Homemade Liquid Soap Containers

I love canning jars in decorating, so I threw together some liquid soap dispensers from jelly jars. 

I just used the old pump, cut down 2”. Popped holes in the lids. Spray painted. Super glued. 

Vióla!

Rock candy

Homemade rock candy!

Natural Treatment for Plantar Warts

My 3 yo had a plantar wart on her foot.  Instead of treating it at the dr's (oh the drama, I could only imagine!) I researched natural alternatives.  What worked?  Banana peel, placed inside towards the skin, held on with a bandade.  We did this every night for a week.  3 wks later it turned black, died, and disappeared.  She has a tiny scar in its place, barely visible to the eye.

Little Person's Shower

My dtr has super sensitive skin. I have to rinse her down after bath time to get off all the soapy bath water. After years of struggling w/ different experiments...I succeeded in utilizing the trusty pool noodle. Both kiddos squeal with delight to rinse off after bath time. Whoo hoo! Score one for Mom! 

Pumpkin Processing

Our neighbors gave us 4 pie pumpkins. Actually he grows a 600# pumpkin every year, so these are his son's. After having them around for decorations for the last week, we processed them & got 13 cups of pumpkin purée & yummy roasted seeds. 

Apples, Apples, Apples: wine crisp, state fair, & red baron.

We've picked this tree over & over again. This little red baron is a generous little fella. 

I love how they grow in clusters. 

My view of my apple catchers. Felicity always snitches one. 

A little cinnamon and here come the apple chips. 

Amazing: 22 apples fit into a Tupperware container and 21 apples don't even fill this jar.

I'm hoping to learn how to make apple cider and apple vinegar out of the peelings. We'll see!

The Long Process of Moving In

Moving in doesn't stop at: bring your stuff in, set up, & live. This girl is still making it comfy for her girls today. 

The girls both have 2 smaller windows vs 1 large window in each bedroom. I took their bedroom curtains and cut them in half to make them into 2 sets. 

"Half" done. 

My makeshift sewing spot. 

Time for a little R&R after all that hard work. 

One of MANY Ice-cream Bucket Uses:

Wine Glass Holder

Still needs to be cleaned up a bit, but our cabinet finally has a (redneck) wine and martini glass holder. 👍🍸🍷

Towel Rack for Under the Sink Organization

I try to limit the amount of chemicals I use in my home, for health, space, and organizational purposes. However you need what you need, even if you only use it 1x/yr (ie: oven cleaner). So my Hubie put up a towel rack for me under the sink to get my cleaners off of the floor of the cupboard and give me more room. Love it!

Stain remover: peroxide & dawn

1 part Dawn to 2 parts peroxide. Tried it on 3 old stains on my white uniform. Doubted it would work, but it was either try it or throw out the polo shirt b/c I had tried everything else w/o luck. 

GUESS WHAT?! It worked. I also washed it w/ my "whites only" and mixed in a little Oxiclean White.  The Oxiclean white made my socks and towels super white too!  I doubted it would work so that is why I didn't take b4 and after pics. But I can once again wear my shirt to work w/o covering the stains w/ my name tag!

Fruit fly killer

Apple cider vinegar

A few drops of dish soap

Water 

Put together in a jar that has a lid. Shake to make bubbles on top. Leave the lid off and flies will be attracted to the apple cider vinegar, get stuck in the bubbles, and drown. Replace lid and agitated to create more bubbles as needed. 

Frozen Yogurt

Take Gogurt sticks, freeze, and cut in 1/2 to serve to toddlers.  LOVE!!!
Great idea I stole from Sister Jen.

Baby proofing 101

How to keep a toddler out of your drawers: yard stick!

(Can you tell by her body language she's trying to crack this code?)

Next on the Baby Food Prep List: Peaches

Miss Elizabeth tends to have a delicate palate. It takes some encouragement to get her to eat somethings and while she's a good eater, she likes it all mixed with cereal to take the "bite" out of what she's eating. Last week was peaches. She seems to like the tangy taste, which surprised me. Still her favorites are sweet peas and avocados. Bananas make her gag. It's like watching Uncle Troy eat eggs. :) We haven't done factory-made baby food, only home-made. I think home made has more robust flavor - be it good or bad. Maybe she'd do better with the bland flavors of commercial baby food and we can always try that too because I don't know how I'm going to stomach pureeing meat, gross!

Wet Cleaning Latex Gloves Remove Dog Hair

I have a lint remover brush to get rid on the dog hair on my couch and then I finish with one of the sticky-back lint removers. What I tried recently was wearing my latex cleaning gloves, wet, and wiping down the couch. Works wonders (but keep the bucket of water near so you can redunk and rewipe). Also works on carpets, hard floors, under furniture, and on my bathroom rugs to pick my own hair.

Modified Head Support

We still put Elizabeth in her infant carrier for travel purposes. I really liked the head supports we have for her, however she grew out of them so fast. So I modified them a little bit by cutting another loop parallel to the higher loops to let the harness through. I then sewed the edges w/ a zig zag stitch to prevent fraying and put dots of velcro to keep them closed around the harness. Now its higher and it supports her little noggin during travel.

Ylsned: Microwave your sponge/dishcloths

They say you learn something new everyday. Dish sponges are often the dirtiest pieces in a kitchen. They often live next to the sink, the germiest place in the kitchen, and hold onto those germs and dirt creating a real health hazard. Sponges need to be sanitized at last every other day, and replaced every week or two for best protection against germs. Now, I don't know if Heloise knows this one or not, but at the end of the day, after washing your dishes and wiping down your counter tops, zap your sponge/dishcloths for 30 seconds in the microwave. This kills the germs and helps dry out the sponge/cloth before hanging it up for the night. BUT, be careful, it will be hot! :) This is a safer alternative to my favorite germ killing solution to my sponges...bleach.

Go Natural in Your Spring Cleaning

Here's a snippit of information I got from s newletter at work.
* For general cleaning/disinfecting: 1 C. Borax with 1 gal warm water.
* Window cleaner: 2T. vinegar with 1 Qt warm water.
* Tub & Tile cleaner: mix equal parts vinegar & water and use backing soda for scouring.
* Toilets: 1 part baking soda to 4 parts vinegar.
* Dishwashing detergent: equal parts Borax & Baking Soda.
http://www.20muleteamlaundry.com/

Lifestyles of the Organized

So of course, I get fed up with not being able to find anything in my utensil drawer. What do I do? Google "how to organize your utensil drawer" in hopes that someone smarter than I found some psychedelic new way to do just that. Wrong. The basics are to keep what you need and use and throw what you don't. I got some tips from the web address below. I ended up throwing a couple items out that were just not able to be salvaged. Otherwise I donated what I couldn't use to work. Otherwise, offer to your local soup kitchen or church. http://lifestylesoftheorganized.wordpress.com/