Friday, September 23, 2011

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Restoration of Heart and Home


We have a little family project going on right now:



And for said project we have a new blog to document all of the process. We will try to keep it updated, so please check it often and leave some comments! We would love to hear everyone's thoughts!



keep it simple.

Ugly Lamps

We have a lamp in our living room. It's not very pretty. It was from growing up, and it was free to us once we got married. It's just your basic floor lamp, but hunter green.


It could be worse I realize, but I have had enough of it. Which takes me back to the 'I'm painting everything' stage that I'm going through. So ugly green has turned to a nice hammered bronze:



It looks much better in our living room now. Flows with the color scheme and such. At least my nice newer looking lamp only cost me about $9 for the can of spray paint and about 30 minutes of my time. Win!

keep it simple.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Unexpected Three Day Weekends

Normally I love having a three day weekend. They are full of relaxation and rejuvination that is greatly needed. I would have loved it this weekend too, it was the Greentree Festival in Kirkwood, which is a fun Arts and Crafts event that takes over the park. I always have so much fun going and walking around, but I just wasn't feeling quite up to par on Saturday, so I decided to lay low and go on Sunday.

Then the rain started. And it didn't stop.

Not that the rain was the main reason my plans were ruined. I wasn't feeling any better, so decided to bite the bullet and go to the doctor to make sure I wasn't really sick.

I knew it wasn't strep. I was positive. I thought it was just a sinus infection, but working with kids I needed to have that reassurance from a strep test to know I wouldn't get them sick.

Throat swabbed.  Six minutes to get the results.

Positive for strep {and I was right, I had a sinus infection too.}

Dang-it. At least they can give you meds for it. But I think I waited just a tad too long to head in to the doc because I was miserable Sunday night. And Monday. Nothing like laying around the house all day with a sore throat. They're the worst, right? I would have rather had the flu. My throat was so swollen and painful, but after that 24 hours of meds it did start to feel better. So back to the grind today.

The boys had their second full day of school. And they LOVE it. I barely get hugs when we get there, they just run in and tell me to take the Chunk home. Fine by me. Better that than leaving them in tears everyday.

Hope you had a great, strep free weekend!

keep it simple

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Refreshing

I've been on a serious painting kick recently. Nothing in my path is safe. If it seems like it looks funny, it's probably going to be redone {even if it is the light hitting it in a strange way.}

I've been making serious progress on everything too. The problem is a bit of adult ADD that I appear to be suffering from that has caused about six projects to be three-quarters of the way done right now. That just means I'll have a lot done all together, right?

Anyway, I thought I would share a piece that I have finished. It was finished, but I decided to give it a little update and tlc because I wasn't digging the blue anymore {it was fun, but the sports zone that is our basement needed a little beauty thrown in with it.}

So just to remind you what we started with:


And now:


I love it. The Mr. thinks I'm crazy. You probably will too once you see how many things I have actually painted in the last couple weeks.

keep it simple.

Easily Entertained

{I would like to go on record as saying that the last post was not being mean and teasing the puppy. I happened to be enjoying a pumpkin muffin, and the puppy decided to sit right there and stare at me. Camera was right next to me, I couldn't resist.}

Thank goodness that children are easily entertained. We have been in major potty-training mode on the job front {for the boys, not me, before you make the joke that the Mr. always thinks is so funny.} They are actually both doing really well, which has been great, because changing three diapers all day long was tedious. There were days where it felt as though the only thing I was doing was feeding children and changing them.

Their ever so important treat for going on the potty is getting an M&M. It's cute how special they think it is. Can you imagine getting one M&M as a reward for doing something difficult? It would be such a let down.

One of the toughest parts of getting the boys to the potty is what to do with the little one. He has become a master-crawler and is such a speedy guy that I can barely turn my back on him. Unfortunately he loves the little training toilet and the stairs, which both turn out poorly if left alone for too long. So while trying to keep him from pulling Curly off the training toilet, falling down the steps or knocking the toilet paper off onto the Blonde, I decided to see if he liked playing in the sink.

Success.



{NOTE: Although it does not appear that I am holding the Chunk up I am. The top picture you just can't see my hand behind him and the bottom picture I was only away from him for about 5 seconds to take the picture and was ready to catch him should he decide to jump. I promise no children were harmed in the taking of these photos}

The only problem with this mode of distraction. He doesn't like leaving the water so much. Results in some tears and what I can only assume are choice words he has towards me.

keep it simple.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Not for Puppies

Easy Pumpkin Muffins

I love to cook. The problem with that is having enough people to feed. Since it's just the Mr. and myself, it seems that I am giving away food to anyone who will take it. Which I love to do as well. As I have said before, I love taking care of people, and to me cooking and feeding them is a great way to start.

I'm taking advantage of this by cooking for my family while visiting their house a bit. The siblings both go to school in town and are home too so it's fun to have the five of us together.

I kept seeing this recipe on Pinterest {or the most addicting website out there} and decided why not try it now? It seems that a habit on Pinterest is pinning things and then never doing anything with it, so I have tried to be very proactive in actually trying to create things that look neat. So without further ado, let's start the most simple muffins ever!

You will need:
-1 box of yellow cake mix
-1 can of pumpkin


Yep, only TWO ingredients!

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Mix together the two ingredients {this does seem a little strange at first, but it actually comes together quite nicely after a couple minutes}





After all of the cake mix is stirred into the pumpkin, start spooning the batter into a muffin tin.



{seriously, one extra?}


Put the muffins into the oven and cook for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.



Then to make them oh-so-beautiful, go ahead and sprinkle them with a little powdered sugar.

{yes, those are Valentine's Day cupcake liners. we can love all year folks.}

Then dig in and enjoy!



Delicious. Even the least experienced chef can make these. And you should because they are quite the treat {as judged by about half of them being gone already, and I took them out about 20 minutes ago}.

keep it simple.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Exciting News

One of my very best friends in the entire world just got ENGAGED!!






{Excuse my horribly manicured nails and pay attention to her BEAUTIFUL ring!}

I'm so happy for you guys and can't wait for your wedding and new life to start together!

keep it simple.