Saturday, August 20, 2011

Operation Organization!

School officially starts here in one week! Yep, one week! And I am really not ready. In one short week our lives will once again be filled with crazy schedules of running here and going there. The lazy days of summer are quickly fading only to be replaced by a more strict schedule of buses, homework, gymnastics, church, bedtimes...well you get my point.

So in order to help combat some of the stress that comes along with the first week of school I have officially declared today Operation Organization! at our little hive. And the plan will look a little something like this...

clean out the girls closets (and ours too!)
organize and rearrange said closets to make them more useful for the kiddos
purchase lots of plastic bins to store old clothes and garage items
put together some shelving that has been sitting in our basement since we moved in 6 months ago
clean out old toys from the girls playroom and rearrange furniture in there to make it more of a playroom
(this may or may not involve a trip to Ikea... shhh don't tell my husband... he has a severe aversion to Ikea)
clean out the fridge and designate a space in the kitchen for making school lunches
possibly paint the girls toy chests in their bedrooms
paint the mirror hanging in Reese's bedroom

Lofty goals for one weekend?  Perhaps, but I am feeling ambitious and I say bring on the challenge.  I will be back on Monday to show you how we did.  Wish me luck!

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Buzzing About {Homemade Brownies}

It's no secret that I am not Martha Stewart when it comes to the kitchen. Heck, who am I kidding... I am no Martha period! But that doesn't mean that I don't try. Sometimes it works out wonderfully, other times, Not. So. Much. If you would have asked me a year ago, I would have said that the majority of my cooking came out of a box. But then things changed (you can read about that here) and I decided that I needed to cook more from scratch.  And this is one of those times.

Yes folks, I give you a recipe for homemade brownies! I actually got the recipe from my sister who I think got it from a friend of hers.  Either way, it is divine! As in melt-in-your-mouth divine!  Here is what you will need:

-5oz. unsweetened baking chocolate (for best results use Ghiaradelli unsweetened baking chocolate)
-1 1/2 sticks butter
-1 TBSP pure vanilla extract
-2 1/4 C sugar
-4 eggs
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 1/3 C flour
-1 C. Walnuts (optional - I skipped them)

And here is what to do:
Melt chocolate and butter over low heat. Add vanilla when melted. In separate bowl mix sugar, eggs and salt for a few minutes until well mixed. Combine the two mixtures together and add flour, baking powder and walnuts. Pour mixture into a 9x13 greased pan and bake at 375 for 21 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

Sorry I don't have any pics of the baking process. Addy helped me make them tonight and it was sooo much fun that I forgot to take pics. Oops! But here is my hubby enjoying the end result. I hope you do too!