We Did It! Wednesday! Make your own camper!

We did this project a few weeks ago in preparation for a camping trip. Being a military family, paychecks can be tight for the sort of items that are expensive-especially when we don't know how often we will get use of them. Case being...a tent for camping!

We were reluctant to buy one, because we felt that it would be a bugger to pack up considering we would have to let it air dry indoors in the air conditioning for a good week before packing it up to avoid must and mildew. And I don't know about you, but I don't want a tent that has been sitting in dirt in a campsite to be gracing my living room floor!

Welcome....the vehicle tent. This was the solution I came up with, and my husband measured and assembled. All you need is some plexi-glass screen on a roll, nylon webbing, a hot glue gun, and duct tape. A slight sense of adventure for camping would be good too, I suppose.

Measure windows and cut screen to size and shape.

Apply hot glue and form frame of nylon webbing for structure and reusability.

If you have a toddler son specializing in quality assurance, have him use a tape measure, to ensure the measuring capabilities of your yard stick ; ) Ours was right on, thank goodness : P

Continue with process for each window.

Capture nose-picking 4 year old daughter photo bomb.

And GO CAMPING!!!!

To anyone wondering--"Well, where in the world did you store all your stuff??" I didn't say we do not have a tent, just not one big enough or fancy enough to SLEEP in! I picked up a small childrens tent at a garage sale for $10 that does the job for storage at the camp site. When we arrived, we loaded everything from the vehicle into it. In our small, two-three person tent, we stored- two Britax Boulevard car seats, our cooler with food and drinks, our plates and forks/knives, wash pan for dishes, towels, and a few other small supplies. We had a great time and will go again, but probably not for awhile. Camping is hard work with a 2.5 and 4.5 year old-- I am SO HAPPY we did not invest in a tent!!!

I am slacking! Again!

I said I wouldn't let it happen again, but here I go--it has been six days since my last blog post! Oops!

My mom (Nana!) is coming to visit in two days, and we can hardly wait! Asta keeps diving on the floor, throwing her arm up in the air with two fingers sticking up and shouting "TWO SLEEPS! TWO SLEEPS UNTIL NANA IS HERE!" We have lots of fun things planned for when she arrives! (Including the kids' first dental cleanings and overdue well child exams from 18 months ago!) Also plan to do some shopping at the outlet mall, some antiquing around town, and hopefully other fun things too like getting frozen yogurt, going to the beach, movie night on the air station. Whatever everyone is up for! Will be a very fun nine days!!

We Did It! Wednesday!

It has been waaaay too hot out to complete any of our outdoor projects in the garage, so it has been a week full of creating in the sewing room!

First, I sewed pillows for our kids. If you cut a standard sized pillow in half, it creates two perfectly sized pillows for toddlers! I just cut it in half, used a basting stitch to close off the open ends, then started sewing the pillowcases. When I finished the pillowcases, I tried button-holing for the first time with great success!

Anders got one with a transportation theme-it closes with green and blue buttons. Asta picked out retro apples and pears fabric for hers-and since we didn't have enough of that, I used organic cotton velour in a pretty shade of sage green for the back. Hers shuts with shimmery pink buttons, perfect for that girlie girl. They absolutely love their pillows, as they are easy for them to carry around, and are specially sized for them! I look forward to sewing them cases in holiday themes too--they would love pumpkin or Santa themed ones!

I also made a car seat blanket for Anders-baby blue minky dot fabric with a satin Mickey cog work trim. I also tried my hand at doing a reverse appliqué, which turned out decent enough for a first try! I appliquéd a retro pear to a pair of infant chambray capris that I sewed a month ago. Other than that, I've just been busy mending ballerina dresses, leotards, and stuffed animals!

** I know, I know, "This post is useless without pics!" I will get some taken tomorrow!! **

Fabulous Family Friday!

Today we have been thrifting! Thankfully, Asta is being a trooper. She went through her toy box today and said "Lets make a pile of what we want to keep...and what we want to sell!" Then she would say, "Mommy, say-'Asta, when is the last time you played with that?' I guess we should put it in the sell pile...." She had lots of fun. We are thrifting ten things from each room to start with--making it 100 items total to thrift! (pretty good considering I've already loaded up my vehicle four times with stuff to get rid of!) One step closer in getting our home as clutter-free and organized as possible before we move. Did I mention we are moving? : ) It's a pretty for sure thing, and could be happening as early as January! Everyone cross your fingers for us that we end up back home, or near-to-home! We miss the snow, the cold, the family, the friends, everything about the midwest! We will definitely be making use of our remaining time near the beach though!

You Can Manage- Homemade Laundry Detergent!

I am not a fan of most store-bought laundry detergents. They are full of all kinds of garbage chemicals and fillers that you waste your money on! This is the recipe and process for the laundry detergent we use. You may need to adjust the ingredients, as everyone has different types of water- hard, soft, kinda hard, kind of soft, you know! This is what you need-

1 helper child approximately the age of four years

1 canine supervisor to critique and offer encouragement

Fels-Naptha laundry soap bars

20-Mule Team Borax

Washing Soda--not to be confused with baking soda!

There are recipes that use entire boxes, or you can try just a couple cups at a time. 

The basic formula is- 2 cups Fels-Naptha, 1 cup Borax and 1 cup washing soda.

Have helper begin grating.

Keep watching them grate, offer help when little hands get tired!

Provide shade to canine supervisor. It is a tough job, after all.

Now, you have options. You can grate into this cheddar cheese like consistency and then powder it in the food processor. You can cube it and put it in the food processor. OR, which we have done before, you can just grate it on the tiniest hole side on your grater.

Process!

Should look like couscous now! 

Mix together ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

Pour into cute jar. Or empty leftover 32 oz yogurt container! 

Use 1 Tablespoon per load (yes, even a big one!) for everyday use. If you have been mucking in your yard, and your jeans are waist to toes in mud--use two!

Here is a picture of the Fels-Naptha so you can find it! All three ingredients in this recipe can be found at most grocery stores, large drug stores, or super stores. It can also be found on Amazon. It is .97/bar at Walmart. You can also use Zote-which is pink and has a slight citronella smell due to the citronella oil in it. Another note- opening the bar and leaving it to sit out overnight will let it dry out slightly, to aide in the powdering process. 

Falling Waters State Park in Chipley, Florida

Tasty Thursday!

Every Thursday that I don't have anything better to talk about, I mean, come on, how often is there something better to talk about than FOOD?! I will be having Tasty Thursday or Thirsty Thursday where I share my favorite food and drink recipes.

Today, I'm sharing the recipe of my favorite potato salad. So if you are looking for something new to bring to a neighborhood potluck, or a different dish to try with dinner, give this a shot!

Creamy Ancho New Potato Salad