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!!
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!
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!
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.
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!
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!
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.
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!)
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!
It’s officially Summer Vacation for the Dekker family, and we started off with a week FULL of fun (and a decent amount of work too!)
Today I’m sharing updates on our bathroom renovation process (yay!), my tentative summer blogging plan, our super simple menu, and a bunch of pictures of what we’ve been up to lately.
A couple months ago, I mentioned that we love the single-serving guacamole packs from Costco. However, whenever I’m making food for a crowed (or even just a few guests) I always opt for a big bowl of homemade guacamole… and THIS is always the recipe I use!
It’s so fast and easy, and if you use the simple tips I share, your guacamole SHOULD stay looking fresh for several days!
I’ve always known food prep was an important piece of the puzzle for my simplified, organized lifestyle; however, it really hasn’t been until the last 9 months of my life that I truly started to realize just how much my entire life “falls apart” when I slack on food prep.
This knowledge is more than enough for me to continue my not-so-loved task of food prep… as you’ll read in today’s post, it really does positively impact almost every area of my life!
Happy Memorial Day!
I often like to do something different for holiday posts — so today, I’m linking back to several posts I think might be fun to read (or reread) over your long holiday weekend. I’m also taking a mini walk down memory lane and sharing a handful of photos from my family and my yard — it’s crazy how much the plants AND the kiddos have grown!
Our family LOVES Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole — and I’ve made several changes and tweaks to my recipe over the past 5 years since I originally shared my recipe.
If you’re looking for a more nutritious, veggie-loaded, completely from-scratch, yet still VERY simple alternative to this family favorite recipe… I’ve got you covered!
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