I Pinned This - Honey and Cinnamon Cleanse

I don't know about you, but this pin has been blowing up my Pinterest feed for the last several days.  (I'm pretty sure there is another pin with a different picture and the same information floating around, too.)

Here's what Pinterest promises: 

Honey and cinnamon cleanse every morning, on an empty stomach, half an hour before breakfast, and again at night before sleeping. Drink honey and cinnamon powder boiled in one cup water. If taken regularly it reduces the weight of even the most obese person. Also drinking of this mixture regularly does not allow the fat to accumulate in the body, even though the person may eat a high calorie diet. 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon and 2 teaspoons of honey in a cup of boiled water.

Here's what I did: 

To start, I didn't even intend on this pin making it to my blog because I figured the results would be inconclusive at best. But it's on here for a whole different reason. 

I started the kettle on the stove with some water, dumped 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon and 2 teaspoons of honey into a mug.  When the kettle began to whistle, I poured in the water and stirred and stirred and stirred.  (In my head, I always think of a teaspoon as a VERY small amount, but the amount of ground cinnamon that it ended up being was A LOT)

I let it sit for a couple of minutes to cool down before tasting it, and I wish I had forgotten all about it.  

The taste... OMG... I took a teeny tiny sip (as to not scald my tongue and palette) and I chocked on the dryness of the cinnamon.  I did not taste any honey, I did not taste any water, I COULD NOT get the taste out of my mouth.  The 1 sip lasted about 3 hours, 28 oz of ice cold water, and a cup of milk.  

I should have known it was too good to be true.  

XO!

I Pinned This - Shape-able Ice Pack

Summer is just around the corner, which means shorts and scraps.  Getting bruises and scraps is part of being a kid and no matter how hard you try, inevitable.  We have ice packs in our freezer for lunch boxes or bottle carriers, but they are the super hard, not very comfortable, kind of ice pack that does not work well for the body.  I saw this on Pinterest awhile back, but finally decided to give it a go.

Here's what Pinterest promises: 

To make your own shapeable ice pack for booboos and sprains: Mix 1 part rubbing alcohol with 3 parts water in a ziploc bag. Double bag it with another ziplock bag, and put in the freezer. Pull out and put inside a tea towel or fabric bag, use on sprains, strains and other booboos. (disdressed.blogspot.com)

Here's what I did: 

I gathered the materials (which is luckily something that is always in the bathroom cabinet). 

I took a picture of a bottle of rubbing alcohol, an empty 

ziploc baggie, and a glass of water ... but then deleted it on accident

I mixed 1/4 cup of rubbing alcohol and 3/4 cups of water in a snack size baggie.  Stuck it in the freezer and forgot about it waited. 

When I checked on it the first time, it was perfect.  Shape-able, soft, COLD.
When I checked on it the next morning... it was rock hard, burn your skin cold, and leaking something strange.

Maybe I just overfilled the bag... but for now...

Bummer.  Did you have better luck? 

XO!

I Pinned This - Easter Eggs

Easter is just around the corner and we had yet to decorate eggs.  Today was the day and instead of using the typical Easter egg dye, I wanted to give this Pinterest find a try

Here's what Pinterest promises: 

Coloring Eggs - Use Shaving Cream and food coloring (dark colors) - roll in shaving cream let sit, wipe off. Very Cool for Easter!

Here's what I did: 

I gathered up all of the materials needed.  

Chloe swirled the food coloring around in the shaving cream.

We rolled the egg around. 

Let it sit, then wiped it off. 

Eh. 

We like bright colored eggs so for us... 

Worst part... my hands will probably look like this until tomorrow night. Sucky.

We resorted to normal Easter egg dye after 3 attempts. 

XO!

I Pinned This - Mess Free Painting

Sometimes messy things don't bother me.  Sometimes I would rather stab myself in the hand than deal with the mess.  Today is one of the stabbing kind of days.

Here's what Pinterest promises: 

I got out a plastic freezer Zip-loc bag and cut a piece of card stock to fit inside the bag. I squeezed some big drops of different coloured tempera paint onto the paper and very carefully slid the paper into the bag. I then closed the bag and using duct tape, taped it to one of our craft trays. (Rainy Day Mum)

Here's what I did:
I got a Zip-loc bag, the only paint we had laying around, and some clear packing tape.

I keep my paint in a bottom drawer of my craft dresser, thus the dot of paint on the top of the lid. It helps know what color the bottle is without pulling every container out! 

I squeezed in some paint.  Not too much because I know my kid and the likelihood of the painting squirting out from too much pressure was high.

I taped it up to the sliding glass door instead of the table.  Partly because of what I said about paint squirting out (and the hope that it would be harder to pop the paint up) and letting the light shine through the bag to see whatever she was "painting".

Make sure to squeeze all the air out of the bag before sealing and taping it! 

Play and enjoy! 

And even with my high-energy little one, this was fun and held her attention for enough time to make lunch at least! 

XO!

I Pinned This - Remove Scratches from Leather

As a preface, leather furniture is not really my taste. We have a set of brown leather furniture from the in-laws that the hubby was so excited about when they offered. So excited that I lost the fight about keeping the furniture we already had. Pick your battles I suppose. 

The couches are in pretty good shape, and when we have kids bouncing around, we don't need perfect couches.  The in-laws had a couple of dogs though so there are a few scratches here and there that have never really bothered me, but when I saw this pin I thought "What the heck". 

Here's what Pinterest promises: 

I used a soft cloth to rub the olive oil into the leather in circles.  I think the key is really rubbing it in.  I followed up with a paper towel and buffed it off a bit (mash-upchic.blogspot.com)

Here's what I did:
I busted out the olive oil, an old sock and a Viva paper towel.  I also chose a spot that would not affect the look (or feel if it stayed oily) if this pin didn't work.

The before picture - it's not too bad, but you can see small scratches. 

I rubbed a small amount of olive oil, in circles, onto the cushion.  There was a slight oily feeling when I was done, so I rubbed the paper towel over it and was surprised to find that there was no residue left. 

It looked great as soon as I was finished! I rubbed over it with my finger to check for extra oil and nothing! 

I waited about 5 minutes and checked again... not as great, the scratches are starting to show again.

And 10 minutes later.  Almost completely back. 

Eh, no harm no foul.  I'm just glad I didn't rub this all over the couch and waste our perfectly good olive oil. 

XO!

I Pinned This - Colored Noodles

We eat a lot of different foods in our house but the one thing I have to fight everyone else to eat is spaghetti. The hubby doesn't like it, Chloe claims to not like it, Aria can't have it yet. But I love spaghetti and it makes me so sad. 

I started making Spaghetti Pie a few months ago (easiest recipe EVER below) and the hubby actually enjoys it.  1 down, 1 to go.  I know Chloe likes it, but enjoys pretending (this isn't the only food she does this with) that she hates it and it will kill her to eat it.  So when I saw this on Pinterest, I knew the score would be Mom 3, everyone else 0 - if it worked. 

Here's what Pinterest promises:
Cook spaghetti then fill ziplock 1/4 with water & add food coloring. Add spaghetti... coolest idea ever for kids!! (The link from Pinterest takes you to a photography website of rainbow food, nothing more.)

Here's what I did:
Slightly doubtful about it working as well as the picture I started off by cooking the noodles.  I used linguine noodles so the would be more noodle for the color to stick to.

The best way to get the different colors is to split the noodles up into baggies.  I added enough water to cover the noodles then dropped in 3-4 drops of food coloring.  (I only did some of the noodles in case something weird happened with the food coloring, we'd still have something to eat.)

 I let the noodles sit in the colored water for 2-3 minutes, dumped out the water and put them into a bowl to check the results.

The colors aren't as bright as the Pinterest picture, but they were much brighter than I expected! The yellow was the only one that looks drab, but what do you expect when you're dying beige noodles yellow? 

I threw the colored back in with the regular noodles and finished making dinner.  Once the sauce and cheese were mixed in, they didn't stand out as much, but it was enough to trick our 4 year old into thinking "This is the best dinner EVER!"

Do you have any foods you have to trick your kids into eating? 

XO!

A fun thing to do with the colored noodles other than eat - let your little ones "draw" on the table using the noodles.  Practice making shapes or letters!

* Spaghetti Pie (easiest recipe EVER!)

• cooked noodles (as little or as much as you want)
• sauce (as little or as much as you want)
• cheese (as little or as much as you want)
• Mix the noodles and the sauce together and put into an oven safe pan.  Sprinkle cheese on top (I like to cover the noodles with cheese).  Bake at 400 until cheese is melted and starts to turn golden brown. ENJOY! 

I Pinned This - Foam Soap

Do you know the repercussions of asking someone to go wash their hands?  If yes, you must have a toddler/preschooler.  Bubbles and water everywhere, and an almost empty bottle of soap next to the facet.  When I saw this pin, I knew we needed this.  I've bought foaming soap before but it is so drying on my skin, the amount of lotion it takes to not feel like my hands are going to bleed defeats the idea of saving the soap.  Maybe if I can use a soap that doesn't leave my skin crying for moisture, the foam will be perfect in our bathroom.

Here's what Pinterest promises:  (actually Pinterest doesn't promise anything, but the link from Pinterest says:)
Next fill the bottle approximately one inch full with soap
Then fill to the top with hot water
Then shake well.
Hot water is important because it helps to dissolve the soap so it will mix better. If you don't mix it well enough the first few pumps will be quite soapy instead of foamy. Just shake it again and it should be fine. (Adventures of a DIY Mom)

Here's what I did:
I had an almost empty foam bottle that I'd bought from The Dollar Tree moons ago.  I started by rinsing it out.  When I was pumping clean water through, I cannot believe how much soap is stored in the pump itself! I pumped through 1/4 bottle of clean water and soap was still coming out until I said "good enough".

I used a bottle of regular soap we've had since before we bought the foaming soap, I figure it doesn't matter what type of soap is used but I'm thinking Bath & Body works Warm Vanilla Sugar would be amazing!

Following directions, I put in maybe 1" (maybe a little less) of soap into the empty bottle and filled the rest up with hot water.  (Leave some room at the top when filling the bottle for shaking purposes).  After 20-30 seconds the soap was dissolved.

There's really soap in there, the bubbles at the top look like the pump but I promise its not. 

Time to test this bad boy out! 

Seems legit.  I washed my hands a couple of times to compare it to the other foaming soap and regular soap.  It lost some of the fragrance from the regular soap but cleaned my hands like I would expect any soap to.  

My hands are very dry after using this, much like the original foaming soap.  Conclusion - foaming soap is not for sensitive or prone-to-dryness skin types. 

Do you have problems with soap and your hands?

XO! 

I Pinned This - Splinter Removal

If I could change one thing about our house, it would be the flooring.  New carpet has been on our list to replace for the last 4 tax returns, and needless to say, we still have the same old carpet in the living room and dining room.  All of the bedrooms have hardwood floors that are original to the 107 year old(ish) house. They haven't been resealed, ever probably, so there are times when the wood will snag your sock, or worse... your skin.  

Yesterday, while Aria was visiting Nana for some cuddle time, Chloe and I were enjoying the house to ourselves by playing a game of tag throughout the rooms.  The game was abruptly ended when Chloe ripped of her sock exclaiming that she'd hurt herself and needed help.  You guessed it... a big old chunk of wood, right in her big toe.  I grabbed the tweezers and tried to help but she freaked and wouldn't let me do anything close to her foot. 

Here's what Pinterest promises:

Need to remember this for KIDS...Remove a splinter easily by applying a paste of baking soda and water, then waiting several minutes for the splinter to pop out of the skin. Gotta remember this!

Here's what I did: 

Skeptical, but needing to try something, I added a little bit of water to baking soda to create a thick paste . 

We let it sit and dry on her foot for maybe 3 minutes and carefully pulled off the big blog of paste. It looked like the splinter had worked it's way out a teeny tiny bit so I thought I didn't wait long enough.  On went the paste again, along with a bandaid.  8-10 minutes later, still nothing. 

We resorted back to the old fashioned tweezers method, added 2 more adult hands and out came the log. 

If you've been successful with this method, let me know!

XO! 

I Pinned This - French Toast Muffins

Preschool is from 8:30-11:15 in the morning and as a former teacher (and a mom), I have a hard time sending cupcakes to school for birthday treats so early in the morning.  I scoured Pinterest for a healthier breakfast treat to send that the kids would love.  When I saw French Toast Breakfast Muffins, I was excited!

Here's what Pinterest promises: 

French Toast Breakfast Muffins. These are amazing!! Taste exactly like French toast!!! Made with skim milk and light butter was only 121 calories a muffin if you make 12!

Following the link, here is the recipie: 

1/3 c. butter, melted
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg (preferably room temperature)
1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 c. milk

Topping (option: cut topping in half*)
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter, melted
1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a medium-large bowl, sift together all dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and stir just until combined, but still a bit lumpy. Do NOT overmix; overmixing will ruin the texture of the finished muffins. Also? Don't overmix the batter. Finally, don't overmix. Scoop batter into muffin tins that have sprayed with cooking spray. Using a large ice cream scoop, I got 8 medium-large muffins out of this batter; I think you could get 10-12 muffins by distributing the batter a little less generously. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until they just start to turn a bit golden at the edges.

For the topping, mix sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Place melted butter in another small bowl. Dip the warm muffins in melted butter (you can dip just the top, but it's even tastier to dip the whole muffin!), then dip/roll the muffin in cinnamon sugar. *May have left-over topping; the extra topping can be used for dipping, while eating the muffins (oh my). Another option is to cut the topping ingredients in half. CONSUME, ENJOY, GO CRAZY! (velvetlava.blogspot.com)

Here's what I did: 

I followed the recipe as directed. I was surprised how thick the batter was while mixing, but I guess french toast muffins should have the consistency of bread. 

When they were baked up and coated in cinnamon & sugar, they looked amazing! 

Of course I couldn't wait to try one so before I even put the next batch in the oven (or the pan for that matter), I popped one into my mouth.  They were... ok.  Not sweet, but ok.  I knew 3-4 year olds would not be as impressed as I had hoped.  

Before throwing in the next batch, I mixed about 1/4 cup of brown sugar into the batter and baked according to the directions.  The brown sugar caramelized inside the muffins and added just the sweetness the original was lacking. I was still worried about how the kiddos would like them so I made cinnamon rolls instead, but the brown sugar muffins were a hit with the hubby and me!  (I didn't coat the second batch in cinnamon & sugar).  

Especially after the addition of the brown sugar! 

XO!