Last night my husband took the boys outside to look for big sticks – a favorite past time for my toddler son – and I took a little time to myself to paint my nails. I got a gel manicure for my birthday two weeks ago and it started to chip at the tips last week. I posted a picture of my nail cut short where the gel had chipped on Instagram. It’s a hacked solution to keep...
This morning I woke up to the word “ANTS” written in baby powder on the kitchen counter. This was after I woke up in a wet spot in my bed from a leaky diaper, or as we call it in our home a ‘pee bum.’ And, that was after I got up in the middle of the night to take care of a pee bum. Hello, Monday! Now that the diapers are in the wash, the sheets go in next and I’ve...
Distilled white vinegar is a mixture of acetic acid and water. It’s cheap and effective for many uses. I use it to cook and clean in various ways. [Notice the cut lemon in the picture above, which is also useful for cleaning.] Vinegar for cleaning The most common way I use vinegar is mixed half and half with isopropyl rubbing alcohol. This 50/50 alcohol-vinegar mixture is a useful, non-toxic...
A fresh, clean baby all wrapped up in a nice towel really is the sweetest thing. My teenagers all had a hooded towel poncho that they used when they were little – basically until their heads were too big to shove through the head hole and the towel wasn’t long enough to cover their bum – and I wanted to make one for my toddler too. I find a great tutorial online and followed it...
I made some plush hand puppets using stretchy knit gloves for my son last year. He was only 1 at the time and didn’t really enjoy them that much. Now that he’s a bit older, he’s really getting into puppets and these are simple to make and fun play with. In this video, I show you how to make a super cute plush hand puppet using a stretchy knit glove as the base: This craft project...
I had an old denim skirt that needed to go. I hadn’t worn it in months (maybe years?) and it was just taking up space in my closet. I tried it on and decided I really wasn’t go to wear it anymore, but then I looked at it some more and thought maybe I could hack it into a new skirt and get some more wear out of it. I thought about embroidering on it, or maybe dyeing or bleaching it,...
I love oatmeal cookies. They’re delicious and they feel like they’re kind of healthy too, especially the way I make them. I make lots of different types of oatmeal cookies. I have a basic recipe that I use as a starter and then I adapt it depending on what I feel like eating and what I have in the house. One of my favorites is chocolate almond, but I didn’t have any chocolate...
This is the first post in what I hope to make a series of posts on the versatility of certain common household products. Baking soda is super versatile. I use it to bake cookies, clean my kitchen, scrub my face, and even alleviate heartburn. And, for most of the things I use it for, it’s the cheapest, easiest and most convenient way to get the job done. I usually buy it at the dollar store...
I recently discovered that you can use lemons to clean. Unlike many other natural cleaning products, lemons are cheap and easy to find. They are also versatile and can be used on many surfaces without risk of damage. Cleaning with lemons is quick and easy. Simply cut a lemon in half and rub it on the surface you wish to clean. You can also dip the cut lemon in salt, baking soda or citric acid to...
I really like charm jewelry! Awhile back, I went to Michaels and bought a bunch of jewelry stuff. I spent a long time in the store – probably like 2 hours. I often don’t know exactly what I want when I go in to a craft store, but I always have some sort of an idea of what I want to make. This time I went in for jewelry. I knew I wanted an oak tree, an owl, birds, shells, feathers, wings,...