Easter Basket

What do you put in an Easter basket for a 15 month old? I had 500 great ideas for homemade fun things for C's basket. Then reality hit and I realized that I'm preggers a d chasing a toddler around and I'm pretty much just exhausted...always. Then I realized that Easter is on Sunday. This Sunday. And I haven't made her basket or her 2 princess cloth diapers or her dress or playdoh or special yummy fruit snacks that look to die for on the pinterest or a baby doll bed or...or....or.... I have great intentions. I just don't have the energy in this season of life. So off to the sfore we went and I wandered the aisles looking for inspiration. So what's in the basket?

*The Jesus Storybook Bible (because we haven't gotten her her own Bible yet and it's about time)

*a pinwheel (because it looked fun, righr?)

*a mermaid doll (for the bathtub. It has been inspected for choking hazards since the package said 3+)

*my little pony (because every little girl needs a my little pony)

*sand toys

*playdoh

*frozen themed crayons

*a roll of paper for her easel

*a hair brush (she loves brushing her hair)

*a bubble blower similar to the kind Gymboree sells, just not feom Gymboree.

So I may have gone a little overboard and I'm sure the playdoh and pinwheel won't last long, but it's fun and I enjoyed making her a basket since last year's was mai ly stuff we already had yet hadn't introduced to her yet. :) 

We also have plastic eggs filles with stickers and snacks for the Easter egg hunt...which will likely happen after church on Sunday. I had grand plans of easter egg dying this year, but she's 15 months old and I apparently had a reality check on that one. Hahaha

Dye Crinoline with RIT

When the Hubster proposed to me - I knew what I wanted our wedding colors to be & I knew that I wanted to have color on me somewhere...and it was going to be pink. So - I chose to dye the 2 crinoline skirts I had. Now - David's Bridal and RIT dye will both tell you that you can't dye the crinoline skirts because of

You may also want to go and pick up some more table salt, because you're gonna need a significant amount of it.

You will need:

• Article of clothing you want to dye
• Rit dye (I used 2-3 packets for of dye for each skirt)
• Bucket you don't care for
• Salt (helps lock in color)

Step 1:
Prep the article of clothing. This was fun - I was very impressed I got the whole skirt into that sink! You want your article to be wet (not necessarily soaked, but wet - I suggest wringing it out before adding it to the dye, but I'm fairly certain I didn't do that.)
  

Step 2:
Prep the Dye. Make sure you wear gloves or else you will end up with stained hands! (it may even happen if you wear gloves...I'm just that awesome - and nothing gets it off except time. I even tried spraying my hand with Resolve to see if it would get it out. Don't try that, it doesn't work. You just walk around with 1 hot pink hand and 1 regular hand until it finally wears off - I think it took a few days; maybe even a week).

This is wear the salt comes in to play.

1/2 cup of salt.

  Dissolve 1 package of powder dye in 2 cups of hot water. If you're worried about the dye not sticking (I was because everyone told me the skirts couldn't be dyed), add in salt. I believe I used 1/2 cup per package of dye. Stir, Stir, Stir!

Set the washing machine for the extended wash cycle or just leave the lid open. The fabric should be in dye bath for at least 30 minutes before rinse begins - I was worried about the dye not working on the skirt, so I let it sit for about 2 hours. And in it goes...

Because there was SO much fabric on this skirt, parts of it kept floating up and out of the water. So, in order to avoid random light patches, we threw a bunch of water bottles on top. They were heavy enough to hold the skirt down.

Now, let it soak!

When the time is up, whether you let it sit for 30 minutes or an hour, you can close the like lid and turn the washer dial to cold water and the "rinse" setting. Make sure you rinse it enough times that the water runs clear. Then wash it with a very mild detergent in warm water and rinse thoroughly in cool water.

Now go figure out where to dry it! My in-laws were worried that if we hung it to dry in the house, it would drip and dye the floor so we set up a ladder outside and hung my skirt off the ladder until it was dry.





This is REALLY important so you don't accidentally dye anything else on your next cycle - run the washing machine on the highest water level with the hottest water, detergent and 1 cup chlorine bleach. I suggest doing an extra rinse and washing a load of whites after this cycle. You will get a pretty good idea if all the dye is out this way, and if it isn't, you can always just bleach the whites.

Worked like a charm.


Here's a picture of the skirts on my wedding day (you can barely see the light pink one- sorry)

And here's a picture of both of them side by side a little over a year later.

 

Now, I used the EXACT same dye and the EXACT same process on both skirts. The dye took better to one skirt than the other - which is probably because they were made by different companies so the materials were probably slightly different - and is most likely why RIT and DB said that the skirts cannot be dyed.

I say - if you want a fun pop of color, go ahead and give it a try - I was very pleased with what I got. I ultimately had 3 skirts on my wedding day. My dress came with some crinoline underneath it (so that stayed white), then there was the light pink skirt, and then the dark pink skirt.

Good luck!

Sara



Oh - and here's a before and after of a dress I dyed for a friend's wedding:

DIY: Plastic Bag Storage

     We always end up having an EXCESS of plastic bags that end up accumulating under out sink in a big blob that ends up driving me nuts. Well, sometime last year (after we moved out here to Arizona) Anthony and I came across this brilliant idea on the internot. He actually did this the first time - but since we had to re-stock the bags, I did it this time. All you'll need is excess bags and an empty kleenex box. 

The blob of plastic bags

 Take a bag and flatten it out as best you can. 

Then fold it in half long ways (like a hot dog)

 And then again

Do this to a bunch of bags and then line them up on the ground - with one about half way down the other - and continue the pattern. 

And then roll them up!

Stuff 'em in the kleenex box

 Then pull up the center bag a little bit. Now, when you use a bag, the next one will just pop up - just like the kleenex did before the box was empty!

Now it's easy to store the bags and re-use them without it turning into a plastic bag monster.

Neat and tidy plastic bags to you!

-Sara

Date Night Vase!

     Anthony & I have been married for almost 20 months (if I did the math correct - and we all know that rarely happens), and I think that we've both realized that we tend to get into these "comfortable", "monotonous", "lazy" phases where we end up doing the exact same thing every day. Come home from work, make dinner, eat dinner, do some chores, play with bunnies, watch tv.  The last part is the part that gets frustrating. I know also, that I am a huge homebody so if I don't make plans in advance to do something I will pretty much just stay inside all day which then makes me not want to go and do something later on anyways. And let's face it, we all need to get out of the house every now and again.
     I saw a link on Pinterest for a date night jar - and I LOVE this idea, so I made one - except that ours is more like a date night VASE (ok it is a date night vase) because we didn't have popsicle sticks and the mason jar was too small for all my rolled up pieces of paper. I'm super excited for this - I am convinced that it is going to be SO much fun and that we will grow even closer together as a result of it.

Thanks to Pinterest and these lovely bloggers:
Life in the Green House
Six Sisters' Stuff
Small Notebook
Ideas for a Fun Date
Happy Money Saver
The Dating Divas

and some creativity on our own behalf, we were able to come up with a TON of fun things to do together.




When I told my husband what I was doing, the first thing he asked me was, "are you making it color coded?". Of course I am - normally I would have done it a little more uniformly, but I'm trying to NOT spend money when I have other things that will work just as well, so I just used what ribbon I had laying around and split it up into 4 categories.

• Dark Pink Ribbon = more expensive dates, dates that involve advance planning, or both
• Light Pink Ribbon = less expensive dates that get us out of the house
• Tan Ribbon = at home dates
• Princess Ribbon = $5 or less dates

(I realized after I had tied the dark pink ribbons pretty tightly that I should have used the Princess Ribbon for the expensive dates and another ribbon for the cheap dates, but I'll have to fix that another time.)

Here's a list of the dates we decided to include:
Dark Pink Dates - More Expensive Dates/Planning Dates:

• Melting Pot
• Go to the Zoo
• Weekend Away
• Hotel Stay for the Night
• Dinner at a Fancy Restaurant
• Go to a Local Fair or Carnival
• Go See a Play
• Go to the Water Park

 
Light Pink Dates - Less Expensive/Out of the House Dates:

• Go to the Botanical Gardens
• Go to a Museum on Free Admission Night
• Try a New Restaurant
• Theme Night - Decide on a theme and stick to it ALL night
• Go to a Local Sporting Event
• Coffee Date
• Window Shopping for the House
• Dessert Only
• Bowling
• Mini Golf
• Dinner and a Movie (Hubster's Choice)
• Dinner and a Movie (Wifey Boo's Choice)

Tan Dates - At Home Dates:

• Have a Spa Night
• Go Swimming/Jacuzzi
• Back to the 50s Night – turn the kitchen into a diner with burgers, fries, milkshakes
• Rent a Movie from the Library to Learn to Dance Together
• Have an Outdoor Picnic
• Have an Indoor Picnic
• Build a Fort
• Action Movie
• Chopped Challenge
• Homemade Pizza and an Italian Movie
• Make Dessert Together
• Popcorn and a Chick Flick
• Puzzle and Pizza
• Take Out and Board Games
• Fondue and a Movie

Princess Dates - Cheap Dates (again, I should have switched the princess ribbon and the dark pink ribbon):

• Have a root beer float date
• Visit a bakery and pick up two cookies! Next, head to somewhere fun to enjoy
• Enjoy 2 Redbox movies and have a movie night.
• Lay on a blanket in the backyard and stargaze while listening to two new songs you’ve downloaded
• Grab water guns at the Dollar Store and have a water fight!
• Visit a fast food drive-through and enjoy a milkshake with two straws.

Pantry Organization

I go nuts when things get really messy and cluttered. It sends me in a funk and I just want to run through the house and throw everything away. I don't like feeling like the stuff is overtaking us - but that's exactly how I've been feeling about our pantry. Every time I open it, I just want to slam it shut again. I don't want to see it, I don't want to have to go into it. It overwhelms me. So, I decided I needed to organize it and come up with a way system that works for us (and by us, I mean me because the Hubster is not the type of person to get greatly annoyed by the pantry. He's just not.)

So here's what it ended up turning out to be like:

I realize now, that I should have taken a before picture - but I was too focused on fixing the problem, that I didn't...the same thing happened when I organized our spice cabinet and then the entire rest of our kitchen. You will just have to trust me that it was a completely disorganized mess that drove me bananas.

So what did I do?
First - I went on pinterest, searched for pantry organization and read a handful of blogs for ideas. The important thing to remember is that you need to do what fits your lifestyle and not what some blogger says you should do. I ended up incorporating suggestions from a number of different bloggers - and I'm sorry that I didn't keep their blogs handy to link you to them for more suggestions.
 
One of the things that every blogger I read had in common was to remove EVERYTHING from the panty first so I did and that totally gave me anxiety - because that's the type of person I can be sometimes.) Then, I wiped everything down and separated everything - like with like - to determine how many "sections" or "zones" we would need.

After that, I decided which items we use most frequently and arranged them on the easiest to access shelves (the middle ones - shelves 2 & 3). I put the least used items on the very top (because we're short and it's hard to reach) and then the semi-frequently used items on the the last shelf.

Here are the sections from top to bottom"
Shelf One: "Impromptu Entertaining" (That's the Red Box). The box is easy to get down, which is important since we're not tall folk and I would rather not have to dig around on the top shelf for longer than necessary.
 In the box you will find:

• Paper Plates
• Paper Bowls
• Paper Napkins
• Plastic Utensils
• Plastic Party Table Cloths
• Popcorn
• Chips
• Salsa/Dip
• Easy to put together appetizers
• And other quick snacky things.

Next to the red box are all of our serving trays and bread baskets

Shelf Two:  "Baking Items". Everything that I use for baking is on this shelf - extra flour, sugar (brown, powdered, white, raw), cake mixes, chocolate chips, extra baking powder, marshmallows, oil, pudding mixes, frosting, etc. Since we have a TON of baking stuff - I'd rather make it sweet than savory about 90% of the time - I knew it had to have it's own shelf or share a shelf with something we don't and won't have a lot of - so it shares the shelf with the "Weeknight Meals Basket". I use this basket to group all of the dry, non-perishable ingredients for our meals throughout the week. That way, when I get home from work it's super easy to just go and grab out of the basket instead of digging through the pantry. I'm sure this will be VERY appreciated when we have munchkins in a few years.

Shelf Three: "Pasta and Rice". We always have a TON of pasta - it almost rivals the baking items, but not quite. I did my best to group like pasta with like pasta - putting any duplicates together as best I could so I know when we're getting low. Barilla pastas are on the left, then it goes to macaroni and cheese type deals, then "Asian" pastas (Ramen noddles), and Rice.
Then comes the "boxed starches". Hamburger helpers, stuffing, extra bread crumbs, etc. We usually don't have a lot of this so it just gets put towards the back.  The starches share their shelf with "Canned Foods". I used a pantry/kitchen organizer shelf thing we weren't using. Broths and soups are on the bottom, veggies on top - grouped by kinds. Tuna is next to that.

Shelf Four: Separated into 3ish sections: The first section is "charity lunches & snacks", then "Powdered Beverages"- chai tea mix, iced tea mix, hot chocolate, extra coffee, extra tea, etc., and the last section is "Breakfast Foods" since we usually forget to eat breakfast on the days we're working, I figured it didn't need to have a prime shelf spot.

I then labeled each section on the edge of the shelf. It's been a few weeks since we put this system into place and it's the longest our pantry has remained organized throughout our entire marriage! And I have to say, I am glad that we are getting organized well before we have a house to manage and a family to raise. I feel like it's gonna make that a smidge easier.

I hope that, if you're looking for a way to get organized, that this at least gives you a starting point for creating a system that works for your lifestyle and personality.

Cheers!
Sara

I don't want to give away what I named this little gem, so go read on and see what this is about!

     I have come up with a BRILLIANT beyond brilliant idea! Here it is...

You might thinking that this is just evidence of my enormous sweet tooth. You might be wondering, what is this all about? Well, have no fear because I am here to tell you!
The Hubster and I were talking last night about the fact that he sometimes has to go on business trips and how I have a hard time the first couple days (ok, let's be honest - I FINALLY adjust and come to terms with him being away the day he comes home *giggle*) . Anyways, thinking that I am sure there are lots more wives out there than me who deal with the same thing I decided there should be some type of "Husband Business Trip Survival Kit" and then this was created! I can't honestly tell you why there's Jet Puffed Marshmallow Creme included, it just seemed like a good idea as I walked through Target.

Now this isn't the ENTIRE kit - as I forgot to grab a book and bubble bath to include with the other goodies, but I figure it's a good start. And maybe you know a [newlywed] wife who's husband is going on a business trip for the first time and you want to try and help the transition (it's not easy saying good bye to your spouse, even if it's just a short trip!), you might want to make her a little "Survival Kit" like this one.

Ideas of things to include:
Brownie Mix (or already baked brownies)
Cookie Dough (or cookie mix or already baked cookies)
Marshmallow Creme (again, don't know why it just sounds good right now)
A chick flick or two (or if she's not into chick flicks, some movie that she would like)
Bubble Bath
A Book
New Nail Polish
A Starbuck's gift card perhaps
A journal with encouraging notes already in it




An encouraging bible verse

Put it in a cute basket and tie it with a bow and you've got the "Husband Business Trip Survival Kit" and hopefully a wife that has a bunch of distractions while her hubby is away!

I know the Hubs and I came up with it (ok, I came up with it - he agreed it was a good idea), but I think it's an absolutely brilliant idea and I think it would be a nice little thing to do for a wife who's struggling with her hubby being gone!

Apartment Fixes

We presently live in an apartment which is significantly larger than our CA apartment, but while we have more cabinet storage, we have diminished drawer storage which makes storing certain things a challenge - mainly our ovenmits and pot holders. Since we have 2 sets and only 1 semi- convenient place to store them we've been storing both sets in a small drawer that we either have to fight to get it open because it's a bit crammed or we end up having to go into the cabinet beneath it to find the "missing" pot holder or oven mitt. Then I had a stroke of brilliance and fixed the problem in like 30 seconds. And all I needed was velcro, ribbon that matches our kitchen and a pair of scissors (All of which I had from other projects).

All you have to do is cut the ribbon to the proper length to go through the loop on the pot holder/oven mits and comfortably around the handle on your over.
Cut a piece of velcro to fit the width of the ribbon, attach to the underside of the ribbon on one end and the decorative (or other side if you're using plain ribbon) side of the ribbon.
Thread through the loop on the oven mitt and around the handle and attach.

I've seen similar ideas on Pinterest, but they all involve a sewing machine (which I do not have), fabric and usually fancy embellishments. This is just simpler
.
It may not be the chic-est or cutest solution, but it works! (Now to see what Tony thinks when he sees it tonight, tehe!)

Homemade Bubbles!

I'm a nanny. I've been involved with serving kids in some way since as far back as I can remember, so when my boss told me about an easy and fun way to make bubbles, I had to check it out.  They're amazing!

So here's a recipe for some fun bubbles, and if the kids in your life are old enough you can have fun making them together and practice counting/measureing things!
1 1/2 quarts of water
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 cup liquid dish soap
Mix water and corn syrup until completely blended. Slowly stir in soap. This will last several weeks in an airtight container!
So much fun! Enjoy!

Meal Planning

If you're a newlywed like I am, you may struggle with meal planning as I have. Unfortunately, I forget grace to myself so when I would plan in my head to do something, when I would get home from work we usually didn't have all the ingredientsand then we would end up eating dinner at 8 or 9 PM....which is LATE! Thankfully, my friend Ashleigh introduced me to meal planning and a fun way to do it too! Enter the Menu Board.

Now, apparently, this is old news - my mom informed me that she used to do this all the time! She thought I already new. :) Anyways, this board is really easy to make and it's brilliant.

All you need is:

 an 8x10 picture frame

a piece of scrapbook paper; whichever color/print you'd like

letter stickers

decorative stickers (optional)

a dry erase marker.

Directions:

Make sure that your scrapbook paper is cut down to 8x10 and then put it in the picture frame.

On the glass of the frame, using the letter stickers, add the word: "MENU" (or whatever you want it to read - MEAL TIME, MEALS, GRUB, etc.)

Then on the left side of the frame, add letters to signify the days of the week.

Add additional decorative stickers if you'd like. And you're done!
Just write on the glass with a dry erase marker, and you've got a nice dry erase menu board that can be made for under $10!

Another thing that I have found to really help with this is this spread sheet of sorts frm theprojectgirl.com:

This is absolutely fantastic - and I have no idea why I didn't think of it before I found this! It's a printout to help organize the weeks shopping list - not only does it help with meal planning, but it helps the entire grocery store trip not be overwhelming or excessively long since it's broken down into department. I actually enjoy going to the grocery store now, which is something I used to HATE doing. And I mess up dinner a lot less now that I'm planning more adequately and intelligently.
I hope that this helps anyone who may be struggling with overwhelming grocery store trips or making dinner :)

Happy dinners!
S