The Rehling Unit

Now I promised a post on some things from Hearth and Hand that I thought you can pass up on. I like to think I’m a practical person, so like I said in my last post, if I think I can find a similar product for cheaper then I won’t get something just because it’s brand name. Yes, there are certain brands I trust, but as far as home decor goes…I go for the cheap, cute stuff!

Here are some things I think aren’t worth the money by Hearth and Hand:

1. These little house vase things? Don’t get me wrong, I think they’re super cute and would make a sweet little Christmas village with little lights and some greenery…BUT in the Target dollar spot this year, they had almost the exact same little white ceramic houses for $3. Can’t beat  that. I haven’t been able to find them in my Target yet, so if you have don’t tell me because I’ll be super jealous let me know where!
2. This galvanized lantern is really cute, but even just a quick Google search showed my similar items for much cheaper. I feel like I see these all over Home Goods/Hobby Lobby any time I go.
3. These stockings are super cute and reasonably priced. However, I don’t know about you, but I like my family stockings to match…so I think about if I have to get another (for yes, future babies) and Hearth and Hand has discontinued their line or maybe the line next Christmas don’t match this season’s line…then it would be a hassle to try and find stockings that go together that aren’t the same brand/line. Just my two cents.
4. I thought this Christmas countdown was adorable, but when I saw it in person I thought, “What the heck can I fit in those tiny numbered envelopes…one single tic tac??” They’re so small you can barely fit a piece of chocolate in there. So if your purpose is to use it to put little trinkets in the pockets, good luck finding stuff small enough. This one has been a personal favorite of mine for years, but I’ve never gotten it…I think this year is the year!
5. Both of the wreath hangers, I thought were pointless to get by H&H (yes I abbreviated it because we’re that close). There’s nothing special about them, so I think you can get a similar or cuter one somewhere else.
6. I saw a galvanized tree collar at Walmart that looked exactly like this one by H&H, except around $20. So that’s why this made the list.

   So as promised, there’s a list of things by Hearth & Hand that I would definitely pass up. I hope Joanna takes no offense to my frugal home decor style, but I hope she understands.

I know, I know. You all have been waiting so patiently for my Hearth and Hand review and I’m happy to announce it’s finally here! Just kidding, y’all probably don’t care, but if you know me at all, you know imma do it anyways.

It’s no secret that I’m a huge Chip and Joanna fan. I’ve seen all the episodes, contemplated dressing up like them for Halloween, and have converted my husband into a closet fan too. Although I didn’t camp outside of Target to be the first one to see the new line (like Chip did), I went as soon as I could on Monday.

I will say that although I am a huge fan of their work, I’m also a practical shopper as well. I’m not one to buy something just because it’s “brand name”…so if I’ve ever seen anything at Magnolia that I felt like I could get something similar for cheaper at Home Goods or Hobby Lobby, then I wouldn’t buy it. With that being said, here are some of my favorite things from their new Hearth and Hand line at Target!

*This post is in no way sponsored or promoted by Target, but again shouldn’t it be??…come on, T, how many hints do I need to drop??*

1. This food scale was definitely already added to my Christmas wishlist. I have no idea where I’m going to put it in my kitchen yet (maybe our new china cabinet?), but at this price, I’ll find room! I like how small it is, so that I don’t need a lot of space wherever I decide to put it.
2. Another favorite were these white dishes. If I could go back to before my wedding and register for white dishes, I would. I just love white dishes because they go with any theme, any season. I like these specifically because it’s a matte white (as opposed to shiny) and oddly shaped, which I think is really cute and different. I like the matte black dishes too, but I think I like the white better because all the rest of my stuff is white.
3. How much cuter can this welcome mat get? And for that price?? I mean, come on!
4. I really liked the look of these smoked glass vases. I’m thinking I may need to start adding some darker accent colors in my house since my house is so bright? These might be the perfect start!
5. I love the versatility of these round footed trays. You can use them as a centerpiece on a table with a wreath, candle, and glass dome on top or use it as a cheese platter at your next party. The possibilities are endless.
6. I thought this wreath was cute and different from your every day Christmas wreath. I love the exposed metal with the little bell! Not sure if I could find/make something like this for cheaper though? I just know I haven’t seen it before.

   I’ll have to write a post later on what I think you can just pass up in the Hearth and Hand line (see Casey, I’m practical???). Overall I was really impressed with the quality of the stuff, but kind of disappointed in the lack of inventory at my Target. I mean, I guess I had high expectations (i.e. 3/4 of the Target dedicated to Hearth and Hand….not really), but I felt like a lot of the stuff that Joanna showed on her sneak peak of the line, my Target didn’t have. Like the flower stand?? Where was that? Anyways, if you made it to the end of this, you must really love Magnolia…just like Joel here (because I can’t end a post without posting a picture of this heartbreaker).That’s bedhead if I’ve ever seen it before.
   Sidestory because I can: we went to mass on Sunday and Joel was just looking around at all the people beforehand because he’s the nosiest. Just then, a little girl (probably about 4 years old) walked right next to us and sat in the pew in front of us. As soon as Joel saw her, he legit squealed with delight and started waving and wriggling out of Casey’s arms to get to her. We really do have a future ladies man in our midst. Lord help us.

On Friday, our church had it’s first ever Trunk or Treat! The trunks were so creative and well executed. I got my idea for a zoo themed trunk from Pinterest….just like all of my unoriginal ideas for everything ever. Sidenote: what did we do before Pinterest? Like how did we plan weddings? Those poor brides…

I started with the animals: stuffed animals are pricey and I didn’t want to just spend a ton of money on stuffed animals that I would only use once. So I bought these blow up animals from Walmart. Set of 5 animals for $15?? I don’t think you can beat that! Next I went to the teacher store to buy the laminated di-cut paper animals and paw prints. I used just regular packing tape to secure them to our car. My last stop was CCA (resale store) where I got the khaki button down shirts for Casey and I to look like zookeepers. I was hoping to find a cheap wooden baby gate for the fence, but no luck. I did, however, find these wooden sticks already glued into these terracotta pots. what? I didn’t ask questions. I snatched them up, glued some handcut leaves around them to cover up the empty space, and there you go. I added the leaf banner and “please don’t feed the animals sign” at the last minute and done!

The little kids loved the animals. After one kid touched them, he ran away saying “oh Mommy, they’re not real!!!!!!!” She looked at me and said “oh no?? They look so lifelike.” So naive, so cute.

I ended up buying Joel’s monkey suit from Once Upon a Child for 40% off the used price (so $5) because they were missing the pants. Who needs pants anyways?

So all-in-all I think our trunk was about $40…not bad. We also won the “Best Trunk” award!! #worthit

Yesterday we went to a super cute Halloween party courtesy of Erik and Jamie Novitsky. I wanted to bring something that was super Halloween-y but super easy, because I’m most certainly not a baker…but I want it to look like I am. You get it? Good. I got the idea off Pinterest like all my other ideas.

Also, in true beginner blogger fashion, I didn’t take pictures of putting these together, just the finished product…so bear with me.

I started by making brownies from scratch a box. My favorite are the Ghiradelli double chocolate brownie mix…and no I have not tasted my fair share of boxed brownies mixes to figure that out. I used parchment paper in the 9×9 pan so that they would be easy to take out once cooled.

After they had cooled, I tried to cut them in rectangles to mimic the ground, obviously. Then Casey cut off the bottom part of the Milano cookies (double stuffed if you know what’s good for you) so that they would be easy to put in the brownies. I wrote RIP in black decorating gel which I had never used before so my RIPs got better at I kept writing.

Then we just put a little buttercream frosting on the back of those cute little already-bought-like-that-just-the-way-I-like-it ghosts (found at Walmart) and viola! Finished. The halloween brownies were super easy and a perfect yummy dessert because who doesn’t love brownies and cookies?

**This post is not sponsored by Walmart, but should be**

I’m not going to lie to you, when I first started The Office (at my husband’s request), I was not a fan. I didn’t think it was funny. I was frustrated that the receptionist and the guy-that-needed-a-haircut weren’t together even though they were clearly meant for each other. I thought the boss was cringeworthy awkward. And probably the biggest deterrent: I thought the style of filming was weird.

That has all changed and I am an Office lover and fanatic.

So for my husband’s 27th birthday this year, I decorated our dining area “The Office” themed because he is a big fan too. Here’s what I did:

The classic “IT IS YOUR BIRTHDAY.” sign and sad flesh-colored-balloons-that-match-everything from Kelly’s birthday party.

Some good Michael Scott quotes…it was very hard (that’s what she said) to pick my favorites.

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Great snacks from some memorable episodes.

Kelly’s birthday cake with her name spelled wrong. The lady at Walmart couldn’t understand why I wanted NOTHING on the cake. The conversation went like this:

Me: Hi. Can I have a chocolate cake with white icing and nothing on it?
Her: What do you mean “nothing on it”?
Me: Yeah…like I want the cake….but with nothing….on it…..
Her: ….
Me: ….
Her: I can put a character on it for free?
Me: No.

The classic face mugs from Kelly’s party episode…so maybe Kelley is my favorite character?

I have been known to love Mindy Kaling too. I mean, I’ve read all of her books…

That’s it. My love for The Office has grown and so has my husband’s age. #ageisjustanumber

Weekend recap basically just means cute pictures, but I mean…whatever. I’m doing it anyway.

So this past weekend was pretty eventful in that a lot happened all at once. Friday night was nothing special, we just went to dinner and Target which…I guess Target really is like a date night to me. I think my perfect date would be like an unlimited spending amount at Target…BUT ANYWAYS, that’s all we did on Friday.

Saturday morning, Casey was working on my desk (tutorial to come soon) and I was carving a pumpkin to put Joel in naturally. So I finished scooping out the inside and had super slippery pumpkin hands…ok wait, now I’m just picturing: 

ANYWAYS. I was carving out the leg holes (the holes to put his chunky thighs through…he’s going to kill me when he’s older, isn’t it?) and my hand slipped and the knife sliced my finger right in the crease. Gross. So Casey goes inside to find me a shirt he didn’t mind getting blood on and the neighbors who we NEVER see decided to use that moment to come and talk to us because we were just outside in the driveway. So I’m just standing there with a bloody finger like NOTHING TO SEE HERE and Joel is in his exersaucer flirting with their high school daughter and I’m calling my mom to come watch Joel while we go and get me some stitches and we are just a hot mess. So yeah, that was our Saturday morning. I’ll spare you the gory pictures, but I mean…#worthit am I right?

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After my #fingerfiasco, we went over to Casey’s parent’s house and rode on the pontoon for a little bit since it was such a beautiful hot day. Joel enjoyed crawling around the boat and pretending to steer.

^^Casey likes his look of determination in the first picture.

And that’s our weekend recap. Nothing special, just a day in the life of clutzymcgee over here. I guess it wasn’t actually that eventful.

Since it’s Friday the 13th, I decided to share something utterly terrifying…my cleaning schedule. Now this is a very loose cleaning schedule…as in, I don’t follow it perfectly every week, but this is my perfect-week-everything-is-going-my-way-cleaning-schedule. I’m no clean freak (Casey would say otherwise…so would everyone that said Joel would come out of the womb knowing how to change his own diaper), but I do like stuff in it’s place and clutter-free. So, these are the things I try to do weekly (this falls under the mommy-blog portion of TheRehlingUnit).

Everyday:

• It’s no secret that I like a clean sink. I think any of my past roommates will tell you that tidbit of information about myself. In fact, I think I tried to go a whole week in college without doing the dishes because I was the only one doing them and it nearly killed me…and that is no exaggeration. Ok maybe it is. BUT IT WAS TORTURE (still not exaggerating). I digress. I basically do the dishes everyday throughout the day…Joel only has two bottle nipples anyways, so I definitely have to do the dishes everyday. Is “everyday” one word or two? I don’t care, I’m doing one.
• I pick up around the house. I like things in it’s place, otherwise I can’t find it…so I usually don’t leave things lying around.
• Our counter tops are made out of the world’s best camonite (camo + granite). It’s a thing, look it up. Wait, don’t waste your time looking it up, I made it up. Basically you can’t see ANYTHING left on the countertop, so I never know when it’s dirty. Week-old crumbs, raw chicken juices, the works.  So to be safe, I clean the countertops everyday…it’s a safety issue.
• Since our pup is a shedder…only him, not me…I run the rumba every time I leave the house. I asked for a rumba for my birthday last year and that’s when I knew I was a real adult.

Monday & Tuesday:

• I do all the laundry….towels, sheets, clothes, etc. I allotted two days for this because I start Monday and usually finish Tuesday and our clothes only smell like mildew half the time. jk.
• Since I do Walmart pick up on Mondays, I usually clean out the fridge on Monday and throw away expired food or leftovers we never ate. oops.
• Then I clean the outside and insides of the fridge and microwave. Do I ever clean the oven, you ask? The answer is simple: no.

Saturday & Sunday:

• I vacuum because the poor rumba can’t pick up all the husky hair.
• I clean the bathrooms, every part of them…though I still haven’t figured out how to get the hard water stains off our shower doors. So if you have a remedy for that, hollaatchagirl.

That’s basically it. If you’re noticing that a ton of stuff is missing, then you’re right…we never clean any of those. Like wut is a mop?