The past week, the weather here has been so perfectly autumn. Cool, breezy, and sunny.
The school year is in full swing, and along with that comes schedules, sports, park district classes, and family events. Because of all the insanity fun, I have made it my mission to try and stay as organized as possible so that we can spend more time together, and less time looking through papers and tripping over shoes.
Sharon over at Mom of 6 has started a 4 week Organize Your Life Boot Camp, which I have decided to join in order to stay motivated, share some tips, and learn some new organizing techniques. The first week’s assignment is setting up stations around the house to keep things organized. I must say this Boot Camp has been way more fun than the kind at my gym.
Our front hall closet makeover has come in so handy with this process. We all have a place to drop things when we walk in the door. No more tripping over backpacks, coats, shoes, and shin guards. These pictures show how well it has been working out so far.
The dresser that I painted has become a place to drop mail, school papers, and keys. The white Martha Stewart magazine holder is filled with files marked: Bills, Short Term Business, Long Term Business, School, To File, and To Scrapbook. The tray from JoAnn fabrics is the perfect place to drop school papers and mail as soon as we walk in the door. We can sort into the files, when we have time.
Finally, the side of the fridge, which is only a few feet from our front entry, has been a perfect place to put our family calendar, weekly food menu, and invitations to upcoming events.
Stay tuned next week for the next stage of Get your Life Organized Boot Camp, Establishing Routines. Again, way more fun than real boot camp.
At the beginning of each month, I will be giving a little love by sharing a cookie recipe with the readers of Home Everyday. The recipe will also be shared with the organization Smart Cookies.
This organization is a group of volunteer bakers that bake cookies and send them in care packages to college students. To read more about Smart Cookies, check out my post from last month. To volunteer or learn more about Smart Cookies, check out this link.
My sister-in-law, Lucy, is an amazing baker. When it comes time for Sunday dinner, I usually ask her to bring dessert as there has never been a dessert that Lucy made that I didn’t like. I’m telling you, this woman has a gift. A few years ago, she shared a cookie recipe with us from her Betty Crocker cookbook. The cookies in our family have come to be known as Lucy Cookies, and they are a staple at family gatherings and holidays. They are almost like a brownie and cookie at the same time.
The recipe is listed below, but for Halloween, instead of rolling the cookies in granulated sugar, I thought it might be fun to roll them in orange granulated sugar. FAIL. The sugar was was orange after adding the food coloring.
However, once the cookies were baked, you cannot even tell the sugar is orange. No matter, they still taste delicious, and look pretty. (If want to make the sugar orange, I used 2 drops of red food coloring and 1 drop of yellow. Maybe it will work better in your kitchen than in mine).
Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Crinkles (LUCY COOKIES)
1 box Betty Crocker Devil’s Food Cake Mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips (regular or mini)
1/4 cup granulated sugar for rolling
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, eggs, vegetable oil, and chocolate chips until a dough is formed. Refrigerate the dough for 20-30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Remove cookie dough from the refrigerator. Shape dough into one inch balls, and roll the balls in the 1/4 cup of granulated sugar until coated. Place on parchment lined cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.
Bake for 9 to 11 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet to cool.
Since it is a Monday, AND the first of the month, I thought it might be nice to recap all that we have done over the last few weeks. I also would like to give a big THANK YOU and shout out to everyone who has been reading, commenting, and giving me tremendous feedback on Home Everyday. You keep me going and keep me motivated. Because of you, I have been able to gain another writing opportunity, share recipes with a local charity, was featured on another amazing blog, and was able to share Home Everyday’s first guest post. I have several more ideas to share, so I hope you stick around. Thank you again to all who read! If you haven’t already, please consider following me or liking the Home Everyday Facebook page.
Over the past six weeks, I have been able to accomplish a lot. With the boys starting school, we were able to soak up the last of summer with Fall fest, recount our favorite summer memory, and enjoyed one last summer trip to the zoo. We celebrated Coco’s birthday, which solidified that time is passing so quickly. Before we know it is going to be Thanksgiving (mmmm, turkey).
I was able to knock a few things off the home to do list such as write about our living room photo gallery, paint an old dresser to use as a drop zone for mail, organize our front hall closet, make some small updates to our master bedroom, and make some no sew curtains.
I also shared Anniversary Week, since Brian and I celebrated our 6 year wedding anniversary. I made two sentimental crafts which you can check out here and here. Also, I shared one how Brian and I met, and some details of our wedding.
Then came Autumn. With the It’s Fall Ya’ll link parties kicking me in the rear as motivation, I was able to create a beautiful autumn tablescape for Sunday Dinner, put together some cute outdoor fall decor, make a spooky Halloween mantel, and use some leftover things I had on hand to add some autumn flair to the family room.
The kitchen was also a busy place over the past few weeks. The recipe that has gotten the most compliments so far on being easy and tasty was the slow cooker bbq pulled pork. Also, I made a triple chocolate layer cake for Brian’s birthday, pizza puffs for movie night, buttermilk pancakes, cherry pop brownies, easy chicken and dumplings, chocolate chip banana bread, and cheater lasagna.
Finally, my favorite project of the last six weeks was the canvas art that the kids and I were able to do together on a cool day.
Whew! I’m tired just thinking of all we did. Thank you again for being a part of my little part of the blogosphere. Stay tuned for more!