Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Every fall I love making pumpkin muffins. I know that there are tons of pumpkin muffin recipes out there and that most require tons of ingredients. However, for something like this I really don’t want to take a lot of my time to make them. My recipe is super quick, super easy and super yummy. It is great for when you need a treat to take to work with you or need to make up something for a family gathering. And lets face it, tis the season for pumpkin spice everything right!! I also used this recipe when I was training on the day of my competitions. I would eat them the morning of my show and right before I would go on stage.

Ingredients
– 1 Box Spice Cake Mix (get whatever brand of cake mix you like. I usually go for the one that is on sale.)
– 15 oz can of pure pumpkin (what you use for pumpkin pies)
– About a half of a bag of mini chocolate chips or you could add walnuts, etc. (all optional)
         

Now all you do is mix it all together. Really get the pumpkin filling mixed into the cake mix. It will be kind of thick but that is ok.

Lastly, add in your chocolate chips.

Scoop into muffin baking cups with a 1 tsp ice cream scoop. I put 2 scoops in each.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until you can poke into a muffin with a toothpick and it comes out clean. (I always look at the back of the cake mix to see how long it says to cook cupcakes)

And that is it. Quick, easy and simple to make. Please let me know what you think!!!

Train Track Bookshelf

My husband and I got an idea to make a new bookshelf for our son. I kept finding that he has a hard time trying to put books back on a bookshelf and he thinks it is way too much fun pulling them off the shelf and watching them fall. So no matter what I seem to do there is always a pile of books on the floor.

Now, since my husband works for the railroad and my son is completely into the “choo, choos” we find it only fitting to make a bookshelf that looks like a train track. Plus it is bitter sweet for me since his room when he was a baby was a train and elephant theme. Now that he is almost 2 we seem to be transitioning him to more of a “big boy” room but still get to keep some of the original theme.

With all the books in it

From the Front

We used all pine boards because when stained those look the most like railroad tracks. Make sure to get some that are a little bit more expensive so the grain will show through once they are stained.

For the boxes:
Two 1 x 6 x 8 foot pine boards
Two 1 x 4 x 8 foot pine boards
One 2 x 4 x 4 foot pine board

For the rails:
One 8 foot handrail that is curved on the side

 

Stain and Varnish:
1 coat of stain (Or until desired color) and 3 coats of varnish. Do all coats of stain first and then all coats of varnish second. We used the Minwax brand for both.

Paint (for the rails):
2 coats of any type of gray paint. We used some extra that we had from one of our rooms.

 

Our final boxes measure 28in x 3.5in (opening) x 4.5in. You can always adjust these measurements depending on your space. We spaced each box 8 inches apart which seems to be enough to fit some of the larger books and gives our little guy enough room to get books in and out.

Over all the project turned out great!!! It only took us about 3 days to finish it up and cost just under $100. Now hopefully little man will have fun keeping his books picked up. I have even put a big blanket on the floor and some pillows to make a little reading corner just for him.

Check In

As this month continues I have already found myself straying away from my goals. I have, however, started to really get with the program of organizing things. It is just so overwhelming though because I only have so much time in a day and I am trying to get a lot done. This in turn has made the getting more sleep and getting more exercise goals kind of fall to the wayside. I am hoping now that I have gotten some of the major things done it won’t be as bad.

First and foremost I needed to organize my closet. We moved into our house in May of 2014 and I was pregnant. Everything that got put into my closet were maternity clothes and anything else that I thought I might wear after I was pregnant. Fast forward a year and a half and I still had all of those things in there. I was to the point where I had stacks of stuff on the floor that my sister had given to me (she cleaned out her closet a couple of months ago). Now it is back to being nice and neat and in order. I will be posting pictures and stuff about the process and tips on how to organize it later.

My biggest problem when I start to try and get rid of clutter is that I am an organized hoarder. I have so much sentimental value placed on everything that it is hard for me to get rid of much or it takes me forever since I try to just keep everything and organize it better so that it doesn’t look like so much. Yikes!!! I am so bad that I have clothes and stuff from 8th grade that I finally got rid of!!! For me it is best if I am in a mood to get rid of stuff and throw things out.

So now that I have started number 3 on my January Goals list I think I might be able to get back at trying to get more sleep and exercise more. Lately I have been trying to come up with something good to motivate myself. I know that most of us have issues trying to stick with working out. Before I used my bikini competitions as my motivation. Now that I am not doing those it is getting harder and harder to come up with something especially when I have so much going on. (My hubby works for the railroad so sometimes everything has to fall on my shoulders to keep things running smoothly at home).

Even though we decided to start trying for another baby I feel that I need to get back to being strong again and do my best to take care of myself now and throughout another pregnancy. I have to start remembering that my little man is always watching everything that I am doing and I need to start setting a good example for him. Sometimes it takes realizing this to really kick your motivation into gear. Figuring out what motivates you can be challenging but hopefully once you figure it out then you will stick with it!!!

Well, that is enough for an update on everything. Hopefully you all are sticking with your goals as well. I hope my check in will inspire you to check in with yourself and keep going as well.

Hello There!!!

Hi there. So I am hoping to turn it into something that will really help some of you. I am forever trying to figure out my way through life and through the craziness of being a mother, wife, daughter, etc. I have a lot of tips and tricks that might help some of you keep a little bit of your sanity too.

First off here is a little bit about me since I really haven’t been keeping up with this blog too well.I am a former fashion student that just couldn’t seem to land that dream job once I graduated. (I know right). I love doing anything creative from illustration to calligraphy. I am also a former bikini competitor. I love working out and doing things to better my mind and my health. However, since having my son 15 months ago it has been a little tough to get back into doing anything that I enjoy for myself and taking care of my health. But that is hopefully going to change.

I hope I am able to inspire you to get back (or start) doing things that inspire you and help to make you a stronger person.