September Acres

It's back to school this week after a week off for spring break.  It's been busy around here just doing a little bit of everything.  Making 'stress balls' for LM's school project.  200 stress balls.  I guess she needs a stress ball after that!  They still need to be decorated with little pom pom heads and faces. Time at the library.  We have a teen center at our library - the kids have to be 12 to use it.  Someone is very anxious to be able to do that... I moved this chest out of LM's room and into the kitchen/dining room for the Keurig.  I plan on painting the chest again soon, too. LM got some pointers on photographing pets from the latest issue of 'American Gir l'. She did a great job on this shot of Smokey.  Maybe she should take all the photos for the blog... (Does anyone remember the American Girl magazine from the 1970's & 1980's) What we haven't done yet is dye Easter eggs.  Two dozen eggs a...

I saw a cute burlap Easter bunny flag in the Pottery Barn a while back for $39 (it is no longer available).  I didn't think the price was too bad but I knew I could make something similar and just as cute. Pottery Barn  I actually ended up making two of these - one using burlap and one using drop cloth.  And I added a cute pom pom tail to both.  I made the hanging rod with a dowel and two finials painted black to resemble wrought iron. For the drop cloth bunny I painted the bunny (I just Googled 'bunny silhouette' and picked out a bunny, printed it and traced around the bunny on the drop cloth with chalk.) I sewed the edges, making a pocket for the rod.  I added a bow to the neck, a button for the eye and the pom pom for the tail. Here's the burlap bunny. I traced the bunny freehand on white flannel and sewed it on the burlap. I used the same type of dowel/finial for the rod. I added a pom pom for his tail, too. I ha...

A few years ago we were visiting with some friends from Virginia who were in Park City on vacation. They invited us to dinner on their last night in town.  They were in a time share and had been cooking all week - we joined them on 'leftover' night.  In a small piece of foil was the tail end of something I couldn't really identify but looked good (I know that sounds odd).  That bit of food changed my life.  It was Pineapple Casserole and ever since my friend C sent me the recipe I've made it about once a month - sometimes more. It is super easy and yummy. Pineapple Casserole 2 cans pineapple chunks 1 cup sugar 5 tablespoons plain all purpose flour 1 1/2 cups grated mild cheddar cheese 1 1/2 cups Ritz cracker crumbs (one 'tube' of crackers, crushed) 1 stick butter, melted Grease casserole dish.  Drain pineapple and pour in dish.  Sprinkle sugar, flour and cheese over pineapple and stir all ingredients together.  Mix cracker crumbs with 1 st...

I have always loved St. Patrick's Day.  It's a fun holiday without the expectations of Christmas or Valentine's Day.  No gifts to be bought and wrapped.  Just a little fun.  And these days, a little fun means a little cooking or baking. I love this scone recipe from Alton Brown. Source 2 cups flour 4 teaspo ons baking powder 3/4 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup sugar 4 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons shortening 3/4 cup cream (I have used whole or 2% milk as well) 1 egg Handful dried currants or dried cranberries Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix well. Cut in butter and  shortening. In a separate bowl, combine cream with beaten egg then add to dry ingredients. Stir in  fruit. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Roll dough out and cut into biscuit size rounds. Bake for  15 minutes or until brown. The thought of scones always intimidated me but a few years ago I t...

K & Co. Smash Book LM got a Smash Book and some accessories for Christmas.  I got hers at Micheals - the Micheals that is now closed.  Can you believe that?  In this itty bitty town where there's not much in the way of shopping, one of the only 'fun' places to shop closed its doors at the end of January. Something about rent being raised when the new owners of the mall (I use the word 'mall' very loosely) took over.  Thankfully, we still have a Hobby Lobby.  And they also carry Smash Books.  You can also get them at Amazon and straight from K&Co. They're every where these days. The idea behind them is having a fun 'girly' place to store all of your keepsakes.  Things like concert tickets, notes, letters, pictures, magazine clippings, etc.  It's kind of like a scrapbook but more random.  You don't spend hours doing one page (in theory)- you just place your keepsakes on the page, add a little note, some stickers, tape - whateve...

Peeps, chocolate bunnies and Cadbury Creme Eggs.  There has to be more to an Easter Basket than sugar, right?  With the size of baskets these days (that's another post, for another time) non-sugar goodies are a must for Easter.  While I don't want Easter to turn into another Christmas-like gift giving holiday, I am always searching for gift ideas to pass on to the Easter Bunny.  Here are my 20 ideas for kids of all ages: For Little Kids (0-8 years or so) Bubbles Playdoh (we still enjoy that here at 11 years old) Coloring Books and Crayons - there are awesome Easter Bunny & Religious coloring books out there this time of year.  Legos - I love the 'Friends' line that is out for girls now.  The usual cars and trucks and airplanes are still out there for the boys. Small Play Characters - like Little People & Polly Pockets . Sidewalk Chalk Gardening tools - kid sized shovels, hoes and rakes in cute patterns start showing up in stores like...

Easter is less than three weeks away.  I know, how is that even possible?  I'm starting to get the Easter decorations out and will try to get everything in it's place by the weekend.  Luckily, I don't have a ton of St. Patrick's day decor so there won't be much competition. These little guys are out this year.  My mom took most of our Little People to her house so she brought the Easter ones over the other day.  I love the whimsy they provide when decorating for the holidays. It brings back an easier, slower time when LM was little.  Those days are behind us, but not the memories. Some of my past Easter posts have been fun to look back on so I wanted to share them in case you missed them the first time around: This Quick Easter Gift idea is great for teachers or caregivers.  It's also a sweet gift for the baker in your life. It's time to start thinking about Easter Baskets.  I love this twist on the traditional basket . I've also lis...

I am always looking for the newest personal finance book.  I pick them up at the library mostly - some of them are horrible & I stop reading soon after starting.  Some are really great and I end up buying them or checking them out numerous times.  Some of my favorites (in no particular order): I am a huge Dave Ramsey fan so I love this book.  I think he makes so much sense and what he advises us to do with money is really simple stuff - it's the discipline that's hard.  He shares success stories in this book which I find motivating.  He talks about his 'baby steps' for getting out of debt and offers forms to help with budgeting. Jean Chatzky has written many books but I like this one a lot.  This book talks about the difference between us and the financially successful - what they do that we don't.  It's good stuff. David Bach coined the phrase 'the latte factor' - that money we spend everyday without thinking - for lots of...