Today we are installing our brand spanking new door. I'm pumped. It has a dead bolt! Not that I'm all freaked out of having intruders, but I did watch Mr. Brooks a year ago... Creepy!

Besides having a dead bolt, it is an insulated, energy star door, as compared to the previous hollow, warped, wood and interior "front door". How it lasted 40+ years, I do not know.

It's funny how when appearances can be deceiving when it comes to houses. Sure, the original door looked semi-brutal, but it worked. But when we took the trim down, we realized just how bad it was. Basically, the lack of insulation and sealing equated to about a square foot hole in the side of our house.
Conveniently located behind some fancy trim.

No wonder our heating bills were so high this winter! We had always felt a draft, so Adam had put in weather stripping, which definitely helped. But little did we know about the issue behind the trim.

When we got our energy assessment done on our house, the doors were one of the biggest heat losses. Now we know exactly why. Sometimes a little research will go a long way in uncovering some issues in your home.

Yes, I was excited to just have a prettier door, but finding this out really makes me excited. Two birds with one stone! And those who know me, know my issue with birds, so we're laughing now!

Now that we've installed the door, we know it's done correctly when it comes to being insulated and sealed. It amazed me the things that "home builders" miss. If you look really closely at the picture above, you can see tiny pieces of pink insulation. That's ALL the insulation we had in our original door. Adam beefed that up just a little bit. (and by a little, I mean a lot) All that stuff that looks like clouds coming through the sides of the door is expanding spray foam to avoid the hole-in-the-wall scenario we had going on before behind the door trim.

Did he say OGRES? He meant walls. Walls are like onions. Lots of layers.
If you are missing one of these layers, it could mean big problems. More of that to come.....

As I'm sitting here writing this, my little man is chilling in his highchair throwing cheerios to the ground, and I'm thinking to myself, man, am I glad we have a dog. That thought, and about how damn cute he is!

My kiddo has been loving food, thankfully, and I have been making my own baby food since he could eat. It takes about as much effort as driving to the grocery store for jarred baby food, but it's so much healthier. It's great for him, and it's really so easy. I love the baby bullet. I mash up whatever he's eating (pictured here is the sweet potatoes) and then throw it in an ice cube tray to freeze. Once it's frozen, I pop them out into Ziploc bags** and grab a few when he's ready for his num-num time. It's also really easy to mix and match, and serve him an plethora of varieties. It seems to me that the nastier they look, the more he likes it. Picture mashed eggplant mixed with mashed peas and carrots. I bet you've got the idea.

**My ONLY frustration with the ice cube tray method is that a standard, sandwich Ziploc bag fits 11 out of the 12 ice cubes. It's Murphy's Law or karma or just plain bad luck. Anyways, it pisses me off, but I get over it. Usually, it just means I feed him right then and there.

I like to keep it to a batch of about that size so that I can keep the food fresher and it doesn't overtake the freezer.

Just an list of some food ideas that you could try out in your baby's feedings:
These have been super successful for me.

Now that the dude is getting older, he still appreciates the mashed food, but he's digging the real deal now. So I figured I'd make him some bran muffins. Nothing wrong with that consistency, if you get what I'm saying... I found a standard bran muffin recipe, but I pretty much took it and used a replacement for every single thing I figured wasn't the epitome of healthiness. So here is is:

1-1/2 cups bran flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup yoghurt (I used vanilla to cut down on the sugar, but to add sweetness, plain would be great too)
2/3 cup apple sauce
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup brown sugar (Go ahead, judge me. I guess you could use honey if the baby is old enough.)

Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 15-20 minutes. Easy enough, and he loves them. I may have had one or three, and they were pretty wonderful.

So with all these baby food delicacies, you'd think he'd be happy, but of course, he's all about the dog food. I think we have a long way to go with this, but hey. It's all about progress, right? 








Next on the menu? Baby cookies. Shaped like dog bones. I can compromise! I can also hear the other mothers already.... 

When styling a bookshelf, I'd like to say I've got some set out formula or theory behind it, with layers and contrast and "30% blank space". I've read that, and while I agree with the importance of having some blank space, you might have it down to too much of a science if you follow that precisely. I prefer an easier going approach of just 'make it look good'. I do try to follow the rule of three to a grouping though. It's a formula that is basic enough, and it's hard to go wrong. 

I love adding pops of colour into decor. Isn't that what decorating is all about? Using what you love? I got this bowl from my lovely sis-in-law, and I love having it as a centerpiece on our bookshelf. It's funny, but when you have something you love, the other things you pick out just seem to work with it. I admit, I didn't do it on purpose that my favorite painting and our kitchen curtains and a few other
accents all match to this bowl, but that's just how it works out when you go with your heart and buy the stuff that you are drawn to.

Our kitchen is a little on the small side, so we added a couple of shelves and voila! A little extra storage. But when you are displaying functional items, it's easy for that to get a cluttered look. I try to keep the look uncluttered by having one colour as a starting base, and then keeping the rest very simple and light. Glass is great to use in a display because it works as a filler, but because it is clear, it keeps the display clean and uncluttered.

Having a grouping of similar containers is great for displays too, it's basically a laid out, fool proof way to display those functional items. You can't go wrong with lining up the flour, sugar and salt in a simple, matching row of containers.

I generally do not like anything on the counters that doesn't need to be there. The coffee pot is ok. The spice rack won't fit into a cabinet, so it's ok. It drives me crazy that our internet router is on there, but it's our only phone outlet, so it'll have to stay.

Just lately, I've given in and added a few functional decorations onto the counters because it will distract you from our hideous counters. They are pretty bad. I actually painted an area of the counter with left over paint from the bathroom because I am hoping that paint chips off and starts looking really bad, and we bump the counters to priority on our To-Do list.

But until then, I am distracting you with these beautiful wood cutting boards and this really funky wood cupcake stand my sister bought me. Hopefully you are distracted enough to not notice a half painted, fully counter. What was I thinking?

Another display that has gotten onto my counters is this one here. Sometimes you just need to display beauty, and we all know what you have to do "when life hands you lemons..." Display them.

And again, something just works about that rule of three. Even though that bottle of wine is temporary. I'll have to replace it with a bottle of tequila, which would be a much more permanent piece in my books, and it matches better with those lemons!

Plants are great to display in a kitchen, and the window ledge is a perfect place for that. I love adding greenery to kitchens, and it's great to have fresh herbs on hand.

Hope you have better luck than me though!! Poor basil... I try. Maybe I should try fake plants?

Above the cupboards is kind of a under-utilized space sometimes for a lot of people. It's too awkward to store the functional items, unless you are tall or you are down with grabbing ladders every time you need something. Really, it is a great place to shamelessly display a great collection. The important thing is to have a theme though. It would be easy to create a haphazard display if you didn't have a clear direction of what your over the counter theme is. Whether it is a certain colour, or a salt and pepper collection, you need to keep it focused, or you could create a monster. Unless that's your theme....

We are in the process of finishing our basement, and we are doing a pirate theme down there. We have started a collection of all things
pirate-y, which I've had to store on the tops of our kitchen cabinets until we are ready to start decorating the pirate ship, which we now refer to our basement as. It will be including everything from the gang plank, treasure chests, skulls and whisky barrels; completed with a cannonball hole in the wall or something. You think I'm kidding? Eye patches are not optional in our basement.
(http://pinterest.com/jenakeenan/a-pirates-life-for-me/)

So until then, I've got some serious pirate styling going on in the kitchen.