Now that it’s officially October, I find myself frequently thinking about Christmas gift ideas. Two gifts I’ve ALWAYS been an advocate for are clutter-free gifts and educational gifts — especially when it comes to gifts for kids.
Today I’m sharing a really fun educational gift Dave’s mom made for Nora — it would make a fabulous Christmas, birthday, or “just because” gift for any lucky child on your gift list!
I had a really hard time choosing what to include in my Favorite Things post for October. I keep adding to my list of things I want to share with you all eventually — and seriously, for being a clutter-hating minimalist at heart, I sure have a lot of tangible things that I like!
Today’s post includes the things I’ve decided to share with you for this month — but my list is already growing for next month!
One question I get over and over and over again is how we use and organize the space under our kitchen sink.
To be perfectly honest, there are a handful of questions I get on a very regular basis about our sink, our faucet, etc. etc. so today, I’m answering a bunch of these questions for all the inquisitive farmhouse sink lovers out there!
Almost weekly, I am asked via email, Facebook, or my blog why I don’t shop at Aldi. I have nothing against Aldi stores in general — and I DO shop there every once in a while to stock up on canned goods and chips — I just don’t do my regular weekly grocery shopping at Aldi.
Today, I’m sharing a few reasons why Aldi doesn’t seem to work for me… in hopes of answering all the Aldi questions I get!
Today is a monumental day in the Dekker household! For the very first time since Nora was born (over 22 months ago) this mama bird is leaving the nest. And yes, I feel SO anxious, nervous, sad, excited… and guilty.
Keep reading for more about my mom-only “vacation”… and a few 17 week baby bump pictures 🙂
If you feel like your family’s schedule is out of control now that school is in full swing again, let me take 10 minutes to introduce you to the Calendars & Chores Etsy Shop.
More specifically, let me share their fabulous Magnetic Wet/Dry Erase Calendar. Seriously, this thing might just revolutionize your family’s schedule!
We’ve been finished with yard work for the summer for several weeks already — but I’ve had a difficult time trying to accurately photograph the “after” pictures. It’s so hard when the plants and trees are still small!
I’m sure I’ll be sharing more pictures next summer — but for now, I’m excited to share our official 2013 landscaping before and after shots!
Before I had Nora, I was literally busy busy busy from the moment I woke up until the moment I went to bed. And not just busy shopping or other leisurely activities.
After Nora was born, the realization that I just couldn’t do everything I had been doing before was extremely difficult for me. Although I was willingly giving lots of time and energy to my family, I felt like a failure in pretty much every other area of life.
In case you missed it, I took the entire month of August off from blogging. However, after I announced I was taking a full month off, I found it interesting that MANY other bloggers emailed me asking more about why I took a break, how I decided on a month, and if I would share some of my thoughts once I returned.
I figured that was a reasonable request — so today I’m sharing my thoughts and answering a few questions I got over and over again.
It’s no secret that I love planning ahead, stocking up, and being prepared. Our freezer and pantry are full, our bank account has plenty, and we have an almost endless supply of diapers and toilet paper!
But recently, I’ve been thinking about the principle of scarcity and how much less likely we are to waste a resource if it’s scarce. Not that I’m a wasteful person; it’s just a lot easier to inadvertently waste when you have plenty. Don’t you think?
After showing pictures of our new garage makeover last week, I got an insane number of questions about the garage floor coating. I totally understand why — Dave and I are thrilled with the results. So I decided to send your questions directly to the Monkey Bar expert.
Today’s post has their answers mixed with my comments and photos — and seriously, this floor is amazing!
As I’ve mentioned before, we are BIG potato-lovers over here. Because of this, I’m always on the look out for quick and simple potato recipes to add to our weekly menus.
Today’s recipe most definitely fits my “quick” and “simple” week-day meal requirements, but is delicious enough to serve for a more lavish weekend dinner with company… and yes, Nora likes them 🙂
Life with Nora has been a struggle for me from the first moment she was born… and after 17 long months, we finally started to realize some of the reasons Nora is so difficult.
Not only is she way too smart for her own good, she’s extremely high needs and has severe sensory issues — all of which make it almost impossible to parent her like a “normal” child. But we’re slowly figuring her out…
Last week, I shared how we were able to fully transform our garage from drab to fab in about a week… and I don’t think I need to convince anyone how much we love our new space.
Today, I’m sharing the final pictures of ALL our stuff organized with the new Monkey Bars system. Let’s just say that even I was impressed with how much stuff we could fit in such a small space!
If you’ve never tasted home-canned foods, you don’t know what you are missing. However, unless you intend to start canning, I wouldn’t recommend trying home-canned food… because once you do, it will be REALLY hard to go back to the store bought stuff 🙂
Today, I’m sharing a few reasons why I love canning jam — as well as a bunch of helpful jam-making tips and resources.
As I mentioned on Tuesday, Dave and I have been working on a whole bunch of projects this summer.
The next project on our list is renovating our upstairs bedrooms. We weren’t necessarily planning to tackle this project for another year or so, but due to a recent and unexpected change of events, we’ll be needing the extra space in approximately 25 weeks 🙂
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