Five on Friday

ONE.  I'm kind of obsessed with the Walmart Savings Catcher app.  Grocery stores are lacking around here, and although Walmart can be a huge beat down at times, I find myself there at least once a week for groceries.  If you aren't familiar with the Savings Catcher app, it allows you to scan each receipt, and it will compare your purchases with a ton of other stores.  If a better price is found at a competitor, you will be credited that amount.  I have only been using it for two weeks, but for two receipts, I have gotten $6.00 back.  Not huge, but I will certainly take it, and this will definitely add up over the course of a couple of months.  You can use your credit toward your next purchase, or you can save them until they reach a higher amount.  Isn't this super cool, or am I just easily amused?

TWO.  I was making my bed yesterday, and the comforter ripped as I was pulling it up.  I texted Griff to tell him the news.  This man knows me well.

THREE.  I've done a tiny bit of fall decorating indoors, but now I'm on a mission to spread a little fall cheer outdoors as well.  Pumpkins and some new fall flowers are on the agenda this weekend!

FOUR.  Also on the agenda is this disaster of a closet.  Out of control doesn't even begin to cover it.

FIVE.  Harper and I met some friends from our MOPS group at the park this morning.  We could not have asked for better weather.  Gorgeous day!

Happy Friday, Friends!  Hope you all have a great weekend!  Linking up with Hello Happiness, Momfessionals, and September Farm.

Good Food and Broken Stuff

Looks like this week has almost gotten away from me.  It happens.  I was so happy to welcome Monday this week.  Griff was gone from Thursday morning to Sunday afternoon, and while I love my children dearly, mama was ready to lock herself in her room for a break.

Over the weekend, I tried two new recipes, and I thought they were both worth sharing as they were quite tasty.

John Wayne Casserole - recipe and photo credit found here

I made this casserole early in the day, and put it in the fridge without baking it.  I took it to my parents' house for dinner that night, so I just baked it over there.  This recipe would be perfect to make for new moms, sick friends, potlucks, etc.

Pumpkin Zucchini Bread - recipe and photo credit found here

This stuff is amazing.  It is especially good if you warm it up and slap either a little butter on it...or, if you really want to get fancy, some brown sugar and cinnamon cream cheese.  Not that I would know or anything.  Ahem.  My little sidekick helped with the zucchini bread.  She was a skeptic at first.  "Zucchini is gross.  Nobody will want to eat this."  Sweet little dear.

Don't worry.  She quickly changed her tune.  "Harper I tried that pumpkin cornbread (ha!), and it was delicious!"

Thank ya'll so much for the feedback on the picture frames.  I've decided to go with option #2.  One of the frames arrived yesterday...completely shattered.  Awesome.

Friday Favorites

Hello Friday!  The little ladies and I are flying solo this weekend.  Griff is on his annual "Man Trip" with some of his best buddies.  He went to the store the night before he left to stock up on some supplies.  He came home with stuff like beef jerkey and bullets.  Lord, have mercy.

ONE.  Have you guys ever heard of a "John Wayne Casserole?"  Is this actually a thing?  I found the recipe on my mom's Pinterest board, so I'm going to make it tomorrow and take it over to Mom and Dad's for dinner.  Excited to see how it turns out.  Check out the recipe (from Six Sisters' Stuff) here!

via sixsistersstuff.com

TWO.  I ordered these pens from Amazon the other day.  I saw that Andrea from Momfessionals raves about them, and I'm kind of a sucker for pens, so I decided to try them out.  I love them so much!  Griff made fun of me for being so excited about pens.  Until he tried one.  He literally wrote two words with one of them and said, "I need a set."  Apparently he is going to use them to "Audit stuff."  Clearly, they are highly recommended by this family.  You can find them here.

THREE.  I got a little carried away yesterday.  There may have been some obsessive template making.  I am wanting to add some picture frames to a wall in my dining room, but I'm not sure of the exact layout I want.  I spent an embarrassing amount of time online shopping for frames, going back and forth to my dining room wall, measuring tape in hand.  I'm a visual person, and I can usually just imagine how something will look, and I could imagine all of these scenarios.  The problem was, I couldn't imagine which one I liked best.  Commence obsessive measuring, cutting, and taping.  Is this normal?  This can't be normal.  Here are the options I came up with.

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

Option 4 - use your imagination to complete the 3x3 grid.  The template making was getting out of control.

Options 1 and 2 would be hung like this, with the knobs:

via Houzz.com

I think I've narrowed it down to option 2 and 4, but I would love to hear your thoughts!

FOUR.  Can we talk about Little Debbie Donut Sticks for two seconds?  I have no idea why I brought these into my home.  I thought the girls would like them, and that they wouldn't linger around too long to tempt me.  Well, neither child likes them (what is wrong with them??), but guess who has been eating one a day for the past week?  Yep, this girl in the elastic waist pants.  Ugh.

FIVE.  I could not be any happier with our decision to wait another year for Kindergarten (see that post here.)  Izzy is LOVING school this year.  She comes home singing new songs every day...songs about the five senses, directions (right, left, etc.), even her street address.  She finally wants to sit down with me and draw shapes, practice her letters, cut and paste, etc.  This.  Is.  Huge.  I love that learning has become fun for her.  She's been at her new school for 3 weeks, and I can already see huge growth.  And, more importantly, she is excited to go to school every day!  Such a blessing.

photo credit: www.sabrinagebhardtphotography.com

Linking up with Andrea again this week, and also with September FARM.  Cheer's to the weekend, friends!

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Office Before and After

How about a little before and after action on this lovely Thursday, shall we?  I posted about these bookcases that we painted and brought into our office a few weeks ago.  (You can find that post here.)  We finished up just a few days after that post, but I have been obsessing over tweaking the shelves since then.  I'm sure the tweaking will continue, because that's just how I roll.

The After

This room is right off our entry way, and I hated that it was one of the first things people saw when they came over.  I can't believe we didn't do this sooner.  I mean, look at that poor pathetic room.

The Before

I can't lie...I'm feeling pretty fancy about this before and after pic I made in Photoshop.  As you can see, in addition to painting the bookcases, we also painted the walls a nice and neutral gray.  I love how it looks against all the white.

And just as a reminder of what the bookcases originally looked like.  The power of paint never ceases to amaze me.  Overall, I am so pleased with these bookcases.  It's probably my favorite DIY project to date because we got such a big bang for our buck.

The Way Before

Paint colors:

Wall - Sherwin Williams Mindful Gray

Bookcases - Sherwin Williams Simple White

Inside Bookcases - Sherwin Williams Urbane Bronze 

Monday

Oh, Monday.  You always have something up your sleeve.  I got to the gym this morning, only to realize I had forgotten my gym locker lock, and more importantly, my earbuds.  Ugh.  Gym - earbuds = torture.  But I soldiered on, bored out of my mind.  Got 40 minutes of cardio in, plus some weights.  Not to shabby for an unprepared Monday.  It would have been oh, so easy to turn around and drive home, but I'm really trying to make a point to get a good workout in on Mondays.  I have found it sets the tone for the rest of my week.  I've kind of made a mental goal of getting 4 workouts in per week, plus a walk on Fridays, so checking one off right off the bat really helps.

I went to the grocery store today with a list that would make Martha Stewart proud.  It was organized by categories and everything.  I know, who do I think am I?  Don't be too impressed, though.  I neglected to add spaghetti sauce to my list, so the Crockpot Lasagna that was on the menu for tonight will not be happening.  I'm going to give Turkey Enchiladas a try instead.  It's a new recipe, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it is edible.  By the way, I think I've finally figured out the winning combination for grocery shopping with Harper.  For the past two weeks, I've been bringing along the iPad and a plethora of snacks.  That keeps her satisfied for the majority of the trip.  Today, she got out and walked, aka hopped and twirled to the older shoppers' delight, but she was happy to sit back in the cart and play the iPad while I paid.  I know I probably get the side eye from judgy people who disapprove of my "electronic babysitter" and to those people I say, "Kiss it."  Girlfriend is likely going to be a track star, and ain't nobody got time to chase her around the grocery store.

You take away the iPad, and mama will for sure need a cup holder!

Friday Favs

Oh, hey Friday.  I'm so happy to see you again.  We have a pretty open weekend ahead, which is a lovely change.  Linking up with Momfessionals to share some of my favs today.

ONE.  These babies were delivered last week, and I am obsessed.  I opened them up, put them on and wore them to dinner, if that tells you anything about my excitement level.  They were so comfortable and easy to wear.  Love, love, love.  

via Nordstrom

TWO.  I am so pumped about the Scandal and Parenthood season premiers next week!  Griff and I watch Scandal together, but Parenthood is all mine.  I was super late to the game, so I started binge watching it on Netflix last year, and it is probably my favorite show.  I'm pretty sure I've cried at least once during every episode.   

THREE.  One of my best girlfriends moved to Midland in January, and she is going to be in town this weekend.  I am having breakfast with her and a few other fun girls tomorrow morning, and I can't wait to catch up!

FOUR.  Last night, Griff and I went to the March of Dimes Signature Chefs Auction in Cowtown.  We've been going to this event for about 4 years now, and it has become one of my favorite nights of the year.  Chefs from some of the best restaurants in Fort Worth are there to prepare a signature dish.  There were nineteen food stations and two drink stations this year, and everything was fantastic.  My favorites of the night were the beef wellington and sweet potato casserole from Ruth's Chris and the TX Whiskey Pecan Pie from Stir Crazy Baked Goods.  Umm...hello, elastic waist pants!  The live auction was a huge success and a ton of money was raised to save sweet babies like our Izzy.  Such a fun way to support a cause so dear to our hearts.  

FIVE.  Izzy called me into the playroom the other day to see what she had made.  She was so proud, and said, "Look, I made a picture of sister."  I was confused about the green circle magnet, but I didn't question it.  "Oh, good job!" I said, trying to encourage her sweet little creative mind.  She pointed to the magnet in question, and said, "That's Harper's poop."  Annnd, there it is.   

Family Command Center

Welp, that didn't take long.  It seems I have picked up some sort of sinus/head cold that has drained me of every last bit of energy.  I made it to the gym yesterday, but only lasted about 30 minutes.  I decided I would stay home and rest today, and try to get back at it tomorrow.  The girls are in school from 9-12 today, and this is the first time I've had to myself at home in months!   They just started school last week, and I've been running errands (aka shopping) like a mad women whenever I don't have them.  The house is eerily quiet.  As soon as this is posted, I'm turning on HGTV and curling up on the couch in hopes of a nap.  Who am I kidding?  I may never make it to the gym again.

Ok, so to the point of this post.  I've been wanting to create some sort of family command center in our mudroom area.  It is right by the garage door, so we are in and out of this space all day.  It's where we drop our bags, jackets, shoes, etc.  It is definitely the hardest working space in our home.  We had a big empty wall that was begging for some function, so function it got.

The memo board and B are both from Hobby Lobby.  The chalkboard was a simple diy project using a Hobby Lobby picture frame and chalkboard vinyl.  The calendar is a Target purchase, the black frame is from Aaron Brothers, and the print is from a gallery art pad I picked up at Michael's.  

Have y'all seen these?  I think they are so smart.  I wouldn't necessarily use them all together in a gallery, but breaking them up and using them here and there is perfect.  They didn't have as many options at Michael's as they do online, but you can use your 40% off coupon in the store.  They are regularly $14.99, so with the coupon, it's less than $9 for a ton of cute prints!  I have purchased single prints from Etsy for $20.  This is blowing my mind.  

So, all of our activities for the month are on the calendar, and we use the chalkboard to jot down things as we run out of them so I can remember to add them to the grocery list every week.  I plan on using the memo board to display cute photos of the girls and post invitations for any upcoming birthday parties, weddings, etc.  Also in the works are reward/behavior charts for the girls that will be displayed at their height right under this gallery.  Nothing fancy, but it makes me feel a little more organized, and sanity trumps fancy any day.