Slip proof rug

Any of you have hard wood floors? How about rugs for your hard wood floor? It wasn't until we moved into our current house with hard wood floor, that we needed some rugs. With the rugs came slipping and sliding and constant repositioning. Thanks to Martha Stewart, I learned that you can run lines of acrylic-latex caulk on the back of your rug, and it will keep it from sliding on your hard floors.

Beach Tips

We recently enjoyed some time at the Oregon Coast. It was beautiful! It was cloudy and pretty cool two of the days we were there, requiring cloths, not swimming suites. Its fun to get wet in the ocean and play in the sand, but it can be a pain to get the sticky sand off your skin.

Baby powder helps get the wet sand off. Rub it onto your skin like you would lotion and the sand will come right off.

And if you go to a beach that has tar and get some of that stuck to you, using some paint thinner and a cloth you can rub it right off.

Cutting Brownies

My friend Diana recently shared a nice little tip with me.

"If you want clean cut brownies, cut them while they are WARM and use a PLASTIC knife.

I think everyone has gone through the discouragement of having ugly edged brownies, after cutting them with a regular butter-knife. Switch to the plastic, my friends."

Special thanks to Diana for sharing the love of nicely cut brownies!

Hard Boiled Eggs

I know it seems pointless to blog some hints about hard boiling an egg, after all, its not rocket science. How hard can it be??

Well, its not that hard but I find these tips helpful when boiling my eggs.

If you fill the pan with cold water then add the eggs and put on the stove, the eggs will be MUCH easier to peal once cooked.

And if you don't have a helpful egg timer of some sort and want to know if your egg is hard inside, remove and egg and lay it on its side like so


then spin it like a top. If it is hard inside, it will spin quickly, if it is still soft inside, it will wobble and not spin very well.

Happy Hard Boiling!

Cleaning the Microwave

How many of you hate to scrub your microwave? I feel like there can be much time spent scrubbing with little result. THAT IS until I learned the easiest way to clean a microwave oven.

In a microwave safe bowl put some water and some lemon juice (a table spoon or two). Heat in your microwave to a boil, 2-3 minutes. The citric acid from the lemon juice will loosen the grease and residue. I tired this and just whipped the microwave clean with a warm wet wash cloth. This method works so well! Try it and you will see. :)

Munchkin Snack Catcher

Have any of you seen these? They are Munchkin Snack Catchers. They are have completely changed the way we do snacking, especially in the car and during sacrament meeting. Notice the lid. They are cut so that a little hand can go into the lid, pull out a little snack but keep the rest of the snack still in the cup. You can turn the whole cup full of treats/snacks up side down and nothing will spill out. We love them!
I have not found them at Walmart or Target, but have had better luck with grocery stores and online. At the store, they are about $6 for a two pack, but they are cheaper online (before shipping.) I suggest that if you have small kids, or know someone with small kids, you look into them. They are oh so convenient and helpful!

Homemade Multipurpose Cleaning Solution

After many dollars spent on various cleaning products to scour my sinks, scrub my counters, table, to mop my floor, I decided I'd had enough.

Enter Homemade Multipurpose Cleaning Solution

About two years ago I on Studio 5 (a local morning show in Utah), they made a simple homemade cleaner in a spray bottle. I wrote it down, then made the marks on my spray bottle and got rid of the recipe. Do not despair, as the exact measurements are not key to this great solution. I decided I would make the recipe and write down what I put in it so that you the reader would know what I put in it, if you are one who is not comfortable with just pouring ingredients and like to measure.

What you will need:

spray bottle
borax
white vinegar
hot water
liquid dish soap

In the spray bottle put 3-4 tablespoons borax, 3/4-1 cup white distilled vinegar, and a squirt of dish soap (about 2-3 tablespoons). Fill the spray bottle to the top with hot tap water. Shake lightly to mix ingredients.
I am one who doesn't measure so if you are like me, just pour away and it should work out just fine. :)

Lets just say that I love this cleaner! It works so well. I use this homemade cleaning solution for most everything. It is a great disinfectant. I love that I can scour my sinks and not worry about the chemicals left behind because there are none. I can bleach my sink and not worry about us all dying from chemicals mixing if I didn't rinse the sink well enough. I love that there are no fumes left by this cleaner, less head aches and no danger while cleaning if you're pregnant. For those of you with pets and small children it is great to know that it is safe to use around them and economically friendly.

Just a pot scraper?

How many of you have a pot scraper? I didn't have one for a long time and decided to buy it when I got a baking stone. Let me tell you, they are amazing! They are great for scraping dry glue stick of table tops, dry, stuck food off of stoves, any random food that is stuck to your floor, etc. I have one for counters, table, and stove cleaning, one to scrape things off the floor when I mop, and one for dishes. This little gadgets are super helpful is all different kinds of ways. I payed $0.99 cents for each of mine. My favorite one I have found is from Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I couldn't find a picture of it but it comes with a little handle on one side that helps you grip it better. May I suggest that if you don't have one, that you pay the dollar and at least one, to see all the amazing ways you can use it for cleaning.

Programmable Thermostat

I must apologize for not posting in such a long time. Lets just say, morning sickness is not my favorite.

In December while at Costco, we picked up a new thermostat for our house. It is programmable by day and time. It was around $50. We came home and installed it and programed it.
I love that we set the temperature to go down to 62 degrees around 10pm every night. It gets cold, and gets us to bed sooner. :) We have it set to go up to 68 degrees at 7:30am. By then we are usually all awake and up and going. (Know that we have horrible windows in our house so you may be able to set your thermostat even lower than we do and be comfortable.)

I must say that the saving we have had on our bill are quite significant. I suggest that if you own a home, and don't already have a programmable thermostat that you look into one. They are definitely worth the investment.

Dish Washing Detergent

Because I have been struggling with morning sickness, things go unattended to and I've not made it to the store as often as I have needed. That being said, necessity is the mother of invention.

I ran out of dish washing detergent for our dish washer. I hopped on line and searched for a home made recipe.

Behold, the world's cheapest way to wash dishes!

What you will need:
washing soda
borax
white distilled vinegar

Mix equal parts washing soda and borax together (both two of the cheapest washing products under the sun). I did a half of a cup of each in a plastic Tupperware. Mix/shake ingredients together so they are mixed well. To wash a load of dishes dump 1 tsp of mixture, yes folks, only 1 teaspoon of the mixture into the bottom of your dish washer. Fill the compartment that is labeled for detergent, ( the one that pops open to release the stuff, not the one that has the holes for the detergent to leak out) use with distilled vinegar. (I put some vinegar into a squirt bottle and don't even measure this out just squirt until it is almost full. I can't imagine that i use fore than 1/4 C vinegar for each load.) Then run your dishes as you normally do.

Know that your dishes will NOT smell like vinegar after they are washed. Trust me, I currently have a pregnant nose and would know if they did. This has been wonderfully helpful and it took awhile for me to perfect. The measurement was not right on the recipe I found so I had to come up with what would work. If you use too much borax/washing soda mixture, your dishes will be covered in subtle white residue. I also poured my vinegar into the rinsing boost place in my dish washer and there was the same white residue. Be sure to follow the directions I outlined and your dishes should come out nice and clean!

Try it out. It will save you $$ and tips to the store. :)

Blemish Tool

I know what your thinking. Is here really a tool for a skin blemish??

Yes, and I call it the zit tool. Not many people know about it. It happens to be one of my favorite things ever. I use it daily for white or black heads. I know it might be T.M.I., but if you knew about it and I didn't and I found out that you knew all along and didn't tell me, I would feel bad. I got mine at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Walmart carries one. This picture is from the one sold on Amazon. I paid around $10 for mine more than 4 years ago. Its is as important to me as a good pair of eyebrow tweezers.

Deseret Book

I know all of you out there can appreciate a good book. I know I do. Well, what about a free download of a book?? Don't think its possible? Think again.
My good friend Lisa told me about this. Deseret Book has a site of books you can down load for free. There is only one book offered that I have read already. Its 10 Secrets Wise Parents Know and would definitely recommend it. From what I hear from my siblings, parenting through the teen aged years can be tricky, but this book give some great ideas on how to avoid some of the struggles.

Check it out, or uh, down load for free!
http://deseretbook.com/free

Minty

Ever heard of Mint.com? Its free personal finance software, money management online, and budget planner . You can link your bank accounts and set up a great itemized budget all for free. You will get emails notifying you when you are close to your spending cap in your different budget areas, or if you have gone over in any area.
We love it. It is very secure website. Check it out!

Thirsty??

Ever heard of Tummy Tickler Apple Juice? Walmart carries a three pack for around $4. The containers come filled with apple juice and the lid is spill-proof. They are dishwasher safe (just cut off the label before you wash it). The lids are interchangeable and come with cute cartoon carachters on them. We have Clifford, Bob-the-builder, Princess, and Little Einsteins lids. I have also seen lids with Sesame St characters. I like them much better than spill-proof sippy/straw cups (parts are not interchangeable with different brands, and if you loose a piece, the cup is no longer good). So next time you're at the Walmart, mozie on over to the juice isle and pick up some Tummy Ticklers. You'll thank me later. ;^D