Comment Love.

Dear People of the Blog World,
I need some comments. I've thought about quitting blogging several times but then each time a friend or family member tells me how much they love my blog. But they never comment. Or they try to comment and it gets rejected. I went into my settings and it says comments are open to anyone, so anyone ever have a problem with this before or know how to fix it?
I feel like every time I post I'm just sending it out to the void but apparantly there are quite a few readers. Like, 2,400 last month. And my followers are growing. Thank you!!! I'd like to know I'm doing this for some reason. I'd like to connect with people. SO, I want to know why no one ever leaves comments?
Sincerely,
Rebecca
p.s. If the comments don't work, please email me at rawtruegrit@hotmail.com.

Happy New Year! {What I've Been Up To} January 2013

Happy 2013 everyone! I hope you enjoyed your holidays. I have been BUSY, busy getting things done around here. If you don't already know, I am expecting a bundle of joy this May and I think the "nesting" first wind kicked in. Thus the lack of posts. I have been determined to get alot done, basically going through the entire house, and promised myself I could only look at blogs and do blogging at the end of the day after the kids were in bed if I got all my work done. So far it has worked beautifully!

1. I have been doing a TON of cleaning and organizing. I switched rooms for kiddos #1 and #3, built a twin bed from Ikea, decorated #1's new room, went through both the closets, rearranged furniture, and got rid of a good size bag of stuff. I'll show pics of their rooms later.

The upstairs spare room/office (soon to be nursery) was a complete disaster area after holiday wrapping and crafting. Besides that, has pretty much gone untouched for months. Embarrased to say got rid of TWO large bags of GARBAGE! Went through bookcases, desks, craft stuff and it's like a completely different space. Will have to go through it again and rearrange furniture before babe comes, set up a crib, etc.

Spruced up the master closet, bath, and bedroom, and hall closet. Got rid of more stuff. Cleaned everything. Made a goal to keep it clean!

Something that has really simplified my life is finally creating a "command center" in the kitchen (see picture below). I have a desk upstairs that I never used because I'm always downstairs. I've had a whiteboard on the side of the fridge for a couple years that we've used. And this desktop organizer that wasn't getting used to its full potential. We finally got wi-fi so I could bring the computer downstairs, brought down the organizer, got a barstool (Thanks, Jeanette!), and went back to the good old fashioned paper calendar. I also made a new spreadsheet for bill paying and put it in a folder with envelopes, stamps, etc. (yes, I am old-fashioned and don't pay bills online. That just works for us right now.) I use a different color pen for different things on the calendar to keep it easy to understand at a glance. It may not look like much in the picture but it has made SUCH a difference and I LOVE it. Also helps keep stuff off the counters- big plus! Does everyone pay bills online, is it just me who does it the old way?

2. Been dealing with the cold and snow. This is the coldest it's ever been for me and now that I've experienced it, I'll be honest: I don't love the cold. I actually hate it. I dream about happy places in the sun! But it is what it is, and we just deal with it. (-20 this morning. That's right, you read that correctly. NEGATIVE TWENTY.) Our garage is not insulated and we had our food storage out there . Two big shelving units. No bueno, as my husband would say. So I spent an entire afternoon last week emptying the closet downstairs, and moving all the food and shelves inside. It's alot nicer not having to freeze while we run out and grab a can off the shelves, however now I need to find a new home for the stuff that was in the closet before. And we're pretty much out of storage space......

3. Started reading my book club's book. I'm about 3/4 through and I like it so far. Want to know how it ends. Anyone read this? So far I recommend it.

4. Monthly living room redecorating, of course! I spent the entire New Year day taking down Christmas decor and putting up some simple, white January decor. It's a nice breath of fresh air after all the fun red and green stuff. Maybe I'll show that to you in a later post as well. Did you get all your stuff down and put away yet?

5. After two months of holiday business and morning sickness, I finally hit the ol' treadmill again with a new goal to excercise everyday! So far, so good. I alternate between this and a post-natal yoga dvd. I am determined to stay in shape and lose that baby weight once and for all after this one! One of my New Year resolutions is to have a natural childbirth. I already try to stay out of the hospital as much as possible, and follow the Bradley method for all my pregnancies, except I caved and got an epidural with my first and subsequently, the next two as well. However, one way or another, I've actually felt E V E R Y THING with all three and KNOW I can do this! I have been studying it online and phsycing myself out about it. It helps that this time the hospital is only 5 minutes away and we never have traffic. SO..... anyone have any tips or words of encouragement for me? :) Please leave a comment or email me making sure you're email address is shown!

Well that's it for now, hope you enjoyed the update, sorry It's more words than pictures this time! I'm off to the treadmill, laundry, and more cleaning and organizing today!

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas Eve! {Reindeer Pancakes}

We made these super fun, easy pancakes for the kiddos for our traditonal Christmas family pancake breakfast this year. They were quite popular AND delicious :)

Christmas Decor 2012

I apologize for the lack of posts, we have been sick, sick around here. I wanted to document my Christmas decorations this year and hope you enjoy it too!

I love our 9 1/2 ft slim pre-lit tree. And yes: keepin' it real - there are no decorations on the bottom 2 feet after my toddler destroyed 6 ornaments on the first day, everything went up.

In the kitchen...

my faux but real looking poinsettas centerpiece I bought at the grocery store as a present to myself this year:)

 In the windowsill (do you see all that snow? It hasn't stopped today!)

 On top of the china hutch:

 My vintage santa goodwill find

This is the advent calendar my mom made that I grew up with. I absolutely love it and think it is perfect. To me, every other advent calendar pales in comparison!

Our "mantle" PB shelf with stockings hung with care. I made these stockings two years ago. I wanted to blog about them but never got around to it. I  based them on the Pottery Barn Kids stockings. The top is like the classic ones they have every year and the bottom was inspired by these wool vintage-tyoe ones they had in the catalogue that year although I don't see them this year. 

I got the snowflake stocking holders at the Dollar Tree at least 5 years ago. I love them and they are thick and heavy, they were before they started selling them super thin and cheap(er). I'm sad I didn't buy just one more :)

These pretty pillow covers I bought on clearance from Dear Lillie. They work perfectly with my existing pillows and I love the colors. This, and the poinsettas, are the only things I bought this year.

Here is the entry table and chalboard, I just messed around with drawing on it but it'll work for now. I love how this little vignette came together.

On top of the piano: our nativities. The Little People one is usually under the tree so the kids can play with it but daddy got tired of stepping on them strewn across the floor every night so it is taking a little break next to the other one for now :)

And here is the "Akward Ledge" that is really hard to photograph so I did it in a group of three. We really love how it turned out and looks even awesomer in person :) (is awesomer a word?)

And of course, every house needs a Christmas village and train, right? I love this one that lights up and the little train goes around the track. It doesn't take up much space and since we can't have a nice train around the tree (see ornament situation above), this will work just fine.

How did you decorate this year? Do you love your decorations? Happy decorating!

Holiday Inspiration 2012

Greetings, dear readers! I hope you are enjoying the kick-off of this wonderful holiday season. This is the most extensive post I have done in quite some time, and I really hope you enjoy it and can reap a few (or more!) great ideas from it. Granted, none of the ideas are mine, but I have put together an awesome collection of holiday ideas organized right here in one post.
A lot of these ideas are on my pinterest boards, and some are ones that I searched for specifically. All of them have a source underneath their image so you can go right to it and find out more details. I made sure to go the extra mile to include all the correct sources, there are a few that I couldn't find and so they are linked back to my pin.
One last thing: for some reason there is a huge gap in the post between food and kids. When I am editing the draft it is fine but when it's published it goes crazy- sorry about that. So just keep scrolling down until you see the rest of the post. Thanks.
Here we go..... Enjoy!

GIFT IDEAS

Treat filled and decorated cupcake containers

source

Handmade reusable gift bags and tags

source

Chalkboard tags

source

Perfect recycled containers for little gifts

source

Gift for grandmas

source

Cute inexpensive wood craft ornament

source

Cookbook wrapped up in a lovely new dish towel

source

PRINTABLES

Love the chalkboard look and my favorite Christmas song!

source

Lovely rustic woodland gift tags- maybe more of a masculine look for the men in your life?

source

Everyone needs to remember to say "thank you" after all the receiving is done:

source Easy gift tag cut outs on any paper you wish

source

Lovely December month printable (She has one for each month, check it out!)

source

HOME EXTERIOR

I think we've all drooled over this Pottery Barn pic:

source

This was actually for the door vinyl but I just love the garland:

source

LOVE the wreaths on every window. Very East coast/Colonial to me.

source

CLOTHES

This just looks comfy and perfect.

source

I actually own this dress. It makes me happy :)

source

These Kate Spade gold cap shoes are pretty much ah-maze-ing. Life of the party.

source

I have a weakness for great plaid bags in the winter.

source

I need a very warm something like this. Even though it is Men's, I still love it best.

source

HOME DECOR

Waiting for this pillow cover set to come in the mail. Perfect for my existing couch pillows.

source

Such a fun idea! Would be fun in any color or for birthdays too.

source

Simple, no cost idea for hanging Christmas cards.

source

Love this, except I would add some red :) I am a fun-loving red and green girl when it comes to my Christmas decorating!

source

Lovin' all things chalkboard.

source

Perfect vase filler, and yummy too! Love the antique jars and lids. Anyone know where I can find these lids????

source

Seen lots of these but the star shape is unique.

source

Just fun.

source

Candy cane placecard holders. Practical AND delicious treat for guests!

source

Maybe I'll hang a big tin star this year?

source

Need to whip up one of these no-sew tree skirts.

source

Love my red and green trees with cranberry garland and tons of different ornaments from childhood.

source

Don't know why I am taken with these vintage Santa mugs:

source

FOOD

Every time I see this picture I just want to dig in.

source

I love how you can easily drizzle the frosting on instead of going to all the work of hand piping and icing.

source

Always a favorite and so easy to make festive. You could even do a chocolate fondue and let people decorate their own.

source

Just cute. Kids would go nuts decorating these.

source

A healthy holiday treat!

source

KIDS

What a great way to use up all those pesky little perler beads :)

source

I am so doing this (or should I say making my kids go along with this:)

source

Always looking for different ways to pin the "whatever" on the "whatever" at my kids parties.

source

Easy art. Can't wait to see what my kiddos come up with for each little "quilt block."

source

Easy! That's the way I like it.

source

How cute is this and I know the kids would LOVE it:

source

And last but not least, am I the only one who does this to my kids on Christmas morning? My parents did it to me, and we were not allowed to cross until they gave us the "ok." Talk about torture!

source

That about wraps it up! There are so many great ideas out there but these are the ones I can realistically see myself doing and that are truly inspiring me. What about you? Thanks for stopping by!