A new table

A few weeks ago, I bought a little table for our family room. 

I orginally planned to paint the top with chalkboard paint DIY style of this one by Offi.  Then I came to my senses and realized I would end up in the mental institution after seeing all the dust on the floor.   

So stain it was.

And because someone will ask, paint is Rustoleum Grass Green.

Coming soon. I promise.

This is a tute that has been, oh, I don't know...11 months in the making. 

My current mission of organizing and decluttering has left me wanting some prettier storage.  Stay tuned. 

Happy Sunday

With a gift card burning a hole in my pocket, this shopping trip certainly made me happy. :)

Three Five

My boys have been running around all week telling everyone that "Daddy's three five!"

They do love a good celebration. 

Well, good celebrations and chocolate cake.

Happy birthday, Daddy!  We love you!

Happy Sunday on Monday

Spring has officially sprung.  Yay!

Going green

I did my best to dig up all the green I could today.  Holidays are so much more fun as a mom. :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Rainbow wind catchers

In the spirit of St. Patrick's Day and pots of gold at the end of the rainbow, we made rainbow wind catchers this afternoon. 

I totally stole this idea from Meg.  If you ever need some colorful inspiration, she's your girl. 

Some of us were a little more literal in our rainbows than others.  It's good for contol freak mommies to learn to let go.

Even on my filthy window, I love them!

Stuff.

Inspired by Sarah and Sarah, I'm spending this Lent purging our home of the excess stuff we've amassed.  Like Sarah, my goal is to get rid of 40 bags.  And like Sarah, my goal is to simplify. 

Maybe it's nesting. 

Maybe it's spring cleaning.

Maybe it's my fascination with Hoarders marathons. 

Whatever it is, the stuff has got to go.

And it's going.  I've spent the past week digging through closets and drawers and piles of stuff.  

Stuff I fell in love with at the store.

Stuff I had big plans for.

Stuff that I had big plans for, but I didn't know what they were yet.

Stuff that I thought I couldn't live without.

Stuff that I didn't need or want, but was easier to just ignore sitting in a pile.

I guess I never realized how much stuff we really had. 

I'm less than a week in and I've already come up with several bags of garbage and bags of giveaways.  And there's nothing in any of those bags that I'm really going to miss.  I'm certainly not going to miss the clutter. 

I've gotta say, it feels good already.  And after 40 days?  It's going to feel great!

DIY Girl Scout Cookies

Somehow I came across this wannabe Girl Scout Samoas recipe.

And since we live in a neighborhood without a single Girl Scout, I'm so glad I did. 

These aren't exactly quick to make, but they're easy and almost as good as the real thing.  Can't beat it.

I used an itty bitty juice glass as a cookie cutter and a pastry tip for the holes.  The cookies still turned out huge.  These are so caramel-y and rich, smaller is definitely better.

I ended up with 30 cookies and enough topping for 24.  The cookies were still yummy plain. 

I couldn't wait a second longer and resorted to the freezer for my almost finished cookies. 

Beautiful mess.

All wrapped up and ready to share. :)

Happy Sunday

Spring is in the air!