Every once in a while I feel like putting together a post about totally unrelated things. So that's what this is. Some good ol' randomness!

To get started, I'll want to share one of my favorite things ~ Anthropologie's Almond Biscotti Candle. It fills my house with amazing smells!

Ez over at Creature Comforts put together a cute Valentine's project for FOSSIL. The kids have been professing their need for cupcakes so I think we'll use this project to dress them up a bit. Actually all of the Valentine Freebies on her blog are fun to scroll through.

A few weeks ago I ordered our annual subscription to Answers magazine. Each issue contains informative articles like this one called Today's Youth - Walking Away From Truth. This particular article is several years old, but is still very eye opening. Sad but true.

This might be of interest to you if you're a Mac user & like to cook ~ I've started using Yummy Soup! 2 to collect all my recipes in single location. They say my recipes will thank me and so far I agree! It's insanely easy to import new recipes; I could do it with my eyes closed. Well, probably not. But you get my point: SIMPLE. Plus it's nice to look at which is actually pretty important to me.

Speaking of recipes, here are a few worth trying:

Loaded Potato Soup via Cooking Light

Buttermilk Cheddar Jalapeno Biscuits that I found on Tasty Kitchen {Love, love, love these!}

PW's Chicken Tortilla Soup

Baked Ziti over at Simply Recipes

PW's Mushroom Bacon Breakfast Strata {Now I'm addicted to Stacy's Simply Naked Pita Chips!}

Bakarella's Mini Maple Pancake Muffins {This is an incredibly fast and simple one that my kids love to help make. They are my dumpers, stirrers, and stray mini-chocolate-chip-eaters.

I always love a good book. In December I read Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand. It's a beautifully written true story; I HIGHLY recommend it. My dad is the one who introduced me to it. Then after I finished the book I suggested it to my friend Suzanne because we tend to appreciate the same books. If I've sparked your interest you might want to check out Suzanne's book review for Unbroken on her blog.

On a very cold day last winter the kids & I had fun making our own marble run, an idea I found over at Made By Joel. Soon I think we'll try his dancing deer and perhaps these slotted building disks.

A&A some friends coming over to play on Friday. I'm going to see if the kids want to try their hand at building marshmallow and toothpick sculptures. Looks fun to me!

Ryan & I had a subscription to Highlights Magazine back in the '80s. I don't like to remember much from that decade (the perms, the bangs, the hideous clothes, the music), but I fondly recall enjoying our issues of Highlights. Now A&A have their own subscription courtesy of JD's parents. And guess what? Not only do the kids love it, but I love going through each issue with them. Some things just have staying power ya know?