Blue Room Makeover

There is a room in our house that has had a identity crisis since we moved in. It is in the middle of the house. It has three doorways. It has built in bookshelves which take up one entire wall. It also has a closet. Here are somethings it is not: It is not a bedroom. It is not a nursery. It is not a guestroom. It is not an office. It is not a playroom. It has tried all of these titles out, but none of them have stuck. We just call it the blue room. Currently, it is a dining room and lately I've been feeling like I need to make a bigger effort at helping this one stick.
I got a vintage tablecloth from Ebay. I finished out the windows with new blinds and fashioned some curtains from a Dwell tablecloth.


I recovered our homemade bench with fabric from my stash.

Refurbished some picture frames with new prints and some paint.

It still feels like it's missing something. Maybe a hanging plant. I don't know... chances are it will serve a different purpose next month.

Book Review: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Rating: Liked it!
I had a hard time at first getting in to this post WWII novel about a reporter who is looking for an inspiring topic to write a book on. By happenstance, she begins corresponding with a group of villagers who reside on Guernsey Island, in the English Channel between England and France. Guernsey, while not part of the UK, is a British Crown Dependency. Axis forces occupied the island during WWII. Hitler became obsessed with reinforcing the island and felt he had his foot in the door to capturing England. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is an epistolary novel that unfolds the experiences of the islanders during the occupation. The story was interesting and shed light on an aspect of WWII I had no idea existed. I think the letter-writing style took me about half the book to get used to, but once I did I enjoyed this quaint tale.

Sock Monkey PJs

Oliver + S Bedtime Story Pattern

It is getting hot here. Muggy hot. Henry has been needing something to cooler to sleep in, so I pulled out my trusty Oliver + S pajama pattern. Can I tell you again how much I love this pattern? I don't know why it hadn't dawned on me before that I could use something other than flannel with it!? I shortened the leg and the sleeve and used store bought biased tape for the trim. I think they turned out great and do the trick keeping this warm sleeper cooler at night. I bought the fabric {here}, if you are interested in that sort of thing.

Making Cookies With Grandma

For many years I fantasized about the day grandchildren would come to my house to make cookies with me. So when out of state grand daughters and our oldest grandson managed to visit at the same time this winter, my dream came true! Nothing says love like flour on your face and a shared bite of cookie dough. You can tell it was a dream because I am still in my pj's.

Grandma's Butter Cookies
3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 cup butter
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 T. milk
Blend all dry ingredients. Cut in flour. Combine with wet ingredients to make a stiff dough. Roll out to 1/4 inch thick and cut with cookie cutters. Bake at 400 for 8-10 minutes, depending on size and thickness. Remove when cookies just start to turn golden on the edges. Cool on pan for a minute and then on a rack. Frost and decorate as desired.

College Graduation

Last week, our son, Daniel, graduated from BYU-I in Rexburg, Idaho. I was able to attend, thanks to my sister who works for Alaska Airlines. (Thanks, so much, Chris!) It was my first college commencement even though Mark and I and our oldest 4 sons have 11 degrees between us! So even though Dan's adviser forgot to tell the Political Science majors where to go to get their honor cords, it was a great day for our family! Dan's wife, Candice, earned this degree as much as Daniel.

14 month old Benjamin is proud of his Daddy. He was "reading" the graduation card.




Squinting the sunshine!