DIY Hand Sanitizing Lotion

Colder weather is slowly but SURELY approaching.  This means as I go into the elementary school to substitute I run the risk of touching pencils, on which lives an immeasurable amount of germs.  I mean, SERIOUSLY last week I watched a little girl pick her scab, eat it, and then continue to suck the blood out of her cut. (*BARF!!*) Lord, I know I did some nasty things as a child (we've all tasted a booger, who hasnt?! If you tell me you haven't you're a LIAR!) but scabs never seemed appetizing to me, and drinking blood is for really good, but extrememly cheesey vampire novels. Maybe that childn needs an iron pill. Bleck!

Now that you know what I'm up against, you understand the need for the sanitation!  But, who wants the feeling of dry nasty hands after using hand sanitizer...NOT ME! As I was working with a teacher last week I noticed that she had a lotion that was a 2-in-1.  It was hand sanitizer AND LOTION! It literally blew my mind.  So I started thinking..rather than buying yet ANOTHER thing of lotion (because the amount of lotion I own would lead you to believe I have sister wives), why not try to make it myself?

Cue DIY Hand Sanitizing Lotion.



Ok, Let's not judge this poor label job. It looks a lot better than when it started. :)

 It's Simple...You literally need

Lotion (that smells YUMMY)
Rubbing Alcohol
An Empty Container

As you apply the lotion you smell alcohol, but alcohol is fast evaporating and once it has evaporated it leaves no scent, so what you are left with is the original scent of your lotion. This statement is husband approved. I made him smell my hands to check for alcohol scent. :)

Now I am armed with something that will both sanitize my hands and keep them moisturized. And Ya'll I'm not playing...elementary school is NASTY. I'm convinced it's the original breeding ground for every disease there ever was.

So please, go forth make your own hand sanitizing lotion and be happy.

Happy Fall Ya'll

Since moving to the south, I've had an obsession with the word "ya'll".  I just love it and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  It reminds me of southern hospitality and big dinners slathered in butter cooked by Paula Deen. Mmm. Mmm. Mmm.

Because I have this obsession, I love this sign...probably more than I should.  It's just adorable.

 

It's so adorable in fact, that I decided to show you how to make one of your own! :D

Things To Gather:
Scrap Wood
Twine
Paint
Small Paint Brushes for Lettering
Eye Hooks to Attach the boards together
Sand Paper or Sander
Wood Glue to attach pumpkin

 

You can see in this picture that we have attached the sign using eye hooks and twine. Drill a pilot hole and then screw the eye hook into the hole. Tie the twine to the eye hook and put a small amount of hot glue on the knot to hold it.


The pumpkin was cut from a piece of plywood. :) You just free hand a pumpkin and then wood glue the pieces on the board.

Fall is approaching quickly! What better way to celebrate then to put this cute sign on your door.

Enjoy!

DIY Shimmer Lotion

I was talking to my sister this morning, ok, fine, I'll be honest. I was talking to her this afternoon, because I didn't wake up until almost 11am.

Firstly, 11 is still in the AM so, I'm not that lazy.  Secondly, it's the weekend...and well. That's it. It's the weekend. You should also know that I went to sleep at 10:30pm on a Friday and now Hubby is napping on the couch, even though we went to bed early and woke up SUPER LATE. (Hubby and I are getting OLD.)

Moving on. Lord, I get off track a lot. She was talking to me about shimmering body oil and how awesome it was and how she smelled so good today. Because I am 10 hours away and can't possibly smell her from this distance (if I could that would be INTENSE), so I will have to take her word on it. 

However, that got my brain turning...

I started thinking I want glittery stuff to put all over my body!

(Yes. All. Over. My. Body.) *clears throat*

Anyway, I'm not about to find some glittery lotion in this town so I decided to figure out how to make my own.

AWESOME!

So, here we go. :D

This is what I used.

 

.

And this is how you do it! :D (As I was typing that I was signing that Montell Jordan Song in my head...) Hello 90's Kid! "la la la la la la la la...This is how we do it...It's Friday Night..."  "This is how we do it.." Still singing.

 Oooo. Swirly.

Lid of a mason jar decorated with scrapbook paper. CUTE!

 

 

I was just reading this and realized how ADD it is. LOVE IT!

 

So now, I have my shimmery lotion for FREE. I had everything I needed here and I didn't have to drive to the ends of the earth to find the closest Victorias Secret or Bath and Body Works. BOOM!

Taco Pizza

School is in full swing! That means that there are sick teachers who provide me with a job! :D Yay for making money!

That being said, this is a post that has been in the making for almost a week now.

Yeah, SHUN ME!

Last weekend Hubby and I sat down to make a menu for the week. The weather here in Virginia has been AMAZING the past two weeks and we really wanted to do some grilling and wanted to try out some new recipes.

We kinda split up the days so that one person wasn't cooking all week long. I am now working; thus, I crack the whip and make the husband pull his weight around here. (I'm joking...kind of.)

Anyway, Monday was my day to cook and originally I had picked something generic like spaghetti but then I was all...

WHY DON'T WE HAVE SOMETHING NEW AND EXCITING FOR DINNER?!

And then, THIS was born!

DE-FREAKING-LICIOUS! Mmm Hmm. 

Taco Pizza Ladies and Gents.  This takes two of my most favorite things, mixes them all together and puts them in mah belly! YUM.

This is what you're going to need:

1 package Pizza Dough mixed according to box
1 can Refried Beans
1lb Ground Beef
Taco Seasoning
Cheddar Cheese
Tomatoes
Olives
Sour Cream
Lettuce
Salsa

(This is what I used. You know what you like on your tacos...so use whatever your favorite things are.)

 

You may need to heat up your refried beans to make them easier to spread.

 

And there you have it! :) Crack the whip, make your husband do half of the cooking and when it's your time to cook...pick something super easy ans super delicious.  That's how I roll. ;)

 



Crockpot General Tso's Chicken For Two

I was really craving Chinese food the other day and because the hubby and I are, a.) trying to save money and b.) trying not to die by eating Chinese food from the sketchy Chinese restaurants in this dinky-little town, I decided to make some crock pot General Tso's Chicken. Yummy!


There are a few steps to this, but once it's in the crock pot, you leave it for about 3 hours and you're good to go!

Yummy, yummy, yummy!! :D

 You want to make this delicious meal and avoid getting poisoned by your sketchy Chinese restaurant too? Yes?! Ok, here is what you'll need.

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Honey
1/4 Cup Soy Sauce
1/4 Cup Ketchup
1/4 of an onion. Chopped
1TBS olive Oil (to cook chicken)
1 Clove Garlic, minced (or substitute garlic powder)
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes. (more or less depending on how much heat you like.)
1/4 cup Flour
1 large chicken breast, cubed

***Note, the Corn Starch is to thicken the sauce if needed. I'll include instructions to do it (See ***), but I ended up making mine a little too thick, so you may not need it. (You be the judge.)

At this point, add the chicken to the crock pot, cover in the sauce and let it cook for 3 hours on low heat. 

***If your sauce is too thin after those 3 hours, mix together 2tsp Corn Starch and 3 TBS water and mix into the sauce.

So, there you have it, a pretty easy and poison proof dinner! :D

Enjoy!

***EDIT***

It has been brough to my attention that I forgot to include the amount of ketchup that goes in this recipe! I am smacking myself in the forehead as I type this! It is fixed now. :) Thanks Chelsea Wildman for helping me out!

Fall Blocks

I have an obsession with wood crafts lately.  I'm not sure what it is. Perhaps my motive is to squeeze the last little bit of manual labor out of my husband before the school year gets into FULL swing and he's too exhuasted to help me. ;)

My poor husband. It's a good thing I put bananas with cheesy notes in his lunch box or else he may never help me.

Moving along.

In the process of milking my husband for manual labor, I made these cute little guys using ispiration from pinterest (go figure)!!

Seriously...SO STINKIN' CUTE! They require no stencils either, becuase they are supposed to look rustic.  

 So, as always here's how you do it:

 

 

Now, I will admit...Fall is not my favorite season. I hate the time change and the darkness and the general BLAH of the sky when it's fall time; however, these cute punkins I've been making are really starting to heighten my excitement for this season! :D

New & Improved Craft Space

This post is mainly for my sister, because all of our lives she has been tidy, perhaps borderline OCD about organization. (I can only say this because I love her LOTS!) For years her ability to organize, do laundry, keep the cleanest room in the house and put her clothing in rainbow order has intimidated the ever-living-crap out of me! I tend to be the opposite. My house is clean, but cluttered; my organizational skills are lacking and when I get crafting it looks like Martha Stewart got together with Good Housekeeping, had a little to much to drink and vomited all over my living room.

ANYWAY (I have NO IDEA how I got that off track.) so this post is to show off one of my most exciting accomplishments. I did some crafting by painting an old desk, attaching fabric to the back and gluing fabric rosettes to it. Then I used that desk to ORGANIZE my craft space! Say What?! Yes, you heard me...I ORGANIZED IT! This is where I'm a terrible blogger. I forgot to take a before picture, but you should know that my craft space resembled something off of a Hoarders episode.

No, for real.

Don't you for a second think I'm exaggerating. Ask her, go ask she-who-cleans-house-on-hands-and-knees-three-days-a-week (love you sister!) how messy that space was!

I went from THIS:


Yep. That space was bad enough I could have done the WHOLE season. (Ok, now you should probably assume I'm exaggerating.)

To This!!!:


Look at it! Look at it shining it all it's organized glory!!

Sister, look closely. That paint up there on the top shelf it's organized in rainbow order!! Woah! I went there. Now, as you can clearly see, part of my cluttered brain is showing through. I mean, look at all those sunglasses hanging up there. Quick, call Hoarders. I'm never going to get better.


Now, for a few pictures of this desk! *rubs greedy hands together* (Obviously I didn't learn my lesson in humility as well as I thought.)

 

Welp, there you have it, a craft space suitable for my sister that I adore. :) I will forever be in the shadow of your ability to organize, but here is a small start.

 

 

P.S. I wanted to add this adorable little tid bit! Look what hubby got in his lunch today! :D

 

Just a little reminder so he knows that I just love him to itty bitty pieces. (Ok, enough cheesiness.)