If You've Got The Time...

Time is something I just don't have these days.
It's amazing how quickly the most wide-open, unscheduled days fill up and are gone like a vapor.
And in those moments, the ones that seem to slip away, the important often gets pushed aside and the inane gets accomplished.
Why is that?
Our business for this season is winding down. Just one more month of school for CJ. Just one more week of bible study leadership meetings and lessons. Just a couple of months until Hub's schedule winds down and we get to hang out again.
But... then come the weddings...baby showers... play dates... vacations... and the time that once seemed open and vast is quickly crammed full of "stuff" (good and bad) and I find the kids and I desperate for our daily nap/rest time.
'Tis the season, I guess.

So I'm asking YOU, seasoned veterans...

How do you do it?!

How do you cope with the constant tired of lots of little people and the general busyness of life?
How do you decide what stays and what goes?
How does your ideal week look?

Scrubbing Hard to Reach Places

I can only assume that at one point in time or another you have been faced with an oddly shaped bottle as I often am. Homemade yogurt and kefir have fat/cream in them and that means that lots of goodies stick to the sides of my jars.
Until now I have been shoving steel wool down into the jars and with the very tips of my fingers done the best that I could. I often pulled the not so perfectly clean jars out of the dishwasher, looked over the film left inside, shrugged, and put it away in the cabinet figuring there wasn't much I can do.

BUT NOW...
thanks to a handful of rice, some water, and some amazing biceps...

 

 

 Problem solved!

It's Earth Day Weekend

Don't forget... Earth day is Sunday.
Need some ideas?

 10 Earth Day Activites with Kids at East Cost Mommy

Celebrating Earth Day with Kids by SheKnows Parents

10 Earth Day Ideas for Children by Crafting a Green World

or this idea, Pista Shells Mosiac by Putti Prapancha

9 Hands on Ways to be Earth Friendly by Hands On: As We Grow

Have a WONDERFUL Weekend!!

Waffle Iron Cinnamon Rolls

I am in no uncertain terms claiming that these are healthy, just that they are quick and dee-licious!

{P.S. I've read that you can do this with cookie dough too! I'll keep you posted.}

What You'll Need:
refrigerated cinnamon roll dough
waffle iron

 

What To Do:
Plug in waffle iron. Once heated, place individual rolls around the iron. Close. Wait until light brown all around. Frost... or don't. Let cool... or don't. Enjoy! 

Liquid Glue Ideas

I stumbled upon this post just the other day and thought it totally share-worthy!
It's a bunch of fun things to do with school glue like goop, batiking, and sun catchers... 

Hope you enjoy!
I found this at Having Fun at Home

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Sensory Bins for Spring

Ever heard of a sensory bin?
I first heard of them a few months ago but couldn't quite figure out the purpose...
The main purpose is for hands on learning. There's lots to see, touch, and even hear.
This post from Purpose Driven Home offers several more great reasons but, to be honest, my favorite thing about them is that they're a great way to keep the kids busy during tough times of the day (like when I'm cooking dinner) other than TV.  

For the bug bin I used a bin I already had with short sides so the kids can reach in. I bought a 10 lb bag of black beans for the local international food store and raided the Target dollar section for all the buggy goodness.

For Easter, I grabbed some things from the Dollar Tree and Target. The kids liked filling the eggs with the little bunnies and hiding them around the house.

One last perk... I love that I now have a great excuse to buy some of the cute stuff in the dollar section at Target that I always liked but had no purpose for. Yay!

Homemade Sidewalk Paint

The weather was unseasonably warm for a few weeks last month.
I sent the kids outside as much as I could manage for their daily doses of vitamin D and a good base tan.
After a couple of days they began wandering around the yard looking lost so I gave this idea, which I saw on Pinterest, of course, a shot.

This kept the munchkins busy for hours and, thanks to some rainfall, it required no cleaning!
SCORE!

What You'll Need:
1/4 c cornstarch (I used arrowroot)
1/4 c water
food coloring
paint brushes

What To Do:
Mix cornstarch and water, divide into different bowls or pockets in a muffin tin, add a couple drops of food coloring. Paint away!

 

Cinnamon Popcorn

I overheard a friend talking about this amazing popcorn recipe with sugar, cinnamon, and popcorn baked for a delicious snack.
When I got home I checked it out and...

OH MY! She was right!!

It's so butter, melt-in-your-mouthy, delicious!
... and if you're not a big cinnamon fan, like me, don't be deceived, this isn't overly spiced.
What You'll Need:

1/3 c. butter
1/4 c. sugar
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
10 c. popcorn (air popper recommended) can substitute 2 packages microwave, natural flavor popped popcorn

 

What To Do:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a small saucepan, combine butter, sugar, cinnamon and salt, and cook over low heat until mixture forms sugar water. Continue cooking for 3 minutes, and before mixture starts to boil stop cooking, remove from heat. Do not make into candy.

In large bowl, pour cinnamon mixture over popped popcorn, and toss well to evenly coat. Use brown grocery bag for tossing.

 

 

Place popcorn on 2 jelly roll pans, and bake in oven 15 minutes until hot and crisp. Let popcorn cool, and store in an airtight container for best flavor.

Fill keep up to one week.

Found at Cooks.com

Keep Brown Sugar Soft

I have tried many'a trick to keep my brown sugar from turning into a solid mass of sweetness.
I've tried bread...
apples...
and even that cute little terra cotta bear...
but nothing has done it quite like marshmallows!

If you're still looking for a good solution then I highly recommend this one.
I'll never go back!

Going to The Rabbit Room

Another crazy week!

So I'm sending you to an old post from the Rabbit Room that I really enjoy about how the very act of our breathing resembles the sound of the name of God.
Click Here...It's well worth the read!

Happy Thursday!

Cause I Can...

Hope this face brightens your day almost as much as it does mine!

Happy Weekend!

Broiled Grapefruit

I found the recipe for this yummy-ness at Williams-Sonoma and made a couple of adjustments...

What You'll Need: 1 grapefruit - 1/4 c of rapadura (or brown sugar) - 1 T butter, melted - 1/2 t cinnamon 

What To Do: Cut a grapefruit in half and section pieces. Mix rapadura/brown sugar with butter and cinnamon and pour over the top of each half.

 Place on a baking sheet about 4 inches from the broiler and heat for 2-3 minutes until everything's uniformly bubbly.

 YUM!

Sonoma's original recipe found here

Quick CLoset Shelf

We have a handy closet near the kitchen that I've dubbed at my appliance and hardware closet. 

As I said, it's handy and good sized but had only one shelf so once I purchased my handy-dandy bread maker {for $5 from Goodwill} I needed some more storage. 

I measured the width of the back of the closet, cut a 1x4 to length, then drew a level line 3/4" down from where I wanted the top of the shelf to be. I drew a level line across the back of the closet at that height and screwed the board so the top of it was flush with my line.

 

Next, I measured the side walls of the closet from the front of the closet to the board I just screwed into place. After subtracting 1/2 and inch {for wiggle room, you don't need a snug fit here} from that length, I cut two more pieces of my 1x4. 

This time I only placed the side boards and eyeballed the correct height but still checked to be sure they were level and screwed them into place.

 

 

I then cut a 1x12 board down to the width of the back of the closet minus 1/4" and rested it on the 1x4s 

{I didn't screw the shelf into place for easy removal if needed.}

I added a small plastic drawer unit to organize my tools and "ta-da!" ..done!

Wasn't that easy?

Cleaning Tarnished Silver

I may or may not have a unhealthy love for coffee. My mom knows this and bought me a nice set of silver tea spoons. Little did I realize how quickly silver tarnishes if you don't take care of it. Whoops! 

 Of course Pinterest saved me again when I found this link from Crafted Love...

boiling water

glass or plastic dish

aluminum foil

baking soda

plastic or wooden spoon

Boil water in a kettle or pot...
While heating, wrinkle up a sheet of aluminum foil and line the bottom of your dish.
Lay your silver, single layer, on the foil and sprinkle heavily with baking soda. 

Once the water boils, pour it over your silver to cover.
You'll start to notice bubbles and and a sulfuric smell...

Swish the items around, flipping them to make sure it all touches the foil and watch it begin to shine!
Now, drain and rinse with water and wipe with a cloth.
Seriously THAT.IS.IT!

Busy Days

My, oh my! Three little people and beautiful weather have a great way of sucking up time!

We got back last night from a three day extraveganza... we left early EARLY Friday morning to meet my father-in-law in eastern Pennsylvania and he took the kids to western PA for the weekend while Hubs and I continued on to Richmond to see an amazingly sweet couple tie the knot. From Richmond we headed north to the Fredericksburg area to meet up with some of my favorite family members for lunch and a orchid greenhouse tour and  then off to western PA to meet up with the kids, spend the night, go to church and head home.
24 of the last 72 hours were spent in the car...
It's a quality vehicle, comfortable and smoothe...
and I don't want to lay eyes on it again for a LOOOONG time!

75 Kid Activities

I found this great post at That's so Cuegly and there are some great ideas I thought you may like.
We've tried some of these and I'm excited to try a few others.