Keep Brown Sugar Soft

I have tried many'a trick to keep my brown sugar from turning into a solid mass of sweetness.
I've tried bread...
apples...
and even that cute little terra cotta bear...
but nothing has done it quite like marshmallows!

If you're still looking for a good solution then I highly recommend this one.
I'll never go back!

Going to The Rabbit Room

Another crazy week!

So I'm sending you to an old post from the Rabbit Room that I really enjoy about how the very act of our breathing resembles the sound of the name of God.
Click Here...It's well worth the read!

Happy Thursday!

Cause I Can...

Hope this face brightens your day almost as much as it does mine!

Happy Weekend!

Broiled Grapefruit

I found the recipe for this yummy-ness at Williams-Sonoma and made a couple of adjustments...

What You'll Need: 1 grapefruit - 1/4 c of rapadura (or brown sugar) - 1 T butter, melted - 1/2 t cinnamon 

What To Do: Cut a grapefruit in half and section pieces. Mix rapadura/brown sugar with butter and cinnamon and pour over the top of each half.

 Place on a baking sheet about 4 inches from the broiler and heat for 2-3 minutes until everything's uniformly bubbly.

 YUM!

Sonoma's original recipe found here

Quick CLoset Shelf

We have a handy closet near the kitchen that I've dubbed at my appliance and hardware closet. 

As I said, it's handy and good sized but had only one shelf so once I purchased my handy-dandy bread maker {for $5 from Goodwill} I needed some more storage. 

I measured the width of the back of the closet, cut a 1x4 to length, then drew a level line 3/4" down from where I wanted the top of the shelf to be. I drew a level line across the back of the closet at that height and screwed the board so the top of it was flush with my line.

 

Next, I measured the side walls of the closet from the front of the closet to the board I just screwed into place. After subtracting 1/2 and inch {for wiggle room, you don't need a snug fit here} from that length, I cut two more pieces of my 1x4. 

This time I only placed the side boards and eyeballed the correct height but still checked to be sure they were level and screwed them into place.

 

 

I then cut a 1x12 board down to the width of the back of the closet minus 1/4" and rested it on the 1x4s 

{I didn't screw the shelf into place for easy removal if needed.}

I added a small plastic drawer unit to organize my tools and "ta-da!" ..done!

Wasn't that easy?

Cleaning Tarnished Silver

I may or may not have a unhealthy love for coffee. My mom knows this and bought me a nice set of silver tea spoons. Little did I realize how quickly silver tarnishes if you don't take care of it. Whoops! 

 Of course Pinterest saved me again when I found this link from Crafted Love...

boiling water

glass or plastic dish

aluminum foil

baking soda

plastic or wooden spoon

Boil water in a kettle or pot...
While heating, wrinkle up a sheet of aluminum foil and line the bottom of your dish.
Lay your silver, single layer, on the foil and sprinkle heavily with baking soda. 

Once the water boils, pour it over your silver to cover.
You'll start to notice bubbles and and a sulfuric smell...

Swish the items around, flipping them to make sure it all touches the foil and watch it begin to shine!
Now, drain and rinse with water and wipe with a cloth.
Seriously THAT.IS.IT!

Busy Days

My, oh my! Three little people and beautiful weather have a great way of sucking up time!

We got back last night from a three day extraveganza... we left early EARLY Friday morning to meet my father-in-law in eastern Pennsylvania and he took the kids to western PA for the weekend while Hubs and I continued on to Richmond to see an amazingly sweet couple tie the knot. From Richmond we headed north to the Fredericksburg area to meet up with some of my favorite family members for lunch and a orchid greenhouse tour and  then off to western PA to meet up with the kids, spend the night, go to church and head home.
24 of the last 72 hours were spent in the car...
It's a quality vehicle, comfortable and smoothe...
and I don't want to lay eyes on it again for a LOOOONG time!

75 Kid Activities

I found this great post at That's so Cuegly and there are some great ideas I thought you may like.
We've tried some of these and I'm excited to try a few others.

 

Custom Box Fan

I found this idea on Pinterest and thought it looked like a crazy simple way to customize the ugly gray box fans I have in the kids' rooms...

and ...

 

 

 

 

it was!
{disassemble, tape off mechanics, lightly sand shiny metal, spray several light coats of paint, reassemble,}