Mothership Confessional

I am no stranger to struggles with organization of my clothes. Once hitting college, it has been 8 years of different residences from college dorm rooms to itty bitty college apartments, to moving to 3 different rental properties after being married, and now, in military housing. Common factor shared by all the places I live? None have been a permanent residence that I can modify however I want. I see endless ideas for decorating and organizing for homeowners like wall painting ideas and installing or anchoring furniture or shelving to the wall. For the majority of us renters, these ideas are not options for us. That's my biggest complaint is that there are not enough ideas for those of us who do not own the property we live on! We are allowed to make these modifications, but then we either pay the penalty upon move out for "damages" or have to repaint the walls back to their original color. No thanks! I am getting the hang of organizing all of my wardrobe items int

Out with Halloween, and in with Christmas. Where did Thanksgiving go? Don't ask me. Stores have been putting Christmas decorations out since July, for goodness sake . For whatever reason, I am not opposed to hearing Christmas already. It's already started at my new job - the first song I heard was the Glee Cast version of Last Christmas . I was actually excited to hear it! My mailbox is already filling up with Holiday shopping catalogues and circulars, and my Pinterest wall is full of fun holiday decorating and gift-giving ideas. And the polar bears have come out to play again on the Coke cans! Holiday decorating reminds me that I made a super cute wreath for my niece when she was born, but I never posted anything about it because it was a surprise! I am excited to show it off now, haha! I purchased a grapevine wreath from Hobby Lobby (mine was much larger in diameter than the one on the website) and some blue, green, and brown ribbon that matched the theme of my ni

People, you all need to have this recipe. Amazingly comforting, perfect for this time of year, HEALTHY, and so easy just to throw together - literally. This recipe comes from my mom's recipe notebook, so I'm not sure where it is originally from. She often got recipes from newspapers and magazines, but this one is hand-written. This was one of my favorites growing up. It's very flavorful and almost spicy, but has a nice richness to it that even kids can enjoy. This White Chili is great paired with cornbread, yeasty rolls, or even on top of a simple refried-bean burrito, which is how it was always served at my house. It borders a soup as opposed to a chili; I'm not really sure why it is called "chili", except for the fact that it has so many beans in it. Momma's White Chili 1/4 cup chopped onion 1-16 oz. can of chicken broth 1-4oz. can of chopped green chilies 1/4 tsp. garlic powder 1/4 tsp. dried parsley 1/2 tsp. cilantro leaves 1