Make a Rock Garden Centerpiece!

It was time to put something on my table for spring, and I’ve been kind of stumped.  I always like to have something on my table that makes our home look alive, but its time to do something besides flowers or candles.  I definitely wanted something green to match my springtime green mantle, so I set about turning a small houseplant into a simple garden themed centerpiece.

You can find “river rocks” like these close to the florals in any craft store, or really, even in Walmart.  At target they’ll be close to the candles as “vase fillers”.  My houseplant was a dollar on closeout at Aldi, and the 70’s looking plastic water can was 15 cents at my favorite thrift store.  I don’t think I would go quite this simple with my centerpiece if my table runner wasn’t so eye catching by itself.  I found it at World Market, where I was cashing in on a $10 off anything coupon.  (Did you know they send you a $10 coupon for your birthday when you sign up for their emails?!  Sweet!)

I love how this constant reminder to water my plants, actually helps me remember to drink more H2O.  It’s SO ridiculously simple, but I don’t know…  I think it’s got a kind of zen quality!  What do you think?

A Simple, Happy Birthday!

My two year old became a three year old today!

There’s something so happy and simple about a plump, wispy bundle of birthday balloons!  They were definitely my son’s favorite part of the day!

We kept the celebration pretty simple, even for such a landmark birthday–no big party for my sensitive little sweetie.  Just grandparents and cupcakes!  Keeping things low key helped us ALL enjoy the event a little more fully.

We’re quickly learning that with so many adoring family members, my husband and I can gift our children pretty simply.  (And really SHOULD gift minimally if we want to have room to walk in our apartment!  LOL)  This year we gave him a lot of clothes, and just a few toys and books.  He was just as excited about the practical gifts!  What a kid!

3 years old.  Wow!  Our oldest baby is turning into a full fledged kiddo!

I Love This Toy!!!

Seriously! Whoever invented this is a genius! Pop up play tents (ours happen to be a set that you connect together) are amazing! Nothing’s more fun than a tent, but with these puppies, give me 5 seconds and I can have them collapsed and hidden under my couch! We’re apartment dwellers so this is a LIFE SAVER! (Plus, I like toys that store easily anyway! If it’s always left out, my kiddos lose interest, quick!)

Merry Christmas to us!

I’m also hoping to use these later to create little private play areas for my boys in their shared room!

Thrillers, Fillers, and Spillers! (My Quickie Lesson in Floral Arrangement)

Today, I got to help with our Thanksgiving centerpiece. My mother-in-law gave me a quick 101 course in floral arrangement. You only need three things: Thrillers (like the pumpkins or sunflowers that immediately catch the eye). Fillers (like the mums). And spillers (in this case, trailing ivy!). Now you know, too!

Friday Night is Date Night! Coffee and Sweets

Right now, with the new baby, we’re scaling back on everything. When fitting in a shower seems like a stealth undertaking, elaborate date night plans just don’t make much sense. Good thing it doesn’t have to be elaborate or expensive! A couple weeks ago we left the kids with the grandparents and dined out for just coffee and desert.

Coffee not your cup of tea? Try hot cocoa. If you don’t even leave the house, nothing says “I love you” like a warm mug and a fresh baked cookie!

Gotta love the simple!

Make Your Own Tea Bags! (Could this be a great Christmas gift idea???)

As I’m sure you could tell from last week’s post about Zombies and Jane Austen, I kind of have a thing about tea.  I was so thrilled when I saw this tutorial for how to Make Your Own Tea Bags from A Beautiful Mess.

I have never experimented with loose leaf tea, but now that I’m playing around with my own herb garden.  I wonder how difficult it would be to grow and dry my own chamomile or peppermint and then make my own tea bags to give as Christmas gifts!  Wouldn’t that be lovely gift paired with a vintage tea cup and saucer?  I probably don’t have time to try this THIS year, but it definitely is a fascinating concept!  I want to try it out!  Maybe I should just go buy some loose leaf tea supplies and come up with some of my own blends!  Wouldn’t that be cool?!

Here’s the Whole Wheat Bread I make!

 

 

So, here’s the deal.  I’ve been hitting the rice sock HARD over the past couple days, but today I felt good enough to stand up for a whole five minutes and make this recipe posted by Mangio da Sola: 100% Whole Wheat Bread from Artisan Bread in “Five” Minutes.

I don’t usually post about food, but I’ve done this recipe several times, and it’s a hit.

A few tips for you:

• Yes, it really does only take five minutes to mix up.  I put on disposable gloves and mix (but do not knead) with my hands to make sure it’s a quick process.  I just use a large mixing bowl and cover it with a cloth napkin while the dough rises.  If I refrigerate the dough, I just cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap.  No big deal!  Jorge Garcia (Hurley from LOST) loves to make bread, too, but he uses those disposable plastic shower caps to cover his mixing bowls!  Brilliant!
• I do NOT let the bread dough rest after I take it out of the refrigerator, like they recommend.  I use this for sandwich bread, and the crumb/crust consistency is more like that of a packaged sandwich bread when I go straight from fridge to oven.  Today, however, I’m baking straight off the counter, and have had good results with that method as well.
• I freeze formed unbaked loaves in plastic wrap.  They take about a day to thaw in the fridge, then bake up beautifully!  One batch of this dough makes about two loaves.
• I cut into VERY thin slices with an electric knife.  I try to make the slices about 1/4 inch thick, because this is SUCH a dense bread.  I love it though!  Lettuce, ham, cheddar, tomatoes, mayo or brown mustard!  MMMM!!!  It’s downright gourmet when served up on these slices!  Tonight, I’m serving pulled pork on it!
• I store the cut slices in a bag in my fridge.  There’s no preservatives in this loaf, so I do my best to keep it fresh as long as possible!  We always run out before it goes stale or gets moldy as long as it’s stored in the fridge!

Who knew it could be so easy to be so fancy!  Also, I broke down the price of all my ingredients, and it costs about 75 cents to make one of these loaves.  That’s a pretty substantial savings over store bought loaves, considering how little effort is put into the recipe!  YUM!

QUICK! Make an Apron out of a Dish Towel!

OH MY!  I was already totally smitten with these exact dish towels I saw at Target just a few days ago.  And then “Then she made…” offered this quick gift idea:  a dish towel apron!  I’ve seen dishtowels made into the sort of aprons that only cover the bottom half, but this design is FABULOUS!!!!

I’m sorry, but there’s no gifting where this project concerned!  I want this all to myself!  Go check out the blog and see what she did with some bargain Walmart dishtowels, too!  I need!  Plus, how much easier would this be to launder than some of my bulkier aprons?!  I could have a fresh kitchen apron for every day of the week!  Cheap themed aprons for every holiday!  Ooooh!  I want a harvest one with owls on it now!

The only thing I would change, would be to add a bit more length to the ribbon, so that I could wrap it all the way around and tie a bow in the front.  I just like bows. and belts. and belted bows.

Make your own tea tags! (And have a tea party! [And invite me! {And get some of that Good Earth stuff!}])

 

 

This time of year, I become slightly obsessed with tea.  Sometimes I just do chamomile and honey.  I’m also a big fan of the original flavor Good Earth tea, with nothing.  But I also appreciate a good British Breakfast tea served up with cream and sugar in a floofy looking cup and saucer!  Ask you can see, that’s why I love this DIY from Freckled Nest!

But, I must insist, if you’re going to have a tea party, do it right!  Rent some bonnet movies (anything based on a Jane Austen novel), and, for goodness sakes, get or make some fancy scones!

I think a Pride and Prejudice with Zombies tea party could make for a very memorable Halloween party next month!  These tags could be changed up to be incredibly spooky!

 

 

 

 

Make a Jack-O-Lantern out of an ORANGE?!

Tell me what you think of this friendly and fragrant centerpiece from eighteen25 Guest: Lisa Storms!  I think they’re sweet!