Happy 4th of July!
Instead of a normal post, I wanted to simply pop in to share a few pictures of our landscape today — complete with almost 700 red, white, and blue annuals!
Blog
What Is Your Motivation To Get (and Stay) Organized?
Over the past 8+ years of sharing my passion for simplifying, streamlining, cleaning, organizing, decluttering, and improving the look, feel, and function of a home, I have noticed something fairly interesting about motivation.
If you’re struggling to get AND stay more organized, I hope today’s post offers a little more clarity (and hopefully a little more motivation too!)
A Few of My Favorite Things {July, 2018}
Laughter Is The Best Medicine… 12 Years and Counting
Dave and I celebrate our 12th anniversary tomorrow… and as I was thinking about what I might share with you all today, I kept coming back to the old cliché saying, “Laughter Is The Best Medicine”.
I feel like so many of our family’s “problems” have been resolved with laughter… which is what I’m sharing more about in today’s post!
DIY Fluffy Slime
Nora has been begging to make slime this summer — however, it’s SO messy, slimy, sticky, etc. that I really didn’t want to deal with the mess.
Fortunately, I found a recipe for Fluffy Slime that was fairly quick and simple to make, creates virtually no mess when the kids play with it, and is just “slimy” enough to appease Nora’s desire for slime at home!
Our “New” Basement Laundry Area (plus free laundry goodies!)
Dave and I are currently in the process of renovating our laundry room and bathroom. The first part of this project was to reconstruct a little laundry space in our basement so we wouldn’t be without a washer and dryer ALL summer long!
Our new laundry area is NOT glamorous, it’s NOT Pinterest worthy, and it’s really NOT even all that cute. However, it IS functional and (much to my surprise) it’s actually quite practical for our family’s current laundry needs!
Master Your Mindless Manners to Reach Your Goals
I’m back with another goal related post (yes, I know it’s halfway through the year, not the beginning of a new year) because I’m a firm believer that in order to reach our goals, we must revisit them on a very regular basis.
Today I’m sharing more about “mindless manners” and how mastering my own mindless manners has been an important part of reaching my goals.
A New Kids’ Craft Area
If you have a space in your home that isn’t functioning well for your current stage of life, I hope today’s posts encourages you to think “outside the box” a bit and put some effort into creating a new space that will work better for you.
I recently did this with our kids’ crafting space… and I was pleasantly surprised with what we came up with!!
My Thoughts on “Healthy” Desserts Versus Smaller Portions
Over the past 8+ years of sharing recipes and menu plans, I have gotten a large number of comments and questions about the fact that our family enjoys quite a bit of dessert… as well as many requests for “healthier” dessert recipes.
Today, I’m sharing my thoughts on “healthier” desserts, as well as our family’s “all things in moderation” approach to eating (small) sweet treats on daily basis!
How I Find Quiet Time with 4 Kids
In general, I like my environment to be very quiet… which, I suppose, is somewhat laughable considering I’m a stay-at-home-mom of 4 little children!
Nevertheless, I regularly find ways to meet my “quiet time quota” each day — which makes for a much happier mama and a much more enjoyable day for everyone! Today, I’m sharing a few ways I find a fair amount of quiet time every day… even with 4 kids!
The Few Products I’m Brand-Loyal To!
If you would question me about being “brand loyal”, I would most likely tell you I’m NOT. However, over the years I’ve become more and more brand loyal as I find specific brands I love, that my kids prefer, and that seem to work better for me.
SO….. in honor of my birthday, I thought it might be fun to share some of the things I’m willing to spend more on JUST to get the brand I’ve come to love.
Our 3-Phase Bathroom + Laundry Room Renovation
A couple months ago, I asked for any brilliant ideas and/or opinions about how we should renovate the full bathroom off our kitchen — and wow, did you respond!
SOOOOOO many fantastic ideas, suggestions, opinions, etc. Dave and I actually went back to the “drawing board” and ultimately ended up changing our plans for this space, thanks in large part to some of your suggestions! Today I’m sharing the “official” 3-phase plan!
Caprese Pasta Salad – Summer In A Bowl!
With summer tomato season right around the corner, I thought it was high-time I share one of my favorite SUPER simple pasta salad recipes that is perfect this time of year — when fresh tomatoes and basil are readily available.
It tastes and smells like summer in a bowl and is a fabulous side dish to almost any meat!
How I Increase My Productivity by Using Short, Specific To-Do’s
How The 80/20 Rule Helps Me Simplify My Home
The 80/20 rule states that we use and wear 20% of our things about 80% of the time — which means we rarely use and wear the other 80%. But don’t worry, I’m not going to persuade you to purge it all!
However, I do think there is A LOT we can learn by taking a closer look at the 20% of things we regularly use — and then utilize that information to help us declutter and simplify our lives.
Time + Money Management: We Have a Choice
Over the years, I cannot tell you how many times I’ve heard someone say “I can’t afford that” or “I don’t have time for that”… and I guess it just bothers me that so many people seem to have such a “defeatist” attitude towards their lack of time and money.
The reason it bothers me is because I personally feel that in almost every situation, we have a choice as to how we will spend our time and our money… I’d love to know if you agree with me or not (and why!)
Simple Meatless Meals… for people who love meat!
Although meat is often the most expensive part of a meal, our family isn’t necessarily the vegetarian type (read: we LOVE meat!)
If you feel the same way, I’d like to share several meatless meals our family enjoys on a regular basis without feeling like we are missing out on our meat! In fact, many of these meals are staples in our weekly meal plans and some of our kids’ favorites!
