Cool beans....

Earlier this week, I made THESE and then decided to put off filling them until later. At the beginning of the week, a semi cool front blew through the area and left us with mild 90 degree weather. I was so hoping this would be the sign of Fall and cooler weather, so I could get in my Fall decorating mood.

Nope. Today it is supposed to be 97 degrees, and thus I am just not there yet. I have developed a list of projects that I am ready to make, waiting for the mood to hit.

Last night I rummaged through my pantry, because I was just tired of looking at the empty glasses. Beans! I have bags and bags of beans! LOVE the different layering!!

As a bonus, the dollar store had these precious little pumpkins 2 for $1. So cute!!!

Moving into Fall...

Two posts in one day....it's been raining a lot thanks to Tropical Storm Hermine, so I haven't been out much other that to take the kids to and from school.

Texas is super hot and we rarely have a big change of season...it mostly feels like Summer and Sort-of Summer. Once school officially starts, I start to think about Fall. I am honestly in no hurry to get everything in HARVEST-order since it is still 95+ degrees outside, so a little bit everyday is my goal.

Here is my project for the day. I made the glasses early in the morning and while they dried, I started the wreath.
Yep beans, hot glue, and spray paint. :)

What tedious work this is, but it was made so much more enjoyable by the fact that I worked on it while watching my FAVE movie, It's Complicated. It honestly took the whole movie to complete it. But I like it. And I plan on changing the color and the ribbon with each holiday.

Of course, there is no way I will show a picture of my front porch, since as of yet...there is no decor other than this wreath. Beaded pumpkins to come.

My homemade apothecary jars

So I have been wanting to make these for months but for some reason, our dollar store never carried the glass. This morning while at our local Dollar Tree, I came across these.

I LOVE how they are all different sizes and styles.

Quick bit of Gorilla Glue and about an hour later....

shazaam....

In the next few weeks I will begin decorating the house for fall, so these will soon be filled with leaves, gourds, pumpkins, etc.

Tropical storm rains

As Tropical Storm Hermine rolls into South Texas, we are inundated with rain. Rain, rain, rain. Oh and rain. And more rain.

Rain=LAZY, and the struggle against being lazy today. The boys are at school, I am not getting out of this house for ANYTHING (but to pick them up from school), and the morning has been spent cleaning.

In order to keep my home in decent, working order, I constantly remind myself of two important phrases:
1. Never leave a room empty handed. It is flat out shocking how easy things accumulate, and I often remind myself to pick them up as I cruise through my house. Pick it up, take it to its home, put it away so that leaves me with less work later, and I love that. Which leads me to.....
2. Only touch something once. This is so difficult for me. Case in point, LAUNDRY. Now I don't mind washing, drying, and folding laundry, but that is where I lose steam. Neat piles of folded towels, shirts, and socks will sit on my bar for two days if I am not careful. I actually have to tell myself, "Put away the clothes, dishes, mail, etc".
Even clean clutter clutters my mind.

Triple Chocolate Fudge cake...

I love to bake. Why is it that those who can bake very well often do not cook very well and vice versa?? This is totally me. Cooking is the bane of my existance, the thorn in my side, my Achilles Heel. Mostly, I cook out of obligation and it is very simple and boring. Baking is a completely different story. Because Caleb has Autism and is very, very picky with food, but will eat almost any form of muffin, I bake a lot. This way, almost any vegetable or fruit can be snuck into a muffin mix and he won't even know! Zucchini, carrots, raisins, raspberries, bananas, broccoli....Baking is so satifying and calming.

This afternoon I made a triple chocolate fudge cake for the hub's grandfather's birthday today. This cake is so moist, but it is very dense and could use a big scoop of vanilla to cut the sweetness...no complaints here.

Here is the recipe I use. It is a family favorite and is completely fail-proof!

Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake

• 1 devil's food cake mix


• 2 small instant chocolate pudding mixes


• 1 cup sour cream


• 1 cup vegetable oil


• 4 eggs, beaten


• 1/2 cup warm water


• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips


• powdered sugar for topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together cake mix, pudding, sour cream, oil, eggs, and water. Fold in chocolate chips and pour into a greased bundt pan. Bake for 50 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool for 90 minutes and turn onto cake plate. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Super easy, super delish.....LOVE!

Fabulous (FOOTBALL) Friday...

Today I am incredibly thankful for all the prayers and well wishes for my husband's grandmother. After having a stroke on Tuesday, and receiving some experimental treatments, she was able to get up and WALK down the hall last night! That is incredible. The hubs and I will be making a trip up to the hospital in Houston tomorrow now that he is off graveyards. What a blessing his grandmother is to us!!

Also, today is Friday: Fun Friday, Fall Friday, Football Friday!! Are you from the South? If you are, you know the madness of football season. We await it with anticipation and excitement only to be rivaled by that of Christmas day. Friday is high school football (Go Bucs!), Saturday is college football (Gig 'em Aggies!), and Sunday is professional football (Go Texans!). Nothing makes me feel like fall is around the corner like a good football game. We have tickets to the high school game tonight with our kiddos, so let's hope this yucky rainstorm we are having right now blows through quickly.

Now if you will excuse me, I am going to go have lunch with a friend of mine. This is the first time since I have been a stay-at-home mom that I am a Lady who Lunches. :)

Attempting some organization...

I freely admit my short-comings. The Organization Fairy must have been on a smoke break when it was my turn for the fairy dust, because I have nothing. My car looks like a hoarder lives in it, my drawers are a mish-mash of odds and ends, and my closets, well my closets are actually looking pretty tidy. 1 out of 3 isn't bad, right?

In fact, the envy runs strong for those moms who have color coded, beautifully labeled bins and baskets. Everything has a home; everything has a place. Don't get me wrong, my home is picked up and is certainly not dirty, but it is definitely not organized. Think of how much time we lose because we can't find our keys, the kid's shin-guards, that field trip permission slip, our cell phone charger, my other silver hoop earring, the boy's left shoe. Baby steps for this mom...baby steps.

This week I worked on a better scheduling system located on our refrigerator. I color coded a new dry erase calendar with Josh being orange, me being purple, Caleb being blue, and Jansen being green. Each soccer practice, game, allergy shot, PTO meeting, party, assignment, dentist appointment is all logged on to this at the beginning of each month. I also included a small dry erase board with approximately 20 different meals written on it for the month. Now, wouldn't it be beautiful if each day was assigned a meal?? Well, it would, but I won't follow through with it, so a monthly meal list is posted and then marked off after cooking. 20 meals leaves room for leftovers and also for dining out, which we do little of. Note my incredible lack of culinary skills...Have I mentioned lately how much I hate to cook?

Next goal, magnetic file holders for the other side of the fridge to put the kids weekly paperwork in. Notice the word WEEKLY??? The other goal is to go through it each Friday for keepers and shredders.