Amy's Banana Bread.

this is my sister's banana bread recipe and one of the only recipes i use.  its easy and always yummy.  {my tip} use whole wheat flour instead of regular 

or add some chocolate chips for an extra treat!

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter

3/4 brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

3 mashed overripe bananas {i actually usually use about 5 bananas!}

preheat oven to 350.  grease a loaf pan.  in large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt.  in another bowl, cream butter and brown sugar.  stir in the beaten eggs and mashed bananas.  mix with flour combo until well moistened.  pour batter into pan.  bake for 50-60 minutes.  cool 10 minutes, remove from pan and enjoy.  

washing my windows with Norwex.

a year ago i got my first Norwex cloths.  i had heard lots about them prior to owning them and now as a Norwex user, i am obsessed!  they do a great job cleaning and minimizing the amount of paper towels i use.  you can clean with only water - eliminating the need to purchase antibac sprays from the store.  i use mostly all natural cleaners {lots of vinegar, baking soda, and lemon juice}, but i appreciate that these cloths really do the work {and kill the germs!} with only water.

{my Norwex collection: two Enviro cloths, a Polish cloth, and a dusting mitt}

one of the tasks i hate the most is washing windows.  seriously - i am NOT good at washing windows. we've been homeowners for about 9 years {three houses} but i've never found a great way to wash my windows.  i always felt like it took so much time and so much work, leaving me with a mediocre result.  

enter Norwex.

at the Norwex party i went to, people raved about using their Norwex products for washing windows.  i didn't try it until this spring.  in fact, i just finished washing all 25 windows in our house with the Enviro and Polish cloths.  it was an amazing experience with stellar results!  i washed the windows in a few sessions - half hour here, half hour there.  i think my total time spent washing 25 windows was probably 1.5 hours.  inside and out.  with only water.  it was awesome.

and my windows are so so so clean.  no streaks, no residue.

{step 1}

wet your Enviro cloth with water and wring it out.  then wipe down your surface.  wipe away whatever needs to be scrubbed off your window.

{step 2}

use your Polish cloth to go over and dry your surface.  the Polish cloth wipes through any grime on your windows - its really amazing!  all the water spots and scum come off with ease in this step.

we have double hung windows throughout our house {only a couple years old, thanks to the previous owner of this home!} so i was able to do inside and outside of each window all at once.  each window probably only took 5 minutes or less.  when my cloths seemed to be dirty, after a few windows, i washed them in a delicates bag in my washer.  it took a couple washes, so that is why my window washing was in a few sessions.

{wet Enviro cloth}

{Polish cloth}...repeat.

{step 3}

step back and admire your new sparkling, shiny, steak free, clean windows!

i also use Norwex to clean my kitchen counters and bathroom counters and mirrors.  they are my go-to cleaning cloth.  wash once weekly in a delicates bag with your regular wash.

{un}crafty - coffee filter flowers.

we got to host our moms here for mother's day! {read more about it on our family blog here}  

it was a great day to spoil them with a lovely lunch after a pretty amazing church service.  i feel like now that my "baby" is 14 months old, i am finally getting my wits about me again - it was fun to plan and craft!  i tried to make the day special for our moms, so i started planning {and crafting} early.  i wanted to help the kids make something for their nana & baggie, so we went with the flower theme and made some super easy coffee filter flowers and painted glass vases for them to take home with them on mother's day.

{our flower themed mother's day lunch}

supplies you need:

coffee filters

markers

spray bottle with water

straws {or pipe cleaners}

empty and cleaned glass jar

craft paint

 i'm certain we have all seen the method of pour paint into a clean glass jar and swirling it around inside until it is covered...that's what i did here.  i just used some paint left over from other projects.

 then i used some metallic pearl white and gold paint on the end of a pencil eraser to make some random dots around the outside of the jar.  it was easy.  i did the jars while the kids were coloring their coffee filters.  {but kids could totally do the paint in a jar thing - easy and fun!}

just scribble around on the coffee filter until its pretty much covered.  it doesn't have to be all colored in {although my very thorough 5 year old made sure to cover every inch} because when you spray with water, the colors with bleed.

once the coffee filters are colored in, spray with water and let them sit to dry {i set our on paper towels in the kitchen while the dried}.  then to add stems, fold your filter in quarters and either glue the tip into a straw {striped paper straws would be so cute!} or wrap with a pipe cleaner.

 this is such a quick and easy project! {and no mess!}  the flowers are so fun because each is so unique.  i think this would make a cute teacher gift too {maybe add a little gift card to their favorite lunch or coffee spot}.

happy {un}crafting!