Homemade Friench Fries:

http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915024371767/edit/
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Z2LfjmDZKLM/TEieNNl0EMI/AAAAAAAAAic/HuQxtJ2PldM/s1600/FF2.JPG



Well... I pinned this thinking it would have an original source.... it did not. So I thought back to how I've made oven baked fries and Kettle chips and decided, how hard could it be? I made them the other night for dinner, but with everything else I've been doing this is the first I've had the chance to actually sit down and type it up.

I started with peeling my potatoes (trick is to have a bowl lined with a grocery bag and skin the potatoes into that. This way you don't have as much to clean up). Anyway I cut the potato in half,then again, and thinner, until they were "fry" shaped. I put them in the sink with cold water for two hours (some say its to help remove starch). After their two hour cold bath, I removed them and dried them off as best as I could with a towel.

Fill a sauce pan with oil and heat it to about 6 1/2-7 I popped in one fry to test the temperature. You want the bubbles to be evenly bubbling all over the fry. Add more in and cook until desired cripness. Add salt (and pepper) or other favorite toppings and enjoy!

4 Band Puzzle ring

http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915024371035/edit/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zaxS_8os5k



Okay I bought this ring about 9 years ago at the Northern CA Ren. Faire (woo) The other day the girls were in my jewelry box & they took it apart. I could not for the world get it back together until I found this tutorial online by the maker.


First things first: This only works for Grenne brand puzzle rings. On one of the 4 bands you'll find the engraving. Hold that one up, all the others should be dangling down (curvy parts downward)








 Take the bottom ring and bring it upward to the top ring (it should look like you're closing a book). Twist that ring until it locks with your top one (making the middle two stuck inside a figure 8)

 Rotate the other two dangling rings into the figure 8

fold up!

***DO NOT FORCE YOUR RINGS!!! THIS WILL DAMAGE THEM!******

Valentine Heart Garlands

 My internet is finally working again! No thanks to AT&T. Anyway Since I've been off the computer, TV, and Phone (seriously AT&T) I've been keeping busy by cleaning,  running and working out, and well, attempting to craft.
 With Valentines Day not too far away I thought we'd get a head start and decorate. I tried two different heart garlands. Both start the same way: Cut paper (preferably sturdy paper-I did not have that) into strips.

GARLAND
wipkits.blogspot.com.es
http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915024313519/

 

I centered the strips and creased the end. With the two open sides I bend them inward and stapled the middles together. Then I linked a new strip through and did the same thing until the garland was the size I wanted.

DANGLING HEARTS:
http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915024273090/
http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/02/simple-paper-heart-crafts.html#more

 I think this one would have worked better if I had been using scrapbook paper or a harder paper. Construction paper just was not doing it's job. If you do have that one,  you do the same thing as before (bending and creasing) but before you staple, you get another one ready and staple both at one time.

Refilling a Swiffer Wet Jet Bottle

http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915022803872/
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-remove-the-cap-on-a-Swiffer-Wet-Jet-cleaner/step2/Making-the-Cap-PERMANENTLY-Removeable/

Alright, I admit: It's January 18th and I have not been working on my blogs. I'm OK with that.  I've been pretty busy with my new hitting the gym, school, family, etc.. Today I was obsessively cleaning (and I say that because I pulled everything out of my pantries to organize and clean). I went to do my last chore: "mop" the floors. I don't have a lot of tile floor being in a apartment, so I was amazed to see that I've gone through all my cleaners.

I do however have Pine Sol, which if diluted properly is an all purpose cleaner. But how to do it without having to pull a bucket and real mop out like my mom used to? Well, I'm hoping this pin works!

What you'll need:

 Nail clippers (If you want to make the lid easy to come off all teh time) I did not do this because I was terrified of making it leak).

boiling water in pan
the swiffer bottle.


HOW TO:
Heat water to a boil in pan. Place Swiffer bottle in for aprox. 1 1/2 minutes.

 

The lid should be HOT and pop right off once you can get past the hot part. ( I used a towel to twist it off)

Refill and pop the lid back on. To make it that the you can always get the lid off, you'll have to visit the original bloggers page.

Now, to test this with my swiffer:

 

IT WORKS!!!!!!! Oh this is going to save me SO much money!

Clothes pin dress

The first big project of second grade is an ancestor report- second grade!! Well, we did not have any relatives on either side that went far back anymore. Thankfully they could question grandparents. Part of the project required knowing where your ancestors came from and making a clothes pin doll that represented that country.

Since she chose to do my side I showed he traditional Danish, Czechoslovakian (what use to be, anyway) and English outfits. Out of all the outfits she liked the one from the Czech site best.

We started by painting the clothes pin peach and adding jewelry wire around the "body" to act as arms. I got the idea from this pin : http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915024176950/

After the paint had dried we added air dry clay to the wire, which is something I learned in art class, and painted the clay peach. Then we had to let the whole thing dray again while we worked on the skirt.

We took and measured a square of fabric the length we wanted, pined it and sewed the sides clothes. If you look at the dress there is a design around the bottom. We took red and white (blue, white and red where the colors of their flag). She pinned and sewed that down. Then Hannah had to learn how to gather the fabric. When it was done we tied and hot glued it down to the doll. The apron is a piece of lace with ribbon sewn to it to tie it around the body.

The most annoying part was cutting a shirt and vest to size. We used "tube" looking pieces for the sleeves and wrapped the end around the arms to make them look poofy. We added red "lacing" to the vest to make it look like it was tied together. After that  I taught her how to do the lazy daisy stitch to a design on the back of the vest.

Once the clothes were glued and sewn down we had to hot glue some hair on. Sadly, we did not have brown yarn, and of course she had to have brown hair like her. So we settled for brown sewing thread which we hot glued to the head. For the head band we used a pipe cleaner and some extra Lego flower pieces. The face was happily painted on by Hannah using nail polish and a toothpick!

New Year Time Capsule

Family
http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915024072198/

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

So, I'm about 4 days late in posting this, but we've been busy finishing a school projects.  We decided to make a time capsule this year.  (see upper pin) We took a coffee container (oatmeal container works also) and then we printed off the questionnaire for  each person in our family:

uploads.tipjunkie.com
http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915024148036/

We filled them out and closed the container off  until next year! We decided that instead of leaving it just lying around we were going to fill it with memories throughout the year of good things that happened. This way we don't forget and can look back and smile next year.

We also made our New Years Resolutions:
bogglesworldesl.com
http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915024148041/

I thought the girls were old enough to make them this year, something to strive for, and feel accomplished by the end of the year.