Friday Favorites

Hey hey hey - It's Friday!

Today I come to you with some of my Friday Favorites and I'll be joining in on some Friday fun with these lovely ladies...

Andrea - Momfessionals

Erika - A Little Bit of Everything

ONE

Henry and Eliza are back in school which means Jane and I finally get to spend some much needed quality time together.  As you can see, Jane lives mostly in all-things-Disney-princess.  This was my doing and I'm not ashamed of it.  Bahaha!

The first day of school for Henry and Eliza was also the beginning of Mommy's School of Ladies and Manners for this little one.  Haha!

Our first visit to the library (can you say pandemic toddler?)...

I've been trying really hard to come up with fun ideas for Jane while I prepare dinner - otherwise known as the witching hour that lasts from the hours of 4 to 7.  Who else knows what I'm talking about?!  Phew those hours can be something fierce. 

I was so proud of my cardboard castle play dough activity.  ;)

We've been making our rounds to the parks.  Jane climbed all the way to the top herself while donning her sister's hand-me-down Peppa Pig nightgown/dress, of course.  :)

Creating and loving it...

Jane has a new potty seat and it made its way into the front foyer.  We're not actively potty training quite yet, but this potty has made it so that she understands the concept a bit better...

Lots of nature walks/bike rides and by nature walks/bike rides, I mean anything Jane finds in the road or on the side of the road...

Bubbles.

Jane smiling while she helped me clean the front porch rocking chairs...

This quality time has been THE BEST.  Love her.

TWO

A new-ish piano.

Henry and Eliza took piano lessons last school year and when the opportunity arose to obtain a piano for free Jon and I jumped on the opportunity.  We moved this piano all by ourselves and I have no idea how we managed it, but it's here and we're loving it.

The woman who gifted us this free piano taught piano for all of her adult life and gave me her blessing to paint it.  Once home I understood one of the reasons why.  It seemed as though a student in his/her frustration etched a word that begins with the letter, F, behind the music books.  It wasn't until we were home that I noticed and it's still funny to me.  We were sure to keep the word hidden from the kids the entire time before it was painted.  

I've since painted the piano with some Rustoleum paint and it's looking lovely in our living room.

I still have to move the pictures behind it and probably change them out since Jane now exists. ;)

Now for the kids to start their lessons up again on Monday and we'll be good to go!

THREE

Have any of you been using the Dawn Platinum Powerwash?  If so, isn't it amazing?!  If not, you must give it a try!  This stuff is powerful.  Combined with a Magic Eraser and it's that much better.  Jon and I used the  wash/eraser combination to clean the vinyl on our boat and it worked beautifully.  I've even started to use the Dawn Platinum Powerwash to clean my stainless still appliances and it works really well!  Of course, be careful when using it, but so far, so good over here!

Dawn Platinum Powerwash

Magic Eraser

Our outdoor rocking chairs with just the Dawn Platinum Powerwash.

Before...

After...

AMAZING!!!

Jane's Hunter boots with the Dawn Platinum Powerwash and a Magic Eraser!  Soap and water just wouldn't cut it!

FOUR

We've been watching lots of shows and series over the past year.  We just finished Downton Abbey and loved it!  Jon and I were just discussing that we should print off a picture of Cousin Violet and proudly display her in our home and refer to her as our Aunt - we just love her!

We're now watching Game of Thrones and so far it's great.  Our favorite show to date is Outlander and we're anxiously awaiting the new season to come out in 2022!

Also, we watch all of these show with subtitles.  Anyone else out there do the same?  

FIVE

My fall window boxes from last year!

I loved putting these together and they looked great until well after Thanksgiving.  I've yet to plan anything for this year's boxes, so I should probably start the process soon!

SIX

Eliza's first day of dance!

She's taking acro and doesn't really know anyone else in her class aaaaaaaand this is an entirely new studio for her.  That's a lot of new in one sentence, but she did amazing and loved class.  She told me, and I quote, "They played sassy music!"  She also mentioned something about all the girls wearing scrunchies and how they all looked like VSCO girls.  Part of that statement was like a foreign language to me.  LOL! She's a hoot!

Welp, there you have it!  My Friday Favorites!

Thanks so much for joining me!

Have a beautiful weekend out there, friends.

Best Wishes,

Marie :)

*This post contains affiliate links and I may earn a commission based on purchases.

What I Ordered From Amazon - Summer 2021

Oh Em Geee! 

Hi there, bloggers!  It's been a hot minute since I've joined in on a link up!

I'm so excited!  

Guess what else?  I made up a new little logo for this itty bitty blog of mine.  I'm quite proud of it!  What do you guys think?!  My creative juices were a-flowin' the other day and I needed a bit of direction with my blog - to remember why I started blogging in the first place all those years ago - to blog about our family and our home and to document our adventures and create along the way.  This blog post isn't much, but gosh, it felt great to bring it all together.

Okay, I best be getting to why I'm here today...

Today is such a fun post and it's one of my favorites and one that I love to read on other blogs - 

What I Ordered From Amazon.

These are supposed to be monthly, buy I couldn't resist posting about some of my favorites from the beginning of summer...

Let's get to it!

Jon and I recently purchased leather couches for our main living room so that meant moving our only other couch that we've ever owned down into the basement.  I knew I wanted a new rug downstairs since the two we had purchased years ago were never really my style, albeit, they were fantastic quality.  This rug does not disappoint and it gives the room an entirely new vibe even with a 12 year old couch.  Perhaps someday I'll pluck up the courage to share our space with the World Wide Web!  ;)

 The Best Rug Ever

Over the course of the last few years we've slowly converted part of our basement into a home gym.  Jon lifts heavy weights so we needed something to stop the weights from damaging our concrete floors.  For myself, these mats have helped anytime I decide to work on my core.  An old carpet and a mat just weren't cutting it.  We love these so much and they've really helped "make the space."

Awesome Mats

I.  Love.  This.  Workout.  Shirt.  It's breathable, it's loose and it covers the bum.  Seriously one of my favorite workout shirts that I own.

The Most Breathable Workout Shirt

I saw someone over on Instagram post about these!  She was in Disney World and was trying to keep her kids occupied and then she busted these out of her "Mary Poppins" purse!  I ended up ordering these for Jane but found Henry and Eliza...and the neighbor boys, playing with them, too.  They don't last for long - maybe a few days, BUT they're totally worth it and helped entertain the kids long enough for me to cook up dinner for a few nights!  These could make for a great stocking stuffer - just be aware that they're not suitable for curious little babies. 

Clingy Crawlers

Here's a top that I'm anxiously awaiting to wear.  This popped up on my Facebook and it had my name written all over it - the 3/4 sleeve, the tunic style, the neckline - it has it all.  It comes in lots of different colors, too.  

It screams and whispers, "Marie....Mariiiiiieeeee."

;)

Love it.  

Cozy Black Top

Lastly, I'll share this simple and affordable planner.  I love me some Emily Ley Planners and I very well may purchase one again in the future, buy given the current state of things...and living in Michigan...and living in one of the worst counties for the you-know-what-virus, I opted for this planner for the time being and so far, so good.  It's getting the job done and if anything, it's preparing me for when/if I decide to spoil myself by way of Emily Ley.

The Best Planner on Amazon

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Phew!  That felt good.

Heading over to see what all the other lovelies are sharing.

Happy Shopping!

  I'm linking up with The Other Side of the Road for Prime Purchases.

*This post contains affiliate links and I may earn a commission based on purchases.

Painted Playhouse

Hey there, friends!

I wanted to pop on over to the blog and share with you this simple and fun outdoor summer activity - painting the playhouse with washable paints!

We had messy moments, and in hindsight we probably should've used a tarp - oops! ;)

Luckily the "messy" part of this activity also included washable Crayola paints!  I used these... and let's be honest - one can never not have washable paints of hand with wee little ones around, am I right?!

I also had some paintbrushes on hand, but bought sponge paint brushes like these, just in case.

Eliza and Jane painted for most of the morning!

Some of the messy fun.  Love her!

Big sister, who's 8 years old, really enjoyed enjoyed getting creative!  It was fun to watch Eliza add the polka dots at the end!

A large sponge, a bit of soap and a hose should clean this right up and then we get to do it all over again!  WooHoo!

Let me know if you give this a go!  I'd love to see all the pretty painted playhouses out there!

Happy playhouse painting!

Marie :)

Tablecloth Fourth of July Bunting

Happy Fourth of July weekend!  I wanted to swing by the blog and share this super easy and affordable dollar store plastic tablecloth bunting with all of you!

I very much wanted to decorate our deck.  However, waiting until the last minute left me with limited options and the decor that was left seemed to be more than I was willing to spend.  

Enter plastic tablecloths and zip ties!

I spent $9.00 for this quick and easy decor idea - the zip ties I had on hand, but if you get a variety pack like the one below you’ll find yourself using them for so many projects, I promise!   

The kids and I set out the tablecloths like so…

I wanted the long rectangular ones for this project.  

We then folded the tablecloths in half…

Set them one top of each other - red on top, white, then blue on the bottom…

We zip tied the center…

We used the 8 inch zip ties for the center.

Then we zip tied the ends with just a little bit of tablecloth left out.  Also, if you look closely I pulled the red tighter than the white and the white tighter than the blue so that when it was displayed all the colors would show.  

(Ignore my ferns - there’s a nest in the first one and I don’t dare water it!)

The kids cuts off the excess zip ties and I zhuzhed it up to make it a little wider and prettier!  

That’s it!  I have a feeling I’ll be making these in the future for all sorts of occasions!  I’d love to hear and see if you give it a try! 

Stay safe and as always, thanks for following along!

Marie :)