We were given some child-sized plastic chairs. They sat in a shed for years and then sat in our shed for another year. Abby wasn't big enough for them last year. This year she is so I had Matt pull them out. They looked a little worse for the wear so I scrubbed them down. I even used a magic eraser. They still looked horrible grungy and dirty. I asked Abby what she thought and we decided to paint them. We decided on pink and green. Unfortunately, our store didn't have the right shade of green in … [Read more...]
Best Apple Projects and Recipes
With August over and September underway, it is almost fall. Which means....almost apple picking time! I love to go apple picking. It is probably the one thing I look forward to the most all year. The whole family loves it. I love the fall weather, my daughter loves the fun at the orchard, and my husband loves all the yummy things I make. Well, let's be honest. We all love the yummy things. ;) This year I'm excited to do some crafty things with Abby. She is finally old enough to really enjoy … [Read more...]
DIY Homemade Chocolate Syrup
As part of my effort to make much of what we eat and use myself and as part of our healthier eating habits (you can read my latest update on that here), I have been making chocolate syrup from scratch. It's actually quite easy. I purchased a clear squeeze bottle for cheap at Walmart so I could see how much syrup is left but you could use any container you would like to store your syrup. I often only do half a recipe. {photo credit: shutterbean via photopin cc} DIY Chocolate … [Read more...]
DIY Laundry Detergent: An Update
I've been using the homemade laundry detergent I talked about here for a few weeks now. As promised, here is an update on what I think of it.Pros:-Easy and cheap to make-Cleans really well, even on Matt's work clothes-Easy to use-Lasts a long time Cons:-It appears I am allergic to Felsnaptha. Head to toe rash that involved me having to change out the sheets at 10:15 at night. So I can't use this soap on anything other than Matt's clothes.-You do have to take the time to make the soap.Because I … [Read more...]
Laundry Detergent: An Experiment
I have never made my own laundry detergent before. I always just get the big bottle, you know, the one with the dispenser, of Sun Free and Clear at Big Lots for $6. Lasts quite a long time.But I already had all the ingredients I needed to make my own minus the Fels Neptha soap. Since that was only 97 cents, I decided to give it a try.Today will be my first day trying this. I used this recipe.I used the fine side of my grater so it looked like this.Yes, it does look like cheese but it smells like … [Read more...]
Christmas Stockings
Last year I knew that I wanted us to have matching Christmas stockings. Previously, I had a silver one and Matt had a John Deere one. Matched our personalities, yes. Each other, no.Especially with Abby on the way, I wanted us to have ones that matched. I originally wanted some of those personalized embroidered ones like these:L. L. Bean But there was no way I could afford to get three for us then keep adding as we added to our family.I found an awesome tutorial on Pintereston how to make your … [Read more...]