I simply adore porches. I do not have a porch. I wish I did. Porches invite you to slow down…sit, rest, soak up some fresh air, replenish. They invite guests to sit, stay, connect. They invite couples to swing, hold hands, savor the moment. They invite families a cozy place to unwind, share and be together. I mean really, what’s not to love about porches?

Please, come, take a tour with me to some amazing porches I found on pinterest!

How fun to be able to sit and visit with friends who stop by…

A porch and a fireplace…I’m in love…

I could see many evenings spent here with my family…

Love the brick…

Yes, even in snow, I’d love a porch like this…just set a portable heater by my feet!

Beautiful stone…

I could so see myself enjoying this porch in my retirement years…

A good book…

Quiet morning reflections…

Holding hands with  my love…love the turquoise…

A warm cup of cocoa…

If you are lucky enough to have an amazing porch…I invite you to pause today and enjoy it!

I start with a Sterilite Snap Box (found at Target) and do the lettering with the help of some painter’s tape to keep me straight.  Then I head to my local Craft store (Michael’s, Hobby Lobby, etc) for the innards.  The key is to buy in bulk and get into my Costco-size Ziploc bags to do the dividing.

So here are the goodies:

1)  Velvet coloring activity I found in the $1 bin;  2) safety scissors; 3) glue stick (you might want to warn the parents about this one); 4) crayons – I like these new Crayola twistables; 5) a bunch of stickers; 6) foam stickers (animals, stars and bells, letters and numbers); 7) colored craft sticks; 8.  regular craft sticks; 9) bells; 10) pompoms; 11) googly eyes; 12) pipe cleaners; 13) activity books: dot-to-dot, mazes, etc. (School Zone Publishing has great ones for about $1.40 each and available here:

Mazes Animals Activity Zone

My dear friend Erika – a teacher – uses books, cute lettering and stickers:

How cute is that??

She also uses these adorable reusable shopping bags for boys:

I also heard an idea a while back about a special playdate (bowling, horseback riding, a trip to the bounce house place, etc) in lieu of a present.  I’ve been trying this with mixed results.

Yes, and sometimes, I just grab the LEGO set and go with it!

What are your ideas for birthdays?

The Pioneer Woman

Ree Drummond, known as The Pioneer Woman, writes a riotously funny blog about her life that features her magnificent photography.  She’s also on The Food Network and has authored two cookbooks, a children’s picture book and a touching novel detailing how she fell madly in love, changed course from her planned move from Los Angeles to Chicago and settled down on a ranch in Oklahoma instead.  She is a loving mother to four children and a proud wife to Marlboro Man, her rancher husband.

The Pioneer Woman has been an internet sensation for quite some time, but I just learned of her recently when a friend shared a link to this story: All I Wanted Was a Doughnut.  I was sitting at my computer reading it one night and I had to slap my hand over my mouth so my laughter didn’t wake up my husband. I had to read more by this woman!

I have been perusing the archives of her website, www.thepioneerwoman.com, and I love everything about it. The photography, the entertaining stories, the fabulous recipes…

Oh my goodness, the recipes. If you need some inspiration in the kitchen, her cookbooks are the way to go.  She offers step by step instructions with so many pictures to guide you through the process of making one of her recipes; nothing motivates me to try new recipes like enticing pictures and clear, detailed instructions.

I got my hands on a copy of her novel The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels– A Love Story and I read it in a day and a half.  Ree’s writing is so entertaining and compelling, I could not put it down!

Please take a few of these links and see what Ree Drummond is all about, I promise you it will be a bright spot in your day and leave you hungry for more.  Quite literally, it will leave you hungry. Maybe grab a snack and then take the links…

This is one of those ideas, that has been in my brain for so long, I’m not sure if it was an original idea, or if many years ago I heard about it and tucked it away to use in the future. It’s probably the latter, but I have no idea who to give the credit to!

So, you know those ‘calendar kiosks’ you see this time of year in the mall? The ones with 50% or 75% discounts for 2012 calendars?  Well I’m telling you, this is the time to snatch up a few of their calendars!  I pretty much adore all puppy pictures…

Here’s the plan. You look for those day to day calenders where you can rip off a new sheet for each day. And when you find a fun kid-friendly one- you buy it!  Then, you tear off a sheet and slip it into your child’s lunchbox.  It has been so much fun to put these into my girl’s lunches.  They don’t even have to match the correct date – in fact, even today, I put some of these stickers (snowman), from this 2010 Calendar, into their lunch box. I put a quick note on the back. And then I smile, as I imagine their smile opening their lunch box.

Look at some of these other fun ones I found at a quick amazon search…banagrams…one of my favorite games (you’d have to remember to keep a pencil in their lunchbox for this).

Or origami…

Or a Brain Teasers…

And while you are looking for a calendar to snatch up, you can print up some jokes to put in their lunchboxes. A quick google search of “lunch box jokes” will bring lots of options. To get you started, here are some cute printable ones I found at Sprik Space blog.

And don’t forgot to put a quick note on the back of anything you put in their  lunch box! I love the idea of making my girl’s smile, even when I’m not with them!

I was looking for a little inspiration for Saturday lunch a few weeks ago.  It was unseasonably warm and I was in the mood for something light and fun and new.  These apple sandwiches I found were just right and were a hit with all of us!

Cored, sliced apples topped with a mixture of granola, peanut butter and chocolate chips! The next day we were all craving it again (chocolate does that to you) and we actually ended up just dipping apples into the mixture for a snack.  FYI, I didn’t use a lot of chocolate chips and we still enjoyed the full flavor influence of them. Tasty!

You can see my attempts at pantry organization here; though to call it a pantry is stretch – it’s really just a cupboard.

So feast your eyes on these, seriously delectable pantries for some inspiration…

from Planner Perfect (this post includes some great tips for organizing)

From Blueprint Bliss

This next pantry pulls together every single pantry organization idea I’ve ever heard into one cohesive, gorgeous space.  Prepare thyself!

From Inspiration for Decoration

Can you imagine??  I love the grey wallpaper behind to dress it up.  And all the labeling is divine.  The other thing is that while it looks huge, it’s really just a corner closet, with single-depth shelves.

It’s fabulous how every spec of space was used to its fullest. Definitely do-able!

P.S. All the plastic containers with the flip-up white lids are from IKEA.  I have a few myself and they work really well!

Looks like someone went crazy in the OXO aisle!

The kind people at Better Homes and Gardens have created these free labels for your plastic and glassware.  They make the whole place look so happy.  So head  on over to get started!

What are your pantry ideas?  Is a reorganization project on your list?

World geography is not just for elementary school anymore! Preschoolers are ready, and often eager, to learn about the world… the whole wide world!  We moved into a new house when our boys were 3 and it was the perfect time to explore their natural interest in geography.

I started in the bathroom:

This shower curtain from Target is fantastic!  Not only can I tell at a glance if entire bottles of Mr. Bubbles and body wash are being emptied in lieu of appropriate bathing practices… we can talk about countries and continents in the shower, while we dry off and when we brush our teeth! I also love these colors and the bathroom is so bright and fun with orange, lime green and bright blue towels. Win-win!

The shower curtain went over so well that I had some maps my brother and sister-in-law gave our boys mounted so they wouldn’t curl up on us as we explored our world.   Conveniently, the maps slide right behind our couch for storage when we’re not looking at them.  Every time a new or different part of the world is mentioned in a book, song or movie- the boys race to pull out the maps!

I got this idea from Kid World Citizen for the My Place in the World project.  I did modify it slightly: I printed images for my kids to glue and we didn’t stop at ‘My Planet’ (how could we?), we added our galaxy and the universe! What a great visual this is to help kids understand the relationship between cities, states, countries, continents… I just loved this idea!

How do you teach geography to your adorables?

I’m a simple girl with simple tastes and here’s what’s working for me right now:

1) Favorite Cup: Twist cap plastic tumblers with a straw to enjoy my daily Diet Coke (found them for $4 at Home Goods/TJ Maxx).  Love that they go from home to car to hockey/tennis/swimming/soccer/lacrosse practice and back.  Really too bad they don’t refill themselves.

2) Favorite Snack: Marcona Almonds from Spain (think between a macadamia and a cashew= devine; I find mine at Costco) and chocolate chips.  I recommend a ratio of 2 chips per almond, in case you were wondering.

3) Favorite Healthy Lunch: My youngest adorable asked me to roll his Red Pepper strip in ham, and you know what?? He was onto something!  Add sliced avocado for an even bigger treat.

4) Favorite unHealthy Lunch: Chunky Peanut Butter and whipped honey (from Trader Joe’s) sandwich; Nachos.  It’s a tie.

Why, oh why, can’t this be healthy??  I prefer shredded cheese to this sauce though.  I mean, as long as we’re talking about it.

5) Favorite Workout: a girlie movie, a mat, 5-lb weights, a medicine ball and a bosu ball.  I put on movies the Running Man will have no part of, and spend an hour making myself sweat.  You know what?  I look forward to it every morning.  We’ll see how long it lasts…. But it’s working for now.

(Let’s just pretend for a minute that this girl is me.  Pretty please, will you do that for me?)

So what are your favorites?  Please do me a favor and copy and paste the following into the comments and add yours!  I need some new ideas!

1) Favorite Kitchen thing:

2) Favorite Snack:

3) Favorite Healthy Lunch:

4) Favorite unHealthy Lunch:

5) Favorite Workout:

You rock! Have a great day!

I’m simply amazed at other people’s creativity. Taking something ‘old’ that I usually see as ‘junk’ and making something so beautiful and useful with it. My mom has this gift, and I admire it. I keep hoping some of her ‘knack’ will rub off on me, but for now I will just ‘borrow’ hers and others ideas for ‘upcycling’ the old! Check out some of these neat headboards!

How about this old door turned headboard? You can see the entire process from start to finish at this at Infarrantly Creative.

And this one with a few old boards and a little bit of paint…so cute from Tiny Prints!

Who knew wood pallets could be so beautiful? And to think I just tore all mine up and burned them in the fire pit! This picture comes from So Laura blog.

Check out this gate headboard I found at Urban Country Style!

Wouldn’t this headboard made from shutters look perfect in a beach house? Found at Completely Costal.

Look at these cute fence pieces turned into headboards that I came across on pinterest.com!

And last, but not least, these might be my favorite! I found both these inspirational photos on pinterest.com. Old fireplace mantles turned into a headboards…

And to think I spent the first 15 years of my married life with NO Headboard! And to think I finally bought a headboard 2 years ago! Can’t believe I settled for a store bought one, when I could have had one of these oh so creative ones! Which one is your favorite?

This recipe, by Rich Davis, founder of KC Masterpiece barbecue sauce, has become a staple side dish our family brings to pot lucks.   People rave about these beans and someone always requests the recipe.

Barbecued Baked Beans

Ingredients

2 (16-ounce) cans pork-and-beans, drained

3/4 cup KC Masterpiece barbecue sauce

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper

1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, seeded, and chopped

1 ounce golden raisins

1 medium onion, finely chopped

3 strips uncooked bacon, cut in half (you can substitute 3 tbs butter)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients except bacon in a 2-quart baking dish. Top with bacon (or dots of butter) and bake uncovered for 1 hour.

Serves 6-8

* I usually substitute our favorite barbecue sauce of the season and I always make these ahead.  They tend to exit the oven slightly soupy but they set up so nicely if they have a half hour to cool.  Also, don’t let the apples and raisins scare you off- together with the onions they create an unforgettable taste experience. Trust me!

**Rich Davis earned a medical degree from the University of Kansas, specializing in child psychiatry, and served as Dean of the North Dakota School of Medicine before moving to Kansas City in 1977 and developing KC Masterpiece Barbecue Sauce. I had no idea!

(The image is from this site. I could not find a great picture of this exact recipe, as hard as I tried!)