Scratched DVDs and the End of the World

As a parent, I want my kids to have a better life than I had. I want them to be able to enjoy activities we couldn't afford, make memories we didn't make and have some of the things I wanted but never had. For the most part, in the 9 years we've had this parenting gig, we've succeeded. Granted, we've never taken the kids to Disneyland (Don Diego feels especially ripped off in this arena), Mademoiselle still needs Fluttershy to complete her My Little Pony collection and Poquito Tito suffers all the injustices of hand me down everything. But still they are blessed with waaaaay more than the Boy or I ever had. Which is why it makes me almost unbearably twitchy when they don't.take.care.of.their.stuff!!! As parents we feel such gratitude when friends and family members give gifts to our children. And we feel unspeakable frustration when we see those gifts carelessly lying around. One of the most commonly abused items in our home are movies and video games. One comes out to put a different one in and the replaced item gets set down somewhere to collect dust and get scratched. For this reason, this pin shot a glimmer of hope into my heart

http://thehandmadedress.blogspot.com/2008/09/do-you-suffer-from-scrached-dvds_27.html?m=1

Our friends at The Handmade Dress boasts that some children's Crest toothpaste, warm water and a soft cloth can solve all of our scratched disc woes, no matter how abused. The pin says it works on DVDs as well as Wii games so I tried it on both. First, the DVD. I'm not sure how this happened, clearly the DVD player had some dirt or something in it because our Planes DVD has perfect circular scratches in it. Can you see them?

I used one of the 12 million sample sized tubes of kid's toothpaste we've gotten from the dentist (according to the pin is HAS to be kid's toothpaste)

And I squirted some on the damaged disc

I rubbed it around the disc gently with my fingers until the whole thing was coated

Then I gently rinsed the toothpaste off with warm water and dried it with a lint-free super soft cloth

I still saw the scratches but knew that obviously the function of the toothpaste is to fill the little gaps where the scratches are. So we put the movie in the DVD player with bated breath and....it skipped. And paused. And Poquito Tito lost his mind. (This isn't quite typical, I think he's not feeling well) Weeping, wailing an gnashing of teeth feels like a huge understatement to describe the fit he threw because he couldn't watch Dusty Crophopper. So not only did this pin NOT work, it also ended in a temper tantrum that put Poquito Tito in time out! Oh the humanity! I realllllly wish this pin had worked. I tried it on a Wii game as well with similar non-results. Have you ever tried this toothpaste trick? Did it work for you?

Taylor Hates to Cook

     Hello internets! I, like my cohort Peggy, had many grand intentions for the summer and early fall and all the amazing things I could accomplish and blog about. But then life happened. How rude of it, really. So between finishing my last class for my bachelors degree in July, and switching jobs at the beginning of September, that whole "Homemaker" thing, has been a no-go. My poor husband has had a HUGE chunk of household responsibility thrown at him. He does pretty much all of the cooking lately. Unless of course we go out. (That may or may not happen WAY too often...) I don't come home until about 8 pm these days and if I didn't like to cook before, I hate it now. It's so much WORK! How do you people manage to do this daily? (Really, I'm being serious, HOW?!) So since my partner in crime isn't the *best* cook in the world... I had to come up with something to stop personally funding the restaurant industry around here.
     I've heard so many great stories about freezer crockpot meals. But... I'm a picky eater. I hate onions, guys. I hate them. Even onion salt. I don't like it. I'm sorry, but you CAN taste it, and it still tastes disgusting. (Insert whining here...) So I was really hesitant to try it. But, I did. And I am SO glad. These freezer meals have been life savers on more than one occasion!

This is pre-freezing. I did learn one lesson, don't stack them to freeze! They stick together, and are hard to get apart. Ha!

      I'm fired on the photo taking front. I only got this one of them already in the freezer. I did a total of 6 of them to test the waters, and only one was a flop. The broccoli cheese soup was gross. The texture was all wrong and the spiciness was just odd. I'd say 5/6 isn't too bad for a picky eater though!I tried out my favorite BBQ chicken recipe (showcased previously here...) as a freezer meal too, and it was a win! It tasted just as good, which is good to know! I gathered my recipes from all over the internet, but if you're new to the freezer meal scene, this is a good place to start!

     I've found that the 9-9.5 hours between me leaving for work in the morning and me getting home is too long for most of the recipes though, even just on warm. So I pull one out in the morning, set it in the crock pot for my husband and he dumps it in and turns the crock pot on when he gets home. The thawing time is just about perfect . It works for us. It is so nice to come home to dinner already prepared. It's been amazing. Pinterest, I never should have doubted you! ;)

A million apologies and, of course, a project!

Oh Internets! What grand plans I had to spend the summer doing super fun Pinterest crafts with my kids and blogging up a storm! It was going to be pure magic and my kids would grow up and tell their kids about all the beautiful memories we made..and that didn't happen. Okay, it kind of happened. We had a great summer doing fun stuff and making memories and all that jazz it's just the blogging part that never happened! I had equally high hopes when the kids went back to school..with only Poquito Tito home I imagined that I'd have LOADS of time to craft at my leisure and to share those crafts with you! And that didn't happen either. I have no idea why I'm so busy but I swear I live my life at a constant sprint! But here I am. With a rebellious project (inspired by Pinterest, reinvented by me!). But I digress!
So we are tightening our belts around here. Trying to get out of our living nightmare that is this house we own and move back to the big city. (I've started another blog charting THOSE adventures. If you want to read about my inevitable mis-adventures in budgeting, read here.) Part of this process includes me giving up (SOB!) my debit and credit cards and paying cash for everything. Naturally this is a process that can't be done without first going to Pinterest and looking for cute ideas for the Dave Ramsey envelope system that everyone swears by. This is what I found

So these are super easy--there's a printable template that you just print on pretty paper, cut it out and put it together. But my printer was ALL THE WAY DOWNSTAIRS (I am coveting a wireless printer but alas! Belt tightening.) so I got out this fancy little thing:

This is the We R Memory Makers Envelope Punch Board that I got from Stampin UP! I also busted out my pretty paper. The stuff I hoard because I don't want to "waste" it. This here gizmo has a handy guide on the bottom that tells you what measurements to use based on what size envelope you want. I measured a dollar bill and decided I needed an envelope that was 3.5x6. According to the chart, I cut my paper to 7 7/8 x 7 7/8

Then, using the Envelope Punch Board (heretofore to be referred to as the EPB because I'm lazy) I moved the paper to the 2 3/4 mark, pushed the punch button on top and used the score line to score the paper.

Can you see my little score line?

Then I rotated the paper, lined the newly made score line with that pointy part on the left, punched and scored again.

I did this 3 times and then this is what I had

I folded it up and voila--an envelope template ready to just be folded up. Only, when I folded it I realized my little flaps were too long. Sigh. This is my life, folks.

I trimmed those suckers down and realized I left my adhesive in the craft room. Seriously? I think I've had a stroke and I don't remember. Luckily I had some double-sided tape handy (because, really, who doesn't?)

I taped the flaps with the double-sided tape and stuck em together!

Tada! Now I just need some money (who doesn't?) ..I had a dollar lying around. I hope it's not awkward how I flaunt my wealth.

I made two of these--one for grocery/household purchases and another for personal/entertainment. These are really the only things I can use cash to buy. I thought about my shopping trip today and how nervous I was that my purchases would be more than the $100 I'd planned (nothing to fear--it was 99.27! Bam!) and that I'd have to play the "put it back" game. Nobody wants to play that game. So I decided I needed a divider and I'd keep 2 weeks' worth of money in the envelope so I had some wiggle room. I need wiggle room. So I just cut a piece of paper that matched the other envelope and put it in there. 

Voila. Now, I didn't use the pin I found for this project this time. I have, however, used it in the past so I can vouch that it's a win. Whether I can stick to this envelope system or not remains to be seen. Feel free to check out the other blog to find out if I can make it or not. Do you have any great money-saving tips? Feel free to share them below. I need all the help I can get!!!

BBQ Chicken & Lasagna (Odd Combo?) - Taylor's Crockpot Expirements

I've got TWO treats for y'all today! Both are crockpot recipes. Here's the thing, I don't like cooking during the summer. It heats up the whole house (this is a big one since I no longer have A/C... :/), and there are so many other fun things I'd rather be doing! Or wait. Maybe I just don't like cooking ever... Yup, that's definitely it. Plus, I'm always short on time. (Am I ever not short on time? I feel like a broken record player!) So here are two gems from the Pinterest world!
Let me preface this first one by saying, my husband is not a picky eater. Not at all. But there are three things he just will not eat. They are peas, pineapple, and pickles. Yes, they all start with a "p". Makes it easy to remember! The point of telling you this, is that he LOVES the recipe I'm about to share, despite the pineapple. Win!! This Hawaiian BBQ chicken has become a Boyce household favorite, especially if we have company coming over. (They're always so impressed and in my head I just laugh maniacally and remind myself how easy it was. Muahaha.)
The best thing about this one is how darn easy it is! There are only three ingredients. Yup, you read that right. Three!

Link is here... that Abby knows what's up!

You put the frozen chicken in, the pineapple (drained, I leave mine just a tiny bit wet, I like the pineapple juice), and then cover the chicken with the Sweet Baby Ray's. I'm a big fan of the Sweet Baby Ray's. It's the only kind of barbecue sauce I ever buy anymore. I've apparently also become a barbecue sauce snob. It's so tangy and delicious. Then you turn the crock pot to low for about 4 hours. That's it. It's so easy. It's always a big hit. It does have a little bit of a spicy kick to it. But it is mostly sweet. Like I said, this is my go to meal when I have company and not a lot of time. (Like I said before, umm... is that ever not the case?)

Next! Lasagna! I love lasagna guys. Like a lot. It's been one of my favorite meals since I was teeny tiny. Now, in full disclosure... I did make some small alterations to the recipe. Instead of the meat sauce the website uses, I used the super secret Stucki family recipe. I don't actually know how secret it is. But I can guarantee that it's not like any other lasagna meat sauce you've ever tasted. (In a good way, of course.) Everything else I did exactly the same though. My favorite part about this recipe is that you don't have to cook the lasagna noodles first. Such a time saver! And also, I always seem to break the noodles or rip them when I'm trying to lay them in the pan to bake it. Good thing it tastes the same whether they're ripped or not!

As usual, you can check out the original directions here.

Full disclosure, I was a little nervous about this one. I was going to be so sad if my lasagna wasn't delicious. I thought 4 hours on low was a little too long the first time I tried it. It didn't burn exactly, just made a nice crispy layer on the outside...  (Alright, alright, it was burnt.) I pulled it out after about 3 1/2 hours this time, and it was much better. So internets be warned! 4 hours = crispy lasagna, 3 1/2 hours = perfection. Another Pinterest success! :) TTFN! (That's Ta-ta-for-now for you non-winnie the pooh folk.)

A 4th of July special - When you get married, you start to like wreaths.

Oh hey there! It's been awhile. Moving is hard guys, don't judge me too much for my internet silence. :) I have a real treat for you today. But first! I have an update on my last post. I decided by ribbon wreath needed a little more "umph". You know. The type of thing that would make someone be like, "Oh that's so cute! Where did you get that?!" So I can brag and stuff. So here's my ribbon wreath plus a different hanger and an adorable wooden letter B.

I think it just really ties it all together. Don't you think? (This is where you just let me have my delusions, even if you think it's ugly, k? :) Thanks.)

I just used hot glue to attach the B to ribbon, and then tied the ribbon around the wreath. Super easy. The hanger wasn't quite as easy. That ribbon is really hardy so I thought it would be a good hanger. Which it is. But... Attaching it with hot glue wasn't cutting it. I tried that first, but it just couldn't take the weight. I shoved a teeny tiny nail through it into the foam of the wreath. So far, so good. It's been up for a day or so and it hasn't fallen off. I added a dot of hot glue on the head of the nail, just in case. 

I loved this Pinterest find before, and now I am even happier. Woohoo! 

Ok, here's the good stuff now. Apparently I'm a wreath person. I didn't know this until I got married. But I love wreaths! (Never thought I'd admit to that...) They're an easy way to decorate for holidays. Especially in my teeny tiny apartment that really doesn't have a ton of room for much else.

The 4th of July has never been a very big deal in my family. I guess we're bad Americans? No judgement guys. Holidays require a lot of work!  My hubby on the other hand, always did the same thing every year. And it's a BFD. (Big freakin' deal, for those of you who don't speak Taylor.) Like, I'm pretty sure that if we didn't spend it in his hometown the divorce word could come out. (JK, JK!) So I felt like I should get on the band wagon and get in the spirit of things. Pinterest didn't let me down! Here's the pin I found that I thought was awesome.

Link here. Funny, because she used a different pin as inspiration. 

I wanted to do this project as inexpensively as possible. I already had all the yarn on hand, so I just needed some stars, and a wreath. I went searching around my house. I had a giant foam poster thing I bought for a group project awhile back and didn't end up using. (AKA, I bought the wrong thing. Woops!) It has just been sitting around for awhile and I decided it was thick enough to  make a good wreath form out of. I really like that it's flat. It sits on my door better and it made it really easy to wrap. The only problem was getting the shape right. I got creative. :)

Why yes, that is a lid to a hamper and a dinner plate...

I also like this option because now I have the middle part to do another craft with if I want. 

I didn't like the idea of using so much hot glue and keeping the gun on the whole time I wrapped the yarn, so I just tied the strings together when I switched color.

This is the start. I just tied the string to itself to keep it in place.

The color switch!

My hubby is very particular about accuracy, so his input was that I should make it with 7 red sections, and 6 white. Fair enough. Gotta be patriotic AND educated! So that's what I ended up with. (He's still a little upset about the stars, 'cause "There aren't 50 of them! Or even 13 like the old flag!" My bad. I'm fired I guess.) The blue is a little smaller than I would have liked, but it looks good. Here's a tip for you. Since it's flat, you have to match the yarn up to the outside. If you line it up on the inside, you end up with spaces between the yarn. On a round wreath it doesn't matter as much because it evens out a little better, the flat surface made it so I had to pay more particular attention. Learned that one the hard way! I may or may not have had to basically redo about half of it...

There it is! For the stars, I was feeling a little less creative. I picked wooden ones up from my local Joann's and painted them white. I felt justified in this, because I still made the wreath for under $10. The stars I just attached with hot glue. While I was at the craft store, I saw the letters and picked them up on a whim. They're attached with fishing line, which I had on hand from this project. I tried to make sure you could see it in the picture, it's less obvious in real life. From start to finish, this wreath took about 2 hours. That with the $10 I spent, makes me feel like I rocked at being frugal AND crafty. Thanks Pinterest! It's a success!

That Time When Peggy Blew Stuff Up

Hello Internets! (I feel like I need a fancier greeting here..please submit your suggestions in the comments!) So remember that time when I told you we were going to make bouncing bubbles? Yeah, we didn't. Because I live in the Land of Bipolar Weather, it rained all day. And snowed in some places. And was a million and twelve degrees in other places. Who says there's no diversity in Utah??

So Bouncing Bubbles are still forthcoming. In the meantime, today we planned on making these cool exploding bags:

Okay, pardon my digression, but when I was making these I was thinking of my sweet friend Alise whose amuma (our ethnicity is Basque, amuma is what you call your grandmother in Basque) has the thickest Basque accent and one time she got in her car after Alise's dad had moved the driver's seat all the way forward and she scolded him saying, "What you try to do? You try to 'splode me???" HA HA HA!! Oh Amuma Gloria. Anyhoo..back to the pin.

So how fun does this look? I'm telling you, you need to go visit Crystal over at Growing a Jeweled Rose. I used her idea last week for the Squirty Sidewalk Chalk and this week, she does not disappoint with this Exploding Bag o' Paint (my words, not her's!) So we were planning on doing this when one of my friends asked if her kids could come play with us. Fun! Then I was trying to make plans with another friend (you remember Alisa, don't you Internets?) so I suggested she bring her boys over and we could have a big Explodabag party! I love a party. Of course she was in so we got to work!
First, Don Diego and I prepped everything. There were going to be 9 kids here and I wanted everyone to have fun so we decided to do 3 bags per kid. Once again, I failed to get a Materials Shot (Sorry!) but the materials are seriously things I am certain you have onhand..zip up sandwich bags, vinegar, cornstarch, food coloring (again, go for the Neon stuff..seriously a HUGE difference!), baking soda and paper towels.

 So I put a sandwich bag in a 2 cup measuring cup to stabilize it while I added the necessary contents and I added a heaping spoonful of cornstarch (no measuring here, kids! Flying by the seat of our sploding pants!)

I added enough vinegar to fill the bag about 1/3 way full

Some food coloring...

And gave it to Don Diego to squish and mix up. We set those aside, our friends came over, we had pizza and sent the kids out to play while we mommies made the Baking Soda Bombs.

This is Alisa's menacing "I Make Bombs" Face

Those BYU fans are a lot more dangerous than

they appear! Don't let them fool you. Trouble. 

Every. Stinkin. One. Of. Em!

Then Hercules wanted in on the action. That's

Athena hiding behind the straw.

So to make the Baking Soda Bombs, we put about 1-1/2 tablespoons of baking soda in a square of paper towel (I cut the sheets of paper towels into smaller squares) and then folded them up, enveloping the baking soda. We put them in a neat little pile and took them outside along with the bags Don Diego and I had prepped.

The kids grabbed their 3 bags and we were ready to play!

Look at those weirdos! I blame the fathers. Their mothers are

angels. Lovely and delightful angels!

 So at first I just opened the bag just a scosh and dropped the BSB in and super fast zipped the bag back up and handed it to a kid to place where they wanted it in the driveway. 

Thor got to go first because today is his birthday. Everyone

say "Happy Birthday, Thor!"

So we tossed it on the ground and watched it expand and expand and expand until...

...it (in a semi anti-climactic way) popped! Okay, if you think these are going to shoot into space, you will be disappointed. There are no explosions (sorry NSA to have freaked you out for nothing with all that bomb talk!) the bag just pops open and the stuff gushes out. So we did that for awhile...

 B-Diddy trying to fast seal up his bag before it explodes!

But then Thor brought me a bag to zip that he'd already put the BSB in and I couldn't zip it in time! GAAAA! It sploded me!

Well then we decided that was really the way to do it..well...Don Diego had some fun throwing his in the air just before it exploded but sadly I got no shots of that..

Our "other daughter" who happened to be

across the street with her brother and came

to play with us helped Poquito Tito

VA and Hercules

I tell you, this was a blast. (Snort! See how I did that there?) It was so much fun and it taught the kids some science and Don Diego will just have kittens if we don't do it again. This is what the driveway looked like after the adventure

Mmmm..okay. Maybe it looks a little like a My Little Pony crime scene...

Anyway, here is what some of the kids had to say about it when I asked them if they thought the pin was a success:

501: It was good!

B-Ditty: Awesome!

Bitty: It was great!

Thor: It was fun!

Hercules: It exploded all over my leg! It popped on the sidewalk!

Athena: Me spilled on my foot. It scared me!

Don Diego: Epic!

Mademoiselle: When you put dust in it, it explodes! I like it!

Poquito Tito: (says enthusiastically) SPODED!! (He's clearly been hanging out with Amuma Gloria)

So there you have it, Internets. 9 thumbs up. (12 if you include the Mommies. I think we had as much fun as the kids!) I'd say that's a success!