Check out this stunning 'April in Paris' rose bush that Isaiah picked out just for me (and suckered Logan into buying)... Isaiah was more excited about mothers day this year than I have ever seen before. He makes melts my heart like chocolate on a warm day.
Logan surprised me with a bouquet days in advance, because he is awesome like that.
I love my boys.
This dress:
and these shoes: both vintage.
Because it's mothers day - this is my gift to myself. I get a little jealous when my husband has more clothes than I do. Seriously. It irks me.
Wicked as in good. Real good.
Logan and I had some friends over the other night and there was beer involved. I love beer, I just don't love what it does to me around the middle. You know what I mean? Poke, poke. I resisted the temptation, but at the end of the night there was one lonely bottle staring at me from inside my refrigerator. She looked at me with longing eyes, and whispered gently into my ear.
This is, after all, one of my favorites. Although completely different from Maredsous (another fave) it's right up there in my book. That's some stiff competition.
Well I say, when life throws you a lonely bottle of beer, make beer bread.
Here's the recipe - tell me if you like it!
1 bottle of Pete's Wicked Strawberry Blonde
3 c. all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/4 c. good clover honey
1/4 tsp. cardamom
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1 egg
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Whisk together flour, baking powder, cardamom, allspice, and salt. Stir in honey and beer, combine thoroughly. Transfer dough into a greased bread pan. In a small bowl beat the egg with 1 tablespoon of water, then brush most of the mixture over the dough. Sprinkle on the fennel seeds. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes.
Lord have mercy.
You can save money by making just about anything at home. Lets take tea and coffee for example; I drink at least a cup of tea a day from a highly nutritious blend that I make at home. Making your own blend is super easy to do, especially if you already know what you enjoy. Here's what I like:
4 parts red clover flower
4 parts nettle leaves
4 parts blackberry leaves
2 parts spearmint
2 parts oat straw
1 part stevia
I buy all of my herbs in bulk from Mountain Rose Herbs. They carry very high quality organic herbs, and even though I am using expensive red clover flowers liberally in this recipe, it still only costs me about 5 cents per serving. Compare that with any popular name brand tea at about 30 cents per serving. And the quality? Have you ever opened up a bag of tea and looked inside? It's questionable.
In essence, making your own blend at home will save you around $90/year if you drink a cup daily, like I do. If you can shave off cents like this with 11 other things by making them at home, you can be saving $90 per month. Little things like that add up.
For those of you who are not familiar with Marilyn Scott-Waters and her artsy smartsy ways, I highly recommend you visit her site called The Toy Maker. Trust me, your kids will thank you. This is a perfect go-to place for rainy day boredom busters, or for everyday fun & learning! Marilyn has lavished us with her talent by providing us with free printouts; oodles of toys for you and your little lovies to enjoy.
The bowling bunnies stole my heart,
the brownie math games are awesome,
and the koala-go-round is too cute for words.
Get to know a little about Marilyn by reading her interview by the Buell Children's Museum. Oh, and be sure to check out her books! We all love books, right!?
Three cheers for Marilyn!
Americans have been born and raised to accept and hold up a consumer driven society on high. However, many of us have become increasingly aware of our wasteful ways, and we now look out for and turn to eco-friendly solutions whenever possible. No doubt you have heard of the all mighty, energy saving, Compact Fluorescent Lamp and have already heard of its touted benefits and superiority from every street corner. By now, I'm sure most of you have them in your homes, including myself. The solution was simple and it was handed to us on a silver platter. We fed into it, we bought it.
Take a look at the package your CFL came in, and you just might miss the nonchalant notice on the back that the lamp you just bought contains mercury. How's that for a slap in the face? Your eco-friendly light bulb contains mercury. Now really, with all the bru-ha-ha about Monsanto these days does that really come as such a surprise? Aren't household products that contain mercury, a potent neurotoxin, illegal by now? Well, yes and no.
Keep yourself informed and your family safe. Here is what to do, and how to clean up properly if a fluorescent light bulb breaks in your home.
Also, many people do not recycle simply because they do not know where facilities exist. Please, please, please, I beg of you, do not throw away your CFL's. They will either break in your trash can, in the dumpster, on the way to the landfill, or once they hit the landfill itself, leaching out mercury into the environment, and into our water. Earth911.org will help you connect with a recycling facility near you. Just enter in your zip code and what you want to recycle (i.e. paint, batteries, or CFL's). If you have an IKEA locally, take your bulbs there. They recycle.
This is my first Frugal Friday post, and I hope you like it. If you do, I'll try and keep Frugal Friday's a regular thing around here. If not, well, I'll just have to put my tail between my legs and put my thinking cap back on.
Isaiah and I used this technique for making fabric from fused plastic grocery bags. I then turned our new found plastic fabric into a bowl cover. You know, like what your grandma used to cover her bowls with to keep food fresh, and nastys out. Since I'm on a roll here with attempting to rid our household of products that are designed to be thrown away, I figured I could add plastic wrap to my blacklist. I think covering bowls is really my only use for plastic wrap, other than rolling out sugar cookie dough before chilling it... and I think I'm willing to make that sacrifice.
So here is more or less how we did it:
1 - make your fabric
2 - use a plate for a template - trace around the edges
3 - cut out
4 - sew on a piece of 1/4" elastic around the edge using a zig zag stitch, all the while keeping the elastic stretched to its limit. Ta da!
You certainly don't have to use the plastic bag fabric making method. You could try using oilcloth, PUL, or even a shower curtain. We did the plastic bag method because it was free with the exception of the elastic. Hence, frugal and reusable!
I started this little embroidery project a couple of days ago. It started as circles and is slowly taking on its own identity.
This is my last macro challenge photo. Something I learned about myself is that I like taking a series of photos, not a bunch of random photos on any given day. I like context and substance. I'm not feeling very wordy today, so I'll stop while I'm ahead. Enjoy.
This is my mom's old guitar. She passed it down to me several years ago, and I still haven't learned to play it. Maybe one of these days. For now I just admire her beauty.
A couple of days ago I ran out of lotion. I didn't trod off to the store to buy up another bottle that contains who knows what. I thought better of it, and attempted to make a body butter all on my own. I am queen of miscellaneous crafts and hair-brained ideas, so naturally, I had all of the supplies ready and at my fingertips. With a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and a dash of inspiration, here is what I came up with:
7 tsp. jojoba oil
8 tsp. cocoa butter
5 tsp. sweet almond oil
1 tsp. vegetable glycerin
1 tsp. rosehip oil
20 drops, sandalwood essential oil
10 drops, palmarosa essential oil
5 drops, lavender essential oil
5 drops, blue yarrow essential oil
I got lucky, because it all fit inside a 4 ounce reusable tin rather nicely. I wanted it to be solid, but melt on contact with skin, which it does and is great. It feels nice on my arms and legs, but it's not... um... greasy enough for me. My skin is screaming for heavier oils, and my elbows, feet, and hands are not having it. It leaves a feeling on my skin reminiscent of "non greasy" sunblock, which I hate (I think it's because of the jojoba oil). So I'll use up what I've got (which shouldn't take long) and then I'll try mixing it up with heavier oils like macadamia, avocado, and hemp. I'll substitute vitamin e oil for the glycerin, and I might switch the cocoa butter for mango butter too. Mmmmmm.... mango butter!
Since I had busted out all of my essential oils, I made some carpet freshener too. I never use this stuff, but thought it would be fun. It couldn't be more easy to make. Essential oils, meet baking soda. I used a recipe from this book that involves lavender, cinnamon, and orange. It is very potent, and you could either double the baking soda, or half the amount of essential oils, with great results. I used this in our bedroom because it is the only room in our house with carpet. It did the job. Although, because our room lacks good air flow, I'm sure there are things growing in our carpet that I try not to think about - I will be using tea tree oil and peppermint next time around.
Oh, and I fed all of our plants vermicompost yesterday too. I hope they like it. =)
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