Laundry Love. Yeah, right.

Laundry is my pet peeve.  I can spend all day doing laundry; washing, drying, folding, putting it all away.  And then, at the end of the day, I change into my P.J.'s to crawl into bed and *bam!* there's more laundry.  It never ends.

I'm picky about my laundry detergent, too.  It has to work AND it has too smell good.  I have been hesitant to make the switch to chemical free in the laundry room because of those reasons.  I've made my own detergent powders in the past and always been disappointed.  Other recipes with rave reviews still contain store bought softener which, I feel, defeats the purpose.

I decided to try again a couple months ago with a recipe I found on pinterest for a liquid laundry detergent.  Hubby was skeptical telling me we would be separating our clothes so he could use tide.  I started using the new home-made detergent without even telling him just to see what he thought.  One day, while he was switching the load from the washer to the dryer, he yelled accross the upstairs balcony, "This laundry smells so good!"  Only then did I reveal that I had made the stuff.  We have been pleasantly surprised with the recipe as I made my second batch of it last week.  Our laundry smells fresh and we have not been disappointed by its cleaning power.  It was also a good introduction for me to the world of Dr. Bonner's Liquid Castile Soap.

Check out the recipe at the Live Simply blog.

The dryer sheets were an easier thing to cut.  I had been phasing them out for the last several months before buying some wool dryer balls.  Wool dryer balls are an all natural way to fluff your laundry while decreasing static and drying time.  I heard good things about Woolzies brand so I bough a package of 6 XL balls.  I toss all 6 into the dryer.  It couldn't be easier.  I intended to try adding 10-15 drops of essential oil on one of the balls and tossing it in later in the cycle for an added fresh scent, but haven't felt the need to try it yet.  As an added bonus, the fur-babies are anxious to help with the laundry now.  ;)

Zombie Apocalypse Package!

Okay, this is for the zombie lovers out there. I am NOT a zombie lover but my husband and my friends are, so I get dragged into the saga. With the help of Pinterest, my friend Kim and I put together this rockin' apocalypse package for our friend in honor of the new season of Walking Dead. I should also add that husband was quite jealous of the gift.

It included: a zombie bowl, walking dead toy, zombie key covers, gross candy, zombie style army men, syringe pens, bloody hand gel clings, refrigerator cover, zombie snacks, zombie hunting license, paracord, flashlight, and a nerf gun (not pictured). We packaged it in a painted box stuffed with biohazard bags we snagged from work.

Minion Surprise

We didn't do anything big for Ronnie's birthday this year.  I guess that is just part of getting older.  The other part is practical gifts.  Ronnie's birthday present was redoing the upstairs man cave (see earlier post), so we really didn't even do many presents.  I wanted to do a little something silly and special for him though.  So while my dad and sister kept Ronnie occupied at a movie, Mom helped me put together a little minion surprise party.  We came home to it after going out for dinner.  He loved it. 

Happy Birthday, Love! You are my world.  Thanks for making me smile.  xo

Minion cupcakes!

Minions

Unicorn Fluff

What is a party without bananas?

Cookie robots

El Macho's Salsa and Chips

Balloons!

My handsome man and very excited pup

Even Boomer joined in!  Cori loves him. ;)

Baked Southwest Egg Rolls

My friend Kim came over last week for a bit of pinterest yumminess.  We had been talking about making these Southwest Egg rolls for weeks now and we finally set a date to do it.  We were both SUPER impressed.  They were easy, filling, and SO DELICIOUS.  I am not even kidding.  best.dinner.ever.  Think burrito inside egg roll.  And ignore the fact that our egg rolls are pretty much the size of burritos and we apparently have no egg roll-rolling skills.  

Visit nutritious eats for the full recipe.  The only thing we did differently was add shredded chicken and served them with salsa and guacamole.  

Oh, and egg roll wrappers are in the oriental refrigerated section... which is by the produce at my grocery.... Never would have guessed that so it took me a long while to find them.  

The filling

Crispy goodness

Man Cave Makeover

I'm married to a military man.  If that weren't enough, he is an infantry man.  This quite logically means we are prepared for anything; natural disasters, governmental collapse, riots in the streets, and yes even a zombie Apocalypse (another post for another time).  I try my hardest to contain the testosterone in the only room that can handle the intensity; the man cave.  This room was "decorated" by the man himself as I tried my very hardest to let him mark his territory as he saw fit.  Notice I said "tried."  I did try.  Really.  I eventually persuaded him to move the furniture around so it fit the room a little better... but other than that, I pretty much left it alone.  The collections of randomly placed stuff, mixed with military gear, awards, and antiques have morphed into a sort cluttered, dusty, monument to "the good life" (for everyone but the axis buck mounted on the wall I suppose...).

After watching a movie up there one evening, my husband looked around and randomly said he would like to paint the room and make it look nicer.  I admit it.  I saw the opportunity to control the man cave and I took it.

So we struck a deal:  We would paint the man cave if I had full authority to redecorate the room as I saw fit.

The fine print for husband:  All decor must stay as designed for at least two weeks before he can veto it 

AND fine print for wife:  Nothing that is already in the room can leave the room.  

So I began to plot plan.  I had a Monday off and we drove to Ohio to go to IKEA.  I already had a wall shelf and expedite shelf picked out and despite Ronnie's hesitation, he agreed to buy without questioning.  I had another day off on Wednesday so I insisted on painting the room on Tuesday night so I could spend all of Wednesday getting things put together.  (Side note: I HATE lingering projects.  If we were going to do this, we were going to do it ALL NOW.)

The result was a fresh and classy room with creative storage solutions for all the memorabilia my military man could possibly have (for now anyways).  Bonus- Hubby loves it, too!  He said that he had his doubts but he loves the way it turned out.

During the chaos

Just add ice cream!

A sweet family friend took a terrible fall a month or so ago and wound up with a severely broken ankle held together with lots of metal.  Ronnie asked me to do a little care package to cheer her up.  I put together this "Just Add Ice Cream" box.  It turned out super cute!  I added toppings like chocolate, caramel, nuts, cherries, and a variety of sprinkles along with waffle cone bowls and cake cones.  The cute little scoop, stickers, and shakers were touches from an ice cream themed basket I had just won at a silent auction.  They topped everything off perfectly.  I'm really happy with how it turned out and I know our sweet friend was too.  

Happy Easter!

Easter kind of snuck up on me this year.  Maybe it was because it has been so cold for so long... I really don't know.  We "egged" our neighbors on the Friday before Easter.  They have two sweet kids that we so enjoy and we wanted to bless them in a fun way.  We stuffed about 30 eggs with candy and little toys and hid them all over the front time.  Our timing was perfect as their daughter arrived home from school about twenty minutes after we were done.  She had so much fun collecting the eggs.  She ran inside to grab a bag and kept telling her dad she would need another one if there were more than a few more eggs!  It's funny how we are blessed when we bless others.  

Green Clean Part II

Recently, I went from this...

...to this.

I haven't spent enough time with all of them yet, but I thought I would share a few of my favorites so far.  

Granite Cleaner:

I've been using this for almost a year now and it is great!  Hubby says it is his favorite too.  It's simple to make, smells good, works well, and is versatile   I use it for my granite counter tops, as well as general clean up on the tile and other hard surfaces (not wood).




o   1/4 cup rubbing alcohol (you may also use vodka)
o   3 drops of dish detergent
o   1 cup water
o   A few drops of essential oil (to help mask alcohol smell).
Recipe courtesy of Mama Cheaps


Window Cleaner:

Okay, this works GREAT.  I will admit I was thoroughly surprised.  I'm totally sold on this one.
o   Equal parts: white vinegar and water
o   1 tsp dish soap (preferably unscented if you plan to add essential oils)
o   10-15 drops of any citrus oil (I personally like grapefruit) or Lavender is always a great cleaning scent
Recipe Courtesy of bloom doula



Furniture Polish: 

So far so good with this one.  It works really well and is SO much healthier than Pledge.  I think it's a keeper for sure!
o   2 tsp olive oil
o   1/4 cup white vinegar
o   2 cups water
o   10-20 drops of Lemon, Lime or Lemongrass
Recipe courtesy of bloom doula




Poo-Pourri:
Okay, this was probably the one I was most excited about.  Have you ever seen this stuff?? It is seriously the greatest!  I first heard about it over five years ago and I don't know how we ever went without it!  Need to know more about it?  Check out their commercial here.  You wont be sorry.  You can pretty much use any type of essential oil combination as long as you have about 70 or so drops.  

o   3.5 oz. water
o   30 drops wild orange
o   30 drops lavender
o   30 drops lemongrass
o   1  4 oz. dark glass spray bottle
Courtesy of Little House on the Valley

Green Clean

I cant believe we are hopping forward into April already!!  Where has the time gone?  I feel like moments are rushing by and I can hardly catch my breath.  Do you ever get those moments where you are thinking ahead to the next few weeks and months and in your mind the year is already gone?  That's what life is like right now.  We have lots of things coming up... trips, visitors, meetings, work stuff, and house projects.  I'm trying hard to live in the moment and not for the next event on my list.  

With time whirling around me, I am still managing to plug on though my 2014 goals.  One of my goals is to be cleaning chemical free by 2015.  As some of you may know, I cleaned houses for a year when I lived in Georgia.  It was certainly not a "fun" job and I tried my best to move more into nannying and out of home care, but my time cleaning gave me an appreciation for "green" cleaning supplies.  Trust me, when you spend hours breathing in fumes and gagging on chemical odors, you learn to appreciate clean air.  I had several families that chose to use green cleaning supplies like Shacklees and Seventh Generation.  I was so grateful for that and I vowed that when I had my own home to maintain, I would do the same thing.  

Now, I'm still a huge fan of Shacklees but I started looking into home-made cleaning supplies, especially those containing essential oils.  I wanted to be simple, cost effective, and naturally CLEAN.  I didnt know much about oils but started using lavender water to clean counter tops about a year ago.  I've added a couple more lavender and vinegar base concoctions to our cabinet over the last few months and tried several variations of recipes.  Hubby was quite skeptical as his nose tells him that only that chemically smell is clean, but even he has come around and began to associate the sweet and calming smell of lavender and even the tangy smell of vinegar with clean [it can be done!].  

After a bit more research, and with hubby's reluctant blessing, I took the plunge.  I bought my first set of 6 essential oils: lavender, lemon, orange, eucalyptus, tea tree, and peppermint from Eden's Garden along with a Young Living Purification Oil for good measure.  I compiled all my favorite recipes from pinterest and got started.  My timing could not have been better as we have company coming to stay at the end of this week.  I cant wait to try out some new home-made cleaning products and let you all know how they work!  

Groove Book

Okay, I had to tell everyone about the coolest App I discovered a couple of months ago.  I'm kind of a memory junky.  I love pictures and scrapbooks of all kinds and have a stack of photo albums and a zillion framed pictures to prove it.  I print pictures ALL THE TIME which costs a pretty penny.  But for the most part, my iphone pictures have stayed on my phone which is sad considering my phone is my most handy and accessible camera for those spur of the moment photo opps.

Ronnie saw Groove Book on the Shark Tank in January right at about the time I started seeing it on Pinterest.  It sounded too good to be true:  $2.99/month for up to 100 4x6 prints bound in a cute book- THIS INCLUDES SHIPPING.  We took the risk and signed up and I couldn't be more pleased.  The prints were great quality (keeping in mind that these are low resolution cell pics that can often times be a tad blurry when you take them) and the price is unbeatable.  Trust me.

For those wondering how it works, all you do is

• Download the App
• Upload pictures from your cell phone
• And wait for your monthly close date!

A few days later, your book arrives!

The possibilities here are endless.  You can print last months pics, create a book for an event or trip, or print a theme book (all my puppy pics)!  Since all the pages have perforated edges, you can also tear them out for your own photo books or frames!  Another plus is once you create an account, you can access your account from other phones.  Ronnie did a book on his phone the month after I did mine on my phone.

We have been very impressed with Groove Book and are excited to continue receiving memories in the mail.

PS~ Let me know if you want a code to get your first month free!

Care Packages!

As many of you know, I have a love for snail mail.  There is nothing quite like getting a letter or package in your mailbox when you least expect it.  I just wanted to share a couple of the fun packages I sent out last month.  I had fun with them.

A box of sunshine

A "Heart Attack" for Valentine's Day

Tortellini Pasta Salad

I couldn't wait to post this after making it tonight.  We are having a birthday pitch-in at work tomorrow and I needed an appetizer that was easy and could be refrigerated.  I decided it was the perfect opportunity to try something from Pinterest [of course].  I've been wanting to try this new rendition of pasta salad for a while now.  It has tortellini, cherry tomatoes, pepperoni, basil, and fresh mozzarella.  It turned out SO GOOD.  I'm SUPER excited to take it in tomorrow.

The original recipe can be found here by "Dream Home Cooking Girl."  I made a couple changes.  First, I was making it for a large group so instead of using all tortellini, I used a box of colored spiral noodles as well.  I figured it would make it a little less rich and add some more color.  Second, my little basil plant that has done so well all summer while I didn't need it, is now pretty sorry looking so I used dried basil to taste.  Really, I didn't do a lot of measuring; just kinda eyeballed it.  All-in-all, it was very easy and VERY yummy.  

• Cook tortellini and spiral noodles in separate pots following package directions 
• (I used a normal box of noodles and two 8 oz packages of tortellini.)
• Once done, drain and rinse with cold water
• Add in:
• about a cup of cherry tomatoes, halved
• 3/4 cup of pepperoni cut in to small pieces
• 1 cup fresh mozzarella cheese, diced
• about 3/4 cup Ceasar dressing
• basil, salt, and pepper to taste (Original recipe calls for 3/4 cup copped fresh basil)
• Gently stir and refrigerate

Pinterest snacks for little ones

Just wanted to take a quick minute to tell you about a couple of the pinterest snack my sister-in-law and I made for her beautiful daughter last week.  The baby was teething while she was here, so we tried out these teething biscuits by ImprintAlish.  They were quick, easy, healthy, and tasty.  The texture was perfect for teething biscuits as they were chewy and didnt crumble.  The baby loved them and even the boys snuck a couple.

We also tried out these homemade goldfish crackers by Tasty Kitchen Blog.  They were also really good.  They tasted a lot like cheez-its.  They took a bit more time for a lower yield but all in all a fun and delicious snack.

Ok.  now the last one I want to share is a real keeper.  We had bbq pulled pork for dinner one night and made these quick and easy buns from Taste of Home.  They were SO GOOD.  The boys managed to sneak the rest of them as a snack later with and without the meat.  Ronnie made me promise I would make them again soon for dinner rolls or buns.  Love them.  (I will mention that a friend recommended to me that we let the dough rise for 30 minutes instead of the recommended 10.)  

***pictures are all from their respective sites.  please follow links to recipes and credits.   

Nerd Party!

I was put in charge of our CLS end of the year class party.  We had a nice budget to play with and, thankfully, a class willing to play along.  I [of course] used pinterest as my inspiration:  See my board here.  I passed out ideas to willing members of the class and here is what we came up with!  It was so much fun and a great last hoorah before we all went our separate ways.  

Jello Agar Plates

Ginger Bread Techs

Red Velvet Red Blood Cells

White Blood Cell Sugar Cookies
"Love U Bunny Rodak"

Virus Treats and Red Hots

All the Urine problems

The Stool Cup Chocolate Pudding Bar

Love these Peeps.  : )