{I Won!!}

Cindy at Cinsarah had a giveaway that included a lovely headband from Olives and Pearls and I won the headband (it always shocks me when I win anything).

When it came in the mail today, Ruth was excited and kept asking me what it was. She was tickled orange when she was what it was. It really is a cute hair accessory and will get lots of use at our home and it's well made too.

Below are some images of Ruth posing with the lovely hair band. As a side note I used my big girl camera with my 50 mm lens.

Arrrg I be a pirate maiden!

{Painted up}

My toes all sparkly teal - ugh, my feet are so ugly - but at least Ruth is happy that both our fingers and toes match, isn't that what's important?

{Up the Stairs}

Myrna loves the cats, Sorry gets away from her but Toby doesn't mind it too much and because he wants me to love on him, he tolerates her grabbing him and tugging on him. I am actually really proud of him because he was the one who would hiss and scratch at people and he still does with some but with Myrna he's like a different cat, (I think it's because he knows if he hurts her he will be banished to the outside).

*all the images were taken with my "big girl" camera: some were taken w/natural light and high ISO and others were taken with low ISO and bounced flash*

Myrna loves to be in the office/guest room with me and when I turned around I saw her playing with the pump part to my hand held breast pump and she was holding it to her nose, it was the cutest thing.

Myrna has been crawling like crazy and has been working on pulling herself up and holding onto things with just one hand and recently she started working on climbing up the stairs and today she mastered it and went all the way to the top of the stairs and was so proud of herself.

Mind you she doesn't just climb slowly either but books up the stairs like the boys run up them.... 

{We all Scream for Ice Cream}

I have been searching for one of those old crank ice cream makers that my great grandmother used to have and was bummed that I couldn't make homemade ice cream for my kids like I had had as a child. Well one day while waiting for hubby I came across an article the Food Network magazine showing how to make ice cream using a bucket with a tight lid, ice cubes, rock salt, plastic baggie and a nice ice cream recipe that involved no cooking. I tried it out and it was AWESOME!!

I figured that there had to be a better way to make it though so I looked on youtube to find some good video and came across quite a few talking about making ice cream in baggies and I tried it and it was super easy and my kids can make their own ice cream this way too.

You can use any ice cream recipe you want just make sure you cool down to room temperature any recipe that involves cooking on the stove - don't wanna melt the baggie.

I have lots of frozen bananas in my freezer (I buy bananas at Albertson's when they have them all bagged up and tagged "over ripe" - they aren't actually over ripe but just ripe bananas with little brown spots on them - but they are cheaper by like 20-30¢ cheaper per pound and on some days I get the whole bag for less then a dollar).

When the kids don't eat them up I put them in the freezer, sometimes I put them in with the peel on sometimes I take the time to peel them and put them on a cookie sheet to freeze them then once frozen they go into a big baggy.

I was wondering what to do with them since alot of my freezer space was being over run with cheap bananas. While looking in a magazine (not sure which one - some cooking one I am sure) I saw a fun and easy way to use up all my frozen bananas - make a fool proof ice cream with it!! And boy did it taste yummy! My kids love it and I love making it. Below is a quick video about how to make it in a food processor (I have one and this is how I make mine up).









I am using these while trying to lose weight and let me tell you, if I am craving anything anymore, if I can't make it I don't bring it into my home and I am finding that if I make it, I don't eat as much of it either and with the ice cream in a baggie I get a good work out too - BONUS!!

{Progress of office/guest room}

 I finally think I have a good start on my office slash guest room. It's finally starting to take some sort of shape. If you remember my post about this room a few months back you will know that now it looks a bit different and some items have left while new and more functional pieces have made their way into this room.

I decided to get rid of the storage fold down couch and went with a full size bed (which was delivered last night!) and a nice antique bedframe that really fits into the age of our house. I have added a nice green secretary dresser (this is where my computer rests, but it also holds all my office supplies in it's drawers).

I still have more to do but at least it's starting to work and flow better - gotta love that!

Our home may only be 1600 sq. ft. and I have to find creative ways to store items and make each space have dual purpose but I also want the spaces to look and feel comfortable and cozy and I think as I figure out what I want done with each space and how I want it to function I am getting more of the feel that I want our home to convey.

BEFORE - VIEW FROM THE DOOR

BEFORE - VIEW FROM THE FAR WALL (where the new bed sits now)

AFTER - VIEW FROM INSIDE THE ROOM (wall where couch sat in the before image)

AFTER - VIEW FROM THE DOOR