320 * Sycamore

courage for the week 6.16.13

2013-06-16T04:02:00.000-05:00

happy flag day!

2013-06-14T13:31:00.001-05:00

to all of my U.S.A readers~how I love Old Glory! Wave it proudly today :)

Here are some more splendid stars and stripes:photo source: Pottery Barn

photo source: tumblr

image source: shutterstock

photo source: House Beautiful

image source: flickr

I have always loved a flag on my front porch!

and…

Here is my wooden flag project from last year:

Happy flag day~

easy roll recipe you will love.

2013-06-11T14:22:00.001-05:00

I got this gem of a recipe from my friend Lori in Idaho. We love them, they couldn’t be simpler, and are great to set out in the morning and will be ready for dinner.

Ingredients:

* 20 frozen dinner rolls (we love Rhodes, but whatever you can find in your freezer section)

* 1/3 cup melted butter

* dill seasoning (if you’re not crazy about dill, you could go with a garlic parmesan or something else)

1. Spray a bundt pan with cooking spray. Place 10 rolls in the pan, then drizzle half the butter over them, then sprinkle lightly with dill weed. Add the remaining 10 rolls on top of those, then the rest of the butter, and sprinkle with dill weed.

Cover with a light dish cloth and let them rise all day, about 8 hours (or less if your kitchen is warm!)

Ready to go to the oven!

Bake at 350 degrees for 12-20 minutes, or until golden brown like this:

Turn them over on top a plate and let everyone tear a roll off of the ring:

They are so, so good.

Click here for the printable version.

I hope you love them as much as we do~

courage for the week 6.9.13

2013-06-09T04:02:00.000-05:00

tidbits 6.5.13

2013-06-05T07:36:00.001-05:00

They bloomed! So fat and lush and beautiful. I want a bush in every color.

I adore end-of-the year cards to teachers.

We set up a trampoline. Are we crazy?

I saw these dog bookends at Isabella & Max awhile back and pinned them ~ someone (anyone have an original source??) took toy dogs, glued them to wood blocks and spray painted them to make PB knockoff bookends:

Love them! Well, I saw these cute dogs at the dollar tree and thought they made the perfect candidate for the job:

And this is the part where you say: okay, let’s see the finished product, Melissa! But I didn’t get them because I have too many projects in the line up, but I sure wanted to give you heads up in case you wanted to make some fun bookends!! :) Owls would be adorable as well, I would spray paint them solid on the wood blocks.

And, my little train conductor just whistles when he’s finished:

courage for the week 6.2.13

2013-06-02T04:02:00.000-05:00

deals 5.29.13 : summer edition

2013-05-29T18:41:00.001-05:00

Some deals to start our summer break off with!

All summer, Sonic has their shakes half off after 8 p.m. Is this a good thing??

Burger King has 50 cent cones most of the summer:

Cinemark and Regal Cinemas have their summer movies for $1! Click here for more info on Cinemark, click here for more info on Regal.

* Pack of 100 Glow Sticks! for $8.49

*crazy good deal for new moms: when you sign up for Amazon Mom (free + prime shipping for 3 months) you get $20 off your first diaper order with code BABYDEAL at checkout. For new sign ups only, warning: once you try the free prime shipping, you may never go back. I’m completely addicted.

* you know you have someone on your Father’s Day list that needs one of these :

* or a sweet flashlight at a sweet price

* The Duke is always appropriate for Father’s Day.

* a 12mp camera for under $40?? (also in black!)

Have fun!!

*note: I have no affiliations with any of these companies, except for Amazon where I may get a portion of sales through these links. I choose the items and the deals to share with you all though! Happy shopping~

easy + inexpensive teacher thank you

2013-05-28T04:02:00.000-05:00

Here is what we are giving my oldest daughter’s teachers this year. She has has a lot more teachers in middle school, but we still wanted to do something to show appreciation that didn’t break the bank, so this is the $3 gift that we came up with:

We went with a “flip” theme~they sell the bags of Flipz at Target dollar spot and the Dollar Tree (my favorite are the white fudge!). The flip flops were $1 at Kmart over the weekend, and the metal spatulas (flippers!) were also at the dollar store. Tie them all together with a cute ribbon, add this tag (for the printable, click here!)

and there you go! For the male teachers, you could get men’s flip flops, but Lauren wasn’t thrilled about that, so we just left them off. We’re all about saving ink around here, so click here to download the four to a page printable.oHonestly, the most important part is the thank-you card from your child. That is what will mean the most~I try to help them sit down and really think of what they appreciated about the teacher along with a favorite memory.

This is our last week of school~lots of “end-of” celebrations. But hooray for almost summer break!!

courage for the week 5.26.13

2013-05-26T04:02:00.000-05:00

tidbits 5.24.13

2013-05-24T11:32:00.001-05:00

Yummy dinner: Chicken Bacon Ranch Taquitos

Articles I have bookmarked over the past couple of months and didn’t want to forget to share with you:

* Top 10 Things Kids Really Want Their Parents To Do With Them

* What I didn’t buy at Ikea

* 10 Ways to Be a Better Mom

* A Lesson from the Dust Bowl

* Teenager Offense

Have a wonderful weekend~

more cabinet/closet organization!

2013-05-23T10:51:00.001-05:00

I told you yesterday that I had more bins to use, closets to conquer, under-sink darkness to overcome. Here is the other upstairs bathroom, under the sink. The previous owners already had the little shelves on the side installed, so that helped a lot. I love the plastic shoe bins from the dollar store, but when 3 or 4 are stacked on top of one another, it gets a bit ridiculous. The open bins were the perfect solution, the yellow ones are from the dollar tree.

And the little hall linen closet. I just cut a nylon shoe holder in half and hung it up to store medicines, bandaids, misc.

And yes, we have been known to have all 3 humidifiers going at once in different rooms.

Yessssss. You need some tums? How about a heat pack for your back? A cough drop? I know where they are now!!

under the sink organization

2013-05-22T08:57:00.001-05:00

I was so inspired when I saw how Alejandra organized her under her bathroom sink! As in, I came across it at 10 p.m. while I was perusing Pinterest, was mournful that we don’t have a Container Store within driving distance and I even thought about driving out to our 24 hr Walmart right then and there to see if they had open stackable bins. I restrained myself though, and headed out the next day and this is what I found:

plus a shower caddy at the dollar store that I cut the bottom shelf off:

And then I cleared the nightmare under the sink out. And yes, that is a Bumpit you see stashed in the back!!

Oh dear.

I hung the cut off shower caddy on a little screw,

and everything else went into the bins. It’s sooo nice to just reach in and grab instead of digging through dark piles.

Who needs therapy?? Spend $10 and organize under your sink!

And I didn’t stop there. It’s the give a mouse a cookie syndrome, if you start there, then you go to the other sink, then the hall closet, and then….more coming!! Watch out…

courage for the week 5.19.13

2013-05-19T13:01:00.001-05:00

Happiness is best attained by learning to live each day by itself.
The worries are mostly about yesterday and tomorrow."

- Michael Nolan

thrifty treasures 5.14.13

2013-05-14T13:54:00.001-05:00

This weekend was my favorite yard sale of the year. It’s a church sale they have twice a year and they have always had good stuff. The line is forever down the street by the time they open at 8:00, it’s well organized, super nice people, and pretty good prices. I found some good junk :)

Two globes, $3 each (I’m collecting them for something kind of cool!) and the bulletin board underneath for $2. I was SO excited to find the navy one.

Here is a quick pic of what it looked like inside in one of the main rooms:

A cedar lined boot tray for $3. I had a lady ask me a couple of times if I was sure I wanted it, which made me want it even more…

And some odds and ends: a pumpkin for .50, a scrabble game for more artwork like this one (for gifts!).50, a glass pan $2( I just broke mine!), and a cool suitcase $3. What would you think about spray painting a suitcase?? Hmmm.

The navy might be nice in my husband’s office though. We’ll see!

Have you found anything good lately??

courage for the week 5.12.13

2013-05-12T04:02:00.000-05:00

Shawni shared this quote last year in a guest post, and I thought it was fitting for Mother’s Day.

some things I have learned about being a Mom

2013-05-10T14:22:00.001-05:00

every year, I have asked guest bloggers and friends to share their thoughts about being a Mom. To be honest, I wasn’t on the ball this year and forgot to ask. Bad Melissa. So here are some of my own thoughts about being a Mom:

* if you start collecting a dollar right when your second baby is born for every time someone tells you that you have your hands full, you will be set for retirement at age 35.

* rice and pasta sweep up so much easier the next morning when they are all dried up.

* if your child has a stomach ache and you send him to school, he’ll throw up in front of everyone. If you let him stay at home, he’ll be fine.

* empty the bottom rack of the dishwasher first.

* keep fingernail clippers, q-tips, and wipes in your bag at all times. Then you can pull them out and go to town while you are waiting in the exam room at the drs office and it will look like you are a proper, well groomed family by the time the Dr. shows up.

* dark colored boys’ underwear is your friend.

* a child that wakes up first, finishes the favorite cereal, and then leaves the empty box on the counter will do more damage to the morning than no clean socks + no cash for the field trip + no box tops for the final contest combined.

You are a Mom. We are Moms.

The ones that imagine how big the mountain of toilet paper rolls and empty shampoo bottles would be if we didn’t throw them away. The ones that know how to stack the cards just right for a super quick game of Candy Land, and that know how to find that darn dollar the tooth fairy left when no one else can.

When we are sweeping, we know the difference between crumbs and sticks and Dumbledore’s wand from the lego set. We curse the masterminds who put candy at the checkout and bless the ones that came up with adjustable waist bands. Our hearts ache at the words, “strike 3!” or “ I didn’t play with anyone” more than anyone else.

We are the ones that can set the tone in the home, whatever a blessing or curse that may be. With our words, reactions, or listening ear we can build, encourage, comfort, and inspire. And when days don’t go as we hoped they would and we see those sweet faces sleeping at night, every unkind word and retort comes piercing back to our hearts. And yet, we get up and try again the next day, to bite our tongue, to not raise our voice, to be patient when it is taking 17 minutes to get a shoe and sock on, and to be interested in hearing about the 7th grade field trip at 10:30 when we just want to drop dead into bed.

You are doing so much better than you think you are.

You are the Mom that God gave to your children. You are exactly what they need. Your kids don’t care what other Moms are doing, just what you do. You have a tiny idea of how much God loves His children because you know how fiercely you love yours. I know this is a blog about bringing out the potential in your homes, but what you build inside of them will be forever more important than what you build or makeover inside your home. You all know that, but it’s good to hear again again and again.

I love being a Mom, and it’s the hardest thing I have ever done. But it’s always the hard things that are most worth it.

Happy Mother’s Day to each of you~

hailey’s room: after

2013-05-09T10:20:00.001-05:00

You’ve seen most of the room as we’ve slowly pieced it together, but here it is all together and we’ll go ahead and add it to the home tour!

This is what it looked like before as we were having the basement finished.

I’ll try to break down prices and sources as we go:

*the wall color is Celery from Sherwin Williams matched in Behr paint $28 for a gallon

* The wall art above the bed was $3.60 – more here.

* The queen mattress set was bought from a graduate student that was moving - $50 (I am fine buying mattresses secondhand if they have a mattress cover on them, come from a smoke free home, and clearly have no sign of bugs, spots, stains, etc)

*the bedding was compliments of Beddingstyle, with a few random pillows from TJMaxx and Target - $30

* the dresser & mirror was from Goodwill and is painted in Mustard Seed milk paint –more here. $35

*the pegboard was $3 at the thrift store – more here.

*the little hanging rack behind the door was from a yard sale, can’t remember how much?? Let’s guess $3

the chandelier was a church yard sale $5 – more here.

The little green nightstand was an $8 yard sale find – more here. The lamp was also a yard sale find ($3) with a Target lampshade ($8) and some ricrac ($3) = $22

*the desk and hutch are from Craigslist for $25. They were painted a cherry red, but I primed and painted over them. They hold lots of treasures and books. We stole the chair from the playroom.

The quilts were made by my Grandma and our friend Pam, the happy green box was a yard sale find. $1

the owl lamp makeover can be found here. $5

* the curtains were made from Target tablecloths – more here $30

* the window sheers sheers are from IKEA, but I don’t have one close by, so I ordered them here. $25

The artwork was a goodwill makeover – more here. $15

the closet curtains were a Target clearance find a couple of years ago with some ric rac from Etsy – more here. $20

Total for the room: $300.60

I think we got it all? My other daughter’s room is here.

Home tour here.

Thanks for dropping in~

courage for the week 5.5.13

2013-05-05T04:02:00.000-05:00

laundry closet makeover

2013-05-03T14:00:00.001-05:00

Well hello there! I’ve kind of taken the week off unintentionally, but here I am with a little laundry closet makeover!

Here is what it looked like when we first moved in, and I could just cry over those two tiny boys in the picture that seem so big now. Apparently there was a great deal on snuggle as well! You can read the story of my new washer and dryer here.

When my dad comes to visit we give him projects. We are really nice that way. He built us a shelf to go right over the washer and dryer last spring~love you, Dad!!

The wire shelf is still back there, but I hung a piece of fabric (premier prints dandi dot sweet potato) with a tension rod from Target and just hot glued the edges and also hot glued the aqua pom pom fringe (from Etsy!) to hide stuff that we don’t use very much:

The cool metal drawer files are from the Goodwill, $6 for them all! They are filled with crayons, colored pencils, markers, kid’s craft stuff. The metal baskets with the liners are Target clearance, $5 each

On the other side, I have a fabric organizer thing that I picked up from a yard sale for $1 that holds glue guns, clothespins, etc. and of course the ODD SOCKS basket! My forever enemy. The baskets on top of the dryer are also yard sale finds from Montana, now they are in Virginia. $1 each.

The iron holder was also found at Target (in store), and I keep my powdered laundry soap in the brown basket and oxi-clean in the candy jar container.

My friend Carol sent this to me and isn’t it the truth!! I fold my laundry at the kitchen table (the laundry closet is basically in my kitchen) my kids fold theirs in their rooms. One day, I need to share our laundry routine. Not that it’s special or groundbreaking, but don’t you love to hear other’s routines?

It’s prettier to look at and lots more functional too, for about $50 total in updates.

Have a wonderful weekend, friends! I hope you have something besides laundry planned~

courage for the week 4.28.13

2013-04-28T04:02:00.000-05:00

little green night stand with beadboard wallpaper

2013-04-25T04:02:00.000-05:00

This little table and I have been through lots. I found it when we lived in Texas at a yard sale for $8 and it was in our kitchen, then it has been hanging out in Hailey’s room begging for a little facelift.

Here is how I do a quick makeover:

1. clean it up, wipe it down well, let dry. Remove hardware

2. Sand down rough spots

3. I added some beadboard wallpaper to the side that was pretty damaged~it makes a great cover up! I’ve also used it in the kitchen here and here, in the entryway, and on the cabinet doors in our home in Texas. You can just buy it in the wallpaper aisle at Lowes or Home Depot.

4. Then, I spray painted it with one can of apple green spray paint, put the hardware back on,

And there we go.

A fresh, happy little table! The blue dish was from my husband’s grandma and it works great as a holder of chapsticks and lotions.

It’s time to share a picture of the whole ~~gosh darn~~ room, hopefully in the next post!

Happy Thursday~

inexpensive room touches

2013-04-23T13:26:00.001-05:00

Oh man, it is GORGEOUS here today. Like 75 degrees, blossoms and green everywhere, so perfect outside it’s kind of a crime to be indoors. We’ve been doing lots of yardwork, but I wanted to show you a few more updates in Hailey’s room. Her desk/hutch goes right to the closet, so we took off the doors and added some plain white panels instead. To gussy them up, we added different colored ric rac (from Etsy) with fabric glue.

I knew I kept this bookcase for a reason when we were purging! It fits perfectly inside to hold miscellaneous, and it also works better with curtains than doors.

For some artwork on the walls, I took two $5 large framed prints from the Goodwill,

covered the mats with some cute fabric (1/2 yard from JoAnn fabrics) and spray painted the frames.

and they look like new, custom artwork!

I have also had these glass ornaments from Target Christmas clearance (they were like .35 each) forever

and we finally hung them on the chandelier in her room to add a little zhing.

We are heading back outside! I am fully aware that some of you have snow right now and I am so sorry, but we will probably get a blizzard next weekend or something to show me who’s boss.

Happy Tuesday~

courage for the week 4.21.13

2013-04-21T04:02:00.000-05:00

spice organization

2013-04-18T09:28:00.001-05:00

Do you remember my spicy fix back in 2011? Well, it was great for those 8 spices, but I didn’t have any more ornament tins, so my spice drawer didn’t take long to look like this:

Ahhhhh! Stop the spice madness!

First, let’s be honest, Target/Archer Farms has the cutest spices ever:

But $5-$6 a pop isn’t so cute. But that’s okay!

For my birthday, I got to take a trip out to visit family and guess what was close by??

An IKEA.

Wahoo! I loaded up on these and packed them on my bag back home:

the rajtan and grundtal containers, about $1 each

Then, I created some simple round labels in PicMonkey and printed them off on sticker sheets of paper

On to the top of the jars they went,

Laaaaaaaahhhh! So much better. For my extracts, I ordered some little bottles with aluminum caps here. (warning: the prices seem great, but then shipping is killer)

I also added some more to the side of my fridge, which is right above the spice drawer.

Don’t worry, I got extra in case I branch out and try some crazy new spice. For now, smoked paprika is about as exorbitant as things get around here.

It’s amazing what organized spices can do for the soul. Where do you keep your spices? Have you come up with a system that works? I’d love to hear~

things I love to buy at dollar stores

2013-04-16T06:33:00.001-05:00

If you’ve been reading long, you know that I love to find things at the dollar store and spruce them up a bit. Today, I’m going to share some of my favorite practical things at the dollar store! (I am not affiliated with any dollar store, I just love treasure hunting in them) Most of these are phone pics, I didn’t feel like lugging my camera in.

1. Lightbulbs: Decorative ones always seem to cost an arm and a leg, these halogen ones sell for $6-$7 a pop at hardware stores! I put the dollar store ones right next to them in this light fixture and they have been just as good.

2. Camera Cases: are expensive at stores! This one was a favorite find~it is lightweight with a hard zippered shell. It has paint splatters on it (like everything else I own it seems!)

3. Disposable aluminum pans to take dinners in. I hate making a new mom or grieving family worry about returning dishes, so I always use disposable. At our church we like to make some freezer meals to have them on hand for last minute things that come up for families, we have loved use this recipe for chicken pot pie, the ultimate comfort food!

4. Tea light candles: real and battery operated, especially around the holidays for jack-o-lanterns, Christmas decor and festive tables! Remember the dollar store hurricanes?

5. Novelty Candy: for birthday parties, road trips, stockings, or just cuz.

6. Vinegar cleaner: sometimes this is hard to find in stock, so I buy a handful when I see it. I refill it with this recipe.

7. Kids’ coloring books and craft items: Have you ever priced coloring books at regular stores?? This is where I like to stock up for stockings, classroom crafts, and long road trips.

8. Frames! Here are some ways I’ve used dollar store frames in our homes: bedroom gallery wall ---- downstairs bathroom ---- simple Valentines craft --- spring vignette.

9. Garage Sale signs and stickers

10. Sweet potato chips! I love these ones.

11. School supplies in the middle of the year. Back to school prices in August can’t be beat, but when you run out of gluesticks in March or need colored posterboard, here is where we go.

12. Pregnancy tests: Don’t turn your nose up because they are one DOLLAR. These babies are accurate, as I can attest ~my last 3 boys are proof. My doctor said there is really no difference between these and the $20 ones except packaging and maybe the shape. Don’t waste your money!

13. Craft foam and small wreath forms

14. Shape sandwich cutters: because lunch gets boring sometimes.

15. Glassware! My favorite fancy, heavy Sunday glasses are from here. Shhhhhh.

16. t-shirts, flip-flops, and scarves! These are perfect for crafts, summer activities, birthday parties. Remember the flip flops we made for my daughter’s bday? And scarves for middle school girls! I put them in fancy boxes and they never know the difference, well unless they happen to see them on my blog :)

17. Shoe stuff: heel grippers for shoes that slip off, gel inserts, etc. I can’t stomach paying pharmacy prices on these.

18. Bread, buns, and sandwich thins: does your dollar store get these in when they are about to expire? I ask for delivery times, then stock up and freeze them.

19. Spices, extracts, etc.: I’m no chef, but I really can’t tell a difference?

20. Birthday balloons, 2/$1 cards, and gift bags: I can’t bear to pay any more for things that go right to the trash.

What about you?? What do you stock up on at the dollar store? I would love to hear!