the weeds in our front flowerbeds, I decided it was time to take more drastic measures. And, no, that would not be hiring a landscape maintenance company. (Although, that would really, really, really make my day.) I decided it was time to try laying down landscape fabric. (There is no “before” picture. It was too depressing.) For those of you with a green thumb, avert your…
