S Club Mama

I love getting inspiration to decorate my house. It is not a natural inclination of mine but I enjoy HGTV shows and books about decor. I like to look around my friend's houses even. So I thought I'd enjoy " Apartment Therapy: Complete + Happy Home " by Maxwell Ryan and Janel Laban. What I did like: I liked the clear pictures in the book. There are some funky designs and layouts. I did get some interesting ideas. But this is not just a pretty book to look at. There are practical tips, too, on flooring, color, lighting, plants, cleaning, repairs. This is a great book. I plan to follow their cleaning schedule (monthly) this next year. Hopefully. What I didn't like: I did not like that all of the pictures of real homes looked like magazine homes. The layouts of the homes themselves are not anything like my home or my friends' houses. For once I'd like to see...I don't know, something more real. Not the mess of our homes but real decor. Maybe because...

Aren't these adorable "pretties"? That's what Sharon, the owner and designer of Sharonnville , calls these adorable little decorations. Whatever they are called, they are fun! I have never had Christmas decor before and I love that these are the first holiday things I've put up. I even talked my husband into letting me leave them until Christmas (he doesn't like holiday stuff too soon before Thanksgiving); I just told him "look, they're Husker colors." I love how detailed these pieces are. The little beads and things (for lack of the right term) are put in so well. Moose has messed with the pretties a few times and no pieces have come off! Now that tells me quality! The toppers on the pretty trees are really cute, just a wonderful finishing touch. Moose likes the jingle bell on the silver one; I can't decide if I like the joy or star best - good thing I don't have to decide! They are just a simple, beautiful decoration. And they l...

That's right...frosting. I have spent the day decorating cakes and cupcakes. These lovely delicacies are for Moose's birthday party tomorrow (so excited!). I made the actual cakes yesterday because the weather was SO nice! I started out decorating the cupcakes. Simple yellow. The jelly beans we made a special trip to Lincoln for (thanks Big A). Running low on jelly beans. Frosting will do. Finished product plus 3 "flower" cupcakes (I ran out of yellow frosting). The green. Chalk the field. Plain little birthday cake. Go Big Red! And I even had time to make a pasta salad for a 4th of July party (plus a little bit of frosting). Phew! Now let's hope the party goes as well as the decorating. I do have to arrange the "corncobs" yet to look like actual corncobs. Will post that and actual birthday pictures later.