November Moon

Tonight after church I was standing at my car with my dear friend and we were mesmerized by the beautiful moon peeking between these patches of clouds.  They were almost in a circular pattern that hugged the moon.  It was spectacular.  Of course I had to try and take some photos but they were horrible.  Taking photos of the moon requires a lot more from a camera than what my old cell phone can handle.

Luckily when I got home tonight my husband had been looking at a very similar sky and snapped some of his own.  It doesn't have the same patches of clouds that I saw but they are really beautiful photos.  Thanks Patrick!

It reminds me of that prayer, "I see the moon and the moon sees me.  God bless the moon and God bless me."

On our way home from my sister's house today my daughter had asked me who made the moon.  It was such a sweet question.  Of course she went on for a while with, "Who made bad wolves?"  and "Who made mean doggies?"  But we'll pretend for now that she only asked who made the moon... because it's quite fitting for this post.

God bless and good night!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Fun Fall Pinterest Ideas!

I just love this time of year.  I think I actually say that about every new season every single year, but I really love the coziness of Fall.  I also love decorating in the deep hues of the changing palette of nature.  It doesn't look like I'll get around to it this year (we're still living out of boxes, much to my chagrin).  But I thought I'd post a few of my favorite Fall Pinterest ideas.  Have fun!

I found this cute photo and loved the look right off the bat.  Unfortunately the link went to some jewelry website so I'm not sure whom to give credit to.

This adorable front porch was designed by Laura over at Finding Home.  She brilliantly re-purposed that awesome log holder out of what believes may have been an old propane tank holder!

Good old Martha Stewart!  I love, love, love the little pumpkins used as votive candle holders!

This felt leaf garland is simply too cool!  If I had my bookshelves up already I would totally make this and drape them all across!  I'm not sure who this is by either (let me know if it's you!).

These vases are simply filled with water and twigs and floating candles!  Great idea Julie!  

Courtney over at A Diamond in the Stuff has a post on really creative mantel/ shelf ideas.  One of my favorites is this Thanksgiving themed cutie!

It wouldn't be complete without something from Better Homes and Gardens!

This is an awesome idea for a nice smelling candle straight from nature!  It's a video, so make sure you watch it!

Last but not least is another natural room scent.  The idea comes from Monica over at The Yummy Life.  All natural, all wonderful!  They would make an awesome hostess or Christmas present as well!

Happy Fall!!!

I voted and painted today

I won't post much on politics here.  I am not one for debates.  But none-the-less, voting is important and so many people have devoted their lives or even lost their lives for our right to vote.  The good ol' US of A is a country founded on freedom and we should respect the Founding Fathers who drafted the Constitution!  

***

I spent the afternoon cleaning, sanding and priming our dresser.  I got in 2 coats of primer and was racing to finish before the sun went down.  This daylight savings is crazy when it comes to 3:45 sundown!  The sun wasn't completely gone for another hour so I was able to get in a few touch ups.  Hopefully I'll be able to complete the turquoise coats tomorrow.  We'll see how it goes! 

 We really, really need that dresser done.  We have baskets of laundry lying around with no where to go.  If I haven't mentioned before, we had to downsize our closet size drastically.  Our house is in shambles so getting these projects completed is vital to my sanity.  I cannot stand disorganization.  It makes me anxious and somewhat angry.  I find it quite humorous (ok, that's not how I would put it if I weren't on a public forum) that I ended up marrying a man who is the opposite of tidy.  He's like five 3 year olds enclosed in a room without supervision.  Except he can cause more turmoil in less time.  Yeah, he's like that.

Annnnnnnnyways, here is a teaser of the dresser's current primed state!

Miss Mimosa and Marinara Sauce

This morning my daughter and I threw on our old clothes and headed outside to paint the soon to be sidebar table in our kitchen.  My husband had primed it and raised it.  It's an old console table that was left by a previous tenant.  We are in dire need of more counter space as well as storage so we're hoping this is the solution.  The console originally had three rows of three drawers but we decided to keep only the top three and use the space left beneath for storing potatoes, onions and whatever else in wire baskets.

As I mentioned yesterday, we chose Martha Stewart's color, Mimosa.  It's a lovely shade of chartreuse that I just love!

I was extremely excited to get started but I wanted to get lunch ready.  A few months back I read a Nicholas Sparks novel called True Believer.  Aside from being a fabulous book, there was the mention of a marinara sauce in it that I made shortly after and was blown away by how easy and delicious it was.  

The ingredients are:

2 (28 oz) cans of San Marzano tomatoes
1 stick of butter
2 onions (halved)

Just peel the onions and cut off the ends.  Then cut them in half.

Place the onion in a pot and throw in your stick of butter.

Pour in your tomatoes and let simmer for an hour and a half.  You will notice the enticing smell almost immediately.  I mean, whoa!  This stuff smells amazing!  The fact that it's three ingredients makes it almost unbelievable.

While our marinara was simmering we headed outside and got down to business.  My daughter had the task of painting the inside of the shelf where the baskets will go.  She was thrilled to be able to help me with this project.  About halfway through she turned to me and said, "Mama, you're amazing!"  It was the sweetest thing and it reminded me of how important the little things are in her little 3 year old mind.  I'm so glad that I didn't sweat the small stuff but instead allowed her to help me out.  It meant the world to her.

I'm not revealing our kitchen sidebar until our baskets are in place, but here's a teaser!

After we finished painting I got ready for work and sat down and had a bowl of spaghetti.  It was scrumptious!

But I'll be honest.  The first time I made it I couldn't find San Marzano tomatoes at Trader Joe's.  I substituted 2 cans of organic tomatoes in their place.  This time around Trader Joe's had them in.  I actually liked it better the first time around.  I think it might have been due to the fact that these tomatoes were canned with bay leaves.  It lent a different flavor which I still loved, but not as much as with the organic tomatoes.  

But try it for yourself!  Paired with a nice bread and some olive oil and balsamic vinegar.... oooooh weeee!  That's a tasty dinner!  It also makes an incredible pizza sauce.  Especially with those chunks of marinated tomatoes!  Trust me, you just have to try it.

My Favorite Day

Do I really need to explain why today is my favorite day of the year?  ; )  Ok, some people might be reading this later on so I need to state that today is daylight savings.  "Spring forward, fall back."  I LOVE FALL BACK!  One extra hour of sleep?  Yes, please!  Needless to say, my LEAST favorite day comes in the springtime.  LOL!

Today was a beautiful Indian Summer day.  It was 86 degrees!  Pretty hot for November but also quite a lovely blessing.  The next few days are supposed to be hot as well so I'm hoping to get some painting done.  We have an old console and an old dresser that we chose paint colors for last night.  I'm super excited to get started!

We chose Martha Stewart's Mimosa for the console (which we're turning into extra counter space and storage for the kitchen) and Behr's Cozumel for the dresser.  I tried to find a photo online of Martha's Mimosa but they're just not accurate.  They look butttery soft but it's a light chartreuse.  You'll just have to wait on that one.  But Behr's cozumel looks like this!

Very exciting for me!  They're both zero VOC which makes me even more happy.  I'm all about no chemicals and lingering smells!

So if all goes according to plan, you'll be seeing two beautiful pieces posted very soon!  Wish me luck!

Oh, and on a completely different note, tonight while my daughter made every excuse in the book not to go to bed (yes, she's absolutely my mini-me) she ended with a classic, "Mama, I have a bad headache."  I looked at her and I could tell she thought she had come up with the best excuse ever.  So I told her that she should definitely go to sleep because sleep is the best thing for a bad headache.  She tilted her head and goes, "Mama I have a BIG idea!  I can take medicine!"  Ok, she's 3.  I had to hold in my laughter and guide her back to bed.  She loves the taste of that grape children's tylenol.  Crazy kid.  I love my crazy kid!

In the midst of all the chaos...

... I love walking out my front door to see this little basement door with the beautiful bougainvillea surrounding it.

It brings this sense of peace and an overwhelming feeling that God is here with me through it all.  He knows exactly what my heart desires (at this moment, it happens to be a lightly stained blue basement door and bougainvillea).  ;)

But seriously, I have been stressing like crazy over my mom's house (the packing, cleaning, selling of items, etc.).  It went on the market a few days ago and we have had numerous showings already.  The problem is that it is not "show ready."  It looks like a pack of giant men came through the place and started grabbing random things while tracking in mud, dirty socks and spider webs.  I suppose some of those things were already there but you get the point.

Please keep me in your prayers as well as my husband and my mom.  We have a long weekend ahead of us if this place is going to have any chance of showcasing its beauty.  I'm barely keeping my sanity at this point. 

Thank the good Lord for bougainvillea and old wood!