friday flowers : mums

this week's flowers are brought to you by my son. i had another selection chosen at the market but before i could make it past the flower display he had managed to grab these from his seat in the cart and insist they were better than what i had. i have to agree...

zero waste life

i love this. this family is living a zero waste lifestyle flawlessly. not only have they downsized from a 3000 sq. foot home to a 1400 sq foot home, they have implemented some incredibly impressive ways to reduce waste (taking mason jars to the market for deli meats and cheeses...wow!). and aren't they a beautiful couple?!   i am avid at recycling and now inspired to see what more i can do to reduce our own household waste. we've already got the square footage part, a luxurious 800 for us :)

sensational sneakers

if only my plastic kenmore sewing machine had an embroidery function...

thankfully my aunt has one so i'll be sweet-talking her into making a pair of these babies for all three of us!!

image via here

diet? me???

i have never been one to diet. for one they pose too many rules which has never agreed with me. i like to make my own rules, and eating (and feeding my family) healthy unprocessed foods has always been number one. but this idea seems revolutionary to me and i am seriously considering giving it a try. it will no doubt be a challenge because i do love my flours and breads and rices, but the health benefits seem out of this world! i'm going to be visiting and reading this, this and this blog/site regularly from now on, and will keep you posted on my progress. wish me luck!

shopping for a rainy day

each day around 10am i head outdoors with my son, rain or shine.  the fresh air is vital to our sanity.  we'll spend anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour playing in the back yard, or taking a walk around the block.  living in the northwest can have it's challenges when it comes to weather, and lately we've been finding ourselves out cold in the rain (figuratively speaking).  Lars' snow coat has been useful, but the wetter it gets the more i'd like him to have more appropriate seasonal gear.  there is a lot out there for girls but i was able to find some great options for boys;  these are a few of my favorites with a strong lean towards numbers 6 and 7...what do you think?

1. hatley sesame street rain jacket

2.  western chief snowboard camo rain boots

3.  hatley robots kids' rain boots

4.  hatley camp kids rain jacket

5.  kidorable dinosaur rain boots

6.  chooka tossed skulls toddler rain boots

7.  western chief snowboard camo rain jacket

friday flowers

although i haven't been consistent all winter, now that spring is nearly here i've been making more of an effort to pick up fresh flowers each week.  there is something simple and sunny about waking up each morning to a pretty display, and this effect continues to brighten up my kitchen day after day.  tulips happen to be my favorite, and the store where we do our shopping carries a wide variety of colors.  since the selection is slim when it comes to general variety, i'll have to get creative each week; at least until the farmer's market opens in may...

green with glaze

 

the last time we celebrated st. patrick's day was five years ago... with an old friend of my husband's who claimed a mere slice of  irish blood and who could cook a mean beef brisket; it was the best i'd ever had.  before that, the holiday was a fun celebration of childhood, and always enticing to pinch schoolmates who had forgotten to wear green.  to be honest,  this year it slipped my mind entirely until i heard it being announced on the radio this morning.  since my son was in no mood for clothing, i thought he would have fun getting covered in some lucky icing.  aside from the steps necessary for adults, he did all the work on these himself; and we both avoided getting pinched! 

(recipe is for basic yellow cake found in virtually any cookbook; mine is better homes and gardens.  the glaze is confectioner's sugar, oj, and green food coloring.)

bars beat all

we really like cookies...but there are days when we have to beat the clock and on those days we bake cookie bars. virtually any basic cookie recipe can be turned into bars by doubling or tripling the baking time; and if you have a little helper it's way more fun!

spring project : stenciled floors

three months after our son was born, my husband and i discovered that the carpet in our home was giving him allergies. although i professionally cleaned them every six months, we wasted no time ripping it out of every room, including closets. what waited for us underneath was a softwood fir floor covered in paint splotches of various color and a very uneven tone in the wood. i tolerated looking at it's unattractiveness as long as i could (which seemed like forever) until concluding that something had to be done with it before i lost my mind. after doing a little research i decided painting would be the most promising, albeit affordable option at the time; although not the easiest. i enlisted my seventeen year old brother-in-law to help (much to his chagrin) sand, prime, and paint two bedrooms, our front room and hallway~ everything but the kitchen and bath. time, weather, and space (to move the furniture) were not on our side, but somehow we managed to finish the project a week before my son's first birthday party. now only a year and a half later the shortcuts we took are starting to rear their scuffed and patchy holes. i need a solution this spring and i think i've found it~ below are some of my favorite ideas for stenciled floors... i'm heading out now to buy the supplies. Stay tuned for my results!

images via web