Refill Your Swiffer!

So I found this thing on Pinterest yesterday. It was an article on how to refill your Swiffer Wet Jet. I was actually just about to stop using my Swiffer because I prefer to use more natural cleaning products nowadays. I had about four squirts left in my Wet Jet, so I emptied it and went to work on getting that darn cap off!

Here's what you do.

Boil a small pot of water on the stove, and dip the cap part of the Swiffer Wet Jet bottle into the water for about 90 seconds. Then simply twist the cap off. The heat helps soften the plastic enough so you can just give it a good twist and it will come right off. But make sure to use a towel or something because that cap gets pretty hot.

The cap has these little flaps inside that catch on the bottle so that you can't open it again. Your next step is to cut those off. The article I read says to use a finger nail clipper to just snip them off. I actually made James do this part. Well, I didn't so much make him, as he just took over this part. He loves stuff like this. He said a sharp knife and a steady hand worked way better than a finger nail clipper. Anyway, now you can screw and unscrew the cap at your leisure - no boiling required!

 

I decided to use my favorite all-purpose cleaner. I'm pretty much in love with Mrs Meyer's basil scented stuff. It smells so fresh and wonderful! And this bottle is super cost-effective. It's about $8, and it's concentrated, so 1/4 cup makes a gallon of cleaner. This bottle lasts a looong time.

 

So I mixed up a half gallon of my favorite basil scented cleaner and I refilled my Wet Jet! I was SO super happy about finding out this wonderful little tidbit. I really like my Wet Jet, and the fact that I can now use it with my favorite kind of cleaner (that's more healthy for my dog and my kids) really got me excited. I know, that's pathetic, but I try to find joy in the little things. :) 

 

Aaaaand, I had some cleaner left over, so I poured it into a handy little spray bottle. I only have a little bit left of the all-purpose cleaner I keep in the bathroom, so this will be a great replacement for that.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I've been toying with the idea of making my own laundry detergent for a while now. I was hesitant because I have an HE washer, and I wasn't sure if it was okay to use the homemade stuff in it. But everything I've read says it is. So I decided to trust the interweb and go for it. There are several different recipes out there. They mainly have the same ingredients, just different measurements. This is the one I used.

First, you need an awesome washer and dryer in a cool color. Okay, you don't need that, but it sure makes doing laundry more fun! And I just wanted to show off my new washer and dryer, which I love.

Now here's what you do need.

Fels-Naptha (this is soap) - 2 cups, finely grated
Washing Soda - 1 cup (note: this is NOT the same as baking soda)
Borax - 1 cup
Oxygen stain remover, like Sun or Oxyclean (optional) - 1/3 cup

You can get all of these things at Wal-Mart in the laundry aisle. They are pretty easy to find. And they're very inexpensive, which is a plus. I used about 2/3 of the bar of Fels-Naptha to get two cups, so if you want to make a bigger batch, you should get a few bars. The rest of the stuff will last a while, which is why making your own laundry detergent is dirt cheap. Haha, dirt. Get it? Laundry gets rid of dirt? .... tough crowd.

I always feel weird when I say Fels-Naptha. Like I'm trying to say Napsa, but I have a lisp. But I digress...

First you want to grate the bar of Fels-Naptha with the smallest holes your grater has. The smaller you grate it, the better it will blend with all the powders you mix it with.

Then you want to let it sit uncovered over night. I used a couple of plates to spread it out so it would dry out faster. You could use a baking sheet, or whatever strikes your fancy. Just keep it out of reach of kids (or husbands) because it looks a lot like grated cheese. Once it has dried out a bit, just crumble it with your fingers and it will almost turn to powder. This way it will mix better with the other ingredients.

Put all the ingredients into a container.

Then mix it all up. I just put the lid on and shook it. Then I took an old measuring spoon (1 tbsp) and put it in the container for... well, measuring.

Use one heaping tablespoon for normal loads, and two tablespoons for more heavily soiled loads. This has worked out well for us.

I ended up paying around $12 for all these supplies. If you want to do more batches, you'll need to buy more Fels Naptha, but that's cheap, so no big deal. I would guess that all the laundry soap I can make from these supplies will probably last me about six months. That's six months of laundry detergent for the price of one bottle of Tide. Awesome!

Random Acts of Kindness

I learned something today.

I learned that February is Random Act of Kindness Month.

I also learned how a random act of kindness can affect someone.

This morning, I decided to stop at Starbucks for a drink, and to also get a breakfast sandwich, since they had a promotion running and I had never tried one before. When I got to the window to pay, the barista gave me my sandwich, handed me my drink, and then informed me that he wouldn't be accepting my payment this morning because the lady in the car ahead of me had taken care of it.

I just kind of stared at him at first. I've heard of these types of things happening, but I'd never experienced it before. I was shocked that people actually do this. Shocked, and very happy. Then I said to him, "Are you kidding me?" He smiled and said, "Nope!" I thanked him, and drove off.

That's it. It absolutely made my morning. And suddenly, I realized why people do this. To make someone else's day. To make someone feel exactly how I felt at that moment.

So, to the lady who paid for my order at Starbucks this morning - mission accomplished.

Throughout the morning, I was thinking of ways to pay it forward. I just knew I had to. I wanted to make someone's day, too. So I will, and I have an idea of how and when, but that I'll keep to myself. :)

Anyway, I then realized something else. I realized that when someone performs a random act of kindness, the recipient isn't the only one who is affected. That barista at Starbucks, I bet he thought it sure was a nice thing for that lady to do. And I bet it put him in a better mood. And I bet he told a co-worker or two about it because, let's be honest, it's not something you see all that often. And I bet it warmed their hearts a little, too.

Then, when I got to work, I told my students what had happened. They were so surprised! They kept asking me, "Why did she do that?" and "Did she know you?". So I explained to them that it was a random act of kindness, it's done for no reason at all, just to be nice. They thought that was so cool! These are kids who haven't experienced much kindness or generosity in their lives. What a great lesson for them!

I know I'm being all mush and corny, but I guess that what I'm trying to say is that this one little $6 random act of kindness touched a lot of people! And I know that when I pay it forward, it's going to touch a lot of people, too.

It wasn't until later that I found out it was Random Act of Kindness Month. I also found out who started the chain at Starbucks. Through Facebook, I found out that she had purchased the drink for the person in front of me, who paid it forward to me. It kind of makes me wish that I had bought the drink for the person behind me, but I'm glad I decided to wait. This way, it won't all happen at Starbucks (although that would be okay, too), but I can do it somewhere else where there will be a whole different group of people who can be affected by it.

People can be amazing. I'm glad I witnessed it. It makes me want to be amazing, too.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yes, I know it's January. And no, I'm not crazy. I'm lazy. I took pictures of my super cute Thanksgiving treats that I brought to school for my students, and then didn't post about them. But now I will, because they're cute. I just love these things. I didn't actually eat any of them, but they're just so darn cute! Did I mention they're cute? Okay, enough of that. Here they are.

They're pilgrim hats! See, I told you they were cute!

You can probably figure out how I made them, but I'll brake it down for you anyway because if I didn't, then this blog post would be over, and, well, I like to talk... er, type.

It's really simple. You take a fudge stripe cookie and turn it upside-down. Then you take yellow frosting (white frosting with yellow food coloring, obviously) and smear it all over the bottom of a fun size peanut butter cup and smoosh it down onto the upside-down cookie so that the frosting oozes out around the edges. Then you take an orange mini M&M and place it on the yellow frosting for the buckle. That's all, folks! This is a really easy, quick, and cute Thanksgiving treat!

Inside-Out Pizza

Wowza! These past few months have been chaotic! With preparing for the holidays and all the various sicknesses that have made their way through our household, we've been very busy. But today I've decided to make time to post one of my family's new favorite recipes. This one is a hit with everyone, and, well, it's just plain fun!

I got the idea here, and pretty much followed it exactly. But here's what I did.

Here's what you'll need:
1 roll of thin crust refrigerated pizza dough
Pizza sauce
Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top
Olive oil or butter to brush on top
Italian seasoning to sprinkle on top
Mozzarella cheese
Whatever toppings you like (I used pepperoni)

First you want to roll the dough out and cut it into squares. I stretched it a little first, then cut it into 24 squares (that's 4 rows by 6 rows).

Then I chopped up a bunch of pepperoni. That's what the hubby likes.

Then I topped each square with cheese and pepperoni. Really pile it on. It's better with lots of cheese and toppings, and the dough will stretch when you wrap it up, so don't worry the toppings not fitting. They will.

Now fold the corners of the dough over the toppings and pinch them together in the middle. Do the same with the sides. This is what it should look like.

Then place the dough balls into a baking dish.

Then brush the top with olive oil, and sprinkle it with Italian seasoning and Parmesan cheese. Pop it in the oven and bake them according to the pizza dough package instructions. Usually it's about 15-20 minutes on 400 degrees.

It should look something like this when it's done. Mine looks a little funny on the right end because I made a few cheese-only ones for myself and marked them with some mozzarella on the top. I know, brilliant, right?

Serve them with a side of pizza sauce. This is perfect for my family because I like very little sauce on my pizza, and James likes lots of it. This way, each person controls how much or how little sauce they want.

These things are awesome! And they're fun, too! My whole family loves them. They're great for kids. And, I haven't tried this yet, but I think they'd freeze well. That way, you could just pop them in the oven from the freezer and have a nice quick meal! I am so going to try that.

You know it's good when it get's the two year-old seal of approval. :)

Domestic Stuff

Today as I was making my menu plan for next week, I started feeling domestic. And that inspired me to post a blog about domestic stuff. Now, "domestic stuff" is a very general term, and a lot falls into that category, so I thought I'd just briefly touch on some of the domestic stuff I do (or should do) that might help someone else feel domestic too, and get stuff done.

Menu planning -
Some people have very elaborate menu plans - we're talking worksheets, lists, rotations, etc. I'm not that hardcore. I just write down a few recipes to make next week, and then make sure I have all the ingredients for them. In fact, most of the time I don't even do this. But I should! When I menu plan for the upcoming week, I'm always glad that I did. It's so much easier than standing in front of the fridge/freezer/pantry at 5:00pm, hollering to James, "Honey, what do you want for supper?"

Freezer meals - 
If you've been following my blog for a while, then you know how I feel about freezer meals (see this post) - I love 'em! If you have a weekend where you don't have much going on (ha!) you could set aside some time to make a bunch of meals to freeze. Or, if you're making something for dinner that would freeze well, you can make a double batch, eat one, and freeze the other. I do this frequently with meatloaf. Most freezer meals you can just pop into the oven while frozen, although if you thaw them it will take less time to cook.

Organizing -
Ok, so I'm not so good at this one, but I'm working on it. It doesn't help that we just moved and are still trying to find a permanent place for everything. At any rate, I've been reading a lot of organizing blogs lately. Some of my favorites are I'm an Organizing Junkie, I Heart Organizing, and A Bowl Full of Lemons. Here's a little disclaimer: don't feel like you should be doing everything that these ladies do. You will feel like a failure. I'm pretty sure they don't do anything besides organize and blog, because honestly, who has time for all that. So while I feel that these blogs are a bit unrealistic, they do have some really great tips and ideas. I love reading them. They really inspire me to get organized, although that hasn't quite happened yet.

Cleaning - the green way
No, I'm not a tree-hugging hippy. I'm a mother of two kids, and I want to do everything I can to keep them healthy. And if it's also better for the environment - bonus! When I was pregnant with Isaac, I bought some natural bathroom cleaner because I didn't want to be breathing in all those harsh chemicals. I felt good about it, so I've been slowly trying to buy more green products, or using natural products to clean, like vinegar and baking soda (you can add a few drops of essential oils if you want to mask the vinegar smell). Before we moved into our new house, I cleaned the entire fridge/freezer out with vinegar (well, I wiped it out with soapy water first, then cleaned it with vinegar). I would have used bleach, but I didn't want to use something so harsh on a surface where we store our food. Don't get me wrong, not every cleaner I own is green, but I'm making an effort.  Here's a good link on making your own household cleaners. If you would rather buy it than make it, I've heard great things about Shaklee and Mrs. Meyers, although I haven't tried either of them.


Saving money -
Lets rewind a minute - back to homemade cleaners. Not only are these better for your family and the environment, but they're cheap! A big jug of vinegar costs, like, a dollar. Baking soda is even cheaper. I really want to try making my own laundry detergent (I like the idea of knowing exactly what's in it), but I'm hesitant because I have a high efficiency washing machine and I don't want to void the warranty by using something other than HE detergent, even though I've heard it's okay to use in HE machines. Anyway, from what I've seen, homemade laundry detergent ends up costing around 3-5 cents per load. That's crazy cheap. A few homemade things I do plan to try are dishwasher detergent, and hand soap. Don't worry, I'll be sure to blog about them when I do. :)

Another, more obvious thing you can do to save money, is use coupons. Duh, right? Saving 50 cents on two boxes of crackers might not seem like much, but if you were going to buy those crackers anyway, why not save 50 cents? It adds up, every little bit helps, and all those other cliches that we've all heard a hundred times before. If you have more time, you can pair coupons with sales and really save a lot. Check out sites like Totally Target and Hip2Save. They do all the hard work for you. You just have to print the coupons.

Whew, ok that's all for now folks. I'm all domesticated out. Now go forth and meal plan/cook/organize/clean/save money.

S'more Bars (A.K.A. The Most Delicious Thing EVER)

To know me, is to know that I love anything and everything s'more. In fact, one time when we went camping with my in-laws, my mother-in-law thought it would suffice to bring chocolate graham cookies to use for the s'mores in place of regular old graham crackers and Hershey's bars. Clearly, I chastised her sufficiently for that misdeed, because she never did it again.

So when I ran into this recipe while perusing Pinterest, I knew immediately that it was going to be my new favorite thing ever. And I was right. It is ah-freakin'-mazing!

Here's what you'll need:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 8 full graham crackers)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 Hershey's chocolate bars
1 1/2 cups marshmallow Fluff

First you need to cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix it in. Next add the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder, and salt. Technically, you're supposed to mix those last four ingredients together, and then add it to the butter mixture, but I never actually do that.

Next, press half of the dough into an 8x8 baking pan.

Place the chocolate bars on top of the dough.

Then spread the marshmallow Fluff onto the chocolate bars. This step proved to be slightly difficult, as the marshmallow Fluff kept wanting to lift the chocolate bars up.

After the marshmallow layer has been spread, flatten pieces of the remaining dough with your hands and place them on top to form the top crust.

Bake it in a 350 degree F oven for 30-35 minutes. When the timer beeps, get ready for nirvana.

Now, the person who posted this recipe (whom I have the utmost respect for) says that you should let it cool completely before you delve into it's deliciousness. This is where we disagree. You see, when God made s'mores, He meant for them to be enjoyed in all their warm, gooey glory. A room temperature s'more? Blasphemy! I let them cool for about 30 minutes and then proceeded to eat half the pan. Kidding... sort of. In fact, when I had one the next day, I actually put it in the microwave to warm it up before diving in. That is how I recommend eating them.

And there you have it, my friends - my new all-time favorite recipe ever. Ever!