Spice racks are great for cooks who use a dash here and a pinch there, but in our house, the racks that hold 24 and turn around just won’t cut it. No, we have an entire kitchen cabinet dedicated to spices and seasonings. Our resident chef, my husband, is from Israel, so Mediterranean flavors a are a staple. Cumin, paprika, turmeric, Zatar and shwarma seasoning can always be found in our spice cabinet. He’s also part Italian so we can not run out of basil, oregano, parsley and garlic powder is stocked in bulk. We love to make Thai food and Indian food and one of my favorites is Mexican. To have enough spices and seasonings on hand to make a dish from any of these cuisines at a moments notice means a packed spice cabinet.
We bought this great adjustable cabinet shelf, but all it did was hide more spices in the back of the cabinet. As a result we ended up with duplicates of many spices since we couldn’t find the first one when we needed it. I had to solve the problem so I did it in the easiest way possible. Spice steps!
1) Measure the width of your cabinet
2)Cut several pieces of 2″ x 4″ slightly shorter than your cabinet is wide.
3)Stack the wood in a step pattern
4)Organize a away
You can pick up a 2″x4″ at Lowes or Home Depot and if you ask they might even cut it for you there. If not you can buy a hand saw and get the job done pretty quick.
Plus it’s a great saw to have for future DIY projects!
If you have a taller shelf than I did you can stack the wood two or three high for each step so that the lables don’t get hidden. We don’t have that much space so I grouped the spices by style of jar, then we just have to remember what type of jar each spice is in.
a video
Spring forward
Time continues to fly, the girls keep getting bigger and smarter. This past weekend we said good bye to winter and sprung forward to spring.
The girls have been sleeping later these past couple if days, hopefully that will last. The last few weeks of 4:30 wake ups and the screaming that came with it was not fun.
The winter was cold but we made the most of it and spent lots of Saturdays and Sundays with friends and family. Now that the weather is warming up we are looking forward to morning walks though the woods and afternoons at the splash park. Summer is my favorite time of year. And based on how much our girls love the water I think it will be there’s too. I wonder if they will remember swimming in the pool.
As Cute As It Gets – Kids Fashion
I’ve been a little obsessed with the color grey since before the girls were born. I had most of my house painted grey,
bought a grey couch
and painted grey stripes on the girls walls.
While I am slowly moving towards white with pops of color for the home I am still loving greys for baby clothes.
Yesterday my favorite kids blog out of south America posted this adorable outfit for little girls.
I mean really, does it get any cuter than this. Then there was this cute little outfit that could be for a boy or a girl.
I have no idea how much this ensemble costs, probably more than I am willing to spend, so it’s for the best that it’s not available for sale in the US. So cute though right.
You can pretty much recreate this look by steering clear of color when shopping for baby and sticking to the neutrals. Most stores have a good selection of greys and whites for baby, it’s just about striking the balance and not letting those pieces get over shadowed by the sea of pink and blue in the stores and online.
1. handmade sweatshirt/2. stripe legging/3. handmade moccasins/4. striped knot hat/5. knit union suit/6. peasant top/7. jeans/8. sneaker
Happy Friday! Have a great weekend!
Using your best judgement
Being a parent, especially a new one is an on going lesson in using your best judgment. I struggle constantly with how much freedom to give my girls. Where should I draw the line between letting them explore and keeping them safe.
Sure I could expertly baby proof every square inch of our home and make sure that nothing except baby tested and certified toys get into their hands, but I don’t think that’s the best way to raise independent, creative children. And despite the fact that the girls have toys that are safe and developmentally appropriate within arms reach at all times they would always prefer to get their hands on something new.
I read in a parenting book to try, as much as possible, to only say “no” to a child if they are in real danger of hurting themselves. It’s a way of keeping the word “no” a serious and meaningful one. Jordan is really good at listening when either of us says no, it kinda startles her. But she was always the one to jump at the slightest noise, even when she was a brand new infant. She is also a very cautious and careful child so she doesn’t get herself into dangerous situations too often.
Talia on the other hand is a little dare devil. She will jump off anything and everything. She automatically assumes that if we are within arms reach we will catch her. She is always climbing and falling and hurts herself many times in a day.
When you have a new baby the last thing on your mind is the day that they start running, usually with a small object in their hand, and then they fall. The thing is, it hurts little knuckles a lot when you land on them because the little hand was busy clenching a tiny toy and there is no way to prevent it. They will fall, they will get hurt and you, as the parent, just have to try not to freak out.
The girls have lots if toys that could present a hazard, we try as much as possible to supervise them when they are playing with these toys such as the Melissa and Doug stacker with its wooden stick or the drum sticks from their music set or even the bristle blocks that when stepped on hurt a good bit.
I took this video of the girls this past weekend. I can’t believe we are here already, they take turns so nicely until the very end when it starts to get ugly. But for a while they each take their turn. Talia starts out with a stick in her hand, which I took away because eyes are really hard to replace. But the whole time I was filming this I was saying to myself Talia, please sit before you go down the slide. And, begging for those little rubber soled shoe to not get stuck on the plastic slide. And for no one to fall off while climbing up and for none of the other hundred things that an go wrong in a second to happen. If you turn the volume way up you can probably hear me gasp a few times.
Oh, and to all the stranger that wished us good luck when they saw us out with our infant twins, we will take it now, we need it for their toddler years.
Here’s a sample of my to do list for DIY projects to my home
Hang art in playroom
wallpaper back of bookshelves in living room
add another ring to each curtain panel and hem bottoms
change blinds to sheers in living room and master bedroom
build small foyer bench and hang child coat hooks
fill hallway with family photos
add more variety of art to picture gallery in dining room
add a back to media console in living room to hide wires
create an organized sewing crafting room in basement
build headboard for master bedroom
hang display shelf over toilet in hall bath
hang honeymoon photos in master bathroom
build Shanty-2-chic’s wood framed mirror for master bedroom
ok you get the idea, my husband calls me a busy bee,and for good reason, I feel better when I am busy and creating something weather its something new or something neater, doing makes me feel good. So this past weekend I finally found a few minutes and did something, lets take a look at that list again.
Hang art in playroom
wallpaper back of bookshelves in living room
add another ring to each curtain panel and hem bottoms
change blinds to sheers in living room and master bedroom
build small foyer bench and hang child coat hooks
fill hallway with family photos
add more variety of art to picture gallery in dining room
add a back to media console in living room to hide wires
create an organized sewing crafting room in basement
build headboard for master bedroom
hang display shelf over toilet in hall bath
hang honeymoon photos in master bathroom
build Shanty-2-chic’s wood framed mirror for master bedroom
That’s right I added a back to the media console to hide all those ugly wires.
It was easy really I took 1/4″ black foam core and cut it so that it would sit about an inch inside the outer edge of the back of the bookshelf.
Then used wire nails to secure it into place.
I had to make a hole for the wires from the speakers to come through, I did a very hack saw job of this but it’s ok because the hole is hidden by the speaker.
It’s so calming to look at the TV wall now. I love not seeing all those messy wires. I’m sure some of you are thinking why did you buy that piece in the first place? Because I love the look of it, the square cubbies and the prices at IKEA are just right.
The whole project only took me about an hour. I cut the pieces several weeks ago and was trying to find a time to do the nailing when the girls were awake but time to do projects when the girls are awake doesn’t really exist, so this weekend I took the chance and started banging away after they went to bed. They didn’t wake up! Yeah! Hammer and nails here I come. Do you spend your weekends doing home improvements or do you prefer to pay the professionals for up keep and improvements?
The whole project only took me about an hour. I cut the pieces several weeks ago and was trying to find a time to do the nailing when the girls were awake but time to do projects when the girls are awake doesn’t really exist, so this weekend I took the chance and started banging away after they went to bed. They didn’t wake up! Yeah! Hammer and nails here I come.
Layla Grace Nursey Design Contest
Layla Grace is a lovely online store with really expensive, really beautiful things.
They are holding a contest for the best nursery design.
I designed a nursery for a boy, it’s a very mature nursery that can easily convert to a little boys room or even a teens room! It’s a mix of modern, traditional and rustic. Based in neutrals with touches of blues and greens.
Please click on the image to go the actual contest page and vote for me, maybe I’ll win something!
or click here
Thanks! I’ll let you know if I win!
A backyard to grow in.
Over the past few weeks you’ve probably seen a few picture in the blog or Instagram that look like this. 
Or this
Or this
And you probably wondered where these pictures were taken. They were taken on our new deck! It was a long process but we now have a beautiful toddler safe deck and beautifully landscaped budget friendly backyard
Over a year ago when we moved into our current home to make room for babies the backyard was in much need of some serious TLC.
As much as I love being outside and digging in the dirt, No really, I’m serious, I would be a farmer if I could live on a farm close to family friends and a grocery store! , I was also very pregnant and could barely walk down the hall let alone clear overgrowth. And on top of that the inside renovations were still very much underway and that was priority with two infants about join our family.
So in the mean time because there was rotting wood and overgrown weeds there was the possibility of snakes in the yard. To not let this become an issue my husband had the yard cleared. Everything pushed to the wooded area in the back and the main part leveled out. 
Winter set in and figuring out life with two babies filled all our time, so the back yard remained untouched.
Spring came and with warmer air and a little rain a soft coating of green covered some of the dirt, the idea of a green backyard was becoming a reality. 
But spring rains came with a vengeance, and all the green was washed away.
And to add to the issues of the back deck, babies who crawl and a deck with an old style railing are not a good mix. The deck was a great small space to spend some time outside taking in the fresh air while the babies were immobile.
But as soon as they got to moving on there own it wasn’t safe to be outside to let them play. It was a crazy hot summer anyway so we spent most of our days at the pool it in the shade at a nearby park. But with fall approaching and the babies birthday just around the corner we knew we wanted to make the investment in the backyard so that we could spend the beautiful fall days in Georgia outside.
And so it began, DEMOLITION.
And the work began, it all happened really quickly.
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
The girls loved watching the work get done
Day 4
It rained
Day 5
It was done!
That was it, in just five days we had a brand new super fun giant playpen! We have used it almost every day since it was finished.
The girls are always trying to get out there.
We even scored this awesome plastic playset for a cant beat price off Craig’s list. The woman we bought it from, had triplets!
A few weeks later it was time to finish the yard. We contacted a few landscape architects and designers but they all wanted an obscene amount of money to do a basic landscaping job. We already had the people to install the yard, we just needed a design. I was pretty confident that I could draw a good looking yard, I did grow up with a dad who was pretty particular about our yard, so I knew basically what needs to go where. I was a little worried about how the sunlight in our yard would work with my design and how future additions may ruin what we do now but I got to drawing anyway. Here’s what I came up with.
It rained a little more and then it finally happened, grass and order appeared in the back yard while I was hard at work at my job.
next year we will add shrubs here or maybe azaleas.
the playset will be arriving soon!
the tree line is no longer a disaster
the gate keeps the toddlers in and the stones keep the dirt out.
past the steps in the side yard will be our garden, We plan to do a stone raised bed and grow a variety of herbs and veggies. We will play weekend warriors one weekend this winter and hopefully plant by early spring.
We even got a sprikler system installed so we can spend more time playing with talia and Jordan and less time moving around hoses!
We love our new deck and out tall trees and our amazing backyard. We are looking forward to plenty of days running around in the yard with kids and friends for years to come.
Two and half years ago when we got married I registered for 16 place settings of beautiful fine china. It was Micheal Aram for Waterford.
I got most of it, about twelve place setting and all the serving pieces. I loved unpacking each of the boxes and carefully organizing the plates by size into the special china bags to store them in. Then before I had the babies I went to bed bath and beyond and ordered the remaining sets I had registered for. I knew that if I didn’t do it before the girls were born I never would. I still have yet to unpack those last four sets and 10 bowls. And part of me wishes I had all melamine dishes like those beautiful colorful ones in the photo above from an adorable little store in Jaffa called Sofie. You can find their adorable products on line here.
Se la vie. You live and you learn.
I’ll let you know when I get around I using the fine china I loved so much.
Treasure Hunting
Part of me hates to share this little secret, but I am a blogger and therefore an open book and not sharing this little treasure would eat away at me until I did.
While in Israel my husband and I left the babies with my in laws and went treasure hunting for the day. My husband would probably call it junk shopping but he knows how much I love it so he plays along and even enables me.
He took me to Jaffa shook (market) a few city blocks of market stalls selling a variety of wares. Touristy stuff like handmade judeica items for your home, jewelry, clothing, scarves and old metal candle sticks and a section that is more flea market/yard sale than souvenir market.
But it’s what I saw next that has me saving every penny to go back and stock up.
Mid century modern furniture lining the streets, piled high in some spots and layered ten deep in others. There was wood, vinyl, metal and plastic, bright colors and faded stain. I asked for prices on a few items I was dreaming of bringing home and even before the negotiations (haggling is an Israeli national pastime. If you pay asking, you paid too much!) the prices were good.
After I stopped drooling over the furniture we turned the corned and there were rugs, as far as I could see. They were beautiful vibrantly colored hand knotted wool rugs. Vendor after vendor of the softest rugs.
And that’s not all. As I’m walking along in the scorching heat, wishing there wasn’t more to see so we could get back in the car with the wonderful air conditioning, I see a cloth, unfolded laying across some rolled up carpets on the sidewalk. I opened it, it was a hand embroidered Suzani textile. They are hard to find and very expensive. In the US they can cost between $600 for a small and $1500 for a king size. As I was admiring the cloth the shop owner told me the price, 1500 shekels, or $375, a great price. Still a lot of money. He wasn’t fluent in English and I am not fluent in hebrew, so in my trying to explain to him that I want to pay a fair price I just can’t spend hundreds of dollers on a bed spread, he kept lowering the price. Eventually he was going to sell me the beautiful textile for $120. The problem was, if I was going to spend $120 on one of these textiles I would have wanted to open every single one that he had in his shop to pick my favorite.
And I know, knowing what I do of Israeli shop keepers, as soon as I picked my favorite the price would be at least double and the whole haggling would start again. So I told the shop keeper that one day I would be back with enough money to buy all the Suzani textiles I can.
A girl can dream.
