Big things in smallish packages

My little baby girl is getting so big! Literally. This girl is wearing anything from 12month clothes to 2T! And now that she's learned how to crawl, she's moving on to bigger and better things. Like climbing. The stairs. By herself. It's freaking me out man.

the most adorable tornado of destruction

Well, we've had to baby-proof the house with our little 'tornado of destruction', as I lovingly call her. On any given day you can walk into our kitchen or living room and see papers or books or towels or toys strewn all over the floors. Anything in baskets must be out of baskets. Anything that is not hers must be played with and explored and licked. Those little interesting holes in the walls? Yes, we must play with outlets! So baby-proofing has been my main focus for the past week or so. 

Magazines? Yes, please.

The dog's toys? Of course!

Oh wait, something of mine? Certainly, I mean, this owl is stinking awesome. I laugh every time I see it...

Okay, back to the stuff I'm not supposed to touch, like the yucky dog kong. The dog seems to love it, so what is it all about? I just don't get it, it doesn't even play music!

Hmm, what's over there?

More magazines! This place is cool, mom.

mini pies please

Mmmm, tasty right? Turns out, they are. I'm no foody, I'm not even a half-decent cook but if there's one thing I do well, it's bake. The first apple pie of the season is always the best. Cool weather, fresh-picked apples and a hot cup of tea always go well together. I decided this year, that I would try to make mini-pies, mostly because the husband always eats 85% of the pie before I get to it, and mini-pies would just be nice and tidy and even.

I made these using pre-made, rolled pie crusts and a jumbo muffin pan. I'll share the recipe so you can all enjoy this easy slice of fall goodness.

pie crust {i buy Pillsbury refrigerated crusts, two rolls in a box and they taste awesome, but if you're an overachiever feel free to make your own.}
6 cups of apples {I find 4-5 large apples is enough, and the best pie apples are Cortland or McCoun.}
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp flour
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp butter
1 egg beaten

For regular pies:
Core, peel and cut up all your apples. Combine flour, sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl, set aside. Layer one pie crust in the bottom of your pie pan. Layer apples, sprinkle sugar mix, layer apples, sugar mix etc until finished. Cut up butter and layer on top before rolling out second crust and laying on top of pie. Crimp the edges together with a fork and brush the top with egg {sprinkle a little raw sugar on the top if you want to get fancy}. Cut slices in the top of the crust to allow for breathing while cooking. Bake at 400º for 40 minutes.

For mini-pies:
Core, peel and cut up all your apples, halfing into chunks. Combine flour, sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl, set aside. Grease the insides of your muffin pan {VERY important, because you want pretty mini-pies to show off to all your friends, and not just heaping apple pie piles.} Cut circles out of your pie crust and place in each section of your tin. Mine had six openings, but the amount of pie crusts would probably allow for 8. Layer apples, sprinkle sugar mix, layer apples, sugar mix etc until finished with each cup. Cut up small pieces of butter and lay on top in each cup. Cover with circles of pie crust and crimp edges together with a fork, brushing the top with egg {sprinkle a little raw sugar on the top if you want to get fancy}. Cut slices in the top of the crust to allow for breathing while cooking. Bake at 400º for 30 minutes.

Enjoy! Let me know if you have any questions and if you like the recipe!

Black and white and easy all over

So I posted a quick photo of some pictures I put together for display. It was really very simple and extremely inexpensive so I'll tell you all how to do it and you can be awesome like me. 

Firstly, this isn't an idea that I came up with. No, I wanted to try the extremely complicated, albeit more permanent, tutorial that involved spray adhesive and foam board insulation. That went terribly wrong, so here I am with the simpler solution I found through Pinterest.

You'll need a 22x32 engineering print from Staples, costing about $3.50. If you are able to convert your image to black and white and lighten it up a bit before handing it over to them, I recommend it. Their printers print dark dark dark. The quality isn't fantastic but in large format it's not bad when you stand back. I've noticed each Staples is different depending on the age of their model. The older ones have more lines through them, newer ones not so much.

Okay, you need a roll of masking tape, well, not the whole roll but you get the idea.

And lastly, a 20x30" piece of white foam board from the craft store. It doesn't really matter which one, they all sell it for around $3.00.

Okay, here's the really really insanely difficult hard part. Ready? Wrap the print around the board like wrapping paper and tape down, pulling tight {but don't rip the paper, like me} as you go. Treat the corners like a present. Now if you want, create folded crease lines by running your fingers along each outer edge.

Guess what? You're done.

Hang that baby. Stand back and admire. Or in my case, think about going larger to fill more of the wall space...

Mass Posting

Things have been crazy around here lately. On top of all that bebe-raising stuff, I've had the opportunity to work here and there. The goal is one to two days a week, but we'll see if it pans out. Since I've been slacking on the posts, I'll just throw you a few all in one.

We did our first apple picking of the season. The bebe slept through most of it, but she woke up pretty happy at the end, and I already had my fresh apples for bakin' pies.

As you can see, she's a big fan of the apples we picked. She's been using her two teeth to gnaw off as much as she can, which might be her new favorite pastime.

And the main reason I don't garden, I would kill and destroy beautiful things because to me everything looks like a weed. Case in point, I almost pulled this out of the ground a month or so ago but I was lazy and left it. And look what happened:

Gorgeous. And I would have killed them.

We finally broke down and bought the stroller we registered for when I was pregnant. Yessa. You see I was researching some high-end strollers I saw at the consignment store, and there happened to be a review on one of them vs. this BOB stroller I wished for. The blogger noted several things that spoke to my specific needs so I decided to try to find the stroller on sale and alas, Amazon had it. Two days later I was opening up the big cardboard box like a kid on Christmas morning. Our old one was free, but this new one is worth every penny. We walk a lot, at least once sometimes twice a day around the neighborhood so we will definitely get our mileage out of this.

She seems to like it.

And she's getting really expressive lately. She makes the most hilarious/adorable faces:

See:

hanging around: a headband holder

Here's the problem, I made the bebe a lot of headbands and hair clips. And I mean a LOT. I mean come on, she was born with tons of hair, I couldn't pass up that opportunity. But finding the exact one I want when I need one isn't always easy when you have to dig through a couple of baskets. I, the queen of over-organizing everything, decided it was time for a better option. 

I picked up a couple of worn pieces of pallet wood off the side of the road {the husband nearly signed me up for an episode of hoarders when he discovered this fact} and didn't really know for sure what I was going to do with them, but they seemed destined for a second life. I wanted hanging and clipping and ease, so clothespins just made sense. I had to shabby chic it up though, if I wanted it to blend in to the room. After painting all the clothespins white, I added silver glitter to the tops using mod podge. I then sealed the glitter {who doesn't hate random glitter escapees?} with some jewel glaze and attached them all to the pallet wood using wood glue. The hanging ribbons were an afterthought, and I'm not even sure if they'll stay but they are handy for all those clips.  

This is a much more user-friendly solution for us. If you have any questions for me please leave a comment and I'll make sure to get back to you!

do you tutu?

I know I know, more photos. But every day is a photoshoot opportunity when your mom is a photographer. She's my little willing model and I couldn't be more happy to practice on her.

milestone mania

We're experiencing lots of new things around here these days. A first tooth, lots of first foods, and the first ponytail. First night sleeping in the crib, first time lowering the mattress height to avoid a bebe escape and the first time 'normal' crawling instead of just crab walking. That last one has led to the first bumps and bangs. She's not exactly stable but she's determined and stubborn and hardwood floors aren't getting in her way. This is the stage I've been waiting for, all the exciting milestones and a mobile little happy bebe in tow. And I'm pretty sure she's enjoying every minute too.

upcycled soap boxes: baby blocks

Thanks to a good deal on Amazon, I had several of these soap boxes. I'm storing the soap themselves in a glass jar, so I don't need the boxes anymore. Now what to do what to do, recycle reuse right?

I know, make some baby building blocks, brilliant! {Unless you have a baby with a tooth and a tendency to chew on everything. I learned the hard way and had to re-cover a couple boxes.}  Now I can keep adding to the collection whenever I have a toothpaste box or any small box I come across. It was simple really, I just sat myself down with a few rolls of wrapping paper and went to town. I let bebe play with all the leftover shreds of paper and she was in paper-ripping heaven. That managed to keep her occupied as I finished the whole project.

I even went overboard and covered a shoe box to store them all in. BUT it's not perfect so there's no way I'm showing you the inside...all in all a simple, free, quick project.

this old foreclosed home: three season porch reveal

So here it is, the last unfinished room in the house. The room I stared at through the kitchen window. Every time I did dishes, there was that giant glaring reminder of the one last giant project to mark off my list. Now let's not go crazy and think I get things DONE, because really, if you notice the green painters tape up on the ceiling, you'll see I clearly do not finish projects start to finish. Instead I do the big gloomy part of it first, and then leave small little easy things to finish later. Because, well, if I didn't have an ongoing to-do list, I just wouldn't be me.

Here are a few of the disturbing before pictures. When we bought this house, it needed more than just help, but the outside porch and the landscaping in general was long neglected. This screened in porch sat like this for a while, and then we cleaned it up a bit, tore up the carpet and the sagging screens, and used it like a deck. But there was so much potential out there and I couldn't see letting that go to waste. 

Since we adjusted the kitchen layout so much, we had to remove the two existing windows to make room for the slider. We also had to lose the single door to the deck in exchange for our laundry room off the kitchen. The slider let in a bit more light, but the porch roof was blocking a lot of sunlight, so we added a skylight before finishing the ceiling.

We kept a lot of the wood shakes and added more to fill in where we needed. We had a contractor come out and create a wood floor, a slatted ceiling and windows surrounding the structure. Unfortunately I had to do the finish work on the inside, and since we completed the structure by December, we had to wait until spring to paint and lacquer the wood. Oh and then I had a baby and you can't exactly lacquer a ceiling with a baby strapped to your back. 

With a lot of help from friends and my mother-in-law coming over to watch the baby, we were able to get it finished within a week. It was a ton of work but the results are amazing. And then the roof leaked. A few times. It needed repair before I dared go spend money on furnishings and a rug only to watch them get ruined. So a project that should have taken a month or two took a year. Well, almost. But I give you, our finished {except for the molding to hold in our insulation, sheesh...} sunroom.

The chairs are Ektorp arm chairs from IKEA in white, $250 a piece, but I did comparison shop and couldn't find anything cheaper. These were by far the best most comfortable option, and I knew I had to have white to avoid the sun fading any other color. The rug was from IKEA as well, at 6 1/2 x 10 feet the $200 price tag wasn't awful. The poufs were made by me at about $25 for both. The rattan rug was a clearance deal at Lowe's for $10.

This is my favorite little picturesque corner. I love the star {free from a friend and painted white}, the coat rack {$10 from IKEA but found in the box at Goodwill for $2}, the sign was a goodwill find that I painted with chalkboard paint, and the boot tray is from Target. 

The floor was painted a nice porch blue, I can find the exact info if anyone's interested. All the white trimwork was painted bright white in Behr's paint and primer in one.

The orange side table was also a friend freebie, but it's an IKEA table that I'm not sure they carry anymore. I simply spraypainted it orange to fit in with my theme. The small basket is from Home Goods, $15. The coasters I made. The glass hurricane was something from my old stash and I revamped it by glueing some jute around the base.

This larger basket was $35 at Home Goods, so it was a splurge but I happened to have a gift card, yay for me.

So far, I've spent a lot of time out here in our new 'second living room'. I think it'll be well worth the investment for the dog, the bebe and me. Because we all love our fresh air, minus the bugs...