Quick and easy blackberry cobbler

We have a few “tame” blackberry bushes in our yard. (They’re not looking so hot this year – we’re hoping they make it though the drought!) Usually we get tons of berries from them, and this cobbler recipe is one of our favorite things to do with them.

Start with around 5 cups of blackberries. We use our fresh off the bushes, but frozen would work well, too.

Remodel Mondays – 5 things to do during a home remodel

No project would be complete without a review of what went well, and what didn’t go so… smoothly. Here are my recommendations for what to do during a full-on remodel project.


1. Move out. If you possibly can, get the heck out of there. It speeds up the timeline, keeps you out of the workers’ hair, and keeps your stuff from getting covered with a thick layer of construction dust. (And no matter what you do, you can never really get rid of that dust!) We were lucky to have an “apartment” to move into, unfinished as it was.

Fourth of July Fireworks

Our county is under a burn ban, and there’s a fine for any private fireworks this week. But, lucky for us, we had a planned public display at the Gibson County Fairgrounds last night (LINK). Don’t worry, the fire department was there in spades, and they had taken extra precautions by wetting the ground where the fireworks were being launched.

In no particular order, here are some of my favorites from the evening.

Homemade cookies and cream ice cream

This is the time of year that we break out the homemade ice cream maker. We’re really good at vanilla and blackberry, and last year I perfected my pumpkin pie recipe. But we were looking for something new this year. So, for the first time (for us), homemade cookies and cream ice cream!



Of course, featuring Oreo cookies.

Remodel Mondays – Before and after

The official remodel project is finished. (Just ask the bank and our insurance company.) I’m still working on the “minor” things, like curtains, and door mats, and where the stuff should go on the wall, and really where the furniture should end up.

The change from the old house to the new really is pretty dramatic. Let’s take a tour!

You’ve already seen most of the new house, like my new office and the master bedroom. Maybe when I get things organized the way I really want, I’ll show off my closets. For now, the closets are holding all of the “I don’t know what to do with this yet” stuff. Not pretty.

And speaking of not pretty, here was my office in the old house. This room was originally a garage that was made part of the house before we bought it. We pulled up the carpet and installed laminate flooring, but never did anything about the paneling on the walls. (ick) Because it was a garage, it was sunken down 3 steps from the rest of the house.