Grateful- Week Eleven

 What a great week I've had including a fun 3 day trip to Dallas with my Mom and daughter. Grateful to have a girl trip with these two!

SUPER grateful that trip included my favorite place for BBQ! The potato salad and sausage at Red, Hot and Blue is the best!

Spending part of Thursday at the Dallas Arboretum reminded me how grateful I am of the many colors in God's box of crayons. He made the world full of color and gave us the eyes to see it. He didn't have to :)

Friday night I sure was grateful this guy returned home from a business trip. He doesn't travel much and we sure miss him when he does!

I bought fresh cut daffodils at Trader Joes and was grateful they bloomed on Saturday! 10 daffodils for $1.29 was a steal in my book.

Sure am grateful this girl has a queen sized bed for all the things she sleeps with. No doubt she'd fall out of a twin nightly to make room for her babies that she sneaks in after dark.

I received this AMAZING wedding invitation in the mail for a dear friends from junior high. I am so grateful I was asked to be part of her long awaited special day!

Finally, today is a new day. Yesterday was hard on a family I love and I'm so glad to turn the page and start fresh today with sunshine, the park and a Spring candle. I love the Renew & Refresh candle out for Spring from Bath & Body works.

Have a great week!

$10 and 10 Minutes Bow Organization

I need to admit something- my five year old has well over 100 bows. We have big bows, tiny bows, solid bows, animal prints, polka dots, made to match one outfit, big flowers, little flowers, pinwheel and curly qs, over the top bows, and dainty ones. And, I'm out of storage and sometimes still can't find the right shade of pink! Are you with me on this?

We have used this cute little dress form to hold bows since before Abby was born. I love it, but we have filled it and I can't find bows in it. So, I needed another option.

Money is tight and a project like this is annoying and not budgeted, so I racked my brain for an easy way to hold her bows and make them more visible. Enter the over the door coat rack!

To each of the hooks, I simply tied in a really tight knot a long piece of ribbon. I made it match her bathroom but should have used cheap white ribbon- it is all covered up with BOWS! 

Voila! After donating a gallon baggie full, selling a lot of 30 on Facebook, I am left with this pile!

They are semi organized- flowers, fabric flowers, solid colors, giant, poofs, multi-colored, etc. It is so much easier to grab a bow... $10 and 10 minutes later!

St. Patrick's Day Kid Treats

 I love cute little printables that you can find free online so often now! These little free tags from Lauren at Every Day Cheer inspired me to spend a little time crafting with my 5 year old. We had all of the supplies on hand so this project was free! I love that!

I printed the tags on cardstock and punched them out. Then, Abby signed her name on each tag. With all the little preschool goodies we like to do, thank goodness her name is short! She really should have it mastered by kindergarten.

We filled small treat bags with Skittles, a gold or green coin and then tied them off with the tags. They would be super cute with Lucky Charms inside or raindow twizzlers and chocolate gold coins. Just think of all the colorful treats out there!

I don't normally celebrate St. Patrick's Day beyond wearing green, but am happy to have this fun free little project to share the luck of the Irish with friends on Monday.

Grateful- Week Ten

I am grateful for many things this week!

I am grateful she looks like me and has the personality of her father. My husband is funny and she got that. She quotes movies, sings songs out of the blue, does impersonations, and makes me laugh all day long. 

I am grateful we can afford a maid every now and then. She doesn't come every week and we've gone without her many months, but when she comes my house smells so good! I clean in stages (dust one day and mop a different day) so I never get that whole house clean effect or smell. It also forces my child to clean up her playroom which only looks like this on those days.

We lost our first tooth this week! I am grateful it was a good experience and not too scary!

I never thought I would say this, but I am grateful for leftovers! It makes Saturday lunch so easy and is a good sign that we ate in during the week. We used to eat out all the time, but now we do it typically twice on the weekend only.

This seems like a no-brainer... I am thankful for clean running water in my home. Can you imagine not having it? Seeing pictures online of people walking miles for dirty water is heartbreaking. As we discussed first world problems in Sunday school this morning, I thought about all the basic things I have that so many others don't.

I am grateful for free printables all over the internet. These made for a fun little craft this morning. I'll share the link and details tomorrow.

What are you grateful for?

Raspberry Muffins with a Lemon Sugar Glaze

Blueberry muffins with orange zest are one of my favorites, so when I saw this recipe from The Food Charlatan for Raspberry Muffins with a lemon glaze, I knew I would love them and I did!

I shared them at a women's brunch at my church recently and they loved them, too!

A couple of shortcuts I took...

I used frozen raspberries. They worked just fine. No need to rinse them or coat them in flour.

I didn't heat up a lemon glaze. I just mixed powdered sugar, milk and water until it was what I needed to brush on. I didn't measure at all.

Finally, I used clear sugar sprinkles instead of dipping them in sugar and lemon zest.

Enjoy!

Happy Mommy Box

Have you heard of the Happy Mommy Box? I saw it all over Instagram recently and had to check it out! It is a monthly subscription that sends you a box of goodies and includes a treat for the kids! You can subscribe for 1 month or 3 months at a time. It is $29/month which includes shipping. 

There is a wait list as these boxes have gotten pretty popular! So, you get on the wait list and an email is sent telling you when the site is open and you can sign up for the following month/3 months.

Here is my February box- my first one! The box always includes a print (the chalkboard moon 5x7 print), a magazine, coupons and then treats for Mom and child. They do ask your child's age. Abby received play-doh and some robot tattoos and vitamins. 

One of the best parts- they try to feature small Mommy based businesses in the boxes, like the two bracelets I received. Super cute and fun to support others in the working Mom arena.

I can't have a Happy Mommy Box every month, but I'll certainly do it every now and then!

If you aren't looking for yourself, this would be super fun to gift to a friend who is a new Mom!

Grateful- Week Nine

 I have so much to be grateful for! 

I am grateful I work indoors, live in a warm house and drive a reliable car. We've had some crazy weather and while it effects my day, I realize how much more it effects others. 

On Thursday, I left this sweet girl for a work event for a few days and she didn't handle it well at all. I am grateful I don't leave her often. Ten hours a day at daycare would have been so different for her. We did it for a few years and I can't imagine having done it for her first five years! 

It is just a teeny bit nice to know she misses me. When you are with your child most days, you don't know how much they love you. She always misses Daddy when he goes to work. 

After a long day working an event, it was nice to have a king sized bed, room service and a remote control. I almost always order a grilled cheese and fries from room service and this night, I had warm cookies to go with it. 

Saturday night I was grateful to make it home in time to tuck this sweet thing in the bed. She wanted a few extra snuggles!

On Sunday, while my people were at church, I enjoyed a day of rest. No shower, no real clothes and no running around. I did laundry, dishes, a little email catch up, and enjoyed a long nap! The before 5 AM alarms caught up to me! 

Monday was back to normal and my house needed food! I love a well stocked kitchen and was happy to be back to full by Monday evening. I promise there was produce and healthy foods in there- they just didn't make the picture! :)

As silly as it sounds, I am really grateful for Chick-fil-A. I have spent many hours doing work, reading books, and surfing the web while Abby plays. We are getting really close to being too old and bored in the playground and that makes me a little sad. Luckily, today she played for a while since she had a classmate there also. 

March Desktop

I love March- Spring is coming and it is my birthday month! Hooray for that!

Made using a digital kit, A Fresh Start by Erica Zane

Family Recipe Chicken & Spaghetti

My Dad is the youngest of eight and his family has some pretty amazing cooks. Luckily, their church did a cookbook each year and I have "family" favorites all in one book. This recipe has been eaten in my family for years. It comes from my cousin Mary and it one of the first things I made for my husband when we were newly married. Enjoy it!

Mary's Chicken & Spaghetti
from Country Community Church cookbook

3 chicken breasts (cooked and shredded)
chicken broth
1 can cream of whatever soup (I prefer chicken, but you can do mushroom)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 package spaghetti
1 can diced tomatoes
1 medium bell pepper, chopped

Boil spaghetti in a mix of chicken broth and water. The ratio isn't super important. I typically do a carton of broth and fill the rest with water.

Saute pepper, onion and celery until soft. Add in soup and tomatoes.

Once spaghetti is fully cooked, add in chicken and soup/peppers mix and simmer until it thickens.

Easy and delicious, especially on a COLD day!

Grateful- Week Seven

So many little things to be grateful for- it is the little things like these 7 pictures that make me smile everyday. See more grateful posts here. 

We went to a princess party on Saturday and I am so grateful Abby got to see these cute girls. They have been friends since the church nursery and always have fun together.

These are my people and I'm grateful they are mine. They both make me laugh, challenge me, and bring out the best and worst in me.... sometimes in the same hour!

I am grateful for iced tea. I don't drink much soda or juice and I hate water. I don't know what I'd do without access to tea. I love that sweet tea is available lots of places now and that I can grab a large tea and enjoy it all day long. Plus, zero calories is a good thing!

I will be at a work function for a few days this week and I'm grateful to have stocked up on healthy snacks! I am always so tempted by the large cookies on the afternoon break and hope these yummtytreats help curb that. A 400 calorie cookie is no bueno for a beach vacation this summer!

I am grateful we learned on Friday this girl is not allergic to tree nuts. She is still highly allergic to peanuts, but it is nice to knock all those other yummy nuts off the list.

I forgot to take a picture so I used a throwback one on Thursday- I am grateful for a few hours with my cousin. We live 30 minutes apart but never can get together. She has four children and between homeschooling and other duties, we can't make it work. But, Thursday we had lunch together and let the kids play/nap. Perfect little play date for Abby and I.

I am always grateful for lunch with these girls! They are my lunch bunch group and at one point we were all in similar jobs. Four years later we have added people, lost people, seen promotions, and job changes, but we've stayed lunch bunch buddies. They remind me I still have a career albeit part time right now. 

Life is good and I'm really grateful for the people in it.