In the orchard

In the orchard, originally uploaded by katherine.hoos.

If you're looking for something fun to do with your kids this autumn, try heading to an orchard. Many of them have a you pick set up. T really enjoyed collecting apples and putting them in the baskets on the ground.

Plus the apples are so juicy and delicious when they're fresh like this!

Meal Planning

I've tried to follow a meal plan in the past but the notes and calendars I put on the fridge never materialized into real food.
I've recently discovered Simplemom.net she suggests using google calendar to organize a meal plan.
Now THAT's something I can get behind.
I just sat down and create two weeks of weekday meal plans. I set it up to repeat every two weeks so that I've basically planned my meals forever. Don't get me wrong, I'll be going in to edit it and add different meals in before we get sick of eating the same things over and over. But realistically eating the same thing once every two weeks is not as repetitive as things are when we are left to make the decisions while we are hungry.
I even set it up to remind me 3 hours before my husband comes home from work. Wouldn't it be great if I could be one of those has-dinner-on-the-table-when-he-comes-home-from-work kind of moms?

The other advantage is that I can create the routines I want my girls to remember and enjoy. For instance, every Friday night I have Pizza on the menu. I'm hoping we can make making homemade pizza a family tradition.


Photo by Stephycupcake on Flickr


Do you do a meal plan? If so, how do you set yours up? If not, why not?

A life-altering event

I've had many life altering events happen in my life.
I'm married, I have two beautiful daughters.
But this particular event I want to talk to you about happened last Thursday...

I've been mixing marshmallows with a handheld electric mixer. If you've ever done this you probably have forearms like Popeye. Between carrying the girls around and making marshmallows I'm surprised I'm not significantly more buff.
Anyway, Back to the mixer. Thursday it quit. And not one of those polite, hand in your two weeks notice type resignations...
One of the spokes on the whisk popped off and marshmallowed everything in a 5 ft radius. Warm, gooey, whipped sugar oozed down the side of the toaster oven, the sink, the stove, a brand new dish towel, and, of course, Me.
Still covered in slime, I told my husband over IM that we need to go get a new one.
He suggested we get a stand mixer.
A *gasp* Kitchenaid.

I spent hours ogling stand mixers and decided that I didn't NEED the brand name one. J spent hours reading reviews and decided I did.

So Thursday night we hit up Sears to buy one.
The people who have one assured me that my life would never be the same, they asked questions like "what color?"
The people who don't have one asked me "a what?"

While the color options available online are staggering. (What other kitchen appliances can you get in 5 different shades of blue? Or two shades of black?? How is that even possible?) In the store we didn't have much choice. But they had the color I wanted. White.

No, I'm not a boring White-type personality. In fact just the opposite. I know that I'll be taking this into many kitchens in the future. And while I am all about a bright red one now, it may not fit in the kitchen of my 30s... or my 40s.

Several friends recommended naming it. So here she is, I present to you Doris. Named after my grandmother and my mother. So glad they didn't pass that middle name down to me.

Our Winner!

And we have our Winner! Congrats to Blushie Go check out her shop! So far I've only tried 2 of her soaps but they are so fabulous. They smell so good Dahlia tried to eat one...

Contest closing - Vote time!

Alright here are the entries, the vote is on until midnight Friday night. The winner will get their choice of flavor of a dozen marshmallows. You can look closer at the Entries by clicking the photos.
Vote by leaving a comment with the name of person who you think should win :)

by Claireandjanae




by Blushie




by Giggles




by Yaheesplace




by Seb8351

The 10 Minute Antidote

I over think things. I'll make a treasury and spend a full half hour just rearranging it and trying to tweek it.
I needed a way to curate and learn to trust my gut instincts while doing it.
So I started doing 10 minute treasuries.
10 minutes from "create a list" to "save"

Some of my friends have joined in, here are some of the treasuries we've come up with in 10 minutes or less! (The images are links to the treasuries)








Join in the fun! Tag your treasuries with 10 minutes so I can find them and share them here.

Don't forget to try out the Beginnings Treasury challenge for a chance to win some marshmallows!

Starting Things Off Right

Hi, I'm Kathy. I make Marshmallows and Candy.
I also make Treasuries. Lots of them.
I am on the Curation Nation Etsy Team. One of my favorite things we do as a team is host Treasury making challenges.
To start off my new blog and my new shop right I'm going to host one here.

I'm offering up one dozen of my marshmallows to the winner. You can even pick which flavor you want.

The Theme is BEGINNINGS
Here is how it will work.
The challenge will be open for one week. Next Saturday I will post a vote featuring the ones I feel best represent the theme. The vote will be open for the following week. After that I'll contact the winner for their flavor choice and address.
To enter:
1) Follow this blog or follow me on twitter
2) Create a treasury that fits the theme
3) Tag the treasury OhYumChallenge
4) Link back here in the treasury
5) Come back and post a link to your treasury here

Some hints: I think incorporating new sellers is a great way to represent Beginnings. But I am also very excited to see other interpretations.