Happiness Is... A Donut Party

Friday morning we had a Donut Party and invited the kid's cousins and my sister-in-law over.
I think those trendy little donut makers might just be one of the best inventions ever.
Like ever,  ever.

And you know that I love any excuse to get out my vintage pitchers and juice glasses.
Oh, yeah.
Listening to music in the kitchen on my little clock radio, while making donuts , with the windows open... while the kids waited
on the porch for their cousins to get here... THIS is what Summer is all about, folks.
I love it(and yes, I know it's only Week One, but I love it).

This time, out of pure laziness, I bought a regular old white cake mix and made the donuts that way, just follow the mixing instructions
on the box like normal.
We did half with cinnamon-sugar and half with chocolate icing and sprinkles, but it was determined that the next time we need
lots more with chocolate icing & sprinkles though.

To me, the perfect Summer balance is having some fun, planned-out , busy days followed by a stay-at-home in our pajamas and do
nothing but watch movies and play kinda days.
Too much of either is not good, not for me and not for them.

I'll be back next week to talk more extensively about our Summer Plans... schedules and camps and ideas and crafts and how
this mama is gonna keep it together all Summer long.
I'm open to any suggestions and ideas... I love to hear how other mamas make it through the Summer- and make it a good Summer
for themselves and the kids.

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Happy Saturday,  Hope everyone has a great weekend!

DIY /// Crackers + Fancy Shoes

I thought I would share two simple little DIY projects today, and I am really kinda
stretching it to even call them "projects".
The first is these super quick + easy seasoned oyster crackers.
Eric made homemade chili last week so we had a bunch of oyster crackers left over and I thought they
would be good with soup this week, but plain old oyster crackers are not my favorite.

So here's what we did, and I have no measurements, just use your judgement.

Pour oyster crackers in a bowl and add a little olive oil, maybe a couple of teaspoons
Add a little sea salt(or regular salt) and pepper, mix up well with spatula
Add a little garlic powder and Italian seasoning, mix well
Spread out on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes at 200*

Yum.
Now all you need is some tomato soup!
I think I need a good recipe for homemade tomato soup. Anyone have one?

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These brown Mary Jane-style shoes of mine needed just a little something extra so I thought these orange flowers would dress
them up nicely for Fall.
The flowers are actually an old pair of clip-on earrings that I found at an antique store for a dollar or two.
If you wanted to attach the flowers permanently you could hot glue them on but I wanted to be able to
take them off so I just attached them temporarily by sticking the post through the hole and bended the earring post around the strap.

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Simple, cute + quick.
That's my style.
Happy Thursday, y'all.
Oh and a little shop update-- HERE.

tomatoes & madeleine

today i will be in the kitchen.
making a tomato tart,
probably with a little helper or two.
and listening to her.

then, if  i am not too discouraged, i am going to attempt homemade apple turn-overs.
we'll see how the tart goes first though.
don't you just love august and her homegrown tomatoes?
and having your own pot of basil growing right outside your front door?
love.

yep, i love august.
i do, i do.
tomorrow is my birthday so i am thinking of treating myself to a little solo shopping trip today.
hope you all are having a good week!

Monday In The Kitchen...

Monday we made oatmeal muffins. Old-fashioned oatmeal muffins.

I was trying to think of something to bake, looked in the pantry and we had rolled oats. 

Then I opened this cookbook and turned right to a recipe for oatmeal muffins.

And it actually worked out that I had everything I needed for them. 

Don't you love that? That never happens around here.

So we cranked up the music and got to work. 

I let the kids pretty much to do everything this time.

I mean, normally I let them help out a lot but today time was not of the essence, not at all, so 

we took our time. I gave them the correct measuring cups and let them measure. 

And pour, and mix and test things out, of course.

And you know what I have decided makes baking even better? 

Cute cupcake liners, cute aprons and good music.

Oh, and good help.

And sunshine through our kitchen windows.

Too bad I couldn't be this enthusiastic about cooking, huh?

Ever since Shauna posted a link to this kitchen a few weeks ago I cannot stop fantasizing about it. 

Seriously?! I am so in love with this kitchen, y'all.

Go drool over it right now, then blame Shauna when your husband gets mad at you for wanting

 to re-do your whole kitchen...or you can blame me, or Joy, because it's actually her kitchen anyway.
And check out more of her fabulous home here.

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Oh and today was kind of an alternative 80's kind of day in the kitchen. 

Which means some of this and this, and lots of this.

And yes, my kids might have been a little embarrassed of my singing and no, I don't care.

*Note to self: awesome 80's music always brings me out of a funk. And fast.

{Afternoon In The Kitchen}

 I couldn't think of a lovelier way to spend my afternoon today than in the kitchen making
 my grandma's oatmeal butterscotch cookies for Eric. Oh, and the kids.
While listening to James Carr.

And wearing a cute apron.

I love baking and listening to Pandora radio in the kitchen.
That's what I was doing today when I realized I was wearing an apron and baking cookies and
watching the clock so I wouldn't be late for school pick up and that I have
 a PTO meeting to go to tonight at school.
And all of the sudden it hit me...
I am the mom.
How in the hell did that happen, anyway?

Ever have one of those moments?

Kinda crazy.

Hope you all had a great Monday.
Be sure to join me here tomorrow for Virtual Coffee.

<

* If anyone is interested in the full recipe let me know and I will post it!

Baking With Edith & The Kids

Wednesday afternoon we spent in the kitchen. We were supposed to be out playing in the pool but it got cloudy and word on the street was that a storm was heading our way. So instead...we bake.

The kids have been wanting me to bake them some chocolate chip muffins because according to the little man,  "You never, ever make them anymore." In reality I just made some last month and if you are new around here you may not know that a few months ago we baked hundreds and hundreds (literally) of muffins and for that this recipe is forever burned into my brain. More on our muffin project here.

So I picked up these super-cute cupcake liners and we baked cupcakes. A double batch. We are going to have to find someone to deliver some to tomorrow, Lord knows we don't need all of these muffins.

So I am in my kitchen listening to Edith Piaf, wearing my new red apron I just got for fifty cents, baking chocolate chip muffins. The kids alternate between helping, eating way too many chocolate chips and dipping their hands in the flour, pretending they are magicians and clapping their hands to make smoke.

For some reason, for about a year now, I have had the urge to have some old French music to listen to. So I told Eric because he is good at finding stuff and he knows what I like, sometimes before I do.
Just a female singing in French, just old crackly music from the 30's, 40's.....something that sounds good while baking in the kitchen, something completely different than anything I ever listen to. That's what I wanted and he found it for me.

I feel like I should be wearing pearls, black pumps and deep red lipstick with my apron and smoking one of those really long cigarettes while in the kitchen listening to this music. Barefoot in yoga pants, with my hair pulled up wearing my red apron will just have to do for today though.

And if you're really craving a fresh-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip muffin right now, my easy little recipe is here.

{Notes From The Kitchen}

After a busy weekend and a busy week last week we did not leave the house today. At all. As a matter of fact,  the kids stayed in their pajamas all day and I only got out of mine to shower and then put clean ones back on. We all need days of going nowhere and doing nothing and it was much needed today. It was another dreary day which gave me the perfect excuse to bake something. I really need to go to the store but I did have everything I needed for chocolate chip cookie bars so that's what we made. I really need a new cookie recipe though, something different...oatmeal cookies maybe. I don't think I have ever made them.

I would love to hear what your favorite cookies are, we really need to branch out over here, try something new. Do you bake? Cook? Love it? Hate it?

I do like to bake, actually I enjoy it. But cooking? Not so much. I think I might enjoy it a little bit more if the kids were more adventurous and didn't turn up their noses when I do try something new. It is so disappointing to go to the trouble to fix dinner just for them to claim how disgusting it is. It really makes me appreciate the fact that my mom cooked every night for us when I was growing up. Big meals, good meals. And now I should probably call and apologize to her for claiming some of her meals were disgusting.....well, I do still hate goulash, but the rest was good. Sorry mom!