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Entertaining

Lollipop Ghosts

October 22, 2017

The hardest part of making these was keeping my children from eating all of the lollipops quicker than I could wrap them up. The second-hardest part of making these was the fact that my three-year-old REALLY wanted to help, and obviously you need to let children participate with Halloween decoration-making, but girlfriend seriously needs to work on her ghost face-drawing skills, just saying.

These ghosts make cute party favors for kids, but you can use them to decorate in lots of fun ways: use string to hang them from light fixtures and such; fill a bowl with them for a centerpiece; line a mirror or mantle with them. (One caveat: if you're hanging them with string, make sure the string is clear, or the effect can be a little too macabre for a kids' party.)

Entertaining

Mac ‘n’ Cheese Pumpkin Cups

October 22, 2017

OK, caveat: I am aware that the macaroni and cheese shown above does not look particularly delicious. It was actually delicious, because all Mac 'n' cheese is delicious and that is just a fact, but it probably would have been more delicious had we made it before people arrived, as opposed to making it in advance and reheating it.

Macaroni and cheese just doesn't look as great post-reheating.

But still.

Before & After Renovations

10 Home Renovation Projects You Have To Try

October 10, 2017

Remember back in 2009, when I decided that I was the kind of person who should write a website about cooking, DIY, and home decor, and that it should be called "Domestic Bliss"? Yeah, I have no idea what I was thinking either - other than, perhaps, "fake it 'til you make it" - because for the first few years, "faking it" is exactly what I did. At the time, my idea of a homemade meal was store-bought pasta with jarred tomato sauce (to which I'd added onions and mushrooms - you know, to make it fancy), and was SO IMPRESSED with myself for completing "DIYs" such as...swapping out drawer pulls. Putting up a sticker decal was a feat worthy of a full video tutorial, and I thought that my idea of using teacups to serve soup during parties was the height of inspired entertaining.

I still think that serving soup in teacups is pretty neat, but a lot has changed since the halcyon days of wallpaper-wrapped lampshades and green chalkboard refrigerators. I'm still no Ty Pennington, but after renovating two homes and working on a home construction and design show, I now know about 20,000 times more than I ever thought I'd know about how to update a household on a budget. Below are ten of my all-time favorite house upgrades, all of which I promise you are more than capable of taking on yourself.

Decor

Layered Up

September 29, 2017

Gorgeous layered rugs in my friend Elise's mountain home (full tour here)

You know the layered-rug trend that's been all over Pinterest these past two years or so? I always liked the way it looked, but never really thought of doing it myself, because rugs (or at least the ones I usually like) tend to be expensive, and if I'm buying a fancy rug I'd like to see...well, all of it. But lately, my fancy rug is having a rough go of it. Since our schedule switch-up I've been spending every afternoon chasing after both kids, and by the time dinner rolls around I am ZONKED, and - confession time - usually just plonk them down in front of the TV to eat.

I know, I know, TV during dinner = bad, but it also gives all of us a much-needed break. I grew up with two parents who worked full-time in office jobs, so dinnertime was usually our first chance to actually see each other; had we all zoned out in front of the TV while we ate we would have cut down the time available to actually interact with each other by half. But I interact with my children a lot these days. And I also really, really love watching TV while I eat dinner, and I am the boss, and so TV during dinner it is.