Project: For Sale- Bribe 'Em with Cookies

FIRST off, let me just say "THANK YOU" to all of you for your sweet comments, happy thoughts, and reassuringness (totally a word) about selling our house. It sure helps me out in times of stress.

Research shows....okay so my friends say and I agree...the smell of baking cookies and then fresh cookies ta' boot help sell your house. Okay so who really knows if this is true, but hey cookies never made anything worse.

So my theme for Project: For Sale today is Bribe 'Em with Cookies.

I whipped up a couple of batches of cookie dough, ate some dough, and then put it in the fridge to later use when we have a showing. Before a showing I bake some up. Then I put them on my cute tiered platter and set out some bottles of water.

Since today is Recipe Thursday (if you are somewhat new, yes there is a recurring recipe Thursday), I am sharing with you the two recipes I used for this showing.

First is an awesome Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. I had been looking for a new recipe, not because I don't love mine, but they tend to get crumbly if not eaten fairly quickly...not normally a prob for me. I came across this one last week and have already made it twice.

Love. It.

Next I will share the Brownie Chunk Cookies. I had been craving a brownie cookie something fierce. I came across this recipe and changed it up slightly. Making sure to under cook just slightly ensured that I had that oh-so-delightful fudginess of a brownie in cookie form.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Our Best Bites

2 C plus 2 T flour
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
12 T butter (1 1/2 sticks) melted and cooled until warm
1 cup brown sugar (light or dark)
1/2 C granulated sugar
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
2 t vanilla extract
1 1/2 C semi-sweet or milk chocolate (my preference)

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda together in mediumbowl; set aside.

Mix butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Mix in egg, yolk, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients;mix until just combined. Stir in chips.

Portion out cookie dough, a heaping tablespoon, or a cookie scoop and place on cookie sheet. Bake until cookies are set around outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy, 10-13 minutes.  Cool cookies on cookie sheets. Serve or store inairtight container.

Brownie Chunk Cookies

Life's Ambrosia 

1 pkg chunky brownie mix (mine was Pillsbury)

1 1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 stick butter, melted, cooled

2-3 Tablespoons cold water

2-3 dark milky way candy bars, chopped up into chunks

Stir together the flour, brownie mix and brown sugar.

Mix in eggs one at a time. The add butter and 2 T of water. If the batter appears  to dry add the other T of water. Batter will be THICK. Fold in candy bar pieces.

Cover and refrigerate the dough for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a cookie sheet. Drop heaping tablespoons of dough on the cookie sheet. The thicker the cookie the more it will be like a brownie, so press down lightly. Bake for 8-10 minutes...slightly undercooked is better than overcooked.  Remove from oven, cool for a couple of minutes on cookie sheet then transfer to a rack.

There ya have it...cookies that would make anyone happy. Hopefully it will make someone happy enough to buy our house.

Project: For Sale- Oragnize, Clean, Purge, Store

Onto day 2 of Project: For Sale. Today our theme is Organize, Clean, Purge, Store. 

This aspect of selling a house is not a surprise. I think everyone who sells a house knows that they have to do these things. It is not fun, it is hard work, but it is totally worth it.

My main items for organizing are baskets, bins, crates, totes, pretty much anything that can hold items stylishly. I also put them just about anywhere. Laundry room. Living room. Closets. Shelves. Even on top of my fridge. I like to do this even when I am not selling a house. However, the amount of organizing defintely increased with trying to sell.

 spray painted baskets, laundry rag tote

Even when selling a house, there are some things I just can't completely pack away. For instance, my Little Mens' cars. While I can clean, purge and store quite a few of their toys, they still need something to play with. My solution is just to organize them in more attractive storage.

I also make sure that they are not completely in plain sight. These toy bins are sitting low on shelves.

I also can't pack away my cleaning/laundry supplies. I kind of need to clean...you know don't want people walking through filth. I also kind of need to do laundry...I mean I have three very active, filthy, mess makers.

In my laundry room, I use crates, that I spray painted,  to hold some of the basic cleaning supplies.

Upstairs I gutted our hall closet. I kept minimal cleaning supplies, toilet paper, cleaning rags, and only a few towels. In this closet I also have all of our medicine and first aid stuff in shoe size rubbermaid containers.
Basically I cleaned out and stored anything we absolutely did not need, leaving a sparse, yet clean, hall closet.

I also attacked the boys' closets. I made piles of "giveaway", "trash", "pack", and "keep out". Man did they have a lot of stuff. The only things I kept out, besides clothes, were some of their favorite games, some books, and a few choice stuffed animals.

Most of the storage in this room came from Ikea...moment of quiet adoration for this lovely store...

...okay moment over. Here is roughly what we have, but in red.

Cleaning, purging, and storing was done in every other room of the house too. We got rid of tons of stuff. Stored even more. You should see our basement's wall lined rubbermaid bin parade. Our home is pretty clutter free, ready at moments notice to pack up and have it ready to show. I think my boys' may be afraid to sneeze.

My opinion is that I would rather live gingerly and obsessively clean on a day to day basis then to have to stress and do a major clean every time we have to show it.

Hopefully this will continue to work. Hopefully I haven't given my Little Men any reason to go to therapy in the future. Off I go to vacuum...somehow chip crumbs got out in the family room...

We have another showing tomorrow...happy thoughts people, happy thoughts!

Project: For Sale, Curb Appeal

Here is another installation of my Project Series. Remember my first one, Project: Leaving on a Jet Plane, found HERE and HERE? This time it is all about getting this house sold. For the last month it seems the majority of my thoughts and efforts have gone to getting our house ready to be sold.

Obviously I am not the expert. This is our first house after all. BUT I have had a lot of great advice, and DUH I watch HGTV...so I am basically a pro. Hahaha.

Today's theme of Project: For Sale is

Curb Appeal

We all know that first impressions are a big deal. We wish we didn't make snap judgements but, let's be honest a lot of times we do. Selling a house is no different. You know what I am talking about. How often do you see an absolutely breathtaking house from the outside and immediately wish it was yours?

So one of our projects was to get the outside ready. NOW, we don't have tons of money so this had to be done on a budget. So today I am sharing some easy and affordable fixes to the outside of your home.

FIRST- give your front door a face lift. Clean it. Paint it if you need to (we did not). Hang a cute wreath. Our latest addition to the door was putting the numeric address onto the front of the door with vinyl. It was super easy and gives it a crisp, traditional, Martha-Stewarty look.

Next, we gave a face lift to our mailbox. We would have loved to replace it, but again...that darn money thing. SO instead we took the generic numbers off the post. Painted the post in a glossy black and then put similar vinyl numbers on the mailbox.

Immediate update. Hubby came home the day I did it and declared, "Look at that fancy mailbox! Why didn't we do this forever ago?"

The last thing I have to share with you is simple. WEED. If you have any flower beds or landscaping, weed even though it is annoying. Just do it. We also put down a fresh layer of mulch. Basically freshen things up and then maintain.

With the outside of your house all beautiful, hopefully people will be knocking down your door to see the beauty within. Then of course they will be fighting to be the one who buys your house...fingers crossed anyway!

In a Nutshell: Popsicles and Confessions

We had an amazingly glorious day at the end of the week. After a week full of rain, we got sun, and that means swim trunks, sprinklers, and popsicles. I even got a little sun on my arms.

We are jumping for joy over here to have playing outside weather.

Now, CONFESSION time. WARNING, if you are eating, have a queasy stomach, or don't love me enough not to judge...then stop reading NOW. Just pretend this blog ended on a happy note of my Little Men eating popsicles.

That being said, here is my confession. I had not cleaned my oven in....well....a really long time. Recently the oven was put on my to do list but kept getting bumped. Then we got a showing on Saturday (YIPPEE) and so Friday I knew I just needed to bust it out.

I knew my oven was a little dirty(p.s. this is after the spray had already been applied and all the filth was breaking down)...

I just didn't know that a little dirty was actually horrifyingly, completely, 100% DIS-gusting. Please still be my friend...

VOMIT.

Needless to say I threw this rag away.

Thank you for letting me take this time to confess my housekeeping shame. I feel better. Now at least my oven is totally clean.

Mousepad and Desk Face Lift

You know how yesterday I was talking about cleaning and organizing. Well this was one of the major projects. Our home computer was crammed into our bedroom up until a couple of days ago. We have wanted it out of there FORever.

We even have had this chair for two years, just waiting for us to paint this old small dining room table. It took us long enough and sadly some major motivation to finally get this new desk done and the computer out of our room.

I about love it.

One of my favorite parts is this lamp.

Thank you Target, again.

On top of the desk redo, I also had to give our old nasty mouse pad a little face lift. Doesn't that lovely black and white flowery mouse pad look so delightful?

It was SUPER easy to make. Believe me, if I could pull it off in the midst of all of our WAY more time consuming projects it must be easy.

You just need:

a mouse pad
mod podge
scrap of fabric ( i used a fat quarter)
craft brush

Trace your mouse pad onto the wrong side of the fabric.

Cut out.

Slather mouse pad in mod podge, coating it entirely.

Lay fabric down over it.

Press out air bubbles. Apply another coat of Mod Podge evenly over the entire surface.

Let dry.

Give it a comfy home on your computer desk. In this picture you can see part of the image of the old mouse pad showing through. It is not as visible in person. A non-white fabric would keep this from happening.

I seriously am giddy happy with my new desk. AND this little mouse pad face lift was the perfect cherry on top.

In a Nutshell: Organize, Clean, Clean, and Asthma

This week we have been cleaning. Not just your everyday normal clean...well at least not mine. I am talking taking everything, practically everything, and putting it away.

Surfaces are almost completely bare.

This is the way I have wanted my kitchen to look for years. Clutter free. Paper free.

The top of the refrigerator bare.

It is like a sigh of relief.

We even cleared out our bedroom. Which is saying a lot. I hope I am not the only one who's bedroom becomes the holding room for the house's junk. Sad to say our room is probably my least favorite room in the house. The minimally decorated room is still sad and painfully bare, BUT at least now it is free of clutter. Woohoo.

I could just breathe a sigh of relief every time I see our organized, uncluttered house.

Speaking of breathing.

This Little Man had a new discovery this week. After years of suspecting, and 6 months of a wicked hacking cough, it was finally agreed that this guy has asthma.

Not surprising since there is a family history. So now this device is his very best friend. He uses it twice a day and will for the unforeseeable future.

Thanks to this device/medicine we have not heard a cough in 2 days. Glory be!

I do realize I still have not spilled the beans about 

our surprise. Many of you are probably putting the pieces together 

and are figuring it out.

It will all come out SOON.

Big Changes

 There are some big changes happening in our home. A lot of things in our house are starting too look different. Those used to be honey colored stair rails, linoleum floor and boring trim.

We are up to our armpits in paint. I mean that almost almost literally. I am growing weary of painting.

Hubby is growing weary of cutting, measuring, measuring some more, and nailing. Putting new trim in your entire house is time intensive. Especially when you do it one-man-show style like hubby.

Little Men are intrigued by all the cutting and nailing.

Yup, things are starting to look different here. Fresher. Cleaner.

Can you believe we have done all this in basically 2 weeks? I can't. Our household has been on speed, no not literally, lately trying to get all our projects done FAST. These projects have been the only thing I have been doing. All of my normal projecting has been put on hold just so I can devote all my time to fixing our house.

Why?

Well, that will have to be a surprise...

Plates, Projects, Pimples, Photography

Oh, my!

What is with the random post title? You might be asking yourself...

Well first, I hung up some plates. This is not the first time I have hung up plates on a bare wall. I might just heart myself a good plate collage. It totally accessorizes a plain jane wall. When it comes to hanging plates I am totally of the school of thought that random is better, see the random splattering of plates?. Which I found out later, hubby is not of the same school of thought. Oops. Haha, oh well he puts up with me.

It is staying up...cause I like it...I just need to fix the little "springy" sound that comes from the plates every time one walks/runs/jumps/talks/breathes. Again, sorry hubby.

My little plate decorating is one of the only projects on my schedule this week. My project list is pretty minimal this week. Not that it should be because I have TONS to do, but I am pretty much in a just sit on my fanny and read a book-go to a friends house-watch a movie kind of mood. Since Littlest Little Man's bday is coming up quickly I really can't be lazy for too long. However, I am pretty sure I am going to stretch out my laziness up until the last second.

I think that this time to be lazy will be good for me...I think everyone should take just a little time to be lazy. I definitely go in cycles of being too busy...mostly of my own doing...and then getting stressed, which lead to cryface days. Sometimes I am really good at recognizing the signs of my too chaotic life, other times it takes me awhile. Case in point...my face has been breaking out like I am a 13 year old girl. Pimples, I have TONS of pimples! I just figured it was you know....that time of the you know what...hormones...but then when the one week time period (pun intended) turned into well four weeks...I knew I probably should assess the situation. 

So yes, it is definitely a good week to be a little lazy.

I really want to just curl up and read some books. I love reading, but I haven't done it forever. I will be honest I LOVE a good fluff read. Don't get me wrong I do enjoy a poignant, dramatic, life-themed novel, but when my time is short and I am in a lazy mood, I LOVE a fluff read.  Something CLEAN. Something funny/romantic and spellbinding. I love getting hooked. I have about exhausted my own library. Any suggestions blogging friends???

I have also decided I am going to spend more time reading "how-to" books. I am craving knowledge. I want to know how to do the things I love and do them WELL. I want the skills, baby. My first "how-to" is to learn to use my camera. I know it is a photography sin to own a fancy camera and only use the auto. Forgive me. So that is next on my to-do list, to not be a photography ignoramus. I am lucky enough to have been given a photography how-to to review. I can't wait to read and then share with you my new skills.

I do have a lot of really fun ideas floating around in my head. My brain is practically on overload with some good project ideas. After my little bout of laziness I will excitedly share all of Little Man's Bday and all of my other projects with you.

I know...try not to die from excitement....hehehe.

I will have a recipe up tomorrow, something yummy of course.

Now off I go to slather my face in pimple cream!

Everyday Throw Pillows

It took me just shy of 10 years to finally put everyday throw pillows on my couch. Not that I didn't want them sooner, believe me ask everyone I know how much I whined about it. I have had a really hard time finding something I like that I could afford.

Recently I helped a friend sew a whole couchful of delightfully gorgeous pillows. In the process I decided to quit whining and make some pillows for myself as well. After I finally tackled it, I was left wondering why I didn't do it sooner. It was SO easy to do. Literally the hardest part is all the cutting out of the fabric, and that was only a little hard because the rectangular blueish green pillow was a place mat.

In hindsight, I should have gotten more fabric and pillow forms. Now that one couch is all accessorized, the other one feels left out. The good news is I picked simple and easy to find material for my main pillows, which means I will be able to find the material again. I also have two other place mats that just need stuffing.

Now I smile whenever I see my couch...

Well almost always..

My smile wavers occasionally because-

the pretty pillows make me realize how funk nasty our couch has gotten in parts

my Little Men don't appreciate the finer things and they throw them on the floor, pearls before swine people 

I have to argue with hubby about the fact that these are not cozy pillows for the purpose of resting behind one's head or under one's bum

I realize I made my pillows white and my Little Men have grubby hands

Sigh. What are you gonna do?  I tell ya what I am going to do, I am just going to ignore all that and just keep smiling at the beauty of my new everyday throw pillows.