Monday Miscellany: Bookish Christmas Gifts for Early Readers

It's often true that I am the dreaded Aunt that always gives books as gifts instead of toys - whups.  This Christmas, my sister-in-law told me that my nephew actually wants early reader books so you can imagine my glee!  To make the gift more fun, I glued the following inside the cover of each book:

I also wrote in the information on each, gave him some extras for future books, and of course a date stamper so he can have fun making it look like a real library card!  For those interested, after doing some research, these are the books that are being gifted:

National Geographic Kids: Polar Bears...how cool is it that National Geographic has early reader books on TONS of different subjects??

Flat Stanley: His Original Adventure!  - I remember my little sister loving Flat Stanley as a kiddo.

Ride, Fly Guy, Ride!  This one is just super fun :)

Ellray Jakes Walks the Plank!

The Legend of Diamond Lil...this one is more of a beginning chapter book - and who doesn't love a mystery?

The Cat on the Mat is Flat...this one is also a longer book but looks super-fun!

I also bought him a few early readers from Target that feature superheroes because I know that he loves Spiderman!  Hopefully he likes his gift and becomes a little bookworm like his Aunt Kat :)

Monday Miscellany: Dream spaces

I want this living area!!

Contemporary Living Room by Melbourne Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers C.O.S Design

Contemporary Deck by Melbourne Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers C.O.S Design

Contemporary Pool by Melbourne Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers C.O.S Design

Contemporary Deck by Melbourne Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers C.O.S Design

Other

Monday Miscellany: Yard updates

Hey folks!  The Monday Miscellany segment on the blog is where I take off my reader glasses and share some non-bookish musings.  This week I want to talk about the improvements that we've made so far this spring!

Remember this??

Front yard:

• As you can see we've really purtified our mailbox!  Now I just need to add some sweet potato leaf and flowers in the mailbox planter.
• We re-did all of the plant beds.  They are now filled with hostas, heuchera, hydrangea, and a sprinkling of other ornamental plants and shrubs.  Also, my hubby spread all of the mulch himself this weekend - what a feat!
• Killed the dandelions and re-seeded the lawn...I think our neighbors will be thankful not to look at our horrendous lawn anymore!
• We removed the giant smoke bush that blocked our living room window...I was hoping to save this and re-plant it elsewhere but we weren't able to :(
• Next up, paint that door red!

Anyone else spring cleaning or spring landscaping?

Monday Miscellany: Ramblings About Blogs

Hey folks!  The Monday Miscellany segment on the blog is where I take off my reader glasses and share some non-bookish musings.  This week is semi-bookish in that I wanted to discuss other book blogs.

I've found that in my years as a blogger, the percentage of YA books I've read has been continuously increasing.  Meaning, I'm definitely reading a lot more YA than I would if I weren't a blogger.  This is largely due to the numerous book blogs I follow that heavily (or completely) focus on YA fiction.  In general, there seems to be more YA book blogs than adult fiction book blogs out there in the blogosphere...am I wrong about this?

Now, there's nothing wrong with YA in the least but I have a personal preference for literary fiction and somehow I've deviated from my preferences.  Anyways, I've hit a bit of a breaking point and really want to redirect my focus to adult literary fiction (of course, with smidgens of fantasy, nonfiction, and YA sprinkled throughout).  One of my favorite aspects about blogging is finding great book recommendations.  So, it follows that if I want to redirect my reading back to literary fiction, I need to find some adult fiction book blogs where I can gather recommended reads!  Therefore, I'm asking you, my fellow bloggers and readers, if you have any blogs to recommend.

One of my favorite places to find adult fiction recommendations is the Books on the Nightstand podcast...what about you folks? Also, please feel free to shamelessly self-promote! :)

Monday Miscellany: Indoor Painting and Some Tree Planting

Hey folks!  The Monday Miscellany segment on the blog is where I take off my reader glasses and share some non-bookish musings.  This week I want to talk about our house rehabbing efforts; namely, painting a few rooms and a bit of landscaping.  The smidgen (and I mean smidgen) of warm weather has motivated us to get moving on some projects so that we can focus on our major landscaping plans once the spring weather sticks around!

Here we moved two of the Boxwoods into planters by the front door just as I planned in a previous Monday Miscellany post.  Oh, and our lovely Green Bean Delivery box :)

We also planted several trees in our side yard in an attempt to get a little more privacy.

Lastly, we painted our master bedroom (finally)!  The room went from white to Eddie Bauer Gourd.  I was scared that the color might be too bold, but I ended up loving it once it was on the walls.- phew!

Has anyone else been motivated to do some spring cleaning/projects?

Monday Miscellany: Yard Overhaul

Hey folks!  The Monday Miscellany segment on the blog is where I take off my reader glasses and share some non-bookish musings.  This week I want to talk about the improvements we want to make to our yard this spring!  Anybody else doing some spring-time landscaping?

Here is the before photo of our backyard:

See the lovely chain-link?

We've already replaced most of the chain link fence with a wood fence - just one more section to go!  Our other plans for the backyard include:

• See the tree on the right? It was cut down by the previous owners and they left a lovely wood chip pile.  That along with the huge sections of lawn we had to spray to kill poison ivy means we have a lot of grass seed to plant!
• In the far right of the photo you can see the backboard of our built-in basketball hoop.  This sucker needs reset (it's leaning) and a new paint job - I'm thinking Cream & Crimson for IU!
• Lastly, there's this creepy run-down barn (not pictured) that we are planning to tear down.

Here's the before photo of our front yard:

It's actually in way worse shape than this picture suggests...the folks before us planted stuff at random all along the front beds and they are a big old mess now!  Our front yard plans include:

• Redo the plant beds: I'm taking out those boxwoods on the left (but putting 2 of them in planters for the front stoop).  A lot of the shrubs are being relocated to the back or side of the house (we already took out the one on the far right).
• Add a cohesive landscape in the beds: it's relatively shady on the front side of our house so I'm thinking lots of hostas and coleus.
• Paint the door: I want to paint our door bright red to add a pop of color!
• Redo our mailbox: it needs to be reset as it is listing forward...and it's just ugly - time for a revamp!
• Mayyyybe paint the siding...I go back and forth on this one :)

What do you think?  Too ambitious? Not enough?  Have any success stories or tips you'd like to share?

Monday Miscellany: Non-Toxic Skincare

Hey folks!  The Monday Miscellany segment on the blog is where I take off my reader glasses and share some non-bookish musings.  This week I want to talk about non-toxic skincare.

I've always been a light greenie - meaning, I try to do what I can to reduce my carbon footprint, avoid nasty chemicals, recycle...all that good stuff!  I am by no means hardcore about my greenness I just try and take little baby steps to improve here and there.  Anyways, when I lived in Montana I once (briefly) interned for this company called Ideal Bite which promoted easy ways to live life greener.  Thanks to social media, I still get updates on what co-founder, Jen Boulden, is up to and managed to catch the latest episode of her new TV channel JenBTV, which mentioned that we absorb 60% of what is put on our skin!  

This knowledge combined with what I know about the nasty things put in our skincare products scared the bejesus out of me!!  I'm still on the lookout for a facial moisturizer that I love, but I thought I'd share my non-toxic and (mostly) cheap skincare picks:

Body:
Bodywash - Dr. Bronner's Almond Pure Castile Soap (this is a multi-purpose product and is so cheap!)

Lotion - Some awesome ladies (that I happen to know IRL) have created this amazing all natural skincare line called Blend and I love their Calming Lotion (this particular item is supposed to be for babies but Chamomile is one of my favorite scents)!  Also, their prices are SUPER reasonable - bonus!!

Perfume - In the colder months I love Lavanila Vanilla Blackberry

In the warmer months I like Pacifica Mexican Cocoa

Face:
Foundation - Jane Iredale Purepressed Base Mineral.  I was cursed with the craziest of combo skin aaand it's supper ruddy thanks to my Irish/Scottish heritage.  This is the ONLY foundation that has ever worked for me - so while it is more expensive, it is a necessity! (Sidenote: if you are a big makeup wearer and thinking of going greener - Jane Iredale is probably your brand)

 

Mascara - Physician's Formula Organic wear (the packaging is ugly but it's relatively cheap and works great!)

Hair:
Acure Organics Shampoo and Conditioner

Higher end (read: more $$): Pureology

Bath:
Anything by Alba Botanica or Blend!

Monday Miscellany: Craft Space Redo - Reveal!

Hey folks!  The Monday Miscellany segment on the blog is where I take off my reader glasses and share some non-bookish musings.  This week I'm revealing my craft space reorganization project.

Here's the before for those of you who didn't see my original post.  On the left is my crazy disorganized craft dump space and on the right is the barely used closet in our bonus room:

Here's the work-in-progress photos.  The left side is where I moved all of my crafties into the bonus room thinking "ugh! How is this all going to fit?!"  The right is where the hubby took off the doors and the molding for me:

And the official Before & After!!  My sewing machine is going to go into that blank spot once I finish with the t-shirt quilt I'm making (I'll be sure to write about that in another miscellany post)!

Monday Miscellany: Craft Space Redo Part I

Hey folks!  The Monday Miscellany segment on the blog is where I take off my reader glasses and share some non-bookish musings.  This week I'm brainstorming ideas for my new craft closet and showing you the "before" photos for an epic organizing transformation!

So, I started reading Organize Now! by Jennifer Ford Barry and inspiration struck.  I decided I wanted to move my disorganized crafts from one of our bedrooms:

into an underutilized closet:

Here's 1/2 of the closet...I want to re-do the doors too.

I know it seems ambitious, but also the holidays caused my crafts to be strewn all over the place...making it seem as though my crafting supplies are endless.  Here are some spaces that I want to mimic: