oh, to be...

Fireside.

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his favorite treat

This boy loves his m & m's.

He also loves to share.

The perfect post-lunch sweet treat for my favorite little guy.

oh, to be...

Seaside.

I'm a girl that much prefers to be tucked away in the wilderness, on the shores of a gem of a lake, just taking in the breathtaking beauty of God's creation.  A quiet shore, an occasional leaping fish, the sound of crickets, and the smell of campfire in the air.  For me, that's a bit of heaven.

But there is something so majestic about the power, depth, and smell of the sea that is completely matchless.

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a little fun with ivory soap

When I saw this pin on Pinterest, I pinned it, tucking it away on my board that has to do with educational and fun things for kids, aka Callan.  It looked like fun, but it also looked like it was up there on the messy scale, hence the tucking away.  But I never forgot about it.  I wanted to see for myself how this bar of soap turns into a crumbly mess.

So, this morning we had a little messy fun.

Before I popped the bar of soap into the microwave, I pushed the dining room table to one side of the room so Callan could have a larger space to get messy.  Plus I didn't really know what to expect, or how bad clean up would be.

Things started out fairly tame.

Then he realized he could pull off chunks, toss them, and watch them crumble/"explode" as they hit the floor.

He kept saying "ewww" (with a smile) as he played.

He had so much fun.

I sat and watched, thinking about how long it would take for me to clean up.

About 10 minutes into it, I pulled the plug on the fun because the soap crumbles were getting to be a bit much.  They were finding their way into the living room and kitchen.  They did clean up quite nicely, however, this would be a much better outside activity.  Dyson vacuum to the rescue.

The plus side of this activity?  My house smells very clean.

Kid and mother approved.

mug swap

I just signed up to get involved with a mug swap!  How fun is that?!  

Wanna get it on it?

Click the above logo to find out how!

kitchen progress

You may or may not remember my red kitchen cabinets.

This picture is from the day that we closed on the house, a year and a half ago.

It was one of those things, when we were looking at the house, that I just shrugged at and said, "oh, I can just paint them."  Easier said than done.  Way easier.

I started tackling these darn cabinets last year.  I'm not even half way done.  BUT what I do have finished is a heck of an improvement and changes the kitchen, dramatically, already, so that keeps me going.

There is a ton of scraping, sanding, priming, and painting going on.  If the cabinets were still their original wood color, this project would be easy peasy, but the fact that the cabinets are painted red, both inside and out, makes the task a much bigger headache.

I finally finished all of the upper cabinet doors last week.  What a relief to have them done, and out of the way.

I finished all of the drawer fronts, too.

This past weekend, I tackled the "island", (we call it that, although, technically, it's not), and attached bookshelf.

All of the lowers are getting painted in Valspar's "Oatlands Subtle Taupe".  This is one of those colors that changes throughout the day with the lighting.  In the morning, it's more tan than gray; it's a true tan-gray during the afternoon; and it's definitely more gray in the evening.  It looks most like this chip in the morning/early afternoon.

Crazy difference, right?!

So much lighter and brighter.

I really love it, although it's such a drastic difference, it's going to take some time to get used to the lighter color.  Not too much time, though, because it really is so much better.

I'm working on the cabinets in sections, that way it's not too overwhelming.

Here's the section that's up next.  I expect to start sometime later this week.

I need a mini break before I jump back into it.

Oh, and over the weekend, we also got some molding up in the kitchen.

We still have to caulk and patch nail holes, but the molding makes a world of difference.

I really cleans up the ceiling recess, and finishes it off.

I probably won't share anymore of the kitchen until the lower cabinets are completely finished, so it could be a few weeks.

But it's going to be a heck of a reveal.   

welcome, August

It's August 1st!

The fact that August is here, means that Summer is winding down.

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The fact that Summer is winding down, means that Fall is almost here!

I cannot wait for cooler weather, the colors of fall, rainy days, sweaters and sweatpants, a fire in the fireplace, pumpkin treats, playing in the leaves...

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Are you ready to say farewell to Summer?

If summertime meant temperatures in the 70s and 80s, I wouldn't mind it sticking around for a bit longer, but these 100+ temps leave me no choice but to long for Fall.