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Come to the Table
Hospitality is not my spiritual gift. However, I do like for my guests to feel special when they come to my home. While I enjoy being creative, I feel like people who pull off the greatest showstoppers for around their home are either people who have money to burn or have a ton of time to search for ideas, deals, and ways to inexpensively make them happen. Right now, I have neither, but there are some simple ways to set a table to make it beautiful. When we had dinner group a few years ago to send off a beloved family of ours to China, I wanted dinner to feel…
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THE Almond Butter
This year, I’ve really tried focusing on how I fuel my body. So I don’t blow it and become frustrated, I don’t get rid of everything bad in my diet at once. I simply replace bad things I love gradually with better options. Granted, I’ve never been a peanut butter fanatic, but I did occasionally dip some apple slices (never a huge fan here, either) in some sweet, salty goodness from time to time. I’ve heard of almond butter, but I’ve never tried it. Aside from the high price tag, it just sounded like one of those health things that wasn’t going to taste as good as its cousin. One…
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Framin’ It Out
When Brent and I bought our home about eight years ago, it was definitely a fixer upper. We got it as a short sale that had been rented out along the way, apparently by people who didn’t care about ownership upkeep or paint colors (you’ll see what I mean in the future). We came the night before closing and threw in bug bombs if that gives you any idea. Since we only pay for things with cash, fixing up the house has been a slow process. We’ve done a lot (put on a new roof, had the outside painted, bought new appliances) that have improved our home, but those are…
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Twirl Power!
When my daughter asked me to make her a dress for the daddy/daughter dance this year, I was relieved. Not because I had more work to do, but because I knew I’d spend significantly less making a dress that she would wear only a handful of times. This was a fairly easy sew. From cut to hem, the project took about 2 hours, which is not bad, considering I was working with 8 layers of fabric at times (and two children running wildly all throughout my house). Pattern is Me Hearties by Patterns for Pirates. They also have an adult Sweetheart version here. Both patterns sell for $9 a pop,…