Small Goal of Mine: Eat Breakfast

I'm a goal setter.

I don't know what it is, I just love having a goal. May be because I'm the firstborn.

"It's better to have a goal than to not have a goal" is what I always say. Even if you don't achieve the goal perfectly you are still better off than if you didn't try at all.

That being said, I'm trying to lose 5 lbs. After being pregnant and nursing for 3 + consecutive years, I'm ready. And one of the ways I plan to do this is to eat breakfast.

source

Typically, I don't enjoy eating in the morning. So by 11 am I'm starved. 

It is an unhealthy pattern. I plan to change it. I ate breakfast everyday last week. It felt good. 

I think satisfying my hunger early in the day will prevent me from being so desperate for food later. 

So what are your little tips and tidbits for curbing hunger? I'm curious.

It's the little things.

haircuts

long walks

dinner out with Captain Steve

Have a great weekend!

My Children

My children used up my entire energy quota for the day between the hours of 6 - 8 am this morning. Seriously, I'm spent.

They are in funny little stages at ages 2 1/2 and 9 months. They enjoy playing together, but things get tense between them real fast. As kids often do, they want to play with the exact same thing at the exact same moment in time. They'd fight over a used tissue if one of them showed a remote interest in it. Oh wait, that has happened.

All pictures from the remainder of our time at my parents house. We are home now.

Kids, you wear me down. But I love you.

Sincerely,

your exhausted, greasy headed mama

Visiting My Parental Units

I'm out of my blogging routine because I'm visiting my parents last week - through the weekend - and the beginning of this week. When I'm here I lose track of time and I let my cell phone die. We slip into total recreation and grandparent mode.

My mama has been helping me accomplish many of the recipes and projects I have been filing away in my head.

A little run down of our time here thus far....

First off, we made the Pioneer Woman's tortilla chicken soup. To die for.

Second, I made some curtains for Laurie's room. I used Jama's tutorial. She has a great sewing blog, Cool People Sew.

I made a trip to Sam Walton's world and bought some skinny jeans. I plan to wear them mostly tucked in boots. Whoop whoop. I've finally jumped on this trend 2 years after the fact.

We made Ina Garten's ruby red grapefruit margaritas. Loved em. Not too sweet and not too tart.

My Ma makes all these little projects, crafts, and recipe testings possible 1- because she pays for it all and 2- because she watches my children.

THANKS, Ma {Jersey accent}.

Sunday lunch: spinach and goat cheese quesadillas. Amazing.

Other things:
lots of strolls around the block.
going to the Mall
watching TV
haircuts
ear infections
drinking the strongest black coffee this world has ever known. 
missing my man

We are wrapping this trip up and plan to head back home soon. It's been lovely to have a change of scenery and accomplish some projects. Productive and fun, that's how I'd sum up our visit.

Last up, an order of business, I'd like to mention that my sponsor, Cottage Collections Antiques and Accessories, is having a moving sale this week. 30 % off.


If you are in the Montgomery, Alabama area please go check them out.

Y'all have a fabulous week.

This guy is 2.5

This young fella is 2 and a half years old today. Quite frankly, he's awesome. And I'm not just saying that because he's my son.

Okay, maybe I am saying that because he's mine. But still, he really is wonderful. Stephen Grande said it best: "I'm so proud of him, and he hasn't even done anything."

It's true. He's done nothing besides what normal 2 year old boys do. But we stand proud.

Happy 2.5, Stephen!

Monday Morning

I'm learning how to drink coffee again. Since the fever it has not tasted the same.
I'm starting out slowly by putting milk in it.
You have to work at these kinds of things, people.

A little Ayn Rand at 7:30 am. Totally normal.

Putting on socks.

Cheerios. I splurged.

Morning walk. Beautiful rose garden.

One eye.

Too short.

Airplane.

Painting without mother's consent.

Don't waste your lemons.

Use them to clean your microwave. Heat for approximately 2 minutes, remove with utensil b/c they will be HOT. Then wipe down inside of microwave and experience cleanliness and a nice lemon scent.

Enjoy your week.

Laurie's Inspiration Room

We did not find out the gender of either of our children before they were born. It was SO MUCH FUN to be surprised. Better than Christmas morning.

The down side of not finding out is that it's harder to prepare in terms of clothes, the nursery, etc. Things are SO gender specific these days.

I was really happy with Stephen's "gender neutral" room before he was born. It was sort of masculine anyway, so when he came along it all worked great with his boy-ness.

While expecting Laurie - before we knew she was a lady - I planned to go with the "gender neutral" thing again. My goal was to spend zero $$$. But then she got born.

There began my burning desire to make her room feminine. You only live once, right?! So I did little things here and there. Made some pillows and such. My mom helped me pick out a few things -- artwork, a rug, etc.

But the room was never right. It still ain't right.

So last week, I finally caved and decided to commit to doing her room right. A decorator friend of mine sat down with me and gave me so much great advice. I showed her some pictures of stuff I like and she is guiding me in the right direction --- without spending a fortune.

The most valuable piece of advice she gave was to print out a picture of my inspiration room and gradually buy things that are in line with that picture. I never would of thought of that idea in 60 years. It's amazing how stuck I have been.

This project is going to be a process. No changes have occurred yet, but I've already ordered a few things to get started. Yea!

Check out the inspiration room here. It's colorful and fun. I'm really excited. I plan to document our progress.

I ordered this vintage sheet for a bed skirt or pillows. Not sure yet.

And this is the fabric I'm using for curtains. Same as the inspiration room.

Y'all have a grand weekend!

The Fever & 9 Month Old Rie Rie

Last week, the children and I endured a horrid fever virus. The adult version of this virus was far worse --- thank goodness. Better me than them.

I'm a different person on the other side of this sickness.

I'm thankful to feel good again. Thankful to be able to clean my home again. I'm thankful for health, for medications, for good sleep.

Ahh, it has passed.



The lowest point of this whole ordeal {and there were a lot of low points} was running out of Tylenol in the middle of the night. Also, I didn't have an ounce of lemon lime soda under my roof. And Stephen Grande was out of town.

I will never - Ever - go without the above three items in my house again.

It was the worst. All I could think about was all the sick people in the world without resources. It's scary to feel so helpless.

Nevertheless, we are well again. Thank you, Lord.

We have returned to business as usual.
And Laurie Betty, latest nick name Rie Rie, is 9 months old.
Sorry, I couldn't pick just one picture. So enjoy the cuteness overload.

She celebrated by eating a chicken nugget.

A Sponsor! My Second Career & My Green Bathroom

Good Monday morning my friends!

Today I'd like to introduce to you spoonful's first SPONSOR! Please meet Cottage Collections Antiques & Accessories.

     right over there------------------------------------>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Some great friends of mine have a beautiful antique shop in Old Cloverdale {Montgomery, Alabama}. They have been in business for 17 years and have yet to have a website. These ladies like paper, pens, pencils, phone calls, and face to face interactions. Jumping into the world wide web is a great stride for them. But one that is necessary. I'm so proud of them. Please check out their site. Go see their shop. Walk around the neighborhood. It will take you back in time.

cottage collections antiques {dot} com

I have quite accidentally stumbled into a second career in web and blog design. It sounds crazy especially since I made a C in high school computer, a class that was known for being an easy A. But in my latter years I have really taken to blogging and all the technology that entails. I have designed the Cottage Collections site, James Farmer's blog, my blog of course, and I'm currently working on other projects. I really enjoy this work.

Now that I've gotten all my biz-nass out of the way I leave you with a quick little story that has been on my heart lately.

It is the story of our green bathroom.

I was pregnant with Stephen Small when we moved into our house with all white and tan walls. I couldn't stand all the neutrals. I'm a gal who loves color. I'm not talking about painting the living room royal blue or anything, I just like the idea of say --- a little funky green bathroom. Way back in the back of the house.

So one day, against the kind advice of Stephen Grande --- me, my large nose, and Stephen Small in utero drove to Lowe's and bought a pint of avocado-lime-grass-green paint. {I don't remember the exact name of the color, but it was funky and it was green.} I was a total spaz. It was like I was on crack. I said to myself  "By golly, if I don't paint my bathroom a loud green color before the sun sets, I might just lay down and die."

oops I misspelled mentally

So I did it, painted all afternoon.

And when I finished, I hated it with all my heart. Not only did I dislike the color, I did a really sloppy job.

Lesson learned.

I'm terrible at picking out paint colors. And I'm even worse at painting. And I should listen to my husband.

This same bathroom used to have pink tile which the previous owner covered up with peel and stick tile {so ugly}. Even better, they covered the wall tile with white glaze. You can see streaks and faint pink patches {blah}. The caulk job is the pits. Globs everywhere, which is probably why my paint job ended up looking so horrid. Not too long after I finished painting we replaced the light fixture which exposed an unpainted patch of floral wall paper. I have yet to go back and paint over that spot. It's only been 3 years. But who's counting?

Every time I go in our bathroom I laugh. I cry. I'm humbled.

I mostly laugh. 

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I hope you all have a fabulous week!

A Time to Plant by James T. Farmer III

I'm guest posting today on James Farmer's blog. He asked me to write a little 'book review' about his gorgeous new book that was released last month.

Every Southern household needs a copy.
To read my review click here.

Thanks for having me, James.

Doing Nothing

A few posts back I mentioned that I read Tsh Oxenreider's e-book, One Bite at a Time. It's a great little read about simplifying your life, a subject that never ceases to intrigue me.




In one chapter she mentions scheduling intentional down time. What a novel idea! So rarely do I ever say "I'm doing nothing today" or "I'm doing nothing for 1 hour." 



Call me crazy, but I'm bad at relaxing.



So this past weekend, I scheduled some time to do a whole lotta nothin'.

Nothing consisted of sitting in the yard while the children played. Nothing consisted of drinking coffee. Nothing consisted of my husband cooking dinner.

It was grand.

Hope you have a chance to do nothing sometime soon.