Spa Music at Home

I love the tips in your last posts Brittany on working through negative energy days and breaking the routine.  It's usually the little things that make the biggest difference. For example, I've started turning the TV off more during the day and spending less time on the computer (as you may have noticed by my absence lately!). Instead we've been listening to relaxing music and it's making a HUGE difference. I tend to need to have the TV on all day for "background noise". Instead I went out and got this CD player on Amazon: Remember those?? It's like a MP3 player but you have to put these giant "compact discs" in there that...

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Breaking the Routine

I wanted to add something that I find REALLY helps keep me in a good mood. Throwing off the routine a bit. I say "a bit" because I believe routines are a good thing. It keeps us on track and helps get things done. But do you ever feel like you are going through a rut? That every day starts to feel exactly the same? This was my husband and my night-time routine for a solid two weeks... Make dinner, eat dinner on the couch while watching Scrubs, sit on the couch playing around on our computers while some other random show played on TV, then finally give our full attention to the TV and channel surf until its time for bed. After about a week of that something started to feel not right. We were totally losing touch with each other and losing touch with myself to be honest. So for the next...

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My Big Spring Purge!

This month I've been working on (as Tiffany called it) "Spring purging". I'm doing all that I can to clear my mind, body, soul, and house of negative energy and clutter. I'm working to make myself and my surroundings feel lighter and fresher. One of the things I have been working on is spring cleaning and landscaping and it feel soooooo good! I really believe a clean, un-cluttered house is the key to peace and happiness! My mind feels so much more calm when the house and yard are in order. It is a lot of work, but I always feel really good after a day of yard work or cleaning. Because I know I've worked hard and I can see the results. Something...

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DIY: Heirloom White Decorating

I feel like every frugal decorating blog I've visited has mentioned being obsessed with Rustoleum's Heirloom White spray paint. I didn't quite get it.. it's just white spray paint, right?? But I have seem some amazing transformations using it, taking collections of mismatched things, like dishes, frames, candlesticks, etc., painting them all heirloom white and getting amazing results. Like Centsational Girl using Heirloom white to turn all this: To THIS in the post here...  So yeah... I went ahead and picked some up the last time I was with my husband at Home Depot. I can home and was frantic to find...

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Two Kinds of Light

I want to share with you Immanuel's new blog. I'm so proud of him for starting it because it's something he has been wanting to do for a long time. Immanuel is a creative thinker. He ALWAYS has ideas for projects and stories and all kinds of creative artsy things going on in his head. He needed an outlet for all these thoughts, and so his blog was created. This way others can hopefully be inspired, or simply entertained, by what his mind comes up with and what new discoveries he finds. Take some time and read through his blog. I'm especially impressed with his movie review of True Grit. Make sure you leave him comments!If you are wondering about...

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'Little House' Lessons

I treated myself a month ago to this Little House on the Prairie book set. I remember loving them when I was little and just wanted something fun and light to read.  And they are...but I ended up getting so much more out of them than I ever expected. With the disaster in Japan this week, it's really got me thinking a lot of "What Ifs??" What if we had to evacuate our home? What would we take? Where would we go? What is most valuable to me? Those are pretty common thoughts, I think. But I had to go and take it a step further.....What if our entire way of life was destroyed...what if we lost our power system and had no electricity,...

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Winter Wonderland

I woke up this morning to this beautiful sight:I think I'm the only person in Cleveland who is actually enjoying this snow. I mean, I know people are ready for spring, I am too, but spring IS just around the corner and it's March... we always get snow in March, why are people surprised by this? I actually don't mind the snow at all today. I mean, look how beautiful it is! Granted if I was out driving in it my feelings would be a bit different I'm sure.Thankfully there is nowhere Immanuel and I really need to be today. Yesterday our toilet broke. Yeah, like broke broke. It just decided to stop working. The maintenance guy said it needed a new...

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Decadent Chocolate Souffle for Two

Hi! I'm back! It's been a busy couple of weeks. I've been wanting to post on here for awhile but haven't had the time to sit down and put the time into it. Something I've been wanting to share is this Chocolate Souffle for Two recipe that I made on Valentine's Day. They were heavenly! They were light and airy yet rich and decadent. Satisfies your sweet tooth but won't make you feel like you want to die because you are so stuffed. Which is good, especially if your meal was on the heavy side which ours was. (I made this Brown Butter Risotto with Lobster recipe and it was excellent. Try it out if you are looking for something a little different...

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Recipe: Chocolate Butterhorns

I'm having some girlfriends over for a "Book Club" meeting this week. We call it a book club, and select a book each month, but usually nobody reads it and we don't really discuss it...it's just a great excuse to get together and visit over coffee/tea and snacks. I'd highly recommend starting one yourself! I thought I'd make this amazing Chocolate Butterhorns recipe from LifeAsMom. I made some last Summer, but it was one of those things where I ate half of them before they even cooled...and the rest the next day, so I've been a little afraid to make a batch to eat alone again! And, best of all, if you double the recipe and leave out...

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Coconut Oil Deodorant Recipe

Okay...I know this sounds a little completely crazy....but I've been wanting to try making homemade deodorant for awhile after learning about the dangers of commercial deodorants. I've been wanting to find a natural alternative and have tried a few store bought ones with no success...they actually made the problem worse than using nothing at all...gross. I've read on other blogs about making deodorant from coconut oil, like this link here from Survivng The Stores. Coconut Oil Deodorant  Here’s what you need: (modified from Passionate Homemaking’s recipe) 5 Tbsp. of Coconut Oil (I used the Nutiva Organic...

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Tiffany's Spring Purge: Master Closet

I mentioned in the previous post here that I've been very motivated lately to just purge all the excess in my home and life this Spring. So I started with the area that would make the biggest difference in my day-to-day life..the master bedroom closet.  Ugghh..the closet. I've always dreamed of having a walk-in closet. And it's wonderful and I feel so blessed. But the majority of the clothes I've been hanging onto either don't fit, or I just don't like, especially since having a baby. And most of those would end up on the floor on a regular basis when trying to find something to wear (no, I never did learn...

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