{Day 16: Friends & Neighbors}

I've started working on an update to our entry. Right now I am in the "collecting" stage.

 

My wonderful neighbor moved to Oklahoma a few years ago and left this amazing crock. It is big enough that it can hold lots of stuff that we want by the front door. My brother informed me that the 15 in the insignia refers to how many pounds it can hold. For me, though, the 15 is significant because it is the date that both Griff and Bela were born, in different months, nearly four years apart.

 

Here's another view of the empty foyer--this time through the reflection in a mirror given to me by another wonderful former neighbor. My plan is to mount it on the wall but I don't know yet if I want a table underneath. Decisions, decisions!

 

{Day 15: Half Way}

I'm halfway through this daily blogging challenge, and it occurs to me that a few words about who else is doing it are appropriate here.

There are over 1,200 bloggers participating in the 31 day challenge from The Nester. Cosy Carolina is #1236, fourth from the end. 

I never figured out how to make a cute little button so I aimed for the bottom of the list, hoping that I would get some traffic just from people who might see it at the end and be intrigued by the topic.

Since writing a post everyday is enough of a challenge for me in this season of my life, I haven't spent too much time looking at all of the other blogs that are also participating. But, there are a few that stick out:

1. The Story of Home: 31 Days of Color

2. Great Oak Circle: 31 Days of Branding Ur Biz or Blog

3. A Bowl Full of Lemons: 31 Days of Instagram Pictures (behind-the-scenes with an organizing blogger;  however, she just upgraded her website so the original link is not working. But still, that's got to be one of the most interesting topics out there.)

4. My Crafty Home Life: 31 Days of Nantucket Style

5. Clean Mama: 31 Days to a Clean House

Plus 15 more Simple Mom-recommended choices. 

And then there's Babble's list of the 50 Best Design Bloggers... Which includes one of my all-time favorites Emily A. Clark Interiors. 

I am also participating in the Fall Nesting series from The Inspired Room, and can't wait to check out all the other fun ideas posted there.

If you are also doing a series, please leave a note in the comments so I can be sure to come over and visit your blog!
 

{Day 13: Lovely Kitchen Storage}

As midnight approached on day 13--and I hadn't written anything--I decided that it was Just. One. Day. In fact, I proclaimed that it had been skipped, but not really missed, in my Day 14 post "Lovely Little Days". 

Yet somehow not completing it felt wrong.  And, as it turns out, I still have more to say about creating lovely little spaces in the kitchen.

For example, kitchen tool storage.

Source

Isn't this a lovely idea? I found it today via Pinterest.

I like keeping my kitchen tools on the counter. It's handy for cooking, and it can be very pretty.

Source

I would have been perfectly happy to use a crock like one of these from Pottery Barn--but at $24 to $39 a piece, it was not within my budget.

My Kitchen

So I got creative with what I did have, and what I wasn't already using. Specifically my grandma's antique silver pitcher. Besides being in my budget (free) and having sentimental value, it also creates a look that is unique. 

The smaller and/or bulkier tools (peelers, can opener, measuring cups & spoons, etc.) are in a nearby drawer.

Source

The tools are kind of just floating around in the drawer right now, but I really like the idea of these drawer dividers, which I also found via Pinterest today.

Five tools that every kitchen should have (but not everyone thinks about):

1) Good ice cream scoop
We have a great one for cookie dough but it's really too small for ice cream. My Sweetest Day gift to Phil this weekend is going to be a better scoop; it's just a little gift but it's fun to celebrate the smaller holidays, too.

2) Extra measuring cups & spoons
I don't cook and bake that much but I always end up needing more than just one of a certain-sized measuring cup or measuring spoon. Even better than having more than one set is that one of my measuring cups is a Pyrex. For measuring spoons, I have two sets. Some heart-shaped spoons on a ring that baby Bela picked out on a grocery trip a long time ago, The other set is from one of my oldest and dearest friends. It is the absolute coolest because it's magnetic! The spoons nest inside each other. Brilliant!

3) Scissors
It makes it so much easier to open just about anything (cocoa packets, bags of rice, frozen veggie packages) plus you can easily cut off Box Tops for Education to save for your school.

4) A Spatula
For scraping. 

5) A Wooden Spoon
For stirring. 

One holiday season I worked at Williams-Sonoma so I KNOW that there are many, many more tools you could buy for your kitchen, and I think the other cook in my household would definitely add a few tools to this list (meat tenderizer, potato masher, flipper). But... you can get by pretty happily with just these five things.

{Day 14: Lovely Little Days}

Satisfying things I did this weekend instead of blogging...


1) MSU Homecoming Parade
This has been a tradition since Bela was born. It was just the two of us this year, and driving home I realized it just wasn't the same without Griffin, but she and I had an awesome time and she collected a crazy amount of candy! 

2) Halloween Cookies
Bela and I put on our matching aprons and mixed up sugar cookie dough yesterday afternoon. We rolled it out after dinner and decorated the cookies with colored sugar. We used way too many sprinkles, but I realized there is no virtue in saving it. Both kids ended up with black mouths from eating bats & cats!

3)  Minnie Mouse, Wipeout, and Giggling
Bela played a Minnie Mouse dress-up game on my computer and I helped her print out lots of coloring pages. Both kids enjoy watching Disney's Wipeout--a feat to find something that appeals to them both. Listening to Griffin laugh himself silly while watching Wipeout was exactly what I think he needed after a long week of fourth grade. It's good to hear him laugh!

4)  Spartans & Tigers
My football team lost in double overtime, but my baseball team won in triple overtime. 

5) Chores on a Rainy Day
I folded load after load of freshly-washed laundry (in my newly re-organized laundry room); got flour in every single nook & cranny of the kitchen; let the dog in & out again and again; and meandered through Polly Pockets, little army men, and hundreds of crayons, putting everything away over and over again. Even with all that busy-ness, though, I got to dream a little bit about home improvement projects with Phil, take a nap, and read a book. Thank goodness for snuggly rainy days!

There is no Day 13 post and no photos for this one. So sorry! But we had a happy few days at home, and ultimately, that is what is most important of all.