For the Love of Black

I had never thought of decorating with black until seeing some of these gorgeous pictures.  It is so elegant.  What do you think?

Traditional Family Room design by Oklahoma City Architect Rick Hoge

Contemporary Living Room design by Boston Architect LDa Architecture & Interiors

Eclectic Bedroom design by Atlanta Interior Designer Dayka Robinson

Giveaway!

~Click here to go to my Shoppe~

Remember my Shabby Frills shop?  Have you been there lately?  If you'd care to have one of the ornaments for this upcoming holiday season, I'd like you to have one!  Please enter my giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hair Color {cheap}

Do Your Hair {cheap}

Right now I have highlights, but when I "go dark" with my hair-color I do it myself.

And I do it for $3.  I use Revlon ColorSilk I get at Walmart.

The secret to at-home hair-color is getting the right shade.  After that  I think the quality of color and conditioning in box treatments is even better than professional color.  I'm sure stylists might disagree with me, but that's been my experience, and it saves a bundle!

Big Pot Spaghetti Sauce

Recipe:  Big Pot Spaghetti Sauce 

4 lbs ground meat

1 onion chopped

2 lbs fresh mushrooms, sliced

4 cloves garlic minced

Cook these 4 things together:

Then add #10 size can tomato sauce (less than $2.50 at my Costco).  Add the following spices to taste and let simmer:

basil
oregano
parsley
sugar
salt
pepper

The great thing about this recipe is that you now have enough spaghetti sauce for 4 meals or 3 for a large family.  In a container or large ziploc freezer bag pour a meal size portion and then lay it flat in your freezer.  On a busy day, just pull one of these sauce bags out and cook your noodles and you have spaghetti.  Yes, I guess it's the same as opening a jar of sauce from the store, but they add way more sugar, sodium, and preservatives than necessary and the flavor and nutrition of the meaty and mushroomy homemade sauce is so much better!

I am linking to Kitchen Tip Tuesday at Purposely Frugal this week.

T-shirt Scarf

Today's tutorial uses leftover loops from the T-shirt scarf I showed you yesterday.  If you didn't make that one, feel free to refer to the first few steps to make the loops you'll need.  I hope you've enjoyed learning to make these T-shirt scarves as much as I have!  Try a braid, cowgirls!  It's fun.

In the mornin'

I'm not a coffee drinker, but a cup o' this sure gets the morning started in a healthy way :).

Recipe here

Rope T-shirt Scarf

I think we've established that I think T-shirts make great scarves, right (see here and here and here)?  Well, hold on to your hats cowgirls, I've got two more to try!  Here's today's and come back for a variation of this tomorrow.

Microwave Brownies Pinterest Fail

I am a big fan of brownies in all their shapes, recipes, and varieties. I've met very few I didn't LLLLLLLLOOOOOOVVVVEEEEE.

But.

I tried a pin in which I was promised brownies hot from the microwave in less than 5 minutes. 

I'm really not that in a rush (I can have the batter within 5 minutes so bake time really doesn't faze me), but the pictures looked so fudgy and perfect I just had to give it a shot :).

This was the result of 5 minutes of microwaving.  Looks yummy!  But notsomuch.  It was rubbery and dry....oh, and doughy in other spots.

Nope, I'll stick to my oven, thank you.

But Pinterest?  No hard feelings.  You've given me so many great recipes and crafts as well as hours of enjoyable entertainment.  I could never hate you.

Weekend Warmth #7

If you choose to follow this blog please let me know so I can return the favor. Big hugs to you my blog friends!

Boy {thrifty} Fashion

Rag Wreath

There are lots of tutorials on how to make these...I'll sum up how we did ours:

1. took an old hanger
2. un-twisted it and then bent it into a circle...then twisted a little hook on the top
3. cut 6" by 1" strips of fabric
4. tied them in knots around the the wire wreath shape

Yes, it's that easy (and cheap!)

I love how giddy he is that we finally have something on our door!

Two things I love:

1. All-in-one baby outfits with snap closure for quick diaper changes
2. Gymboree's sizing and quality

Wait, there's one more:

1. Getting those things for $3 an outfit at my local thrift shop!

Awesome e-book

I was given this e-book to review, and I want to make sure I start out by letting you know that it is on sale from today only until the 26th...so three days at 99 cents...a total steal!  After that it'll be going up to 4.99, so I'm starting off with that warning.

Now that that is out of the way I'm going to share my review.  I've been reading Crystal's blogs for over 5 years.  In fact she is one of the people who first inspired me to jump into the world of blogging.  She's been such a success and is admired by her hundreds of thousands of readers (moneysavingmom.com if you haven't heard).  One thing she's been open about during the years is her struggle to get and stay self-disciplined with everything from healthy habits to successful work/life balance down to the basics of just saying no.

I'll be honest that I was a little skeptical about this e-book.  I put off reading it because I've read most of her blog and followed her path for awhile now.  What new could she have to share?

It turns out:  a lot.  This isn't so much a philosophy book about the beauties of time management and that way over-used mommy word balance.  No, this is clear and concise techniques to make your dreams or wishes into every day reality.  It is totally do-able and reality based.  I finished reading the book pumped and with clear ideas of how to change my life starting first thing when I get up in the morning.  Nothing overwhelming, just a kick-start.

I'm so glad I read this and I'd encourage you to, too.  This is one of those I think you'll go over and over and use the provided lists to track your dreams you'll be achieving.

I'll have the button for its purchase in my sidebar for a few months maybe, but I'd encourage you to get it now while its just 99 cents.  If you get it, please let me know so we can chat about it!  There are specific ways to use friends in pursuit of these goals and I could use a few buddies to do this with!

Thanks,

Bobi

Infinity Scarf

Again I ask...have a T-shirt?  Want a scarf?  The easiest one yet:

I have more T-shirt scarf tutorials here and here.

Motorcycle Boys

We took a cool, crisp autumn walk over to the Playground for the morning.  I love to watch my boys play together.  Having lots of small children close together in age is HARD when they are babies and toddlers, but the older they get it is SO fun for me to watch them play together as best friends.

The "After" of the Free Craft

 I totally forgot to put an after picture on that craft I posted earlier...here it is!

Here it is!  Voila!

See the phone numbers?

Here it is doing it's "Day Job," holding sewing supplies.  Sorry, honey, you can't be a model every day.

Free Recycling Craft

You can tell I was feeling desperately crafty one night.  I had a bottle of Mod Podge and I wanted to use it!  I tore up pages from an old phone book (does anyone use those anymore?) and mod podged them over all the logos and printing around this flat box.

It left it looking really cool (in my opinion) and this long, flat box is perfect for holding those papers that continue to come into the house every day (thanks mail!  thanks public schools!).

Ruffle T-shirt Scarf

Hey y'all!  I'm back with another T-shirt scarf!  This one is a little flouncy, a little ruffly, and really fun.

T-shirt Scarf

Hey y'all!  Have an old T-shirt?  Want a scarf?  Here's how:

This was one of the funnest projects I've done in awhile.  No sewing, no gluing and best of all, no $$$ involved.  It probably took me all of 15 minutes.

You can do this, my friend :)

Some Favorite Poses

The Frown

The Eye-roll

The Toddler Crouch

Weekend Warmth #6

Playground Fun

Backpacking Helps

Casey took our oldest three kids on their first backpacking trip this summer.  When they returned home, he shared to me which "tools" they took were extremely useful. 

I decided to document that here, for our own reference, and in case you'd like this info, too!

These are washable sporks.  One of these for everyone can handle your  utensil needs.

These mugs have measurements on the inside and can double as measuring cups.  The wisk is rubber coated (non melting) and so is safe on a non-stick pan.

This pan has a thick aluminum bottom so that the heat distributes quickly and evenly.  The lid is awesome for draining noodles.

This stove is a little heavier than the super-duper light backpacking ones, but is awesome for basic backpacking needs. It's light "enough" and the flame is powerful and fits perfectly with the little grill size propane can.

Take some powdered milk in a ziploc baggy along with instant pudding mix.  You'll have a yummy treat that is very light to carry and can be made with water!

My Faux Pas'

First, let me explain.  These are capri's.  I chose to wear them with boots.  Why?  Because when the boot goes over the hem, it looks like the boots are over pants.  No one needs to know what does or does not cover my calf, right?

But then...the day gets long.  I gets busy, busy.  And the capri falls out of the boot.  Yes, just one.

And then I go about my business.  Ya know...picking up the kids, going to the library and stuff.

When I get home, I realize I'm sportin' the capri and boots look.  On only one side.

So I take pictures.  

To redeem my husband.

My Favorite Flour

Wheat Montana {white} whole wheat flour....the best, the best, the best.  No, they don't know me or care about my little blog.  But I started using this flour about a year ago really just because I was tickled to see it in my mid-west grocery store.

I grew up near Montana, and had driven by the Wheat Montana farms a few times.  It is such a picturesque area and farm, I just like supporting it.

But...even better is that the flour is so high quality.  It's whole wheat, but tastes very light and the baked goods have a really nice texture.  No, I never cared about flours, and I thought they were all the same....but I wanted to share what I've found here

Oh, and one more thing:  I love the packaging.  This ziploc top bag keeps flour from flying anywhere else, which is a must in a part gluten-free household.

I am sharing this post as part of Kitchen Tip Tuesdays at Tammy's Recipes.

A Very Carrot Birthday

I've never purchased a birthday cake in my life.  I thought this beauty would make me a convert.  It was soooooooo easy to slip it into the cart and then swipe my debit card.

Quick Question: If you saw this in your local supermarket, what type of cake would you imagine was sitting under that cute frosting?  Carrot?

Well, then you'd be wrong.

It was a nut, spice cake.  Not a big hit for a 5 year old!  But a very happy birthday was had (and the frosting was all anyone wanted anyway :)

*Place*

Sometimes I like daydreaming about what life must be like in such beautiful places....

Traditional Landscape design by New York Landscape Contractors Statile & Todd

Contemporary Landscape design by Seattle Landscape Architect Lankford Associates Landscape Architects

Contemporary Exterior design by Portland Maine Architect Whitten Architects

Traditional Landscape design by Austin Architect Rick O'Donnell Architect

Tropical Pool design by Hawaii Architect Rick Ryniak Architects