Dana Burland

OMG. Look at this glow up! (left: before; right: after) This tight space used to be our family room, and man did we squeeze all we could out of it. The size of this room, and everything we wanted out of our home, kick started the whole construction project. I got so many questions about what this space would become once it wasn't the family room. There's a beautiful gas fireplace in the middle of it. It couldn't just be a hallway. It's no hallway. It's the hearth room*! (*overly fancy name listed on our construction blueprints). The room that didn't seem like it would make sense fits in just fine. It's right between the action--kitchen in the back so I could somewhat monitor the oven, and right next to the great room. Better yet, it's steps away from a little coffee bar we made.  This is so cozy. This is where you can find me when I'm afforded my standard 4 minutes of no-one-needs-me, sit down time ( unless I'm crazy over stimulated then I'm...

We had an epic family holiday baking party today. For record keeping, here’s how the day broke down by the numbers: 4ish hours of baking 7 recipes 1 not done yet because oops I forgot Auntie Rae’s famous strudel dough has to rest overnight in the fridge and my Dad, who is a HUGE fan of this recipe, wouldn’t let me cut corners and freeze it for 20 minutes and call it good 12 sticks of butter 7 cups of various sugars Numerous amounts of chocolate, chopped nuts, butter Crisco which is so gross to work with, and annoyingly just ⅓ cup of molasses so now I have a full jar I’ll never use Basically 2 full hours of dishwashing (shout out to Mom!) 1 foul call where I accused my lovely dishwashing Mom of using too much sweetened condensed milk, but I was wrong, and maybe she’ll forgive me but maybe not 7 cookie plates made for neighbors, bosses and (perhaps the sweetest of all) Lowes paint employees who walked my brother through 99.8% of his extensive condo renovation projects this ye...

C’mon… how is my little guy 5?! Today is A’s 5th birthday. 5 years of joy and laughter with this silly, sweet boy. At 5 A is: … smart . I love when he backseat drivers B saying: “Daddy, put both hands on the wheel, what do you think this is, a aw-tan-ah-mus vee-hic-el?” … silly . He makes up songs, dances, silly names, plays so much imaginative pretend. He really loves to spread joy. … a deep feeler . A good example is when we came upon a sad part of the “Lilo & Stitch” movie and he said tearfully out loud: “this is breaking my heart!” … so able and creative . He’ll construct his own Hot Wheels tracks out of cardboard boxes. He’ll move the bathroom stool around to reach anything he needs–sometimes without concern, although often it’s to make “swimming pools” for his Peppa Pig figurines. … still little . He gets cozy in a newborn-esque fetal position, with his knees tucked under him and his butt in the air. He’s got chubby cheeks, just like me, and a sweet round little ...

Listen up sandwich generation : we're approaching family holiday party time, where a wide range of aged attendees will gather.  If you want to bridge the gap between egg nog guzzlers and lil present hustlers in a way that gets everyone involved, you need these games. I tested these with a range of players between 4 & 74. They were simple and silly enough to level the playing field for (and keep the attention of) all participants. So bring your questionable motor skills, creaky knees and misplaced aggressive competitive spirit. It's game time!   You'll need: Plastic cups : about 20 for 6 people, maybe more if you have more than that Plates : 1 per player. Could be paper or regular dinner plate Regular sized marshmallows : 1 bag for 6-8 people Ping pong balls : or really any similar sized balls that roll--you could get away with anywhere from 1-5 of them  Tape : masking or packing tape Marshmallow Towers Dump a bag of marshmallows into the center of the table. Seat...