Feeling "Tippsy"

I've been making a list, and checking it twice.  No, I'm not spying on anyone with the hopes of finding out if they're are naughty or nice.  Frankly, I don't have the energy for spying on people.  I'm making a list of tips.  Ya know, things I've learned or things I've tried that make my life easier.  I'll leave the spying to Santa and his sneaky little elves.

When ever I think of something or hear about some new way of doing... what ever, and if that new something actually works, I write it down.  Now, with my age creepin' up on me, it's a miracle that I remember to do that.  It's even a bigger miracle if I remember where I put the blasted paper that I wrote on! 

I swear, the saying that my dad has said for years is really coming in handy.  I can't tell you how many times I heard him say, "A sharp pencil is better than a sharp mind".  I used to brush it off and roll my eyes when he would say it, but now... I Believe!!

So, here are just a few of the tips that I have found to work in my life:

Fast and easy way to cook bacon.  Turn the oven on to broil, lay out each slice of bacon onto a cookie sheet (the jelly roll kind with edges), put in oven.  You will need to turn pieces over once during cooking.  That's it!
I keep the oven door open a little so that I don't forget they're in there and burn them to smitherines.  I can't imagine ever doing that :}

Cooking potatoes for potato salad or anything.  Bake them!  Just wash them, throw them in, and let them cook until soft.  No peeling, cutting, water logged potatoes to watch boil all over your stove.  Let them cool and they peel and cube very easily.  If you need to grate them, do it.  If you need to mash them, do it.

Cooking moist chicken for casseroles, salads, tacos, etc.  Place frozen chicken in to glass pan (8x8 or 9x13) cover tightly with foil and bake in 350* oven until done.

Homemade buttermilk:  1 cup milk + 3 Tbls vinegar OR lemon juice.  Great for homemade ranch dressing

Tone down sugared cereal.  Buy both the sugared kind and the plain kind and mix them 50/50.  Example: Honey nut Cheerios and regular Cheerios.  Or regular Cheerios and Fruit loops


Spaghetti Sauce miracle.  When I make my own spaghetti, lasagna, manicotti or any tomato based sauce, I add a can of tomato soup.  I mellows out the acid and adds just the right amount of sweetness to it.

That's it!  Hope this helps someone.  I'll add more when I find my other papers :)

Finished Window

Today, Dave helped me to finish off that old window that I got from the farm.  Here's how it looks.  I found the old metal knobs on ebay and decided not to repaint them.  I kinda like the "old" look.  It reminds me of everything on the farm.

Some things I've been doing

I was introduced to this "evil" thing called Pinterest.  Actually it's not evil, it just has way too many fun ideas for projects that have the potential of getting me into trouble.  And heaven knows I don't need any help getting into Trouble!  Instead of having to look up specific web sites to learn how to do something, it has them all right there in plain sight.  You can find things about cooking, fashion, decorating, baking, candle making, painting, etc.  The possibilities are endless!  It's ridiculous, really! 

There are days that I have way too much time on my hands but I'm not a daytime TV watcher.  It's pretty much all garbage on during the day (and not much better at night) so I'd rather keep busy doing other things.  Now when I say "time on my hands" it may imply that I don't have enough to do around the house, which would be false.  It's just that I can't get really excited about scrubbing another toilet, dusting the house, sweeping, mopping, laundry etc.  So, I do what any sane housewife/stay at home mom would do...I create things.  Actually, that is how I keep my sanity.

I do a little bit of this, and and little bit of that but with the help of Pinterest, I always have great ideas at my fingertips.  Some ideas are better than other and I try to limit it to the inexpensive things.  Here are a couple of examples.

Homemade magic molding clay

Ornaments to give away with Christmas gifts

These are very easy but you have to let them dry for several days.  I actually put them in the oven on 200* for about 10 minutes and they still needed to dry to harden.

Coasters

I decided to top them with epoxy lacquer instead of just spraying them with a top coat.

This morning I made homemade hot cocoa mix

I made homemade laundry soap.  It was totally easy and I actually love it.  My clothes smell so fresh and clean!  I still use the liquid Downy but I found a recipe for softener too, I just haven't tried it...yet.

I don't have to use very much so it should last a long time.

If you prefer liquid soap, you just add hot water and stir until everything dissolves. 


But my most meaningful project is this window:
It came out of the family farm house in Monroe Utah.  It was one of the basement windows that was replaced a couple of years ago and is about 70 years old.  When my grandparents first built their home, they only built the basement, it was during the depression and that's all they could afford, so the family lived in a basement with a roof on it.  My dad, being the oldest of 8 children, remembers it   Not all of them were born yet but he remembers a couple of his sibling were there.

A couple a months ago, my cousin Jared, who now runs the farm, was coming to stay the night with us because he had to be in court the next morning.  No, he wasn't in trouble, he's an attorney too.  Anyway, I asked if I could have a couple of the windows.  They had been placed outside, leaning up against "the scary barn" and I just had a idea that I could create something out of them.  So, being the good cousin that he is, he brought them (3) up and I started the sand 70 years worth of paint, hard water and dirt off of one of them.

I had to scrape out and replace all of the caulking that held the window panes in and there were a few cracks in the wood that needed to be filled but other than that, it was in pretty good shape.

This is almost finished.  I plan of drilling 5 holes into the bottom part and mounting some old metal faucet handles on it to make a coat rack.  I figured that would be fitting tribute for an old farmhouse window.

These are what the "hooks" will look like

My kids (and husband) just roll their eyes and laugh, but like I told Amanda this morning, she'll call me one day and say "Mom, remember when you made_____, I need the recipe for that."  She just smiled and agreed, but for now, they just think I'll crazy!