{brown's brownies}

every year, the kids' school hosts a night called "the celebration of learning" where each classs showcases what they have been working on throughout the school year.  the kids have a great time showing their parents and siblings the projects they have created and often do special presentations as part of the event.

2nd grade has a tradition where each child makes and brings a dish representing whatever country they are from.  (their school is pretty ethnically diverse and many different heritages were represented.)  the child then displays and serves the dish to whomever visits their "restaurant".  aiden named her dish "brown's brownies" and went with our old family standby of "best brownies".  since we kind of joke that we are muts when it comes to ethnicity, good ol' american brownies seemed as good of a choice as any (and much easier than fried chicken or apple pie!)

and since i get asked quite a bit for this brownie recipe, this seems like the perfect place to share it.  i believe it first came from a martha stewart magazine clipping, but i'm not totally sure.

best brownies

1/2 c. butter (1 stick)
3 square unsweetened baker's chocolate
2 eggs (room temperature is best)
1 1/4 c. sugar
2 t. vanilla
1 c. flour
1/4 t. salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

• heat oven to 350.  butter a 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish.  (i almost always double the recipe and just use a 9x13 pan.)  i line my pans with parchment paper to easily remove brownies for cutting, but this is not necessary.
• melt butter and chocolate in saucepan on very low heat.
• with an electric mixer on high, beat eggs with sugar for 3 minutes until thick and pale.  add chocolate mixture and vanilla and beat another minute.
• add flour and salt and beat until smooth.  add chocolate chips.
• bake 20-25 minutes until tester inserted 1" from edge comes out with only a small amount of brownie on it.  do not overbake or the brownies will be dry.
• cool completely and then lift parchment paper from pan and cut into squares. 

1st grade performed readers' theatre and highlighted janelle cannon books.  miles played the part of "mother bat" in stellaluna.  his voice inflections were hilarious!

and one of my favorite pieces on display...george & abe.  aiden rocked these portraits, don't you think?!!

{baby smitten}

we can hardly get enough of baby lana.

aiden cried when she had to give her back.  smitten i say...totally smitten.

{progress: the guest room}

i feel like i have hardly left this room lately.  so much painting to do!  covering the wood paneling is taking 4 coats (1 primer +3 coats) and i have to use a brush to get into the grooves.  the room is small, but the ceiling is high and sloped so it is up and down the ladder quite a bit.  ooh...and did i mention the closet doors and doors to storage under the eaves are all louvered?  i have had white paint in my hair for weeks!  ;)

but...this week i have pretty much finished up all but the touchup on the white and moved on to the floor.  all the nasty hot pink shag was pulled up and i sanded the plywood subfloor.  because we didn't want to spend any money, i used the same paint as the playroom floor.  score!

the door to the room was in rough shape.  the previous owners must have had a dog (i can only assume) that was locked in that room at somepoint.  there are HUGE hunks missing from the bottom of the door.  and if that isn't enough, it is an ugly flatpanel door from the 60's/70's. nothing wrong with that if your house was built then, but ours is 100+ years old.  it just looks so out of place.  (there are many doors like this in the house and i would love to replace them all at some point with pretty raised panel doors.  just not high on the $ priority list.)  i used wood filler to fill in the bites out of the door.  there was seriously so much putty in the door mike told me at one point to just go buy a new one.  it is far from perfect, but i'm pretty sure no one will notice.  (except those of you that come visit because now you know what to look for- ha!)

i went ahead and painted the flat panel door with chalkboard paint.  in my mind, at least then it seems more purposeful- being flat and all.  again, i already had the paint so no dinero.  i am thinking it might be fun to do something a la shanna murray like this on the door to welcome guests and write them love notes.  i also like the idea of using japanese washi tape to add photos and add a gallery of sorts to the door.  maybe hand draw some frames for pictures???  feels a bit playful to me, but not over the top.

come visit us when i'm done and your cute mug can be one of the first on our door.  how's that for a bribe?!

{our father}

for your viewing enjoyment. 

i may be a bit biased, but he melts my heart everytime i hear it!

{no-bake energy balls}

i found this recipe via pinterest and we are totally addicted.  the kids love them and they feel way healthier than giving them cookies.

you can find the recipe on the blog smashed peas and carrots.

try it and let me know if you can eat just one???

{diy: my version of the overdyed rug}

i have had this throw rug in front of our door for like 12+ years now.  the size is great, but i am so over the color.  the washed out green went great when we had a vibrant area rug in the adjacent family room, but now that the rug there is neutral, this rug makes me snooze.  it just is boring.

since the rug was from the crate and barrel outlet and wasn't expensive to start with, i wasn't too afraid to try and update it a bit.  i keep seeing over-dyed vintage rugs all over the place and thought the same concept might work for a rag rug. 

aren't these rugs gorgeous?!  they are a bit bright for my taste, but i love the concept of redeeming and rethinking vintage rugs.
 

from abc carpet and home

and here is a dip dyed IKEA rug via Martha Stewart

the color turned out a bit greener than i had hoped, but SO much better than the original.

for round 2, i bought rit dye again in navy blue.  this color is better, but has some purple undertones i could do without.  i am still really happy with it though.

i may run back to joann's (coupon in hand) for another box of denim dye.  maybe just a bit more of the green would make this my perfect blue.  i can be a bit neurotic like that.  or maybe i will try out this new motto...HA!

print from dorothy jeanne goodswww.dorothyjeannegoods.com

{craft hope: beanies & bags}

check out my post over here on craft hope.  this one should be fun!