Outdoor Decorating with Farm Junk
My stepmom has put in countless dirty, filthy hours cleaning out old barns and sheds on the family farm. God bless her. There have been piles for Goodwill, piles for scrap metal recycling, piles for burning. Then there’s the pile she’s kept. What’s in it? Old lights, saw blades, tractor seats, mole traps, springs…the usual. Why does she keep these things? Well, she’s the Junk Whisperer. This wall is on the back of the garage. A spot that nobody, but her and my dad are going to see on a regular basis. When I arrived in Oregon this summer, this was simply an empty wall with a flower bed on the…
Back to School Favorites
My kids go back to school in 10 days. My baby will be starting all-day Kindergarten. *wah* Whose the REAL baby now? Now, while I do have mixed emotions about the start of another school year, I am 100% sure that I LOVE new school supplies. I mean, come on, who doesn’t love a new Trapper Keeper? Here are a few of the items my kids will be using on the first day of school. 1. LL Bean Backpacks My daughter’s Wildkin Backpack held up amazingly well for 2 years. I’d actually highly recommend it. However, she has out-grown all things pink in color and the backpack was finally starting to show some wear. She’ll be…
Zucchini Cornbread
I recently posted a blueberry zucchini muffin recipe and made clear my feelings on all things zucchini-related. The muffins were crazy delicious, by the way. You never end up with just ONE zucchini, right? Nothing else in your garden will grow, but you will have 1,000 zucchini. Or your neighbor has 1,000 zucchini and suddenly “gifts” you more zucchini than one family could ever possibly consume. But even I, the zucchini skeptic, was intrigued when I heard about a recipe for Zucchini Cornbread. Intriguing, right? The problem with most cornbread recipes is that the cornbread turns out dry. Theoretically, the zucchini would do a good job at combating this little…
Vintage-Looking Animal Prints – Free Printable
A couple of weeks ago on our trip to Oregon we visited the WildLife Safari in the small town of Winston. The highlight of the Wildlife Safari is actually driving through the safari with your windows down. In some instances the animals were close enough to the driving path for a few really great photo ops. Now, when the ostrich came a little too close and decided to peck the car, the windows were definitely UP for that encounter. Here’s a photo I took of the American Bison. His coat is looking a little sad in the original photo. Here he is all vintage-y and with a little haircut. I’m seriously considering…
Decorating Your Flower Beds
If I’m being honest, I’m perfectly ecstatic to celebrate that one-hour window where a small section of one of my flower beds is completely weed-free. I haven’t even reached the point in my feeble attempts at outdoor beautification to consider decorating my flower beds. Every time I turn around, another weed pops up. Then I give up and drink a…lemonade. Some people are in a different league. They don’t call them Master Gardeners for nothing! They create a custom stone bench and then style it with ceramic frogs and an old pail filled with blooming flowers. Of course, they do. And you know each and every one of those stones in that…
Happy as a Dog in a Field of Cows
I’ve spent the last two and a half weeks happy as this dog playing in the field. No joke! I slept in my old childhood room. It’s much classier these days – no posters on the wall. I soaked up time with my family. How do my nieces and nephews grow so fast? How am I old enough to have nieces and nephews? Stop the madness! I squeezed in as much time as possible with friends. What happens on girls night, stays on girls night. Also, true friends are rare and should be cherished…especially since they have so much dirt on you! Now I’m headed home. I’m happy about that too.…
Caption This
This might be my favorite photo of me EVER. It totally beats all those pictures of me in 3rd grade with a mullet. Thanks Mom. The expressions on these girls’ faces? Priceless. You know you’re doing a good job as a parent if your kids alternate between amazed and embarrassed beyond belief by your antics. I’m trying to settle on a way to caption this photo. I was trying to teach these girls how to do one of those “jump high in the air” photos. I’d say I knocked it out of the ballpark… on so many levels. Don’t be surprised if this becomes my Christmas card. So, if you have an idea…
Blueberry Zucchini Muffins
Zucchini. The vegetable that grows an inch every time you turn your back on it. It’s really not my favorite vegetable. However, this recipe has me reconsidering my favorites list. I found a recipe for Blueberry Zucchini Bread on Allrecipes and it had an almost 5-star rating out of approximately 1,600 reviews. Holy smokes! That must be a good recipe. Or is it? Even with amazing online reviews, will it pass muster with my critical family? Chief critics include: the 5-year-old picky, doesn’t eat anything weird eater and the 69-year-old, life-long zucchini hater. Tough crowd. Well, I didn’t tell either of my chief critics that this muffin recipe included 2 cups of zucchini.…
Birdhouse on a Post
This is a birdhouse post about a birdhouse on a post. (Prepositions are little, but mighty.) In this particular instance, it is not so much a house, but a bird chapel. Preach it little birdies. If you have or find or make an amazing birdhouse, you don’t always have to hang it in a tree. No sir. Bring it closer, make it a part of your outdoor decor. Stick it on a post! My stepmom secured this bird chapel her super-talented brother made for her on top of an old 4×4 fence post. To get the fence post to stand upright without putting it into the ground she cut four…
Tractor Seat Art
I’m lucky a gal. When I go “home,” I actually get to go back to my childhood home. Yep, I grew up on a ranch. Cows, hay fields and lots of memories. There are also a lot of country treasures to be found on the ol’ homestead. My stepmom rescued these 2 old tractor seats and gave them new life as wall art. She’s a clever gal! The metal flowers came off of a piece of art my stepmom found at Kohl’s – on deep clearance, of course. She liked the flowers, but said they were attached to a weird, tacky piece of tile. It took a while for inspiration to…
