Etsy love

I'm not sure which one I love more, Etsy or Craig's List.  While they are very different shopping, both give me joy beyond the mall ever could.  I have been stalking these pillow covers for a while, I have a mild obsession with pillows for sure. I usually find fabric and have my mom's "pillow lady" make covers, but I don't have access to these lovely prints.

Better than Pottery Barn any day. Visit Elegantouch on Etsy. 

This is my brain on clutter

My friend and fellow blogger Jenny had a post last week about her messy desk and trying to organize the ridiculous amount of papers kids bring home from school.  I decided to take the challenge and photograph my space from table level to see what the madness really looks like too.  Yep, pretty bad. 

Papers sometimes don't bother me although if I don't keep sifting through them all week it can get insane by Friday.  What drives me really wacky is the hodge podge of toys, broken parts and trinkets that end up here and homeless.

I have used these to organize myself for a couple of years.  Just 2 inch binders. One for the kids stuff and one for bills.  I actually have several more for decorating ideas, insurance papers, financial reports and recipes.

I love these pocket binder thingys.  In the kids binder every child has their own pocket folder for important school reminders and announcements.  I also have pockets for copies if their health forms, craft ideas, community and sports events and classes...

In my bills binder I keep important contact info.  I have pockets for stamps and return address labels, bills, receipts and passwords...This is how I try to stay sane, I would love to see the method to your sanity.

One pretty little organizer I saw in BH&G and then in real life at Target was this. You know pretty just makes organizing that much better. I'm not a big fan of spending money to stash things away in a drawer, but these were really lovely and there was a butterfly print that I think I might have to as well. Just a thought :)

I'm leaving you with pictures from our trip to the zoo.  We go to the zoo often, but this time Todd was with us(as he usually lucks out by being at work), so it was special.   The boys had a great time showing him all their favorite animals, and we saw some new things too. Happy Monday!

I heart: simple crafts and good lighting

Now this is a Halloween craft I can get excited about.  Every year I love seeing what can be done with just pumpkins, it is really the only thing I like to decorate with in October. I try to make myself buy Halloween decorations every time I walk into TJ's or Michaels, but in the end I just buy lots of (real) pumpkins.  This project couldn't get any easier. Step 1. Carve hole in bottom of pumpkin,scoop out pulp, return cut pieces. Step 2. Print out house template at countryliving.com/halloween. Resize on copier to fit pumpkin. Step 3. Cut out stencils as directed on the templates and affix to pumpkins with masking tape.  Trace on the designs with a felt-tip pen. Step 4. Remove stencil, then carefully carve along the drawn lines of the houses' windows with an x-acto knife. Fill in the designs using a fine tip brush and black flat acrylic paint; let dry. Affix a battery-operated votive candle in the base of each pumpkin with adhesive putty.

Do you ever read People magazine.  There is a goofy page where you try to find the differences between two of the same celebrity pictures.  I never get all of them, I'm telling you it is actually a little hard, but scroll down and play the same game :)

We have recessed lighting in our 1980's kitchen! Hooray! I'll tell you what, it has given me hope that someday this kitchen will be really pretty.  I can just almost feel the beauty of white cabinets, stainless steel appliances and light counter tops-almost.  This is the first of many improvements to take place in this kitchen, although not for months, and not all at the same time.  I'm leaving you with a few more pics, because I know that curiosity is killing you, well...it's killing my mom :) This should give her design mind lots to think about!

 Isn't it nice of me not to even style(clean) this kitchen for pictures :)  Pleeeeese, I hardly ever clean it, it's the up side to having a kitchen you want to remodel-you detach-not a bad place to be sometimes.

I Heart: food

1.Don't you agree that September is a difficult month to cook. Well, I actually find every month difficult to cook, but when summer has ended, and it is still warm outside I find myself wondering what food season we are in.  I am looking forward to cooler days, pumpkin bars and chili, but it is still 90 degrees here and my summer basil just doesn't sound good.  I headed over to The Pioneer Woman for some inspiration and found some! Her tasty kitchen blog is yummers.  Real food, good food, food fit for a cowboy and that works on this frontier.  The other night I made this. Get on over there for some ideas for dinner.

2.A new obsession of mine is Greek Yogurt.  Yet again, I have Becca to thank for expanding my horizons.  She was munching on it the other day(back in August), then I spotted samples at the fair from the local Iowa dairy, and now I have a full blown addiction.  It's finally yogurt that eats like a meal.  I was never a huge fan before the Greek rage.  It has way more protein and I swear less sugar than the regular, the thickness and flavor just make me feel good.  The boys even heart it too.

{My new favorite breakfast}

3.  In my struggle to find my place in Knoxville, my sister recommended that I start to bake for people. People I don't know.  She said it would be good "energy" to share(myself) with others and I decided to listen to her wise advise.  I love to bake, and she was right when she said food brings people together and will provide an opening to start relationships. 

The dog had been roaming the neighborhood a little and well... scarring a neighbor two doors down who had not met him yet.  She put out an email asking who's it was.  I answered saying it was my precious(by precious I mean preciously annoying), big, black, bouncy dog.  She was very understanding which I appreciated, and this was my chance to  manipulate-I mean-bake for her.  This is one of my favorite cookies, and although it always feels a little Christmas-y, my kids heart these year round.

I call them Molasses Cookies.  The official name is Holiday Gingersnaps:

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temp.

1 cup sugar, (plus more for rolling)

1 egg

1/3 cup molasses

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets.  Combine flour, spices, salt, soda in a bowl.  In a large bowl, beat butter with sugar and egg at medium speed 2 minutes, until fluffy.  Add molasses, beat 1 minute; slowly add flour mixture; beat to combine

Using a rounded teaspoon for each cookie, roll dough into balls, then roll in sugar and place on cookie sheet.

Bake  8-10 minutes, or until cookies are golden(I prefer these cookies a little under done).  Cool 1 minute, transfer to wire rack.

So I walked two doors down and rang the door bell of my neighbors.  She wasn't home, but I left the cookies on her porch. She called me the next day and we had a really nice conversation and I am looking forward to getting to know her better as it was a surprise to find her young and fun..  I guess I really have my pesky pup to thank, but I think the cookies really helped ;)

I Heart: the tuesday edition

I am loving this bathroom that 320 Sycamore showed on her blog.  The designer even let her know of a comparable color from the home store so she/we can have it too.  I am picking up a sample, and although my bathroom has only one component of this design-the white toilet- I'm adding it to my idea book. 

{design by Margot Austin}

appreciating the arts

Last year Holden came home with a beautiful portfolio(really, that's what his art teacher called it), full of colorful and fun projects that I just couldn't wait to display. I had eyed the art work frames at Target, but just couldn't stomach the 25$ price tag.  Becca had reminded me of a Martha Stewart project that would be great for kids art work as well. 

Martha used these plastic frames(straight out of the 70's-you know you had them) as almost shadow boxes.  They come in several sizes and cost no more that 4 dollars at the craft store.

Martha covered the sides of the cardboard insert with craft paper.  That would be fun, but for this I sprayed them.

I used chalkboard paint because that's what I had and there was no reason to buy more black spray paint.

I like the flat finish as well.

I can't wait to get them hung in the boy's craft room.  They will be easy to change out as I didn't even need to tape/glue down the art work.  The only down side to these frames is the plastic seems to scratch easily and in weird places, I think that just might be the nature of this stuff.  Inspect them carefully before you buy.

random bits and pieces

Asher started school yesterday and it was a big success.  He said it was a GREAT day! Thank goodness for that because he had spent all summer telling me how he was not going to like his new school.  I think watching Holden helped change his attitude and when the first day rolled around he was pretty darn excited.  I think it helps that he has a very pretty teacher-you know Asher, he has fabulous taste(just ask Jenny and Bec-his two favorite moms).

This guy turns 5 in a couple days. He sure is one special dude.  Nearly everyday he teaches me more about the person I want to become, just by being himself.

Well...you like?  I like. I think it's going to work.  Sloan and I spent some of the morning rearranging the furniture(umm...he didn't help move the couch), because we could have spent the morning at the library but what fun would that be.  He is just so darn helpful, constantly reminding me not to put anything on the side tables that I don't want stuffed into the couch cushions ;)

I am moving this dresser from our bedroom down to where the blue table was in the sun room.  Do you think Todd will mind getting his underwear and socks on the first floor? haha

Who knew! There's a magnolia gardenia bush in our yard. I was giddy when I spotted this bloom, it made me feel so southern.

Hair by cream cheese toast.

No story here, my husband just loves to put babies in baskets.