Day 158: Homemade Bubbles (success).

Pinterest pin and website link.

I count these as a success, although I still haven't found homemade bubbles that rival the "blowing power" of store-bought bubbles.  My kids seemed to like this previous recipe a little better than this one today.  Anyone else have a recipe for me to try??

Ingredients:

6 cups water
2 cups Dawn dishwashing liquid
3/4 cup light corn syrup

Instructions:

Mix all ingredients together in a large container.  Shake everything up and let sit for a few hours. Pour into empty bubbles containers to use with bubble wands.

Verdict: SUCCESS!

Day 157: Strawberry & Banana Popsicles (success).

Pinterest pin and website link.

I recently decided to invest in a ZOKU Quick Pop Maker, as my kids love Popsicles and I was hoping to sneak healthier ingredients into their favorite treat. Since this was our first time trying the Quick Pop Maker, we didn't combine the strawberry and banana flavors into one pop, as this took an additional step with the machine.  We made strawberry ones and banana ones separately, and the kids loved both.  I personally thought there was a bit too much lemon juice in both, particularly the banana flavor, but as you can see, my banana-loving child wasn't fazed!

Strawberry Popsicle Ingredients:
6 ounces hulled, quartered strawberries
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons vanilla yogurt
1 tablespoon milk
2 tablespoons sugar

Combine ingredients in a mini food processor (I used my Magic Bullet machine) until smooth.  Freeze mixture in Popsicle molds for a few hours (or 7-9 minutes with the Zoku Quick Pop Maker!).

Banana Popsicle Ingredients:
6 ounces (about ¾ cup) mashed ripe bananas (this was two small bananas for me)
2 tablespoons milk
1½ tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon sugar

Combine using the method described above -- puree, freeze & enjoy!

Verdict: SUCCESS!

Day 156: Pom-Poms as Erasers (success).

Pinterest pin and website link.

My kids love to use dry erase markers and this pin looked like a quick way for them to easily erase their work if they made a mistake.  This was easy and worked -- simply hot-glue gun a pom-pom on the bottom of a dry erase marker.

The only negative was that my son kept losing the marker cap (since he usually sticks it on the bottom of the marker while in use), but he was occupied for quite awhile with drawing and erasing, so I count that as a success!

Verdict: SUCCESS!

Day 155: Tension Rod to Hold Pot Lids (success).

Pinterest pin and website link.

I had to modify this pin a bit, as my pots and pans are not in a drawer, but in a large cabinet underneath the stove.  I already use a tension rod in the cabinet to keep cutting boards, placemats and cookie sheets upright, but the pots, pans and lids are a mess:

I took the pots, pans and lids out, installed a tension rod along the back of the cabinet and stuck 4 of the 6 lids along the back wall.

I was then able to more easily stack the pots and pans (and only 2 lids) in the front of the cabinet.

Verdict: SUCCESS!

Day 154: Olive Oil to Clean Stainless Steel Appliances (fail).

Pinterest pin (no website link).

I have stainless steel appliances and small kids with sticky fingers, so I was excited to try this pin.  This was my dishwasher last night:

As the pin suggested, I put olive oil on a paper towel and rubbed it on the front of the dishwasher before using a clean towel to buff the residue off.  Unfortunately, it just made the front of the dishwasher appear to have a film all over it; the olive oil residue wouldn't come off.

As you can see, I also forgot to clean the right-hand side of the dishwasher, so I'm off to do that now with the stainless steel cleaner I bought at the store!

Verdict: FAIL.

Day 153: Cleaning Dirty Oven Racks (success).

Pinterest pin and website link.

 

I've completed several pins on cleaning my oven, but have never found anything on cleaning the oven racks.  And I think we can all agree that mine were disgusting :(

Instructions:

Place oven racks in the bath tub and fill with HOT water until racks are covered.  While the water is on, add about 6 dryer sheets and 1/2 cup of dish soap (I used the original blue Dawn).

Let sit overnight. Remove any remaining buildup with the dryer sheets.

They're not perfect, but they're SO much better -- and  most of the grease and build-up came easily off by lightly scrubbing with the dryer sheets in the morning.

This probably goes without saying, but you'll need to clean your bathtub after completing this pin!

 

Verdict: SUCCESS!

Day 152: Camping Tacos (success).

Pinterest pin and website link.

These were so easy and perfect for our upcoming camping trip!  And as a bonus, the only items to wash were the serving dishes, as we will use plastic silverware while camping.

Instructions:
Buy snack-sized bags of chips (I bought the variety pack and thought we'd only use the Fritos, but my husband thought that using Doritos tasted better!). 

Open and roll down the edges of each chip bag.  Add any taco ingredients you normally would (we had sour cream, cheese, salsa, lettuce, and olives, plus ground beef with taco seasoning).  When taking this as a camping meal, I'd cut up all ingredients prior to leaving, plus brown  the meat at home and then warm up over the fire or camp stove.  The kids couldn't believe they got to eat chips for dinner!

Verdict: SUCCESS!

Day 151: DIY Eye Make-up Remover (success).

Pinterest pin and website link.

I apologize in advance for these creepy close-up eye pictures of me!  But, this homemade eye make-up remover really works -- and it's cheap!

My eyes at the end of the day: 

Eye Makeup Remover Ingredients & Instructions:
1 cup water
1-1/2 tablespoons tear-free baby shampoo
1/8 teaspoon baby oil

Mix ingredients together in a small container.  Shake before every use.

Verdict: SUCCESS!

Day 150: Using Vegetable Glycerin in Homemade Hand Scrub (success).

Pinterest pin and website link.

I have super dry hands in the winter and wanted to try adding vegetable glycerin to the Mary Kay's "Satin Hands" recipe, as suggested by the blog author.  I made the recipe per the pin, and added 1 tablespoon of vegetable glycerin at the end.  I did notice that it didn't dry out my hands as much (a success), but I didn't like how it made the scrub ingredients separate out in the jar (a fail, in my opinion).  This wouldn't look as pretty or be as user-friendly (the receiving person would have to stir the scrub before each use) if giving as a gift.

Verdict: SUCCESS / FAIL.

Day 149: Honey Whole-Wheat Sandwich Bread (success).

Pinterest pin and website link.

 

This was the best bread recipe I've made -- my family loved it!  I hesitated to even make this bread because only half of it is done in the bread machine -- but I'm really glad I tried it despite the extra effort it takes!  I actually made one loaf by following the pin exactly (loaf below on the right), and the other loaf completely in the bread machine (loaf below on the left).  Hands down, the one that tasted the best was the one that followed the pin.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup warm water (between 110 – 115 degrees)
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups white bread flour
2-1/2 cups wheat flour
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
2-1/4 teaspoon yeast

 

Directions:

1. Add contents per your bread machine’s manufacturer directions. (Example, wet, dry, yeast.)

2. Turn to dough setting for 1-1/2 hours.

3. Grease two 9-inch loaf pans with cooking spray or vegetable shortening.

3. Once dough cycle is completed, turn dough out on lightly floured surface with oiled hands.

5. Knead slightly and form into to two loaves.

6. Place in prepared loaf pans, cover with cotton towel, and let rise in warm area for 30 minutes or until double in size.

7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

8. Place in preheated oven and bake for 25 minutes.

9. Cool in wire rack.

10. Let bread completely cool before slicing and eating to ensure the softest bread.

 

Verdict: SUCCESS!

Day 148: Simple Bread Machine Bread (success).

 Pinterest pin and website link.

I am on a mission to use the appliances in my kitchen that I've rarely (or never!) used -- or I'm going to get rid of them!  I'm so happy that I tried out my bread machine.  This was a simple recipe to make and the bread was good!

Ingredients1-1/3 cups warm water, about 110 degrees
2 Tablespoons and 2 teaspoons white sugar
3 teaspoons yeast
1/3 cup olive oil
4 cups flour (I used 1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour and 2-1/2 cups white bread flour)
2 teaspoons salt
 Directions

In a bread machine, place water, oil and salt.  Add flour on top of liquids. Pour sugar into one corner of the bread machine basket. Then make a well in the center of the flour and pour in the yeast. 

 Set your bread machine for "basic" loaf, and let it do the work for you! 

Verdict: SUCCESS!  My family liked this bread, and even though I've found another recipe we like ever better, this one is much easier to do because all the steps are in the bread machine!

Day 147: How to Wash & Whiten Yellowed Pillows (fail).

Pinterest pin and website link.

I have a front-loading washer, so I modified this pin based on the comments section below the original post; instead of soaking the pillows in the washing machine, I soaked them in our bathtub. 

A few of our pillows look like this (the sheet underneath is pure white, so you can see just how yellowed the pillow is):

I mixed together the following solution in our bathtub and soaked three pillows (FYI: it didn't say how long to soak them, and I think I may have overdone it, as the lining on two of the pillows started to disintegrate after soaking for 1/2 an hour on each side).

Mixture:
Hot water
1 cup of laundry detergent
1 cup powdered dishwasher detergent
1 cup bleach
1/2 cup borax

I then wrung the pillows out, transferred them to the washer and washed them in hot, hot water for two cycles.  It took 2+ dryer cycles to get them dry, plus lots of work to fluff out all the lumps.  In the end, I ruined two pillows (too lumpy to sleep on anymore and lining is ripped) and the remaining one isn't all that much whiter.  From here on out, I think I'll just run them through the washer -- 2 at a time -- with our regular laundry soap and bleach.  Most people don't see the yellowed pillows anyway with the pillowcases on!

 Verdict: FAIL. 

Day 146: Organizing Lego Instruction Books (success).

Pinterest pin and website link.

My son is just getting into Legos, which means that although we only have a few sets, I'm stepping on tiny Legos everywhere in the house!  I will be looking into Lego storage solutions at some point, but for now, I wanted to try organizing the instruction booklets; the books are already getting torn and ripped from use, and are just thrown in the box with all the Lego pieces.

I took the staples out of the middle of the instruction books and put each page in a plastic page protector before placing in a binder.  My husband thought this was over-kill (he suggested putting the entire booklet in one page protector, as it took A TON of protectors to do the three little sets we have!), but I've already noticed my son is more willing to take apart and re-build his current Legos now that the instructions are easier for him to flip through and see.

For now, this is the system we're using -- I may have to adapt it when he gets more sets with longer instructions!

Verdict: SUCCESS!

Day 145: Foil-Wrapped Salmon (success).

Pinterest pin and website link.

Ingredients:
Salmon fillet (I purchased the wild salmon from Costco -- and was able to cut it in large pieces before baking and freeze 3/4 of it for future meals)

2 tsp. olive oil (to grease foil)

4 tsp. basil pesto (I used the Costco basil pesto in a jar)

Tomatoes, sliced about 1/4 inch thick

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 450 F.  Place a baking sheet in the oven to heat while you prep the salmon (I didn't do this step, and the salmon was still baked to perfection).

Tear two pieces of foil, big enough to wrap salmon with some overlapping. Place foil pieces one on top of the other. Put about 2 tsp. olive oil in center of top piece of foil and lay salmon on top of oil.

Spread basil pesto over the salmon. Arrange sliced tomatoes over pesto so they cover the top of the salmon.

Wrap salmon securely in foil, doubling over the seam and ends several times. Place salmon packet on heated baking sheet and cook 15 minutes.

Remove from oven after 15 minutes and let sit 2-3 minutes. Then open carefully and serve immediately, while salmon and tomatoes are hot.

Verdict: SUCCESS!

Day 144: Vinegar to Clean Dishwasher (fail).

Pinterest pin and website link.

To be honest, I've never inspected the bottom of my dishwasher to make sure that it's clean, as I assumed that since it gets my dishes clean, the actual machine would be clean too.  Wrong.  It's really gross in there:

In an attempt to clean it, I poured vinegar into the bottom of the empty dishwasher and ran a hot cycle without any dishes, per the pin instructions.  I'm still on the hunt for a way to clean my dishwasher, as mine is still really disgusting:

Verdict: FAIL.

Day 143: Using a Dustpan to Fill a Large Container (fail).

Pinterest pin and website picture.

Depending on the size / depth of your sinks, this could actually work as pictured.  However, when I tried this at home, I discovered that my sinks are much too deep for this to work.  As you can see below, for the dustpan to drain down into the cooler, it has to hang over the edge of the sink; the faucet, however, is nowhere close to being able to drip water into the dustpan.  When I pulled the detachable faucet over to the dustpan and poured water into it, the water went into the cooler.  It didn't make sense to use this pin, though, in that situation -- I could just have squirted water directly from the detachable faucet into the cooler and skipped the dustpan step!

Verdict: FAIL.

Day 142: Using Baking Soda to Exfoliate (success).

Pinterest pin and website link.

Through this pin-a-day journey I'm on, I've discovered that the most versatile item in my house is baking soda.  It feels like it can -- and should! -- be used for everything!  About two months ago, I decided to attempt using baking soda as a facial exfoliate, and it has worked great!  I decided to spare you a close-up photo of my face, and instead explain just how different my face feels :)

Instructions:
Wet your face (I use a washcloth).  Pump a quarter-sized dollop of facial cleanser into the palm of your hand (as you can see, my true Costco loyalty extends even to my facial cleanser!).  Pour about a teaspoon of baking soda into your hand and mix well to combine with the facial cleanser.  Using a circular motion, massage the mixture onto the skin for 30 seconds to remove dirt, oil and dead skin, particularly around the nose, chin and forehead.  Rinse the baking soda scrub away (this is my only complaint with the baking soda scrub -- I try to carefully wash it away with a washcloth, but this step can be a bit irritating to my skin.  It takes a few times of wiping my face and rinsing out the washcloth before the gritty baking soda is completely removed from my face).  Repeat once a week.

I've tried other exfoliating treatments in the past, and my skin has never felt this smooth.  Try it!

Verdict: SUCCESS!

Day 141: Life Hack -- How to Re-Open a Closed Computer Tab (success).

Pinterest pin and website link.

This seemed like a silly thing to test and then blog about, but since trying it recently, I realize how often I do accidentally close a tab that I need / want to get back to while working on my computer!  I thought it was worth passing along that this works!

Verdict: SUCCESS!

Day 140: Ribbon Storage (success).

Pinterest pin and website link.

This was so easy to make using a swinging pant hanger.  I have a closest in my office, but no hanging clothing rack inside, so I just hang this over the closet doorknob and my ribbon is ready to go!  The only thing that is kind of annoying is that ribbon spools are oftentimes too big to stack the ribbon on top of each other (thus, the staggered ribbon placement).  As a bonus, I also included tape on here, so I always know where that is while wrapping presents.

Verdict:: SUCCESS!

Day 139: Scratch-Off Chore Card (fail).

Pinterest pin and website link.

I am so bummed this didn't work out!  I had such high hopes that my kids would love to do their chores (ha!) with this scratch-off chore card, but it was not worth the effort / frustration to make the cards and then was super messy while the kids were scratching off the paint.

Materials:
* tempera paint (darker colors are better)
* dishwashing soap
* chore card template
* paint brushes
* craft punch (or scissors)
* contact paper

Instructions:
Add a little soap to your paint and mix together.  Use the paint / soap combination to paint onto the contact paper.  Let dry and repeat again; do several coats so you can't see through the paint.  

While the paint is drying, print out chore cards with the template above, or create your own.

When the paint is fully dry, use a craft punch to cut circles from the painted contact paper.  This step was disastrous for me -- my contact paper kept getting stuck in my craft punch and paint flecks were everywhere.

Peel off the back of the contact paper and adhere one painted circle on top of each chore.  As you can see, peeling off the back resulted in even more flaking of the paint.  Plus, even with 3 coats of paint, the chores could be seen through the painted contact paper on my daughter's pink chore card.

Give each child his/her own chore card and a shiny coin, and start cleaning -- or not.  My son figured out that the cleanest way to see the chore was to peel off the painted contact paper.

Getting the hang of scratching off the paint -- which involved lots of paint chip clean-up afterwards and a frustrated 4 year old (and Mom)!

Verdict: FAIL.

Day 138: Marble Run Water Play (fail -- although fun).

Pinterest pin and website link.

This looked so fun, but ended up not working out so well -- we moved the water table inside on a rainy day (with a tarp / towels underneath) and built up the marble run to sit inside the water table.  

Although my daughter played with it for a long time, my son quickly tired of the marbles not moving along as well in water as they normally do without water.  It may have also had something to do with the water table not being completely even (my engineer husband tried to fix it), but the marbles consistently got stuck halfway down the run due to water resistance.

Verdict: FAIL.

Day 137: Refresh your Towels (fail).

Pinterest pin and website picture.

We've had the same master bath towels for years, so when my friend asked if I would try this pin on refreshing towels, I jumped at the chance.  This pin promises fresh smelling and absorbent towels, but after running them through the washer twice with hot water (once with 1 cup of vinegar and the next with 1/2 cup of baking soda) and drying them, I didn't notice any difference in the smell or absorbency of the towels.  Maybe it's time to invest in some new ones...

Before:

After:

Verdict: FAIL.