Day 153- Happy New Year

I saw this pin and thought that it was so cute.  I wish I was going to attend a party with decorations as pretty as this.

Day 152- Horizontal Running

I love the movie "Pitch Perfect."  If you haven't seen it, you need to check it out NOW!  It's so funny and the music is very catchy. 

Is horizontal running a thing?  I wish it was as good of a workout as vertical running. 

If only working out was that easy.  I would do it all the time.   I would be the in best shape of my life.

Have I said that I love this movie?  Because I do

Day 151- 100 Educational Apps

I saw this pin and geeked out.  I love technology that you can use in the classroom.  I think it is a great way to have students learn and work with computers and IPads.

This website has a list of 100 apps broken down into different categories.  I highly recommend this for teachers.

Day 150- Morning Pep Talk

I want to hire this little girl to give me a morning pep talk every day.

You can't have a bad day with that adorable, little girl being your cheerleader.  She's so peppy.  I love this.  I wish I was as happy and excited as she is in the morning.

All I can usually grumble is "coffee."

Day 149- Christmas Cookies

So our Christmas cookies didn't turn out right.  I wish I had taken pictures. They were a mess.

We had rolled out store-bought dough and used cookie cutters to make shapes such as Christmas trees and reindeer.

When we cooked them, the shaped morphed into blobs.  You couldn't tell what was the shapes were supposed to be. 

Rather than admit defeat, we took the cookie cutters and used them to cut the blobs back into shapes. 

Sure, they looked a little weird, but at least they were Christmas trees again. 

By the way, the scraps were just as good as the rest of the cookies.

I saw this pin and laughed.  Our cookies were much more blob like.  Maybe they should have thought about using the cookie cutter to cut that cookie back into the shape of a horse.

Day 148- Water Into Wine

I am suffering from post-holiday laziness.  I know I should do something today, but I don't want to.  Because of that, I really struggled to find a pin that would motivate me. 

I couldn't find one. 

Instead, I say this pin and it made me laugh because my supermarket has a water sign right about the wine.  They are terrible about putting signs in the wrong spot.

 

Day 147- Merry Christmas!

 

http://pinterest.com/pin/213498838556450913/

Merry Christmas!  I love this picture.  The colors and the font are so cute.

Day 146- This kid cracks me up

I think this doesn't require words.

Day 145- Betty White

I know that Betty White doesn't have anything to do with Christmas, but I saw this pin and one of her quotes made me laugh. (The quote is Christmas related.)

"Just saw the first Christmas commercial of the season.  It really got me in the spirit of murdering people." 

That's how I feel every since time I see a Christmas commericial especially the singing ones.

Betty is right on with this one.

Day 144- Helpful Tips

I like the pins that have lists of helpful hints.  I saw this one and had to repost it. While I don't think that some of them are correct, many of them are helpful.

I have tried the first one.  I didn't have any luck cleaning windows with newspaper.  The ink smeared and made more of a mess than I started with.

Day 143- Vegetable Tree

I saw this picture on Pinterest and I wanted to recreate it for my family when they stay for Christmas.  We always have vegetable trays, so I thought that it would be a cute way to mix it up.

Apparently, not.  My mom said that I couldn't rearrange our vegetables in the shape of a tree. I don't know why I can't, but I'm dissapointed.

Look how cute this is!  It would look nice of a pre-Christmas Eve church service snack.

Day 142- Gingerbread House

I saw an amazing gingerbread house on Pinterest today.  The best part was that it was made from a store bought kit. 

I use a kit as well, but mine never looks that good. Whoever did this is an artist.  It's amazing.  I'm so envious of his or her gingerbread house decorating skills. 

Mine is a Vegas party gingerbread house and has a naked Prince Harry on it, so mine is still pretty cool.  He's only wearing a peppermint crown.  Just FYI.



My gingerbread house

From the pin

Day 141- 5 Dr. Seuss Quotes to Live By

I saw this pin and I thought it was cute.

Day 140- Oven Cleaner

I was looking on Pinterest for how to clean an oven.  Most of the recipes for cleaner had ammonia in it, so I didn’t want to use that.  I finally found this pin that says to use – surprise, surprise- baking soda and vinegar.  I love baking soda and vinegar.  It is the best cleaner around.  And it’s cheap and it won’t make harmful fumes. 

To clean an oven using vinegar and baking soda:

Put some vinegar and water in a spray bottle.  I used about 50/50 solution.

Spray the vinegar mixture anywhere you want to clean.  Sprinkle the baking soda over the sprayed area.  After it starts foaming, wipe it down with a sponge. 

I tried it and it got most of the smaller stuff off of the oven, but there are still a lot of spots where it is still blackened.  The results weren’t as good as I thought it would be.  Maybe the oven was too dirty and needs to be cleaned again before I start seeing results.  I just hoped it would be cleaner than it ended up being.

Day 139- Touch my cake and I will cut you

This little kid is a baby after my own heart.  I would cut someone too if they tried to take my cake.

Day 138- Japanese Multiplication Trick

I saw this pin about a Japanese multiplication trick and got really excited.  We all know that Japan kicks America's butt in math.  It's true.  No argument. 

When I was in college, I had an education professor show us the math books that Japan uses.  They looked like comic books- same size and shape.  They were written in strip form like comic books.  They have one little comic book a year.  That's all they use.  (At least that was how this math series was written.  I don't know if all Japanese math books are like this or just the one I saw.) 

It was such a change from the big, chunky American math books.  Obviously, Japan is doing something right.

Anyways, I saw this multiplication trick.  It took me a minute to figure out what was happening in the pictures. 

Here's how I think it goes:
For 13 x 12

Make a grid using the followign lines:
13:  You draw two groups of vertical lines: 1 and 3.
12: You draw two groups of horitzonal lines: 1 and 2.

Draw 3 circles: 1 around the top left corner, 1 around the top right and the bottom left, and 1 around the bottom right corner.

Count how many intersection are in each circle.  There should be 1 in the first, 5 in the second, and 6 in the third.

The answer is 156.

It only took me minute or so to do a couple of problems.  Of course, I could probably do it in my head just as fast.  However, it is a good trick to teach students to use when they can't use a calculator. 

I'm trying to figure out how to do three or more digit numbers. Let me know if you know how. 

Day 137- Watch batteries

I saw this pin that said if you cut the cover off an Energizer A23 battery there are 8 watch/calculator batteries inside.  I haven't tried this out, but I wanted to share it.  If this is true, it can save you a lot of money in the long run.

A battery doesn't cost much. $5 for a pack of two, right?  A watch battery is about $5 on its own.  $5 worth of A23 batteries will give you 16 watch batteries (worth $80).  That saves you $75.

Not bad.

Day 136- Smoothies

I have been on a big smoothie kick. It's so easy just to throw some fruit in a blender and drink your breakfast. It's great on the go.

Anyways, I was on Pinterest today and saw a pin about 10 super berry smoothie recipes. Omg! They are so good. I like using different recipes so i don't feel like I'm drinking the same smoothie every day.  My favorite one is called "Kristin's Simple Berry Smoothie."

Day 135- Historically Hardcore

This made me laugh so hard.  It's so true.  I love it. 

Day 134- Vodka Mouthwash

This is a pin after my own heart.  The pin is about how to pass a 5th of vodka off as Listerine. 

I know the holidays are coming up and in my family it is not acceptable to pack a bottle of vodka in your suitcase (even though drinking is the only way to get through Christmas).  I plan on drinking, but wasn't sure how I was going to smuggle alcohol into my suitcase.  Now, I don't have to worry.

Pout vodka into an empty Listerine bottle.  Add 3 drops of blue food coloring and 1 drop of green.  Now, your vodka looks like mouthwash.  No one will ever know.

I'm so glad that Pinterest has found a way to make my drinking a secret.  It's really classy.  Now people will wonder why I'm drinking Listerine all weekend.

Day 133- My childhood

I saw this pin and was pleased that I was not the only child who thought this.



I remember being a kid and trying to spell Disney 'Gisnep."  When I got older, I thought it was spelled 'Gisney.' 

Once my mom tried to correct me and say that Disney started with a 'D.'  I told her that she was wrong.  I was so sure of it.  I thought it was one of those special cases where phonics doesn't make sense like how 'knock' starts with a 'k.'

But, I was wrong. I was old enough to know better when I finally discovered that Disney was spelled with a 'D.'

I felt like I had been lied to my entire life. 

It's still a sore subject. 

Day 132- Reading until you feel better

Today I found a pin that described exactly how I fell.  "I might read until I feel better."

That's what I have been doing all day.  I have such a terrible headache.  I know reading isn't usually good for a headache, but it is making me feel better.

All I have done today is lay in bed and read.

Day 131- Countdown to Christmas

I love Christmas.  I get excited for it in October.  I start by making my shopping list before Halloween.  I can't help it.  I love that holiday.  I love the smells, the food, and the presents.

When I was a kid, my favorite part was counting down to Christmas.  We had one of those cardboard things where you opened the little door each day until it was Christmas Eve. 

I saw this pin and it reminded me of my childhood.

It's made with cardstock and scrapbook paper. She used the cardstock as the back and the scrapbook paper for the front of the pockets.  Then, she sewed them together using her sewing machine!

You can sew paper together on a sewing machine!  I love it!  I'm going to make one of these when I move out and have somewhere to hang it! 

 

Day 130- eco-friendly steam clean carpet solution

With the holidays upon us, I have started cleaning my parent's house for Christmas.  We are having family over for a couple of days and my parents are too busy working to start cleaning. 

We have white carpet and two cats, so our carpet is full of stains.  My sister and I bought our parents a steam cleaner for Christmas, but we have decided to open it and use it beforehand so our carpets would be clean.

The cleaner that came with the machine smelled like awful chemicals.  I didn't want to breathe those smells in, so I looked to Pinterest to see if there were any better solutions.  I found this pin about creating a natural, non-hazardous cleaning solution.

All you have to do is mix equal parts white vinegar and warm water.  You can add a few drops of an essential oil.  The pin says that it is safe to use in any rented or home steam cleaner.  The vinegar will get rid of the stains as well as be an antibacterial agent.  The essential oils will deodorize the carpets.

For stubborn stains, you can use a mixture with more vinegar than water.  You can also pretreat the stains with a mixture of equal parts dish soap and baking soda.  Allow the mixture to sit for a few minutes before steam cleaning.

This pin has taught me a lot about cleaning carpets. 

I followed these directions and am pretty happy with the results. It got out a lot of stains.  Some of the older, more stubborn ones are still there. 

The dirty water was black when I was finished.  It was hard to believe that all of that dirt was in the carpets.  Even though I vacuumed a few minutes before steam cleaning, there was a lot of cat hair that was picked up.  It was shocking to see how much the vacuum didn't get. 

Needless to say, I love this new steam cleaner.  My carpets feel so soft and look so good. 

Day 129- Walmart Bins

I want to do this every singe time I am at Walmart.  My friend likes to look at the $5 movie bin, so I try to organize it while she looks. 

I feel like if I tried to do this, the workers at my local Walmart would not think it was funny, but I can always dream.

Day 128- Best Parenting Tip Ever

I do not have kids, but I hope to someday.  When I do, this is going to be my number 1 go to parenting trick whenever my kids fights. 

I saw this on Pinterst and laughed so hard.  I love this.  Whoever came up with this is the best parent ever.


I love that they look so sad and sorry for fighting.  Obviously, this works.

The best part is the fact that the t-shirt says, "This is our get-along tshirt." 

Day 127- Kitchen Tricks

I saw this pin on Pinterest and throught that it had some great tips. I would have never thought to turn on my seat warmer to keep pizza warm while driving.  That's genuis. 

 

I hate cutting bread because it presses down.  I'm going to try to cut it upside down.  I bet it would work. 

 

Pinterest always has such great ideas on it.  I would be lost without that website.

 

 

Day 126- 175 Stocking Stuffers

I was browsing on Pinterest and came across this pin that had 175 stocking stuffers.  Since Christmas is just around the corner, I figured I would  blog about this. 

I never know what to get people for stocking stuffers, but now I have a huge list.

Here's the list from the blog:
 

MEDIA LOVERS

• CDs/iTunes card
• DVDs
• Blank re-writeable Cd's
• Memory card
• USB drive
• rechargeable batteries
• Cloth for cleaning laptop or camera screens
• mini tripod
• mouse pad
• a year's subscription to Flickr Pro
• earbuds
• gift card for DVD rentals

WORD LOVERS

• magnetic poetry set
• nice pen and book of crossword puzzles
• books (make a wish list on Chapters.ca)
• bookmark, or iClips magnetic bookmarks
• magazine subscription
• notebook, address book (I like the Paper blanks ones)
• calendar (I really like the More Time for Moms Planning Calendar)
• note cards

TRAVEL / SPORTY / OUTDOORS

• mini umbrella (I'm always losing mine)
• small picture frame with a fun photo in it
• dog bags (for the pet owner)
• luggage tags
• pocket travel guide
• passport holder
• wallet
• clothing cube
• travel containers for shampoo,etc
• travel pillow
• water bottle (I like Watergeeks.com)
• gloves
• mittens
• toque
• handwarmer
• neck tube
• bike tire repair kiy
• biking gloves
• travel alarm clock
• pocket doctor

FOODIES

• gourmet mixes and seasonings (such as Orange Crate)
• gift cards to favorite coffee shop or gourmet grocer
• specialty coffees, tea, hot chocolate, or apple cider mixes
• tiny bottle of kaluah, rum, or whatever strikes your fancy!
• kitchen gadgets, such as a silicon basting brush, banana keeper, or a mini crockpot for fondue
• wine bottle stopper
• wine glass charms
• drink stirrers
• good quality measuring cups or spoons
• Mabel's labels spice jar labels
• edible ink pens
• good quality cookie cutters

GARDENERS

• plant markers
• gardening tool set
• kneeling mat
• gardening gloves
• seeds/bulbs

BEAUTY QUEENS & FASHIONISTAS

• Sherpani wrist purse or shoulder wallet
• pedometer
• lip balm
• hair products
• re-useable canvas bags (such as Credo bags)
• earrings
• cell phone charm
• soaps
• lotions
• foot butter, nail file, hand cream, and nail polish
• bath fizzies
• slipper socks

ARTSY FARTSY

• Might Bright Craft Light
• Gypsy Quilter Gripper
• mini foldable scissors
• funky yarn or wool, different sized crochet hooks
• unusual buttons
• plastic tabs for cross stitchers to wind thread onto
• pincushion
• paint, paint brushes
• sketchbook
• nice pencil crayons or drawing markers
• scrapbooking papers and supplies
• stencils

KIDS

• Christmas ornament
• books
• magazine subscriptions
• CDs
• DVDs
• travel games
• coloring books
• stickers
• Playmobil (there's even a little Santa!)
• yo yo
• dominoes
• silly putty
• swim goggles
• tickets to the local public pool
• tickets to the local movie theater
• gift card to a favorite place for a treat
• gift card to a DVD rental place
• tickets to the skating rink
• mittens
• hat
• t-shirts
• glow sticks
• kazoo
• harmonica
• Uno
• Skip Bo
• art supplies (finger paint, paper, felts, crayons, pipe cleaners, etc)
• candy
• fun magnets
• mini magna doodle
• Nintendo DS Character Stylus
• alarm clock
• reading lamp
• playdough and cookie cutters
• slinky
• small puzzles
• plastic animals
• book light (older children)
• flashlight
• pjs
• Schylling woodpecker (you wouldn't believe how many kids love this thing)
• puzzles
• hacky sack
• buckets
• bubbles
• balls
• glow in the dark stars
• tangle

BOYS

• inexpensive binoculars
• mini tape measure
• a wallet (with money in it!)
• wrist shooters
• fireman's hat
• trading cards
• Fridge Rover
• Mentos Geyser kit
• Zoob
• Meccano
• Lego
• Hex bugs
• compass
• Hot Wheels (try hiding them in the tree!)
• yoyo (or less traditional yo yo balls)
• small tools (wrenches, screwdrivers, mini hammer) with nails and wood
• build it yourself kit from Home Depot
• rocks (check out your local rock shop, put them in a nice bag)
• marbles

GIRLS

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• Only Hearts Club doll accessories (clothes, pets, etc)
• webkinz clips
• treasure box
• doll clothes, bottles, and other small items
• coin purse (put money in it!)
• Melissa and Doug sticker collection
• funky socks
• m3 Snap Caps
• stamps, stamp pad, and paper
• friendship bracelet kit
• bath products
• crochet hook and wool (if you want to teach them how to crochet)
• simple cross stitch kit (pre-teen)
• fairy wand and crown
• tutu (and other dress up clothes)
• costume jewelry
• finger puppets
• Ugly dolls
• Ikea Kid's kitchen playsets

BABIES & TODDLERS

• Jazzy Jinglers
• bean bags
• Little Scholastic books
• Wow toys
• hats, mittens
• board books
• balls
• rattles
• blocks
• Crocodile Creek Bibs
• Peek a Boo Bag
• Playmobil
• Duplo
• Please Mum onesies
• Baby Body butter

Day 125- Clean your headphones

I am a notorious earbud killer.  My headphones never last for more than a month.  I have sent them through the washer, ran them over with a car, pulled the cord right out of them.  Whatever way I did them in, they never lasted very long.

Recently, I have found a way to be very careful and an proud to say that I have had my headphones since June.  Boy, are they nasty!  I hate to put them in my ears, but I do anyways. 

I actually have two pairs of headphones.  I have my IPhone white ones that I only use when I know I will not be sweating ( I found out the hard way that IPhone headphones don’t like sweat especially the remote/mic part of the headphones).  I have a cheap pair that I have been using since June for working out.  Those are the gross ones. 

I saw this pin about how to clean headphones.  I have never had headphones long enough that I had to clean them.  I had forgotten it was possible.  The pin is your basic use soap and water, but don’t get them too wet.  It’s pretty obvious, but the one tip I did come away with was to remove the silicone from around the headphone.

I peeled the silicone back and was surprised at what I found.  There was a thick build-up of wax all around the silicone.  It was disgusting.  I couldn’t believe it.  Needless to say, I cleaned that out.  I’m surprised that it could even happen.

Surprisingly, my headphones are working much better now. 

Day 124- The Perfect Photo Album

I am making a photo album as a Christmas present for my mom about our vacation to Mackinac Island.  Usually I just print off the pictures and slip them into a photo album, but I had a feeling Pinterest would have some helpful times to creating a photo album.  I found this pin which has ten tips for creating a beautiful family vacation photo album. 

I wanted my photo album to tell the story of our vacation and these tips really helped.

Here are the tips from the pin:

1) “Take detail shots as well as wide sweeping shots. This is key to telling your story.

2) Use the information your camera stores to look up the time you did things if you want to include those details in your book (came in handy when we were up before sunrise to watch the ship come into the harbor)

3) Even though the scene might not be 'picture perfect' take the photo anyway! When you piece your book together it's more about telling the story than only having beautiful photographs. Photos that are darker than you'd want or aren't 'picture perfect' can be put in a storyboard layout rather than a large 5x7 or 8x10 spread.

4) You don't need captions for every picture - summarize the activity either under the photo or better yet, write on top of a photo that has a 'blank space' for writing

5) Don't forget to take pictures of traveling...it isn't always about the destination, sometimes the story is in the journey to get there! (what did the kids do in the car to keep busy, did they fall asleep? Take a picture of the GPS or better yet the road map!)

6) If you are the one who usually takes the photos - change it up! Let your children take a few and don't be shy about asking a stranger to take some of your whole family! One trick I use is to walk up to a mom who's about to take a photo of her husband and kids and ask her if she'd like me to take the photo so she could be in it. Once you've returned their camera sometimes the mom will offer on her own to take one for your family or it's never been an issue if I ask her to take one of us. Be sure to tell them it's OK to snap away so you have a few to choose from!

7) Turn your camera from time to time. If you are prone to taking all vertical or all horizontal photos, you won't have as much flexibility when designing your book.

8) If you've followed the first 7 tips you should have lots to work with when it comes time to design your book...so DIVE IN! With digital bookmaking it's easy to change things around. Just start plugging photos in and before you know it you'll have a great first draft! Mix the close up shots with the story shots, add a few words when necessary and you are well on your way to having a beautiful book your family will treasure forever!

9) Chose a photo for the cover (and if you have the option, the back cover as well), include the date either on the cover or on the title page inside. I prefer scenery shots for covers - family photos can be enlarged inside, but my preference is for a beautiful landscape or a close up of something instead of people on the cover.

10) Spell check your book and have someone else read through it as well. I missed a mistake in our book because I knew what it was suppose (sic) to say and that's what my brain saw.”

 

 

Day 123- IPhone Speakers

I don't own a pair of IPhone speakers.  They always seem like a waste of money.  I am a big advocate of using a bowl to increase the volume.  All you have to do is put the IPhone in a bowl and press play.  Simple as that.

I saw this pin about making a quick and easy speaker and I had to try it. 

I took a toilet paper roll and cut a slit in it big enough for my IPhone.  My roll is kind of flimsy.  I guess that is what I get for buying cheap toilet paper.  I had to tape the opening so the cardboard didn't unroll.

Then, I took two push pins that put them into the roll like they were legs.

I put my IPhone in the holder and pushed play.

I was surprised at how good the sound was.  Yes, it takes more work than using a bowl, but it still makes a good speaker.