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Favorite Hobbies

February 3, 2018   By Becca Leave a Comment

There was a time, when my kids were very young, when I put aside absolutely everything I enjoyed doing in my free time.  “Free time” was the craziest phrase I could imagine.  There weren’t enough hours in the day to work full time, feed my family, keep a fairly clean house, bake cookies, and still have enough time to do something for myself.

Now that my kids are older (my son turns 17 tomorrow and my daughter is 13), I’ve taken back a little time for myself.  They are off doing their own things, spending LOTS of time at sports practices, plenty of time chilling in their rooms, and a good chunk of time doing homework.  Sadly, when they have spare time they don’t usually say, “Hey, mom, do you want to play a board game?”  Nope, those days are gone.

So, how do I spend my time?  I really love to cook.  I enjoy looking through cookbooks, Pinterest, and blogs to find new recipes.  If I can cook with ingredients grown in my own garden, this makes me even happier.  As much as I love to cook, I must confess something.  There are days when I ask myself, “WHY, oh why, do my children want to eat 3 times a day EVERY single day?”  I try not to use too much processed food as I’m cooking, so that makes things a bit time consuming, but I have a hard time keeping every meal on the healthy side.  I really love cheese, and cooking with butter and cream just makes things taste better.  It’s a work in progress to find healthy meal options, but I’m trying. (If I don’t try hard enough, my naturopath gently reminds me at every appointment.)
chicken basil and sundried tomato pasta

I’ve always loved to bake.  Cookies and bread tend to be my favorites.  Lately, I’ve tried to change things up and try whole wheat breads or flourless cookies.  When my kids were younger, we’d have Cookie Friday.  Our district dismisses early each Friday and I’d always have cookies ready for the kids when they got home from school.  There would usually be a handful of friends and neighbors and sometimes a cousin or two.  Those were the good old days.  Now the kids just hurry home so they can take naps.  Ah, teenagers.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sometimes (most times) I really wish I lived in a sunnier location so I could happily enjoy my garden day in and day out.  To say that I love to be outside is an understatement.

Most of my edible garden space consists of herbs and veggies that don’t require full sun.  My neighbor’s trees have grown so tall that they shade my veggie garden.  I’m barely able to produce tomatoes any more, so I’ve just given up on things that needs tons of sun.

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My basil and mini tomatoes have been moved to a plant stand on the deck.  The deck gets a good amount of afternoon sunshine and the heat reflects from the house onto the plants. Basil is probably my favorite thing to grow and we eat a lot of pesto in the summer time.

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I have my fair share of perennials in the center of my yard.  I love that I don’t have to replant them every year.  Every few years, I get to divide them.  Score!  Free plants!

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The best part about gardening is the end of the day.  I love the “golden hour” in my yard.  After spending the day getting my hands dirty, I absolutely love putting my feet up and enjoying the view.  I do miss the days of the kids playing on the swingset or jumping on the trampoline, but there is also something incredibly relaxing about the quiet of the backyard.

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Sewing and quilting are my winter hobbies.  When I can’t spend time outside because of the relentless rain, my sewing room is my happy place.

My mom taught me to sew when I was about 7 years old and I insisted that both of my kids learn to sew.  I make all of my own home decor items.  I love making curtains, valances, pillows, and quilts.  I love the personal touch handmade items have on a home.  I’ve even been designing my own quilt patterns with a quilting program for the computer.

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quilt 5

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I’ve had to start changing pillows and quilts out seasonally because I’m running out of space. I’ve started putting zippers into my pillow covers so they are each to wash and change out frequently.

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This was one of my favorite projects.  When my daughter was younger she picked out a fabric line that she thought was pretty.  I bought the fabrics and she chose a pattern that she liked.  We painted her room a color that coordinated and her new room was born.

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I love looking through blogs and seeing cohesive quilts that all have the same feel, but I can’t seem to stick with one theme.  I love vintage/scrappy, French General, warm and cozy, and also whatever is new and trendy.  As much as I like the cohesion, I also like to try new things when it comes to quilting.

quilt 1

I don’t even know where to begin when it comes to photography.  I love trying new things with my camera.  My favorite subjects are my own kids and my YoungLife kids.  My YL kids are Juniors in high school and I feel so lucky that they’ve allowed me to follow them around with a camera on my neck, capturing memories of Summer camp and school dances.

Of course, these two have my whole heart and they know to always pack “picture clothes” every time we go to the farm or the beach.

 

Christmas Card 2017 4

Christmas Card 2017

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How about you, friends?  What’s your hobby?

I’m sharing a few of my favorite photography items that are sold through Amazon.  I’m part of the Amazon Affiliates program and if you choose to purchase through Amazon, I get a teensy-tiny portion of the sale.

 

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Filed Under: Baking, Cooking, Decorating, Garden, hobbies, Outdoor, Photography, Sewing

Family Bibles

January 21, 2018   By Becca Leave a Comment

It’s probably because I love antiques and I’m fascinated by family history, but somehow I ended up being the keeper of the family bibles.  They are tattered and worn, but so beautiful.  I love that each one tells its own story. Most of our bibles tell who they belonged to and the year they were given inside the cover.

My grandma and grandpa, on my mom’s side, both had fathers who were preachers.  I can just image how they must have lived with their bibles at their sides.  To hold something that belonged to my great grandfather, and is over 100 years old, feels really special.

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Every time I look through them, I find little treasures tucked inside.  Today, I found a letter that my grandpa wrote to his father for Father’s Day in 1941.  He described the job he had just taken in a garage in downtown Seattle and assured his father that he was living a Christian life that he could be proud of.

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I know I’ve written about this before, but my favorite thing is that there are notes written in the margins of the bibles. There is something about handwriting that makes me feel a bit more connected to my past.  Seeing handwritten notes, always in cursive, helps me to see what was important back then.

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Being the keeper of the family bibles has inspired me to start Bible Journaling.  If you are not familiar with this, check it out on Pinterest.  My hope is that someday my great grandchildren will love to see my notes, doodles, and art (if I can even call it that) left behind for them.

Happy journaling!

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Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: antiques, bibles, family, Family Memories

Apple Crisp

January 18, 2018   By Becca Leave a Comment

It’s been forever since I’ve felt like a blogger, writer, or photographer.  I kind of fell off the blogging wagon and can’t seem to crawl my way back on.  I made some apple crisp today and decided it was photo-worthy.  I didn’t bother to get my fancy camera out.  I just used my phone, but the pictures didn’t turn out horrible.

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Apple Crisp
Print Recipe
The perfect treat for a cold and rainy day.
  • CourseDesserts
Servings
8
Servings
8
Apple Crisp
Print Recipe
The perfect treat for a cold and rainy day.
  • CourseDesserts
Servings
8
Servings
8
Ingredients
  • 6 medium apples cored, peeled, and sliced
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 cup oats
  • 3/4 cup Brown Sugar
  • 3/4 cup flour
  • 1 stick butter softened
Servings:
Instructions
  1. Core, peel, and slice the apples. Add lemon juice and cinnamon. Stir together until apples are coated. In a separate bowl, combine oats, brown sugar, flour, and butter until crumbly. Pour the apples into a greased baking dish. (A 9x13 is fine. My favorite baking dish happens to be round.) Top with crumb topping. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.
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Filed Under: Baking

Christmas on the Front Porch

November 26, 2017   By Becca Leave a Comment

It’s time to join the fun!  Blogland is full of beautiful pictures of Christmas and I couldn’t wait to join in!  I kept the same wreaths and greenery on the front porch this year, but added a few new things to the little chair.  I absolutely love my sled shaped door mat but it has seen better days.  I can’t find a replacement, so if anyone has a lead on a cute doormat please send ideas my way!

Christmas Front Door

I found that cute little black bag, with picnic items inside, at Thorp Antiques over Labor Day weekend.  I’ve always wanted a small thermos collection and now I have my first two antiques!  For those of you who like my cute little bag, and live near Snohomish, I saw a similar bag upstairs in Joyworks for around $25 over the weekend.  I pictured my plaid bag looking nice near the Christmas tree, fireplace, or even by the coat rack in the entry.  I should almost run out and grab the bag from Joyworks myself!

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I realized, as I was typing this, that I forgot to get my old sled out of the rafters in the garage, and I still haven’t been able to find my plaid wool blanket.  I’ll find those next weekend.

Christmas Front Porch 2

That’s the beginning of the of Christmas at my house!  There is so much more to come.  We had a fun weekend of decorating, Hallmark movies, and family.

Merry Christmas!

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Filed Under: Decorating, Outdoor Tagged With: Christmas

Big Changes in the Living Room… BIG Changes

November 21, 2017   By Becca Leave a Comment

Over the past few years, we’ve been having a difficult time deciding on a room arrangement in the living room.  I found an arrangement I liked, but the kids said there was too much glare on the TV.  We found an arrangement that worked for TV, but I really didn’t like the way the room felt.  It just seemed crowded.  Recently, our big couch in the living room broke and we decided it was time to seriously think about new furniture.  The couch and love seat set was the first thing we bought when we purchased our first home, almost 20 years ago.  That couch and love seat had a good run.  The pressure was on! We had to think like designers, which we clearly aren’t!

Here’s what we decided and you can see why it’s a BIG change.

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We decided to go with a giant sectional.  This is the Radley sectional from Macy’s furniture.  It comes in just about any size and configuration you can think of.  Friends, I’m in love with this.  This room is mainly used for two purposes.  First, we use this room for family get-togethers.  Before we had the giant sectional, several people had to sit on the floor.  Now, I think we could probably put 20 people on this sectional and there are still three more chairs in the room.  The second thing we use this for is as a teenage hangout.  We don’t have a bonus room in our house, so the formal living room was to transformed into our bonus room a few years ago.

Here are a few more pictures so you can see the rest of the room

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This room is very cold, compared to the rest of the house, so I bought that little space heater that looks like a fireplace.  It’s small, but it works to warm this room.

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The big wall above the sectional needs something more.  We bought a lamp to put in this corner, but the base didn’t fit under the couch.  I’m not sure what we are going to do now.  I may have to find a few more pieces of art to put on the wall.

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Now, let’s talk pillows!  I decided to start out getting some Christmas and Winter pillow covers.  I love Courtney’s (Golden Boys and Me blog) pillows and I emailed her to find out where she finds them.  She told me she shops at H & M.  I had no idea they even carried pillows.  Their online selection is amazing and the prices were awesome!  I think the Christmas covers were both $5.99.  I bought a couple to use in Spring that were only $3.99 each.

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I loved this star pillow.  This may stay around well after Christmas. I’ve always loved the sweater pillows so I bought three of these covers. I bought my pillow forms from Jo-Ann Fabrics and used my coupon.

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I found this shelf on Wayfair.  I think it’s slightly smaller than I want and I think I mounted it a bit too high.  This area is still a work in progress but I knew I needed a place to put cameras, antiques, and pictures.

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We may find ourselves some barnwood boards and make these shelves a little longer.

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Yay!  If I make the shelves longer, I’ll have more room for old cameras.

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So, that’s the story of the BIG change in the living room.  We still have changes to make and work to do, but I’m in LOVE with the giant sectional.  The kids are going to have to fight me for use of this space.

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Happy decorating!

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Filed Under: Decorating Tagged With: Living Room

Cookie Friday

September 23, 2017   By Becca Leave a Comment

Yes, I know it’s Saturday, but I needed to share my love for Cookie Friday.

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I’ve been baking cookies on Friday for as long as my kids have been in school.  I thought it was a great treat after a long week, and my kids usually had friends over after school.  My kids go to school with their cousins, from both sides of the family, and they’d often find their way to my house on Friday afternoon for warm cookies.  I tried to time it so the cookies were still warm when they all arrived.

When I went back to work full time, I started baking on Thursday night so cookies would be ready for the kids after school. Some weeks, I just couldn’t do it.  Teaching full time is exhausting and, for those of you who don’t know me in-real-life, I’m sick ALL the time.  Sometimes there is no energy for cookie baking.  Well, I’m back working part time this year and I’m happy to say that Cookie Friday is back in full force!  (I’ve also been trying to LIMIT myself to only baking on Friday. I’ll let you know how that goes. I really love to bake!)

This recipe is my classic Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.  This time I just swapped out the chocolate chips for M&M’s.  As a side note, I don’t do this very often because the M&M’s have dye in them and there is one member of our family who does not react well to dyes.

Here’s the recipe:
1 Cup Crisco shortening (original, not butter flavor)
3/4 Cup brown sugar
3/4 Cup white sugar
Mix until soft and fluffy.

Add:
2 Eggs
1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla
Mix just until blended.

Dry ingredients:
2 and 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 and 1/2 tsp salt
Mix it up and add a bag of M&M’s or chocolate chips.  With M&M cookies, I find that they are prettier if you also add a few candies to the top just before baking.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes

Welcome back, Cookie Friday.  Welcome back.

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Filed Under: Baking, Miscellaneous Tagged With: Cookie Friday, family, Making Memories

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies – WITH NO FLOUR!

August 28, 2017   By Becca Leave a Comment

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ok, friends.  I think I should just change the title of this post to Magic Cookies, because they HAVE to be magic.  They have no flour, no butter, and no shortening… and they’re amazing!  Magic, I’m telling you!

My naturopath shared this recipe with me because she know that I’m obsessed with baking.

**Side story.  My naturopath is amazing.  Her name is Dr. Rhian Young and she owns Purity Health.  Any of you who have know me for any amount of time, in real life (outside of the web world), know that I’m CONSTANTLY sick.  I can’t seem to catch a break between illness and injury.  Well, I’ve been doing better and better each year.  She’s been helping me figure things out one by one.**

Ok, back to the story.  Dr. Young shared this cookie recipe with me and I was skeptical.  How good could this cookie be without butter, shortening, or flour.  She said her family said it was the best cookie she had ever made.  So, I tried it.  Ummm. Wow!

Flour-less Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie
Print Recipe
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Flour-less Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie
Print Recipe
  • CuisineCookies
Ingredients
  • 1 Cup Peanut Butter
  • 1 Cup Brown Sugar firmly packed
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 Cup Chocolate chips
Servings:
Instructions
  1. Mix peanut butter and brown sugar together. Add egg. Mix. Add baking soda. Mix. Add chocolate chips. Mix. Use a cookie scoop to put balls of cookie dough onto baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-9 minutes.
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Filed Under: Uncategorized

I Blinked and Summer Was Gone

August 25, 2017   By Becca Leave a Comment

I spent quite a bit of time, in this very spot, over the past few weeks.  We’ve had a beautiful Summer in the Pacific Northwest and we didn’t waste a minute of it. Yes, there were vacations, appointments, and the To Do list but I did get to spend a good chunk of time enjoying my yard.

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My garden was my happy place this year, but the squirrels still got the best of my sunflowers.  I planted over a hundred seeds, but this was the sole survivor.

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The tomatoes loved the sunny weather, but I still didn’t get as many tomatoes as I’d like.

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I’m holding on to every last minute of Summer, so I’ll just sit here watching the sprinkler go back and forth.

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Happy Summer… and don’t blink!

 

 

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Filed Under: Garden Tagged With: summer

Valentine Sugar Cookie Recipe

February 12, 2017   By Becca Leave a Comment

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, so we couldn’t resist baking a few sugar cookies to pack in lunches this week.  This is my go-to recipe for sugar cookies of any shape.

Valentine Sugar Cookies

Valentine Sugar Cookies
Print Recipe
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  • CuisineCookies
Valentine Sugar Cookies
Print Recipe
  • CourseCookies
  • CuisineCookies
Ingredients
  • 18 TBSP butter softened
  • 1 cup shortening
  • 2 1/4 cups sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 TBSP milk
  • 1 TBSP vanilla
  • 6 cups flour
  • 4 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
Servings:
Recipe Notes

Beat butter, shortening, and sugar in a large mixing bowl.  Add eggs, milk, and vanilla.  Add dry ingredients and mix.  Let dough chill in the fridge for 3 hours.

Roll dough on a cutting board, lightly dusted with flour.  I like a thick cookie, so I roll my dough slightly thicker than 1/4" thick.  Cut in any shape desired.

Bake for 7-8 minutes at 375 degrees.

Cool and frost.  For the frosting, my favorite is a simple powdered sugar and milk frosting.  I pour powdered sugar into the bowl and add just a little bit of milk.  Keep stirring and slowly add milk until you get to the desired consistency.  If you want a thick frosting, add less milk.  If you want a glaze, add more milk.  I try to use as little food coloring as possible because DYE IS EVIL.  A tiny little half-drop of red food coloring will make a nice pink.  You can also use a little raspberry juice to make a nice pink and then you don't need to use dye at all, which is good because DYE IS EVIL! (Ask me how I feel about food dyes in our foods!)

Happy baking and Happy Valentine's Day!

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Filed Under: Baking Tagged With: baking, cookies, sugar cookies

Etsy Purchases for a Cozy Living Room

February 11, 2017   By Becca Leave a Comment

Last week I shared my new living room arrangement.  It’s been growing on me as the days have gone by.  I think it might be a keeper.

Favorite Antiiques

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The big problem I’m having is with the space to the left of the tv.  It’s empty wall space that is calling for something to warm up the room.

Living Room

This room is usually colder than the rest of the house and the couches are not that comfy.  It needs something cozy and inviting.

I ordered this blanket ladder from an Etsy shop called JustKnotWood so that I can lean it against the wall in that corner.  My friend bought one and I love the way it looks in her room.  You can choose your own stain color, so I choose a dark brown.

blanket ladder from JustKnotWood

I can’t wait for it to arrive!  Now, I need a thick-knit cream blanket to hang on it.  I thought about quilts because I have so many of those, but the room is already busy with patterns.  I think the cream blanket will add texture without overwhelming the space.

I also found the perfect pillow cover for the pillow that sits on the rocking chair.  This is from an Etsy shop called SoVintageChic.  She’s a local gal, so I just had to support her!  I’m in LOVE with this pillow!  It has our home town and the longitude and latitude coordinates.  I bought the 16″ pillow cover.  Hindsight, I wish I would have gone bigger, but it still looks great and feels personalized for our family.

SoVintageChic Pillow

I love everything about home and family, so this feels special.  I also love that it’s sitting on my great-grandmother’s rocking chair.

 SoVintageChic Pillow

So, that’s the style update for the living room.  Now, I’m just waiting for my blanket ladder to arrive!

Happy decorating!

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Filed Under: Decorating Tagged With: Etsy, Living Room, Shop Small

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Welcome

Hello, Friends. I'm Becca. I'm a teacher, and when I'm not in the classroom, I'm doing everything I can to create a happy home. I love to cook, bake, garden, sew, quilt, teach, and simply spend time with my family. I don't consider myself to be an artist, but I strive to find the art in the everyday things I do to make our house a home. Join me as I quilt you up some comfort or warm you with some cookies!

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