Lovely Cruise

I believe I can fly

 

brilliant

I saw these place mats by Publique Shop on the Etsy Finds newsletter today and I just had to share.  Aren't they amazing!  These are two of my favorites:

   
Photos by Publique Shop.

animation

 

We're a little under the weather around here.  Ella has a fever, which started yesterday morning and I'm not feeling 100%.  I'm just waiting for the boys to crash.  We don't have school for the next two days, so if they do get sick it will be good timing.  Since I'm trying to rest today and trying to keep Ella quiet, I've had lots of couch time.  Yeah for laptops because I managed to figure out how to make an animated ad.  Pretty exciting, eh?  

And in case you were wondering, I'm redesigning my blog again.  Someday I'll get it the way I want it...

projects

     
What a week!  I decided after days of doing a lot of nothing and feeling incredibly unmotivated that I should take on a couple projects totally unrelated to mothball charlie.  So I went to Lowe's and bought several cans of spray paint and and a couple quarts of paint and got to work.  These little projects always take longer than you think, but I've made great progress.  The first thing I tackled was my craft room's cabinets.  I painted them white originally but always thought I would paint them again once I figured out the color.  This post from Little Green Notebook (one of my newest favorite blogs) inspired me to paint the cabinets red.  I sprayed two of the shelves I have on the wall black, and one shelf and my bulletin board red.  I also painted the legs of my sewing table black.  I even bought hardware for the cabinets and installed them myself (there was no hardware, or holes for hardware before).  I have to say it's pretty empowering using power tools.  I am almost done, just have some touch-up to do and then I am going to finally organize the space.  I read recently that clutter can squelch creativity and I truly believe that.  So hopefully once my clutter is gone and my space is totally put together, I will be too!  One can always hope...

Like the animals?  Last week Ella and I were out for a coffee date and she asked me to draw her a pig on her magnadoodle.  After I drew it, I thought that was kind of a cute pig.  So a few days later I sat down and doodled.  Sam and Ella drew everything I did, and Sam's pig is so cute.  I really want to embroider it.  Anyway, I drew them on watercolor paper and will eventually paint them.  I then traced the drawings, scanned them, and messed around with them in Illustrator.  I was thinking it would be fun to do a kid themed calendar with these little guys, but I only have six of them so far.  Not sure I can kick out another six in time for this calendar season, but you never know. 

Have a great weekend!  

p.s.  I will share photos next week.  :) 

BLF

  

 

This summer Ella painted a watercolor painting for Kelly and recently Kelly framed it.  The fact that she would frame Ella's work just blows me away.  They have a very special relationship.  Ella truly adores her.  And Kelly in a recent blog post referred to Ella as her BLF (best little friend).  It's amazing to have your friends become important people to your kids as well.  And today is Kelly's birthday.  Happy Birthday!  Hope you are having a wonderful day.  

Ella and I are actually painting today.  I should be working on our bathroom that I am about to paint, but I just can't motivate myself.  So instead I am painting little farm and zoo animals and a couple dogs in costume.  Why yes, I have lost my mind.  I don't know what I'm going to do with these little animals, but they are pretty cute.  I will share them soon. 

Speaking of birthdays, here are a couple things I found today that would make fabulous presents. 

Ironstone Covered Casserole (It is all I can do to not buy this.  It would be a fabulous addition to my ironstone collection!)

Tourister bag (All I need is love.  And this bag) 

Camellia Espadrilles (These would be absolutely perfect for our trip to Maui.  Wait, that's the SALE price.  Darn.)

I'm sure there's more, but I will leave it at that.  Happy Tuesday! 

thank you

 

 
I was hesitant to write my previous blog post, but often what I share here is therapeutic for me so I decided it's my blog and I'll cry if I want to.  And even though my motivation was to simply put my feelings out there, the end result was many phone calls, emails and caring comments.  Thank you.  For now all is well with my little people, and I have faith that it will all work out.  As my friend Laura would say, "the {insert person or problem here} is too big to flush.  So we will just have to carry on.

 
The snow this weekend was quite a shock.  I truly didn't think we would get more than a dusting, but six inches is sure more than a dusting.  It ended up being a blessing as soccer was canceled and we could all sleep in and stay cozy.  Although Ella was up hours before the boys and as soon as she saw the snow she asked if she could go snowing.  And snowing she went.  I quickly found the snow pants and her winter coat.  No one has snow boots that fit, so we will have to remedy that soon.  Luckily Ella has rain boots.  She was in heaven and went out again later in the afternoon with Sam.  It's amazing to go to the pumpkin patch on Friday and wake up to snow on Saturday.  Life is never boring, that is for sure. 

 
And with that, I will leave you with some recent things I've stumbled upon here and there.  There is so much inspiration out there, it almost overwhelms me at times.  

Vintage Wallpaper Project by 100 layer cake (I adore this blog and love this project.  Anyone recognize a certain wallpaper pattern?)

Pomplamoose discovered via The Mayfly (I needed to smile last week and this music did the trick.  The single ladies cover is my favorite, although September is pretty awesome too.)

Jolly Old Garland by Lobster & Swan 

dreams (blog post) by Mayamade

colorful streamers by My Paper Crane

Art Persists (blog post) by Jenny Doh

pola love*Friday

 

 
Making the decision to have a child is momentous.  It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.  ~Elizabeth Stone

I am very thankful that this week is coming to an end.  It was the most challenging week I've had in my career as a parent.  I know there are many more challenges ahead, I am just hoping that the next one does not break my heart like this one did.

Har det godt. 

Randomness. Is that a word?

 

 
**To combat my nervousness and anxiety while watching the NU vs. Virginia Tech football game I started sorting all of the kid playing cards we have.  They were all thrown in a basket together and were a complete mess.  I saw this ziplock idea online and thought it was a great solution to my card problem.  I have looked and looked for the blog where I found the idea and I cannot find it.  I really like to give credit, so this annoys me.  Oh well.  It's such a simple little project and a great way to organize and keep things together.  Basically you sew several ziplocks together with a piece of folded fabric (like seam binding).

 
**3 and 4 year-old soccer might just be the most annoying thing I've ever experienced.  Most of the kids cry on the sidelines the entire game and/or refuse to play.  Ella doesn't have that problem, but she's pretty clueless when she is playing.  I really don't know who is more irritating, the kids or the parents.  Bribery, threats, and downright ridiculousness prevail.  Don't get me wrong I frequent all three, but if my kid cried the entire time we would leave.  Period.  They are just too young to be playing soccer.  Good thing the season is almost over, I can't take much more...  Now dance class is totally different.  All of the little girls are so giddy and happy during class.  They cannot wait for dance class to begin.  It is so incredibly adorable and sweet.  I have a smile on my face the entire time and so does Ella.

 
**I am participating in next month's Poppytalk Handmade market called, "Indie Love!"  I can't wait.  It's been awhile since I've participated.  I ran an ad at the Purl Bee for the past three months and was considering another big (aka expensive) ad, but decided against it for now.  Advertising is so tricky.  I also have a small ad in Somerset Life magazine's October issue.  It's a small ad with Indiepublic.  I haven't seen it yet in print.  I hope it looks ok. 

**Did I tell you about us ripping up the carpet on our stairs in hopes that they might be finished?  Oh boy.  Not how we usually roll, but we got a wild hair and went with it.  And no, they are not finished.  So now I am getting bids for hardwood, which is what we really want.  The first estimate (I haven't received his final bid, which makes me think even if it is good I won't hire him) was really high.  I had another contractor come over yesterday and I really liked him.  He even gave me a couple options that the first guy said wasn't possible.  I've got my fingers crossed for a reasonable bid.  

 
**I will leave you with this photo of my little guys.  I was looking for a photo the other day and came across this one.   These are their first winter coats for their first winter in Nebraska.  That was three years ago, time really flies.  And although the intensity of life when they were little was often very challenging, there are days when I long for them to be that little and to still be home with me.  Yesterday was one of those days. 

What's cookin?

Last week I had one of those non-cooking weeks.  I still fed my family and other than Friday night's pizza every dinner was made at home, but everyday around 4:00 the dinner panic would hit me.  I would think, oh crap I wonder if I can get away with grilled cheese again tonight?  The really crazy thing is I love to cook and bake, I sincerely do.  What gives me the heebie geebies is all of the planning and shopping that is involved with cooking and baking.  I need an assistant or a delivery service.  So this past weekend I tried to make up for all of the grilled cheese sandwiches by doing some actual cooking.  I even baked.

 
 
Saturday morning I broke out the crockpot for the first time this fall and made this absolutely delicious meal of beans and smoked sausage.  Believe me when I say I will make this meal again and again, it was that good.  I think it would be equally as good without the sausage.  It was so easy and smelled delicious.  My kids love beans so it was a big hit with them too.  This made a ton, and we have plenty of leftovers which will come in handy this week in lieu of the dreaded grilled cheese.   

I used Great Northern beans and fresh thyme.  I love my herb garden!  Make sure you serve this with some crusty bread, you need it to slop up all of the broth and juices.   
 
In addition to the sausage and beans I baked acorn squash with a little butter and brown sugar.  This is one of my favorite things to eat in the fall.  The squash on it's own could easily be an entire meal for me, maybe with a little salad. 

 
On Sunday we went out to the cabin for a couple hours.  I planted a winter garden and my lettuce was ready to be picked.  The carrots, spinach and beets are growing too.  Kind of exciting!  We luckily have neighbors who watch over my little garden and occasionally water for me.  The tomato plants still had lots of fruit on the vine, but I decided to pick them all even though most were still green.  I knew just what I would do with them.  Fried Green Tomato sandwiches!  I followed Jen's recipe.  I tried these one time before and wasn't successful.  This time I cooked the tomatoes longer on each side (meaning I actually read the recipe) and I think that is the key.  David and I had these for supper last night and we both loved them.  It's such a unique taste.  I have several more green tomatoes so I can see a repeat some time this week.  Got to eat them while we can you know!

 
Ella and Sam were dying to bake something with me.  I wasn't sure I would survive the experience.  "It's my turn to dump it in."  "No, it's mine!"  "Ha, ha, I got to do it!"  It was even too much for Sam.  At one point he disappeared.  Poor guy, it used to be our thing and now we have to contend with the little redhead, who refuses to miss out.  Speaking of Sam, when we baked last week I noticed that he no longer needs the step-stool to reach the counter.  He's so tall!  I just can't believe how big he is getting. 

 
Back to baking, last week one of Martha Stewart's cookie of the day recipes was Pumpkin Chocolate Swirl brownies.  I thought about making them, but then I thought I also saw a recipe for Pumpkin Choc Chip blondies on Martha.  The blondies sounded a little simpler, but couldn't find the recipe anywhere.  I don't know where I saw it or if I just made it up.  I did end up finding a couple recipes online and for the most part I used this recipe from In Good Taste, my changes are in blue: 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon pumpkin-pie spice (I made my own using this recipe and tripling it)
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature (I melted the butter)
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips (I only used 1 cup)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line bottom and sides of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with foil (I used parchment, but next time I won't use either), leaving an overhang on all sides. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pie spice, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

2. With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed until smooth; beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in pumpkin puree (mixture may appear curdled). Reduce speed to low, and mix in dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.  (I mixed the batter by hand).

3. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. (I sprinkled 1/3 of the pan with pumpkin seeds, leaving the rest more kid-friendly). Bake until edges begin to pull away from sides of pan and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely in pan.

4. Lift cake from pan (using foil as an aid). Peel off foil, and use a serrated knife to cut. These will be thick and gooey, so let cool before cutting.  

  

And just in case you are wondering last night we had pot roast that I cooked all day in the crock pot.  This week is off to a good start! 

for a good, no actually a great cause

 

 

Because of my wonderful friend Becca, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation is an important charity to me.  Last year I made a donation for every calendar I sold at Becca's crop, but this year I didn't have my calendars done in time.  Therefore, for the month of October I will donate $5 from every calendar I sell, to the JDRF, regular size or petite.  As a thank you from me, when you purchase a calendar in the month of October, you will receive a set of six circle tags from my Flowers and Fruit tag set, featuring the paintings from my 2010 calendar.  If you buy the regular size calendar you will get the tags featuring the paintings from January to June and if you buy the petite calendar you will receive July to December.  Buy both and you will get the entire set, for free.  It's a win-win, for you, for me and especially for the JDRF.  Thank you...

p.s.  I stole this photo of Becca, it's her profile photo from a website.  Hopefully she won't mind.  :)