Posted by
Sarah on
January 28th, 2010 
Flickr
My goal over my time off from school was to revamp this blog baby of mine by making it look better (check) and making it more user-friendly (check in progress). I have also been adding things to make my blog more interactive and to reflect me more. I’d like to let everyone in on the few changes I’ve made so you can be in the know and you can get to know me a little better.
1) I have created an Amazon store that simply houses all of the products I use and love. I have seen other bloggers do this and think this is a much easier way of promoting products I use (without any incentive from the manufacturers of the products but a small incentive from Amazon if anyone buys one of the products I list) than answering emails over and over. Plus, I think it lets everyone in on a little bit of my life that the blog itself does not always reflect. You can find the button that links to my Amazon store on the right sidebar.
2) In conjunction with the
Continue reading A Little Blogkeeping
Posted by
Sarah on
January 28th, 2010 For the past two weeks, I have been rummaging through my basement in order to separate things I want to keep and things I want to sell for the garage sale my friends and I will be putting on this summer to help pay for our road trip. I also have been packing to back to school this Saturday. I have been asking myself the same question over and over again, hoping that the more I say it the more clear the answer will be.
Why do we have so much stuff?
Why do I have so much stuff?
Why do Americans have so much stuff?
Why do girls have so much stuff?
Why do kids have so much stuff?
It just goes on and on with no definitive answer, but it’s been eating away at me. Sure, growing up as the only child in my house (I do have an older brother but he was in college by the time I was four years old) meant I had more than kids with many siblings, but room was never overflowing with useless things. Yet, somehow, even after separating all the items into keep and sell piles, I still have a ton of stuff I can’t get
Continue reading Think About It Thursday: Why Do We Have So Much Stuff?
Posted by
Sarah on
January 27th, 2010 I love solid wood doors of all shapes and size. I especially love curved doors. However, I have a feeling that many of the houses in my price range when it comes time to buy my first place will not have solid wood doors. Or, perhaps maybe I will not like the doors and will want to change them somehow. Although I am usually hesitant about doing permanent treatments on things that cannot be replaced easily (doors, windows, built-ins, etc), I have some fun inspiration to share with all of you. Doors do not have to be something you open and close and think nothing more about – they can be the focal point in a room if they stand out, and boy do the following doors stand out!
Little Green Notebook
Front doors are usually the easiest to change because they aren’t expected to be uniform with every door in the house, so people can really have fun changing them up.
![]( "windsor smith blue door casual living room")
Continue reading Not Your Average Builder-Grade Door
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Sarah on
January 26th, 2010 What I love about many pasta recipes is that they are versatile. I’ve never found a pasta dish I didn’t like or couldn’t tweak. One of my favorite dishes growing up that I had fun making with my mom was stuffed shells.
We took a walk down memory lane this weekend by making Baked Pasta Shells with a Spinach and Ricotta Filling. This is just one of the unlimited variations of mixtures you can use to stuff these shells.
Here are the ingredients:
For the shells and sauce:
4 ounces homemade or packaged conchiglioni (read jumbo stuffed shells)
1/4 cup chopped onion (we skipped this)
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 cup shredded mozzarella or Swiss cheese (4 ounces)
Ground nutmeg (optional)
Grated parmesan cheese
For the spinach and ricotta filling:
1 pound fresh spinach or 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach (we used the latter)
1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 beaten egg
2/3 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Although these are fairly simple to make,
Continue reading Revamping Recipes: Stuffed Shells
Posted by
Sarah on
January 25th, 2010 After getting a new sewing machine for Christmas and looking over many sewing crafts I want to try, I went to a fabric store and bought some fabric to make an apron. I went with this pattern online, which I would recommend, however I think while I gain sewing skills, I should stick to store bought patterns. You’ll see why as you read on.
The fabric I chose was a beautiful light blue and chocolate brown fabric pattern and a darker turquoise fabric for the pocket. I chose a similar color thread and bought a set of four metal D-rings for the adjustable neck strap. All together, the supplies took me back only about twelve dollars. Not bad when most aprons of similar quality sell for $30 or more in stores.
Because this pattern was found online, I had to make the pattern using measurements online. This was very simple, but took a little more time than having the pattern already in my hand. For a free price tag, however, it was very easy to do.
Continue reading Working Through Frustrations to Sew a Beautiful Apron
