Even though I am going gluten free for Lent, I needed to share this recipe for my Tutorial Tuesday..I mean THURSDAY! I had wanted to make my own whole wheat bread last week to eat with the following day's dinner, but I am not a fan of having to sit and wait...and wait...and wait for my breads to rise. I also wanted to make some whole wheat bread since I had a large opened bag that I needed to start using up and we had been eating so much of the white stuff the past week. I went online and found the 5 Minute Flax Wheat Bread Recipe from momdish.com and decided to give it a try.

A few weeks ago we had some friends over to let our boys have a little "play date" fun. In my 1950's-esq fashion, I needed to have something baking! You should always have something baking when you have company! It's like some ingrained female/maternal instinct I have always had despite the fact that never remember my mother making anything from scratch. I mean, even Cher in the movie Clueless put a stick of cookie dough in the oven when Christian came over for their "date." (Maybe not the best reference since she did, after all, set fire to the oven. But still...)

Halloween has always been a commercial holiday, obviously, but the past few years I have noticed that it can cost as much as Christmas! Candy is easily $10 a bag and with a few hundred kids (easily) wandering through the neighborhood (Lord, I wish I were in the burbs sometimes), you can charge up a good bit in treats alone. Then come costumes and decorating and parties and school treats...it can be overwhelming...fun, but overwhelming, especially when you have a full plate and are on a budget.

For anyone who know me, I am always doing some sort of work and posting dozens of pictures on my Facebook showing off how proud I am of my accomplishments. Some girls take pride in their perfect makeup skills whereas I take pride in perfect brush strokes and straight tile lines. Not to say that make up can't be fun, but I find things that are a bit more permanent to be more rewarding.

Whenever I do post pictures I am usually met with questions of how I learned my construction-style skills. I assume because I am a girl that the traditional gender role attitudes growing up prevented these girl friends from learning how to create beautiful homes, unless, of course, they involved curtains and shams. Sad. Well, like lots of girls, I had fatherly influence in the field of cutting and hammering at a young age. When most girls had store bought doll houses my dad and I built one from scratch...literally. No kits, no pre-fab, just wood and carpet remnants.  And the rest? Hours of the DIY Network and YouTube helped me figure the rest out.

It has been a grueling past two weeks, full of household remodeling, hours at work, and me trying my best to get back into my gym & running routine. And despite the lack of sleep from the anxiety and clutter that are part of "construction," I am slowly getting things done. This includes adding more to E's Halloween costume. The stores are busy with candy and costumes and we have already gone through The Great Pumpkin movie at least a hundred times, so I know I only have a little time to get my act together.

It's (finally) fall! ...and with fall comes all of the beautiful colors of the leaves, cool and crisp weather, and lots of home remodeling for me! Some people Spring Clean, well I prefer the fall to complete all of my remodeling projects and spruce ups.

I love getting back into decorating around this time of year, especially because I get to utilize earth tones and textures for the season. I love browns and yellows and oranges all mixed together, so last year I decided to make a burlap wreath for my front door. I coveted the ones on ETSY but knew that I could make something comparable for half of the cost (Thank you AC Moore Coupons!). Although the burlap was about $5 a roll at regular price (and the rolls were on the small size), I simply made a couple of trips for all of my supplies and had the hubby buy some with his own coupon code at the store. In addition to the ring and burlap, I found some adorable little ornaments on clearance for between $.50 to $1 each at the time. In all, I think I spent under $20 for what sells for over $40 (+shipping) online.

I had never made a wreath before, but took the blogosphere for help. I found an easy tutorial at Little Lovely Leaders that had lot of photos to guide me through the process. In all I am proud of how it came out and it held up really well so far (as it was sitting in storage since last year).