What to do… love your 3 yr old!

The other day, I was commenting on how it warmed up around Indiana, with this came more flowers. Do you remember, I blogged about how happy I was to have these flowers again in the middle of fall?

Well, When I came home from work a few days ago, I got a BIG surprise! You know how little kids can be, right?! How they can destroy something so quickly, but do it with sooo much innocents?

I found all of these lovely flower heads on the ground lying around its plant. URgh!

Well.. when life gives you flowers with NO stems, make a flower arrangement anyway possible right?!

Not too bad I’d say ;)

Fall Mantel Idea

Well you know how I romanticize about craft shows, right? Well I took this picture a couple years back, and re-came-across it. How lovely of a mantel would this make? I think it is time to start searching for all those lovely mini pumpkins! :)

Overwhelming!

Okay! Now I know there are a boat ton of women out there that have kids AND a full time job, which I sort of do too (I work four 9 hr. days). But here is the question… How do those women keep up with everything?!

Do you ever scowl at those little “jobs” that just drive you nuts, but you just can’t get to? Yeah like this little mess… HOW does it get like this?

Check each pen for it’s writing ability, and this is what I accomplished with my extra day off a.k.a. Labor Day :)

I was quite pleased with myself once this one was done. Then, I proceeded to finish the rest of the top of my fridge. Man, that place was DiRTy! Now give me about 25 more days like that & I could get my house in order, don’t ya think?! hahaah

Fall is near…

Look what I found in the closet today. Perfect for Fall, right? Many moons ago, when I moved in my first apartment alone, I was on a very limited budget. I had to turn to something very creative for wall artwork, hence this beauty. I hunted all these leaves on my long walks (my non-cable entertainment). Needless to say this artwork piece means a lot to me. So what you think? Is it as pretty as it is special?

I saw something on Pinterest today as well that made me think of this… the pin was showing you how to dip your leaves in wax to preserve the color. I really wish I would have done that.

Green with LoVe not EnVy

I have many things in this life that I am in love with, some more than others, obviously. One of my favorite loves though… Green! Not just the color, but I love plants & gardening bunches as well. One of my new obsessions lately {thanks to Pinterest} is terrariums. I have been thinking to create one for a long time, but I got half-way serious about it once I started pinning other peoples.

Like with all crafts/projects, it practically has to slap me in the face to get started on it, & this time it did! I was roaming about my yard the other day, and what did I come across? Moss! Moss makes me happy to say the least, and it was exactly what I needed to start this terrarium. So I brought it in the house, got out my apothecary jar that my grandma “lent me”, and got to work.

I knew it was going to need something else, but I was still in the debating stage until… I walked into a local store downtown today. It’s a cute little store that has been calling my name for awhile now, however, today was the first time I had a minute and it was actually open. There actually wasn’t too much that overly impressed me, till I got to the very end of the store. They had a large selection of terrariums and mini-gardens {as they were calling them}. My youngest daughter was standing in front of one of the mini-gardens, when she looked up at me with those big brown eyes and said “mommy, can we have this at home?”. I have to say, it WAS impressive. There were little pots with mini plants inside, a bike parked close to a pebble walking path, and a iron-archway with a vine crawling up it. I decided then and there it was time to add something to my little project at home.

We now have a scooter and a couple potted plants. The girls loved playing with the scooter, but were excited to see the finished project. I think my little one was impressed. It might not be the lavish mini-garden that she had asked for “when my birthday comes”, but it still makes a nice little centerpiece for our kitchen table.

I had some “left over” pieces, and haven’t decided what to do with this little one yet. It is quite cute, but so little I am not sure where to put it so it leaves a big impact. Maybe a shadowbox is in order… that’s just our little secret for now!

Sans Storage Kitchen

Did I ever mention that I have a bit of a storage problem in my kitchen? Yes, that would be the fact that I have too little. I have many ideas on how to fix this, but till then, I have came up with a few “quick fixes”. What do you think about my cluster o’ grains? I kept all the colors monotone, and put this cute tea towel down first. I quite like how it turned out.

When we moved in this house, it was the only problem I had with the house, but I was promised “that could be fixed”. Then life happened, or should I say, is happening. I think I would rather run the roads and create new experiences anyhow! If you’d like to see my “unlimited budget” style, however, come look over at Pinterest. I have a board on redecorating my kitchen/dining room… ahhhh someday!

Maybe I will win the lottery, right?

Chocolate Crème de Pots

 

Six brand new perfect little coffee mugs… what shall I put in them? We do have a bit of an obsession in our house, considering my husbands culture. Yes Bosnians love there coffee, and I have to admit I snickered a time or two at these manly men drinking out of tiny little cups. I seem to have embraced it though, not the actual drinking part, No! I embraced the shopping side of things.. I love these tiny little cups now. I got a lucky find while in Indy a few weekends ago, and found these cuties for 95 cents a piece.

I could have a little coffee party to show them off, right? Nope. I decide to showcase them with a little better of something in them

I am a chocolate lover, and this is one quick easy dessert I frequent. Crème de Pots.. almost like pudding, but thicker and creamier and yummy-er.

You will need:

1 cup half and half or light cream

4 ounces of semi-sweet baking chips

2 Teaspoons of Sugar

3 Beaten Egg Yolks {freeze the left over whites for another recipe}

1/2 Teaspoon of Vanilla

          

Got everything together? Good. Now get out your heavy saucepan, and combine the half and half, the chocolate chips, & the sugar. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes. I have included {fuzzy} pictures of the color changing process. Be sure to stir often, as it will scorch on the top if you don’t. While babying you chocolate, also get your eggs separated, and scramble up the egg yolks. Once you get a thicker, darker looking mixture, you will need to temper the eggs and chocolate mixture. To put it in laymen's terms, if you pour the hot mixture straight into the egg mixture too fast your gonna end up with scrambled eggs!  So pour little by little of the chocolate into the egg mixture bowl, and stir as you are doing this. Once you have all the ingredients together, all but the vanilla that is, cook it on low heat once more. Only 2-3 minutes this time.. till the mixture thickens up more. Remove from the heat, put your vanilla in, then your ready to put that yummo stuff into your fancy cups. Or any other dishes you might have/like. You will need to refrigerate these for 2 to 24 hours. I put mine in for only about 2 to 3 hours and they were ready to go.

Lesson learned for next time? Make two batches, We had one lonely cup missing some delishes-ness-es.

Collective Pictures

As I am sure you’ve all realized by now, I have never proclaimed to be an expert at anything, but I try to “make it work” a lot of times. When I got sick & tired of looking at my blank wall above my stair case, I took matters into my own hands. I already had a ton of black picture frames, but I really had no clue how to “organize” them against the wall.

First thing that I did was cut construction paper as big as the frames,then I taped the “paper frames” onto my wall. I placed them into the pattern I thought looked the nicest, rearranged them till it was just right. I then organized the actual frames on the floor & took pictures, don’t ask me why I did both! I didn’t take pictures of the wall with the construction paper, I did however take pictures, of pictures, on the floor. I kept them just so that I could share them with you all! {Don’t judge the mess all around them}

 

I put nails in the middle of my construction paper, so that they would be nice & straight {haha, yeah right}. It worked in theory, but I would have measured the back of the frame to see how far down, if I was to do it again. Overall, I am very pleased with how it turned out, considering I used NO level or laser beams in this project! GO ME!

Faux Raspberry Mocha

Isn't this cup beautiful? I spotted it at Marshalls, and I couldn't walk away from it. I bought a pair actually :) With this cup, I was inspired to write about another love of mine....

some people like Margaritas, some people wine, some people like Throwback Pepsi, while others like Dr. Pepper. Not me, I obsess over Starbuck's mochas.

During the winter months I go with a peppermint mocha, and sometimes just a plain o' mocha will do, but kids, we are headed into Spring!

Raspberry Mocha for me!

I know what you might be saying... but Katrina, Starbucks gets a little pricey if you make a trip there too frequently. Well, I got the hook up for you then :)

Just add water!

Start with your regular hot chocolate mix, and make according to directions on package.

Next add a half {according to MY tastes} package of these travel instant coffees, & yes you can buy the cheap one.. there are so many other flavors competing anyway.

And finally get your syrup ready, I add 2 Tablespoons, but that might be because I not only have a sweet tooth, I have a sweet FANG!

Voila! Yummy Faux Raspberry Mocha, and you didn't even have to brew a cup of coffee :)