It's the little things...

The last few weeks have been trying for me (family stuff) and I haven't been in the mood for getting on here and talking about stuff.  I have since come to the conclusion that the issues I'm facing with my brother aren't going to change.  His choice, not mine.  

On that note, I decided to not dwell on it (I'm a champion dweller) and I'm going to instead be present in my present.  Does that make sense?

So on that note, I was out yesterday and went to the Walmart and as I was diligently going by the list in my head and not getting sidetracked and I found some really cute curtains for my kitchen along with the stuff I went in for.

When I got home, I snagged the last five of these little guys:

And hung these little guys:

They're the Better Homes and Gardens brand (they each came with two red panels and two of those are hanging on the back door, but they're just red and what's exciting about that??) and the packaging says "Fall in love with your home all over again!".  I thought that was a little much until I put these up and put away the dishes.  Guess what? They were right!  I loved my kitchen!  

We rent right now, but if this was my kitchen I would definitely paint the cabinets and walls and change the counters and floors. They aren't horrible, they just aren't what I'd do with my own space.

Believe me though when I tell you that I am thankful to have a kitchen to cook in and a roof over my and my family's heads.  No complaining from me....  :)

Christmas copy-cat

I'm linking up with Debbie for her magazine copy-cat challenge party...

These are decorations I made last year (is that cheating?) and I really wanted to do something Christmasy for the party!   

I put up fall stuff the first day of September and although our summer was pretty short, I just couldn't wait.  My husband called me out on it too: "It's still summer!!  And I have to admit that as much as I love the fall colors and all, I'm ready for some red, green and sparkle!!  

I couldn't find anything in any of my holiday magazines to make in the last couple days, so I'm recycling this idea.  :) 

I bought the Farm Chicks Christmas book last year and fell in love with the little trees they had made and figured they would be easy to replicate.

(mine)

They were...just a lot of time spent wrapping styrofoam cones.  I had the most trouble with the paper wrapped one, but that was probably because I didn't have a lot of patience on this particular night.  I just wanted them done already, lol!!

(Serena's)

I'm going to make more this year and utilize our new bookcase as it has cubbies.  There are lots of cute ideas and eye candy in that book.

I love me some Farm Chicks...the summer show is lots of fun, but boy I wish there was a holiday one, too!!

OK, well I'm off to check out the other party go-ers!!

I'm not sure about this and a linky party

When I bought this shelf I liked it, but after a year it started to seem so dark.   I tried to lighten it up by putting different colored frames and what-not on it, but no dice.

So I decided to try out some Annie Sloan Old White on it.  At first I thought it was a total lost cause.  It seemed super blah.  Then I distressed it here and there (the front part is metal, so I thought it had an old ceiling tin feel to it) and thought it looked better. Then I distressed it a little more and that helped.

I hung it back in its spot last night and it still hangs there.  Naked.  I think it has the feel of an old mantel I could have found in a cool old farmhouse.  Maybe.  If I squint my eyes just so....

What do you think?  Did I wreck it?   Be honest.  I can take it. 

;)

I'm linking up over at Debbie's for her Newbie Party.

I've never been big on the linky things until lately.  I linked up just a few (Debbie's Copy-cat party was the first), but I realized that they really are fun.  So I put two and two together: Debbie seems like a fun girl and add to that a linky party and I bet it's a rockin' good time!

I'm off to check out the attendees....

The entryway table

I'm linking up with Miss Mustard Seed for her Furniture Feature Friday Party!

~

I've always wanted a proper entry.  In Southern California there aren't a lot of houses that have such things.  So you can imagine my glee when we moved into this house in Washington and it has one!  

One problem.  What the heck goes in it??  

It sat empty for a long time...until this past August to be exact.

  

I finally got tired of looking at the random stuff I put in there trying to figure it out and went on a hunt while the boys were on a camping trip.  I mean, what better time to hunt than while alone? No dinner to make, no one to entertain, no one but me!!  :)  While making the rounds of all my favorite thrifting places, I hit Spencers Antiques last. I should have gone there  first.  

I found this table in the last booth I looked at.  Perfect!!

  Just a few random things I wanted in this space.  

After shopping the house, I came up with about 95% of what is in it now.  It was quite a relief since I didn't want to be out shopping anymore.  I wanted to be fiddling around!

One day I got sick of all the brown and remembered an 'oops' paint I had and decided to paint.  I sanded the top and realized under the ugly brown was some nice wood.  I didn't have any stain on hand, but I did have scratch cover.  So that's what I used along with a poly coat. It turned out pretty OK if you ask me.  

During a recent trip to Seattle I found this rug at Ikea. Side note: you have no idea how much I dislike being 4 hours from Ikea.  I used to be 10 minutes from one.  

The chair is also from Ikea and the pad is from Homegoods years ago.  The gum dispenser belonged to my grandparents.

(I'm fairly embarrassed to say that the gum in there is about 3 years old.  Yuck.  Thankfully, nobody wants any!)

The long basket here is also from Spencers and has 5 wire dividers inside, so I used it to put canning jars in each one to hold flowers in the beginning.  When they died, I used it just to fill space, but I love it! To keep some small things organized I found three wire baskets (I couldn't decide on a color, so we each got our own color) to throw hats and floppy purses and such in at the end of the day.

It looks really blue in this ↓ picture, but a truer shade is what you see in the shot above.  It's a flat paint and at first I wasn't sure about it, but in the end I liked it a lot. I distressed it here and there and love these little nail holes.

One of my favorite things about it are these little curvy bits.  Second to them is the top which is two wide slats of wood with a few marks here and there and a bit of a gap between them.  It has a great lived in feel that I love.

I finally feel like this area is finished thanks to this find.  Of course there's always something to rearrange or redo altogether. I love to keep the front door open now and I'm not embarrassed when someone comes a callin'!  :)

(I apologize that my pictures are more on the yellow side than I would like.  It was nighttime when I took most of them, but they do get the point across!)

Peaches for grandma

I had packed up some peaches to send to grandma and after I had it all wrapped up, it occurred to me to cute it up a bit.  Why that didn't occur to me in the first place is beyond me....after all, I have a room full of stuff to cutify things.  Doesn't mean I always do though.

A couple years ago I bought myself a Cricut machine for Christmas and have only used it a handful of times for things that nobody else sees.  I need to change that since there are so many neat things to do with it!

Anyway, I made this using a jar stamp I bought to make tags when I gave jam as gifts a few years ago and the 'Preserves' cartridge.  (These cartridges are chock-full of items to cut out...it's amazing what you could do even if you only had one or two!)  In this instance I would love for the word to have been 'peaches', but hey, what're you gonna do?  :)  

It can be a bit time consuming to get all the paper choices made and layer everything when you're done, but it's totally worth it.  The options on the Cricut machine are pretty endless.  And they're pretty easy to use which is good for my non-techy self.  ;)

The little hearts were made using a Martha Stewart heart shaped hole-punch and added only because somehow when I was finished with this, I managed to get hot glue on it and in trying to take it off, some of the paper tore off!!  grrr....

At any rate, they add a bit more love, right?  Right.

(these opinions are mine and I'm not being compensated in any way for them)

Granny blanket

While driving by a local thrift store I saw this beauty in the window.  I kept thinking about it, so I raced back hoping it was still there.  It was.  It was $5.  It was mine.

I love its colors (it reminds me of the Brach's neopolitan candies that I love so much) and the fact that it isn't ginormous.  It's a little bigger than a lap sized blanket and perfect for me when I park myself in the corner of the couch.

:)

Duh

While at the Yankee Candle store the other day (there's a new store opening in my area and they offered BOGO...yay!), I noticed a little set of three glass jars with the scent sticks for Christmas.   

They were really cute; little red, green and brown jars with a little ornament style adornment

tied with red gingham ribbon.  At that moment I had an epiphany.  :)

   

I thought to myself "Hey, I have a small jar from the goodwill and they have the 

refill scents and sticks here.  I'll make my own."

Duh.

So I did.  This isn't the exact jar, the original one is smaller (and cuter as it has 'third pint' embossed on the neck) but I found this one today and since it has a smaller opening, I knew it would 

be better since that way the liquid won't evaporate as fast.

Or so they say.

 I tied on my own ribbon and thing-a-ma-bob to decorate it.

The scent I bought is Spiced Pumpkin and it smells yummy...just enough scent to blend with 

the candle I bought (Nature's Paintbrush. It's new and has a soft leafy scent) for fall.

I used a little thrifted dish and these little seed/pumpkin looking things to give it a little more

fall 'oomph'.  What I love best about this is the endless possibilities season after season.

And that, folks, is my 'duh' moment for the week.

Oh, right, who am I kidding....there will be plenty more before the week is up!!   ;)

In the Kitchen: Pumpkin Spice Whoopie Pies

I'm not a huge fan of marshmallow in it's 'natural' state and marshmallow creme holds a close second to that so I wasn't sure how I'd feel about these little guys.  As I read the recipe I saw that 

the filling calls for marshmallow creme.  

ick.  

(The funny thing is that I had a full jar in my pantry...I have no idea why considering I don't use it. hmmm.)

But guess what?  If you mix it with butter and powdered sugar it's amazing!!!  ha!

I found this particular recipe on Julie's blog, Joy's Hope,  and she found it on Pinterest.  

(She has 3 super cute girls, a new baby boy and a story I can unfortunately relate to.  If you read Joy's story, you'll 

understand what I mean. Anyway, her family lives in the same area we did before we moved, so I feel a 

certain kinship to her  for those reasons, although I don't know her personally.  Corny, I know, but hey...)

They are THE BOMB!!  They have the lightest pumpkin flavor and that filling....oh my goodness.  I don't even need a stinkin' whoopie pie to eat it!  Just give me the dang spoon already!!

I used a whoopie pie pan and as good as they are at holding the round shape, they leave little to be desired in the process of getting the dough flat.  I sprayed the bottom of a measuring cup to help press down the top a little bit, but they still were a little poofy.  Not a big deal, really, just something that I came across....

Anyway, here's the recipe:

Pumpkin Spice Whoopie Pies

COOKIES

One pouch sugar cookie mix. 

1 tbsp flour

1/2 c canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

1/3 butter, softened

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 egg

FILLING

2/3 c marshmallow creme

1/3 c butter, softened

2/3 c powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375*

1. In a medium bowl, stir together cookie mix and flour.  Add remaining ingredients.  Mix well.

2. Scoop (I use a cookie scoop, but 1-2 tablespoons should fill the cup 2/3 of the way...or a tad more) into pan.  If using a regular cookie sheet, drop 2 inches apart.

3. Bake 8-10 minutes.

4. While baking, mix filling with an electric mixer.

5. Wait for cookies to cool completely before adding filling and assembling.  I rolled ours in some fall-ish  sprinkly balls and also some mini semi sweet chocolate chips.  So good either way!!  

ENJOY!!!!!

Paint & pie

I'm doing it.  I'm painting my great grandma's hutch.  Old White.  With a duck egg-ish blue inside (not Annie Sloan's Duck Egg, but a very close 'oops' paint I found.

I also bought some cute vintagey strawberry hooks to put on the wall to the right.  On those I'm gonna hang some of my great grandma's aprons. 

(to the right is the laundry 'room/closet, so I can't center the hutch)

Also, I had coffee and homemade peach pie for lunch.  

SOOOOO GOOD!

I have been up to my eyeballs in peaches and I just couldn't can another jar, so I decided to make peach pie.  I can't believe how easy it is...I had enough to make two more so they're in the freezer waiting to be baked.  Can't wait.....

In the Kitchen: Roasted Potato and Green Bean Salad

I don't remember whereI found this recipe, but it's so yummy! The ingredients are simple, but have good flavor and texture when it's all done. You simply quarter the potatoes and onions and cut (or snap, depending on your time frame...I remember snapping green beans with my great aunt a long time ago :) ) the green beans to a size your family appreciates, unless you like grumblings at the table about how big the pieces are. 

One reason I love this is because the potatoes are soft, the green beans are crisp and the onions, oh my, the onions!, they are perfect.  Their tanginess (I would say sweetness, but that was vetoed last night at the table) is just wonderful!!!

After it has done its time in the oven, toss it in the dressing (while still hot) and try not to eat too much of it before it finds its way to the plate!

I personally think this goes with all kinds of main dishes, but last night we had it with rice pilaf and stuffed salmon (from Costco, and I must say that although I'm not a big fan of seafood, this was really good! The pieces were huge though, so we cut them in half and still had enough on our plates.)

Anyway, if you're into dishes like this, I suggest you try it and soon!!

Roasted Potato and Green Bean Salad

Preheat oven to 425*

2 lbs. red potatoes, quartered

1 large red onion, quartered

1 lb. green beans, cut to desired length 

3 tbsp. olive oil

2 tsp. lemon juice

2 tsp. mustard

1 tsp. worcestershire sauce

salt and pepper to taste

1. Put potatoes and onions in a large roasting pan sprayed with non-stick spray. Drizzle with 1 tbsp. or more if necessary and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Roast for 30 minutes.

2. After 30 minutes, toss in green beans (you may decide to add a touch more olive oil and s&p, I always do). Roast 20 - 25 minutes longer (depending how small you cut the potatoes, it may need more time).

3. Prepare the dressing.  In a large bowl (I use a Stearlite bowl that has a snap on lid so I can shake it upside down and all around) whisk together 2 tbsp. olive oil, lemon juice, mustard and  worcestershire until smooth.  I've found that adding a little more of any of these is pretty harmless, so it won't be ruined if you like more or less of any of these ingredients.  When the veggies are done, simply put them into the bowl with the dressing and make sure everything gets covered.

ENJOY!

This can be eaten hot or cold, but preferably hot.

Dear Blogs and Pinterest,

You both make me feel so bad.  

For all the pictures I didn't take.  

For all the pictures I do take that don't compare to the ones I see in your worlds.  

For all the crafts I don't make.  For being lame in the sewing department.  

For not making a huge deal out of every single thing that happens in my life...

even when I know it is a huge deal.

For keeping me up way past my bedtime. 

And so many other things...

But I would like to thank you for all the interesting people I have 'met'. 

And all the beauty they bring to my everyday life.

It's truly amazing the things I can see with just the tap of a few buttons.

~Kori 

Lesson learned.

Don't double a jelly/jam/soft spread recipe.  Apparently the ingredients don't cook the same and your final product will be liquid.  Not a fun thing to find out after what seemed like marathon chopping.  And processing.  And waiting.   For seemingly nothing.

BUT!  I remembered that I have this book and although I've only ever glanced at it, it sure came in handy yesterday!!

It's quite helpful and full of tons of 'recipes'.  Lucky for me there's a troubleshooting section and a cure for runny jelly!!  It involves recooking all your previously processed jelly with more sugar, lemon juice (even if the original recipe didn't call for it) and pectin (there are separate cures for liquid or powder variety pectins).

Thankfully all my jars of jelly set up this time and I can enjoy some today!  :p

I thoroughly recommend this book...there is so much info in it!!

New toy.

We did it.  We bought one of these!  It had been something we've talked about for a while now (even before we had even gone camping as a family) and always put it off thinking we'd never use it or whatever excuses we could think of.

I think part of our apprehension lied in where we were living.   Don't get me wrong, California has some amazing camping to offer (Sequoia National Forest being my favorite what with the giant redwoods and all, but as a grown-up, I am TERRIFIED of the mountain roads!!) and not only in the mountains...there is a whole coastline of gorgeous beaches to see.  Somehow though, it didn't seem like we were gonna camp at any of those places.

So here in Washington, we have so many options within an hour of our house!  In CA everything was hours away (and that was just the time it was supposed to take.  Not the time it really takes with all the traffic.  

Anyway, I can't wait to get it (it's getting ready for us at the dealer) so I can cute it up!!  We were lucky enough to find one that had plain fabric on the dinette and sofa (not like the crazy tonal patterns so many of them have...those are just not me!).  The fabric and walls are a very calm light chocolate milk color that I think will go with lots of colors.  If I was talented, I could recover them however I wanted to, but alas, I am not.  :(

I have always loved this (click on the green caravan in the top corner....I couldn't link up the post for some reason).  Obviously her decor is great for what she uses it for, but I love all the bright colors and the vintage feel.  Ours doesn't have that vintage look at all, but that doesn't mean I can't do up the inside with a nod in that direction, right?  There's also tons of inspiration on Pinterest!  As if I need a new reason to spend waste more time there.  : /

I want to put new window treatments, add some bright throws and pillows, put something fun on the walls, a cute runner on the floor and some cute bedding.  I already have lots of cute bright kitchen stuff to put in there.  Some lights strung on the awning, bright Adirondack chairs, astroturf....I can't wait!!! 

Of course I'm also excited to camp in it too...  :)

To Be Or Not To Be?

Guilty, that is.

On July 29 I went to Seattle to visit my BFF and her hubby (and get out away from my bajillion mile long to-do list!) and have some fun since my boys were headed to Canada for an ice hockey camp.  (They were meeting up at the camp with a family from Canada that we met here in WA last year when we were looking at Spokane as our new home base.)  The boys were very excited to get to do this together!  Their oldest son (they have three boys) and our son Guerin hit it off like they had known each other their whole lives and loved each other like brothers.  The other boys are included in the love fest too, but the way Guerin and A.J. clicked is pretty awesome.  We parents hit it off, too.  :)

Anyway, the camp was a Monday-Friday gig and then they were going to camp from Saturday until maybe Wednesday (tomorrow).  Originally I said I'd drive up and meet them, but you know how that goes.  

I didn't do it.  oops.

But it's not totally my choice/fault!  Not to be a TMIer, but I started my period.  Not conducive to a good time while camping and hitting the lake.  Then while planting a few things the other day,  I bent over and then couldn't get up.

OMG. How old am I getting??  That was three days ago and I still have to ease myself into a full upright position.  At least I feel like I'm upright.  I'm probably leaning just enough to look like a weirdo and don't realize it.  Maybe I just look like I'm in a hurry.  :)  Yep.  That's it...I'm in a hurry.

I've had two phone calls from my husband asking me if I'm coming to meet them.  And two times I've declined.  Graciously, but still.  :)   I feel like he thinks I just might be making stuff up to get out of it. It wouldn't be true, though!  Really.  It's been so long since I've seen them and now he tells me they'll be back Thursday night or Friday morning!!  Jeez!

Needless to say I've been having quite the time here all alone!!   Seriously, the first two days I did nothing but lay on the couch and eat cereal.  Cookie Crisp and Cinnamon Toast Crunch! Apparently I have a nine year old palette and an 89 year old body!!  And watched all the TV I wanted.  Surfed the net, fell in love with Pinterest...thank goodness I've had this time to browse at my leisure!  Definitely when they come back I won't have that luxury.   Went to bed at ridiculous hours and did just whatever the heck I wanted!!

I did (eventually) do grown-up things:  laundry, walked the dog, found some stuff for the entry-way (it's been oddly 'decorated' for all this time, but now it's lookin' good), made granola cereal for husband, put away some stuff that had been lingering, cleaning and the like.  yada, yada, yada.

I still feel that mom/wife guilt though.  Do you feel that too?  That no matter what/ how much you do around the house that it's never enough?  My husband doesn't keep score (not by any means), but I do.  Shameful, I know.  Mostly I compete against myself.  Sometimes he gets thrown in for good measure when I get tired of beating myself up.  ;)  Also shameful.

Since I turned down tonight's second offer of camping, I feel like I need to kick butt on the rest of my list.  Not looking forward to it, but I guess now is a good a time as any to get back into the swing of things....right after I eat my dinner of German chocolate cake!!  Oh yeah!  ;)

Uh-oh.

It's 12:13 am and I just fell in love with Pinterest. 

It's gonna be a long night!!

No big thing...

Just a little wreath project to brighten up the front door.  I like the idea of the glass panes, but also like the idea of privacy.  As you can see we have a boring white (it's tan on the other side...also boring) shade on the door.

In an attempt to add some interest and color, I made this little guy the other day.

It's just a white styrofoam wreath wrapped with twine.  I'm not 100% sure about the fabric (I like it, but I can't decide if I should have done it differently), but it's glued on with epoxy (can't seem to find my glue gun!) and so for now it stays.

I also added some pre-made yo-yos to help shore up the bottom seam.  I ran a little short with the fabric, so the end of the fabric was more visible than I wanted it to be.

Does that even make sense?  Maybe not, but if you saw it you'd know what I mean.  :)

About yo-yos, I know they're easy to make, at least that's what I've read.  I'm not real proficient with a needle and thread...at least I don't think so.  I guess I need to bust out some fabric and give it a shot!

Okey dokey.  In reality, I'm supposed to be cleaning out a weird room/closet that we've loaded with junk.  Then we're off to start in the garage.....I just needed a little e-break.  (electronic break, lol!)

Camping...

Growing up, I went camping a lot.  As I got older it didn't happen as much, but I always missed it.  

My husband did not go camping growing up.   He had gone a few times in his twenties, but it wasn't anything he did often.  

Last month he and our son went camping in Wasa, BC with our friends who live in Canada.  They loved it.  Minus a few 'situations' that were out of their control.  So of course they wanted to take me.  

 

With our new tent in tow and lots (and lots!) of other stuff, that I had NO idea how we got it all in the car, we arrived at our site.  

I put up our six man tent with no help...

While they put up a two man tent. Together.

Being as we're newbie campers, we went with basics: tents, sleeping bags, cooler and a campfire.  Sleeping on the ground.  ugh.

We went the next day and bought inflatable mats to sleep on.  ;)

It rained the first morning and so we went to breakfast at Denny's!  HA!

And, oh my. The mosquitoes....they were out in full force and I'm still feeling the effects.  I honestly think bites are still popping up!  I am scratching like crazy!!!

We did the hot dogs and s'mores thing the first night, but since it rained, we got pizza for dinner (there's a little pizza/ice cream place right on  the way to camp) the second night.

Canada has a thing for heart shaped rocks.  A few weeks ago we  took a little road trip there and I found some others...I kinda love it!!

The wildlife was minimal: Wasa Lions, which are like squirrels, and a few deer.  Also, we saw an amazing moth (I know, not wildlife, but still) that was snow white.  Pure white that looked almost pearly!  I took a picture, but it doesn't do it justice.

Anyway...

This is the lake.  It's not really that big and has a cute little town surrounding it.  I loved the colors and clouds in this shot and was so glad it came out so true to what I saw.

There were so many variables that could have made it our last camping trip, but we muddled through and can't wait for our next one!

I think we may look into a camper/trailer of some sort, though!  lol...

To do today:

Make pancakes!

It's been pretty hot around these parts.

So there hasn't been a lot of good sleep being had.

(OK, I know it's been pretty hot around most parts lately).

Today we were given a reprieve and it's greatly appreciated.

No sun. No humidity. No sweating.

In fact it looks and feels like rain.  But cool rain. 

It is with a bit of shame and lots of rest that I tell you we all woke up and fell back asleep at different intervals all morning.  

I got up for real at about 11:30 a.m. and it was awesome!

My son got up at 12:15 p.m.!
After the good mornings were said, he asks "What's for breakfast?"

Seriously.

I just looked at him and said "Lunch."  He claims to have no idea what time it was.
Apparently the clock in his room goes unnoticed.

Then he goes into the kitchen and comes out with a silent plea.

He's been asking for a few days (I know, how mean of me to not make them before now), so I suppose I best get to it....

Copy-cat!!

Debbie is having a Copy-cat party and I wanted to attend, so here I am!!

I recently spied the cutest outdoor checkers set in which the board was a small vintage style tablecloth with the checker pattern in the center. The game pieces were vintage looking buttons.

Super cute.

And I wanted it, but for $27, I figured dragging our original style checkers game outside would suffice. Not super cute, but it would get the job done. ;)

Until one day I was trolling through the local Goodwill store and not finding anything, started to walk out and I spotted a brown wooden checker board! For $ .99....it was a no brainer, so it came home with me.

Imagine my surprise when I bought the recent Woman's Day mag (with the cute 'corn' cupcakes on the cover) and flipped through and saw that they copied me!!

Well, not really, but I bought my board way before I saw the how-to article. So there!

The board I bought had light and dark squares on it so it made a great template. All I did was spray it with primer, then taped off stripes to paint. I then sanded it down to give it a worn look and trimmed it out with an antique white craft paint. A light poly coat and she was done.

Except I didn't have any playing pieces. Not to worry! Another trip to the GW (after forgoing finding buttons) and I found a checkers/chess game for $1.99 and painted the pieces coordinating colors.

(I just noticed this pic is off center and it's bugging me!! Sorry 'bout that...)

I love how it looks and have it all set up for a game if you wanna come over....

Check out the party!! Lots of cute ideas to see!!

C'mon...

Please tell me you love strawberry pancakes with sour cream as much as I do...

YUMMY!!!!