Superman to the Rescue!

Stand back evil doers! Superman is here! Need help opening that new package that the UPS Man just delivered? Never fear Superman will help! All he needs is his trusty tools -  pliers and level, and he'll poom that evil package post haste! (side note: 'poom' is Zach's favorite word. As in 'Lightning McQueen poomed a tire!'  'Stand back ya swab, I'm gonna poom you!' or an unfortunate fall 'Mommy just poomed herself!' as I slipped on the vacuum cleaner hose and fell flat on my back!)

And do you see what was in that evil package?

My new fabric from fabric guru! I'm hoping to be productive this weekend and make some new pillows for our living room. I've just started on the brown and ivory stripe pillow. I got that fabric from Joanns here locally. It's a very nice slubby linen blend. I can't find the brown color online. But the ivory color is here. The best part is it's on sale now for only $3.59/yd! Can't beat that price!

I'm thinking I might add this pillow to the mix for a little more pizazz.

what do you think? It's $25 from Pottery Barn. I always crave a little more color in the cold gray days of January & February. Now I just need to figure out what to do with the other side of the room. Maybe I'll pick the dirty clothes up off the floor so I can actually show you what it looks like tomorrow!

Stay tuned...

bath inspiration

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It's that time of year again! Time to start house dreaming. These bathrooms are dreamy, aren't they? I've compiled even more inspiring pics on Pinterest. Check them out here.

Plans for the new house are s l o w l y coming along. I think my architect vastly underestimated me. You see, I tend to want to see all lots of options - before settling on the final one. Hopefully, I'll have some plans to post soon! 

new blog love...Delightful Distractions

hello bloggy friends!

I've been lax on my blog posts once again - sorry! Of course I have a million excuses, but of course I'm not going to bore you with any of them :)

Instead, I'm going to share a wonderful new blog I've stumbled upon recently...

Delightful Distractions

First of all, I love the name! I am, if nothing else, easily distracted. shhh, don't tell my husband.

But besides a cute name, she also shares beautifully designed cute stuff, much of which you can easily download and print off from home! YAY! more cute stuff to fill my head with. And even better that this stuff is actually USEFUL. case in point...

a chore chart!

my kids are in desperate need of a chore chart. they just don't know it yet...hee hee.

And here's one they will actually like...
a restaurant menu!

And finally there is this super cute little book for writing down all those funny things your kids are always saying (but you always forget to write down.)

how stinkin' clever is that?!? I wish I would have thought of it! what an adorable thing to fill out and give to Grandma or pass out at your church group!

Amy also has an etsy shop here where she sells sweet baby bracelets and more cute prints. Please check out this talented mama and be sure to thank her for sharing her cute stuff!

to die for blueberry muffins!

My mom came by this week and brought me these... 10 POUNDS of blueberries! My parents sell produce at a little shop and these came fresh picked from MI. yummy!

So I enlisted my little helper to make the yummiest muffins in the world. I found this recipe in our local paper several years ago, and they never disappoint. Granted, they don't serve my goal of losing these last 5 pounds - but that's ok. Fresh blueberries don't stick around forever, ya know?

My little helper seemed to like them :)

Notice that this recipe only makes 8 (which in my house lasts for about, oh hmmm, 12 seconds) So you might want to double the recipe! You can also nix the topping if you want (but that's the best part, imo) And I was out of vegetable oil, so I substituted applesauce and they still came out moist and delicious - and probably a little healthier to boot!

wash these down with a cold glass of milk and savor these last fleeting weeks of summer. 

enjoy!

linking up to fingerprints on the fridge party

hooked on hook pillows

Today, we're back with our regularly scheduled programming of pillow talk. There's just soooo many out there to choose from, it's easy to get overwhelmed (as I usually do). But hopefully all this pillow talk will persuade me to actually push that buy button on one or more of these sometime soon.

I never was an impulse shopper. which happens to be a good thing, right?

It wasn't until a year or two ago that I even realized that these sweet pillows existed.

texture? check!
color? check!
whimsy? double check!
affordable? well, depends on who's asking (but hey, 3 out of 4 ain't bad!)

I love accessories that bring a touch of the unexpected to a space, don't you? So dear reader, may I present you with an array of juicy pillows that will jazz up any 'ol seating surface:

 

shopten25 red coral hook pillow $44

shell & star pillows $58.99

seahorse $47.99

 

starfish $58.99

 turtle $48

Not into the nautical thing? There's a variety of others to choose from too! 

How about some cute dogs?

good dog $79

yellow lab $79

more dogs $39

I'm partial to this one since my mom & dad have a black lab & my brother had a yellow. Together, they parented my chocolate lab. They were rather crotchety at each other, but I like to believe they still loved each other like an old married couple. Sadly, Rody (the yellow lab dad) had to be put down this spring. Might have to get this pillow for my parents as a sweet memento...$79

I've also found birds, insects, flowers, numbers, etc... I never thought the selection was so good, but now it's going to be hard to choose a favorite. Which one is your favorite?

favorite finds

I know I'm supposed to be posting about pillows this week, but I've been lazy and my pillow post isn't finished. So in the hopes of keeping my *one* reader happy, I thought I'd direct you mothers of boys to these totally adorable flash cards from House 8810...

are these not the cutest darn set of flash cards you've ever seen? Maybe I'm a little bit biased because I have a little mr. fix it (as well as a big mr. fix it) and we have a plethora of tools (both real and toy kind) around our house, but I am definitely getting these for my little mr.

They're a generous 8x10 size and wouldn't they be so cute displayed on a wall or stuck in frames spelling out your little guy's name? Add another project to my list!

You can purchase these here for $25. And I just noticed 10% OFF their little ones category with promo code LITTLEONES_10

Be sure to check out their other stuff too - I am especially loving their cute kitchen towels!

pillow twins or triplets?

we're talking pillows this week!

I love Pottery Barn pillows, but they can be a little pricey at times unless you're one of the fortunate few who live next to an outlet. But I've actually found a few cute knock offs...

These PB ones are cute and have a nice shape, but they're $29 bucks a pop.

 pb pillows

These are from World Market and look very similar but are only $12.99. Granted their color selection isn't quite as nice, but for the price you could afford to get these as well as something else with more pattern.

 

world market pillows

I also found these from JC Penney. They only have the orange & khaki colors available, but I'm really liking the orange for fall. On sale for $14.99

jcp pillows

 
Tomorrow we'll talk more about pillows with some pattern & punch. Stay tuned!