Tender Teaching Moments

I love my Willow Tree figurines. I have a collection from the different milestones and memories in my life, many of which were gifts from my husband when we were engaged or when our little boy came along. My husband picked this one out for our little boy to give me for Christmas when he was a year old and it brought me to tears. I love the moment this statue captures. This figure reminds me of the countless sacrifices a mother makes for her child, and the greatest thing she gets in return is knowing that she holds the future of that child. She is the one who makes him feel safe, who can provide comfort, and who teaches him life's greatest lessons. Everything she does molds him into who he will become.  
Two years later, it was that same little boy that knocked it off the shelf in a careless accident. I was devastated to see one of my precious figures broken into so many pieces. I was frustrated. Frustrated that he didn't listen after being told repeatedly not to do that in the house, and especially frustrated that I got the consequence of his actions. It would have been easy to blame him and release some of my frustration through a long rant and what he did that was wrong, but I held back. I had a moment to think because I was not in the room when this happened. I overheard and understood the situation; my husband told our little boy he needed to go tell me what had happened. I waited and thought. When my sweet little boy brought my broken figurine in his arms with regret in his eyes, I wasn't angry. Not when I thought of everything that figurine represented to me. That figurine shows the influence a mother has on her son, and I used that moment to teach him. I let him express his apology and I forgave him. I let him know I was disappointed, but that I know he did not mean to break it. "It happened by accident, and we all have many accidents in our lives. Thank you for telling me and trying to make it better." Then I gathered pieces and tried to glue them back together. It took quite an effort to keep them in the right place while the glue dried, but the cracked figure still sits on my shelf. When I look at it I still remember the lesson I taught my son that day, but more importantly the lesson I learned that day.
It is our role as parents to teach our children. We must be consistent in our rules and in our consequences. But I believe we also owe our children a little mercy. Think of all the times you have made a mistake and wronged someone else...especially when that someone else if one of our children. We expect them to forgive us and deal with our imperfections. We can create a stronger bond with our children when we recognize the times they are trying...they are trying to get things right, and we just accept their effort, despite the mistakes that come along with it.

Chocolate Chip Cookies: soft, gooey, and baked to perfection!

These cookies are such a winner. They are a big hit when I bring them to a picnic or other sharing event and they are devoured even faster in my own house. With a light browning on the outside and a soft gooey center, these cookies are perfect. The recipe is great, but technique is everything with these cookies. Follow directions for the ingredients, the proper mixing, and most importantly, the proper baking.

You will need:

• 1/2 cup (8 oz or 1 stick) butter, melted then cooled to room temperature
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla 
• 1 egg
• 1-1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• approximately 1/2 cup chocolate chips (preferably Hershey's special dark or semisweet)

Bake at 350 degrees for 8-9 minutes. 

As stated, start by melting the better completely, then let it cool to room temperature so that it is in a very soft solid state. Add that to a stand mixer along with the sugar, and beat with the paddle attachment for 2-3 minutes. Make the sugars and fat a good creamy consistency. 

Add the egg and vanilla, then beat for another 10-15 seconds. Do not over-mix this one. It should be mostly mixed in. Not perfectly, but mostly. Then add the flour, baking soda, and salt, and mix until it is just barely mixed in.

As soon as the ingredients come together, stop the mixer. For the rest you can use your hand or a rubber scraper. Scrape down and knead the unmixed flour into the dough. Add the chocolate chips and fold them in.  I find a heaping 1/2 cup to be the perfect amount, but you can play around with this a little depending on how many or how few chocolate chips you like. Once incorporated, drop into 1-1/2 " round balls onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake in a 350 degree oven. I find that 9 minutes works for me every time, but ovens may slightly differ. Start with an 8 minute bake time. If the tops or edges have slight golden tips, then they are done: even if the center looks doughy- it will finish baking while cooling. Do not wait for the entire cookie to be golden; it should have some parts that look un-done. It may take some practice identifying a perfectly baked cookie, but it is definitely worth learning. 😊

Easy and delicious breakfast on the GO

My family loves when we make breakfast sandwiches with eggs, cheese, sausage or bacon, on a biscuit or bagel. Well the night before our early morning road trip I decided to put together something similar that we could grab and go in the morning. These were great. I could fix them up quickly in advance, keep them in the refrigerator, and my family all enjoyed them in the car. 

What you'll need: 

• 1 box with 10 precooked sausage links
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup cheddar cheese
• 1 tube of Pillsbury crescent rolls 

1. Scramble the eggs. Whip with a dollop of sour cream before cooking for a better consistency. Add the cheese while scrambling. Brown the sausage lings and chop. 

2. Lay out each individual crescent roll.

3. Spoon approximately 1/3 of a cup of the sausage and egg filling onto each crescent.

4. Overlap the corners, then tightly roll to enclose the egg and sausage completely.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes until slightly golden. 

Enjoy immediately or refrigerate for up to 1 week and enjoy at any time!

Accessorizing your Home on a Budget- DIY wood sign

Home decor can add up so quickly especially if you like to change things up occasionally. There are so many great DIY projects that can give you great pieces for your home for little or no cost. I love this one I started with my sister last summer. We just used scrap wood our parents had around the house, but for this project you need a 10"x12" piece of plywood and four cuts of a 1x2 board: two that are 10.5" long and two 8.5" long pieces. Stain all pieces of wood on all sides and allow to dry thoroughly. 

Pick a quote or phrase that inspires you and design it graphically. For a small sign just use 1-2 fonts. Usually matching a serif font with a sanserif font and a simple with a more elaborate font will create more interest and the two fonts will complement each other. Design within a 7"x9" space, leaving an additional 1/4" border without any text. Use the layout of other quotes for inspiration to decide smaller and larger text as well as text placement. You can also use size and font to emphasize the most important part of the quote or phrase.

Print on your desired card stock. (or, if you're brave, freehand letter onto the paper using a fine tip sharpie.) I chose a neutral beige with a linen pattern. Cut down just larger than the opening (8x10"). Using spray adhesive, mount the printed quote centered onto the plywood. Next, properly arrange the 1x2" boards. First board all the way to the left side running along the top, the next running form the top edge down along the right side, the third aligned in the bottom right corner and laying across the bottom, then the last laying from the bottom left corner until it meets the edge of the first board. Secure each piece with wood glue.

Allow to dry completely and display with an easel or mount hardware on the back to hang on the wall.

Enliven your Space

Do you ever find your space feeling a little drab? Maybe you think you need a whole house renovation or maybe you can't pin point anything you particularly don't like, but you also aren't in love with how it looks and feels...The good news is there are a few simple points that can enhance the overall tone and appearance without breaking the bank.

1. Make your space livable
There is nothing like a living plant (or something that mimics a living plant) to actually make your space come alive. Just a single potted plant or vase of flowers brings life into the space and makes for a beautiful accessory. Living plants make a great addition, but must be well kept in order to continue looking nice. If keeping up with the watering and trimming is not your thing, then the good news is you can always find beautiful fakes that look just as fantastic.

2. Shed a little Light on the Subject
Lighting is the single most important element of design. Lighting effects how you see everything else within the space. Your lighting can set the entire mood of the room or space. If you want the room to feel calm, relaxing, and serene use cooler and less direct lighting to wash the walls and accent focal points.  If you like your space to feel warm, cheerful, and lively then let light flood in! Use warm hues with the space fully illuminated. Utilize natural light whenever possible and let let lighting play a significant role in general purpose as well as accenting and accessorizing the space.

3. Connect personally
Every time you walk in the room you should be able to connect to the space emotionally. This happens when you display words or pictures with personal significance. Choose pictures or paintings with people you love or places you are passionate about. Have words or quotes that speak to your soul and reflect your ambitions. Let your space reflect who you are. Even the most simplistic things can leave an impression every time we see it.

Trash to treasure: end table makeover

I love this trash to treasure concept because it creates a beautiful cycle of people getting to purge themselves from their own cutter or things they don't need, while others can transform, reuse, or re-purpose those same items to create something beautiful and fill a need in their own space.

I apologize for only having an "after" shot of this project. While I was putting on the final polyurethane for this project, my toddler snatched my phone after watching me take pictures of the project. He then continued to enjoy taking his own photos, which I didn't bother to stop because I was mid-project and didn't think he was hurting anything. I was absolutely wrong. Next thing I knew, my phone was swimming in the toilet! My photos had not backed up to the cloud, and with the phone destroyed, so were all of the "before" photos. 😨!!!

I have had this on my mind for a while...that I would love I nice little side table to go right there. My husband wasn't convinced, and it wasn't a priority purchase, so the idea continued to be put off. Then just last week I was on my way home from dropping my son off at a birthday party and I spotted this little guy along the side of the road. (Along with a little stool, which will be another Trash to Treasure post.)  It is actually a kiddie table- hence the little stool seat that went with it. I already have a kid's table to I almost passed it up. Then my mind started thinking of the end table I've been wanting so I quickly turned the car around to grab the table (and the stool too). I figured it couldn't hurt. If I got it home and it didn't work, then it could just as easily be dumped at my curb to be passed on to someone who could use it. But, lucky for me, it filled the space nicely and I decided to give it a finishing touch.

I didn't do much to this project. The table was already white, which is the color I wanted. The table top had a few stains on top, but nothing too severe- easily covered by a coat or two of paint.
I did to a quick sanding over the top to smooth things out and to help the paint adhere to the surface.
I also used a chalk paint mix which adheres to surfaces really well in the first place. The surface area isn't too big so I was able to use paints I had on hand to create a nice color I wanted.

I wanted the table white, but not too white....definitely subdued from the blinding white of "simply white" chalk paint. I added my sued acrylic paint to the mix until it resembled the color I was looking for. (approximately 3 Tbl of Suede for a 1/2 cup of Simply White)

The table took two coats of paint to cover completely. Once it was dry, I used my block sander to lightly brush over the top. This smooths out any unevenness in the paint coats and lessens the emphasis of the brush strokes. After wiping the table clean with a dry cloth, I applied 2 coats of my satin finish polyurethane to protect the top.

As for the final touch, when everything was dry I added my own felt feet to the table. You could use the sticky back felt pads you can buy at the store, but I used some scraps of felt I already had to protect my wood flooring.

Simply cut a piece of felt to perfectly fit the foot of each table leg and glue into place using my favorite, E6000 glue.
Considering I only used things I had on hand, and the table itself came off the side of the road, this trash to treasure project, was FREE, and I finally have a beautiful end table to enjoy!
Once he saw the finished project, my husband surprisingly admitted that he really loved the look of the table right there and thought it made a big difference in the room.

Delicious and Nutritious: Pumpkin Biscuits

I found this recipe when I was looking for a quick bread I could whip up to go with dinner. I made a recipe of Pumpkin Biscuits that I found, and I loved them. When I went to make them again; however, I thought I could make them a little better for you so there was no guilt making them as a delicious dinner side dish. My family loves biscuits, but they are so loaded with butter and then doused with more fat or sugar when you go to eat them too.

This recipe is fantastic. My entire family enjoyed them, and the recipe substitutions did not effect the taste or texture of the final product. This does still contain fat and sugar, but they are sweetened with honey, there is significantly less butter, and they use pumpkin and coconut oil as additional fat sources.

Just look at that pumpkin-cinnamon deliciousness!

For this recipe I started with my buttermilk substitution (see my tested and approved recipe substitutions). You can use actual buttermilk in this recipe, but that is something I never buy because it is so easy to substitute in any baking recipe. I added some lemon juice to my milk and let it sit while I combined the dry ingredients to really get a good buttermilk forming.

In a medium bowl I combined my wheat and white flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.

Then I cubed my butter before cutting it into the dry ingredients. You want your butter to be very solid. For this you can pull it straight from the refrigerator. I like mine to sit out for 15 minutes or so before using it so it is a little more workable, but room temperature butter will not work properly.

Add the cubed butter to the dry ingredients and the solid coconut oil then cut them into the dry ingredients. For this I like to use my handheld potato masher, but a fork works well too, or even just your hands.
Work until the mixture is course crumbs. No large butter or coconut oil chunks left in it.

By this time your buttermilk substitute should be ready to go. Mix the pumpkin puree and honey with the buttermilk, then add that entire mixture into the crumb mixture. Fold it in until the two mixtures just combine to form a dough.

Turn the dough out on a floured surface to knead. This kneading process is to layer the dough. Fold the dough in half over itself and then press it out to fold again. Do this several times and roll into a 1/2" thickness.

Use a biscuit cutter, cookie cutter, or the top rim of a cup to cut circles from the biscuit dough. Place 1" apart on a lined or greased baking pan.

Bake in an oven preheated to 425 degrees for 16-18 minutes. While baking, mix up a delicious cinnamon butter to spread on the hot biscuits.

Cinnamon Butter: 3 Tablespoons softened butter with 3 teaspoons of cinnamon.

Spread butter on the top of each biscuit straight from the oven. Serve them warm with some honey to drizzle on top. Enjoy!

Nutritious Pumpkin Biscuits 

Yields: 8-10 biscuits           Bake: 425 degrees for 16-18 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup white flour
• 3/4 cup wheat flour
• 2-1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 2 Tbl honey
• 1/4 cup butter, cold
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, cold and solid

Cinnamon butter:

• 3 Tbl butter, softened
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon